The Secrets of the Outpost

PROLOGUE

Gemini base. Planet Kepler-438, Lira constellationDistance from Earth: 472 light yearsYear 2118

The alarm blared its song of death.

"Please, help! It's Armageddon here!"

It was hard to communicate through the sub-space system because of all that mayhem and she couldn't understand the answer coming from the shuttle en route toward the planet.

People around her were screaming and scrambling to save themselves in the chaos, but there was no way out.

The bodies she'd seen kept flashing through her mind. She was wavering but she wouldn't give up. There was too much at stake: the future of humanity itself hung in the balance and still could, still had, to be rewritten. She had a job to do and many things to tell him. He was gone, as quickly as he'd appeared. They'd had a few moments together, then it had all gone to hell. In her heart she knew that, should she make it out alive, he would come back.

But right now, she didn't know what to do.

"Do you copy? My team and I will be there in less than two hours. Hang in there. I'll get you off that planet, I promise!"

Her friend's crackling voice came through and gave her strength even though it was so, so goddamn distant.

Two hours. That was an eternity.

"Thanks... We're waiting for you. Hurry... please."

She ended the transmission to the shuttle. There was nothing else to say.

A voice behind her brought her back to the present.

To the devastation.

"Doctor, c'mon! We gotta get out now. It's not safe here, she could get in at any moment!"

Grasping at her self-control, she followed the technician pulling on her arm. Once out of the room, she turned for an instant and saw her. She wasn't far.

She was terrifying, and the doctor couldn't look away from the slaughter taking place before her very eyes. They were trying to stop her, using all the resources at their disposal, but so far without any luck.

It kept advancing. Implacable.

Their only option was to put as much distance as possible between them and that devastating fury.

She headed toward the only available vehicle which might take her to a possibly safer area. Two legionaries in combat gear rushed past her. She glanced at their faces and saw their determined expressions. There was no fear in their eyes. They were soldiers trained to fight and handle the most desperate situations.

But they weren't ready for this. Nobody was.

Despite knowing they were heading toward certain death, she hoped the men would stay safe, and kept running.

She had to hide, and she had to do it fast.

She had to hope and pray.

Because if she found her, her only choice would be to welcome death like a blessing.

****

Gemini Base. Planet Kepler-438

Year 2122

Silence.

At that specific time at night, the base and its winding corridors were bathed in surreal twilight. The air you breathed walking through the passages was almost magical, and a keen observer might think they were wandering in the undergrowth of a forest a few hours before the dawn of a new day.