Salvage-5: Amped

By Brian K. Larson

Colonel Tucker Petersen is captured by the fleeing alien's. Earth has been left in ruins after the Sphere ship drained the magnetic fields from the planet. Being propelled at light speed, the crew of Salvage-5 chase after the aliens in a desperate rescue attempt. Will they find Tucker before the aliens clone him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian K. Larson
• Release date: May 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463388075

Brian K. Larson

Brian was born and raised in Seattle in 1959. He grew up in the town of Mount Lake Terrace, a small suburb north of the city. Brian, being the youngest, had two siblings, his eldest brother, Mike and sister, Pam. School was challenging, as Brian suffers with Dyslexia, a learning disability that affects 1 in 15 Americans. That didn’t stop Brian. He was named "bookworm" in school because he always had his nose in a book.Brian received his MBA in 2010 in Business, now writes for fun, living his lifelong dream of writing science fiction books. He enjoys his off time, with his seventh grade sweetheart, Diana Rose now for going on sixteen years. She has been by his side and continues to supports his writing. Brian says that without her encouragement, his dream would never have become a reality. They now live in Marysville, Washington, and enjoy three wonderful kids and eight grandchildren. They range from newborn to thirteen, and he says they are so special and great to have around.It is Brian’s hope that through his writing he will fill hearts with joy to readers all over the world, sparking their imaginations.

Book preview

Salvage-5

AMPED

Brian K. Larson

Salvage-5

AMPED

Brian K. Larson

Published by Slipstream Publishing

For Smashwords

Copyright © 2019 Brian K. Larson

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

This is a work of fiction, all the characters and events in this novel that appear similar to persons living or dead are unintentional and are completely coincidental.

Dedication

I dedicate this book to the wonderful folks at $300 Dollar Data Recovery. Without their help, this book would not be what it is today. After suffering a catastrophic hard drive crash, the first seven chapters of this book were lost. I contacted them to see if they could recover any of the data on the drive. Having faith in technology, I sent the drive off to see if they could be of help and continued writing this book starting in chapter eight. Miraculously, even with fractured heads and damaged platters internally, they were over ninety-nine percent successful in recovering all of my data.

Thank you, $300 Dollar Data Recovery.

Author, Brian K. Larson

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

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Epilogue

Bonus Content

More Books

Prologue

An alien Noosphere, made of bio-electronic matter, was trying to eliminate all life on Earth by destroying the Earth’s Van Allen belt.

Colonel Tucker Petersen and his team had to rescue his son Bennie and Bennie’s mother, Beverly, along with Jenny Rubinstein-Petersen, Major Preston, and General McKenzie from the alien Noosphere before they could stop it from completing its nefarious task.

But as Major Samantha Rothschild piloted the Salvage-5 on their escape, Tucker was hit three times in the back by pursuing cyborg clones and fell from the ship’s ramp.

Before the valiant crew could return to rescue the Colonel, Captain Buster Clark accidently activated a power beam that energized the Noosphere.

The massive beam from the Pyramid of the Sun was designed to generate a power web connecting all pyramid structures on Earth and rebuild the Earth’s Van Allen belt. Even though much of the Earth had been left in smoldering ruins, what was left of Humanity was saved from the deadly radiation of the Sun.

But Colonel Tucker Petersen was trapped, held prisoner by the alien cyborg clones.

On the Noosphere, the alien mastermind Xat-Anah stood over the dying Colonel and ordered his minions, Take him to an extraction chair, plug him in and prepare him for cloning.

Yes, your Excellency, the X-99 unit grinned.

Two cyborgs dragged Tucker towards the sphere’s cloning facility.

Xat-Anah returned to his control room at the center of the sphere and activated the monitor screen by manipulating the orbs floating in front of him. What he saw made his thin purple lips stretch wide in a green, three-tentacled alien version of a smile.

Xat-Anah asked a nearby cyborg clone, "X-99, how is our guest?"

X-99’s answer came over the sphere’s communication channel, He is healing, your Excellency. He will be strong enough to clone in a few hours.

Most excellent... most excellent indeed... now, prepare the sphere for hyper speed... our course is set... trajectory is confirmed... entering the power beam in twenty seconds.

Your Excellency, we have detected a ship in pursuit.

Let them pursue... they shall not catch us... not today...

The sphere sped upward into orbit. The web of power beams withdrew back into the Pyramid of the Sun, propelling the sphere high into orbit and on a trajectory straight for the mag ring.

Are we connected to the human’s array?

Yes, your Excellency. The array is programmed to send our ship home!

What is our ETA to achieving optimum speed?

Three minutes, my Excellency. Once we pass through the programmed array, the pursuing ship will not be able to catch us.

Yes, yes, once we enter the array, I shall bring our first offspring to our people. You must dedicate resources in finding the Jenny host. She must be moved to a special gestation room.

Yes, my Excellency, we shall discover the Jenny host’s location within the sphere soon enough.

Good... gooood...

Salvage-5

January 17, 2068 08:54

Sam’s eyes widened as Salvage-5 got closer to the energy stream, You sure about our course, Cass?

Yes, Sam, I double checked it!

Then we’d better enter that thing before it’s too late, Buster yelped, The stream is dissipating. If the beam stops before we reach it, we’ll never catch Tucker!

Punch it, Sam! Cassie ordered.

Engaging ion drive... NOW!

The Salvage-5 vessel elongated, and changed direction as it entered the stream, shooting them in pursuit of the alien Sphere.

Whooooa! Sam exclaimed, You gotta be kiddin’ me!

Buster passed out from the sudden G-Forces as the rest of the crew held on.

The beam stopped almost the instant the ship connected with it, but Salvage-5 had made it just in time. They flashed away from Earth at light speeds.

Chapter 1

Alien Sphere

The X-99 unit stood on his three tentacle legs, holding a device and reading its display.

Placed in front of him was a cyborg shell inside of a cloning chamber. Wires and computer traces flowed across the smooth, milky white skin of the alien-generated machine. Servos whirred, lights blinked and relays clacked inside the mechanisms of the cyborg as the X-99 alien drained the clone tank. The glass slid open, exposing the blank new clone that would be used for Tucker.

The vacant alien cyborg within stood waiting for commands.

In a few minutes, I will be transferring the Tucker Petersen host to this cyborg clone, your excellency, X-99 reported.

Good, very good. Activate the clone as soon as you can.

Unfortunately for this clone, we do not have enough resources to fully replicate the host. All we have resources for is the mechanical underlayment and the face. Regardless of this clone’s appearance, I will have the clone active once the healing phase on the Tucker host has completed.

I want you to awaken the host prior to the transfer and move the host to the cloning room. I wish to see this host witness what he shall become before he is transferred.

Yes, your Excellency.

X-99 dissolved his handheld device into his own body and then slithered into the DNA extraction chamber.

Salvage-5

It took Sam several minutes to awaken from the effects the forces of acceleration to light speed had put upon her body.

Whoa! What a rush!

Cassie fluttered her eyes and opened them. Her first view was that of stars bleeding across their view screen of Slavage-5.

Samuels shook his head and blinked his eyes before turning to Buster, Captain, he reached over and shook Buster’s shoulder, Buster, are you in there?

Buster stirred, automatically reached for his glasses to give them a shove. Ye-yeah, I’m here. Wow, that was intense!

Doctor Rhodes woke up with a start and tightened his harness, "Yeah, what Buster said. That was intense."

Cassie, Sam asked as she checked her controls, Do you know where we are?

I-I don’t know for sure just yet. Gimmie a sec while I get my bearings and then the ships.

I can appreciate that for sure, Sam smiled, Even though we’re a sportin’ these clone bodies, they have limits.

Some of us have clone bodies, Samuels interjected.

At least we’re all chipped or cloned, Buster added. Even so, I think we’re going to need a pretty big miracle to pull this off... whatever it is we are trying to do, ‘cause I really have no clue as to where we are... yet.

And if Buster doesn’t have a fix...

Sam cut off the Sergeant, ... if Buster doesn’t get a fix soon, we’ll have no chance of finding Tucker!

Well, Cassie began, I can tell you we aren’t in Earth’s orbit. I just read the ship’s logs. We did fly through the array and we are in the same energy stream that the sphere is in.

I can confirm that, Cass, Buster said, glancing between his console and Cassie, We are in the energy stream that shot out of the Pyramid of the Sun. That’s what propelled us to these faster than light speeds... and what’s protecting the ship from breaking apart from these speeds.

Can you tell how fast we are going, Buster? Cassie asked.

Um, well, no. I mean, not yet. I’m still running a dozen calculations, so, I’m a little busy right now.

But you’re not doing anything but sittin’ there, Doctor Rhodes pointed.

Oh, I am doing them. All of them in my head, so please, shush it... Buster gulped, giving Cassie a glance, I said please.

Don’t worry, Captain, Cassie smiled, Just give me some coordinates or something to pass over to Sam so she can fly us to the sphere already... Cassie’s eyes connected with the worried Buster, It’s going to be okay, Buster. Okay? Trust me. You can do this. I know you can!

All the crew heard was air escaping from Buster’s lips, Shhh!

A few impatient minutes passed before Buster reached for his console swing arm and grabbed the handles. He pulled it to him and typed frantically for some time. When he stopped, he shoved his glasses back up his nose.

Ha!

Okay? Sam begged, Time’s a wastin’. I suggest you get on with it.

Right. I’ll forego the lengthy explanation for a later time...

... Good! The crew said in unison.

... but I do have to explain a little.

Okay, Samuels said with a finger roll.

Right, okay, so, we entered the field array after the sphere did. But we are moving faster than the sphere so it’s behind us now.

Come again? Sam asked.

Yeah, I think it must be due to the mass difference with our ship and the sphere.

Cassie fiddled with her controls and turned to Sam, The whiz-kid’s right again. We’re in front of the sphere.

What luck too, Buster added, Because we wouldn’t be able to catch them otherwise.

Did you ever figure out how fast we are going? And how far away is the sphere?

All very good questions, Cassie, err, ah, Major, ah, Clone... Cassie Clone, Buster nervously answered.

Relax, Captain, you can do this. Just focus.

I’ve never done these kinds of calculations, so it’s gonna take me some time to figure this all out. I do know that we had better figure out how to dock somewhere soon. This ship only has enough supplies and fuel for a few weeks and if we miss our target, it might, kind of, take us, well, err, ah, it might take us a few years to get back, Buster gulped.

Years!? Cassie yelped.

It might, but then again, we’re all chipped and/or cloned, so we have the ability to overcome all those obstacles. I think.

I suggest we hook ol’ whiz-kid up to the accelerator and give him a few jolts of gamma waves, Doctor Rhodes said, unbuckling his harness, Because I for one don’t really want to die out here in the middle of nowhere.

Good idea, Doc, Buster nodded, I’m ready, he said, squeezing his eyes shut.

At least Sam, Cassie and Gus are clones, they’ll outlive all of us, Samuels added.

Doctor Rhodes floated from his seat and made his way to a cargo hatch. Pressing a sequence on the keypad rewarded him with a whoosh as the door slid open.

But that doesn’t help us with fuel, air, or water. Even clone bodies require those things, Gus said.

Doctor Rhodes extracted a set of cables, one for each crew member. His eyes fixed on Sam, Don’t worry, Sam, you’re a clone now, remember, you don’t have to worry about flipping out on us anymore.

Gee, thanks Doc. I didn’t remember that I’m really a clone of my dead self! Sam looked down, Seems death is all we’ve been talking about as of late!

Sorry, Rhodes scowled, "I didn’t mean anything by it, really...

Sam smiled and pointed her thumb behind her, Gotcha Doc! she chuckled, You’re still an easy mark,

Nice one, Sammie, but Gus is right. It won’t matter if we can’t get any food or air supply, even for our clone team mates.

True that, Sam frowned as reality set in, "Let’s just get amped so we can use our juiced brain power to figure out what the hell we can do."

Doctor Rhodes floated over to hook up the rest of the fiber cables.

Alien Sphere

Xat-Anah looked down at Tucker, helpless from the sleep drugs and strapped to the DNA extraction chair.

Is he ready for cloning?

Yes, your Excellency, His injuries have healed sufficiently for the clone phase to complete."

Wake him!

The X-99 began pressing sequences on a keypad near Tucker’s head. His long bony fingers pressed several commands before he turned to face Xat-Anah with his arms at his sides, The drugs are programmed and have been initiated. He will awaken momentarily.

Tucker stirred as he became aware of his surroundings. Still in a fog, he willed his eyes open only to focus on the green skinned alien, Oh crap... it’s only you.

Well who did you expect, Colonel Petersen?

Well, I kind of was hoping to see Cassie.

Well, you won’t get that chance since you took the host from us.

I wouldn’t bet on that.

Yes, yes, all nice conversation. However, we must get on with it.

"What exactly is the it we’re ‘getting on with,’ anyway?"

Your clone activation awaits us.

Do I get a vote?

Strange how even on the edge of death Humans cling to humor, Xat-Anah smiled, "But no, Tucker, you do not get to vote. How do you like your new clone body?" Xat-Anah asked, flourishing his arm as he pointed.

Tucker aimed his eyes the best he could, You’re kidding me, right? You’re going to use that hunk of junk to put me in? I think it looks a little sub-standard. And that face, gawd! Where did you get that face?

It’s your face, Tucker, Xat-Anah said with an eye roll.

"Nah, that ain’t possible! That face ain’t pretty like me. I think you must have an issue with your regeneration program, ‘cause there’s just no way that ugly duckling is me!"

It’s straight from your own DNA, Tucker, Xat-Anah protested.

You see that chin line? Wimpy. Mine is more defined, strong…

Enough of this foolishness! I must get on with your transfer so we can get on with delivering the pregnant Jenny to our home world.

Who? Jenny? Ha, you still think she’s on board this here sphere? Sorry to disappoint you an’ all, Xat ol’ boy, but she escaped with the others.

Xat narrowed his eyebrows over his slanted almond eyes, That’s impossible! Jenny is still here, we just can’t find her, that’s all.

Maybe the reason you can’t find her is we freed her. She’s back on Earth.

You’re lying... you have admitted you are a liar. Nevertheless, once we plug you into this clone, we’ll have the truth soon enough.

Now, wait a minute...

Tucker’s eyes fluttered closed as the drugs took control of his body. He fell into deep sleep.

The clone body motors whirred as the Tucker’s DNA essence was transferred into the clone.

The skinless clone’s eyes opened and looked around, keeping his head motionless.

It’s alright, Commander, you are inside the clone and will now follow all of our commands.

The Tucker-clone opened its mouth. A digitized and distorted voice was all he could manage on his first few tries. Then the voice leveled out and uttered its first words, Do you have a cigar?

Xat-Anah turned to his X-99 associate and smiled, It’s Tucker.

The X-99 began pressing commands on his handheld console, Move your right hand.

The clone replied by activating the servos to raise his right forearm. It lifted into the air, its whirring rotors whining. The clone then began to turn its wrist and move its fingers, drumming them in the air.

Tap each finger of your right hand to your thumb.

The clone again rewarded the X-99 with several quick taps of each finger to thumb and