The Red Queen

By Weston Ford

Stella Stormquist is a member of the exploratory expedition to establish a colony on the long abandoned Earth after a plague forced the majority of humanity to seek shelter among the stars. But, before the expedition can land, their ship crashes into the ruins of an ancient city that now forces Stella to do whatever necessary to save her friends and crew members from the savages that remained on Earth in the shadow of the Infected that is still cast across the surface of the miserable, quiet planet. What Stella must do to save her friends from the religious fanatics who hold them will force her to embrace her darker nature to do whatever is necessary to save those she loves and become the Red Queen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Weston Ford
• Release date: Feb 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310051128

Book preview

The Red Queen

A Novel By

Weston Ford

A NOTE: This novel references several works of classic literature, most notably the novels: Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll as well as The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas. All rights to the characters, dialogue, ideas, and any conception to them is entirely theirs. The author merely pays homage and respect to their ideas in the construction of this science fiction narrative.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE RED QUEEN

Copyright © 2015 by Weston Ford

All rights reserved.

This novel is dedicated to a woman

full of laughter and joy.

You are eternally loved.

Prologue:

Be brave, Sis, he says to me over the radio in my helmet.

Easier said than done. The ground rumbles beneath me. I reach out instinctively, planting my hands against the wall, feeling the metal vibrating through my padded gloves. My increasing heart rate glows on my helmet’s visor. Warning, your heart rate is increasing, Hub tells me in her soothing voice. Please refrain from stress and anxiety to decrease your acceleration. I need to settle down. I need to calm down. The next explosion shakes through the entire fuselage, letting everyone know that we’re in dire straits. Easier said than done, Hub.

Poppy is safe in our room, where I should be right now. I take a deep breath and tap my radio. I don’t know where it is, I tell him. Glaring through the hissing steam and gas that is bursting out of pipes and hoses in the wall. We’re going down, whirling at hundreds of miles an hour, plummeting toward the Earth. We all wanted a closer look, but not this close. I gulp down my breaths, wishing that it would magically appear right here in my hands. I don’t want to look for it. There’s no time for that. We’re going to be skidding across the surface of the planet soon, marring what we’ve travelled so far to study.

It’s back there, Stella, Jack says to me with a calm, strong voice. He was always brave. He was always the tougher one. He used to say that I got the brains and that he got the guts. It was a lie. He had brains too. You don’t make Sergeant as quickly as he did by being a dumb grunt. It’s at the end of the corridor and through the door. Arjun’s got his hands full right now. I’d do it myself, but this thing is coming apart.

What? I feel my heart rate picking up again and my hud is confirming that. No. This can’t be happening. What happened? Did we hit something? Is someone attacking us? God, there’s no time. I have to get to the door. The floor is swaying, moving left and right as I take another step, trying to be brave—trying to make him proud. My boot hits the metal flooring and I immediately sway, flinging into the other wall, catching myself before I smack my head. I’m an academic, not a soldier. I shouldn’t be doing this.

The ship isn’t going to make it, Jack says to me over the radio. We’re going down, Sis.

No, this isn’t happening, I tell him, breathing heavily.

Keep it together, Jack’s voice cuts through the swirling maelstrom of panicked thoughts circling around the impending doom hanging over my head. Your suit will keep you alive, Stella. They’re designed to keep you alive in space, it’ll keep you alive down here. Just get to the emergency communication box. Get to it and sync your suit’s com system with it. You need a hard link to the box for the transfer and decryption to accept your suit. Stella, if you get separated from the ship and the rest of the crew, we’re counting on you to call in the cavalry. Got it?

No, I shake my head. Why me? Jack, have Robert do it.

Robert’s pulling what data he can from You-Ock, Jack tells me. UOC told us that it was a crazy pipe dream trying to land on Earth for research, but no one expected it to end before it even started. I take a deep breath. If Captain Robert is pulling data on the ruins of ancient Boise, then he’s expecting a fight. If they’re expecting a fight, then I need to be ready. I need to help them the best I can. I take another deep breath, trying to control my breathing. My suit’s hud is still pestering me, warning me about oxygen consumption. It takes note of my feeble attempts to get stable. Stella, you there?

I’m here, I tell him. Taking a deep breath, I think of Jack and Poppy, and Professor Mannus. They’re all depending on me. They’re all depending on someone to get word back to the United Orbital Community. It just so happens that I’m the only person not locked down in the flight deck or in the quarters. God, I was so stupid to think that this was a good idea.

Doesn’t matter. It’s all on me.

I take a step forward, crawling toward the door at the end of the room. One step at a time. Making my way down the hallway, I take slow, deep breaths as I keep going, watching my heart rate go down in neon-blue, transparent numbers on the right hand side of my visor. I’m doing it. I’m making it. I’m going to do this.

Hurry Stella, Jack says over the radio. You’re running out of time.

How much longer? I ask him, reaching the panel next to the door. A defiant smile creeps across my face. I did it. I survived walking down the hallway.

Not long, Jack tells me. Are you there yet?

Almost, I tell him, stepping into the room as the door slides open. The lights above flicker as the ship makes another ripping sound and I’m told that the air outside my suit is now hazardous to breathe.

External gasses are hazardous to your survival, Hub tells me in a soothing woman’s voice. She’s always so polite. Please return to a stable, safe environment before removing your suit.

Thanks, Hub, I growl, finding the Emergency Communications Box. Reaching for the console on my wrist, I place the port near the box and plug in the wire dangling and bouncing on top of it.

What? Jack asks.

Nothing, I tell him. A small icon appears on my visor, informing me that data decryption is happening and that I’m performing an illegal action without the captain’s approval. Arjun has his hands full right now and I’m sure that he’ll understand. It’s linking up with my suit’s coms, I tell him, smiling at my success.

Great job, Sis, I can almost hear the smile on his face. Stay strong, Sis. Whatever happens, be brave.

Something shudders beneath me and I can feel the metal screaming and twisting all around me. The lights on the switchboards and panels around me go dark, along with the lights overhead, but the darkness doesn’t last long. All around me, it looks like something is shredding the fuselage and ripping through the metal. Bright, light fills the room from every rip and crack that is surrounding me. I reach out and clamp down on anything I can get my hands on, anything to help me stay alive.

Jack! I scream at the top of my lungs as the pressure suddenly changes and air rushes all around me.

Warning, you have entered a hostile environment, Hub tells me. Please remain calm and relocate to a safe and secure location. If you are in need of assistance, please stand by. Your distress beacon is now active and help is on the way.

Be brave, Sis, Jack says over the radio as I watch the ship rip apart from my room, sinking toward the surface of the Earth much faster than I am. The room and chunk of the ship that I’m marooned on rotates and turns, plummeting away from the main ship. I look at the Cairo as we come back around, taking in the view of Arjun’s ship rushing violently, spiraling toward the ruins of an ancient city.

Easier said than done, I tell him, watching the earth rushing closer and closer.

One:

The plague came from the stars and it was to the stars that humanity fled. When the meteor crashed into the Canadian wilderness, spreading spores across the atmosphere as it plummeted into the forested expanse of the north, humanity thought little of it. The Astronomers and scientists first to the sight never knew that the seeds were planted inside of them, growing and infecting them. It’s said from the archives that the infected never even know where they end and the plague begins. When the legions of the infected came sneaking out of the forests consuming small town after small town, humanity didn’t even notice. It wasn’t until the infected besieged Calgary, Missoula, and Saskatoon that humanity started noticing the danger they were in.

The colonies on Venus, Mars, and the Orbital Communities around the planets were quickly flooded with refugees trying to flee earth before the seemingly random appearances of the plague showed up. Cities were completely consumed by the plague and entire forests were flagged as dangerous and hostile. The Boise National Forest was the sight of America’s first battle against the infected which ended in thousands of dead soldiers and an even larger exodus from the planet. Humanity sought refuge among the stars as the plague started appearing in Alaska and jumped the Bering Strait to Russia. The plague was global.

Mechanized armies seemed to be the only hope Earth had at fighting the infected, but it spread too quickly, like wildfire. With more and more civilians trying to flee to the stars, high valued individuals were given priority. Refugees swarmed gas, mineral, and metal mining facilities on moons, dwarf planets, and the asteroid belt. The Solar Expansion was larger than ever before. But there were too many people. Three billion souls took refuge in the stars. But those left on Earth were in grave danger. Left with mechanized defenders, the United Orbital Community and the Solar Alliance agreed to nuke the shipyards, launch sights, and any other facilities that might risk bringing the plague into the space community. Those left on Earth were abandoned to the plague.

From space, humanity watched as their planet was ravaged by monsters who came from the stars, some unknown society who is still out there. The United Orbital Community launched strategic missile strike on radio towers, building yards, and anywhere the land bound community might scramble to build a ship to escape. The darkest day was when UOC struck the Fortress, housing the Architect and the mechanized defenders of humanity, shutting down their virtual intelligence and killing humanity’s sentinel defenders. It was too dangerous. There was no stopping the plague. So as the planet turned, slowly the lights went out and the plague ravaged everything. There were still a few lights in the dark, places where humanity clung to existence, hiding behind mighty walls.

Little is known about them. The UOC has had their troubles over the decades, but the only contact they’ve had with Earth is jettisoning penal colonists to the planet, marooning them to die. But over the years, it has become increasingly apparent in the desperate flight from Earth and the merciless bombardment from orbit left much of Earth’s history and knowledge in the dust of the ruins. Without basic information, UOC and the Solar Community has relied heavily on the specialists and academics that were evacuated as high valued targets from Earth during the exodus. But, so much of that information was lost in the deaths of the first generation.

The Cairo was supposed to be the first step in rectifying that problem. It was the first step toward recovering what was lost. But now, as the wreckage burns and I slowly open my eyes, feeling the ache pulsing throughout me, it feels like everything is lost. Everything is lost.

TWO:

The rest of the Cairo slammed down in the ruins of the old city known as Boise. From space, Boise had seemed like the most obvious target for the Cairo completing its objective. It was one of the first cities to fall to the plague and was home to a university. It seemed like a wealth of information and I had agreed with Professor Mannus that it only made sense to pick one of the first cities to fall as a target. The plague should be long gone from these points and from what we can tell, there are few survivor camps in the area.

Slowly pushing myself up, I groan against the pain defiantly trying to get a hold of everything. You have suffered an accident, Hud tells me, showing a diagram of my suit and highlighting in red where the suit has suffered serious damage. I look down at the carapace of technology and armor that enshrouds my body. It’s dented and beaten violently after the impact of crashing into the surface of the planet. Your suit has suffered critical damage. Please find your nearest technician to report damage.

I push myself up, reaching for my wrist and turning the volume down on Hud, telling her that I’m well aware that I’ve been in an accident. The suit goes silent as I listen to the crackling of flames near by and the sounds of the wreckage settling after the devastating impact. The entire room has been torn apart and reshaped around me. Twisted walls, rendered computer parts, and I can’t even find where the Emergency Communication Box has disappeared to. It’s probably been ripped out as we skidded across the surface of the planet, bouncing and ripping apart.

Hello? I try the radio, praying that there are others out there. I can picture Poppy in my mind and Jack too. Where were the Professors? They’d spent so much of their lives petitioning and campaigning for this. God, it must be so horrible for them to suffer this sort of a disaster in the face of success. Hello? This is Stella Stormquist, requesting response, over.

I listen to the radio for a moment, breathing in the filtered air of my suit. It tastes strange, gaseous. Something’s leaking. I start to panic, afraid that I’ve been out long enough that I might be poisoning myself. Reaching for my wrist, I key in the command to start filtering external oxygen. I feel my heart racing. I’m about to breath Earth oxygen. I’m about to take a deep breath of the world that once was our home. This is something that billions have dreamed of, but none have been able to experience. As the air comes in, I close my eyes and try to savor the moment through the devastation.

It smells like fire and smoke and dust. It smells like ruin and destruction. I open my eyes and feel a sickening sensation slithering through my stomach. This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. We were supposed to touch down in Boise and spend the first day setting up the perimeter and camp. We were supposed to be taking readings and letting the botanists and ecologists do their work. We were supposed to reach Lunar Command and tell them that it had been a success. We weren’t supposed to crash.

Rolling over, I look for a way out of the wreckage that I’ve been marooned in. There has to be others who survived the crash. God only knows where they are. Right now Hud is running diagnostics and recovery programs, trying to salvage the tech on my suit. I can feel wings of armor and dented plates constricting and catching on the wreckage as I crawl for the opening ahead of me. It looks like the doorway that I came through to get to the Emergency Communication Box, but it’s warped, ruined.

Be brave, I tell myself. That’s what Jack would tell me right now. I have to get to safety. Something is burning behind me and I can’t stick around before something explodes. I crawl like he taught me when he got back from basic. I use my elbows and my forearms, pulling myself toward the light. Moving over bulging metal and sharp jagged teeth from the fuselage, I slip through the doorway. Rolling onto my back, I plant my gloved hands on the warped frame and pull myself through.

Outside, I look up at the sun, blinking as my visor adjusts, keeping the brightness from bothering me too much. It looks like it’s late afternoon here. Rolling over and pushing myself up, I check Hud and see that she’s still running diagnostics. It’ll be a few more minutes before I get any answers. Fine. I’ll just look around.

As much as I can tell, I’ve crashed into a residential area. Turning and checking the course of my impact, it looks like I hit two hundred yards to the south, ripped through one of the houses and came to rest in the middle of a street. I look at the ancient, abandoned cars, weathered by the seasons that have come and gone across the face of the earth while they sat here, waiting to be remembered. It’s fascinating. I’ve never seen models like this and so many of them. They were just abandoned in the street when drivers got out and fled.

We know relatively little about the plague and it’s beginning. All we know is that it was violent, sudden, and caught everyone off guard. Within five years, the Earth was abandoned after the emergence of the infected. This was one of the first areas to put up a resistance with sufficient warning. To the north of here, thousands of soldiers and law enforcement officials gave their lives in an attempt to stop the horde coming out of the Boise National Forest. We only have record because the first major exodus launched right after their defeat.

Systems operational, Hud tells me.

Radio status, I say immediately, looking farther toward the north, past trees and houses in hopes that I can see the wreckage. It looks like the Cairo might have gone down more toward the northwest, but there’s so many pieces of smoke slithering up toward the sky that it’s hard to tell. We must have carved a huge swath of devastation across the city.

Radio operational, Hud answers.

I immediately switch over to the crew emergency channel. Hello? Is anyone out there? I call desperately, praying that I hear from a familiar voice. I switch off the radio and pray that someone answers. I can feel tears welling up in my eyes.