Reason To Fear (The Earthburst Saga Book 5), page 1
REASON TO FEAR
THE EARTHBURST SAGA: BOOK 5
© 2023
CRAIG A. FALCONER
Reason To Fear
© 2023 Craig A. Falconer
This edition published July 2023
All rights reserved by the author.
The characters and events herein are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
At the author’s request, this book has been made available free of all DRM.
CONTENTS
Books by Craig A. Falconer
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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
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Authors Notes
BOOKS BY CRAIG A. FALCONER
THE EARTHBURST SAGA
Last Man Standing
Into The Fire
Operation Starshot
The Anomaly
Reason To Fear
The Last Horizon
NOT ALONE SERIES
Not Alone: First Encounter (Prequel)
Not Alone
Not Alone: Second Contact
Not Alone: The Final Call
~ Contact Trilogy box set ~
Not Alone: Fractured Union
Not Alone: Leap of Destiny
Not Alone: Revelations
~ Discovery Trilogy box set ~
Not Alone: The Awakening
Not Alone: Hidden Wonder
Not Alone: Endgame
~ Evolution Trilogy box set ~
Not Alone: Origins
TERRADOX SERIES
Terradox Zero: Before The Crash (Prequel)
Terradox
The Fall of Terradox
Terradox Reborn
Terradox Beyond
~ Worlds Away collection ~
~ Terradox Quadrilogy box set ~
CYBER SEED SERIES
Sycamore
Sycamore 2
Sycamore X
Sycamore XL
~ Cyber Seed Compendium Box Set ~
SCI-FI SIZZLERS
Wanderlust
Bound For Glory
Sunset Stays
Arise With Us
Whence They Came
Replica
Megaton Murphy
A Scent Of Man
Yester Year
Too Good To Be True
Happy, Inc.
Pamela 2.0
Funscreen
Pumpkin Splice
When Santa Slays
~ Chasing Tomorrows 15-Book Box Set ~
Seedling
Empty Nesters
A Savage In The Future
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1
Aliens.
I heard the word as it left Major’s mouth, but that doesn’t mean I can make any sense of it.
I’ve been unconscious in the Vita’s medical bay for one day, and I’ve woken up in a world where aliens exist.
And hell… if what Major is telling me is true, they don’t just exist. They’re talking to us.
“It’s a lot to take in, Ray,” Major acknowledges. “Especially in your condition. I can only imagine. But like I said, the main thing is that everyone survived yesterday’s sabotage attack and your family is safely back on Earth. I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but humanity could be in a better position now than we were before the virus attack.”
I narrow my eyes, which have more or less adjusted to the bright overhead lights. I’m starting to wonder if my ears need to adjust, too, though, because I’m struggling to see many positives that would justify thinking we’re in a better position than we were.
“For one thing, the virus that took hold of the station has been decisively neutralized and arrests have already been made,” Major continues. I think he’s sensed from my expression that some explanation is needed. “Our security systems have been reinforced, but it’s important to remember that this was a freak event. The virus took advantage of our momentary security downtime when the alien signal overwhelmed our core systems, and it took hold during the automatic system reboot. But that’s in the past.”
“Yesterday’s problem,” I agree with a nod that takes more effort than it should.
Beyond the usual platitudes of ‘look to the future’ or ‘don’t cry over spilled milk’, decoding this signal really does demand our total focus. That’s far more important than rehashing how we ended up receiving it.
Everything that happened is slowly coming back to me now. Given the strength of the blast my hand bore the brunt of, I should probably feel grateful that it’s the only thing I’ve lost.
It’s hard to feel grateful looking down at a stumped wrist, though. They must have me on some serious painkillers.
“Yesterday’s problem indeed,” Major says. “Profit-at-all-costs corporate infiltrators like those scoundrels from the mining conglomerate are one thing, but the Anomaly is something else. The Anomaly is the problem we have to solve — and fast. Our hope is that there is a solution inside this signal. If we can decode it and make sense of the message, we’re hopeful it’s going to be related to the problems we’re facing.”
I can’t hide my confusion. “But if this really is a radio signal from Bayzen, it has to be at least four years old,” I tell him. “That’s how long it would take to reach us. You must know that.”
Major shrugs. “Obviously. But Shaun and Sasha and our other analysts have suggested all kinds of scenarios, even in the very short time we’ve known of this. One is that aliens from Bayzen might have been trying to warn us about some kind of dangerous celestial event or phenomenon for a long time, since they became aware of its threat to us. You have to remember, Ray: the Anomaly’s effects are getting worse, and they’ve been getting worse for a long time. We have no idea what causes them or even any idea about the nature of the whole thing. But for all we know, the dangerous power of whatever the source is could have been getting worse for years — even decades. Maybe the Anomaly only became apparent to us when it reached a tipping point. And maybe if we’d picked up this alien signal a long time ago, we could have already developed some mitigations or solutions.”
Listening carefully as Major makes a surprising amount of sense, I bring my left hand to my nose and scratch an irritating itch.
All kinds of wires are connected to me, but the weirdest thing is not being able to use my right hand. More to the point, the weirdest thing is no longer having a right hand.
To say that will take some getting used to would be one hell of an understatement.
“Think of some problem with your house,” Major goes on. “Imagine that from his vantage point next door, your neighbor notices some termite activity. Maybe he has heat-sensitive security cameras or something like that — you know, an advanced technology that makes him aware of the problem before you are. Because from the inside of the house, you’re probably not going to notice anything until it’s too late. But if your neighbor gets the message to you in time, you can do something about it. I’m not saying it’s a perfect analogy, Ray, or even a very good one. But the point is that sometimes a problem can be seen by one party before its effects become obvious to everyone. Our neighbor might have been yelling over the wall for years, but we didn’t hear him because our windows have been closed. Until those powerful new PFOA telescopes launched yesterday and started listening in the right direction, our windows have been closed.”
I think Major deserves some credit for saving his metaphor there, and I actually see quite a lot of merit in it. Our new Poly-Field Observation Array really has already changed the game, too.
“I know you were groggy when you woke up,” he continues, “but you do remember what I told you about the radiation, don’t you? One of our Bayzen-facing PFOA telescopes picked up the signal coming from there. But maybe just as importantly, another one pointing elsewhere has found an invisible source of radiation — far too close for comfort — that’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. We think that is the Anomaly, whatever it actually is. We think there is some kind of physical and observable cause to this, so while we’re working to decode the signal we’re also working to analyze this radiation source. It could be a natural celestial phenomenon the aliens are trying to warn us about, or it could be something alien that they’re trying to explain. We just don’t know yet. We can be optimistic or we can be fatalistic, but Shaun is the one who has told me we have to stay pragmatic and remember that whatever the radiation source is, the aliens are reaching out to us.”
“So you think the signal is a warning message?” I ask. “And Shaun thinks that, too?”
Major upturns his palms. “There are any number of possible scenarios, but I think it makes as much sense as anything else. Shaun put it like this: if they were hostile, why would they be talking to us?”
Hmm. I’ll admit that the idea of these message-sending aliens being helpful hadn’t crossed my mind in the first few minutes of knowing they exist.
I think our brains are wired that way. Surviving in the state of nature — that jungle of chaos we evolved out of — demands constant vigilance to potential threats.
Sure, the cracking of a twig could come from a harmless bird pecking around for fallen fruit. But it could also come from the tiptoeing of a tiger with its eyes on its prize. That’s why our heads shoot round in reaction to any sudden sounds or movements.
And as evolved as we like to think we are, that survival instinct is still there. It can still serve us well, too, but sometimes we have to temper it with the rationality and reasoning that sets us apart from the animals we left behind.
Shaun’s point about the unlikeliness of hostility ties into this, too. Because if a tiger is coming for me, I’m dead before I see it coming. I might hear that twig cracking as the beast starts to bound and pounce my way, but he’s not going to roar from behind the trees first to let me know he’s there.
As soon as that point is in my mind, which is still fighting its way back to full clarity after the physical trauma and the medicinal haze it’s faced, I really think Shaun is right about it.
Tigers don’t roar before they pounce.
Robbers don’t call ahead.
And as much as I know we can’t confidently ascribe human psychology to an extraterrestrial race, I just don’t see why hostile aliens would send a targeted signal to let us know they exist.
At least, that’s the hope I’m clinging onto…
2
“Is there any progress on decoding the signal?” I ask. “The Balena team has the data, too, right? With their AI language systems, it has to be possible in a short timeframe, doesn’t it?”
Major exhales slowly. “They have it, yes. But the answer to your bigger question is no… this is all very new, and there’s no progress to speak of yet. My understanding is that we’re not yet at the stage of trying to translate a message. We’re decoding a signal, as I understand it. And Shaun has told me the signal isn’t just alien in source, but alien in nature. There is a huge amount of data that is categorically not random noise, but so far we haven’t been able to discern any kind of structure or, well, anything. But the Balena’s team is working on it, Ray. We are, too.”
“So who exactly is still here on the Vita?” I push. Major mentioned a few names as soon as I came around, but my brain was still waking up and some more explosive information has taken center stage since then.
“Well, all of the civilians are gone,” he says. “The little girl you saved, your family, Vicki, even my logistics administrators. Everyone had the choice to leave, given that we couldn’t be entirely sure the Vita was safe. We’ve had a full sweep of all physical spaces and digital systems, but we hadn’t when the evacuation craft left for Earth. Civilians were forced to leave. Like I told you, I did what I thought you would want and insisted that your family returned to solid ground. I sent Vicki, too, to help with the bird. And believe me, Scarlet did not want to leave him behind. He was more insistent than anyone that you would want them to go, though. He didn’t want to leave you, obviously, but he knew you would want him to.”
I nod. We all owe Laika a lot, all over again, and the little guy was damn right in his assessment that I would prefer for my family to be safe on solid ground without me than by my side on this potentially insecure spacecraft-cum-station.
“We’re down to the real bare bones,” Major continues. “The only individuals you don’t know are the healthcare staff and some senior members of our system maintenance team, each of whom I know personally and will vouch for with my life. Shaun wanted to stay, obviously, and it goes without saying that Driver wouldn’t leave you like this.”
That really would go without saying, but I’m glad to hear it nonetheless.
Driver has come a long way since we met, and from the very start I knew that her personal history had instilled a “no man left behind” ethos that nothing could challenge.
Sure, she has a higher guard than anyone I’ve ever known, but once you’re inside the walls she’s built, you are in. She’s shown that time and again in the highest-stakes and highest-risk situations we’ve ever been in, from the bottom of the ocean to surface of the Moon. That’s Driver for you.
Hell, she would try to wrestle my skull from the tiger’s jaw before she ran away to save herself.
“Chester stayed, too,” Major says.
That one I’m less enthused about. I remember now that Major did already mention him when I first woke up, during my haziest moments.
Sure, Chester ended up making himself useful in our mad scramble to save the Vita from the explosive sabotage plan that cost me my hand, but I have a hard time understanding why Major expects me to trust the guy.
After all, for all he explained that he had been used as a pawn, Chester’s lies were the reason I came to the Vita. He’s a fast-talking PR man and he tricked me into bringing my family here. Sure, I believe that he didn’t know why his paymasters wanted me here, because they left him in harm’s way, too. But he still lied and earned his spot as the first and only guy I’ve ever punched in my adult life.
“What’s done is done,” Major says, reading my face. “You and I had our issues back in the day, and look at us now. I wouldn’t necessarily trust Chester in every situation, but he’s in this with us, Ray. He has a family on Earth that he wants to protect, too, and I happen to think he could be very useful. When someone is as skilled in persuasion as Chester is, sometimes it’s good to have them on your side. These are delicate issues we’re dealing with and they could cause chaos on Earth if we don’t manage the message. I think we’d all agree that Shaun is the smartest guy we have, but Chester has a different level of social intelligence that can be harnessed for good. Driver has certainly taken to him, too.”
