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Category: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Description: The war continues and opposing forces struggle for control of the Universe. The true effect, of mans tinkering with reality, is about to be revealed; which could lead to the destruction of the Imperium, and perhaps the very fabric of the space and time itself. Unlikely heroes emerge to change the outcome of this desperate conflict. And some, as usual, only try to manipulate the situation for their own benefit.
eBook Publisher: Double Dragon Publishing/Double Dragon Publishing, 2010 Double Dragon eBooks
eBookwise Release Date: June 2010

6 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [212 KB]
Words: 40879
Reading time: 116-163 min.

Chapter 1: Star Fall

The starship crash landed badly and tumbled out of control. Huge sections of her hull were torn off where the shields failed and duralloy plating made contact with the unforgiving ground. Over and over, end on end, until the momentum was spent. Then as luck would have it she landed right side up facing forward; dense forest burning in a trail of devastation behind her. At the helm Professor Brienstien; a scientist and clone of Einstein the famous scientist with a similar name, lay unconscious as the holo-control projectors in front of him smoldered and caught fire. But of course, Brienstien was no ordinary man. He was genetically engineered to be superior in many ways. The sudden deceleration had caused him to injure his head, and blue blood trickled down his mop of tangled white hair. An alarm was sounding, although he could not hear it.

It was then a shadow appeared out of the approaching darkness drawn by the dramatic spectacle of the explosion. The figure was that of a man, and he was dressed in the dirty, worn clothes of a survivor. He went inside the burning ship and looked left and right along the access passage. The doors had opened themselves as part of the emergency escape protocol, and he hesitated before going inside. The fire was beginning to burn out of control. He shielded his face with a large green hand, and made his way to the bridge of the small freighter. There he found the unconscious body of the pilot slumped forward in his grav-harness. He deactivated the magno-locks and then dragged the strange looking man out of the burning bridge. He was exceptionally strong, and easily took the stranger outside, and put him down at a safe distance from the raging flames, which were consuming the vessel.

Then he took a risk and went back inside, going left this time towards the cargo bay; to see what the ship was carrying. An opportunity for salvage could not be ignored. He was gone for another minute before returning with a medium sized storage container. The smoke was black and dense now, and he just made it off the ship when there was a sudden explosion from the bridge, that rocked the ground and sent bits of duralloy shrapnel flying out in every direction. He was lucky this time and flattened himself against the earth. He jumped back up and dragged the unconscious man further away from the stricken starship. He returned a few moments later and recovered the salvaged container, and when that was done; watched from a safe distance as the ship broke up under the force of multiple blasts which broke her back completely. In a few hours there wouldn't be much left. He turned his attention to the container, and found that it was locked and would not open. He tried to bash it with a rock, and then lever it with a length of metal; but the rock crumbled and the metal bent. He became frustrated and threw the container down. He pulled out a blaster pistol and shot at it; but the pulse bounced off and set fire to a nearby tree. Clearly that wasn't going to work either. He looked up at the sky and knew it was going to be night soon. The commotion would bring many scavengers and with the darkness just as much danger. Now a decision needed to be made. He couldn't take the stranger and the container at the same time, as it wasn't possible to lift both of them. So he wrestled with himself and then decided to hide the container and save the stranger. When he was done concealing the item, he returned and lifted the man onto his shoulders, and walked carefully off into the shadows of the mutated forest.