The Circadia Chronicles: Omnibus: The Complete Colonization Sci-Fi Series by Heather Heckadon (books to read to get smarter .txt) 📗

had seen before. It laid horizontal to the ground, with the engines in the back and a large windshield up front. It looked like something straight out of a science fiction movie. Bright lights shined down through the open area in the trees just up ahead as the craft turned on the landing gear. Thrusters torched the ground below until shutting off just in the nick of time. I ran towards the craft. If I was going to go out, I was going out with a fight, and I was going to kick whosoever ass was in that thing.

Pushing forward, I approached the ship as the men behind me grew closer. ATVs chased behind them to make sure they got the job done. The men running behind me were shouting, but I didn’t know what they were saying. I didn’t care. I knew they would get me, it was just a matter of time. I kept my word though. I kept running. Kept trying.

Just as I neared the craft about fifty yards away, I looked ahead to see a hatch door open out on both sides of the windshield similar to suicide doors. I kept watching while running, until I saw two figures whip their guns around, resting on the doors. They were going to shoot me, which just made me run harder. I screamed an angry growl as I got closer and I heard the first rattle of bullets explode behind me. Automatic rifles rang through the woods, but I immediately noticed the scared voices behind me and the screams of the men as they were hit. Were they shooting at me or them? I shot a quick glance backwards to see tens of men lying on the ground lifeless behind me and the others retreating. Looking ahead once again, I noticed the men from the craft had withdrawn their weapons and were waiting for me with a smile on their faces.

I gradually came to a stop to stand directly in front of the craft. My chest rose and fell rapidly as I tried to catch my breath. Sweat ran from my face, and I couldn’t seem to get a word out. I just stared at them, wide-eyed. Who the hell were these guys?

They grabbed onto the door hatches and hoisted themselves to stand half in, half out of the craft. They stared down at me from the suicide doors, one on each side of the ship. Both of the men had jet black hair with neatly trimmed beards. They were almost indistinguishable, except for one wore glasses. They were decked out in black tactical gear and looked eager to see me.

“Are you Aella Toms?” the one in the glasses yelled out from the ship.

I turned to face him, and said, “Who’s asking?”

“Us!” the other man answered. “The Harrold brothers! Phillip and Ross Harrold. We heard your message you sent and decided we wanted to be a part of the revolution.” His eyebrow on the left raised in challenge as he answered.

“Revolution?” I asked. “What message?” My voice was raspy.

“You really don’t know?” the one in glasses asked, obviously flabbergasted. They looked back and forth to each other in utter disbelief. “Are you serious?”

“You mean the fight here on Circadia?” I asked.

“Yes, of course, but the fight hasn’t just been happening here. Everyone’s been fighting for you back on Earth too. You didn’t know?” he asked. “You really have no idea, do you?”

I stared back. I didn’t know what to say. I was so confused.

“Aella Toms, you are not only the revolution leader here on Circadia, but you started the revolution back home too. It started with a newsroom intern taking your voicemail you left for a small news station and making it global, which led to the uncovering of the Circadia Scandal. You know the one where the government took bribes to send people to safety during the nuclear winter? When everyone found out about it, there were riots, and a revolution was started. We’ve been fighting the government for about six months now, but we’re evenly matched, and it's been never-ending,” he said. “We happened to have a private space operation before all of this started, and once we decided to join the cause, we knew exactly where we needed to be.” Phillip looked down from his glasses at me, waiting for my reaction, but there wasn’t one. I had no idea what they were talking about. “Earth has one government now,” he said. “One government that supports Leslie Marshal. One government that wants you dead.”

The reality of the situation hit me hard. We were never going to go home, and we were never going to win. They had a whole government on their side, and we just had a small rebellion. “So, what are we supposed to do? Just give up?” I asked. It sounded cold and dead as the words left my lips. “I can’t.”

“Quite the opposite, Ms. Toms,” Ross said. “We have a solution to end all of your problems. That’s why we’re here.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked. The sarcasm dripped from my words. “What’s that?”

“We have a god rod,” they answered together.

“What the hell is a god rod?” I asked. I was becoming exhausted. We had tried every idea and nothing had worked.

“It works like a nuclear bomb, but without the fallout and damage afterwards,” Ross answered.

“It still gets a clear point across though, quickly,” Phillip said. “We figured you should decide how it will be used, since you’re the rebellion leader and all.” He gave a wink.

“Basically, it’s a large steel rod we have positioned above Earth like a satellite,” said Ross. “It can be moved around Earth or to a location on Circadia within a moment's notice and has supreme accuracy. We were involved in a secret project for our private space program before all of this happened, so we quickly launched, and now have the upper hand. It took a little bit to firmly decide which side we stood on. Once