Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller Brandon Ellis (ebook reader for comics txt) 📖

include a launch date, and force them to re-think the mission. We’re in it together. All for one, and one for all.” He regretted the last bit, as soon as he’d said it. He’d been doing well, feeling inspirational, but had gone all Three Musketeers on himself.

No one seemed to care.

“That it?” said astigmatic.

“That’s it,” said Drew.

He wanted to hug someone, shake hands, something to show how grateful he was. Knowing, however, that starwanderer3, jabberwockmyass, or bitemymegabite were all probably too geeked out for human emotion and had problems with processing sense-data, just as he did, meant hugs were not on the menu.

He did his best imitation of a salute and sent his three-person army off to save mankind.

49

June 10thWest Glacier, Montana

Rivkah hovered the Oospor Class-9 Dropship above a forest in a remote area in Montana. It was late morning and the sun gave off a white-yellow glare across a meadow to the east.

She jabbed a finger at the view screen. “I’ll take it down in that meadow.” Her voice was hard.

She had talked little during the flight. When she did talk, every word had an edge. She didn’t hide her anger or her misery.

“How far are we from civilization?” Jaxx asked.

“Not far enough.” She brought up a map on the view screen. “Ten miles from Polebridge, Montana. Population, 132.”

She lowered the dropship in the meadow. The descent was quiet, even the landing. She pressed a button and the dropship’s ramp hissed open. “Let’s go.”

Jaxx shot her a look. “Couldn’t we park any closer to Polebridge? We’re ten miles away.”

“I want as little attention as possible. You can come or stay, I don’t care.” The ramp shook as it hit the ground, resting on a patch of wildflowers. She walked down the ramp and around the dropship, disappearing from view.

“I need the exercise,” said Jaxx. “I wonder if I was a jock when I was in the SSP? Was this hiking through the forests shit easy for me?” He grabbed the laptop and hurried toward Rivkah. The wildflowers and grasses were so tall, they reached his waist. Trees circled the meadow. The smell of Douglas Firs swept past him, borne on a chilly breeze.

Rivkah hacked a path through the undergrowth—flowers and all—as she ploughed through the meadow, only glancing back once to see if Jaxx was following.

He caught up. “Are we heading to a road?”

“Yes.”

“Then what?”

They reached the tree line and stepped into the forest. The ambient temperature dropped ten degrees in the shade.

“Then we walk until we reach Polebridge.”

“Why?”

“I don’t have to tell you squat. Like I said, you can come or not. I don’t give a damn. I have people who can help me disappear. You want to come, that’s up to you.” She turned and continued her vigorous hike.

Jaxx halted next to a wide tree. “Stop. You and Fox treat me like I am the scum of the Universe. Why?”

She walked back to Jaxx, her face a dangerous shade of “screw you, asshole” and sank her hand onto his throat. She pushed him against the tree. And squeezed. “Do not couple me in the same sentence as Fox. Ever.”

A zap went through her and she let go with a yelp, then shook her hand.

Jaxx rubbed his neck. “I’m sorry, but what the hell did I do to you? I pissed Richard off so damn much, he shot me twice. And you clearly want to do the same.”

“If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” She stepped over a downed tree. “You left me for dead.”

Jaxx blanched. That would be a good reason to be pissed. “I have a hard time believing I left you to die.”

She ducked under a large branch. “How convenient.”

Up ahead, a road bordered the edge of the forest. He was happy it was a short walk to civilization, although in this case, civilization was just a road. “Slade had me undergoing hypnosis. I’ve gotten to the point where I saved your life.”

She stopped and spun, almost putting a finger on Jaxx’s chest but thought better of it. “Yes. The blood. Thank you for your blood. The gift that keeps on giving. I can move things with my mind, hear what you’re thinking, and conduct electricity when I touch you. It’s a barrel of laughs.” She strode ahead, determined to shake him off. “Whatever screwed-up anomaly is inside you, I got it now. I heard mention of an enlarged and open pineal gland? Thanks for giving me part of your birth mark. Glad you’re not alone anymore?”

Jaxx heard mention of it too. Perhaps when he was under hypnosis with Donny or in passing. “I’m probably not the only one in the world with a larger than normal pineal gland.”

“Good, then find them and make some friends.” She walked onward, hands in a fist by her side.

Jaxx followed. “Rivkah, please tell me. Tell me the whole story. I cannot imagine any circumstance where I would leave you to die.”

“You want to know?” She kicked a rock out of the way. “I went after you, Jaxx.”

“You went after me?”

“After you defected to the Taiyonians. I convinced the SSP high command that I was going to get back our so-called star pilot. But, I wasn’t going to retrieve you. I was going to join you. I gave you my call-sign when I approached and you shot me down. My ejection booster didn’t work and when I survived the crash, albeit nearly burned to a crisp, you circled my location over and over, like a predator mocking its prey. You left me for dead.”

Jaxx didn’t know how to react, what to say. He didn’t remember shooting her down. “My guess is I didn’t know it was you. Or, I couldn’t find you down there when I circled. I wouldn’t leave a friend to die.”

She nodded, eyes wide. “You know what? That’s what I thought. Even though I could have sworn I heard you telling me to ‘pull up’ seconds after you shot me.”

Jaxx brightened. “So I