Leech

  LEECH

  ELLIE DOUGLAS

  Copyright © 2019 by Ellie Douglas

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places, persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

  Published by Ellie Douglas, Auckland New Zealand

  www.authorellie.com.co.nz

  Cover design by Michelle Douglas

  https://www.authorellie.com/covers

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  3010 - PLANET SOL

  Back on Earth

  On Board the USS Genesis

  The Beginning of the End

  Deadlock

  Dead Reckoning

  Trapped

  Search and Destroy

  Relentless

  Epilogue

  3010 - PLANET SOL

  It took four days to arrive on planet Sol. Eleven light-years from Earth; the jump into warp-drive was efficient. The air was breathable, and the gravity was almost as high as it was on Earth. It was John Lancaster’s 70th trip to Sol and the first time he would be able to see parts of the southeast side of the planet. His team of eighty was divided into smaller explorer teams that were made up of photographers, mappers and graphics, weather watchers, engineers and contractors. John’s team would be collecting samples that would be taken back to Earth for testing. His team would also name any new species of fauna, flora, or locations.

  Sol was fifty times larger than Earth itself. It would take another thousand trips or more to cover each area and John hoped his request for more teams wouldn’t fall on deaf ears this time. He often contemplated an early retirement, missing his daughter growing up was at the forefront of his mind. The two-million-dollar salary he earned on every exploratory mission stopped him from actually quitting. For now, he would accept the little time he got with his wife and daughter and treasure those memories as much as humanly possible.

  It was for him, the best of times and certainly the most dangerous too. He was driven by the notion of preparing Sol for colonization and being at the forefront of discovering new species. The threat of any sentient life had already passed. There was none. The only thing he and his team had to worry about was making sure that the planet was indeed habitable for humans and ready for colonization. The soil had been rigorously tested and proved to be filled with an abundance of the right minerals to grow food. The atmosphere was 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gasses essential to life, just as it was on Earth.

  Over the last 150 years, scientists from all over the world had been testing Sol for everything and had come up with the same answer; that it was almost ready for humans. Before that could happen, John and his team, plus one hundred and twenty other teams, were to scope out every inch of the planet; to take samples, to live and breathe in the oxygen; to do a series of multiple and repeated tasks over and over to ensure it was ready. This was to be one of the last seven missions before ships were to begin transporting the first group of people to colonize Sol. If everything was approved. It was an exciting time and one John was looking forward to. He couldn’t wait to bring Lucy and Alice to the planet and have them settled into what would be one of the first houses built. Cities would go up. Roads would be built. Everything was aimed to be completed by 3035, with work to begin in June. The missions he and his team were assigned to would last the next five years. Five more years away from his family; six to eight months on each trip. He took in a deep breath of air and carried on, shoving his thoughts aside to do the job he was there to do.

  Along the southeast side was the planet’s ocean, which went around the entire circumference of the planet, yet offered different beaches across the vast locations, without separating the areas by a body of water. The ocean water was a salmon pink rather than green-blue and the foam when the waves broke ashore seemed to dissolve in seconds rather than bubble and remain as it did on Earth. The sun offered fourteen hours of daylight, which was consistent through the entire planet. Two moons; one a light blue, the other would alternate between cream and off white with an orange tint. From observations and data collected over the past six years, they saw five times the number of solar eclipses and noted two high tides per day.

  There were clouds that only showed up once a month and from them rain would fall. The water from the rain was drinkable. The grass was stronger and perfect for farming as it was filled with all the nutrients needed. Trees were fused together like conjoined twins. Two in one. They also seemed to grow to one height only, sixteen feet exactly. The coloring of the trees was not green. The wood was a deep rust color. Their leaves were pigmented with purple and turquoise, and the edges were outlined in a deep burnt orange. There was no green on the planet, not even the grass. John found the forests mesmerizing. They were so uniform that it reminded him of the pictures he’d seen of the terracotta soldiers. One thing that stood out was that the species of birds on the planet were sparse. What they did see was rare and he wondered if the birds of the planet had started to become extinct. Further analysis of the planet would be needed. Months of work lay ahead of them for so many different things. It excited him, yet he pined for his wife and daughter with each day that passed.

  John and his team noticed that the southeast had 30% more foliage and a range of animals they hadn’t seen before. In the mountains, goats with two tails roamed free. Mountain lions, the size of full-grown zebras, hunted the goats. The standout for John was that they had only one eye. They quickly got the nickname of rocky-cyclops.

  Under observation, they found out that there was also an additional source of food for them at the bottom of the mountain in the forest. Wild boars were in the thousands. Once again, these boars varied from the ones back on Earth. So much so, they gave John nightmares. They had thick tusks that curled outward, then wrapped around themselves at the top of their heads. Each one sported two incisor teeth that were the size and shape of a saber-tooth tiger’s tooth and projected from their wide, elongated mouths. They were found to be extremely docile, making them an easy target for the rocky-cyclops to devour.

  Butterflies were in abundance and looked like a cross between a dragonfly and butterfly. Each one a vibrant purple and outlined in deep-sea blue, and all of them glowed in the dark like flying fairy lights. It fascinated the team.

  Two days before they were due to leave the planet, the team followed a meteor shower that entered the atmosphere and rained down five miles from where they were. The hike out proved invaluable as they stumbled upon an unusual type of fish that could live both on land and in water. Much like the walking catfish on Earth, these ‘land fish’ crawled between the three lakes which spanned an area about the size of Manhattan. Each of the lakes were side by side and were only separated by a patch of grass 1.5 miles wide. Each lake was of a teal coloring, with a tinge of cornflower blue that was darker at the edges. The land fish, they nicknamed ‘Crocuna’, based on how they looked like an undersized tuna, and that they had the same kind of legs at the back like a crocodile. Their front legs were thinner but longer than their back legs. Their coloring all over was a pale red. The gills of the fish opened like sunflowers when they were out of the water, and when they were in the water, they became flush against their skin. John and his team wanted to study them further in the future.

  When they reached the area of where the meteor shower landed it was covered with black rocks. They didn’t think anything of it. There was little da
mage to the foliage and ground. John took one of the little rocks, and turned it over in his hand, inspecting it. It felt solid. It looked like any other bit of rock and he thought to himself how perfect it would be for his daughter Lucy, who had been begging him for a long time to bring something back from space for her. He pocketed one and they carried on. A team of scientists were headed to the same area for further sampling of the meteorites and surrounding foliage.

  John’s most memorable experience on this trip was his and the team’s discovery of a valley of glowing plants which floated on a mirrored lake. It was the most majestic thing they had ever seen. The plants were shaped like upturned umbrellas. The colors were a vibrant sun- orange which shimmered with a white outline that held a fiery red center. They hovered on the surface above the lake seemingly dance-like; no sounds were heard. It was the most peaceful part of the planet they had discovered. Samples were taken from the lake. Several of the plants were bottled.

  The very next morning they were scheduled to fly back to Earth for much-needed supplies. Nine of them, including John, were making the trip back home. The rest of the team were staying on Sol. The discoveries they had made needed to be reported, and samples had to be handed over to be analyzed. With plans to return to Sol two days after they landed back on Earth, John knew it wasn’t going to be enough time to see Alice and Lucy. Two weeks ago, Alice informed him via his commlink that she had to leave immediately for Australia. Her mother had experienced a heart attack. She took Lucy and they weren’t expected back in time to see him during his short layover on Earth to resupply. It completely disheartened John, but he knew in six more months he’d be home to see them. With that in mind, he prepared his team for the flight back to Earth.

  Back on Earth

  Nico grabbed at the rock. “John, what is that you keep playing with?”

  Moving stealthily out of Nico’s reach, John looked as if he had stepped out of a myth from long ago. He was like a towering, bronze statue that breathed, walked, talked, and gave commands. At six feet, six inches, he toyed with Nico, juggling the rock from one large palm to the other without dropping it. His facial features didn’t change. He watched Nico in a playful yet authoritative manner. He carried himself like the captain he was.

  “I just want to look at it.” Nico insisted, as he reached for the rock while it gently passed between John’s hands. No matter how close he thought he was, he still missed by several inches. Second-in-Command Nico Farone stood five feet, eleven inches tall. He was still wearing his NASA overalls; they were bright white with blue stitching down the sides and a blue logo on the chest with his name and rank. He gave up trying to get a look at the rock and started off.

  “You give up too soon,” chuffed John.

  “Well, I wouldn’t say give up. It’s more like I’m letting you win,” Nico retorted, with a quiet laugh.

  “You keep telling yourself that. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” John tossed the rock at Nico as he walked away, accidentally/on purpose hitting him in the head.

  “What the hell?” Nico rubbed at the back of his head. His eyes meet John’s briefly, and he gave him a scathing look. He then looked down at the polished, wooden floor of the bunker where the rock lay broken in two. Something spilled out of the center of it as he bent to pick it up, a kind of black goo which drizzled all over his fingers. He turned the stone in his hand. There was a nonagon, hollow shape in the middle, which expanded towards the edge. It was a deep, hunter-green color on the outside, with a darker shade of green forming closer to the middle. In the center, where the black goo originated, was a glowing white aura around it in a squiggly pattern. He felt a sharp prick to his index finger when it accidentally slipped into the cavity. He grimaced at the muck. The stuff inside leaked out over his digits, but his hand was completely dry.

  “You didn’t have to throw it at me. You broke it.” He held out his hand. “Strangest damn thing... It had a liquid center. It was leaking, but now it’s not...”

  “Gee, your head must be made of steel. By the way, would you believe I was aiming for your ass?”

  “You aren’t funny. You know that, right? Besides, what’s so special about this weird rock?” Nico quizzed, while staring at it. He handed it back to John, puzzled by the substance that had completely vanished. It looked like any other black bit of rock on the outside. It felt the same in weight to any other rock and had no distinct markings. Except when it broke in half and bled out like gummy sap from a tree.

  “I picked it up from Sol for Lucy. She begged me to bring something back from outer space. I guess now she’ll get two halves. I’m kind of glad it broke, it looks like a fossil of some kind of plant with nine sides inside. Those colors are going to be the winner for Lucy. You did me a favor, or I should say, your head did!” John snickered, then noticed that Pete was about to leave. “Pete, come here.”

  “Yes, Captain?” Pete replied, as he crossed the room to John’s side.

  John took out a plain wooden box and put the two halves of the rock inside. “See to it that Lucy receives this, once we are in orbit.” John handed Pete the box and a sealed letter he had written earlier addressed to his wife, Alice.

  “You got it, sir.” Pete went to his own quarters in the barracks, tucked the sealed letter and box inside a knapsack, and stored it at the end of his bed. It would be his first delivery in the morning.

  John casually stripped off his overalls and climbed onto the top bunk. He sat on the edge in his boxers. Hanging around his neck was a thick, silver locket. He opened it up. On one side was a picture of his wife, Alice, and the other side his seven-year-old daughter, Lucy. He gave each of them a kiss and said goodnight.

  Nico didn’t feel tired. Instead, he had his own ritual; one that would see him leave the barracks on a mission to eat as much real food as he could before a flight into space. Nico hated the mashed, pureed food that they had to consume for far too many months. So, his own personal mission on Earth was to stuff his face. Given the hour, he only had a few options. The closest was McDonald's. Nico knew that eating heavy meals like that could make him sick on the flight, but he always pushed reason aside to feed his gut.

  The next morning found the crew on route to Sol.

  On Board the USS Genesis

  “Why the heck didn’t you stop eating crap before the flight?” grumbled, First-in-Command Roger King. He moved as far away from Nico as he could.

  Nico held his belly tightly while answering Roger. “I didn’t do anything differently. Maybe I ate something bad. Whatever is making me this sick, it ain’t the food.”

  They had only been in orbit two hours when a blaring alarm was booming around the control room.

  “Proximity alert!” John’s tense voice came from behind Roger as he braced himself against his captain’s chair before sitting down and buckling himself in.

  First Mate Bridgette Stiner was already yelling orders back to the ship’s computer, Athena.

  “Source?”

  “A massive asteroid storm.” Athena’s voice was calm and serenely artificial. It echoed through the control room.

  “ETA?” John asked, while preparing for the worst.

  “Now,” was all Athena offered in response.

  First Mate Stiner punched in a series of commands on the panel in front of her. She took a quick glance through the large window and could see a rock, the size of a house, headed straight for them. After a pregnant pause, Bridgette’s wide-eyed gaze broke from the window and she yelled, “Hang on to something!”

  Roger was madly tapping at the keyboard and yelling commands to Athena. The ship suddenly dipped and tilted sideways. An ear-shattering crash rocked the craft, throwing it off course. The force of many smaller rocks hitting the ship sent everything that wasn’t strapped down into a turbulent spin before dropping heavily to the floor in the artificial gravity. The powerful force hurtled Nico against the bridge door. The impact stole his breath away. He managed to right himself, only to bend over and paint the fl
oor in vomit.

  Bridgette and Roger brought the ship back into a level trajectory.

  “D-deck has a breach and there is a fire in the engine room,” Athena said. “Two of the air hoses in the cargo bay have ruptured.”

  “I’m on it, Captain,” Bridgette called out, rushing to the cargo bay.

  “Travis, you take the engine room,” Roger said, leaving the bridge. “I got D-deck. I’ll pick Lucas up on the way.”

  John turned sharply at the sound of thick liquid hitting the ship’s polished floor again. His eyes rolled backward, and he grimaced, then quickly turned back to face the window overlooking the galaxy.

  Nico couldn’t stop vomiting while he held tightly to his stomach with one hand and his other braced his wavering, unbalanced body on the bridge’s wall. His forehead glistened with a sheen of sweat, and his otherwise tanned skin was turning ghostly white.

  “Someone get him to the med bay,” John ordered.

  Sam, one of the ship’s communications systems technicians, escorted Nico out. He had to carry him to Medical. Once there, Sam left him on a cot with instructions that Liam wouldn’t be far away. Shortly after, Doc Liam Hodges arrived and he examined Nico.

  “So, Doc, what the hell is wrong with me?” asked Nico, through bouts of nausea.

  “With your symptoms, I’d say you have gallstones.”

  “And? How do we fix that?”

  “Well, we’ll hope this passes without needing surgery,” Liam said. “You are going to be pretty miserable for a while until you either pass the stones or they move from their position blocking your duct. And in the future, stop eating fatty foods. That contributes to the problem. Rest here for the time being.” Liam nonchalantly dipped his hand into his white coat pocket, and picked at a loose thread.

  “Doc?”

  Liam turned his hazel eyes at Nico, giving him his full attention.