The Marlagans: Book Two

By Alton Bryant

Humans live, work and play throughout the solar system. Ferdinand Abernaum, born with multiple birth defects, is now a premiere coder who has augmented his abilities beyond general human capabilities. Now he is a member of an elite team of universal explorers, The Marlagans. He, Jim, Becca, Zin and Rhoan accept their first mission since the rece

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: Feb 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781648957758

Alton Bryant

ALTON BRYANT was born December 11, 1966, in Baltimore, Maryland, and lived his childhood moving around in the BaltimoreWashington Metro area. In the 10th grade, his family moved back to NW Baltimore City, where he attended Frederick Douglass High School. Alton graduated Douglass as valedictorian in 1984. Despite having a fouryear tuition scholarship to Penn State, he opted to join the United States Marine Corps and left for bootcamp 2 weeks after graduation. Alton spent 4 years with a couple MATCS (Mobile Air Traffi c Control Squadron) units, then later took those talents to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) as an Air Traffi c Control Specialist. It was his dream job. He describes it as going to work to play video games all day. One Labor Day evening Alton was struck by lightning through his headset while working position. Due to the nature of his injuries and condition, Alton was no longer medically qualifi ed to work and was forced to take an early retirement after nearly 20 years in the FAA. Though he still suffers with those symptoms, he has learned how to keep himself very busy. Writing books is only one way he spends his time these days. He is also a Directional Leader (elder) among other things at Dulles Community Church, a director at the Washington West Film Festival (1 of only 2 people who helped start the festival and is still active), an Ambassador in the fi ght against human traffi cking with Reset180, a chair of the Stone Ridge HOA's Activity Committee, and a Loudoun County foster parent. Alton is also a full time student studying for his Masters Degree in Psychology and plans to join or open his own counseling service in the near future. Alton's family consists of his wife, Esther, 6 adult children (Isaiah, Davonna, Destin, Delano, Deshea and Alia), a Shih Tsu Poodle named Coconut, and two sibling American Shorthair cats, Crumb and Caramel

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Contents

Chapter 20

Zin Continued

Chapter 21

Accusal

Chapter 22

Humolens

Chapter 23

Shiloh?

Chapter 24

Grief

Chapter 25

HARVI

Chapter 26

Deuces

Chapter 27

Awake

Chapter 28

Storage

Chapter 29

A Moment of Rest

Chapter 30

Finally!

Fernando and the Marlagans have departed Mars for the Jupiter moon, Io, on another confidential and controversial mission. They are searching for answers on the mysterious happenings in the siolens processing plant that hint at life among the raw material. The mission began, brought with sabotage and suspicion, as their navigation system appears to have been tampered with, causing the crew to be very far off course before realizing the discrepancy. The crew was fortunate to discover the misroute since the safety systems and protocols that usually would have alerted them were all disabled by the probable saboteur(s). This reroute has not only caused delays to the mission: had they ventured on the erroneous course much longer, the crew would have been deep spaced with no chance of return. On top of that, they have found certain vital equipment units have been sabotaged to malfunction and some have been programmed to detonate. While investigating this issue, they discovered live explosive charges set to detonate remotely. Someone is truly out to destroy the Marlagans or put an early and destructive end to this difficult mission. No one has answers, but everyone has suspicions.

Upon reaching Io well behind schedule, the crew has encountered what appears to be at least one unseen life form after it seemingly attacked the lead captain of the team. After recovery, Captain Slight was forced to remain in orbit aboard the Mushroom and assist Zin as the rest of the crew ventured back down to the surface for answers. Unfortunately, something invisible to the human eye has hitched a ride aboard the orbiting vessel and has decided to attack. Injured, Captain Slight discovers Zin unconscious and has to fight off the creature the he cannot see until it becomes covered in Zin’s blood, then its own. A massive fight ensues between Jim and the blood-covered creature. With the last of his strength, Jim defeats the creature, secures it in the airlock, and passes out. We rejoin the story as the crew tries to reach Jim and determine whether to abandon the excursion to check on their fellow Marlagans.

Chapter 20

Zin

Continued

Jim! Zin! What’s going on?

Abs, Jim finally answers breathing heavily. We…there was…Zin…blood is… Jim passes out.

Do you think we should go back? Becca asks.

Abs?

Jim? What’s going on?

"I must have passed out. Get here! Zin may be dead. We were attacked by something invisible. Repeat. It was invisible! Oh god!"

Invisible?

Jim cautions weakly, Yes. Be careful. Don’t bring any more of those things up here.

Invisible. Whoa. That’s new. We’re on our way back now.

Wait. It’s in the airlock. I have to space it. Trying to find some way to detect it.

While talking, Jim takes this time to use different visors and detectors to figure out a way to see the creature’s full form aside from the small patches of Zin’s blood. Nothing works.

We’re on our way!

Abs dials in the RTB commands, and the Black Swan is airborne.

We need that airlock opened, Jim.

Oh right. It’s bad up here. It’ll be open. Zin needs serious medical attention.

Becca asks, Are you sure Zin is alive?

Jim, still struggling to make out the creature, snaps out of it and spaces the creature to open the airlock for the crew. Oh look. Siolens. The creature is turning into siolens as it entered space. Does this means siolens material is the carcass of these creatures?

If siolens are corpses, how does that explain the fact that there are more on the surface today? Was this a mass suicide because of their missing compadre?

Rhoan interrupts, Okay, let’s talk about that later. We have to get to Zin right now.

Becca requests, Captain Slight, please see if Zin is alive.

Oh right. Zin. Jim hovers over and sees she still has shallow breath. She is breathing, but it’s shallow.

Is it labored at all?

Yes, I think so.

We’ll be there in just over a minute. Keep her comfortable, Captain.

How do I do that?

Elevate her feet.

What? Her injuries are to her upper body.

Okay. Just hold her hand. Talk to her. Comfort her.

You’ll be here before I can do all of that. Zin. Hey, Zin. It’s Jim.

His hover lounger lowers him onto the floor next to her. He talks, yells and shouts as well as he can in his weakened state to get a response from her to no avail. She does not even flinch. His concern grows much more serious.

We’re here, Jim. Let us in.

The lounger lifts him from Zin’s side. He hovers his way back to the airlock to let the crew back in.

The excursion crew leaps from the Black Swan to find Zin still unconscious and bleeding. Becca grabs the gurney from their vehicle and rushes over to Zin.

Rhoan notices the chaos of blood covering the entire area where Jim and the creature tussled.

Is all of this Zin’s blood?

He looks over to see Zin and begins to wail. He slowly approaches to see her unresponsive and limp body being hoisted onto the gurney by Abs and Becca.

Once Zin is on the gurney and Becca is examining her, Abs rushes over to Jim, who’s lying on the sanguine-stained lounger, panting, Cap, are you all right? You’re bleeding all over the place.

Don’t worry about me. Get Zin!

Abs and Jim approach the gurney to find Rhoan weeping over his sister.

Is she going to be okay? he cries. She doesn’t look good. Is she okay?

Becca reassures him. We will do everything we can to save her.

He looks on as his sister lies motionless while Becca works to stop Zin’s blood loss.

Your sister is strong, Rhoan. She will get through— Abs cuts off the rest of his statement as he chokes up with concern for his friend.

Please bring her back, Rhoan mutters and takes a step back, sobbing wildly, then collapses in a pool of her blood, which has mixed with the strange red goo.

They finally rush her to Med Bay as quickly as the lift will go. Fortunately, the elevator was already on the lower level since Abs reset it to rest on that level.

Becca informs them, She still has a weak pulse. Stay with us, Zin! Abs, grab me the synthetic blood labeled ‘Zin.’

She starts an IV, clears the wounds, and says, Add the synblood to her line. Fantastic! None of her organs are terribly damaged. There’s a small laceration in her liver, but nothing consequential. It appears to have been mostly interested in her flesh or has tiny teeth and couldn’t penetrate too deeply. Good thing the Cap was up here.

Upon hearing this while setting up Zin’s synblood line, Abs cheers, Thank you, Jesus!

Zin’s heart monitor starts to alarm.

Becca orders, Hit that blue button, Abs.

Zin’s heart rate immediately returns to normal as Becca continues operating. Becca observes, This is so strange. I’ve never seen anything like this before.

What’s that? Abs asks.

Her blood has been fused with that same unusual shade of red. Thankfully, her vitals are returning to strength even with this substance in her bloodstream. I’m not sure if it was feeding on her, laying eggs in her, or filling her with venom. Let’s add Antox bots to the line to clear this up. Would you please grab those out of the frost while I suture the damage to her liver?

Got ’em!

Start another line with those.

Done.

Tense minutes pass before Becca observes, She is starting to move, hit her with Alimore. That will help her relax while I complete the sutures and skin graft.

Done.

This could have been so much worse had it penetrated any of her organs more than it did, but there’s still a big mess to clean up here.

That is such a relief. Thankful for that.

Me too. Her recovery shouldn’t be so bad. We just need to keep an eye on her vitals and watch for unusual symptoms for a few days since that red goo appears to be fused into her bloodstream.

Yeah. Like invisibility.

Not at all likely, but we have no idea what this goo will do to her. Hopefully, the Antox will remove everything harmful.

After nearly fifty more minutes of surgery, Becca declares, I’m almost done closing her up. Let the crew know she will be fine, and tell the Cap to get ready to come in.

Great job, Becca. You’re an amazing surgeon!

I have a great assistant. There’s no way I could have done all of this alone. Your part was actually bigger than mine this time since medbotics are prohibited aboard excursion ships.

You are definitely Marlagan material. I never knew you were such a badass, he says as he reaches the intercom to find Rhoan and Jim already at the door. He opens the door and says, She’s going to be fine, guys. We have to watch her the next few days to make sure the Antox bots can do their job, but otherwise, she will be fine.

Is she awake? Rhoan asks. Can I see her?

Becca is finishing up, so she’s not awake yet. I’ll get you when she’s in recovery.

Oh, God. Thanks, Abs, then he yells into Med Bay, Thank you, Becca, thank you so much, as he begins to sob uncontrollably.

Abs gives him a hug. While still embracing Rhoan, Abs looks over. Jim, let me see that hand.

Jim unwraps the towel he haphazardly threw around his hand to control the bleeding.

Oh, dude. That looks very similar to your leg injury. Sharp precise hole through the bone. I’ll go set up for you. You okay, Romes?

Yeah. Go ’head, Abs. I’m good, he says, still sniffling and wiping tears.

Abs returns to Med Bay, makes sure the real-time data is still transmitting to Djoibjin. It is.

Bec, his hand is just like his leg but less severe.

Can you prep for him?

On it.

See. Best assistant ever.

They laugh.

We can take her to recovery now, Becca informs.

Be right back, Jim. I’ll bring the bed over, Abs says as he hovers the bed over to the operating table. I wish we had my full lab here, so we could better analyze this substance, he says as he looks into a container of her blood mixed with the red goo.

I know. But with the toxicity risks, it makes sense that full labs are prohibited.

No doubt it makes sense. I just want answers about this stuff now.

Yeah, it would be great to have more answers before we go back down there, Becca agrees.

The bed extends beneath Zin and brings her onto its center, then Abs pushes her into recovery while Becca begins cleaning her side of the operating area for Jim.

I’m finished over here. Is everything ready for Jim on your end? Becca examines the area.

Yup. It’s all set, he says as