Byzantium

By David Oconner

The fate of humanity teeters on the knife's edge of destruction, with a disastrous and unforeseen first contact with an alien horde. Whilst some ponder as to why the aliens would raze and ravage, others prepare for war. Now, step into the shoes of Humanity's newest weapons - telekinetics, as they try to staunch the bleeding of humanity into the vast emptiness of space and war.

The city of Integrity, located on the Sea of Tranquility, was mankind’s proof to ourselves that yes, they could indeed build a whole city on virtually nothing, from virtually nothing, and make it breathtakingly beautiful afterward.

However, I wasn’t thinking about that as my fingers dug into one of the many metal panels that tiled the wall behind me. With a thought, I crushed the panel into a ball and launched it into the five other idiots who were currently chasing me.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Oconner
• Release date: Oct 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463462218

David Oconner

David Oconner has been writing and publishing books on many of his varied interests. He has books on topics such as Cichlid Fish, How to Grow Tomatoes, Sugar Gliders, Juicing Recipes, Vegetarian Cookbook, How to Play Minecraft, Diablo III, Mass Effect 3, Halo 4, GuildWars 2, Scrolls, Eve Online, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Titanfall, Dark Souls II, and more.

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Byzantium

Copyright 2018 David Oconner

Published by David Oconner at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher

Byzantium is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Discover other titles by David Oconner at Lifestyles100.com

This book is available in print at most online retailers.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Chapter 2: Death Camp Training

Chapter 3: Power Plays

Chapter 4: Debut

Chapter 5: Melee

Chapter 6: Reversal

Chapter 7: The End of the Beginning

Chapter 8: The End of the Beginning II

Chapter 9: Threefold

Chapter 10: The Star

Chapter 11: Determination

Chapter 12: The Fool and the World

Intermission: Some Silent Thinking

Chapter 13: Temperance

Chapter 14: Return Inanimateness

Chapter 15: Overcast (Part 1)

Chapter 16: Overcast (Part 2)

Chapter 17: Rainstorm and Sunlight

Chapter 18: Reversed Sand

Chapter 19: Retrace Resolution

About The Author

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

And every light in the sky was a sword at our throats, so much so that in that very hour, we longed for what we once hated, the illimitable darkness of a familiar night sky…

…the voice of my boring classmate droned on and on, and somehow, I was still not asleep. In five minutes’ time, a bell would ring, and I would get out of this dull classroom, out of this school, and into the open where I could breathe fresh air.

Besides, as much as I love Literature, Nataniel Floresca’s A Brief Recounting of the Balmary Invasion was extremely dry. Kinda like the Sahara and the Antarctica combined but with words.

Another thing was that Sam’s voice made the whole thing sound twice as serious as it was already written, and the whole thing wasn’t even real. Humans have already colonized up to half of Saturn’s moons, and the other half were slated for mining, and there were no damn aliens to be found.

Hell, my dad knew a couple of guys who went to the Kuiper Belt and back, and they certainly didn’t see anything much both ways. Just rocks, more colorful rocks, and darkness.

I actually kind of miss him. He keeps going on longer and longer trips each time.

Before I could start an internal debate about the existence of aliens, or even ruminate more about my family life, the sound of freedom penetrated my ears. No, it wasn’t the triumphant caw-caw of a bald eagle, as the American successors liked to joke about so much.

It was the clear and crisp sound of the school bell, which I had learned to love, especially on days like these where only a hologram and a voice taught, and not flesh and blood.

I got up and sneaked out, gingerly poking the door open before Sam could stop me.

That was the plan, anyway. I really didn’t want to be dragged around by Sam to be forced to talk to people, as a new transfer student really should.

I mean, after what happened back on Earth-

Chara, wait!

I really didn’t want to talk to others, anymore.

The city of Integrity, located on the Sea of Tranquility, was mankind’s proof to ourselves that yes, they could indeed build a whole city on virtually nothing, from virtually nothing, and make it breathtakingly beautiful afterward.

However, I wasn’t thinking about that as my fingers dug into one of the many metal panels that tiled the wall behind me. With a thought, I crushed the panel into a ball and launched it into the five other idiots who were currently chasing me.

I said launched, not thrown, because it can’t really be considered throwing when you didn’t have to bend your arms that much and were proficient with psychic abilities like telekinesis.

The projectile, which had the amusing likeness of a ball of crumpled paper on its way to a trashcan, struck one guy right in the belly and knocked the wind out of him.

And then there were four.

At long last, the remaining idiots managed to surround me, and I asked them:

Are you all finally done? Chasing me around for almost a year ever since I got here, all because I have something Y'all don’t?

There was a short, measured pause, as my words sunk into everyone else in the vicinity.

We want to set a precedent. In a slow, steady tone of voice, the words came out. A precedent that fostering psychic abilities to a select group of individuals would result in their harm.

I turned around to face the speaker: a large, burly man, with tan and toned skin and black hair that curled like the waves back on Earth.

And you think the best way to do this is to go around attacking people who can literally kill you with their minds? Are you stupid?

’He who strikes first, wins.’ Isn’t that how the old saying goes? A measured response came back, in that same calm tone, but getting yet more dangerous.

In that case.

I’m not really a telekinetic. I’m an Amplifier. So, when I turn my feet a certain angle and tap the ground very lightly with my toes-

The concrete pavement shattered, and three guys fell on their knees as their legs gave way from the shock. The fourth, well, was in the air and headed straight for me.

Any sarcastic remark that my sarcastic Inner Voice was about to make was blasted out of my head as the first punch connected to my right cheek.

I was knocked to the ground, and then I caught his next fist with both my hands.

One thought, and it was over.

There are several things I mean by that. The first being that the fight was over, as that huge bastard was in no condition to hit me any longer. The second being that it was over for him, as he would probably die from blood loss or shock over the forced reversal of an elbow.

The third and last being that it was over for me, because the reason I was exiled from Earth in the first damn place was because I literally accidentally killed a man, and there are only a certain number of chances one would give an unstable but powerful person like me.

So, covered in blood, in a perfectly public place, I waited.

It took fifteen minutes for me to hear the first sirens.

____

Well, well, well. It looks like we are back where we started. Aren’t we, Charlotte?

I could almost hear the sigh in his voice, and yet, I really couldn’t blame him.

"It’s Chara, Rear Admiral Jeffery. Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with? You know, preventing further loss of life and all that."

The police had, within five minutes of checking my identification, drove me to a place which was publicly designated as Apollo Camp, the navy camp on the outskirts of Integrity City Core. It was a fascinating place which I had wanted to explore more, having seen its barbed fences and sentry towers on my first day on the way into the city.

You go further inside, and you’ll find that behind a row of spaceships docked for repairs, beyond a launch site for journeys back to Earth, and behind a pair of armed and armored guards with a concealed sniper in the trees, there’s a heavily reinforced door in the middle of an old building.

Go beyond that door, which must have required forty-two or so scans for me to get past (the Rear Admiral got off with 12, he picked me up at the gate), there lies, in embossed silver letters on the equally shiny and industrial-looking walls:

Special

Operations

Naval

Intelligence

Did I mention the five visible cameras and the god-knows-how-many invisible cameras that were pointing at that door? I think I’m going to start calling it The Door from now on. Not to mention that the unit’s name sounded similar to one old electronics company that had managed to survive for like, what, eight hundred odd years or so?

So, in an interrogation room behind a door behind The Door, I stare into the eyes of one Rear Admiral, Jeffery Watamin, the officer responsible for me. Well, within the confines of the military, at least. Psychics each get one handler, and they were all quite high-ranking, especially when you’re a psychic which had not gone through the Power Potential Program.

In other words, something like an unplanned pregnancy, except that your baby throws around more things than just tantrums.

Rad Jeff, as I liked to call him, wore his age well, as his Asian genes let him, a lean fellow who looked like beef jerky that had been chewed up and spat out multiple times, and had an aura of toughness that rivaled the jerky he looked like.

This time, he did let out an actual sigh. A long and contemplative sigh, one for times both in despair and to buy time on what to say next while having the mental equivalent of banging your head on the wall.

I think, he finally said, that you would be slightly relieved to know that the eight delinquents you assaulted, are all in stable condition at Saint Orwell’s Hospital, and that their leader whose elbow you so skillfully reversed will lose the use of his right arm for at least three months and undergo a further nine months of physiotherapy. Good job, by the way.

My eyebrows twitched upwards. Good job? I thought you didn’t want me going around murdering people?

Rad Jeff grinned, but it seemed more like he was baring his teeth. Well, it seems to me that you’ve finally, one, control your powers, and two, grew some balls to fight back in self-defense.

I gave an audible snort, a sharp, harsh burst of air.

Don’t start laughing at me. You’re gonna need those balls real soon, young lady. I’ve got something to show you.

I snorted again. Old man, if you make another joke about your privates-

How would you like an alien invasion?

This time, it was said in such a serious, no-nonsense tone I had come to recognize as a sign of shit getting real. Hell, the last time I heard it, it was when a telepath-in-training nearly went on a killing spree after overexposure to too many violent thoughts after the interrogation of a serial murderer.

I shut up immediately, even as my mind tried to grasp at the numerous possible implications and went out of swap space.

The Admiral took out his phone and pointed it at the wall, bringing up a projection.

It’s not a confirmed invasion, but it looks especially imminent, especially when this footage of First Contact made it back home through the relay stations.

The video on the wall was of a standard definition, showing two men in white spacesuits on a large asteroid, prospecting for some mineral or other. Though I couldn’t see their faces through their tinted visors, through their voices of increasing excitement I could discern-

Uncle Davies? I drew closer to the screen as if I could be closer to them that way. Dad?

I turned back to Rad Jeff with a questioning look.

If you’re wondering where they are, they’re on the Kuiper Belt, Sector Alpha-Seven.

I knew that place. It was said with a tone of excitement, of adventure, of an anticipation of a big turnaround for the fate of Kyros Industries, as my Dad used to say. I assumed it was some well or vein of precious metal, titanium or iridium or something…

And as the true meaning of the phrase invasion looks especially imminent hit me, along with its connections to footage of First Contact, I had to force myself to continue watching the screen.

To continue watching as my father and his friends-colleagues were bisected violently by some insectoid with a carapace of Byzantium purple that suddenly emerged from the depths of that crater in the asteroid, with their bodies being dragged down back into the darkness from which it came.

Zero gravity and the vacuum of space were unkind to exposed human bodies (or what was left of them, anyway), to say the least.

At least-

I know what you’re going to say, Rad. ‘At least, they died a fast and painless death.’ I turned back to face him; my face now void of emotion save a frigid mask.

"I am not a telekinetic, Jeff. I can’t reach you from over here. But I can still kill you with my bare hands, without effort. I said, my tone cold as the dead of space. So, answer me truthfully: Did you doctor this footage to get me to fight for you, for some other stupid cause?"

The man I faced drew himself up to his full height and returned my glare with a fiery intensity to match my cold.

Would you believe me if I said no, Chara? Would you?

I notice you didn’t answer the question, Rear Admiral. A harsh but necessary retort, to see if all hope had really been lost.

No. I did not. This footage is straight from the files of Kyros Industries.

Uncontrollably, a high and scathing laughter had escaped my throat. It went on and on, echoing in the small, reinforced soundproof room like a vulture that circled a dying animal.

It was the laughter of despair, of the death of hope and the onset of grief.

When I had finished and regained my composure, I turned to face the old man again.

So, I said, voice matter-of-fact. When do we start?

And the Admiral, once again understanding what I meant, replied.

You have already begun.

Chapter 2 – Death Camp Training

By the time known by Earthlings as sunset, I was settled in.

Some clothes, the tablet I had for school, and my laptop were all that I packed in that sturdy suitcase that I had dug out from the depths from the storage room second door down the hallway.

Jeff was the one drove me back home, and gave me half an hour to pack and "say farewell to your old house."

I asked him where I’d be staying, and his only reply was: "I assure you, you’ll be quite comfortable there."

Seeing as I could literally sleep in the back of an alley if I felt like it, his line of speech didn’t give me much to work with.

Twenty minutes later I was climbing back into the admiral’s car, still quite ambivalent about the whole damn affair.

Frankly speaking, I treated my apartment back in Integrity Core only as a place to sleep. Being alone in a three-room flat, especially during the daylight hours, would drive me bloody insane.

The other option, even if it included running away from gangsters and delinquents some of the time, was roaming the streets of Integrity. A much more interesting affair.

Now, all of that was about to change.

In no uncertain terms, the admiral told me that I was now a ward of the military and that he was now my guardian and me, his ward.

He also told me that I would be expected to follow instructions.

I told him that they could expect all they wanted, and I would do whatever the hell I want. Within reason, of course, but I didn’t tell him that. Not revealing your whole hand is essential in negotiations, and I wanted him to think that I was still mad with grief.

I didn’t say farewell to the apartment.

___

After registering me as authorized personnel of something called Alpha-class clearance, I sat on my bed in my new room behind The Door.

Apparently, The Door