CHAPTER 26

2010

Above the Ocean

Earth

Riley tumbled toward the Earth’s surface. The internal temperature of the escape pod was spiking, and Riley was dripping with sweat. He pressed his hands firmly against the walls of the pod, trying to brace himself, but it wasn’t enough. The only thing holding him in place was the safety belt. He reached for the screen, but it had cracked and was unresponsive. On one of the cracked sections, he saw that the pod was twelve thousand feet from the surface. Riley knew he would die if the pod struck the water at this velocity. The chute should have deployed at fifteen thousand feet. He heard its cover burst open, but it never deployed.

It was becoming harder to breathe by the second. Riley opened his mouth in an attempt to get enough oxygen into his lungs. He reached beneath the chair, hoping to find the chute’s manual trigger, but there was nothing there. He looked around and saw two levers near the door. A small lever on the door itself had red stripes. Another lever, just above the door, had yellow stripes. Riley assumed one lever would be for the door, while the other would manually deploy the chute. There was no way for him to know which was which, as they were unlabelled. The pod truly was unfinished. Riley reached for the lever above the door but couldn’t touch it without getting out of the chair. He reached for the red lever on the door but it was still too far. He couldn’t afford to pull the wrong lever. If he did, the door would pop off, and he would be dead in a moment. Riley checked his altitude again. The number hadn’t changed. He couldn’t know how little time he had left.

Riley considered the levers. It didn’t make sense to place a manual chute deployment lever where you would need to get out of your chair. He bit his lower lip and reached for the lever on the door. He grabbed it firmly and pulled. There was a loud bang outside the pod. Riley’s eyes widened; he couldn’t know what the sound was. Suddenly, the pod jolted upward. It started falling again, but far more slowly than before.

Riley looked at the screen. The altitude still hadn’t changed. He held the straps of the safety belt, shut his eyes, and hoped that nothing else would go wrong.

Shortly after, the pod splashed down in the ocean. The internal temperature had dropped significantly. After such a violent descent, the pod now bobbed up and down with each wave that passed. Riley unfastened the safety belt and got out of the seat. He used the yellow lever above the door, then tried to open it. Nothing happened. He pushed the lever again but the door still didn’t open. Riley wondered if he was using the wrong lever, but there was no other obvious way to open the door. He tried the lever once more without success. He stepped back and rammed his body against it. It didn’t budge.

After several more attempts at throwing himself at the door, Riley fell to his knees, exhausted. He remembered the lighter Isaiah gave him. He took it from his pocket. Riley flicked the lighter open with his thumb and pressed the button on the side. A hot plasma flame appeared. The flame grew longer. Riley tore away the flammable layers of the door until all that remained was the steel hull. He shook his head; he had no idea if his plan would work. The lighter had easily cut through solid metal cuffs but this was a greater challenge. Riley held the flame to the hull and was surprised by how easily it cut through the metal. He cut around the door and when the flame returned to its starting point, he took a step back and kicked the hatch.

The door fell out into the water and a strong breeze filled the pod. Riley stuck his head out of the pod and scanned his surroundings. There was nothing but water and sky. He smirked. He was alive, but he had no clue where he had landed. Riley returned to the cracked screen. He smacked it a few times, but that did nothing to correct the display. He carefully opened it up and inspected its internal parts. The calibrator had fused with the screen and there was no fixing it. Riley sighed and dropped the screen. He climbed out onto the pod, carefully balancing on top so he wouldn’t change its center of gravity. Riley slowly stood up, hoping to see anything other than water, whether it was a rock, an island, a boat, anything at all. There was nothing. He climbed back down into the pod and sat in the seat, trying to devise any kind of plan.

Two hours passed and Riley was still in the chair, with a box containing a flare gun resting on his lap. He had found it in a small compartment under the seat and had already used three of the four flares in the box. With only one flare left, Riley needed to wait until he was sure someone would see it.

Later, he heard a plane overhead. Riley jumped off the seat and looked outside. He saw the airplane, leaving a stream of contrails behind it. He held the flare gun in the air and was about to fire when he had another idea. He lowered the gun and looked back inside the pod. Riley opened various sections of the pod, pulling out cables. He used his plasma lighter to cut through the cables and made an outlet using the pod’s battery. He then connected the cables of the cold gas thrusters to the battery. When he formed the connection, the thruster fired and pushed the pod in the opposite direction. He tested each of the pod’s thrusters, and they all worked. Riley rested with his back against the wall and smiled.

Having figured out a way to sail the pod across the ocean, Riley needed to decide which direction to go. He again climbed to the roof and looked around. He could only go so far before each thruster ran out of gas. Riley looked to the sun for answers. There was no way to know where exactly he was or how far he had drifted. He knew Isaiah intended for him to land in Tanadad Front City, but it was possible that the rough landing had knocked him off course. Riley wondered how far off course.

From sea to land.

Riley had learned during his early years in the army that wind always blew from the ocean toward the land. The issue here was that the wind was barely strong enough for him to determine its direction. Riley flicked open his lighter and lit it. He held it outside and watched the direction the flame leaned. He put the lighter away and connected the thrusters to push himself along with the wind, using two thrusters at a time to keep the pod from spinning.

After half an hour, the two thrusters ran out of fuel and stopped working. Without wasting a second, Riley tore pieces of fabric from the wall paddings and used steel cables to fabricate a makeshift tether. He fastened one end of the tether around his waist and the other end to the seat. Riley was confident that, whatever happened, he would survive this. Isaiah was a testament to that. He climbed to the top of the pod, braced himself, and turned his body, trying to get the other two working thrusters to face the correct direction. He planted his feet and twisted again. The pod moved from left to right but didn’t spin as Riley hoped. He twisted again but his foot slipped off the pod and he fell into the water.

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Riley surfaced and saw that the pod had drifted the length of the tether away from him. He reeled himself in until his hands were touching the pod again. He was about to climb into the pod but hesitated. He let go and swam to the other side of the pod. There was a step running around the pod and Riley grabbed it, pushing with all the strength he had. The pod finally turned, only slightly, but Riley hoped it would be enough.

Riley climbed into the pod and again used the lighter to determine the wind direction. He hurried back to the makeshift controls and activated the thrusters facing into the wind. The thrusters fired and Riley was hopefully moving in the right direction again.

Riley crashed into the chair. His lips were dry and flaking, and his face had turned red with sunburn. He tried to swallow but he couldn’t. He stared at the seawater. He desperately wanted to drink some, but he knew better. Riley looked up at the ceiling.

“I will not die here,” he mumbled. "I will not die here..."

Riley had fallen asleep when he heard a loud bang. The pod jerked and he was almost knocked out of the chair. He was jolted awake and hurried to the doorway to see what had happened. He stuck his head out and saw the hull of a trawler. Standing at the edge of the deck was a man wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, looking down at him. The man lowered a rope ladder to Riley. Riley grabbed the ladder and slowly climbed up onto the boat. When he was near the top, the man grabbed his wrist and pulled him up onto the deck. Riley fell and stared up at the sky, panting for breath. The man pulled up the rope ladder, then offered Riley his hand with a grin. Riley sat up, stared at the man’s hand for a moment, then looked around the deck. He wondered why the man would help a random stranger.

Riley quickly realized he was being paranoid. He took the man’s hand, and the man pulled him up to his feet.

“Thanks,” Riley said.

The man shook his head and hurried into the cabin. Riley watched, curious what he was doing. The man returned with a small bag. He passed the bag to Riley with a smile.

“I’m Kadesh,” the man said. “I’ve been expecting you, Mr. Riley.”

On hearing his name, Riley dropped the bag and grabbed the man’s neck, though he lacked his usual strength. “Who are you? How do you know my name?” Riley growled.

“I already told you, I’m Kadesh,” he answered. “I was hired to come to these coordinates at this exact moment and wait for you.”

“Who hired you?”

Kadesh glared at Riley, struggling for breath. “Take your hand off me.”

Riley let go and Kadesh stumbled backward.

Kadesh rubbed his neck. “I could have taken the money and left you here to die,” he said. “You should thank me.”

Riley looked around the boat. It didn’t look like there was anyone else on board. “Who hired you?” he asked again.

“Twelve years ago, I was a plumber. A man came to my home and left a bag of money on my table. He told me I would be a successful fisherman. He said the money was mine but asked that I sail here on this exact date, at this exact time. The man said I would find you here, stranded at sea.”

Riley stared at Kadesh, trying to make sense of what he was saying. He took out the lighter and looked at it. He put it away and opened the bag Kadesh had given him.

It contained water and a bag of chips. Riley unscrewed the bottle and drank. He emptied the bottle, tore open the bag of chips, and hungrily started eating. He took another bottle of water and drank. Riley wiped his mouth and turned to Kadesh, who had been watching him closely.

“What else did he tell you?” Riley asked.

“You should rest,” Kadesh advised. “There’s plenty of time; it’s a long way back to land.” He turned and walked back into the cabin.

Riley walked to the edge of the boat. He looked down at the pod, then up at the sky, wondering why they hadn’t followed him. They found him once, they could find him again if they wanted to. Then again, the old man would have thought of that too. Riley smiled.

The boat’s engine sputtered a few times and came alive. Kadesh turned the boat to face the direction Riley came from and started moving. It was indeed a long way back to the shore. When Kadesh finally docked, Riley had fallen asleep.

Kadesh approached Riley with a brown envelope in his hand. “Riley,” he called three times, but Riley did not wake. He stomped his boot.

Riley jumped awake and clenched his fists.

Kadesh held the envelope to his face. “He said to give you this.”

Riley took the envelope and opened it. Inside, there was a key and a folded sheet of paper with an address on it. There was also a smaller envelope full of cash. Riley scoffed when he saw the handwriting. He knew exactly who wrote it. He looked up at Kadesh. “Thank you,” he said.

“No problem, man. Listen, if you need anything, I’m here. I’m always here.”

Riley gave him a nod and climbed out of the boat. He put the key and money into his pocket but kept the address in his hand, reading it as he walked away from the port.

Riley followed the address, and it led him to a storage center. He looked for storage unit 237 and, after searching for close to thirty minutes, he finally found it. The unit had a large lock on the door. Riley placed the key from the envelope into the lock and turned it. It opened. Riley looked up and down the corridor. It was empty and quiet. He lifted the roller shutter. He wasn’t sure what he had expected to find inside but it wasn’t this. Riley stepped inside and pulled the roller down behind him. Weapons crates were neatly arranged around the room, and hanging on the walls there were assault and sniper rifles Riley had never seen before. He walked around the room, running his hands over the various weapons. One by one, he opened the crates. They each contained more weapons and ammunition. The weapons reminded Riley of his time at the academy. He looked to the wall on the left and spotted a Brandon Limbscriber V40 LMG. Riley’s eyes lit up. He had seen the gun in action but never had the chance to use it before. He ran his hand over the gun, then took it from the wall and looked through the scope. He aimed toward the door. Riley placed the gun back on the stand and took another look around the room.

"What’s this for, old man?" He wondered.

Riley wondered if Titan would come after him. If they did, none of the weapons in the room would help him against them, except perhaps the Brandon Limbscriber.

Riley’s gaze moved to the end of the room opposite the door. There was a table against the wall, covered by a brown sheet. Riley slowly approached the table and pulled the sheet away, expecting to find something impressive. Instead, he saw a small silvery obelisk on the table. Riley squinted and brought his face closer to the object. It looked like a twisted metal, larger at the base than the top, and it had too many sides to count. Riley walked around the table, wondering what it could be. He leaned in even closer until his face almost touched the object, and he noticed the engravings on the obelisk. Riley stepped back with wide eyes. He had only seen those symbols once before.

“Exoginos…” he muttered.

Riley took a deep breath and slowly reached toward the obelisk to pick it up. He stopped and shook his head repeatedly. Riley had seen more than his fair share of alien technology, but nothing had scared him as much as his time on Exoginos. He knew the obelisk was not human technology. He had no idea what might happen if he touched it.

The longer Riley stared at the obelisk, the more it all seemed familiar to him. It was as though he had been there before, in this exact moment. An image flashed in his mind, and Riley knew why it seemed so familiar. It wasn’t that he had been there before. He had seen it in his vision in the Field of Mirrors. He saw himself holding the obelisk and, in that vision, he didn’t die. Riley exhaled, stepped forward, and grabbed the obelisk with his eyes closed. He waited, expecting something to happen, but nothing did.

Riley felt a cold tingling sensation spreading around his hand. He opened his eyes and saw the symbols on the obelisk glowing dim orange.

“You’ve come so far, Riley,” a voice said behind him.

Riley turned around sharply, pointing the obelisk in the direction the voice came from. It was a hologram, standing in a corner of the room, looking at him proudly. Riley froze. The hologram was Riley, many years older. He looked around the room, trying to find the source of the hologram.

“You,” Riley said.

“Yes, me,” the hologram replied. “You’re about to enter another phase of your journey, Riley. You’re about to discover the true scale of the battle you’ve been fighting. It’s bigger than us, it’s bigger than what we’ve been fighting for, and I’m glad you found that obelisk because you’ll need it. You will need it for every bit of what comes next.”

Riley looked down at the obelisk in his hand. “What is coming?” he asked as he looked up, but the hologram was gone. He looked around the room, searching for answers.

“What the hell is coming?”