Astralis – Sons Of The Past: Astralis

By A.J. Mitar

The Astralis Empire is determined to conquering new sectors of the galaxy, but a mystery looms from the past, and a powerful empire cannot tolerate dark spots in its history. Archaeologist Akia K'Prock investigates, as a new threat arises...

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Nov 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667440927

Book preview

A.J. Mitar

ASTRALIS – SONS OF THE PAST

The astralis leapt before us, arranging themselves in a semicircle. The armor flashed as crystals oozed from their bodies, enveloping us without a gap.

This is a barrier! I thought.

Get down! Dr. K'Cun shouted. And a sea of muffled fire swept over us.

By instinct, I curled up on the ground, But I did not perceive any warm breath or hear any sound. The barrier vibrated and rejected light.

Everything outside liquefied in the face of my helplessness: unique artifacts, valuable diagnostic instruments and even my personal computer looked like an amorphous mass.

Another attack on the site, I thought.

Then, the heat dissipated and the action switched to astralis. The barrier returned from whence it came, rapidly, crackling.

The uniforms came to life and climbed into their skin, into their faces, suffocating them. And the arms turned into a deadly arsenal, flattened by their own flesh.

Wearing combat gear, they launched themselves eluding my reflexes. They seemed not to be afraid of anything.

But it was a suicide attack and, of the bombers, only a few DNA fragments escaped the bombs:

We will die rather than surrender to the domination of the astralis. It was learned from the messages encoded in the nucleic acid.

Nothing new; history was overflowing with champions of freedom.

The lost city of Aknuchia was not one of those archaeological sites of vague supposition, but the most important in the known universe. They named it the Alpha site.

For many people, it was evil in a pile of dated material, and we had astralis to thank for discovering its location.

The astralis are yet another proof of the evil one! Blathered those who would not surrender to the revolution of ideas.

Conservative estirians did not tolerate blasphemies about origins, too eccentric for their minds.

"Beings who insinuate doubt into our hearts. They presume to be able to deny the Holy Nume."

The claims passed themselves off as benevolent. The purposes were noble, or sacred; and the intransigence of our moral code was thereby set aside.

I felt ashamed on behalf of my people.

More attacks followed in a wild attempt to dispel the traces of the past.

Alpha continued to claim victims among the deployed scientists. A greater deployment of warriors could not protect the site from the strategies of destruction; so I decided to take a break with work, but only for a few days.

Why not take the opportunity to hug my mother and my old man father again?

I went to my village. The family environment had always been good for my spirit.

My father and I took a seat on the large veranda for the ritual of black tea.

That's what I need, I thought.

As the stars paled under Ac'Hin's pull, my mother poured that oily stuff that exhaled memories of childhood.

Today our young people are aggressive and militaristic, arrogant like astralis. Or they are slimy and servile ready to learn hypocrisy, my father told me.

He had never liked the astralis presence. He didn't hate them, but he treated them with forbearance. Although sometimes he would drive them out with his stick; away from Estyr forever.

He was not a fragile creature, and although he could conjure up unpleasant associations I loved him.

Here was the preacher again, I said to myself.

Father, I don't understand your skepticism, they are helping us.

Helping? Do you think they are better beings than we are? He asked. And I already knew that that simple question hid