Three

By Jasim M. Almardi

Aldrick Idramla is back once again in Book 3 of the Mars Chronicles series. The journey to PODS-9 would bring him far more troubles than he would have imagined and it comes as no surprise that he would have to alter his plans. Damon, somehow, seems to be rather persistent in making Aldrick's life a living hell and Elarya becomes an important character in Aldrick's fight for survival. One more journey needs to be made, because perhaps Mars isn't supposed to be a place to call home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jasim M. Almardi
• Release date: Jun 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370005000

Jasim M. Almardi

I was born to a bilingual family, an Arabic father and a Chinese mother and as a child, I remember growing up listening to the stories mother used to read to my sister and I. But the older we grew, the less time mother had for us and somehow, storytelling ceased to exist. Instead, during weekends, mother forced us to copy whole articles from English and Arabic newspapers. It was tedious work to write, write and write during weekends just to get the reward of playing with your Lego or PlayStation for a couple of hours. I hated writing back then, but little did I know that writing back then would have a gigantic impact in my life right now. I read a couple short books over the following years and watched a lot of movies to satisfy my appetite for stories. It was only until my early teens when I picked up my first novel, accidentally, that I completely fell in love once again with story books, especially those written by David Gemmell. I was captivated by the breadth and depth of his imagination and that's the time when I started thinking about being an author myself. Distractions of the world prevented me from pursuing this dream, until recently. I guess only growing up, being an adult, feeling stuck at your job and knowing that you have got much more to offer to the world will make you realise that pursuing your childhood dreams is the best thing you could do for yourself. So, I guess, now it's my time.

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Three

(Book 3 of the Mars Chronicles)

by Jasim M. Almardi

Distributed by Smashwords

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination.

© 2017 by Jasim M. Almardi. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying form without written permission from the author, Jasim M. Almardi.

For more information, visit:

www.jasimmalmardi.com

Books by Jasim M. Almardi

Mars Chronicles Series:

One

Two

CONTENTS

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Epilogue

About the Author

For ma, sis and Lei Wing Yan.

Chapter I – Chaos

No, no, no, not again! Elarya, stay with me… Neo, how am I supposed to get this ZORTAN out of her? And who the hell is Damon? Damn him. Damn PODS-9 and all the other PODS on this damn planet!

Sir, RJ is going to activate the ZORB shield around Elarya now.

Think, damn it! Whoever Damon is doesn’t matter right now. We need to find a way back to RAPTOR-6 and get the hell out of here. But the damn building and the apartment will be surrounded by those damn humanoid bots and god knows what are they planning to do to us.

Neo, we need to get out now. Can you get RAPTOR-6 here ASAP. It doesn’t matter if you have to fly it all the way here. Just be here as soon as you can. Neutralise anything that gets in your way.

RAPTOR-6 will reach you in 3 minutes, sir.

(Clip Clip Clip Clip… )

Those are footsteps.

Coming from more than one bot… Shit, I have to lock the door. I don’t even have anything to fight with apart from this baton. Why the hell did I not bring any guns with me? Argh.

(Click)

Door is locked and there’s an inner door latch, nice.

(Clip Clip Clip Clip… )

More footsteps, sounding ever closer…

(Knock-knock)

There’s balcony, maybe we can get out from there. Damn all of this. Bad luck just keeps following me everywhere. Poor Elarya. No, she has to survive…

Elaaaaaryaaaaa. Said a cheerful sweet feminine voice from the other side of the door."

Elaaaaaarya, it’s Sia. Come on, open the door girl… She continued.

Her teammate Sia? Wait a minute, why does she have to identify herself as Sia if Elarya worked with her… unless her voice is unrecognisable or cannot be easily distinguished. Something is fishy.

Come on Neo…

Neo, I think the apartment is surrounded. There’s a balcony here that you can pick us up from. Whispered Aldrick.

Sir, RAPTOR-6 will be right outside the apartment in 30 seconds.

Elaaaaaaaaaaaarya. I know you’re inside, I can hear you moving.

She’s got superhuman hearing sense now? I didn’t even move from where I’m standing. Come on Neo...

(Cliiiiiiick)

Oh, she’s trying to open the door. No, she’s got a key!

(Thump)

You’re not getting in with the latch on. Shit, I should have dragged something heavy towards the door to block it.

RJ, get to the balcony now. Whispered Aldrick again.

(Beep Beep)

Crap. RJ’s loud.

(Craaaaaaaaaaaaack)

Damn it, she’s breaking the door. Definitely not a friend of Elarya’s.

(Bvvvvvvmm Bvvvvvvmm Bvvvvvvmm Bvvvvvvmm Bvvvvvvmm… )

What was that, it sounded like it was coming from outside the building.

"Sir, please proceed to the balcony. RAPTOR-6 has arrived. There are several bots