The Strength of Endurance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  A Message From R. L. Blalock

  More Books by R. L. Blalock

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  About the Author

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, and events in this book are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously. Any similarities to real people, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright 2019 by R. L. Blalock

  All rights reserved. Neither this book, nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced without permission.

  Editing by Amy Jackson

  Proofing by Lana Mowry

  Cover art by Robert Rajszczak

  For my daughter,

  Always reach for the stars.

  CHAPTER 1

  Buildings towered high on either side, almost blocking out the sun. The glass windows shimmered as they reflected the last few rays of light, but on the street, night had already fallen.

  A man rammed into my shoulder as he rushed past me, and I stumbled.

  “Dick,” I muttered under my breath as I pushed on. Despite the encroaching night, the city was alive. Throngs of people made their way through the streets, eager to get home or find something else to occupy their minds.

  The flow of pedestrians was like an ever-shifting rainbow: garments of every shade blended and blurred together. I slowed in front of a clothing shop. A scarlet dress in the window fluttered and danced. The airy fabric hovered around the mannequin as if shrouding it in a living mist.

  There was so much color. I drank in the vibrancy of Earth. The music that floated across the street. The hum of thousands of conversations being carried on around me. The air that smelled of humans and machines together.

  A bullet train whizzed by overhead, come and gone before I could even get a good look at it.

  The world turned sour around me. Had any of these people boarded the Endurance? Had any of them survived?

  I tried to look at their faces, but they were indistinct. They were all the same. These were nameless placeholders my brain had used to populate a world that I had never set foot on. With less awe, I turned back to the dress, mourning a world long gone.

  A gasp rippled across the crowd, and an unnatural silence fell over the street. I followed their gazes to the sky.

  No…No. No. No. No.

  A black pod split the darkening sky. Flames licked at its edges as it cut through the atmosphere. It was too perfect. Too even.

  A Biphait dropship.

  This was the day.

  This was the day humanity had been brought to its knees.

  “Run!” My voice cracked but rang loud and clear through the street as I tried to warn people who had already met their fates. The quiet was broken, and in its absence, chaos rushed in. The crowd ran in all directions, becoming a tangled, frantic mess of panicking animals. Screams echoed off the buildings.

  I squeezed my eyes shut, clamping my hands over my ears in a feeble attempt to drown out the sounds around me.

  “It’s not real,” I muttered to myself. “Wake up. Wake up! It’s not real.” I couldn’t watch this. I couldn’t live this. I hadn’t lived this. I wasn’t even alive during the Reckoning, but the memories haunted my nightmares all the same.

  A roar vibrated the air, growing with each second. The ground shook beneath my feet. My throat felt raw as I screamed, but I couldn’t hear my own voice.

  “Laure!”

  My eyes snapped open at the familiar voice, but before I could find the source, I was thrown back. I slammed down painfully on the concrete, but I couldn’t stay down. I had to get up. I had to get away.

  My hand landed in something wet as I tried to push myself up. I slowly opened one eye and then the other. A man stared at me, his lifeless eyes not even a foot from my face. A gigantic slab of concrete lay across his back, compressing his face into a strange, oblong oval.

  Wiping off the blood on my pants, I pushed myself up. A crater had opened up where the street had once been. Dirt and concrete sprayed out in all directions. Windows all along the street had shattered. In the center sat the black pod, unmarred by the destruction it had wrought all around it.

  A deafening crack broke the eerie silence, and a seam split the capsule in two.

  They can’t hurt me. I’m not really here. But my shoulder throbbed, and my back burned from where I had slid on the street. It wasn’t real; it couldn’t be—but every bit of it felt real.

  Pieces of the pod peeled back and disgorged the Vos, the vanguard of the Biphaits. Dozens of skittering creatures heaved themselves out and crawled down the side, their six legs clacking against the ground as they moved. Their chittering filled the air as they scrambled through the dirt.

  As they crested the lip of the crater, they reared up, raising their heads to the sky in unison. The dozens of eyes that circled their heads fixed on the ship that floated above them.

  I took a slow step backward, not wanting to draw their attention as they received their orders.

  The pod shuddered, the final layers peeling back to reveal the mech held inside. The machine whirred as it stood to its full height of twenty feet. The bipedal mech started forward, using its giant hands to claw its way out of the crater in a few strides.

  “They aren’t real. Wake up.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the massive mechanized death machine as it advanced down the street.

  As it crested the lip of the crater, missiles whizzed past me, one brushing so close I could have reached out and touched it. They slammed directly into the mech, exploding across its chest as the Vos scurried away in fear.

  As the smoke cleared, the mech stood untouched. Not a scrape or char remained on the gleaming metal.

  “Insubordination will not be tolerated,” the halting robotic voice echoed from the mech. The cadence wasn’t quite right. The words were distorted as the wrong letters were emphasized and elongated.

  “They can’t hurt me. They can’t hurt me. They can’t hurt me.” I whispered the words to myself as the mech raised both of its three-fingered hands. A whine cut through my mantra. Glowing discs appeared in the mech’s palms as the lasers charged.

  “Three…two…”

  “Laure!” Something tackled me to the ground, and I was temporarily blinded as the laser cut the air where I had previously been standing. A thunderous boom rattled the street as the laser struck its target. More screams echoed around me as humans were obliterated into nothingness before they could move.

  “Laure!”

  My gaze snapped to the man on top of me. His voice was distant despite his nearness.

  “What is going on?” His black eyes were wild as they danced around, trying to take in the dangers on all sides.

  “We have to run.” I tried to scramble out from underneath him.

  A metallic wail froze me in my tracks. The mech blared out the challenging cry again. Suddenly, the Vos became a flurry of motion. They skittered forward, the clicking of their long legs setting the beat of my heart.

  “Submit. Submit!” The hundreds of mechanical voices rose over their own clacking. “Insubordination will not be tolerated.” The voices overlapped one another into a cacophonous war cry.

  “Laure, this is a dream. You have to wake up. Wake up!” The man shook my shoulders.

  One of the Vos was racing straight for us, its legs a blur. The beast rose, four legs still propelling it fo
rward as it unslung a laser rifle from its back. Hundreds of plates covered its carapace-like body, protecting the creature in a lightweight, flexible armor. The four flaps of its mouth fluttered rapidly as it emitted a series of chirps and squeals.

  “Submit!” The mechanical voice spoke out of a small, round device on the creature’s jaw. When I did not respond, the creature’s rifle snapped up. I would not get a second chance.

  Searing pain pierced my chest.

  I started awake. My breathing was ragged, and my heart thundered out of control in my ears. I cast about, looking for the dangers that had been present just a moment before.

  Do not worry, Kuna’s voice purred in my mind. He reached out with his paw, delicately hooking claws that could rend metal around me, and pulled me close. The monsters are gone. They were only in your head.

  I leaned into his chest, his skin smooth and soft against my cheek. The beast that held me in its grips was one of the native animals to the planet of Iotova. The Chroin were rabid beasts without a pair bond, but once bonded to sentient life, they become as sentient as their other half.

  It seemed so…real. I knew it wasn’t…but it was. I relaxed back against him.

  You were there? Kuna paused as he tried to choose the right words for his question. Was it a memory?

  No. I shook my head. I wasn’t there. It’s more like…an echo. The Reckoning of Earth was…devastating. We are all that is left out of trillions. Since leaving Earth, colonists have dreamed of the final days on Earth—even though none of us have ever set foot on our home planet. It’s like a memory that gets passed on through genetics, though they haven’t found how.

  You never have to be afraid. No monster will harm you. Not as long as I breathe. Kuna’s lips parted in a snarl, revealing rows of needle-like teeth as long as my forearm. His tail flicked back and forth in agitation. The bony spike at the end cut through the air.

  The monsters aren’t here. I ran my hand up and down Kuna’s neck, soothing him as much as myself. They are out there, though. We fear their return. We wouldn’t survive another fight with them.

  What are they?

  The Biphaits. Our creators. They…disapproved of us and came to destroy us. They brought the Vos with them. Their army. The Biphaits demanded our surrender. When we refused to bow down to them…

  They destroyed your planet, Kuna finished my sentence. Much as our creators were destroyed.

  My heart stopped. Were the Biphaits here? Did they destroy your creators? My mind raced. The last bastion of humanity could have unwittingly marooned itself on a Biphait Incubator planet.

  I have never seen such creatures. Nor have any of the Chroin that I know of. Kuna nuzzled me again, his touches so gentle despite his massive size.

  That doesn’t mean that they weren’t here. That they won’t come back.

  What would you do now if they might? he asked, looking down at me with one of his black eyes.

  We…can’t leave. We can’t do anything.

  Kuna shifted a bit, making room for me between his paws before laying his head down again. Then worry about it later. We have more pressing concerns to deal with now.

  The sentiment didn’t make me feel any better, but I couldn’t argue with it. I pulled my sleeping bag up around my neck, settling into the light but warm fabric. The dream still roiled around my head. I could see the mech when I closed my eyes. I could hear the Vos swarming through the streets. Feel the rumble of the earth as doom rained down around me.

  CHAPTER 2

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Brinden grumbled, shifting as he leaned against Tyze. The great red beast shuffled as well, picking up on Brinden’s anxiety.

  “Oh, it’s not going to be that bad.” Reegan leaned against the wall, shoving her hands in her pockets. “They’ll just poke and prod us like pincushions, steal all our blood, and then run us into the ground.” A too-big grin split her face. “How bad can it be?”

  Brinden’s light red skin paled.

  “Aren’t you at all curious how this works?” I gestured to myself and Kuna. “I mean, we’re telepathically bonded to aliens, and we kind of look like them.” I twisted a lock of hair around my finger, the strands still dry and brittle from hibernation. Gone was the ash-blonde I had been born with—supposedly the color of my mother’s hair. Instead, my hair had taken on the same hue as Kuna’s skin from the moment we first bonded.

  Admit it, Kuna purred. It’s better than the drab colors you had before.

  It’s growing on me.

  His chuckle filled my mind.

  Our small group had grown over the last few days. Brinden, Reegan, and Ilex were the only survivors of the original misguided attempt to make more Chroin pairs like Kuna and me. The wild Chroin were vicious and unforgiving. Even the hatchlings were dangerous as they desperately tried to hold on to their sanity.

  Saavi, Emerson, Zav, and Deron had been part of the second batch. Four eggs had been brought back to the Endurance from the stream, so the pairs could bond safely rather than amidst the chaotic war that had ensued by the river.

  “Good morning, everyone.” A woman in a lab coat walked into the converted bay. The vehicles had been cleared out. In their place, medical equipment filled the room. Usually, this place was filled with those who had been rescued from their hibernation chambers since the fall. “Are we ready to have some fun?” More doctors in lab coats followed the woman.

  Brinden barked out a laugh. “I would not call this fun.”

  A frown crossed the woman’s face. “I suppose not. How about fascinating? Exciting?” Her eyes were alight as she looked us over. “I am truly excited to learn more about you.”

  “What will we be doing today? Aren’t we needed outside?” Ilex asked. “There are still others in hibernation pods. Their time is running out.”

  Most of the hibernation systems had been damaged in the crash. Many were only semi-functional. People had begun waking up on their own a few days earlier. Some were stuck in a pseudo-hibernation that left them unable to move. The clock was ticking. If they weren’t found soon, the tupor tubes would become their coffins.

  “What we’re doing here is just as important.” The smile plastered across the woman’s face was genuine. “We need to learn about our new world, so we can adapt to it. This research will benefit everyone.”

  “But what about the other colonists?” I pushed. I wanted to find out more about the Chroin, about what had happened to me, but I couldn’t force down the swell of anxiety at the thought of the other colonists trapped and unable to move.

  “We have a lot of teams out searching for the rest of the colonists.” She looked up and locked eyes with me. “As more and more of the colonists awaken, we have more people to search for those who haven’t been found yet.” Though there was a hard edge to her voice, her eyes were kind. “Right now, we need to learn more about the Chroin, and you can provide some crucial insight into their physiology and psychology.”

  I sucked in a deep breath and nodded.

  “All right. Good! Are we all on the same page?” The woman looked around as everyone nodded.

  “So, what are we doing?” Saavi asked tentatively.

  “We are going to run some tests—a lot of tests, actually—to find out more about the Chroin and how they have affected you. If you’ll follow me, we’re going to start with a simple eye test.” She spun on her heel and marched across the bay.

  A bank of monitors was set up in one corner. “Now, we’re going to do two rounds of tests on each of you.” The woman began to talk faster as she bent over a computer. “In the first round, you will read the letters you see as far down the list as you can. Pretty simple.”

  I stepped up to the line. “All right.”

  The doctor pressed a few buttons on her console, and the screen in front of me filled with letters, each line smaller than the last. “Just read down as far as you can.”

  I started with the top line, blinking and refocusing with each new line. Most human
s had adaptable vision now. As part of the cycle ten incursion team, my eyes had been modified in the womb. With a quick refocus, I could see things much smaller than what unmodified eyes could see. The letters grew smaller and smaller, but I continued to read them with ease. The screen changed as I reached the bottom, the next set even smaller than the last.

  When all the letters blurred together into little dots and I couldn’t read any further, the woman was silent as she frantically tapped away on her console.

  “How did I do?” I asked, knowing full well I had read well beyond the expected line.

  “Fabulous,” she muttered, without looking up at me. “Really well.” She finally stepped back, a smile falling into place again. “Better than expected.”

  “How much better?” I asked, my brows knitting together.

  “Let’s just wait until we have all the data. There’s a lot to look at, and I don’t want to jump to any conclusions yet.” The doctor tapped a few buttons on her screen. “Could you have the Chroin—”

  “Kuna.”

  “Yes.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Could you have him step forward?”

  She wants you to step forward and look at the screen, I told Kuna, pointing to the line on the floor.

  She does know I can’t read, right? He crouched down to bring his head level with the screen.

  I shrugged. Maybe. Maybe they think you can because we can talk.

  A circle, square, and triangle appeared on the screen.

  “Does he know what those are?”

  Kuna nodded his head. What does she take me for? An imbecile?

  “Yes,” I replied with a smirk.

  “Could he read them to you?”

  He let out a long sigh. We need a better way to communicate. Circle. Square. Triangle.

  “He knows which shapes are which,” I told the doctor. “And he’s slightly offended that you think he wouldn’t.”

  I am offended, not slightly offended. If you are going to translate for me, then do it properly.

  I snorted a laugh as the doctor stared back at us dubiously.