The Cold Forever

By Dmitry Pavlovsky

When a voyager from beyond the stars crash lands on Earth, he inadvertently unleashes a global cataclysm that may erase our timeline from existence.

Now, to save our world, a team of desperate strangers must face devastating time fluxes, ruthless mercenaries and a remorseless monster from the future, that cannot be killed.

But first... they will have to cross eons of polluted and ever shifting time, to find each other. And a young girl will have to come to terms with a destiny that will take her into the darkest regions of our Solar System.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312621572

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The Cold Forever

The Cold Forever

Dmitry Pavlovsky

Copyright Information

© 2014 by Dmitry Pavlovsky

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2014

ISBN 978-1-312-62157-2

www.dmitryinspace.com

Acknowledgements

This whole mess started because I made a deck of playing cards with a certain Mr. Berg, who co-wrote a short story with me as a backdrop for the cards. I didn’t set out to write a book, but that story was just too good to pass up.

To Abhi and Aarti for getting excited about the book alongside with me. To Gene, for his brotherly support. To my editor, Angie Gouletas, for taking the book up a few significant notches.

To all of those awesome people online (and off) that had to suffer through my constant barrage of updates on book cover designs and word counts. Those likes mattered, folks. You know who you are.

To my parents, because if unchecked, I could have turned out much, much worse.

Hard to believe, I know.

And, finally, to Natalie, who loves me despite my many, many character flaws.

PROLOGUE

2053: Out of the Deep

The pilot lifted his head from his hands and watched as the lights began to flicker and die. Straightening in his seat, he looked around the pod and waited for something else to happen. He didn’t have to wait long.

A violent tremor rumbled from deep within the guts of the ship and traveled outward until it finally reached him in the pod. He held his breath and eyed a panel on the wall that began to shake loose.

When the tremors finally stopped and the instrument lights came back on, the pilot exhaled and unclipped his restraints.

Rtris? he said looking up. You there?

How may I be of assistance? the AI’s voice came down from the speaker above him.

What just happened? he asked.

There was a minor explosion in the engine room, came the reply.

How minor? he asked.

I am still analyzing, Rtris replied. We are venting atmosphere from the engine room. I have initiated a lockdown in that compartment. It has been isolated.

So what blew? he asked.

I am unable to access the DeepDrive Engine, Rtris replied. Therefore, I cannot identify the exact cause of the problem.

Wait a minute, the pilot said after a long pause. Is the DeepDrive even on?

Negative, came the reply.

So we’re in real space? he asked.

That is correct, Rtris said. We are out of the Deep and the ship is tumbling.

Tumbling, the pilot repeated. Can you stabilize?

Negative, Rtris said. There was a power drain.

Which areas were affected? asked the pilot.

Navigation, propulsion, engineering and communications, said the AI. Life support, artificial gravity and some of the internal networks are still functional.

We need to get propulsion and navigation back online, the pilot said.

We will have to reroute the emergency power from life support and artificial gravity, Rtris replied.

Do it on my mark, the pilot said as he jumped off his chair and ran to one of the walls. He touched a small button and a section of the wall slid away, revealing an environmental suit and a helmet. The pilot quickly put on the suit and clicked the helmet shut. As soon as it was sealed, the internal power kicked on and the suit ran through a start-up procedure. The pilot checked his internal atmospherics and power supply. He opened the channel to the ship’s AI.

Rtris, do you read me? he said.

Yes, Marikhai.

Reroute power from life support to propulsion and then stabilize the ship, he said.

He felt no change, except for the red lights that were now flashing at the perimeter of the navigation pod.

Life support is now offline, but the ship has been stabilized, Rtris said.

OK, now we need navigation, he said. Rtris, reroute the power from artificial gravity to navigation.

The dead displays in front of his chair turned on just as his body lifted off the floor. He made his way, along the wall, back to his seat and strapped himself in again.

Let’s see where we are, he said and tapped the screen in front of him. Rtris, pull up the local star charts.

Unable to comply, said the AI.

Marikhai looked up at the speaker and blinked with surprise. What?

The configuration of visible stars in this sector of space do not match any star charts that are stored in my system, came the reply.

Oh boy, he said. So where are we?

Our location is unknown, said the AI.

Another tremor, much weaker this time.

Rtris?

It appears that the DeepDrive, though nonfunctional, is still powered on, said the AI.

Analysis? he asked.

Unless the core is shut down, or ejected, the engine will go critical in four cycles, Rtris replied. The explosion will cause a chain reaction that the ship will not survive.

Four cycles? Marikhai couldn’t believe it. That gave him zero chance of repairing the drive, which meant he had a very difficult decision to make.

Shut it down, he said after a long sigh.

Unable to comply, came the reply.

Well then eject it, he said, dismayed at the panic he heard in his own voice.

Unable to comply, the AI said again.

Why the hell not? he asked desperately.

The network connection to the DeepDrive has been terminated due to the explosion, Rtris said. I cannot reach it.

How long would it take for me to disconnect the drive myself? he asked.

Five and a half cycles, the AI replied.

What in the… Marikhai said. Why so long?

It was never meant to be manually disconnected, said the AI. To avoid crew error.

"What crew? he asked, raising his voice. It wasn’t the first time that he regretted including the others in the production of this ship. It seemed that decisions were made, and they were made without his knowledge.  Is there another way?

It can be done in half the time, said the AI, by two crew members.

Marikhai gritted his teeth. Can’t you help me?

I cannot adjust the manual controls required for this operation, said the AI.

"Great. Now what do I do?"

Evacuation is the only option.

Evacuation, he said with a snort. To where?

There is a system of planets nearby, the AI said as the screen in front of him came to life again.

Any of them suitable for life? Marikhai asked as he studied the sensors.

The screen zoomed in on the third planet. Marikhai whistled when he saw the deep blue of its oceans.

I guess I really don’t have any other options, he said. Anyone alive down there?

The long-range sensors of this ship are not sophisticated enough to detect that  information from this distance, said the AI.

Perfect, Marikhai murmured to himself. He unclipped his restraints and floated away from his seat. It was starting to dawn on him that this was the last time he would see his ship, and that he was about to be marooned in an unknown system with no chance of getting back home. He tried to shrug off the feeling of deep sadness that was starting to creep in and concentrate on the task at hand. He pulled out supplies from the wall locker and packed them into a small case.

Is the escape pod ready?

Yes, Marikhai.

OK, you’re coming with, he said. Download yourself into the pod.

Another tremor shook the ship, and Marikhai froze until it finally subsided.

Time to go, he said.

Marikhai grabbed the case, gave the navigation pod a final once-over, and cautiously floated through a circular door into a tight hallway.

***

He sat in the escape pod’s pilot chair and watched his ship slowly drift away from him. He had failed. He was told that he would, but he went ahead with the plan anyway. What choice did he have? What choice did any of them have?

Marikhai took off his helmet and placed his head in his hands again. This was always going to be a risky mission, and now it was up to the others to fix the unfixable. He rubbed his hands on his polished skull, the small surface plates moving with the motion of his hands.

He sat like this for hours, until finally he looked up and noticed that his ship was gone, swallowed by the darkness of deep space. There was no going back now. There was no going home.

***

Marikhai.

What is it, Rtris? the pilot asked and opened his eyes. He glanced at the time display on the wrist of his suit. Eight cycles had passed since he had left the ship. Four cycles ago it blew itself out of existence. He didn’t see it go, but Rtris was kind enough to tell him when it happened. He raised his head and looked at the large screen in front of him. The blue planet filled almost two thirds of it now. He could do nothing but watch. The pod had run out of fuel, save for the breaking thrusters that would be deployed automatically in the atmosphere. It was going to be a bumpy ride.

I’m detecting an anomaly forming directly in front of us, said the AI.

Show me, he asked.

The readings are consistent with those of the DeepDrive Engine, said the AI.

Unbelievable! said Marikhai.

He allowed himself a brief glimmer of hope. Maybe there was intelligent life here that also developed the DeepDrive. Maybe there was a chance after all.

The anomaly appears to be natural, it said.

That’s not possible, Marikhai said with disbelief.

The AI said nothing.

There it is! Marikhai said, pointing to a rapidly approaching sphere of light. The AI was right. It was right in their path.

We’re going to fly right through it, he whispered. This is unreal.

He slowly leaned back in his seat, adjusted his restraints and put his helmet back on. Whatever was going to happen next, he could do nothing to prevent it. The sphere of light was going to swallow him whole.

ONE

The Present: Our Frozen Breath

Sofya stood on a small, snowy hill, her eyes glued to the stars above. Her sled, loaded with supplies, rested nearby, all but forgotten. She stared at the twinkling sky through great plumes of her own breath, completely mesmerized by it. Surely her uncle could wait just a little more.

She had almost convinced herself this time. Of course he could not wait.

She tore her eyes away from the sky and brought her gaze back down to Earth.

A gust of wind surprised her then. Not the coldness of it, but the suddenness with which it attacked the slopes she was standing on. The snow twirled and danced about her, like the enchanted forest creatures in her uncle’s books.

She was all but ready to climb down the hill, when she heard a loud, crackling sound. For a moment, she was confused. How could there be lightning in the middle of the winter?

Sofya knelt near her sled, and without looking down she started to grasp for its reins. Never in her very mature twelve years had she experienced such an odd change of weather. It made her very nervous.

The sled’s reins were right where she’d left them. She was about to grab them when the thunder repeated, much louder than before. The wind intensified, and Sofya was suddenly blown backward.

She closed her eyes momentarily and immediately thought better of it. She looked again toward the swirling fury of the snow, where a shape was now forming a few feet above the ground.

It was a perfectly round sphere.

The lightning and the wind grew wilder then. Sofya could barely stay in place, though stay she did, paralyzed by fear.

A concussion wave exploded from the center of the sphere and knocked Sofya down the slope of the hill. She rolled backward and finally came to a halt on her stomach. She raised her head and watched as the sphere hovered in the air for a few moments before collapsing in on itself, taking the lightning and the wind with it.

An unnatural stillness fell upon the snowy hills. Sofya got up on all fours and looked around for her sled. It was near the bottom of the hill, on its side. The groceries had spilled onto the snow. She gingerly got up to her feet and ran to the sled. It was definitely time to go home now.

Sofya righted the sled and was beginning to put the groceries back onto it when a strange feeling in her stomach stopped her cold. She’d never felt this sensation before. It was as if someone was standing right behind her. She quickly turned to see if anyone was there, but she saw nothing more than snow and the stars beyond it. Yet the feeling did not subside. She was no longer alone, and she was quite certain of it.

Sofya kept turning and looking about her, until the only place left to look was the one that scared her the most. Summoning any remaining courage she had, Sofya slowly brought her eyes back up to the hill she’d fallen off. Her stomach clenched tighter, and the fear she’d felt earlier intensified.

Something was floating just above the peak of the hill.

Sofya rubbed her eyes and took a step back. The form was translucent, as she’d imagined a ghost would be. It was vaguely human: longish with the arms and legs sticking out at strange angles away from its torso. The head and face, shrouded in shadow, seemed tilted on a long neck.

But what really made Sofya’s skin crawl were the eyes. Out of the deep shadows of its face, the eyes expelled plumes of intense violet light.

Sofya took another step back, as the fear in her stomach gripped her tighter. She watched this ghostly apparition turn silently in the air to face her. The eyes expelled another burst of violet light and she heard a low hiss, as if someone had turned on a gas stove.

The ghost raised its long, crooked arm, and something invisible slammed into Sofya’s chest.

TWO

2053: Who Are You?

A disheveled man walked along the edge of a narrow dusty road. His long, black beard was unruly and peppered with fine grit. His long coat was shredded and the rest of his drab attire was in no better condition.

His name was Samil, and his mind was a blank slate.

He wore an old leather backpack on his left shoulder, holding the strap loosely with his left hand, while his right hand hung low near a pistol holster on his leg. The holster held a smooth, silver rod, adorned only with the engravings of an unknown language. Sam called it the whistle because of the sound it made once activated. He'd used the weapon several times now, though he didn't know how it worked or when it would finally be depleted.

The road Sam traveled dissected the continent from west to east, or so he’d been told. He’d been walking and hitchhiking on this road for several months now. His last ride had told him that he was almost near his destination.

He looked up wearily at the darkening sky and stopped in his tracks. The stars were finally coming out, and he needed to take a break for the night. The road was surrounded by a steppe, so there would be no cover this time.

Walking into the short grass, Sam unhooked his backpack from his shoulder and brought out a canteen of water and a loaf of dark bread. As he sat and ate his supper, he kept a watchful eye on the two points of the road. Gero had warned him that he might be followed.

He was in jeopardy, always.

Sam's thoughts turned to his mission, of which he knew next to nothing. In his possession was a small, metallic cylinder, about the size of his thumb. Sam thought it to be solid, with no visible openings or seams. His mission was to safely transport this cylinder to a place he knew as Florida. He also had been given the name of its intended recipient.

Not for the first time, Sam thought about why he was doing this. There was no logical reason he should be following orders from someone who wasn’t even real. Yet, Gero's appearances in his dreams usually calmed his nerves and strengthened his resolve to finish the mission. He would awake reinvigorated and full of purpose. His goals were as solid as the earth he walked on. It was only toward the end of the day that he would start to feel doubt creeping in.

He was deep in thought when the soft wind that followed him all day suddenly changed direction and picked up velocity.

Here we go, he said under his breath.

The time flux happened farther down the road and about thirty feet up. The sphere appeared, as it had countless times before, and a shock wave blew through the air. This one was too far away to do any damage, so Sam stayed put and watched. He'd seen these fluxes throughout his travels. Some appeared in the air, others half buried in the earth. Most were harmless, though some appeared in populated places, destroying buildings and engulfing those unfortunate enough to be standing in the wrong place. He did not know what they really were—just a fact of his everyday life and as spontaneous as the weather.

No one he ran into had the slightest idea of what they were either. But from what he could piece together from news broadcasts and overheard conversations, their recorded appearances traced back thousands of years, if not more. The only warning anyone ever got was a sudden gust of wind, seconds before it all went upside down.

The flux disappeared into the night as quickly as it had started, and now that it was quiet again, Sam began to feel uneasy. The stars shone as before, the breeze was gentle and the temperature was a steady 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

He looked around, raising his head slightly above the road. Just nerves.

A twig snapped, and Sam froze. There was nothing but silence at first, then a shuffling sound down the road in the direction from which he’d come. Someone was walking, and they weren't being very quiet about it. Sam raised his head a fraction more, but it was too dark for him to see.

He gathered his backpack and slowly backed away on all fours. He was now in longer grass and completely hidden.

Quiet and calm, Sam watched the road in front of him. This wasn't the first time someone had followed him. Usually they turned out to be thieves and robbers, and when he proved to be more trouble than he was worth, they typically left him alone. Some hadn't, but most did. He pulled out the whistle just in case.

The sound of walking came closer. He could see movement now. The shape, silhouetted by millions of stars, was walking at a normal pace across the road. Whoever it was had no flashlight.

As the shape got closer, it slowed noticeably. Sam’s initial thought was that this person was looking for him. There was little doubt now. The silhouette finally leveled with him on the road and stopped. Sweat ran down Sam's spine. How the hell could they know he was here? He could barely see his own hand. Night-vision hardware?

And now it just stood there. Was it watching him? Should he do something?

I see you in there, big guy, said a male voice. In the grass, I mean.

Sam stayed silent.

Well, if you won't come to me, lad, I guess I'll have to make my way down to you, the voice said again.

Sam sprang up from his position, pointed the whistle at the shape on the road and screamed a word he did not understand. The whistle’s engravings lit up in an instant, and Sam's silver weapon blew a giant hole in the road, spraying dirt, grass and fire all around it.

The shape was gone.

Sam stood still and watched as the fire quickly died down.

Getting a bit nervous, are we? a voice whispered from behind him, and Sam felt a weak sting on his neck.

Pushing away from his attacker, Sam rolled onto the ground, raised the whistle again, and screamed another meaningless word.

A column of fire rose all around him, sending rippled shock waves away from him and into the steppe. Nothing could have lived through that. He might as well have fired a missile from space.

Sam quickly jumped to his feet, grabbed his backpack and took off, through the fire, for the road. The night was now bright with the burning grass he had left behind. He threw a quick glance back and, to his relief, saw no one coming after him. Taking no more chances, Sam hit the road at full speed and didn’t stop running until he was a full mile away.

***

A tall, skinny man walked out of the deep grass and onto the spot where Sam had fired his weapon for the second time. He watched as Sam’s quickly retreating shape ran east down the narrow road in front of him. Turning on his heels, he looked about him and clicked his teeth. This was going to be harder than he thought.

He placed a hand to his ear and turned on his comm device. I’ve made contact with the TVA.

He listened carefully as someone spoke on the other end.

Yeah, he is, so you better wake up the boss, he finally said and looked east down the now-empty road.

He lowered his head and listened.

Why? he repeated the other’s question. Because he’s dangerous. And he’s dangerous because he has a weapon I’ve never seen before. And because we don’t know why he’s here. But most of all, he’s dangerous because he is absolutely, unequivocally mental.

The man clicked off the comm unit in frustration, took one more look around and, without saying another word, vanished into the night air.

THREE

The Present: King of Shadows

An invisible force sent Sofya rolling backward, and she yelped with surprise and pain. She stayed still for a few moments, catching her breath and trying to wish herself into invisibility. She was beyond scared now.

Lying on her back, Sofya finally opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. But instead of the stars, she found a young man’s face staring right back at her.

She gasped and started to squirm away. She rolled onto her stomach and quickly jumped to her feet. 

Sofya frowned. He looked nothing like the ghost on the hill. Just how many people were out here with her anyway?

The man made a face and blinked. He looked just as surprised as she was. Sofya was about to ask him a question when the fear returned, as she remembered what had just happened to her.

She spun around to face the hill, but the ghostly presence was long gone.

A hand came down softly on her shoulder. Sofya jumped and looked back at the young man, who was now standing right next to her.

There's something up there! she stammered as she pointed at the hill.

The man looked at her with confusion and shook his head.

He doesn’t understand me, Sofya thought.

The young man said something, but she couldn’t understand him either.

The two of them glared at each other, taking turns shaking their heads. Finally, frustration getting the better of her, Sofya traced the air with her hands into a general shape of a person. She then pointed at the hill where she had seen the ghost and brought her hands to her face, miming flashing lights from her eyes with her fingers. The man frowned as if something had finally clicked into place.

A gust of wind snuck up on Sofya and sent a violent shiver down her entire body. She turned and waited for the large sphere she’d seen earlier to reappear.

Instead, the air in front of her parted and the ghost floated out of the darkness and onto the snow in front of her. The glowing eyes were wider now, almost feral. His face was skinny and pale, his nose long and slender. The rest of his features were obscured by shadows that seemed to come from nowhere.

She watched in horror as the ghost solidified into a person right before her eyes.

The young man by her side, said something again, louder this time, but the ghost man only looked at him and then turned his glowing eyes back to Sofya. His face was inches away from hers. He opened his month, and she saw rows upon rows of dagger-like teeth backlit with violet light from somewhere within. She stumbled backward as the ghost leaned over her and began to dissolve back into nothing. She could feel his menace pressing down on her as if it were a solid thing. She closed her eyes and brought her arms up for protection. She knew it would do nothing to save her. 

And then it all went away. There was a sound of a massive collision above her, and her eyes flipped open despite her fear.

The young man and the creature were gone. She turned her head and looked wildly about her until she finally saw the two of them several yards away.

The young man stood menacingly over the ghost man, as he lay on the ground face down. Bursts of violet light flickered on and off from under the ghost’s face, and the young man cautiously began backing away from him.

As the ghost started to fade away once more, the young man suddenly pointed at Sofya and screamed. And though she didn't understand a single word, she got the message.

Just as she turned to run, the ghost erupted from somewhere above. He smashed into the young man, catching him by surprise. Giant sparks jettisoned from the impact, the wave from the explosion knocking Sofya down again.

Shaking her head, she looked up and saw that both of them had vanished. She looked everywhere but could find no trace of the mysterious men. Rising to her knees, she closed her eyes and gathered her wits about her. This was all a dream, she chanted to herself.

Nothing but a dream.

She opened her eyes just in time to see a flash of lightning far off in the distance, followed by a low rumble of thunder. She was about to get up when another bright flash illuminated the snowy hills, followed by another. She started to back away in the direction of her sled. Her eyes were forward, as the flashes were now coming every few seconds. They seemed to be all over the place, striking the ground or simply colliding with each other in the air. The thunder was constant. Something was happening out there – something she did not understand.

It frightened her.

And then the lightning ceased, plunging the fields of snow around her into darkness and silence once more.

She stopped in her tracks, when she finally felt the sled with the back of her feet.

Turning around, she expected to find her groceries. What she found instead was a mouth full of daggers.

FOUR

2053: Empty Village

From a distance, the village looked abandoned. Yet Sam couldn't shake the feeling that he was not alone. The attack he’d survived a few days ago had rattled him. He became obsessed with security, changing roads frequently. He eventually had to concede that the only thing that followed him was paranoia, dread and fatigue.

The small village was in his way, and he didn’t want to waste time by going around it through the thick forests and swamps. He wasn’t really surprised that the area was devoid of any people. He'd passed many such abandoned villages on his way to Florida, all without any incident. It was the reason he’d chosen this road in the first place.

It seemed that the majority of the population now huddled close in the few large towns that remained. He had no recollection of the war that seemed to be the underlying cause for all of the emptiness he’d found.  

Entering the village with caution, Sam took the whistle out of its holster. It was getting close to nighttime, and he needed to find a place to rest. It took him about ten minutes to walk through the entire village, using the main road. It was definitely abandoned. All the buildings were in disrepair. Paint worn off. Holes in the walls. A time flux had carved out a giant hole in the side of one house some time ago.

He chose the second-to-last building as his shelter for the night. It was the only one that still had four walls and a roof.

The inside of the house was mostly empty, aside from typical debris. The interior walls were gutted, and the furniture was long gone. Still, he had a roof, which was more than usual.

Sam ignored the basement and moved on to the second floor. It was more of the same, but he was elevated now, the windows giving him a good view of the main road.

He sat down by a window with no glass and watched the sun disappear somewhere in the west. A comfortable, warm breeze was in the air. Nothing moved. Nothing made a sound.

Sam sat in the corner and ate his dinner. The house was quiet and he was deep in his own thoughts.

He had a little bit of traveling left to do. Farther south and east. He hoped that he would have no more troubles. He hoped that he could find her and deliver the cylinder. Then he would finally be free.

Free to search for his past. Maybe some peace. Some empty dreams for once.

He absently touched the tiny, round, metal plate on the back of his head. He had noticed it three days into his amnesia. It was embedded into his skull; his long black hair had grown around it.

Gero, whatever he was, was not telling him everything.

They only ever met in Sam's dreams, where he could never think to ask those questions that ate away at him each night.

He closed his eyes and cleared his mind. The bread he held in his hand fell to the floor. His breath slowed, becoming deeper and deeper.

Looking around, Sam didn’t know how long he’d been standing in this frozen field, underneath a starry sky. He was cold. A man approached him from a great distance, and suddenly he was in front of him. Try as he might, Sam could not focus on his face. It was a blurry mess of shadows and colors.

It was always like this.

Gero, he said.

Samil, came the reply.

Where are we?

This is my home for the time being.

Is this where we always meet?

Yes, replied Gero and crooked his head. You are unsure.

He appeared behind Sam and touched the back of his head. Sam instantly felt peace. A warmth, full of purpose and resolution, spread though his stomach.

The cylinder. It was everything. It was the only thing.

A loud thunderclap in the distance snapped him out of his thoughts. Gero was in front of him again, but he was staring off into the wild.