Terra Nova (The Terra Nova Chronicles Book 1) by Richard Fox & Josh Hayes

Author:Richard Fox & Josh Hayes [Fox, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Triplane Press
Published: 2017-11-26T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Jared marched through what had once been the command deck of the Christophorous. Repurposing it for the Ultari vessel had been an order, one that was not to be questioned. He lumbered down the corridor, noting the non-human changes to the ceiling and a golden plaque on the entrance to the bridge that hadn’t been there the last time he’d been summoned.

That this new ship still didn’t have a name bothered him; it was bad luck for a vessel to go without a name after the keel was laid.

Bad luck…by human custom.

His Netherguard stopped well short of the bridge and stood against the bulkheads. The doors slid open for him and he fell to his knees as soon as he crossed the threshold. He set both palms to the deck and pressed his forehead to the chill metal, kowtowing to his masters.

He held the pose as heavy footsteps sounded around him.

“Rise,” came from a deep voice with a machine edge.

Jared got to his feet, head still bowed. The smell of ozone made his face twitch, and a tinge of fear gripped his heart.

“At last your promises have come true,” a new voice said, the tone on the edge of a growl.

Jared looked up. A robot stood before him, the frame edged with razors, the head bearing a crown of spikes. Photoreceptors for eyes glowed yellow beneath a flat face. The robot raised a three-fingered hand, the digits overly long and bearing an extra knuckle. A blade snapped from out beneath the wrist. The edge hummed as the robot flicked it past Jared’s face.

“Earth has sent another ship, Prince Zviera?” Jared asked. After so many years, could it be true?

“Several ships.” The prince turned and walked away, moving on legs with the knees reversed, like a cat’s hind legs.

“Will these have what we need?” another robot asked from within a holo globe. Alien writing and images of human anatomy flowed around Arch Duke Cigyd, his frame thinner than the prince’s and without the sharp ornamentation.

“I…am confident,” Jared said. “If Ibarra sent this many ships, the chance is far higher that one with the key is with them.”

“If you had delivered the Shannon woman, then this would not be necessary,” Zviera said. “We could have left this prison years ago.”

“Such impatience,” a third voice said. In the center of the bridge, a throne built into a dais slowly twisted around. A robot with a gleaming silver chassis edged in gold and with a scarlet sash over one shoulder regarded Jared with golden eyes. Even though none of the robots had faces to carry their expression, Jared could still feel their emotions.

Emperor Kyrios stood up. At nearly ten feet tall, he towered over Jared.

“How long did we suffer, trapped in the mind locks?” Kyrios rapped his knuckles against the prince’s chest. “Then the god of vengeance answered our pleas by delivering the humans to our doorstep. For millennia, we waited for the chance to escape, and we received just enough to test us, enough to goad the foolish into disaster.

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