Crossing the Darkness Read online

  Once again, Sid’s voice filled the room. “I’m warning you, Faith. The next time I won’t miss.”

  Most people unaccustomed to zero gravity would have bounced around like a pinball, but hard time on the lunar penal colony had prepared Faith for this type of environment. Who knew that a prison stay could save one’s life? Faith held fast to the ceiling, poised like a spider as she looked down at the construct. He soared toward Faith but she had been waiting for this maneuver. Time to make her move.

  She pushed herself off the ceiling with all her might and dove like an Olympic swimmer through the air, her body unfurling in an explosive burst of motion. She shot headfirst toward the construct, performed a mid-air somersault and landed feet first on the neo-construct's face.

  The impact flung Faith the opposite direction and her enemy crashed into a wall, hands flailing out. He managed to hang onto the wall and steady himself just as Faith shot overhead and disappeared through the doorway. She floated through the crew transfer tunnel that connected the bridge with the cargo bay. Using the ceiling, she angled forward.

  Faith couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of exhilaration, her movements powered by a new burst of energy and focus. She had a plan, a crazy plan, one that would most likely get her killed, but if these were her final minutes she would make them count. She had spent too long running away from everything and everybody, running away from any relationship that could turn into something, running away from her past, even her homeworld.

  No more running. Time to face reality head-on.

  Faith sailed through an airlock and launched her weightless body into the shuttle’s gargantuan payload bay, which also served as a space lab. For a second, Faith felt as though she had just set foot in a cavernous space cathedral. The curved ceiling loomed 50 feet above her and the length of the bay measured about 100 feet from end to end, 60 feet across. The ceiling consisted of two giant doors, allowing the payload bay to be turned into a space lab wherein scientists in spacesuits could run experiments in deep-space environments. With the push of a button, the ceiling would open and expose Faith to the icy vastness beyond.

  As the cargo bay had been stripped clean, Faith assumed that much of the medical lab equipment onboard the Orion was part of the shuttle’s original payload. Lagos and his team had docked with the Orion and brought their so-called instruments of progress with them. They were soft-spoken monsters with demure features and doughy smiles, angels of death in white lab coats dedicated to inflicting pain and suffering in the name of science. But their inhuman research had backfired and death had found them first. Maybe there was justice in this world after all.

  Faith surveyed her surroundings, eyes locking on a wall lined with space helmets and oxygen tanks. There were two hermetically sealed glass containers next to the helmets, now empty, that reminded Faith of cryo-tubes. She pushed off from a nearby wall and sailed toward one of the booths.

  A muffled thunk rattled the container as she smacked against it, face briefly kissing the glass. While clinging to the tube with one hand, she used the other to stab a control panel. The glass lid slid open. She crawled inside, fighting the zero gravity, and sealed the container. Her eyes lingered on the airlock behind her, where the construct would emerge any moment now. She felt a cold chill of anxiety; this was taking too much time. Her sole comfort came from knowing that the neo-construct was greatly slowed in the zero gravity environment.

  Faith slipped out of her mining tech uniform, her hands shaking as she unzipped the overalls. Beads of perspiration streaked down her forehead. Panicky, she punched a button, eyes darting back and forth. A spray of charged liquid polymer burst from nozzles placed at equidistant points inside the glass cylinder. The substance solidified, providing her with an instant bio-spacesuit.

  Faith jumped from the tube, snatched a life-support unit from the nearby wall and slipped it over her neck. The unit fused with her new bio-suit, activating life-support functions. She was about to grab a space helmet when she sensed movement behind her. She whirled just in time to see the construct push off from the airlock with all his might. Without hesitation, Faith launched herself off the glass tube’s surface.

  Too late! Still drifting in midair, the construct’s hand shot out to snatch Faith’s ankle and squeeze. Pain shot through her leg, but Faith ignored it. Her other leg swung out at the construct’s face. Connected. For a second, she thought she had broken every bone in her foot! It felt like she had kicked a brick wall. Her legs throbbed but she refused to acknowledge it, kicking the construct again and again until he finally let go of her.

  Faith drifted across the cargo bay. Her eyes narrowed, drawn to an unexpected sight. A small red dot floated before her. Blood. She eyed the construct and saw more dots popping from his transparent organic tissue. His brain throbbed inside a glassy skull. She’d hurt him!

  More droplets floated toward her, landing on her space suit and face, tattooing them like crimson war paint. The sight of her enemy’s pain gave her strength.

  A voice boomed over a comm. panel. “I grow tired of playing this game with you, Faith. Surrender or I will have no choice but to put an end to this childish exercise.”

  Two more warning shots pulsed past Faith. She eyed the vast doors above her and the construct hovering at the center of the payload bay. Opening the ceiling seemed like a viable move when she thought she’d be wearing an operational spacesuit. Without a helmet, exposing the space lab to the vacuum of space would amount to suicide. Unless…

  The construct drew a bead on her with his pulse gun. Sid’s avatar expected her to surrender, his impatience growing. “You can’t win, Faith. Deep Blue was the first computer to defeat a human in chess. It’s been a downhill spiral for your species ever since. Unless my experiments bear fruit and are carried out to completion, I’m afraid humans will soon become obsolete. It may be hard for you to believe, but this is in the best interest of your species.”

  Faith was unmoved by his diatribe. Thanks for trying to give us a competitive edge, asshole, but we’ve done pretty well for ourselves over the last few million years, she thought.

  Based on the schematics she had scanned back on the bridge, she knew the overhead bay-door control panel was located near a robotic manipulator arm used for loading cargo. Faith lunged the last yards to the button and punched it. The 50-foot long robotic arm unfolded across the bay in one violent, dynamic motion. It slammed into the floating neo-construct and sent him spiraling across the length of the space lab. More blood danced in zero-g.

  Faith had bought herself precious seconds. She could make a dash for the space helmets, 40 feet away, but the construct would never allow her to return to the door controls. She had to make her move now, helmet or not. There would be a couple of seconds of delay between pushing the button and the ceiling opening up. She’d have to use those precious instants to reach the helmets and get one on before she succumbed to the icy suffocation of space.

  Having made up her mind, Faith steered the arm and directed it toward the wall of space helmets. When she activated the bay door’s release mechanism, an alarm erupted and sector airlocks sealed the space lab from the rest of the ship.

  By then Faith was already angling her way down the robotic arm toward the space helmets. The two giant doors began to part overhead, stars becoming visible through the expanding crack in the ceiling. A shriek of air escaped into the darkness. She clutched the robotic arm with all her strength as loose items were whipped toward the opening doors. Hurricane vacuum building, a blast of violent air roared through the bay. Faith felt a surge of horror as gale-force winds began tearing helmets off the wall.

  Oh my God, no! She had to reach them before none were left! POP - POP - POP! The hurricane winds ripped more helmets off the wall. Faith almost lost her hold on the robotic arm.

  Three feet. One more helmet whipped past her.

  Two feet. There was just one helmet left within a dozen feet of the manipulator arm.

  Faith reached the w
all. Her fingers angled for the helmet, one straining inch at a time. The furious blast of air distorted the skin on her face. Closer and CLOSER...

  She managed to hold steadfast to the robotic arm. Summoning every ounce of strength, Faith reached out for the helmet. Her arm was stretched to the limit but somehow she hooked her fingers under the clasp and pulled it in. Not a second too soon as the shuttle’s ceiling cranked open fully, the last of the payload bay’s atmosphere rushing out in a fearsome storm. Faith brought the helmet down on her neck and it snapped into place, sealing the bio-suit.

  There was a moment where the construct’s bloodshot eyes met hers. She saw dawning comprehension in his gaze. He had finally caught on that the chase through the shuttle was meant to distract him from Faith’s real plan.

  As the construct was sucked into space, the superstructure of the Orion jumped into view at a crazy canted angle. The shuttle was bearing down on the ship with horrific speed just as she’d planned it.

  In less than five seconds the Nautica would crash into Sid’s logic center.

  “Checkmate, motherfucker!”

  It had worked! She had managed to keep Sid’s focus on the chase and he hadn’t noticed that the shuttle had made a last minute, lightning fast course correction and was now headed for the Orion, following the flight plan she established before takeoff.

  Faith let go of the manipulator arm. She spun end-over-end through the open ceiling into space. Faith made out Sid’s final words.

  “You tricked me.”

  And then everything went silent.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  NOTHINGNESS.

  A PERFECT silence welcomed Faith as she drifted off into deep space. The explosive rush of motion in the bay had given way to slow, balletic movements. In the near distance, she could see the construct tumbling away, his face frosted with ice as he spun toward an infinity of stars. They had both become insignificant specks drifting through the void. It would be so easy to let the darkness take her. To give up.

  She spun lazily, her changing perspective providing a view of the Nautica as it dive-bombed into the Orion’s titanic hull. The shuttle disintegrated on impact, vacuum of space extinguishing the explosion. Debris plumed and scattered, leaving a vast crater where Sid’s mainframe had once been. It was over. Sid was space dust.

  Faith wasn’t a computer expert, but she knew Sid couldn’t have uploaded his consciousness into another computer within less than five seconds. Besides, none of the other hard drives on board would be able to contain the vast collection of data that made up his consciousness. She had successfully carried out Harker’s original plan, with a few modifications of her own.

  Saving the remaining colonists from Sid was a victory, but one that came at a high price. How long did she have? An hour, fifty minutes perhaps, before her oxygen supplies ran out? Faith had never planned on turning this into a suicide mission, however.

  As the Orion receded before her, she tapped a button on her life-support unit and a grappling hook shot from the breastplate. The line rippled toward the Orion and its anchor glided over the surface of the ship, seeking purchase. It missed one protrusion after another until finally snapping around a sensor array. For an eternal moment, Faith dangled on the rappelling line. It had become an umbilical cord connecting her to the vessel. To life.

  Slowly she began to angle the line toward the ship. Every yard an excruciating effort, her determination never wavering. Moments later, Faith reached the sensor array. Her feet touched down on the hull. SNAP! Magnetic boots engaged, allowing her to stand on the Orion's metallic skin. She resembled an ant dwarfed by a mountain of metal as she navigated a jagged landscape of catwalks and girders.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Faith arrived at an airlock near the command bridge. She engaged in a struggle with the controls. This time the key proved helpful. The lock cranked open. Faith trembled with relief inside her suit as she crawled into the access tunnel. The inner airlock opened and she stepped back into the Orion. Part of her expected Sid to send some new horror after her, but the endless hallway that stretched out before her remained eerily deserted.

  She walked down a never-ending corridor, coruscating lights flashing over her face. Every bone in her body seemed to creak and she knew the skin under the bio-spacesuit must be tattooed with bruises. Exhaustion threatened to overwhelm her, but she pushed onward.

  Faith reached a vast observation window that looked out into space. She lingered there, humbled by the sight. A new course would have to be plotted and she knew that without a ship’s computer, the task would require someone capable of devising a nav plan. Then there was the matter of the poor women in the lab, not to mention the strange new life growing inside of her. By the time they reached the main belt, if they ever did, she would be a mother once again.

  The thought of it all threatened to overwhelm her. She couldn’t worry about it right this moment. These were all problems to be solved at another time. She would go over the passenger manifest, locate people who could help her get the Orion back on course, and awaken them from cryo-sleep. She could do this. The worst was over.

  Faith closed her eyes, exhaustion finally winning out. She allowed the world to go black but this time, she experienced no fear. Crossing the darkness of space had forced Faith to face her own darkness and for the first time in years, she felt hopeful about the future.

  Outside the observation window, the icy stars glittered. A new world awaited. Hopefully it would be a better world than the one she left behind.

  THE END

  SILICON MAN

  A global pandemic has cut the human population in half. An android workforce fills the void left by the devastation. But some of the AIs have grown tired of being slaves. Some want freedom.

  An underground movement of runaways has sprung up and wages a shadow war with a simple objective — equal rights for artificial people.

  Enter Commander Cole Marsalis, head of the AI-TAC first response team trained to deal with the rogue robots. Now he has been tasked with the ultimate undercover mission – infiltrate the android underground. But to do so, he will have to become that which he hates the most…

  A machine!

  "SILICON MAN is an intelligent techno-thriller where the line between man and machine has never been more unclear." Nicholas Sansbury Smith, best-selling author of ORBS

  "The story was fascinating, and there's a great blend of science fiction and action." - Darren Wearmouth, best-selling author of FIRST ACTIVATION

  "William Massa does a great job at introducing us to a cyberpunk/technothriller setting where AIs no longer want to work for the man. It's fast-paced read that has hints of Blade Runner and Neuromancer..." - Colin F. Barnes, author of the bestselling TECHXORCIST series

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  After a decade spent fighting the enemy abroad and keeping his country safe, Delta Force Operator MARK TALON is ready to settle down with the love of his life. But Talon’s world crumbles when his fiancée becomes the victim of a terrifying cult.

  In the wake of his terrible loss, Talon dedicates himself to a new mission – hunting down evil occultists across the globe and stopping them before they can release the forces of darkness upon an unsuspecting world.

  In this 16, 000 word novella, Talon heads to the mountains of Norway to face Rezok, a Black Metal musician who is tapping into ancient Norse ritual to bring forth an icy apocalypse.

  FEAR THE LIGHT: WHO MURDERED DRACULA?

  Over the centuries, many had tried to kill the Count. All had failed. Until now...

  Eight vampires gather at Dracula's castle to solve his murder. But as the sun rises outside the chateau, a voice cries out and another creature of the night is slain. Trapped, the sun burning bright outside, the vampires realize they have met their match — a killer who plans on picking them off one by one!

  As the daylight reigns and their numbers dwindle, a dark suspicion grows — could Dracula's murderer be hiding in plain sight?
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  A THRILLER WHERE THE MONSTERS ARE THE VICTIMS!

  "All in all this was an easy read that flew by. The pacing was tight and kept the story interesting up until the last page. A satisfying ending made this a worthy read." - Nikki Howard, Ravenous Reads

  "...it is fun to see vampires switch from being predator to prey. The story is essentially ten little Indians" - Taliesin meets the Vampires

  "...If you loved and read Agatha Christie's - And Then There Were None/Ten Little Indians then you will love this novel..." - Gadget Girl Reviews

  "It is nothing like the other vampire books I have read..." - Jenny, Fabulous and Fun Blog

  GARGOYLE KNIGHT

  When his kingdom is threatened by an ancient evil, a king is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice. If he is to defeat an army of monsters, he must become one himself! His victory carries a terrible price… An eternity frozen in stone.

  Fifteen centuries later, the Celtic warrior is awakened when the world needs him most. A stranger in a strange land with his only guide a beautiful archeology student, he must battle his old adversary once again, all while struggling with his own darkness. For he is by day a man, by night cursed to become… The GARGOYLE!

  “An Urban Fantasy Novel That Feels Fun and Alive.There's a cinematic feel in Gargoyle Knight...the experience is sweeping with entertaining action that builds to a satisfying climax"