Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller by Brandon Ellis (best novels to read in english .txt) 📗

“The western bird fills the cup as the hand which greets life lifts the cup to the sun, creating rain. The snake and the western bird reverse the cup.”

That told Jaxx nothing. He tried again.

“The western bird. The cup. The hand which greets life. The sun. Water. Then the snake. The western bird again. The cup, though reversed.” He pinched his lip. “The reversed cup has to mean something.”

He read it backwards.

“The reversed cup delivered by the western bird to the snake.”

The western bird must be Callisto. The snake had to be Earth. Wait, maybe these were ancient alien Beings?

It meant something.

“What if this wasn’t a saying.” Sometimes hieroglyphs were mere letters. Jaxx decided to spell it out. He gasped, held his breath, then released. “Impossible.”

He read it again, rubbing absently at his arms. “No way.”

This couldn’t be a coincidence.

It read, “Kaden Jaxx.”

10

May 26thCharlotte, North Carolina

It was late night and Drew needed to get things done. A deadline due and uncle Kaden Jaxx in need. Which outweighed the other?

Perhaps he’d hurry through his deadline then finish the investigation on the GSA and this Slade character. Yet, he couldn’t get Slade out of his mind, as if someone had stamped a mental image of the guy in his brain. The little amount he found out about Slade intrigued him a lot more than his deadline for World News Network. In fact, the deadline with WNN had been off his mind for a couple of days.

He grabbed his laptop and sat on his couch, placing his feet on the coffee table, knocking his bong over and spilling water and ashes of burnt weed onto the table. Dirty water mixed with marijuana smoke created a nasty stench.

He rushed to a towel lying on his table, still there since the last spill. He wiped it up quickly.

He needed an inside lead on this Slade dude.

He reached for his cell phone. He dialed a number knowing at this hour it would go to voicemail. Ann Maddox, his contact at NASA.

“Hi Ann. I was wondering if you could get me an inside line to someone in the Global Safety Administration? Give me a call when you can.” He was about to hang up, almost forgetting whose number he wanted. “Oh, I’m looking for Colonel Slade Roberson. And while you’re at it, can you look up some information about Terra Energy Corporation for me? I’m sure NASA has a lot more information than I could ever get.”

He hung up the phone and brought up his email. Drew hadn’t replied to Jaxx’s email. He decided to leave a short, but critical note.

Hi Jaxx

It’s great to hear from you.

I’m on it.

Sincerely,

Werd

11

May 26thUnderfoot Black, Grenada

Jaxx laid in his bed staring at the ceiling, something he did more and more, even though being late to the RIOUT room pissed Slade off maximally. He couldn’t help it. He needed time and space to think.

The symbols spelled out Kaden Jaxx. He must have read the Atlantean hieroglyphs incorrectly. Plus, the symbol for x was also the symbol for y and z. And always up to the archaeologist’s interpretation. It could have been Kaden Jayy or Kaden Jazy or the list could go on and on.

It clearly spelled Kaden, though.

Why would any Atlantean scribe etch his name in a stone wall, on a moon orbiting Jupiter? He wasn’t important, hadn’t made his mark in the world, wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans according to his physics professor. He was having delusions of grandeur.

Beings on a colony thousands of years old wouldn’t write his name. Admitting he was crazy and that his peers were right crossed his mind.

He’d needed a second look.

Jaxx jumped into the shower, scrubbed himself down, and washed his hair. As he rinsed, a flash of inspiration to polish his shoes popped into his mind. He laughed. Out loud. For at least a minute. He lost his damned mind.

He reached for his towel and let out a yell. He brought his hand back into the shower, looked it over. He did his best to breathe through the sudden shock. Someone touched his arm.

Not only delusions of grandeur, he manifested fake ghosts.

He reached for the towel again, and pulled it into the shower and dried off. He slid the curtain open and yelled a second time, slumping against the side wall.

A woman, with black, curly hair, gave him a deathly stare. Then faded away.

Rivkah?

It was her. He was sure of it. Why was he hallucinating her again?

Please don’t tell me this place is haunted. He chuckled. “Don’t psych yourself out, Jaxx.” Everything here was new and stressful. His brain was doing its best to cope with everything thrown at him. Ghosts weren’t real. Telekinesis wasn’t real. The Secret Space Program wasn’t real. Rivkah wasn’t real.

“Get that fake shit out of your mind, Jaxx,” he said.

The only thing real in his life right now was Underfoot Black and the operation.

He got dressed and headed to the RIOUT room.

Slade glared at him the second he walked in. “God dammit, Kaden Jaxx. Nice of you to show up.” Slade pointed to Shaughnessy’s station. “Don’t keep Shaughnessy waiting. Help him figure out what he’s looking at.” He pulled out a piece of gum, unwrapped it, and slid it in his mouth.

Jaxx pressed his elbows to his side, making himself as small as possible. He gave Slade a nod and walked over to Shaughnessy’s station.

“Hey, man,” said Shaughnessy. He made a sidelong glance toward Slade, keeping his head still. He talked softly. “You need to come in on time, my man. It looked like he was crapping his pants pacing the room waiting for you. Plus, you’ll piss off the rest of the scientists here.”

Jaxx frowned. “I don’t think I could get any more unpopular than I already am.”

“Yeah, I think you could.” Shaughnessy chuckled and tapped on his screen. “Help me with this? This is the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. It’s the big one on