Callacean: Fractured Space Book 2 (A Novella) (Fractured Space Series) Read online

  CALLACEAN

  FRACTURED SPACE BOOK TWO

  A NOVELLA

  BY J G CRESSEY

  Callacean

  Fractured Space Book Two

  A Novella

  Copyright © 2017 by J G Cressey

  www.jgcressey.com

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, places or events is purely Coincidental.

  First Printing, 2017

  Edited by Amanda Shore

  Cover art by Justin Adams

  Cover design by Inspired Cover Designs

  Formatting by Polgarus Studio

  Also by J G Cressey

  Harper’s 10 (Prequel to the Fractured Space series)

  Star Splinter (Fractured Space Book One)

  Coming late summer 2017

  Shattered Moon (Fractured Space Book Three)

  For news of progress and release dates please visit www.jgcressey.com where you can follow my posts and sign up for my newsletter.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Author’s note

  Recap of Book One

  Chapter 1 Shark

  Chapter 2 Hotdogs

  Chapter 3 Callacean

  Chapter 4 Fincher

  Chapter 5 Jim Douglas

  Chapter 6 Confrontation

  Chapter 7 Run

  Chapter 8 Maze

  Chapter 9 Panic

  Chapter 10 Docks

  Chapter 11 Dive

  Chapter 12 Jaxen

  Chapter 13 Aftermath

  Epilogue

  Sample chapter for Book Three

  Author’s Thanks

  For my sister, Helen.

  A fellow creative whose music is truly inspirational.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  For those of you who were quick to buy this novella hot off the press, be assured that the much longer Book 3 (Shattered Moon) is also written and is going through its final polishing stages to be released very soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Callacean and that it leaves you hungry for what is soon to come!

  RECAP OF BOOK ONE

  For those who read Star Splinter, the first book of the series, some time ago, here’s a quick refresher of the story so far:

  Onboard the Starship Terran, Lieutenant Callum Harper was court-martialed for punching his commanding officer Captain Lawrence Decker: a weak-minded fool who gained his rank purely through privilege. Cal was sent back to Earth on what is commonly known as a Reject Raft.

  Due to strange circumstances, the Reject Raft didn’t make it to Earth, and Cal found himself marooned on Mars (now terraformed into a jungle planet) with three young companions (Viktor, Eddy and Toker) and a modified synthetic combat soldier named Melinda.

  They were soon discovered by one of Cal’s old mentors: Jumper Decoux, a big game food hunter. With Jumper’s aid, they survived the perils of Mars’ jungles only to find the colony headquarters ravaged and empty. But far worse, Earth has been destroyed by an unknown force.

  The six of them left Mars on a huge cargo ship in search of fellow humans and answers. The first inhabited colony they reached was Magnet City, a huge mass of melded ships drifting through space.

  There, Cal learned Earth was destroyed by three colossal alien crafts. Rumors told that the crafts were inhabited by an alien race known as the Carcarrions. This Cal found impossible to believe as the Carcarrions were a primitive race, practically still living in caves. There were also rumors that the Federation military had been completely overrun, and since the attack, all interstellar communications between the thousands of human colonies had been inexplicably rendered inert.

  The owner of Magnet City, a notorious con man named Aaron Hogmeyer, tried to take their cargo ship and lives in the process. Turning the tables on him, Cal and the gang escaped the city with one of Hogmeyer’s prize ships: a Star Splinter Harper 7.

  Continuing in their search for answers, Cal and the gang navigated to a military base near fringe space only to find it deserted. It is there they encountered a large, highly advanced research vessel, The Orillian. All the vessel’s crew had jumped ship bar a single biologist named Kaia Svensson.

  Kaia showed them the secrets of The Orillian, including an unparalleled strength serum named Xcel, and a pool of black healing liquid. Both of these miraculous substances had been recently discovered on a planet called Alvor.

  Kaia also had knowledge of the invading aliens. Not only that but she observed some of them on the Carcarrion home world C9. The aliens were holding thousands of military personnel captive on the planet’s surface.

  Kaia theorized that the aliens (whom they named the Insidions) had the ability to kill and hijack the bodies of alien races, the Carcarrions included, turning them into controllable drones by way of parasite-like slugs that insert tendrils into the central nervous system.

  Captain Lawrence Decker (the commanding officer whom Cal punched months previously) was among the thousands of military personnel held captive by the Insidions. The long ordeal ignited a hidden strength in Lawrence, and he began to inspire and lead his fellow captives.

  Thanks to a strange little man named Tark, Lawrence discovered that there were still Carcarrions dwelling in hidden caves who had escaped the attacking Insidions and avoided being turned into drones.

  Cal managed to make contact with Lawrence Decker in the prison camp and shared with him a large-scale rescue plan that would utilize a derelict starship and its dropships.

  Jumper, Toker, Eddy, Viktor, and Melinda went to the planet’s surface to aid with the escape plan. Cal and Kaia remained onboard The Orillian. The highly advanced Insidions were emitting some sort of signal that rendered pulse-based weapons inert. Utilizing a VR-controlled synthetic Carcarrion, Cal and Kaia remotely infiltrated the Insidion base to destroy the source of this signal.

  Inside the base, they witnessed an incredible variety of alien species, all seemingly drones with the slug-like parasites visible on their necks.

  Just as Cal and Kaia destroyed the signal, pirates (who had been tracking Kaia for some time), attacked The Orillian. They were led by a man named Rekvit and had two synthetic combat soldiers in their ranks. Thanks to a dose of Kaia’s Xcel strength serum (and a timely arrival from Melinda), Cal succeeded in killing most of the pirates, but Rekvit escaped, taking Kaia hostage in the process.

  On the planet’s surface, the Insidions launched a brutal attack during the rescue, and Eddy lost an arm to a giant crab-like beast, another Insidion drone, during combat.

  After almost being buried alive during the attack, Lawrence made it to the dropships thanks to his friend Tark and a number of the surviving Carcarrions.

  Once onboard the starship, the survivors of the rescue successfully fled the Insidions and headed for the planet Alvor.

  Both Cal and Lawrence required many sessions in The Orillian’s miraculous healing pool to help with their severe injuries. During the journey to Alvor, Lawrence asked Cal for his forgiveness for his past mistakes and foolishness. Impressed by the change in the man, Cal offered his forgiveness and told Lawrence of his plans to search for Kaia.

  Chapter 1 Shark

  Suspended alone in the depths, Cal watched the huge shark glide in a wide arc, its tail fin flicking sharply as it turned its broad, flat nose in his direction. He nervously ran his tongue over his gum-breather, the watery
surroundings suddenly feeling a good deal colder as he gave his goggles an unnecessary tweak. Every instinct told him to bolt to the surface. To paddle back to the break line and ride the first wave in. But he ignored the urge. He was afraid, but it was that addictive kind of fear, the kind with the power to turn even the smartest of people temporarily stupid. He glanced at the ocean’s glimmering surface far above then twitched the buoyancy control on his surfboard, causing him to slip a little deeper. The shark was still a way off, a distant, pale gash in the flawless blue, but it was picking up speed by the second.

  As the beast’s sharp angles and smooth lines became clearer, Cal found himself increasingly perplexed by the uncanny resemblance it held with the tiger sharks of Earth: the wide, flat nose, the mottled markings mapping its long back, even the unique shape of the serrated teeth in the gaping, downturned mouth. Cal marveled that examples of convergent evolution extended across unfathomable distances of space. The only discernible difference was the creature’s size. But then, everything was vastly larger in the oceans of Aqualorian Prime.

  Gripping his surfboard with his legs, Cal did his best to disconnect from his fear. But it wasn’t an easy thing. The creature was huge, perhaps even as large as the rebirthed Megalodon shark he’d once seen in Earth’s Bay Aquarium. But in truth, there was no real comparison. That Megalodon had boasted an almost demonic appearance, a black-eyed look of death that this creature didn’t even come close to matching. One could even argue that this shark’s flat nose and awkward mouth gave it a somewhat comical appearance, dumb even.

  Still, dumb-looking or not, Cal felt his heart pounding almost painfully as the predator opened its jaws wide, filling his vision with rows of serrated teeth and torn shreds of blubbery flesh that quivered against the rushing water. Then, Cal’s gut lurched, adrenaline pulsing as the beast made an ardent attempt to swallow him whole. He tried to keep his eyes open, but in the end, the urge to shut them tight and flinch away was overwhelming.

  By the time he turned back, the shark had already been repelled, its huge body bucking and twisting in an almost acrobatic display. Cal felt a twinge of guilt as he straightened up and watched the huge fish desperately trying to right itself. He’d really led the brute into that one, suspended alone in the blue expanse as he was. But the anti-shark field had done its job well. He hadn’t even felt a surge of water, let alone the shark’s jaws clamping down on him. An impressive feet of engineering, especially considering the protective barrier encircled the entire island.

  Eventually, the shark regained its composure and slowly glided away, its movements once again smooth and assured as if the mishap had never occurred. Cal watched until it was gone then continued to stare into the deep, blue waters. He’d always found the sight calming yet a touch eerie. He loved nearly every ocean he’d seen, but no matter how good a swimmer he became or how adept his technological aids, he always felt a touch vulnerable—a clumsy visitor in a strange, often lethal world.

  He tried to convince himself that it was simple curiosity that had lured him beneath the waves, nothing but an inquisitive urge to study the energy barrier that protected them from the monsters of the deep. But the truth was that he’d needed the distraction. Needed the thrill. Something to dilute his frustration. He’d also needed time to think, and what better place to do so than in the quiet depths. Not that thinking had gotten him very far of late. Eight months had passed, countless colonies had been visited, and a ridiculous amount of thinking had been done, but still he was no closer to finding Kaia.

  Rendezvous back at Hex.

  The words had repeated in the back of his mind ever since he’d regained consciousness on The Orillian. The one who’d taken Kaia—the pirate named Rekvit—he’d given the order as clear as day. But what was Hex? Where was Hex? He’d lost count of how many people he’d asked and how many databases he’s scoured. But he’d found nothing. Not a single damn thing.

  Where are you, Kaia? Where in hell are you?

  Cal felt the urge to give his eyes a rub but settled for readjusting his goggles. As it always did of late, thinking was fast turning to guesswork. Then would come the frustration. Then the anger. He’d begun the search with such confidence. How hard could hunting pirates be? Surely, it was just a case of following the trail of destruction? But destruction had become a widespread thing of late, and with every passing month, Cal’s confidence had waned.

  I should be searching right now, not floating in this damn ocean.

  Gripping the edges of the surfboard, he stared down at its smooth, white surface and, not for the first time, conjured a mental picture of what he’d do to Rekvit when he finally caught up with the man. The sight wasn’t a pretty one. Forcing the violent image away, he instead thought of Kaia. The crazy truth of it was that he barely knew her—an irrefutable fact but one that didn’t stop him from feeling quite the opposite. At times, he felt as though he knew no one better. Strange how such a full and deep impression could have been made in so short a time. The events of those few days had been intense; there was no denying that. Such a situation with thousands of lives in the balance was bound to intensify any relationship no matter how brief. But there was more to it than that. And it wasn’t just Kaia’s beauty. Not just her radiant smile or her blue eyes that seemed to—

  Thwump.

  Cal reeled, body and mind suddenly spinning. Something had hit him—a violent surge of water that had somehow made it through the protective barrier to send his surfboard smacking painfully into his face. It was enough to knock his daydreaming clean out of his head, an acute, instinctual panic instantly taking its place. He opened his eyes wide, but his goggles had been torn off, and all he saw was a weird, blurry dance of light. In a clumsy rush, he pulled his board under one arm and used his free hand to reposition the goggles. Once the auto-purge had cleared them, he blinked a few times and stared in confusion at the wide, crackling net of electricity before him. The anti-shark field wasn’t looking so good. In fact, on seeing that the entire thing was shifting in a weird display of juddering light, he came to the conclusion that it was thoroughly and unequivocally screwed.

  Shit… Shit.

  The shark had returned. Beyond the electric crackle, Cal could see it circling around for another hit. The big brute’s movements were swift, and all of a sudden, it was looking decidedly less dumb—something Cal suspected couldn’t be said for himself. Fumbling with his board’s buoyancy control, he held on tight and began to ascend as fast as possible.

  Making it look effortless, the shark matched his ascent and, with a good deal of renewed vigor, bolted toward him again.

  Shit shit shit.

  Cal caught a second horrific glimpse of jagged teeth before a burst of blinding white light shocked his eyes. The energy barrier buckled, and he gripped his board with everything he had as a second surge of water hit him. Again, the shark was repelled but this time far less convincingly, and the remaining dance of light over the barrier’s surface became noticeably duller. Desperately, Cal looked up, focusing on the fast-approaching surface. But it seemed an age before he reached it, and with the surfboard’s buoyancy set to max, he was almost launched clean out of the water.

  Without wasting a second, he repositioned himself and began paddling as fast as his adrenaline-fueled arms could manage. When he’d first used the surfboard a week previously, he remembered marveling at how speedily it glided through the water. Now, it felt as though he were trying to encourage it through treacle.

  “Toker, we’re heading in,” he shouted as he paddled toward his young friend, putting enough verve into the instruction that he almost spat out his precious gum breather. Toker was sitting up on his board, watching Eddy as she made her way back out past the breaking waves.

  He turned to Cal with his usual white-toothed grin. “Sure, Cal,” he replied casually, his voice a little distorted from his own gum breather. “A couple more waves, then we’ll see what Jumper’s cooked up.”

  “No more waves,” Cal rasped bet
ween breaths. “The anti-shark field’s packed in.” He took a moment to sit up and look back. “I don’t think it’s going to hold out, and there’s a big bastard trying to get through.” Cal tried to scan the expanse of water, but both of the Aqualorian suns were now teaming up to create an almost blinding glare. He considered dipping his head beneath the water, but if the toothy brute was coming, he didn’t want to waste time assessing its progress. He turned to urge Toker into action, but his young friend was already away, arms thrashing in a wild but highly effective paddle. Deciding to adopt the technique himself, Cal followed in his wake.

  Trying to ignore the feeling of his bare feet trailing through the water, Cal kept his eyes focused on the rich, orange sands of the distant beach and set about praying for another set of waves to form. Up ahead, Toker began screaming something inaudible at Eddy and kept screaming it as he shot straight past her. Sitting up on her board, Eddy pulled out her gum breather and jiggled her jaw a bit. “What the hell’s up with him?” she asked Cal as he neared.

  Cal winced. “Big frickin’ shark,” he managed. “Take us in, Ed… Full power.”

  Eddy’s eyes widened, and roughly shoving her gum breather back into her mouth, she twisted back onto her board. Taking hold of the girl’s ankle, Cal gripped it hard as she bashed at her controls. They took off at an alarming but entirely welcoming rate. For their first day on the island, Eddy had spent most of her time going in circles as she struggled to rein in the available cybernetic power of her prosthetic arm. Fortunately, the jet-powered board that Toker had assigned her the next day ensured that she at least went in a straight line.