POISON

By James G. Zomchick

In the year 2312 the crew of a stranded corporation ship makes a horrifying discovery! Come and follow the epic story of this soon to be legend! Lieutenant Vicky Young is a Hispanic soldier, ostracized within her own community for her race. She ventures on a supposedly simple mission and evolves to become the leader others see in her but she never thought to see in herself. She discovers that Earth was involved in the greatest war we've ever known,.. and no one remembers it! Vicky's tenacity and fire to save her crew might just save the universe! Does this clue to our past lead down the road to salvation or annihilation for us all? Come and join author James G. Zomchick in this labyrinth of suspense and mystery. Poison!

"Poison's what they fed me, poison is what they made me. Poison is who I am.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798369407653

James G. Zomchick

Author James G. Zomchick was born in the mid 60s in Brooklyn. Growing up in the 70s and 80s during a time of high crime and gang violence in New York City. Helping to raise his disabled brother, he saw first-hand hatred, prejudice, racism and how the people in authority oppressed those less fortunate. As a child, young James could not go outside to play because his parents were afraid of the violence, he also could not have friends over because they were ashamed of their living conditions. This early seclusion might have been a blessing in disguise as it forced him to use his artistic abilities. He made many of his own toys, drew and developed elaborate storylines and alternate universes. As a young teen he entered the street life. At seventeen he decided to leave this lifestyle, and enrolled into college and eventually became a teacher. Now, many years later he returns to his first love, art and writing. In 2022 he launched his creative company ‘Zomchick Productions’, a name that he had promised his mother he would use when he was a child. Zomchick seeks to make a new innovation of creative works, one which gives hope to those that feel lost, forgotten, and powerless! He introduces characters that break through every ceiling of predigest, and tell us that we too have a voice. “‘Limits’ are adjusted by our vision, the greater the vision the farther you push the limits, until there are none left!” -- James G. Zomchick

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POISON

JAMES G. ZOMCHICK

Copyright © 2023 by James G. Zomchick.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/06/2023

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

855874

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

To Laura and Jennifer

PROLOGUE

T HE LARGE CARGO ship drifts helplessly stranded in an unknown star system. The crew, both military and ship’s crew, stand shaken and bewildered. Second Lieutenant Young pauses, her eyes seem to glow in contrast to her bronze skin and Army fatigue. Realizing that no one else is responding, it is not in her nature to wait. She cannot wait while her commanding officer stands blank face and speechless. After blowing a stray hair off her face, she firmly grabs the captain’s shoulder. Where are we?

The captain nervously looks over at his first mate then back at navigation. Searching his instruments, he never looks up at Second Lieutenant Young’s intense demanding eyes. I’m not sure.

What? demands Young. Lieutenant Minor, her C.O., blinks his eyes as if he just woke up. Where are we?

The captain shouts back, We’re trying to figure it out now!

He turns again to navigation. The chief navigating officer catches his glare. Sir… according to the stars, well… you’re not going to believe it, ah…

The Captain commands him, Just spit it out!

"We seem to be at the center of a solar system in the…

Triangulum Galaxy."

Gathering at the port side observation deck, every freehand stares out the thick glass. The sight of the unfamiliar solar system is both amazing and frightening. One by one they wandered together with the crew and military personnel.

On the bridge Lieutenant Minor, shaking with confusion.

"Where? Where is the Tanglum Galaxy?"

First mate Moses shifts his muscular body towards the lieutenant. Triangulum Galaxy.

Lieutenant Young quickly analyzes the situation. She wants clarity; she wants to determine her future. The Triangulum Galaxy is 3,000,000 light-years away.

Captain Reynolds, a man not used to being compromised or uncertain in any shape or form, finds himself in unfamiliar territory, unable to fathom the situation. That’s impossible! That is literally millions of light-years farther than any—

His sentence never finishes as a loud thump is heard from overhead, followed by small crackles and smaller thumps. Something has crashed into the ship, and as it shattered, the pieces roll along the top echoing eerie rumbles throughout the ship. Those at the observation deck look up towards the noise and follow the sound across the top of the ship. Lieutenant Minor trembles with fear. His voice cracks. Wha—what was that?

The captain replies, We hit something.

His eyes focus on the screen. It seems that there is some debris from that moon ahead. He continues I think if we pass that moon we will have a direct path to this solar system’s sun, and we will be able to gather enough energy to repair it.

The two navigational officers nod their heads in agreement. The alien solar system is similar to Earth’s. It has seven planets. The first three are similar to Earth in size; four, five, and six are huge; and the last is small and icy.

The Tiqu-Qi floats helplessly alongside the second planet. As it approaches its moon, not looking for their approval, the captain commands, Make a path around the moon. Aye, aye, captain. The crew shouts back.

Navigational rockets ignite, the ship jerks forward. The moon enlarges on the screen. Lieutenant Young squints her eyes. What is that made of?

The moon seemed fuzzy, almost out of focus. As they get closer to the surface of the moon it becomes clearer. It seems as if it is made up entirely of debris. The entire surface is composed of small dots. Lieutenant Minor, stares along with the rest of them, then turns his head for a second towards the captain. What is that thing made of?

The crowd gathered by the observation window quietly wonders the same thing. The next few seconds are enslaved by an eerie silence. Lieutenant Young’s eyes widened. It almost looks like—

Just then the silence is broken by a large crash! Something hit the front window of the observation deck causing the crowd gathered around to jump back. The site freezes their souls! A body floating in space crashes face first into the observation window. It appears he was a human man, frozen blue from the brutal emptiness of space. Just dark holes where his eyes once were. His mouth is open as if he died screaming. He is wearing a thin white jumpsuit. His face crashes upon impact; some teeth and part of his jaw float off. His back also snaps back leaving his top half loose from his bottom half held together only by his jumpsuit. As the ship moves, he slides along the window. As his head collides with one of the outer window frames, it cracks in three pieces; the impact causes his torso to spin violently. The first few times the top half spins independently from the bottom. By the third spin, the jumpsuit twists tightly and causes his legs to spin violently as well. He rolls the rest of the way across the window; his hands and arms smashing into the window like a giant buzzsaw. Pieces of hands and arms pop off. Soon he is no longer visible, only the clanking of what was remaining of his body along the craft can be heard.

This action was accompanied with screams of disgust and fear by the audience assembled in the observation hall. Some turn away, covering the eyes. One soldier tries to run away but is forced to stop from convulsions of vomiting. The screams are heard on the bridge, where they too become aware of the horror before them—dead bodies floating aimlessly. The moon itself is totally engulfed by dead bodies. So many bodies in fact that the actual surface of the moon is not visible. Instead, it is covered by billions of people. There are men, women, children, and even babies—all frozen, wearing thin white jumpsuits.

CHAPTER 1

V ICKY YOUNG RUNS peacefully along the top of the great wall of China. Morning is an hour away. The sun cracked the sky red, like a great dawn dragon breaking free from a prison of clouds. If you study hard enough, you can witness the slow revealing of the mountain tops. Here she runs. Her sneakers caress the cold brown stones. Gracefully, she runs long narrow paths, down ancient stone staircases, and up the others. The cold smoke of breath quietly leaves her lips as her feet quietly pound out a rhythmic pattern in the brisk night air.

Her eyes entirely focused. They are unmoving as she is lost, lost from the world for the moment but free, free in her lostdom. This is the only peace Vicky finds in this world of turmoil, although there are soldiers posted along the front, they are silent. She is silent. She feels alone, and being alone in China is rare, and for Vicky it is valuable. Vicky always pushes herself more, more than needed to get by and definitely more than expected. Maybe it stems from her very traditional Chinese parents but more likely it is from something deeper. Maybe being orphaned and then adopted she feels a need to prove herself worthy. Something lays heavy in her heart. It cries for attention; it cries for more.

Vicky is a Hispanic who is raised in China by her adopted parents. It was difficult for her growing up in China. Even in the year 2312, Asian culture has not changed much over the past few hundred years or so. Vicky was raised in a small farming community. Over 90% of the people who made up the village had their livelihood invested in some form of agriculture or another. Vicky often wondered, although never spoke it, if her parents adopted her because they couldn’t afford a proper Chinese baby.

Her parents were good, as good as they could be. They loved her, but they were strict. Maybe by the nature of their own hardships and the discipline of farming, depending on weather for wealth or poverty, or maybe some internal compass that denied certain expressions of love, they had trouble showing it.

This led Vicky dependent on trying to find approval, which was difficult in a village where she was an outcast. Unlike many adopted children who would wonder why they were abandoned or was there something wrong with them that their parents had to give them up for adoption, Vicky instead wondered why she was adopted. Why did her parents take her in? These thoughts played in her heart in an emotional loop.

The best she could make out from the bits and pieces she put together over her childhood is that she happened to be there at a time her parents needed someone—the right time, right place type of thing. Like a lost kitten that no one wanted, it was taken in only because no one else would have. It was her mother’s third and final miscarriage. She was told that there was no way she would ever be able to have a baby. Vicky recalls her mother telling her that her father was roaming around the hospital searching for her:

"He almost walked by, when out of the corner of his eyes he spied her in the nursery. She was standing there with me in her arms. My mom had found me.

Apparently, no one thought to stop a woman in maternity robes from entering the nursery. She had watched baby after baby being picked up and caressed, all except me. When she saw that I was alone, I imagined that she felt my loneliness. The only name was written in Spanish—Vainilla. Vainilla is the Spanish word for vanilla. The hospital made it seem that they were doing a great benefit for my mom by processing the papers so that she could adopt me. I believe that the opposite was true, rather that they were relieved to get rid of me. An abandoned non-Chinese baby was a burden that the hospital did not want, my mom was the solution."

Running gives Vicky peace but not this morning. There are moments in every human’s life that life cracks! Some call it faith, others destiny but it is never gentle, it is always violent. You can always follow it back to the point of its rupture. But in truth, destiny is never broken, it is released. This is the moment that Vicky’s life starts its ascension. Captain Xing, her superior hails her from the rice size intercom surgically attached in the tragus of her ear.

Vicky speaks three languages fluently—Korean, English, and her mandarin is spotless.

Lieutenant Young! Vicky stops in her tracks at the hail. She puts her hand over her left ear.

Sir, yes, sir!

I need you in my office ready to dispatch at 0700.

Sir, yes, sir!

Vicky breathes in deeply and runs off towards the nearest ladder off the wall.

Vicky is pretty, although she does not make an effort to show it. Light brown complexion that takes the sun well. Naturally long eyelashes. Her eyes are dark and serious by nurture but warm and caring by nature. She carries herself well. She does not try to be masculine; in fact, she enjoys that the boys know that she is a girl when she beats them. Overall, she loves fairness; win or lose, but she rarely loses.

Within forty-five minutes, she is ready—showered, packed, and dressed. Her hair is heavy and dark which when loose just makes it past her shoulders. She keeps it up in a ponytail hanging out the back of her Air Force baseball cap. Vicky’s olive-green uniform is loose but not baggy, designed for movement and stealth. It is overlaid with thin black body armor. Her departure report is downloaded into her command chip, as she walks, she can see and hear the files, like a ghost floating before her.

As she hastens across the Courtyard towards Captain Xing’s office something odd happens. Soldiers are moving back and forward, supplies are being packed, activity is everywhere. As the sun stretches out over the courtyard, out the corner of her eyes, she spies someone from her past—Private Volt Diamond. Instantly she is thrown back, back in time two years ago in Texas.

When America fell some two years ago, its presence in the world vanished. Its former glory is mostly forgotten, but Texas however managed to flourish. Today it is a colony of China, but for the most part it is self-governed. Texas is thriving and has accrued vast amounts of money for itself and for China. Almost 80% of commercial interstellar flights depart from Texas. Texas has also become a tourist magnet causing it to be the wealthiest area in the SSI aside from China itself. Vicky was still a sergeant when she first met Private Diamond. At that time, he was Cadet Diamond and Vicky was his immediate C.O. in charge of training him and about three hundred other cadets. Immediately Cadet Diamond stood out. but not because of any favorable merits. Diamond is Venusian, and he was the only Venusians out of the three hundred cadets at that time.

Certain physical features cause Venusians to stand apart. For one thing their frame seems frail, almost childlike and their backs hunch a bit. Because of the years of interracial marriages on Venus, not one race is identifiable, rather all have a coffee-colored skin tone with waving or curly hair. However, the most notable difference is their eyes. For reasons that scientists cannot agree on (something to do with the intense heat), Venusians’ eyes are very unique. Their irises constantly change color. The phenomenon appears fluid-like, changing from brown to green or blue. Sometimes changing purple or even yellow or gold. A very rare percent has an even more profound abnormality called star eyes. Individuals with star eyes have a thin black perimeter around their iris. The black protrudes inward towards the pupil but never touching it. These inward streaks cause a star-shaped design on their iris. Like other Venusians, their irises change colors constantly. The pupil remains black like an ominous yet beautiful black sun in the center of a changing sky. Volt Diamond has star eyes, changing from brown to green to purple and then back again.

Fast forward two years to the present. It is not his eyes or any other physical characteristics that causes Vicky to encounter this strange sensation of flashing back. No, the reason for her brief encounter from the past resurfacing in her mind is, and not to put too fine of a point on it, she saved his life. It was only the third week of training; Cadet Diamond took a live grenade. His task was to activate a dummy grenade and throw it behind a bunker. When he was separated from his group, he activated his grenade but hesitated to throw it. Vicky noticed that the grenade was live. She swooped in, knocking it from his hand and pushed him out of the way. She proceeded to cover him with her own body. The blast shot them about ten meters across the sand; although badly bruised, her armor sheltered her from severe damage. In fact, she discharged herself from the medical ward that night and reported for duty the next morning. An investigation was made as to how a live weapon was misplaced in a crate of dummies; the investigation ended up inconclusive.

Diamond thought for sure that he would have been discharged or more likely thrown into military prison. However, after the first day, Vicky never mentioned the event again, even though there was an ongoing investigation. And after the completion of his training, she promoted Cadet Diamond to private first class. That was Vicky’s last training class. She was promoted and moved quickly through the ranks. Diamond however remained a private.

Despite all this, what really made it odd for Vicky, the thing that caused her gut to squirm, is that he had no reason to be there. There is a saying, It is a small world. But in the twenty-fourth century it is no longer the world but the solar system. Although adventurous, Vicky’s assignment of military escort of interstellar commercial vehicles is not an overly desired position. Spending months