StoryHack Action & Adventure, Issue Seven: StoryHack Action & Adventure, #7

By Dominika Lien, Misha Burnett, David J. West and 7 more

StoryHack is back with another batch of thrilling stories in a variety of genres. StoryHack is a short fiction magazine heavily inspired by the great pulps of yesteryear.

 

Eyes as Blue as Metal by Dominika Lein

 

After discovering a human upon a worn-torn planet, an alien commander is betrayed by an ambitious underling.

 

That Summer's Evening Long Ago by Misha Burnett

 

How do you catch a criminal who uses magic to erase the memory of the item he stole?

 

Titan Up by David J. West

 

Can a modern man rise to the challenge when a muse mystically summons him to mythic Greece to rescue her from a titan?

 

Song for Melienope by Alexandru Constantin

 

Oswin the Magnificent and a bawdy monk find refuge from a terrible snowstorm in a mysterious lodge. However, all is not as it seems and a frozen death may have been preferable to what awaits them on this dark night.

 

The Berserker's Son by Michael DeCarolis

 

The city of Bero is hit by a surprise attack, leaving renowned berserker Furth to choose between defending the city or fighting his way back to his wife and son.

 

Golden Echoes by JD Cowan

 

An agent goes undercover on a hidden planet to thwart a mad cult leader who is about to unleash a device that splits open the universe itself.

 

Third Time Lucky by Mike Adamson

 

Spring, 1941: the RAF is stretched tight on the Channel Front, and Johnny Carstairs finds himself battling a mysterious German pilot who seems to have a score to settle.

 

Scylla's Lair by Caroline Furlong

 

Muriel gave her voice to marry her true love and gain a human soul. But has it cost her more than she can pay?

 

The Tombs of Osiris Prime by Jason J. McCuiston

 

The search for a missing archeologist on a long-dead planet leads the Last Star Warden into conflict with an ancient galactic threat, and may uncover the origins of the human race.

 

An Uncommon Day at the Lake by David Skinner

 

A selfish diversion to the Martian desert attracts some outlaw trouble -- and leads to a revelation in the hills!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryce Beattie
• Release date: Apr 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201408459

Book preview

StoryHack Action & Adventure, Issue Seven

Bryce Beattie, Dominika Lein, Misha Burnett, David J. West, Alexandru Constantin, Michael DeCarolis, JD Cowan, Mike Adamson, Caroline Furlong, Jason J. McCuiston, David Skinner

StoryHack Action & Adventure, Issue Seven is copyright © 2021 Baby Katie Media, LLC. All stories appear with permission. Copyright to individual stories are retained by their authors. All stories contained are works of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental. Thanks for reading the fine print.

StoryHack Action & Adventure, Issue Seven

Eyes as Blue as Metal

That Summer’s Evening Long Ago

Titan Up

Song for Melienope

The Berserker’s Son

Golden Echoes

Third Time Lucky

Scylla’s Lair

The Tombs of Osiris Prime

An Uncommon Day at the Lake

Editor’s Note

Title Page

Cover

Table of Contents

Eyes as Blue as Metal

After discovering a human upon a worn-torn planet, an alien commander is betrayed by an ambitious underling.

Eyes as Blue as Metal

by Dominika Lein

Commander Sabyton had seen war; wars of greed and wars of necessity. All his life, since he first crawled from the vat his father had engineered to replicate their DNA, he had stood among the great commanders of the species known as the Eifrez. Never did he know a time when the Eifrez weren’t at war. In all his forty-two years, and through his many promotions in Eifrez militant society, he had never witnessed such destruction as what lay before him.

The planetary winds of SolC3-7 illuminated the pockmarked craters with a sickly cyan glow. Phosphoric dust glimmered in the blue dirt of a wasted landscape. What had been a thriving metropolis of innovation, now lay as nothing more than a forgotten ruin within a mere hour of siege. Sabyton had seen the defeat of others; heard their desperate pleas for mercy while he led Eifrez forces throughout the galaxy. None stood strong against such might. Every star system assimilated or perished by choice of the command council. Sabyton followed his orders, without question, but he did not believe himself to be cold-hearted. This was the way of the stars. As natural as the rotation of the planets themselves. Still, he could recognize all that had been lost by this particular assault. Eons of the Kadroic alien technology, ruined under Eifrez war innovations.

What had been a sparkling metropolis of homes and research facilities was now a desert of sapphire blue. He felt a twinge of discomfort where his cluster of hearts thumped against each other. He rubbed at the spot on his firm chest, and his claws tapped against the medals that hung there. Each geometric metal shape detailed his accomplishments in the expansion of his people.

Sir, interrupted a soldier, who raised his sharply clawed hand in salute, over the four eyes that all Eifrez had. Humanoids with four eyes, claws, fangs, and skins with pigmented colors of chalk-like blues, purples, and greens. Taller than most species, their silhouettes extended long over the faint glow of setting suns across the horizon.

Yes? returned Sabyton without indication to the emotional strain felt in his heart. He must not let it show, lest his troops doubt him. Others might mourn the loss, but he had led the assault. He had given the orders to release the innovative bombs that had leveled the planet’s surface. He could not allow regret to visibly show to his subordinates.

The scouts discovered an underground cave in the east sector. We eradicated a dozen Kadroic survivors found, but…

Sabyton turned away from his survey of the wasted landscape. His brow furrowed. A shadow cast over his four piercing golden eyes. Out with it.

We found a laboratory, and there is a great deal more than Intelligence first relayed. The Kadroic researchers were collecting species from other systems. Sentient species, explained the soldier. Researcher Oserahn has started to test th-

How come Researcher Oserahn is there before me? inquired Sabyton while he strode toward one of several scout flyers parked along the ridge.

Ah- well- that’s- he got ahead of-

Sabyton ignored the soldier’s stammering. No good excuse could be provided. It wasn’t the first time that Oserahn had gotten ahead of him on high-clearance matters, and that frustrated the Commander but the Researcher was arguably the best in the entire force. It had been Oserahn’s clever mind that had developed the bomb that had claimed such swift victory. Sabyton entered the glider starship. The soldier followed close behind into the passenger’s bench.

They took off across the devastated lands of SolC3-7. The thrusters scorched the ground. Streaks of blackened sapphire traced their path while his subordinate guided them toward the laboratory location. In the east sector? Underground caves? Or what was left of them; the mountain range partially blasted to dust by the decisive assault. Drawn deep in violets by twilight, the wide open sky glittered with the orbital lights of the Eifrez forces.

Once parked inside the indicated cave mouth, Sabyton didn’t wait for the grunt while he left the glider behind. Piles of ash littered a trail down a steep stairwell into the laboratory. Kadroic ash, all that was left of the defeated aliens; gold-flecked and red among blackened char of pulped bones. Each step of his boots clinked from the attached gravity wells that kept him grounded.

The stairwell led into a tunneled corridor, which ended in a low-ceiling laboratory. Lined with cages of warped plexiglass, enclosures for captured species filled the lab. Sabyton observed the various bodies within. All lay motionless, in puddles of excrement and frothy bile, perished from some unknown source. From the vents that connected the cages to a long pipe, Sabyton suspected some sort of gas. Toward the back of the lab, a group of Eifrez huddled around a long metal table.

Commander, greeted Maetos, a lieutenant who Sabyton regarded well for his sense of patience mixed with ambition. The younger Eifrez saluted, claws silhouetted above his four cyan eyes. He smiled, and gelled strips peeled back to reveal his fangs in the odd expression. Sabyton wished he’d stop doing that, but smiling had gotten fashionable among the younger Eifrez once they’d discovered the emotive feature from planet C9-4. In such cases, extermination seemed preferable to assimilation but he had no say in the matter. As decorated with medals as he may have been, Sabyton held no meaningful seat on the command council. His was the role of a tool, a heavy and fatal tool, but nothing more than that. He could not choose where that tool would be wielded or who it would be used against.

Lieutenant Maetos, returned Sabyton. He nodded and surveyed the others. Researcher Oserahn…

Oserahn looked from a whispered conversation with his four assistants. He clacked his claws together in a steeple, then saluted with a slight bow to the motion. Commander Sabyton, pleasure to have you join.

You know you’re not supposed to be here without clearance.

I was just telling him that, insisted Maetos.

Yes, I understand. Oserahn promised, Soon, I will leave but had to come once I heard-

And how did you hear? interrupted Sabyton.

Oserahn waggled a claw in refusal to answer. He waved his long fingers in a languid motion toward the table. Dear Commander, let us focus on important matters. Such as this!

Sabyton stepped past his lieutenant to get a better visual for whatever lay on the table. He stopped, however when he saw what looked to be a woman? A female of some sort of species, but-

Very unusual, is it not? asked Oserahn. The Researcher tapped his claws along the edge of the table, then prodded at the lean but fleshy leg. The skin held the same color as darkened sand from the home planet of the Eifrez. Similar shape, an Eiferzoid with bipedal motion and dexterity. Look, a fifth squat finger the same as any Eiferz. Yet no claws. Look, here, Commander.

Oserahn scraped his claw against the temple of the woman’s head. Sabyton leaned in. Her chest gently raised and lowered. Breath? She could breathe in the Kadroic atmosphere without supplementary injections to modulate the oxygen? Unless the Researcher had already injected her.

No proper eyes, insisted Oserahn. Yet there is an impression in the skull where they used to be. A divot, right here. It is my hypothesis that whatever species this is, they must have had Eifrez DNA during the engineering design. Despite this, they evolved to only binary eyes rather than quadratic eyes.

Is she alive? asked Sabyton. She can breathe the air? On her own?

Oh yes, very much so, scoffed Oserahn. He tapped his claws against a leather strap that held her wrist in place. I had to inject her with sedative, but nothing more.

How long exactly have you been here? Sabyton pulled at the restraint. The leather had cut into the woman’s strangely colored skin and left red marks behind. It wasn’t anything like he was used to, not the purples or greens or blues of the Eiferz. Nor the scales, feathers, or slime of the more eccentric species in the galaxy. Undo these, now. Any monitoring and experimenting can occur after you have received official approval from the command council. Until then, she is a specimen under my guard and marked for extermination like the rest of the natives of this planet.

But Commander, whined Oserahn. We have wasted so much already, and this is an unprecedented species.

You heard him, interjected Maetos. Release the specimen.

Oserahn glanced between the two, then nodded. An assistant slid the straps from the woman’s ankles.

Do you hear that? asked Sabyton. He looked away from the table. A familiar sound, that he couldn’t quite place. Like the hiss of air through a vent. Had some failsafe hit the laboratory? The same one as whatever had killed the other specimens? Spherical shadows flickered across the dim light of the lab.

Drones, said Maetos. What are- Commander, did you request drones?

Three sphere drones hovered through the air, such devices were used to clear out survivors, but Sabyton hadn’t requested any. Not yet. He hadn’t even sent word yet that the planet had been cleared. Perhaps someone on the command council had gotten impatient though, and had decided that-

-VVZZOOOM! A narrow red beam shot past Sabyton’s shoulder. The charged light hit the assistant near the straps. The unknown Eifrez fell to the ground. The light traveled across, then the assistant collapsed to dust. Nothing more than an ash pile of green and silver flecks, the uniform crumpled over what was left of the body.

This is Commander Sabyton. Hold, said Sabyton, though he moved to get behind one of the nearest cages.

A couple more beams shot out. One glanced off the table. Another hit a second assistant who’d tried to dodge. Another pile of ash.

Oserahn grabbed one of the assistants. He used the whimpering junior researcher as a shield, while he made his way behind some of the laboratory cabinets.

I said, this is Commander Sabyton. Clear 812Y93- He didn’t finish the verbal code while a beam shot into the cage and glanced off the plexiglass. Drones, by their design, couldn’t harm inorganic material.

Commander, called Maetos while he ducked behind a nearby cage. Do you think they’ve been hacked?

I don’t know! Sabyton reached to his belt and unhooked his raygun. His claws clicked along the safeties to dislodge them, then he prepared himself.

Another assistant hid behind the table. The junior cowered, claws covering their head.

A drone flew around to get an angle where it could shoot at those hiding. It aimed at the assistant first, beam direct. Sabyton took the opportunity. He shot at the drone once, twice.

The second hit. The drone went down, machinery whirring in acrid smoke. The assistant, however, lay in ash like the other two.

Sabyton sprinted forward, a few strides of his long legs. He stomped his boot into what was left of the drone. The metal crushed under the heavy sole. He spun to aim, and shot at the other two drones. They spun in swift avoidance.

The door at the back, called Oserahn. It’s protected. It’s where we found the survivors.

With a tight hold on the assistant he’d grabbed, the Researcher made a run for said-door. One of the drones shot at him. Instead, the beam hit the emergency shield that was his assistant. Hands freed while the uniform fell past his claws, Oserahn jumped over a fallen chair. He landed at the door, and input a pattern to a side panel.

The door slid open.

Sabyton shot at the drone which had killed the last assistant. It went down like the other, though crashing through one of the cages. The machinery sizzled against a pool of bile from whatever alien had perished inside. Its red light faded before it died.

Maetos, through the door, ordered Sabyton. He kept his raygun trained on the remaining drone. It darted too fast for him to lock an aim on it.

Yes, sir. Maetos rushed over, but Oserahn grabbed onto the lieutenant. The Researcher hissed something quiet enough that the commander could not make it out.

The specimen, spoke Oserahn louder than whatever he’d said before. We must not leave it behind.

Let go of me, snarled Maetos. Leave her. She’s nothing.

No! The researcher refused. He shoved the lieutenant aside, then went for the table. Oserahn started to undo the straps. I won’t allow you to waste any more knowledge! Not this.

Stay back, demanded Sabyton. He shot at the drone, but it evaded.

Oserahn grabbed at the restraints. His claws clacked against the straps as he pulled them free. A beam shot past him, then another, as the drone locked on.

Sabyton knew what was to happen. He could see it, as clear as he could see any defeat on the battlefield of space. The commander searched for something, anything. It didn’t matter. There was nothing more he could do except shoot at the drone.

The drone’s beam hit the researcher across the chest. He stumbled from the blow, then fell beside the table. Oserahn lay, motionless, with all four of his eyes wide open. The paralysis hit him perfectly, but it would not last. The researcher’s claws fell apart to dust. From his feet, to his head, the energy ate its way through and left only ashen remains behind. Among the green and silver, though, something glinted with light.

A data chip?

In a retreat from the raygun’s aim, the drone dodged around the cages. Sabyton took the chance. He picked up the data chip, though his claws got coated in the ash of his fallen colleague. The drone came back around, and fired a beam that narrowly missed his shoulder. He grabbed onto the specimen, lifted her with ease over his shoulder, and leapt for the door.

Commander, the drone, said Maetos. He kept his claws against the door so it wouldn’t automatically shut on them. With his free hand, he lifted his raygun. I can take it out. Go. I’ll catch up.

In a quick moment’s decision, Sabyton nodded. He trusted his junior to manage the drone, but as he turned to look… he saw four more drones join the one. They were definitely Eifrez drones, though. He needed to get back to the fleet so he could contact the command council. The lieutenant had already headed back into the laboratory. Beams fired in crisscrossed light that danced in reflections over the cages.

The door slid shut.

Sabyton set the woman aside, and tried to figure out how to open the door again. From the inside, the side panel had cracked. It fizzled with broken wires. He picked the unknown species up, the female’s body exceptionally light in comparison to the Eifrez.

With his free hand, he dug out his phone from one of the many satchels on his belt. It blinked but only with the symbol of disconnect. Perhaps it was the tunnel he found himself in, but something interfered with the signal. Sabyton hadn’t thought to sweep the underground for passages. He had assumed the bomb would have obliterated with enough collateral damage to cave in such spaces.

Phone returned to his belt, safely holstered next to his raygun, he continued to walk. The tunnel curved around. Up ahead, he could see a fork where it split into two. An entire underground network? Or just an emergency escape route? It bothered him that his Intelligence hadn’t gathered the information, though. Once he settled whatever had spurred the drones, he would have to spend some time combing through the specialized unit and clearing it of whoever had allowed such oversight to occur.

He hadn’t gotten far when the woman came to. She gasped first, then held a nimble hand to his shoulder. A few looks around, then she asked, What are you? Who are you? Where are the others?

Sabyton said, You can speak.

What?

They must have injected you with some sort of speech concoction, he decided. He set her down but her balance wobbled. She fell against the tunnel’s wall and slid to sit instead. He crouched in front of her, and tapped his claw to the underside of her chin so she’d look at him. Her two eyes had the same sapphire color as the destroyed planet’s land. You understand what I’m saying?

Yes, of course… but it’s not… She looked wild behind the honey-blond strands of hair that hung tangled around her face.

On your feet then, he said. Sabyton walked farther along the tunnel.

Wait, please?

He paused, and looked at her. His four gold-hued eyes blinked in quiet wonder.

I only want to go home, she said. Can you take me home?

Doubtful.

Oh… are you going to experiment on me too?

That is possible. Sabyton paused, then looked at her. She had gotten up, though her steps were shaky as she took a step one by one. He considered what little she wore, the thin fabric barely there, and then said, You are a conscious species.

She raised an eyebrow in an askew expression that Sabyton had never seen before. He didn’t know what to call such a thing, but felt a slight lift on his hairless brow to mimic it. Whatever it meant, she didn’t say anything and only nodded.

Sabyton returned the nod. They continued on, at a slower pace. He took out the phone to check the signal, but still nothing. It felt as if it’d been a while and yet Maetos hadn’t joined them. While he believed his lieutenant capable of combat, he would have expected him to catch up by now. That he didn’t meant he hadn’t won against the drones… or at best, remained locked in conflict. Regardless, Sabyton had to return. If only he knew the exact location of where the tunnels led.

~

Time passed, quiet except for the clank of his heavy boots and the shuffle of the bare feet of the woman.

She cleared her throat, then said, Where are we going?

Back, he evaded the question.

I see. My name is Katell, she said. Katell Marie Burns, after my aunt. What is your’s?

Commander… Sabyton, he answered slowly while he checked the signal on his phone again. He paused when a small blip crossed over the screen. He stopped walking. Sabyton lifted the phone some until his clawed hand touched the top of the curved tunnel. The phone calibrated, and automatically started to determine his location.

That’s it? Just Sabyton?

Sabyton G23.

G… twenty-three? What sort of name is that?

What sort of name is Katell Marie Burns?

A fine one, she insisted. Like I said, it’s after my aunt.

Sabyton glanced away from the screen and said, It’s after my father.

Sabyton?

Yes, he returned. The location locked then traced to where his main starship remained docked. Not too far away, closer than he expected. Perhaps there was hope yet. He said, I am the 23rd Sabyton of our DNA code.

You mean… what? Katell frowned, then stood beside him to also look at the screen. Like Sabyton the 23rd?

Sabyton lowered his phone so she couldn’t see it. He checked the direction, then sighed when the signal failed. The commander raised it again, but no luck. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

Is something wrong? asked the woman.

Yes, he answered. Walk faster or I’ll carry you again.

You can carry me, she offered. I don’t mind. It’s been a long time since I’ve walked farther than a dozen steps.

The Eifrez picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. She pressed against his back to help adjust her posture, then settled into the spot. He felt her touch wander, though, over his uniform.

You’re military? she asked. Is that what everything was about? The scientists were scared, but I wasn’t sure why and they wouldn’t say. Did you… kill them?

Yes.

I see. Her hands traced along his spine. She sighed. What are you?

I could ask you the same thing, he replied

But I would answer, she said. Her posture bounced slightly against his shoulder and he tightened his grip so she’d stop that. I am what’s known as a human being.

A human being? You said home. That you want to go home. Where is your human planet?

Human planet? returned Katell with a small laugh. She shrugged. It’s called Earth. I don’t know where, though. All I know is I’m not on it anymore.

You are not familiar with intergalactic navigation?

Katell laughed again, and muttered, You could say that.

How come they restrained you like they did? Are humans very strong?

No, we’re not anything like… some of what’s out there. Weak, actually. Katell rubbed at the welts on her wrists. I don’t know why. It’s not like they explained anything to me. Only enough to… keep me hoping.

Hoping?

You know, hope? That they would put me back or… It’s like… Hope is the stuff that you think about, when you want to forget what is actually happening.

They reached the fork between the tunnels. He set the human woman back on her feet. Short, he had to bend to look down at her. He said, I know the word. Hope. The concept, too. It is something for cowards.

Warmth gathered in the woman, he could feel it through his sensory networks, she emanated a rise in body temperature. He followed the path as her blood rushed into her cheeks. Sabyton noticed the change in the ruddy tint over her tan skin. She looked ready to say something, except her mouth opened and then shut with a smack of the plump strips of flesh that were so much redder than the rest of her.

Which way are we to go? she asked, her