Explorer X-Beta

By LM Preston

Barely escaping their captors, Aadi and Eirena are determined to save their dying friend. After their final confrontation with the species that tortured them, they've changed-unfortunately, not for the better. The changes caused by a terrible experiment force Aadi to accept the possibility that he may never be fit to go home, and that holding onto his sanity, or leading his friends to safety will end in failure and may rip his friendship with Eirena apart, forever. Time is slipping away and the possibility of losing his friend is not an option, but the foe that awaits them may be worse than the one they left.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LM Preston
• Release date: Apr 25, 2012

LM Preston

LM. Preston was born and raised in Washington, DC. An avid reader, she loved to create poetry and short-stories as a young girl. With a thirst for knowledge she attended college at Bowie State University, and worked in the IT field as a Techie and Educator for over sixteen years. She started writing science fiction under the encouragement of her husband who was a Sci-Fi buff and her four kids. Her first published novel, Explorer X - Alpha was the beginning of her obsessive desire to write and create stories of young people who overcome unbelievable odds. She loves to write while on the porch watching her kids play or when she is traveling, which is another passion that encouraged her writing.

Book preview

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

Crap, we don’t have a choice. We have to sneak in and get it. Aadi gazed angrily over the desert of brown rocky sand. Burnt reddish mountains of rock stood proudly in front of them, hiding the rubble that once sported a large city of metal. The debris from its destruction littered the ground a mile or so ahead on the flat lands. The blazing heat pouring from the two suns on the planet Shrenas beat down on them. He really just wanted to leave this world. Aadi’s thirst to be home on Earth, playing sports, even going to school filled him with regret. He wanted his tanned body back, not this crimson skin or red eyes of the species he’d evolved into.

His ship was repaired and it seemed that for now, this world had a shaky semblance of peace. The time for leaving this place was near and he was one step closer to home. He couldn’t shake his nagging desire to get this ancient treasure though. Something deep within him told him he needed to take the sacred talisman when they left this world. Taking something powerful could make sure that he and Eirena could make it home and to their friends safely. Well, he wouldn’t call all the lab rats on experiment Explorer X friends, but they were his team. He wiped his hand down his face as he pondered the enormous feat before him.

Saving them was the right thing to do, and he always did the right thing. No matter what, because that’s all there was left of the person he used to be. Now that kid who was the all-star ath-lete, honor student, and poster child for the popular kid seemed a distant memory. A dream he fought to hold onto. If his body couldn’t be human, at least what was left within could be.

Eirena eyed him with her silver eyes and crossed her jet-black arms marked with thin lines of white. Tapping her curved silver nails on her arm, she flung back her striped black and white hair over her shoulder as she kneeled to assess the path in front of them.

Yeah, I guess we do have to get it. Besides, she smiled with her gray eyebrow lifted, downing some Femoh before I leave will be fun. Anyway, I need my spacesuit. She stood and moved her hands to her hips. They said the batiluk killed the aliens that came to Shrenas centuries before. Even said it could be used to control us. If anyone gets their hands on something like that, they could kill us and others with it too, I bet.

Aadi snorted and tilted his chin at Ebu. His miniature robot stood up tall and walked closer. Its sleek silver body, like a sturdy action figure, reminded Aadi of home. Ebu’s head came up to Aadi’s hip as its clear eyes scanned the land. At times like this, he really missed Earth. He’d never dreamed that when his parents forced him to go to the TEGRC space camp, he would find out that he’d been created to conquer worlds. A crapped up science project. That he would evolve into something—not quite human. Should’ve figured that anything named Technical Exploration and Genome Research Corporation would have an ulterior motive to startup a space camp for kids. He definitely hadn’t seen that coming.

Ebu nodded, bringing him out of his troubled thoughts. It’s best we get the batiluk. We should collect something from each planet to use as leverage against TEGRC. I’ve figured out how to download the Femoh’s intelligence base and now know about them and the other species they’ve come in contact with during their travels. I have to see this batiluk up close and figure out how to use it.

Aadi squinted at Eirena, still not used to her silver eyes, ink-black skin, and silver teeth. She looked alien compared to her former human form and he wondered if he’d ever see her like that again. He cleared his throat. The ship is ready to go. After we get this, we’ll go save the other team Explorer X kids. I’ve been touch-ing the mind of Dakota. He and Carter are not far from here. Just one planet over and we’re closer to home. We get this batiluk, we can go.

I’m so on it. Let’s do this. Eirena bit her lip, her hands curling into fists at her sides.

Aadi subtly touched Eirena’s mind. Concern for her preda-tory nature dug in. Nothing but a calm, assessing anticipation of the recovery mission ahead of them filled her mind. He let go a silent sigh of relief.

Ever since her capture and torture at the hands of the alien Femoh, she’d become merciless, vengeful even while fighting the Femoh warriors during their attacks of their friend Jantik’s people.

He’d promised he wouldn’t invade her thoughts, her mind, but it was a promise he couldn’t keep. Initially, he’d only done it to soothe her when nightmares caused her to fight and cry out in her sleep. As their time on Shrenas grew longer, he touched her mind to stop her fits of anger when on raids to stop the Femoh from crossing into Nutah territory. He hoped he didn’t have to control her anger on this attack. Lately, it was getting harder and harder for him to control himself, much less her.

Aadi watched his friend Jantik adjust his weapons. A mixed breed of the races of this planet, his red reptilian features re-mained dominant. Red muscled skin covered his upright form. His lavik hung curved by a strap on wrinkled neck and he fisted the sharp talin in his hand. The weapons warriors used to maim the Femoh shined in the sun.

Jantik looked up at Aadi and nodded his head. I’ll help you get it. Legend said the Tumas—Ancient Ones—came here and warred with others of their race. Mysteriously they were driven away by the Femoh, so there may be some truth to it. He shrugged to adjust the strap on his neck. You’ve helped my people greatly by creating the alliance with the border warriors who stayed behind after the last war with the Femoh. I owe you my life. You will be missed when you leave.

No, we owe you our lives, Jantik. If you didn’t find us, the Femoh would’ve killed us—or worse. Aadi elbowed Jantik on the arm. Stay up here and look out for us. Remember, just call to me with your thoughts and I’ll hear you.

Eirena smiled and reached out to pat Jantik’s shoulder. We’ll miss you too.

Jantik sucked in a deep breath. He looked around and fin-gered his weapon before moving in front of the entrance to the Femoh territory, which was below ground. I will be waiting here for you, looking out for danger. It’s all clear for now. It’s rather odd, but since the Femoh don’t like the light of day they’ll not be out for a while. If you are down there too long, I’m coming to get you.

Aadi pointed. Let’s go, this hole should drop us near the chamber holding the batiluk.

They crept forward behind Jantik, squatting, ready for at-tack. Jantik cleared the dirt and packed sand that hid the entrance. With a quick glance around, Jantik lifted the lid to the under-ground city. Aadi put a thumb up at Jantik, and then dropped down about fourteen feet into the black rock tunneled entrance to the Femoh territory. He landed silently on his feet. Complete darkness surrounded him. The tunnel was completely dug out of carved black rock. It took a moment for Aadi’s eyes to adjust.

Ebu’s human-like form followed Eirena. She walked in front of them. Her eyes were automatically accustomed to the dark. Her body had changed into the likeness of the Femoh, so roaming in the darkness wasn’t difficult for her.

Aadi reached out and touched Eirena’s shoulder. Hey, we should split up.

She cut her eyes at him. Fine, I think I know where the ta-lisman is. You can get my suit. It’s in the lab.

Ebu hurried beside Eirena. I’m going with her. I want to study the item.

Let’s meet up on the surface in an hour. Aadi looked around to make sure no Femoh were around.

Eirena hesitated and turned back toward him. You sure? These scum are sneaky.

Yeah, watch Ebu. Aadi pivoted away and headed down the dark tunnel.

Aadi traveled several yards without mishap. Suspicious, he knitted his eyebrow at the stillness. The silence in the tunnel was unsettling, so he took a moment to search for sounds ahead. He crept forward as he drew closer to the labs. He’d studied the map of the complex that Ebu provided, and was confident the labs were just up ahead. A feeling of trepidation tickled his neck. The hairs on his back lifted as he felt the presence of something or someone following a distance behind him. Quickly, he turned. The prick of a speared knifelike weapon jabbed his chest. Heart beating rapidly, with quickened speed, he dodged the assault.

The warrior’s slanted silver eyes stared unflinching, sizing up Aadi for attack. It smiled, and silver teeth glinted from the glare of its lifted sharp weapon.

Aadi struck, grabbing the Femoh warrior by the neck then pushing forth a powerful stream of light filled with poisonous pain. His only notion was to bring this Femoh down and get the heck out of there. He locked his arm around his opponent’s neck and gritted his teeth, refusing to let his captive go until it sagged unconscious to the floor.

It dropped to its knees. Aadi’s hold loosened slightly. Grunting, the Femoh stood up with a burst of energy, pushing against Aadi’s grip. Aadi slid back several feet as the Femoh twisted to cut along his stomach. The Femoh teased its black tongue over its silver teeth, and smiled as if in pleasure. Pain, I love it. Do you?

Aadi winced at the sliding burn of the cut. Ignoring the Fe-moh’s taunt, he tugged at his power within, and pushed out a mental command to his attacker: Sleep!

With a scowl, Aadi punched the Femoh in the jaw. Even be-fore the punch hit, it fell with a thump to the floor, asleep. Moving his foot from under the head of the fallen Femoh, he cracked his neck to the side in relief.

Just as he took a step over the fallen body, a sharp sting jabbed his back. His spine bowed. His teeth gritted. Fighting to remain on his feet, he cried out in answer to the assault. Wha…

Numbing toxin seeped into his blood. Fog filled his thoughts. A clamp of metal went around his head and his eyes were immediately covered.

Ugh! Aadi attempted to struggle harder, but his body couldn’t move. The beat of running feet stormed behind him. His mind grew groggy. Too heavy, too many hands. Unyielding hand-cuffs secured his wrists. Dang! A sharp hit to the back of his head pushed him to his knees, and then he plunged into darkness.

Chapter 2

Eirena peered at the long tunnel with trepidation. Even af-ter the months spent away from this place she still felt fear. Memo-ries of the torture from the twisted creatures played tricks with her psyche and filled her with anger so deep it sometimes felt as if it would consume her. She imagined Aadi’s face in her mind. His human face with its cocked up grin when he thought he was saying something funny. Her twin brothers’ images used to calm her, but now Aadi did that for her.

Snap.

She jerked at the sound. The dark tunnel glowed for her as if lit with a dim light. With her Femoh-like eyes she saw them coming, the few that dared to attack her. About ten slinked closer, sharp weapons raised ready for attack. She couldn’t help herself, she grinned. Power, rising up from her stomach and into her veins came with a rush. Swoosh! The familiar sound filled her ears every time it flowed through her body. Her hate for them, anger, and revenge fueled it to burn hotter, higher, bursting forth. The psych-ic power, fueled by her torturous change to this new being, built around her like fire licking her skin.

Eirena whipped the powerful light of death at the Femohs. A flick of her wrist threw another heated beam behind her. Squeal-ing, smoke, and grunts confirmed that the few who tried to attack were seconds from death.

She’d promised Aadi she wouldn’t kill, but she didn’t promise that someday soon they wouldn’t die. Unfortunately, with her power and their demise—she felt pleasure.

Ebu’s metallic hand tapped her leg. Eirena, control it. Re-member what Aadi said, don’t become like them.

Eirena growled at Ebu, stepping away from him. Easy for him to say; he wasn’t tortured by these sickos! She stormed to the shrine, not caring if Ebu followed. Knowing Aadi wasn’t hovering in her mind, she rubbed her hands together thinking she just might slip next time and terminate one, just one Femoh.

Chapter 3

Aadi awoke still groggy from his attack. The lab? Looking around, he confirmed he was in the Femoh lab. The walls were black, smooth, and almost shiny. He spied the enclosed translu-cent case that held Eirena’s suit. Reaching out with his extrasen-sory perception, he pulled back. His head hurt so badly it felt like it was vibrating. He forced himself to inhale slowly so he could regain his focus. The gag they placed in his mouth covered his lips and contained a long rubbery pallet that lay on his tongue between his teeth.

Umm. A yell caught in his throat. A blow to his chin was followed by an arm pressing his neck down to the bed. With a grin, the being tightened the restraints on his arms and legs, pinching Aadi’s skin.

It snickered and put its face close to Aadi’s. Its smooth black flat nose with nostril slits flared as it sniffed him. The sharp, silver tip of its nail flicked in excitement. The creature ran it down his cheek, spilling blood. Aadi gnashed his teeth, trying to focus long enough to daze the Femoh with his hypnosis ability.

A voice of another Femoh, demanded, Give it a dose of power, enough to knock him out. Then use the pins to pierce his skin. We need to control it before the attack. Get a sample of its blood to see if it matches that of the ancient Tumas warriors. The stupid Nutah let their secret weapon go and now it will serve us.

Aadi struggled against his restraints and the gag. A burst of energy surged through him at talk of the impending torture. He wrenched his head from side to side as he processed their conver-sation. Attack? They’re going to attack the Nutah? They’re defenseless without us! No!

Umm. Ugh! The pain, oh God, I can’t stop it. A pulsing like nothing he’d ever felt before shook his core. Aadi bit down against the cutting electrical jolt praying that it would stop. That he was anywhere but there being another torture pin for some twisted species.

They didn’t stop the jarring torment, but kept pushing it higher and higher. It rippled through his body as the fogginess within his mind gradually dissipated. Blinding lights of agony glowed behind his closed eyes. His body shook with wave after wave of pain. The smell of burning skin filled his nose and he fought against the vomit that welled up in his throat. He felt his jaw shift; it moved forward and shifted again. A scream spat from his lips as his back arched against his binds. Ragged cries from his gut vibrated through his ears like a wounded beast. His eyes narrowed as he felt the coolness of saliva slip down his chin.

He held on, anger building. His teeth bit down on the pallet they stuffed in his mouth. Tears dripped from his eyes. Rage filled him, completely engulfing any remnant of his desire to stay human. For the first time ever, he’d been pushed to his limit and relished in his desire to conquer another species.

His body was on fire. The fever of a change was upon him. Harder and harder he bit down on the gag. Longer, longer his teeth grew. Elongated, curved canines cut past his plump lower lips to meet within his crowded mouth.

Grrr...rrrr. The bones in his body shifted, broke and he had no words to describe the pleasure and pain of his change. His head felt as though a hammer struck it, before shattering into a dozen pieces. The taste of blood stung his tongue and his skin throbbed.

Crack. The gag snapped. An overflow of power rushed through his bones, muscles and blood. His body absorbed their torture and used it to evolve. Aadi’s arms ripped free. His feet followed. Flipping his legs upward he crouched on the rock bed. Talons of sharp bones broke through his fingertips. He swiped downward, ripping open the chest of the taunting Femoh.

Memories of Eirena’s tortured past. Her anger, her pain, his pain, his rage all melted into a fury he couldn’t contain.

Get him! He can’t get free! someone called.

You! I’ll kill you! Aadi yelled with a voice much deeper than his own. Death, pain, sleep! Madness filled his thoughts. He forced the command into their opened minds. He jumped over a charging Femoh with accelerated speed. His evolved jaws wi-dened beyond their natural length to bite down on the Femoh leader’s head. Its body shook as it dropped. The neck partially severed from its body. Silver blood dripped to the floor, eating away at the solid ground. Another Femoh jabbed its weapon at Aadi, and he stabbed it with his sharpened claws. The remaining twenty or so Femoh dropped to the floor in deathly stillness.

Aadi. What are you doing? Stop! Jantik’s voice screamed in Aadi’s mind.

Aadi dropped the limp Femoh leader. Ughhhhhhhhhhh, he yelled. He fell to his knees, air pumped rapidly into his lungs as tears of remorse flowed.

Nooooooo! He pushed himself up. Shivering slightly, he punched the translucent rock holding Eirena’s red uniform. He had to regain control. Human. I have to stay...human. But his changes didn’t recede. Taking deep soothing breaths, he angrily wiped the dampness of tears from his face. Mustering several more calming breaths, he called to Eirena.

Eirena? Did you get it? He clouded her mind from seeing what he’d turned into. His eyes traveled to his taloned fingers, and he fought to conceal his elongated teeth with his lips. Guilty, he didn’t want her to see that he’d become like the Katek warriors in his rage. Her image filled his mind, and she was standing in front of a six inch silver and bronze object which was filled with some type of shimmering liquid.

All’s good. I’ll meet you up top. Eirena touched the shrine holding the batiluk.

Aadi traveled to the exit of the lab. It appeared to be made of silver deposits mixed with white veined black rock. Alien writing littered all of the shiny black walls. He scanned the car-nage he’d left behind and remorse choked him. What am I? What have I become? A lone tear fell from his eye. Angrily, he brushed it away. He slung Eirena’s spacesuit around his neck and headed to the exit to prepare for the Femoh attack.

Chapter 4

Eirena had a limited amount of time to retrieve the talisman from the shrine. She hurried into the dugout cave that was covered in black rock. Millions of veins of silver shimmering like diamonds were suspended within them. The batiluk was enclosed in a translucent rock and several Femoh warriors stood to protect it. They were poised, ready for battle with weapons drawn. She snickered.

She wondered at the limited number of guards, but pushed those thoughts away, thankful for her good fortune. Bringing forth electrical power of light mixed with the psychic punch of pain, sadness, and tortured