Scientist: An Earth 340K Standalone Novel (Soldier X Book 1) Read online

  Contents

  Part 1 – Traitors

  Chapter 1 - The Snake Throne

  Chapter 2 - Explosion

  Chapter 3 - The Batterer

  Chapter 4 - Invalid

  Chapter 5 - You're Fired

  Right in front of

  Chapter 6 - Nuan's Gamble

  Part 2 - Bad Seed

  Chapter 7 - Compulsion

  Chapter 8 - Urumqi

  Chapter 9 - Spying

  Chapter 10 - Cockroaches

  Chapter 11 - Night Market

  Chapter 12 - Xu-Tiger Serum

  Chapter 13 - Jail

  Chapter 14 - A Faint Hope

  Chapter 15 - Jaws

  Chapter 16 - Conversion

  Chapter 17 - Hindrance

  Chapter 18 - Suyin

  Chapter 19 - Angpao

  Part 3 - Reapers Reap

  Chapter 20 - Crushed

  Chapter 21 - Death

  Chapter 22 - Monster

  Chapter 23 - Wrath

  Chapter 24 - Renewal

  Chapter 25 - Hidden City

  Chapter 26 - Traitors Traitor

  Chapter 27 - Revenge

  Chapter 28 - At Rest

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  Part 1 – Traitors

  Chapter 1 - The Snake Throne

  The Jade Palace floated twenty thousand feet high in the sky. The palace inserted itself between the gap of two halves of a bifurcated mountain, flown all the way from the Himalayas. Even in the year 330K, people still considered it an engineering marvel.

  Pathways snaked from the mountainside into the palace, and a long pier jutted out from the front of the palace where a huge dock began to fill with the spaceships of the Ten Divine Dragons.

  The palace formed the tiara of High Beijing, a floating city that belonged to the powerful, rich, and military elite. It consisted of transpasteel glass towers, huge parks with real fresh water, and giant-sized filters that hovered in the air to keep the city free of air-tinge. A field-sphere connected those filters forming a dome that only occasionally became visible to the eye like bubbles over oil.

  Twenty thousand feet below at ground level lay the city of Mid Beijing, and even much lower than that, in the depths of the underground, stretched the vine-like passages of Low Beijing.

  Inside the Jade Palace, Diaochan Han, the People’s Favor, waited for her subordinates in Heaven’s Court. She sat on the Bashe Throne molded to form the mouth of a serpent and watched as the Ten Divine Dragons, the senior-most officials in the People’s Palace Party, floated into the room and ensconced themselves in their seats. There were ten seats and one throne—each seat gene-coded to the ten rulers of the China People’s Empire.

  Diaochan’s long fingernails clicked against the carbonmite material of the throne. The vast blue hall stretched wide and consisted of a circular platform where all ten seats ringed themselves in a circle facing Diaochan.

  The throne felt heavy today as Diaochan shifted herself uncomfortably inside of it. The micro-circuitry in the throne seemed to shout into Diaochan’s neural connection. The neuralnet told her about the Chrysanthemum Striped Tiger’s most recent neuralnet attack against her own forces. From the throne, the People's Favor could send millions of robots into battle and send the most formidable spaceships in coordinated attacks. And yet, the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers managed to evade her.

  Diaochan’s closest bodyguards, the eight sanctified triants, hovered about a foot in the surrounding air. Except for Jingfei, who stood right at the foot of the People’s Favor’s throne and crossed her four blade-like hands. Diaochan hadn’t wanted her to stand there as it would send the wrong message to the Ten Divine Dragons. It was a slight, but also an admission of fear. But Jingfei didn’t care about politics. She was as straightforward as a brick and felt that standing in front of her ruler meant protecting her. If only it were that easy, Diaochan thought as she stared at her Ten Divine Dragons.

  Her eyes settling on Itoku, the People’s Cultural Commissioner; Chaeyeon, the People’s General; Bopha, the People’s Caretaker; and Kaloni, the People’s Educator. They had all arrived on the same spaceship, which Diaochan thought odd. She kept each of her Ten Divine Dragons constantly against one another. But she couldn’t keep her eyes from straying to the now empty tenth seat: Zeyar, the People’s Voice, who had died in the assassination attack against her own father.

  She burned in shame and fury as she thought about that day six years ago. Her own lover, Zeyar, complicit in the assassination of her father. Even now, she wondered who else he shared his bed with? Did he whisper her secrets in other’s ears?

  My closest and powerful advisers, she thought, and I’m not even sure I can trust them. Was this what it was like for father to sit on the throne? Recently she found herself plugging into the Bashe throne to soar with her mind in the unlimited expanse of the neuralnet. Who do I look up to? Who guides me? Nobody, a voice whispered back; the People’s Favor is guided by Heaven.

  Diaochan snorted.

  Today she was only interested in two of her dragons. It was the People’s Scientist, Anastasiya, who was from the western part of the Empire—the easternmost side of what had been once the Russian Empire. She strode up and spoke first.

  “The Chao-chao plant is making good progress and we expect to have a working prototype by the start of next year,” she said. Her accent, a mix of Chinese and Russian. She had a sweetheart-shaped face, small red lips, and dark hair that cascaded around her neck.

  Diaochan replied, “There are a trillion members of earthkind. I’m directly responsible for nineteen percent of them. That’s one hundred ninety billion. Do you know what it’s like to have to listen to all their queries? They all dream of the same thing: escaping this wretched, putrid mess we call Earth. And to do that we need our seed-ships. And to have functioning seed-ships, we have to use the Chao-chao plant to carry water!” She stood at the end of her tirade and advanced on Anastasiya, “Unless you have engineered humans to not be dependent on water?” She stood only a hand’s reach from the woman who she had personally put in charge of the Ministry of Science and Technology and wondered if she’d made a mistake.

  Diaochan took a deep breath that heated her processor cores. “The Greatest Scientist is already testing her wormhole technology. We have our Shenzhou, a prototype that hasn’t even flown. But we have one thing going for us, and that’s the fact we’ve worked out how to store water using the Chao-chao plant. Now we need to make that plant indestructible.”

  Anastasiya did what most of the others would never have. She stood her ground and said, “The Greatest Scientist hasn’t got a prototype yet.” She exhaled through her nostrils. “People’s Favor, this is a critical component of the seed-ship and we cannot afford to make mistakes.”

  “Then don’t.” Diaochan made a cutting motion with her chin. “The Earth is dead, not dying.” She held up her hands. “How long do you think all this will last? Already now, the dark-energy reserves have dwindled.”

  “Very well,” said the People’s Scientist, bowing low. She hadn’t liked that Diaochan mentioned the Greatest Scientist. But mentioning their avowed enemy generally got their competitive juices flowing.

  “You’ve got two months, Anastasiya,” said Diaochan. For a moment, she thought the People’s Scientist would argue.

  Anastasiya floated back into her seat and ensconced herself in it. The neuralnet wires floating from the headrest like jellyfish tendrils to clasp around her head. No doub
t, she had already communicated back to her director with the new deadlines for the Chao-chao plant.

  The People’s General, Chaeyeon, who originated from the Korean part of the China People’s Empire, strode forward and crisply executed a salute. She was addicted to the artificer’s knife and her face looked like it belonged to a porcelain doll. She was the oldest of them all, but looked the youngest. There was something twisted about that; it irked Diaochan.

  “We performed a detailed postmortem as you requested, People’s Favor. Our inquisitors triple-checked every data safe. We confirmed the growing threat from the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers.” She paused and Diaochan knew it was going to be damning news. “The Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers successfully infiltrated the neuralnet encampment in Imperial City and exfiltrated with blueprints related to the triants.”

  Diaochan’s fingernails stilled their clicking on the throne. She almost stood out of her throne. The triants had been a part of one of their greatest creations. They were also Diaochan’s personal bodyguards. Before that, they had been the personal guard belonging to her father, the Lord of Ten Thousand Suns.

  “How much do they know?” said Diaochan, feeling a coldness radiate down her spine.

  “They stole everything,” said Chaeyeon.

  “Are you not the People’s General?” Diaochan asked, blinking from being in front of her throne to floating to the front of Chaeyeon. Now the other eight all had their eyes focused on what was about to happen. “You are in charge of the Empire’s security are you not?”

  “I am,” she said. Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

  “You have failed in this duty,” Diaochan said. She raised her left hand and the fingers there melded together and turned into a concave blade that crackled with heat. She grabbed the People’s General with her right hand and put the burning hot blade against Chaeyeon’s face.

  The People’s General screamed and her legs kicked in the air. But she couldn’t get out of the grip of the People’s Favor. Diaochan dropped the woman after she’d finished.

  “Those who fail me will wear a mark of their failure publicly,” she said.

  Chaeyeon’s beautiful face marred, with a pink, red, and virulent scar that went diagonally across her face. For a moment, her face flashed with outrage but she quickly bowed her head.

  “I’m sorry, People’s Favor, it will not happen again.”

  “It better not,” said Diaochan, turning away and feeling a sickening sensation at the thought. The Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers hadn’t just assassinated her father, they had mutilated him. Now it makes sense, she thought, the tigers had found a way to circumvent the triants.

  “I want you all to be alert for the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers. They assassinated my father and they will not destabilize our empire when are so close.” She held her forefinger and thumb a nanofiber length apart. Her eyes sought each present member of the Ten Divine Dragons.

  “Go now,” she ordered.

  They prostrated themselves fully and departed with their red and gold robes bearing the jade dragon floating in the air.

  Diaochan turned and regarded Jingfei. Immediately the triant went to her knees and displayed the back of her neck to Diaochan.

  “You must kill us if the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers have our blueprints,” said Jingfei. None of the other seven triants came forward, nor did their expressionless faces display anything at Jingfei’s announcement.

  “Don’t be absurd, Jingfei,” said Diaochan, looking at the smooth silverite nape displayed to her. But she couldn’t help thinking that maybe she would have to kill those closest to her: the triants. What if the Chrysanthemum Striped Tigers planted nukeware into the triants? Could her personal guard turn on her?

  What if she got rid of them? She would be terribly lonely. She had been about to ask Jingfei to come back into her bedroom but now she floated back to her throne. She hadn’t wanted any of this. Ruling the China People’s Empire had been thrust upon her.

  She settled back on the throne and the thick strands of hair unwrapped on the side of her head allowing the tendrils from the headrest to connect. Before the neuralnet asserted itself, she couldn’t help feel a sliver of fear as she realized eight triants surrounded her.

  And nobody else watched.

  Chapter 2 - Explosion

  Two Months Later

  A thousand feet below ground, deep within the bowels of the Department of Botanical Weapontech, Hazou and Wenqi moved about hurriedly as the countdown timer started: 04:59. The small digital display, only occupying the upper left of their visors, somehow looked larger than life to the two Principal Scientists of the Chao-chao Project.

  The lab stretched two levels high and had a stark utilitarian feel because of the vast empty space all around it. A single round tank occupied the center of the lab that, right then, the two scientists moved around.

  When the countdown timer hit 04:30 the steelcrete roller door rumbled shut revealing the number '06' etched inside a triangular border. Lab 06 was one of eight nuke-proof labs dedicated to Top Secret projects.

  Even the titancrete floor sat a meter deep due to layers of reinforcement.

  Up against the ceiling, a slice of red light edged the cornices around the entire lab. The light acted as sensors for the thousand nozzles that bordered each fan. Six fans recessed themselves behind grills and turned indolently.

  A viewing panel consisting of reinforced transpasteel glass with horizontal steelcrete blinds stared down at the two scientists.

  The small room behind the viewing panel, originally built for skinny researchbots, would record all experiments below. But today, the viewing room was crammed full with the most powerful people in the China People's Empire.

  Hazou risked a glance up at the viewing panel and then felt something squash his shoulder.

  “You two both better not fuck this up,” said Dang Mao, the Director of the Department of Botanical Weapontech. He grabbed Wenqi and Hazou around the shoulders as if he hugged them. His thick fingers tightened around their necks like a noose. “The People’s Favor, the People’s Scientist, and the People’s General are all sitting up there.” The man who reported directly to the People’s Scientist nodded slightly up to the viewing area. Dang gave them both resounding thumps on their backs and waddled up the ramp. The triangular border swished open and stayed open as a harried Renziang walked out. Dang bumped into her and gave her a savage look. For a moment, Hazou thought he might shout at their lab assistant but then he waddled away, disappearing inside the layers of reinforced door.

  Renziang wore the white lab coat without the slender gray bio-lab suit that Hazou and Wenqi wore.

  Hazou noticed the glance that Renziang gave Wenqi, her sweet, round face beamed in a smile. He doubted his best friend had an inkling about the way Renziang felt about him. Wenqi’s eyes widened at the vial that Renziang gently handed him and he took it from her. She flicked at dark hair that curtained a wide forehead. She constantly did that around Wenqi.

  “Thank you, Renziang. You were just in time,” said Wenqi. The countdown timer on their visor clicked to 03:15. Wenqi turned around to head toward the cylindrical tank that occupied the middle of the room but paused and turned back to their lab assistant. “Renziang, you should go back into the safe zone. We don’t know what might happen today.”

  Normally she would stay, but today’s dangerous experiment made them both overly cautious. Renziang appeared about to argue. But Hazou nodded over Wenqi’s shoulder and she acquiesced. Later, Hazou would wonder at the prophetic nature of his friend’s words.

  Renziang walked up the small set of stairs that led toward the right platform. Three huge screens displayed the vitals of the plant within the tank and the environment in the lab. Her fingers twisted over the dials on a holopad and the indolent fans above picked up speed. She pulled down on a lever that activated an iridescent field sphere around the tank.

  She turned and gave them a thumbs up when she finished and headed out t
he same way Dang had gone.

  Now the huge gray lab really felt empty. The coolant tank burped on the right platform causing Hazou to jump.

  “Ready?” asked the voice in their helmets. They both jumped and then relaxed as they realized it was Dang.

  “We are ready Director Mao,” said Hazou, feeling trepidation in his heart.

  “Are you ready?” Dang’s voice came again.

  Hazou realized he hadn’t deactivated his mute and quickly spoke into his voxcom, “mute off,” then responded with an affirmative to their director.

  Were they really ready he thought? They had spent their entire careers to get to this moment. Now it was all being rushed through. And for what? Why did the People’s Favor want to rush things? Hazou had heard the rumors of course...but what would he know about the things that went on between Gods? It might as well have been like that. The Greatest Scientist, Sanatani, and the People’s Favor, Diaochan, had not always seen eye to eye, and they controlled the two most powerful empires.

  “Begin,” Dang resounded. His hooded, reconbot-like eyes peered between the blinds from the viewing area.

  The other set of eyes next to Dang made Hazou almost want to run out of the room in fear. The octagonal golden eyes consisting of two intersecting hourglasses belonged to the People’s Favor and stared right at him. “Fortune favors the bold,” she said in a voice that sounded half-robotic.

  “Thank you,” Hazou whispered back, trying to avert his gaze, but not before he stared at the woman who stood in front of Dang with the livid scar across her face. The People’s General, Chaeyeon. She had just finished talking to the round-faced Anastasiya, the People’s Scientist. Everyone in the Department of Botanical Weapontech eventually reported up to Anastasiya. Even Dang.

  Wenqi tapped at Hazou and made a pointing gesture with his eyebrow.

  “What?” Hazou said, muting his microphone.

  “Look in the corner. Barely visible. There’s a triant in the viewing room.”

  Hazou spotted the vague silvery outline of a triant through the blinds. It had been so still it blended into the background. One of its many abilities, thought Hazou. That had to be Jingfei. Diaochan’s bodyguard and one of the most expensive, but successful, experiments conducted by the Ministry of Science and Technology.