The Lost Tribe (Sentinel Series Book 2) Read online

  The Lost Tribe

  Richard Flunker

  Copyright © 2014 by Richard Flunker

  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 author

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Published in the United States of America

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. If anything even remotely similar happened to you, I would LOVE to hear about it.

  First Publishing, 2014

  Editing by Mental Media, © 2014

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  Other works by Richard Flunker:

  Deadfall: Survivors

  The Emperor’s Daughter

  To those who find hope where there is none

  Contents

  3127 – Gemini 43, Solar edge, 423.7 light years from Sol

  3127 – Zoanda, Caliphisto Central, Akacian Ocean

  3127 – Valhalla Station, in orbit around Earth

  3127 – Alioth, Chamber of the High Council for the Independent Systems

  3127 – Eta Cassiopea, Crowns Corner Military Depot

  3127 – Alioth, Over the Northern Layea Ocean

  3127 – In a sling towards the outer edge of the Alioth system, Galaxy sub-fleet.

  3127 – Aefricano, just outside of orbit, aboard the Galaxy

  3127 – In threaded space towards Gemini 53

  3127 – Gemini 43

  2214 – Orbit of Earth, multisolar asteroid Wohali

  3127 – Gemini 53, inside large vessel of unknown origin

  3127 – Gadoni, Ama Owenose, just outside the Council of Elders

  3127 – Obrit around Gadoni, Alioth Navy Capital Ship ‘Galaxy’

  3127 – Gemini 53

  3127 – Gadoni, on board the lion transport

  3127 – Gadoni, at a clearing on the mountain knows as ‘The Shadow’

  3127 – Gadoni, Fields under The Shadow

  3127 – In orbit around Gadoni, on board the Galaxy

  3127 – With Sentinel, maybe

  3127 – Gadoni, Coastal City

  3127 – Gadoni, in orbit, on the coast, in and around Ama Owenose

  3127 – Gadoni, over the ocean.

  3127 – Gadoni, In the ruins of the city

  3127 – Gadoni System, eight AU from Gadoni.

  3127 – Gemini 43

  3127 – Gadoni system.

  3127 – Alioth

  3127 – Gadoni

  Prologue

  3127 – Gemini 43, Solar edge, 423.7 light years from Sol

  The darkness of space blinked momentarily with a flash of white, swirling light. Where once there was only the black vacuum of space, there was now a small scout ship. The small craft was shaped like a triangle, with a small feathery tail sticking out of its front end. It was a dark greenish hue, hard to see in space, and blazoned on the side were the words “Gorp Space Exploration”. As the swirl of bright light vanished into nothingness, the small ship began to move forward into space, slowly turning to head in the opposite direction. It aimed the tip of the ship towards the system’s center and revealed two giant stars locked in a wrestling match of gravity. One small speck of light now remained against the ship. It emanated from the small cabin at its tip.

  “Jump is complete, Captain,” the co-pilot, Alita Speckman, read off to the Captain of the craft. She was a smaller woman with short brown hair and an athletic, lithe body. She could easily be confused for a child if you didn’t look at her face directly. She turned the chair she was sitting in and faced the Captain.

  “Perfect. Let’s get the sensors up and running. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back,” he groaned. Captain Grayg Orster was a veteran of the new deep space exploration corps run by Gorp Space Ex. He had piloted the Blue Star, his small scout ship, on its first deep space mission and then had become its Captain from the second mission on.

  “If we can get this over with, the Captain can get back in time to watch the Commonwealth Cup game on the 5th,” commented the science officer, Ahmad Azu. He was dark-toned and sported a very large black and silver beard, that contrasted against his bald head.

  “Really, Captain? The game?” Alita joked.

  “You bet!” He explained, “We can get this done and I’ll be back to Mars to see the game. Both the Mars Olympus and the North American FC are in the top of their respective groups. This is a big game for both teams and they are playing on simulated gravity on Mars. It should be fantastic AND I have tickets.”

  Ahmad chuckled. “How much did those cost you?” The scientist tapped some commands into his console. The sensors began to display readings on his screen.

  “More than I'm ready to admit,” the Captain laughed.

  Alita just shook her head. “Well, we should have the readings done in twenty-four hours and we should be able to get back home quickly.”

  Ahmad nodded in agreement. The Captain sat down and took a deep breath.

  “Thank God for the Gora hook.”

  “Yeah, the universe got a whole lot smaller,” Alita agreed.

  Gorp Space Exploration and Logistics had discovered a new method based on the old hook technology nearly four years ago and had revolutionized interstellar travel. The distance between the stars had shrunk overnight, jumpstarting the galactic economy and sparking a whole new era of exploration and colonization. The Solar Commonwealth, the planets that included Earth, Mars, its Solar system and its allies were enjoying an unprecedented growth in wealth while their arch rival, the Dominion, was falling under the weight of its own terrible civil war.

  As the distance between the stars shrunk, the desire for new solar anomalies to study grew. Small fleets of scout ships spread throughout unknown sectors of the galaxy to map out new systems and the Blue Star was at the leading edge of discovery. The Gora hook allowed them to always remain close to Earth, though.

  “So, who are you rooting for, Captain?” Alita asked. It was a rhetorical question and Ahmad groaned in anticipation of the Captain’s response.

  “Are you serious? NA FC have the best players on Earth AND they are playing on simulated gravity, not that light Mars gravity crap. It’s gonna be a blow out,” Grayg bellowed with pride. “Don’t you think so, Mr. Azu?”

  The Captain turned to face his science officer. The dark man hadn’t responded and seemed transfixed on something on his screen. The Captain realized the way the scientist studied the screen and walked over.

  “Got something?” he asked.

  “I am not sure,” Ahmad replied. “We came here to study the twin suns over there and all the wild gravity they produce. That part is reading just fine. But look over here.” He pointed out a small oddity on the screen. He took the image and dragged it onto a secondary screen that produced the image in 3D. It looked like a funnel.

  “What is that?” the Captain asked, looking at the image, then looking out of the window.

  “You won’t be able to see it. These are gravity readings.”
>
  Alita stood up and walked towards the two men. She came to a stop behind them and tried to peer over the scientist’s shoulders.

  “Gravity readings? That looks like a hook reading.” The astute co-pilot knew her sensor readings.

  “That’s impossible,” Ahmad replied.

  “Um, no it’s not. I know one when I see one,” she defended herself.

  “Well, if that’s a hook formation, that is the biggest one I have ever seen!”

  “Go on?” the Captain asked.

  “That hole there is nearly seven hundred miles wide,” Ahmad pointed out.

  “Oh. Yeah. That is not a hook,” Alita admitted.

  The Captain smiled. “An anomaly. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we just made our bonus. Alita, plot a course to it. Let’s get everything we can. I still want to make it back in time for that game.”

  “There's only one lady,” she grumbled as she sat back down at her pilot’s seat. Within moments, the ship had entered into a maneuver known as a sling, and was traveling at high speed towards the gravity anomaly. They reached the outer edge of what the sensors considered a safe zone in two hours and the ship came to a stop. Ahmad excitedly began pouring all of the sensor’s computing power at the strange funnel.

  “This thing is reading like a black hole, just a very small one,” he said, smiling.

  “Do they exist this small?” the Captain asked.

  “Not that I know of,” Ahmad began, “well, not naturally. Our gravity drives are small black hole generators. But they are microscopic in size. This is far larger than that.”

  “How long do you need to get a full reading on this thing?” The Captain was still worried about his timetable.

  “Just a few hours. I want to get some basic readings and then drop a drone to study it while we’re gone,” Ahmad said.

  Suddenly, the ship began spinning, slowly at first. An alarm went off in the cabin and Alita rushed over to her chair.

  “Um, what is going on? I can’t get the drive to form a bubble!” she shouted.

  The Captain was already at his chair typing commands into his own console. “AHMAD!?!”

  “The thing just expanded in size! It grew from seven hundred miles to nearly two thousand. We’re in it now. It’s pulling us toward the middle.”

  “Captain, the drive isn’t responding. It’s fully online, but something is wrong. Our field is stretching out. It’s being sucked into the funnel!” Alita relayed.

  The alarm continued to blare as all three of them felt their own ship’s gravity disappear. They began floating in the chairs, held in only by their straps and buckles. The small green craft continued to move towards the center of the invisible funnel while Alita and the Captain struggled to bring the ship under control.

  “The anomaly’s gravity is far too strong; we can’t do anything!”

  The ship sped towards the center. It was being pulled in by invisible tentacles.

  The Captain turned to the scientist. “Ahmad?” he shouted.

  “No clue, Captain. These readings are off the chart! These readings indicate a black hole. We’re going to get torn apart!”

  Just as he finished that terrifying statement, the ship began to stretch before their very eyes. Alita reached her arm out and screamed as her arm began to stretch towards the ship’s window. The Captain watched terrified as he could see his nose stretching out in front of his own eyes. He turned to shout something at Ahmad and stopped stunned when he saw the dark man as a mere blur of his natural shape. The blur that was his head turned and Grayg thought he could see the scientist’s mouth moving, but no sound was reaching his ears. In fact, the entire cabin was deathly quiet.

  Time came to a standstill as the ship reached the middle of the funnel and then vanished.

  Then, everything returned to normal. The cabin was immediately filled with the high pitched screams of Alita. She sat at her chair, arms out before her, screaming. The Captain looked around and made eye contact with Ahmad. The bearded man shook his head slightly.

  “Alita!” the Captain shouted.

  The co-pilot stopped screaming and opened her eyes. Everything was back to normal.

  “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?!” she shouted.

  “Keep it calm, Alita,” Grayg ordered. “Find out what is going on!”

  An alarm continued to blare in the background. “And turn that off.”

  Alita reached out and tapped a few buttons but the alarm continued to sound.

  “Um, Captain. That is a new alarm,” she said quietly.

  “What did you say?” the Captain asked.

  The ship began to turn.

  “It’s a proximity alarm, sir,” Alita replied.

  “There's something out there. Something big,” Ahmad suddenly said.

  As the ship spun about, Grayg stood up out of his chair as an object came into view. It was a spherical object, a planetoid. His brain instantly told him it was a moon or a small planet, up until the entirety of the object filled their window. From the sphere six long legs like objects spread out from its side.

  “Ahmad?” both the Captain and the co-pilot said.

  “It’s huge, Captain. It’s the size of Luna, but it’s all metal. These readings are crazy. There are power sources all over it. That thing is definitely artificial.”

  “I think that part is obvious. Alita, where are we?”

  “We’re not in Gemini 43 anymore, that is for sure. This is a completely different system. But which I couldn’t say.”

  “Captain,” Amhad continued, “I have new readings, coming from the...whatever that is.”

  The scientist didn’t have to explain. The large sphere appeared to be breaking up as smaller pieces of it began breaking off.

  “That’s not right!” Alita exclaimed.

  “How far is that thing?” the Captain barked.

  “Twelve, maybe thirteen thousand miles,” Alita replied after a moment.

  “We need to get out of here. That funnel. Is it still here?”

  Ahmad replied that it was, nearly twelve thousand miles behind them. It had been moving away from them since they had come out of it.

  A small bubble formed in front of the Blue Star and the small green craft sped off after the moving funnel of gravity.

  “Sir, the smaller pieces that broke off of the… whatever, those are spitting out smaller pieces too, and they are coming after us, even faster. They’re going to catch up to us,” Alita said nervously.

  She brought up a 3D image of all the smaller objects speeding in their direction.

  “Just get us into the funnel and let’s hope we get lucky.”

  They watched on the display screen as the swarm of smaller objects, now being led by a larger sphere with legs of its own, continued increasing speed, closing in on them. The invisible funnel was just ahead of them as the swarm came upon them.

  “I hope this works, or there won’t be any games for me,” the Captain muttered under his breath.

  They began to hear pelting sounds against the hull of the Blue Star. The display showed that the smaller parts of the swarm had caught up to them, the larger object right behind. The sound of metal hitting their hull continued.

  “Sir, whatever they are, they’re attaching themselves to the hull,” Alita said.

  The Blue Star and the swarm reached the edge of the funnel, with the sphere in chase. They repeated their strange transformation, this time without any of the terrified screaming. Within seconds, they had entered the funnel and had returned to the system they had come from.

  “Gemini 43, Captain. Confirmed,” Alita said, gasping excitedly for breath.

  The Captain looked at his science officer.

  “Wormhole?”

  The bearded scientist started nodding his head when the ship was hit hard. It spun about and they caught a glimpse of the smaller legged sphere as it sped past in their window. The pelting against their hull began again.

  “They came with us,” the Captain said quietly.r />
  “Jump us now. Hook!” he shouted.

  The sound of metal crashing against the hull became louder and more insistent.

  “The drive is down. It’s coming back online now, but it’s going to be…” Alita began saying when a loud crash hit the rear of the small craft. The scout ship stopped spinning and the crew felt gravity returning to their ship. Alita looked up and then back at her Captain.

  “That thing, the round thing. It has us.”

  There was a loud grinding sound coming from the rear of the ship. The Captain shook his head then ran towards a small hatch near where Ahmad was seated. He opened it up and pulled out three rifles, tossing one to each of his crew members. Alita caught the weapon and looked back at the Captain, fear in her eyes.

  “Sorry about this,” he apologized. “Ahmad, scuttle the drive and launch the drones.”

  Tears began to form in the co-pilot’s eyes as she turned the rifle on. The black weapon began lighting up along the shaft. Ahmad set commands into the ship’s computer and hit enter. He grabbed his rifle and walked up to the Captain. The three crew members stood, facing the entrance to their small bridge. The grinding sound had stopped.

  The Captain reached down next to his chair and took out their breathing masks. He tossed two to Alita and Ahmad.

  “We might as well make this count,” he said, putting his on. “You get those drones off?”

  “I set the command.” The man sounded doubtful.

  The sound of a large metal object crashing against more metal echoed down through the ship. The three humans brought their rifles up and waited, peering into the darkness of the corridor that led away from their bridge. Alita was shaking as she held her rifle.

  A blast of air flooded into the room, nearly knocking them over. Alita was the first to stand back up as a form grew out of the darkness.

  Her eyes grew large in shock.

  “What is…?” she gasped, when a secondary shock of air blasted the room, knocking the whole crew out.

  Part 1