ring of blue ice - chapter 1

know this is quite long but it's something i've been working on for years and it's what i'm very proud of. general background is i started working on a fantasy novel and have work done based around that, but this is some sci-fi, basically the same planet, places and general families, but set further in the future, not too far from where we are. hope it's enjoyed, if it is i'll stick some more up :)

Chapter 1


Awakening


Stars glittering throughout the infinite nothingness of space, burning holes in the eternal night. Life drifts by unaware of the forces at work, playing with the lives of the mortal, shaping the destinies of man. Civilizations rise and fall, suns are born and die, but life goes on, tentatively waiting out its destiny in the endless reaches of time, never sure when and where it shall play its part.
*
Space is still, all but for a shimmering line upon it’s surface, a violet cloud upon a sheen of lifeless black. As if by some form of magic, an opening appears, revealing darkness in the distance, and through the hole a ship speeds through, towards a small planet. The hole closes once more, leaving no trace of ever being in its wake. The ship, a huge vessel, a construct of man, a traveller from far away worlds, proceeds to the shining orb. Terra, a world with a long history of conflict and destruction, now united. One world, one people. All creeds and races as one. A true example to the rest of sentiency. But it has been done before. Not just one planet but many. A vast galactic empire, free from war and hate. Free from strife and struggling together as one. Terra is for the first time to see just how free the Operon empire will make them.
*
Saritha jerked awake in a cold sweat, black hair plastered to her soaked chest, back and shoulders, breathing hard and looking around herself scared and confused. “Only a dream,” she whispered to herself, closing her eyes in relief. Flipping back the damp sheets of her bed, she swung her legs out of bed and searched for her slippers in the darkness with her feet. The moonlight reflected against her pale, milky skin, mirroring it’s radiance in her dazed beauty. Fitting her toes in the light slippers, she got to her feet and moved toward her bathroom doorway. Her room wasn’t especially large, black with only a few pieces of furniture. Bed, bookcase, a wardrobe fitted in the wall and a desk with her personal computer set atop. She enjoyed simplicity, even if her friends thought her a fool for it. Reading is for idiots, they would say to her, even though to appreciate a book you would need to be more than idiotic. “Lights,” she yawned, as she reached the door, at which moment the door opened and lights came on, revealing the mass of clothes strewn across her floor and the en-suite she had argued with her mother long hours for.
She turned the taps of the bath, and water sloshed into the tub, as she turned to look in the mirror. Saritha looked weary. For weeks, since her seventeenth name day, she had been experiencing the most strange, and vivid dreams. Now she had seen one of Terra from the beyond, and a ship of the stars approaching from a…a gate in the stars. In all her time studying the beyond and ships, she had never heard of or seen such a phenomena. Holes in space? Maybe she was losing her mind. Opening her green eyes further, she moved closer to the mirror and looked further into the deep emeralds…
*
A hole opened in space, a violet cloud upon a sheen of lifeless black, and several ships of varying sizes passed through and on toward Terra. Many people upon those ships, thousands, emissaries from another world, coming to join the Terran people, coming to take the Terran people away. Saritha knew this like she knew the sky was blue and grass green. She knew because she was upon those ships, part of the ships, speeding through space like a wolf hunting it’s prey, in stark moonlight. They would destroy Terra and take her away…
*
Saritha ripped her head away from the mirror, even more wide eyed, staring to the floor and the water overflowing from the bath. The cascading waterfall and shallow lake on her bathroom floor. “The god’s be damned. I must be going insane.” She turned off the taps and pressed the release pedal beneath the sink. The water began flowing through the plug hole, to the cleaners and recycler, slowly emptying the bath of water, now just receding from the rim. She pulled off her sweat soaked nightdress and threw it to the pile of laundry in the corner of the pale blue room. She dropped several towels on the floor, to soak up the spillage, before relieving herself at the lavatory. She stepped across the wet towels, damp sloshes sounding beneath her feet, and lifted the release pedal, stopping the water flow out of the bath.
Testing the heat with her fingers a little, she plunged her hand into pool and closed her eyes. She played with the water, creating a whirling, torrent in the middle, before removing her hand, and drizzling some lavender soaking oils into the fluid cyclone. Removing her slippers, she played her toes across the waters surface, before stepping in and sliding her naked form down into the tub. As the water spread across her body, the aches not relieved from her restless sleep plunged away, aches from a late night spent amidst other sweating bodies. Saritha sank beneath the hot, clear waters of the bath, and let herself drift.
*
“So, this is Terra.” a voice came, from the silhouette by the window, “Have you found anywhere suitable to land?” The man gazed across the face of Terra, scanning the surface for anything of interest. He stood upon the bridge of a large space vessel, in orbit of the planet. The ship of an alien race, looked old, of an archaic design, when compared to the other ships in its presence. More blocky, and cubic, than the sleek, streamlined vessels around her, she seemed likely to fall apart.
“We have hailed several of their settlements,” a shorter man said to his commanding officer, the slightly nervous looking man, seemed to sweat a lot and involuntarily moved away whenever the taller man moved, as if afraid of being struck. “They are all asking for the specifications of our ship. Most don’t seem to have large enough spaceports.”
“Well keep looking anyway. We have an obligation to get to the surface and if that means sending a smaller vessel down so be it,” the officer looked at his subordinate, “And carry on the search for their planetary defences. I don’t care what that damn boffin said, they must have some kind of defences. I want to know, immediately, of any change in the situation.” The commander began walking toward the rear side of the bridge, an elegant stride, like royalty.
“As you command, General.”
*
“Saritha!” a voice called from further into the house, “Breakfast’s ready.”
“I’m just finishing in the bath, mother,” she called back, before groaning and dragging herself from the loving embrace of her bath. She pressed the release pedal once more and grabbed a towel from the rail, wrapping the pink cloth around her back and tying the ends beside her left breast. Humming a tune to herself she wandered to her room and fell on her bed, grabbing a brush from the desk. Running the fine teeth through her thick, silky hair. Another day at the college of star ship and space travel studies. Saritha was in her final year of learning the ins and outs of the beyond and its manipulation. She excelled in her studies, a very able pupil, but was growing weary of all the theory. She longed for escape in her own ship, to explore the reaches of the galaxy. To visit the ‘Rings of Damasc’s third moon’, to duck and weave along the asteroid sea, to trek the deserts of Hamar IV, but it would be years before she ever got away from this place. She barely had enough money for a flight to one of Terra’s moons, let alone a star ship of her own, and that was before she’d used it to book a club for her band’s opening night.
Finished with her hair she dropped the towel and rummaged through her wardrobe for a fresh set of clothes. A slightly baggy pair of black pants and a bellybutton exposing, pink top today, she decided. Maybe I should wear a jacket too? She pondered the thought before her mother shouted again. “I’m coming damn you!” Saritha yelled. That woman has no patience,” she mused as she grabbed the jacket, featuring her favourite speed metal band, and walked out to the hall. Wide, decked in sky blue walls and carpeting only a shade darker, she headed to the kitchen and her waiting mother.
Leigh Bellion, Saritha’s only living relative, beside her grandmother, was a beautiful woman, hardly touched by age, with perfectly chiselled features and a thin set of rosy lips. Silvery, black hair, tied back from her face in a tail, rolled down her back, close to her slender waist. She had always been very slim, with a small bosom, and dark, penetrating, obsidian eyes, studied the data screen on the table, watching the morning’s news. She sat in the dining room, eating her breakfast slowly, taking in the events she viewed with placid, solemnity. “Its on the sideboard,” she said without looking up, as her daughter came to the doorway. Saritha loped over to the kitchen, past the dining room, and on the left. The large room, full of cupboards, a fridge and the new instant cooking device, cost a small fortune, all in tones of the same sky blue used throughout the halls. On the side was a plate of poached gwar eggs and wild mushrooms. Saritha opened a cupboard and took a large bun, and a knife from the cutlery drawer. Taking the plate she slowly walked into the dining room and waited for her mother’s lecture to come.
Saritha sat down, opposite her Leigh in almost total quiet, the only noises, the low voices emanating from the data screen and the knife occasionally clicking on her mother’s plate. “In late again last night, I see,” Leigh said, eyes still on the data screen.
“Yes, mother,” Saritha replied in sullen tones. Not even trying to win the argument which would surely come, she sliced into the bun and began to butter it.
“With Mera again, I take it?” Again with the rhetorical questions. Now would come the ‘she’s a bad influence’ speech.
“Yes. We went to a concert. I told you last week.”
“Oh, last week. And why didn’t you remind me?” Leigh looked up at Saritha with those penetrating eyes, “Its a good job I don’t worry anymore, but when you wind up dead or raped, don’t blame me.”
“I won’t, mother.” Keep calm. I am serenity personified. She layered an egg and some of the smaller mushrooms onto the bun.
“You know that Mera is a bad influence. You could have at least called to say you’d be home late. Your dinner had to be thrown out again,” Leigh’s eyes went back to the data screen, “You know I hate wasting food.”
“And I presume you never wasted food and never came home late and never had any fun, because you’re perfect,” Saritha intoned sarcastically, taking a bite from the sandwich and looking down at the plate.
“Very funny, madam, but you forget I pay for the food when you squander your cash on crap and those fool projects of yours.”
“My band is not a ‘fool project’ and its my money. I earned it!” So much for serenity.
“And do I not earn my money. Should I just waste my money and let us starve? You could at least call home sometimes!”
“I am sick of this! You can stuff your food,” throwing down the rest of the food on the plate, “I’ll stay with Mera at her place for a while.” Saritha turned from the table and stormed off to the front door. Grabbing her bag she shouted, “And you can apologise to me for a change next time.” With that she opened the door, rushing out down the street to the bus stop.
*
Leigh sat at the table still staring at the data screen. Bloody child. I wish she would learn some respect. Worrying me senseless and staying out all night. If only her father were still here to… no. He’d be no use. Stupid lay-about. She sighed. Flicking the data screen off, Leigh rose and took the leftover breakfast and walked into the kitchen. Well she’ll be back in a few days and she’ll need money and Baka knows what else. Leigh dropped the food in the disposal, and the plate in the dishwasher, turned to get her keys from the table, and set off to work. I can’t wait till she comes home.
*
The college of star ship and space travel studies, or the three ST as it was known to pupils, was built over an area of more than two kilometres square, having both above ground and below ground sections. Above ground, buildings sprawled across the land, in both strange and perfectly formed geometric shapes, the oldest of which only fifty or so years, when space travel had become the norm, while the below ground facilities, built around a rocket launch pad were the oldest buildings of the college, made before the declaration of world peace, over four hundred years ago. A vast forest to the east buzzed with life, both exotic birds and rodents, as well as pupils of the ST. To the north of the complex, the starship docking bay, a large grey, metal building with a retractable roof. A flurry of activity this early in the morning, students making their way on excursions and college trips to the three moons of Terra, and several inbound cargo ships, bringing the day’s supplies. In the south, the great man made reservoir of Tillia, built by the great King when the world war began, more than four hundred years past, when supplies became in short demand and constant threat of death was upon the people of Terra.
Toward the western edges, the capital city of Mysidia, Candor, stretched further than the eye could see, a sprawling metropolis of life. Huge tower blocks at the centre, marking the big businesses and the High seat of Mysidia, where the high council meet. Further out are the smaller building of the main city, where most of the business is done and also where the spaceport is located, a kilometre of docking bays and building, a starship development area and the launch pad for the orbital satellites. In the third area of the city, dwell the people. Huge areas of residential space and apartment buildings, spread across the face of where Candor had stood for thousands of years, the jewel of Mysidian craftsmanship. It is here Saritha lives, on the east edge of the city, equally close to the business district and the three ST. And it is the ST her hover bus is speeding toward, her home for the past five years, being taught the finer points of mechanics, engineering, piloting and manufactory and design of ships.
She loved the work, but coming to the end of her time was a long haul. The time now dragged endlessly, and her social life was making it hard to keep up with studies and spend time with Mera Rendar, her best friend for longer than she could remember. Saritha watched the passing homes as the bus sped by, wishing she could get off thus damn planet to somewhere nice. Only three days till the spring holiday, she thought. Me and Mera should go away for a while. Somewhere nice and hot.
“Hey girl,” the driver shouted, “Stop daydreamin’. We at the school now young pup.” Saritha looked up to the driver, staring at her. The tall, wide black man’s braided hair spilled across his grey uniform, obscuring his badge from the official guild of professional drivers. “Well girl. You gonna sit there all day?”
She stood nonchalantly, and swaggered past, giving an evil stare to him all the way to the steps off of the bus. Turning to walk down to the pavement in front off the ST. There the college symbol, made in a statue of bronze, halfway up the crescent stairs, the college founder. Lord Areth Brinmar, the first man to travel at a speed exceeding that of light. A true inspiration, made you want to be the first to do something of such grand importance, but now there was nothing of importance to do. No war, nothing that hasn’t been done before, equal rights instilled in society with perfect harmony, the only thing worthy of attention now was the band. And that wasn’t exactly going as planned, but with the Club Aox booked for tonight, everything was fitting into place. Finally life was making a little sense.
Traipsing up the stairs, almost drunkenly, Saritha looked through her bag for her daily planner, not looking where she trod. “Hey Sari,” screamed a voice, as a young woman jumped out from behind the statue of Areth. Saritha just kept walking past, not noticing anything other than her bag.
“Sari?” the girl asked putting a hand on Saritha’s shoulder. Saritha swung about face, tripping over her own feet and landing on the steps, bottom first. She stared up at the other girl, taking a moment to recognise her in the early morning light.
“Hi Mera. Sorry, I was miles away.”
“You’re telling me,” Mera laughed. Her light jade hair, waving as her head rocked, filtering light through to her thin rosy face, “You look like you’ve been up all night. Did you even go to bed?”
“Yeah. I had another of those dreams. A ship flew through a hole in space,” Saritha said, almost trembling, “It was strange. I’ve never seen a ship like it before. It was immense, bigger than the ST maybe.”
“You’re sure having some strange dreams lately,” Mera sounded a little troubled, “First that attack on Terra, now a strange ship. It’s just a little weird, what with that new vessel landing in the city.”
“A new ship? When did it land? Where’s it from?”
“Landed last night. About three in the mornin’. From another part of the galaxy, somewhere called the Operon Empire. Meant to be a federation of planets. According to the news today, it spans four galaxies. The crew of the ship has gone to see the High Council.”
Saritha’s eyes lit up. People from another galaxy. The ships must be amazing, so fast. “We’ve gotta see that ship!” she shouted at Mera, “When do you get off. I finish in two hours.” The idea of visiting another galaxy was too much.
“You’re a little ahead of yourself now,” Mera exclaimed, “There are a few ships in the spaceport. They’re from the empire too. Or so the news said”
A bell rang in the distance, the lesson call. The girls looked around to the distraction. “Well I’ll see you in two hours by the fountain. I’ve got to get to my physics lecture,” moaned Mera, “I just wish old goat face Herman wasn’t so boring. He could talk the hind legs off a donkey.” She continued to mumble and complain to herself as she walked away to the main entrance.
Saritha looked to the statue. Areth Brinmar. The first man to reach the outer most reaches of the galaxy, the first man to travel at plus light speed. Saritha Bellion, first woman to travel to another galaxy. “Sari! Are you coming, or do you think I’m talking to myself for fun,” Mera was standing at the ST main entrance, hands on hips, with a scowl like her mother. “I’m comin’,” Saritha called, taking one last look at Areth, before dawdling over to her waiting friend.
*
“So Sari, did you see Bastion play last night. Heard they were a riot.” Egar Sandrelous, Saritha’s lab partner for the past two years wasn’t much to look at. Even though he had once been a handsome lad, years spent experimenting in the various sciences, and some huge disasters had marked him. His wiry, ginger hair sat his head like a dishevelled mop, and pocks marked the left side of his face from a small mishap in a micro biology experiment before he transferred to the ST. He had kind eyes though. A rich and deep blue, and what he had lost in good looks, he more than made up for in personality and sense of humour. An avid music lover, they had spent a lot of time together at concerts in the past few years, and even though neither were romantically attached, they were too much like brother and sister for anything to have happened.
“You would not believe me if I told you. We got to the front of the stage and Mera threw her bra at Billy. Landed on one of his cymbals. They played for three straight hours with no interval. They rocked out of this world. I’m sorry you had to work late, you would have loved it.”
The engineering labs, held some of the bigger classes, almost forty students in the smallest and over sixty in the largest. Saritha’s was somewhere in the middle with forty seven. All the labs were virtually the same. Desks built for two, big enough to take pieces of engines on to meddle around with. Row upon row of desks, Four columns and six rows, with the huge desk for the pair of teachers at the front. This lab had a row of windows on the right, looking out to the fountain in the quad, a square courtyard. The lecturers at the front waited impatiently for the guest speaker, while drinking some form of morning stimulant juice. Today they were being visited by an expert in starship design and manufacture, Dr. Lans Auberg. A pioneer in the field, he was a member of the High Council, before retiring to work on the second moon of Terra, Argo. Dr. Auberg was to lecture the class on starship modifications and various uses for certain classes of ships, but Saritha had a different plan in mind.
“Egar,” Saritha pined, “Have you heard about the empire ships come to Candor?”
“Who hasn’t. It was all over the news this morning. Why do you ask?”
Damn mother. If she weren’t so stuck up I’d have seen at least a little about the damn thing. “Oh, it’s just that this Doctor used to be on the High Council, so maybe we could, y’know, extract some information.”
“You mean pump him full of questions and harass him until he has to tell us something,” a wily grin spread across Egar’s face, “Sounds fun! Hey, Rod!”
As Egar began to tell some of the other students to pass word along to help with the interrogation, Saritha looked out of the window she sat beside, gazing up into the bright, cloudless, blue sky. Two ships traced across her vision, heading down toward Candor, two ships she had never seen the likes of before. More of the empire ships, no doubt. If only I could get a look at one of them.
“If I may have your attention please,” lecturer Unas, a fuzzy faced, wrinkly man, called over the voices of chatting people, “I am pleased to announce our guest speaker is here. Can you all give a warm welcome, to the eminent Doctor, Mr. Lans Auberg.”
A flurry of clapping began, Saritha started half-heartedly, and then he entered, not a handsome man, more beautiful. Long, dark hair, dark eyes, but the most pale skin, wearing a black coat, of some kind of leather, reaching his boots, black trousers and shirt, black gloves. He almost glided into the room, exuding an air of utmost confidence and grace. His form commanded respect. The clapping subsided a little, as if all were stunned by his appearance, but then rising again to a resounding noise the lecturer had to shout above all to make everyone stop. The entrance of the man was perfectly simple, yet seemed such a grand gesture. He stood at the dead centre of the front of the room, completely still, completely quiet, not sweating a drop. The silence went on for what seemed forever. Birds could be heard in the distance, machinery in one of the other labs buzzed away, but in lab sixteen none spoke or made a sound, all eyes on the man in black.
“Some of you may have heard of me before,” the doctor said, not quietly, all could clearly hear him, but not that loudly either, “I am, as your teacher has pointed out, Dr Lars Auberg,” he pronounced Auberg very strangely, an accent Saritha was unfamiliar with, “I am a designer of vehicles to traverse the beyond, space as it has been recently dubbed. We are all students of engineering, as you must understand, we are always learning new things. Most recently I have been troubled by our work. I have seen starships from all classes, but one. One a peaceful world has no need of.”
All were quiet and looking toward the doctor. “Do we have a holographic projector in this lab, Mr. Unas,” Auberg looked to the lecturers, who looked puzzled.
“We do, in the next room, but I fail to see what this has to do with the lecture? I don’t recall the need for this in the meeting we shared.”
“Under recent circumstances I believe it is required.” Now if I had been this calm with mother, I wouldn’t have had to storm out this morning, Saritha thought to herself. As the two lecturers went into the next room, Auberg turned to the class. “I presume you all know of these ships from the Operon?”
Saritha and Egar swung around to look at each other. “How does he know? We were going to question him,” Saritha whispered.
“Question me indeed, Saritha Bellion.” Auberg was looking straight at her. ‘How does he know my name?’
All the eye’s of the class were now on her. Accusing stares, burning into her. What had she done? Just then the lecturers returned to the room. “It is ready. Do you have a disc containing your data?” Unas asked while the assistant left the room. Auberg nodded. “Then it is just through there. The students know the way. I’ll return to relieve you in an hour.” With that Unas left the room, following his assistant.
“If you would all follow me to the holo room,” Auberg left the room and headed to the holographic projector. Everyone got to their feet and followed, leaving their bags behind.
“Do you know him?” Egar asked, looking a little confused, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I thought it would be difficult to get some info out of him.”
“I honestly don’t know him,” Saritha pleaded, “He must have read a class report or something.”
“I suppose, but how did he hear us talking? He was all the way at the front of the room.” They started to follow the milling crowd to the holo room. “He must have supersonic hearing or something.”
“I don’t know about that, but I don’t really trust him. Did you notice the way he came in, it was so…. So odd.”
“How do you mean odd? He just came in and stood there.”
“You mean you didn’t see it? The way he came in was just perfect, as though he’d done it a thousand times. Maybe I’m just being stupid,” she groaned sadly, “What with the dreams and lack of sleep, I’m just not sure what to do anymore.”
“Don’t worry,” Egar reassured her, “You’re probably just still feeling tired. Just get an early night tonight. You’ll be fine.”
*
The holo room was a large, semi-circular room, dipping down from the top, ringed with rows of seats, down to a holographic projector, a device just over waist high, in a conical shape with an elongated flat top. Used normally to show the insides of various space vessels, where engine parts would go and the like, it now emanated a transparent blue light straight up to the ceiling. Dr. Auberg was waiting, next to the projector, for the students to take their seats. Saritha and Egar sat further toward the back, away from the gaze of the doctor. When everyone was seated, the doctor started fiddling with a control panel on the side of the projector. A tray slid, seemingly, from a none existent port and the doctor placed a small, thin disc in. The tray shot back in and the blue light flickered before stabilising again, with several lights on the control panel flashing up.
“Now as I said before, ships from the Operon Empire have come to our world and ambassadors are as we speak meeting with the High Council. I was supposed to be here to talk to you all about fusion reactors and plus light hyperdrives, seeing as your group has the best engineering grades in the college, but due to unforeseen events, I must change the subject. The Operon are a federation spanning several galaxies. They have a fleet far surpassing ours and they have known war like no other world we have encountered, including our own bitter history. Any questions so far?” He looked around the room, scanning faces, searching everyone.
‘Why is he telling us this? Its not like we’re going to war,’ Saritha thought to herself. While scanning the other half of the room, Auberg turned to look straight at Saritha. She looked back startled. “No. Well, I’ll tell you why I am telling you all this. From my sources in the council, I have learned the Operon wish for us to join their empire. We still know little about them and I have been asked to look at their ships to derive an intent from them. As far as I can tell they are transport ships, but I would like your opinions.”
“Why us? We’re just students,” called a voice from the right.
“Surely some of your fellow engineers on Argo would be better?” Another interrupted.
“Most of my fellows are working on other projects and I had to come here to speak with you today. What better way to find just how clever Mysidia’s best are?” Auberg grinned and flicked one of the switches on the projector. The light flickered around a little, before breaking apart to show an image of a star ship. The vessel was huge made up of many areas of a cubic design fitted together to form something like the body of an animal. Two small wings on the sides and what looked like cannons all over the hull in different places, but all very symmetrical. “This is one of the Operon vessels. As you can see, she is rather big, a quarter of a kilometre in length and about half that in width.” Awed faces looked upon the vessel. Saritha and Egar were bedazzled. “This is the smallest of their ships, the only one they could land on the planet, Candor having the largest spaceport. Auberg flicked the switch again and another vessel flashed into view, this time much larger, and more rounded, looking a little like a fat whale without a tail. There were still cannons, but so small they were barely visible. “This is one of the larger ships and in my opinion is that it is a mass transport, capable of carrying perhaps two hundred thousand or so people. At this time the council are calling a session with the other nations to decide what course of action to take, but will not adjourn till tomorrow.”
Saritha looked at the vessel, her head pulsing. Thoughts became muddled. She became less aware of her surroundings and soon just sat…
*
…alone. The vastness of space around her, encompassing her completely, as she looked on at the huge empire ship in orbit, with several others, around Terra. Light of many colours fired down from the starships, at the planet’s surface, destroying everything in sight, decimating the land. Small ships flew from the Terra’s surface, trying to escape the wanton destruction, but more ships flew from the bigger vessels and attacked the escapees. Terra screamed, tears in her eyes, noise in her mind, blood pulsing through her head, racing to get out. Unable to concentrate she cried louder, piercing the silence of space, ripping open…
*
…the classroom’s calm with an eruption of high pitched wailing. “Saritha! Saritha are you okay?” Egar held her shoulders, her eyes transfixed on the image of the starship in the centre of the room.
“They bring our doom. They’ll kill us all!”