Dawn Breaks: Tearing Through Space, #3

By Chris Bosman

The Protection's days are numbered.
Tragic events become a rallying point for the Resistance, fanning the flames of war. Chris leads a small team to join the liberation effort on Mars, with plans to use their resources to push even further against the ever-tightening grip of the Protection's forces. But the Protection has new tricks up their sleeves. Strange new travolite is appearing seemingly out of nowhere, threatening to shift the entire balance of power. And somehow, it seems to be connected to Chris. The clock is ticking. As the walls close in around them, Chris and the Resistance must figure out what's going on - before it's too late.
The war is about to end. But the victor is far from decided.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chris Bosman
• Release date: Jul 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201545536

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

FLOATING

JANUARY 26, 2212

AMANDA

Fifteen seconds.

Chris once told me that a person could survive about fifteen seconds in space, give or take. As the vacuum of nothingness sucked me out of the splintering Jovian tunnel that had once connected the Theater to the Hub, I really hoped that he was right. I had fifteen seconds to save my own life — less than that, because it had taken me a few to realize what had just happened.

In any other context, the moment would have been really pretty. Nothing between me and the enormous surface of Jupiter, a brown and orange stripy ball spinning lazily down below. Sunlight bounced off of shattered chunks of glass as they drifted slowly and silently down to the gas surface.

But people used to live in that glass. And I was seconds from death.

I wrapped my fingers around the travolite band on my left wrist, fighting the lack of gravity and the intense cold that made all of my muscles shiver violently. My exposed skin was starting to expand like a really gross balloon. That wasn’t good. How much time did I still have? I’d lost count, but I knew it wasn’t much.

I clamped down on the band, hoping to feel a tiny piece of rock dig into my arm. I knew there was still something in there. I’d checked right before the battle started. Pressing it into my skin should’ve been the first thing I did when the tunnel sealed off, but instead, I wasted valuable time thinking I was already dead and trying to console Chris. I was an idiot.

I was starting to see stars. Was it the lack of oxygen, or the fact that I was in a vacuum? I wasn’t sure. But I couldn’t die yet. There was still so much to do to stop the Protection. Mars, Venus and Earth all needed us still. Jupiter would need help relocating all the survivors who used to live in the glass chunks floating around me. It was all a big mess. Saving the System from tyranny wasn’t as glamorous as I had hoped it would be, but I knew that a lot… of people who didn’t meet… Protection standards… would… be… thankful…

My mind slowed to a crawl, and I knew it was now or never. With the last ounce of my strength, I weakly pushed my left arm out in front of me, hoping as I lost consciousness that I could open a portal to somewhere. Anywhere. Locations and memories sloshed through my head, blending together into a shapeless thought soup.

Darkness took me.

But as it did, I saw a flash of light…

I had one heck of a headache.

Light assaulted me as I opened my eyes and groaned. It felt like I’d used sandpaper for contact lenses. I closed them again in frustration, really wanting to know where I was. Unconscious me probably didn’t have much control over where the portal went, but I was hoping for Jupiter. Otherwise, Joel and the others would probably be assuming I was dead, and I didn’t want to cause any unnecessary grief. The Theater’s destruction was enough on its own.

Since I couldn’t look around yet, I turned my attention to making sure the rest of my body still worked. My fingers and toes wiggled on command, and I could tell that I wasn’t tied up. I gritted my teeth and forced my eyes open again, blinking away the tears that kept welling up in protest.

Trees. There were trees everywhere. As more of my senses returned, I heard a river babbling nearby, and felt something soft covering the ground underneath me. I tried to sit up to see what it was, but I gave up as the rumbling in my head reached a crescendo.

A flock of birds started singing, which would have been nice, except for two things. One, the beautiful whistling transformed into a buzzing in my skull. And two, there was only one planet with live animals.

Earth.

I squinted and took in more of my surroundings. I was laying on a patch of moss in the middle of a forest. Dismay set in as I suddenly knew exactly where I was. The forest by Nameless. I was laying in the mossy spot I’d promised Kelly we’d go back to one day. As I was floating through space and fading out, my brain decided that this was the best use of its dying wish.

I laughed in disbelief at my subconscious stupidity, then checked my purple travolite wristband in hopes of making one more portal. It was all gone.

Darn it, I declared to a nearby caterpillar, who didn’t seem to care.

The moss was very comfortable, but I didn’t want to fall asleep again. Nameless was a good three hour hike away, which wasn’t appealing to my sore body, but Joel’s hunting stories about wolves in the forest were even less appealing. Spurred on by my newfound incentive, I painfully eased myself upward. It was going to be a long walk.

CHAPTER 2

DEPARTURE

ONE MONTH LATER - THE HANGAR, JUPITER

CHRIS

I watched absent-mindedly as Niles eased the Venusian government’s ship down through the atmospheric barrier at the top of the Hangar. The ship had been left drifting outside with its cloaking engaged, so it had been hard to find, and even harder to get back once we had figured out its orbit. But since President Collins’ travolite band was dead, and Jupiter’s ship factory in the Market was just only just starting up again, we needed the Venusian ship back so we could leave the colony.

And I really wanted to get away from Jupiter.

We weren’t leaving things in a complete mess. Shauna had worked with the Jovians to set up an interim, non-Protection president, with plans to hold an election soon. Mom and Dad were staying to help with the relocation process for people who had lived in the Theater. Rebuilding it was technically possible, but it would be years before they could start anything on that front. For now, they had permanently sealed the tunnel that used to lead to the Theater. Even in the midst of the death and destruction and sudden housing crisis, the Jovian people wanted us to leave and put an end to the Protection. They pledged as much support as they could toward that goal. Even Darren Collins, their former president who had been all-in on the Protection, was on the verge of cooperating with Jovian authorities who wanted intel on the his former boss. He swore up and down that he never signed off on firing missiles at the Theater. I’d heard him say it several times, and he seemed genuine. Not that it mattered. The Theater was gone, and everyone in it was dead. Including Amanda.

I tried not to think about her too much. One month was enough time to numb the pain, but no amount of time or tears was going to erase the empty feeling deep inside. Instead, I distracted myself with Resistance work.

Niles set the ship down on one of the Hangar’s many concrete landing pads. I heard the engines shut off, and he slid down the stair’s handrail at the front of the giant cylinder.

Now boarding for Mars, he said, gesturing at the ship. I’m gonna refuel her, and then we’ll head out. Half an hour, tops.

That was where we were going next. Not only was Mars the closest planet, it would be the easiest to take back. President Charles Ling was known to dislike the Protection, and the entire Martian army was more loyal to him than they were to whoever was currently pulling the strings there. Get rid of the puppeteer, and the liberated puppet would do the rest.

I approached the steps that were descending out of the ship to the ground, more than ready for the dreamless sleep that the travel pods would offer. The idea of being able to shut off my brain was almost a luxury now.

Mom and Dad stood off to the side, smiling through their obvious sadness. I felt guilty about leaving them behind, but I understood where they were coming from. Jupiter was their home now, and its people were hurting. Of course they would want to help. With the Protection gone, this was the safest place for them, and that gave me peace of mind.

Stay strong, Chris, Dad said, wrapping his arms around me in a tight bear hug. And be careful.

Yes, very careful, Mom echoed. Her face was full of worry and pride in equal measure. We want to see you again as soon as possible!

My words caught in my throat. I’ll come back. Promise.

One final squeeze of a hug, and I grabbed the railing and walked into the ship. As far as ships went, this one was fairly small. Sixteen chairs, in eight rows of two, spaced out to run the length of the cabin. A pilot and co-pilot seat at the front, surrounded by various buttons and instruments. Two weapon operator seats at the back, facing backward, with both seats having a screen and turret controller in front of them. The only window was the half-sphere bubble at the front that gave the pilot a 180 degree field of view forward. The sides of the cabin, where some ships would have more windows, were lined with the boxy white travel pods we would sleep in. I sat down at the back and fidgeted, waiting to take off.

Shortly after, Niles was back in the pilot’s seat, checking the array of screens around him. The rest of our Resistance crew started filing in. Joel was first, the aura of melancholic anger from Amanda’s death still strong around him. Following him was Kelly, the only reason Joel hadn’t gone completely off the rails yet. I was glad they had each other, because Joel didn’t seem to want to talk about her with me. I was pretty sure that he partially blamed me for what happened, and I couldn’t really argue with that. They sat next to each other a few rows in front of me.

President Harrel, or Shauna, as she had insisted I call her, was the next one