Extinction Point: Kings (Extinction Point Series (5 book series)) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Also by Paul Antony Jones

  Legal Disclaimer

  Dedication

  Extinction Point

  SVALBARD ISLANDS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  HOME

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  STAR CHILD

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  EPILOGUE

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by PAUL ANTONY JONES

  Published by 47North

  THE EXTINCTION POINT SERIES

  Extinction Point

  Extinction Point: Exodus

  Extinction Point: Revelations

  Extinction Point: Genesis

  Toward Yesterday

  Published by Good Dog Publishing

  Ancient Enemies (Dachau Sunset - short story)

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, dialog, and incidents are works of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  © 2017 by Paul Antony Jones. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author.

  Cover design by Lance MacCarty

  (www. LanceMacCarty.com)

  Published by Good Dog Publishing

  For Wolf, the inspiration behind Thor

  And for Bear

  SVALBARD ISLANDS

  CHAPTER 1

  Emily Baxter, her head bent to avoid a flurry of snow carried by the teeth of an icy wind, stepped through the open hatch of the Caretaker machine and out into what could only be described as desolation. A thin layer of snow had already begun to settle over the ramp leading to the ground, deep enough to leave footprints behind as she made her way ever-so-carefully down to the frost-hardened tundra. If it had not been for the heavy fur-lined parka, she would already be on the way to freezing to death. Rhiannon, dressed in a similar coat, followed behind Emily, one hand resting on her friend's right shoulder, as Emily guided her down the ramp.

  Thor, on the other hand, seemed quite at ease. The big malamute trotted alongside Emily as though it was a summer day and they were out for a leisurely stroll in the park, instead of standing on permafrost while a razor-sharp subzero wind sliced at the exposed skin of their faces.

  "Careful," Emily warned, "it's slippery."

  "Oh. My. God," said Rhiannon, with an exaggerated shiver, "Are we back in Alaska?" Her eyes stared sightlessly ahead of her, unblinking."

  Emily smiled grimly. She knew full well that Rhiannon understood exactly where they were. "Welcome to sunny Svalbard Island," Emily said, "where even the polar bears wear thermal underwear. Assuming there are any polar bears left, of course."

  Rhiannon's giggle was short-lived. "Do you see him?" she asked, her tone turning serious, her head pivoting left then right as though she weren’t blind.

  Emily raised her hand above her eyes to shade the glare bouncing off the sheets of white stretching away in all directions. She scanned the landscape. A mountain range, craggy and gray, lay directly to the east of them. To the west, the frigid waters of the Greenland Sea, and about a kilometer or so from where they stood was what looked like a small town.

  "I don't see—" Emily paused as movement to the south caught her eyes. The glare bouncing off the snow was a little disorienting but..."There's something. It could be them."

  A group of four vehicles, snowcats similar to the one she and Rhiannon had used to drive across Alaska to the Stockton Islands, pulled sharply to a stop, a flurry of snow bursting from beneath their tracks. There was a momentary pause, then the door of one of the snowcats flew open, and several figures covered in white from head to toe jumped out and sprinted for cover. Soldiers, from the way they unerringly took up their positions, Emily guessed. She could not remember if Mac and his team had packed snow camouflage when they had set out on the submarine HMS Vengeance to find the seed bank here on Svalbard, but she was sure they would not be reacting this way if they saw her. Well, she thought, pretty sure. Then again, the Machine probably looked a little off-putting. Still, chances were these soldiers watching her from behind rocks and snowbanks were new survivors rather than Mac and his crew, which meant they might very well shoot first and ask questions later. Like dead last; literally.

  Emily was about to back into the Caretaker vehicle when another figure, dressed in similar white camouflage, jumped from the lead snowcat, paused for a moment then ran forward, hands raised above his head. He was yelling something at another one of the men dressed all in white, but the wind and distance smothered his words. Still, there was no mistaking the stocky build and shock of red hair; it had to be her husband, Mac.

  "I see him," Emily replied to Rhiannon's question, unable to keep a smile from her face, "And apparently, he's made some new acquaintances."

  Emily felt Rhiannon's hand squeeze her shoulder tightly.

  "Not sure if they're friendly or not, so maybe you should just stay...well, okay."

  Mac had started walking toward where Emily waited on the ramp of the Machine, his hands still high up in the air as if he were surrendering to her. Even over the wind and the crash of waves hitting the shore, Emily could hear the tall man in white yelling, at Mac she presumed, in heavily accented English to stop. Mac ignored him and just kept walking toward her. If they shoot him he doesn't stand a chance, Emily thought anxiously. And if they did shoot him she would make them pay in ways they could not dream of.

  The Machine was more than capable of destroying everything and everyone on this island if she instructed Rhiannon to make it happen. Adam, Emily and Mac's son and the first child born since the red rain had erased life on Earth as humanity had known it, had instructed the vehicle they had ridden in to bring them here to the island to find Mac. Just how Adam had known exactly where his father was, was not something Emily understood fully. But then there was still so much she didn't understand about Adam. Actually, scratch that, Emily thought, she knew next to nothing about the changes their son had gone through after the Caretakers had kidnapped him, if she was honest. Still, one thing was absolutely certain, Adam's abduction had set in motion a chain of events that had almost cost Emily her life, thanks to the machinations of Dr. Sylvia Valentine, that power-hungry bitch. But Adam had told her that their ride, the Machine as she and Rhiannon had named it, was more an animal than a mechanical device as humans thought of them. It had an intelligence that allowed it to make complicated decisions on its own, if it had to. So, if the Machine thought any of its riders were under threat, there was no telling how it would react.

  Mac stopped about ten meters from the bottom of the ramp, his hands were still raised but he slowly dropped them to his sides as his eyes moved first to Emily, then Rhiannon, then the hulking alien craft standing over them. No one said a word for a few long moments.

  Finally, Mac spoke, the tone of his voice half-hopeful, half-doubtful, "Emily?"

  Before Emily could answer, Thor leaped from the ramp and bounded through the snow. Mac staggered backward as the malamute jumped up and place
d his two front paws against Mac's chest.

  If that dog's tail moves any faster he's going to take off, Emily thought, unable to suppress her smile of joy.

  "Surprise!" said Rhiannon, and that was enough to demolish the thin wall of tension that Mac's uncertainty had erected.

  "Stay here," Emily said to Rhiannon, sliding the girl's hand from her shoulder. She slipped and slid down the ramp in three long steps, stumbling through the almost knee-deep snow to her husband. Pulling Thor away, she threw her arms around Mac's neck, hugging him so tight she thought she might snap him in two. Mac slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her just as tightly to him. They embraced like that for almost thirty seconds, entwined in each other's arms while the freezing wind pulled snow-devils from the ground that whisked past them like spirit ballet dancers. Finally, Emily stepped back. She kissed her husband gently on his chapped lips. "We have to get out of here, right now," she said.

  "Can't," said Mac, looking back over his shoulder, "The Norwegians have my men." He nodded in the direction of the four snowcats.

  "The whole crew?" asked Emily.

  "No, just the landing crew. The rest are back in the Vengeance. It's moored offshore a couple of clicks from here."

  "I can order the Machine to destroy them," Emily said, matter-of-factly.

  Mac looked askance, his eyes moving to the Machine. "Yeah, uh, about that, what the—"

  "I'll explain everything when I can," Emily said, interrupting him. "Right now, I need to know what you want me to do about the men...the Norwegians that were holding you captive."

  Mac thought about it, his eyes betraying the uncertainty he felt, flicking back and forth between Emily and the Caretaker machine. "As averse as I am to the use of force, under the circumstances, I think a show of power might help make them understand they really shouldn't bugger around with you."

  Emily nodded. "Give me a second." She turned and walked back up the ramp to where Rhiannon waited.

  "Try not to hurt anyone," Mac called after her.

  "Well? What's going on?" Rhiannon asked, attuned to the crunch of Emily's boots on the snow-covered ramp.

  "Mac's here but we have a little...problem that you're going to have to help us deal with."

  "What kind of problem?"

  "Nothing we can't handle. There are survivors here, Norwegians, Mac says. They've taken his crew captive. We need to show these people we're not messing around. Okay?"

  Rhiannon sighed, "Okay. What do you need me to do?"

  "Just follow us with the Machine. If things get out of hand..." Emily allowed her words to fall off. She knew Rhiannon would not hesitate to defend her and Mac, or his men, if she had to.

  Rhiannon extended her left arm. Emily placed it on her own shoulder. "Thor, come," she yelled, then led the girl and dog back inside the Machine. A minute later Emily emerged again, walked down the ramp and joined Mac. She turned to the Machine and said, "Follow me." Instantly the ramp began to roll up, merging seamlessly with the body.

  "Okay," said Emily, turning to smile at Mac. "Why don't you introduce me to your new friends?"

  "Why, I'd be delighted," Mac said in a poor impression of a snooty English accent. He offered Emily his arm, and together they began to trudge through the snow back to where the Norwegians watched from behind their snowcats. The second Emily and Mac began to walk away, the Machine started to move. It raised itself slowly to full height and began to follow behind the two humans like it was a well-trained hound, its multiple legs sending up clouds of snow with each footfall. Even over the whoosh of the gusting wind, Emily was pretty sure she heard the Norwegians' collective sharp intake of breath.

  They were about twenty meters away when Emily and Mac stopped, the Machine towering over them.

  "Let’s talk," Mac yelled at the Norwegian commander. The soldier had taken cover behind a large snow-encrusted boulder, his sidearm drawn and pointed at Mac and Emily.

  "We just want to talk," Emily shouted to the man.

  The commander's reply came back in heavily accented English, "You are on sovereign Norwegian territory. Please leave before we are forced to remove you."

  It took all of Emily's restraint not to guffaw out loud. "Are these guys kidding?" she whispered to Mac through the side of her mouth.

  Mac said nothing, instead he stepped forward two paces and yelled back. "Look, let’s just get real, soldier to soldier; if we wanted to take our men back, we would have told...Fido back there," he nodded in the direction of the alien machine "...to get my men. Now, I believe that you're a reasonable man who values the lives of his soldiers as much as I value those of mine. So, understand something: we are not the enemy. While I still have no idea why or how my wife showed up in a freaking alien spaceship, I do know that we need each other. That we can help each other." He paused for a second to let what he’d said sink in. "So," Mac continued, "why don't we just start from the beginning? Pretend none of this happened. What do you say?"

  The commander beckoned another soldier over to his position. The soldier handed him the microphone to a backpack-radio he carried. The commander spoke rapidly in his language, listened to the crackly reply, then handed the soldier back the microphone before standing and yelling something to the rest of his people. The Norwegian soldiers moved obediently to each of the snowcats, opened the vehicles' doors and ushered the captive Vengeance crew out.

  The Brits were lined up at gunpoint, and for one sickening moment Emily thought they had underestimated the commander's fondness for his own soldiers and that he would use the submarine's crew as a bargaining chip for her surrender. Instead, he indicated for the men to start walking toward Mac. Mac's crew hesitated, their eyes staring in Emily's direction—understandably, Emily thought, given the hulking behemoth that stood guard behind her.

  "All right you bloody Muppets," Mac yelled, "did you think you joined the air force? We work for a living, now move your bloody arses. Double quick." The Vengeance crew began to move, still a little reluctantly, toward Mac. "That's it. Welcome back. Form up behind me."

  "Sorry, Boss," said Richardson.

  "No shame," Mac told him, clapping the man on the back. "Not like any of us had much of a choice." He turned to face Emily. "Now what?"

  "Now we go make peace," she said, and started to walk toward the waiting Norwegians.

  •••

  The Norwegian commander stepped out from behind the back of a snowcat where he had taken cover. His pistol was holstered, Emily noticed. Well that was a good sign, at least. The man seemed as cool as a proverbial cucumber, his attention solely on her and Mac, apparently unperturbed by Emily's machine. His people, on the other hand, seemed distracted by its presence, their masked heads constantly moving to the Machine as it lumbered to a stop behind Emily, its tentacles undulating as though blown by the wind.

  "What are your intentions?" the commander asked.

  Straight to the point, Emily thought, "We come in peace," She said, using her best unassuming smile. "We mean you no harm."

  The commander fixed Emily with a stare, before his eyes finally moved up to the Caretaker craft behind her.

  "That thing, it is alien technology, I presume? So, it follows that you must be an alien, but you look human to me, as do your...associates." He nodded at Mac and the rest of the Vengeance crew. "So, tell me, what are you?"

  Emily smiled. "We're as human as you and your men. As for the Machine, well that's a long and rather complicated story, but I'd be more than happy to explain it to you and the rest of your group." She extended her hand to the officer. "My name is Emily Baxter and this is my husband, Mac. I'd like to explain everything, but I think it would be best if I did that in the presence of whomever your leaders are."

  The officer regarded Emily's proffered hand for a moment, then extended his own. "Major Petter Djupvik," he said in his heavily accented English. The man had a strong grip, but he didn't try to crush Emily's hand as a demonstration of his masculinity. Another good sign. He was confident
and open, which meant chances were he was willing to negotiate. "You'll need to come with me."

  "Okay," said Emily, "We'll follow you to the town."

  "No," said Major Djupvik firmly, "if you want to meet our people you will need to come in with us; you and Sergeant Mac. That is all. No other men. No...Machine."

  Emily looked at Mac for a moment, her eyebrows raised, silently communicating the question of whether or not they should comply.

  Mac nodded.

  "Oh-kay," said Emily, "we'll come with you. As a gesture of good faith."

  "Very good." The major turned and spoke to his people in rapid fashion. The Norwegian soldiers broke cover and made their way over to the snowcats. In the meantime, Mac had walked back to join his men.

  "Head to the landing area," Mac said. "If you don't hear from me within two hours, take the Zodiacs back to the Vengeance. Wait another two hours, and if you still haven't heard from me, go home."

  Emily didn't have the heart to tell him that the crew of the Vengeance might not be very welcome back in California, thanks in part to her and Rhiannon's escape, but she felt confident that it wasn't going to come down to the men having to leave her and Mac behind. Hopefully.

  "Sergeant Mac and you, Miss Emily, please join me," Major Djupvik held the door to his snowcat open.

  Emily and Mac climbed in.

  "This brings back memories," Emily said to Mac.

  Major Djupvik turned to look at them from the front passenger seat. "I'm sorry?"

  "Another long story," said Emily.

  The snowcat's engine rumbled to life, then the vehicle lurched forward as the twin tracks engaged. It quickly picked up speed as the driver directed it toward the town in the distance.

  CHAPTER 2

  The town was called Longyearbyen, according to a sign Emily spotted on the way in. Emily wasn't sure just how she had expected the place to look, considering they were on an island in the middle of a sea in one of the coldest parts of the world—maybe a few huts?—but it sure as hell wasn't like this. The snowcat rumbled along a main street with rows of houses on either side that wouldn't have looked out of place in New York state, or anywhere along the Upper East Coast. There were larger buildings, too; huge storage units, warehouses, an airport, a dock where she saw several big ships at anchor, and, amazingly, a university campus.