Down below beyond, p.1
Down Below Beyond, page 1
First published by Feathersong, LLC, 2023
Copyright © 2023 by Thomas Bruno. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters, and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or localities is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Lance Buckley
Interior artwork by T. A. Bruno
First edition: July 31st, 2023
Table of Contents
OTHER BOOKS BY T. A. BRUNO
AUTHOR’S NOTE
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-FOUR
THIRTY-FIVE
THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SEVEN
THIRTY-EIGHT
THIRTY-NINE
FORTY
FORTY-ONE
FORTY-TWO
FORTY-THREE
FORTY-FOUR
FORTY-FIVE
FORTY-SIX
FORTY-SEVEN
FORTY-EIGHT
FORTY-NINE
FIFTY
FIFTY-ONE
FIFTY-TWO
FIFTY-THREE
FIFTY-FOUR
SIDE CAST
ALIEN RACES
PLANETS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
OTHER BOOKS BY T. A. BRUNO
The Song of Kamaria Trilogy:
In the Orbit of Sirens
On the Winds of Quasars
At the Threshold of the Universe
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Down Below Beyond is a standalone novel. It shares some elements with the Song of Kamaria Trilogy, but readers are not required to have any knowledge of those novels to understand this one. For reference, there is a spoiler-free glossary containing information about alien races, planets, and the main characters in the back of the book.
Prepare to sail out into the wild, vast void.
—T.A.
For those who create curiosity.
ONE
“Pretty sure we just walked in a circle,” Bayfo Niall grunted. Sweat coated his blond hair, and his ivory-white enforcer suit weighed him down as he trudged along. “How long are we gonna wander around?”
Levort Aatra huffed. “We’re coming up on something big. I can feel it.” He checked the datapad infused within the sleeve of his prospecting cloak. Strands of his long, ebony hair dangled in front of his bearded face. His gear jingled and clattered, and his HAMMER model salvager hung loosely in its sling on his lower back.
“I’m not in the mood for hunches, Lev. Have you found something or not?” Bayfo asked as he slumped down onto a low stone fence wall. His enforcer gear landed with him with a resounding thunk.
The world of Tayoxe had once been a thriving planet, inhabited by a highly technological race of beings that had already vanished before the Fessenog Fleet bought it and turned it into a prospector playground. Tall towers of mostly stripped buildings loomed over piles of scrap metal ripped apart, misunderstood things that could be traded for hapron credits. The Fleet paid handsomely for unique trinkets found on Tayoxe’s surface, but valuable salvage was becoming rarer every day. To find even enough to make the effort worthwhile was becoming an impossible task. The planet was mostly stripped down to its rotting bones, leaving the scavengers from above starving for a meal.
Bayfo pushed a gauntleted hand through his hair. “You’re not gonna suddenly die if I take a little rest, right?”
Levort looked over his shoulder at Bayfo and smiled. “A thousand things can go terribly wrong.”
“So don’t do any of those things,” Bayfo huffed.
“You’re no fun.”
“Not my job to be fun.” Bayfo waved a lazy hand at Levort and said, “Go do your thing. Just come back when you’re done. Shuttles are leaving in forty.”
“Forty?” Levort asked. “I thought we had more time.”
Bayfo jerked his head toward the horizon. Beyond the vast wastes of ruins and stripped metal was a deep dark cloud that choked out the setting sun. Tayoxe often had acid rain showers throughout this part of the cycle, but the brewing storm looked extra vicious. It swirled with green lightning and void-dark clouds. The air underneath was a vast curtain of brownish-green haze, as rust and pollution coughed from the surface with every acidic raindrop. It burned Tayoxe with its anger.
“Drit!” Levort cursed and hustled up the ruined street toward a cluster of collapsed buildings.
Bayfo called after him, “If anyone asks, I was with you the whole time!”
Levort continued up the street for a few more blocks until he was surrounded by tilted behemoths, once used to house Tayoxans. Buildings that had collapsed in some sort of seismic event. No one knew the answers to the questions Tayoxe posed. It was a ghost world, and its secrets were held tightly.
The tingle raced up Levort’s spine. It tickled the back of his neck and tugged him toward an alleyway. Compelled, he allowed it to guide him. Prospectors were highly intuitive people, much like gamblers—often, they were both. Feelings, hunches, gut instincts, trick knees, trick anything would be considered a prospecting sense. Science dictated it was all in their heads, but prospectors would never believe it was dumb luck anytime they struck a big score. It was the skill of reading their senses.
The tingle pulled Levort down the alley. He scrambled over debris through a hole in a wall until he was inside a tower that had two other buildings collapsed on top of it. Levort slapped the sleeve of his jacket, and the fabric glowed with a bright blue ambiance, faintly illuminating the dark place enough to see. For more directed light, Levort reached for his salvager.
The salvager was a two-handed tool; one hand gripped a handle like a rifle, and the other gripped a throttle on the top. It was an all-in-one kit for a prospector. Levort had saved up enough hapron to get a HAMMER model, which was capable of more intense carving than the standard Srengor models. The HAMMER’s long barrel could do many things with projected ultra-heated plasma. Levort could cut through anything—scrap metal, the side of a building—or even mine raw minerals with it. It was worth the missed meals it cost him.
In the dim azure light rested a spaceship covered in the rubble of multiple centuries in the ravaged city. Its design was unfamiliar, almost insectoid, like the flatland hoppers he had seen in vid-docs. It had a green incandescence on its hull, and although it had been trapped in this tomb, it looked brand new.
“Where did you come from?” Levort whispered to the mysterious ship.
Perhaps it came from outside Lodespace. Thousands of worlds were linked by the Voyalten Portal Web, but only hundreds were considered part of the Fessenog Fleet’s trade empire, locally known as Lodespace. Levort’s experience was restricted to Tayoxe, and he had many blind spots in his knowledge.
To leave the confines of Tayoxe, Levort would need an S-Class license. With an S-Class license, Levort could prospect on worlds all over Lodespace. His blind spots would become his new adventures beyond the small husk he mined tirelessly. Levort’s mouth salivated at the sight of the ship—at the idea of the score he was about to crack open. His tingle morphed into an electric shock of cold bumps all over his skin.
Levort activated the plasma saw on the end of his salvager and plunged it into the ship’s hull. With practiced movement, he carved a circle wide enough to move through but small enough so he could weld it back together for a more significant profit. Shifting the throttle on the top of the salvager and pulling the trigger on the grip created a burst of energy that punched the circular-cut hull away, making an entry point. He stepped through.
The inside of the ship was just as unusual as the outside. It was pristine, with curved edges at every angle and a soft reflection on every surface. Besides the mess Levort had made walking in, the place still looked fully operational. Lights dotted various machinery of mysterious purposes, and canisters lined the walls. An odd language was scrawled on some of the surfaces. Usually, Levort’s fluency node in his jacket would have translated the text for him as he looked at it, but nothing came. Maybe it’s art?
The time on Lev’s datapad sleeve said he only had minutes to spare. He wouldn’t be able to salvage the whole ship in that time. Still, with Bayfo present, he could lay a claim and return to haul the rest next time. It cost more to do so. The Fleet charged a fee to protect a claim that roughed out
A small hazy light emitted from a console nearby. It had not been on when Levort walked in. He was unsure if it was some long-dead security module that had activated in his presence. Colored lights that changed hue grew as Levort approached the console. More of the obscure lettering appeared within the lights. They shifted and curled within themselves like writhing creatures. He tapped his finger against the console, and there was no reaction. Determining the console wasn’t somehow dangerous, Lev inspected it further and found a latch. He pressed his thumb against the small latch and worked it upward. The console spat out a small palm-sized device, and Levort caught it.
It was curved on top and flat on the bottom. A dot of light hovered above the top surface, and as Levort waved it around, the dot moved toward him. It reminded him of an electronic compass. But this didn’t seem to be pointing toward Tayoxe’s magnetic North.
Bayfo’s voice crackled through Levort’s communication channel. “Time’s up. Gotta get moving unless you want an acid bath.”
“On my way out. Staking a claim.” Levort said, pocketing the strange, curved device.
“Wait, you actually found something?” Bayfo asked with excitement in his voice.
“Starting to think you’re my bad luck charm, Bayfo.” Levort laughed, his uncontained smile pulling his face apart.
“I’ll leave you alone more often if it makes us rich.” Bayfo accepted the dig with a practiced sincerity obtained from cycles of friendship. “I’m coming by. Ping me your position.”
Levort tapped at his datapad sleeve, sending Bayfo the data he requested. He exited through the hole he’d cut in the ship’s hull and dropped back into the ruined building. He made his way back to the street, but stopped when he noticed a shadow in the ambient glow ahead. “You got here quick. See what I—” Levort squinted and realized the shadow wasn’t Bayfo. It was too large and didn’t have the distinct silhouette of the enforcer suit.
Bayfo’s voice crackled over the comm, “Man, didn’t I tell you to stay close? You wandered halfway across Tayoxe!”
The shadow before Levort was quiet, proving his fears correct. After a moment of stillness, the shadow spoke with a deep raspy voice, “You better get gone. Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of that ship for you.”
Lev had never been accosted by a fellow prospector before but had heard of the cheaters who had stolen claims. Sometimes they shirked their enforcer escorts and spent time on Tayoxe between shuttles, cutting a deal with their guard to sign them in and out. This prospector must have come into the alley looking for shelter from the incoming storm and stumbled on the same find Levort had.
“Time’s wasting.” The cheating prospector hissed the words.
Levort reached for an emergency button on his cloak, and the cheater lifted a smitegun. The large handheld blaster looked like a toy in the cheater’s monster-sized fist. The huge prospector stepped closer to Levort and revealed himself in Levort’s cloak light.
The cheater wasn’t human, which wasn’t a surprise to Levort—humans were rare in Lodespace. Tufts of hair peeked out between plates of crustacean exoskeleton. His mouth clicked as he talked, salivating bubbles as he anticipated a fight. He wore a dingy cloak like Levort’s, but clearly tattered from extended stays on Tayoxe. This was a Dintuppan, one of the many alien races in Lodespace.
“Where’s your enforcer?” Levort asked, his hand hanging over the emergency button on his cloak. The Dintuppan didn’t respond, and he got close enough to Levort to push the smitegun against his chest.
“Going to be hard to miss from this—” The Dintuppan was interrupted as scuffling came from the rubble near the corner on the right. Another shadow moved from behind some debris and up to a hole in the ceiling. Levort had assumed it was a friend of the cheater, but the surprise on his crustacean face said otherwise. The shadow vanished into the hole in the ceiling corner.
Levort was smaller but quicker than the Dintuppan. He swung his salvager with one hand, using the broad side of it like a club. It struck the Dintuppan in the head, and his smitegun fired into the ground near Levort’s foot. Levort’s other hand jabbed the emergency button on his cloak. A bright red light pulsed through his clothing, creating a confusing strobe effect in the dimly lit place. This setting on his cloak also immediately informed Bayfo that he was in danger.
Blinded by the light, the Dintuppan swung his burly arms wildly, catching Levort in the shoulder and throwing him sideways toward the entrance. The air was knocked out of his lungs, and his vision blurred.
“You konndan drit!” the cheating Dintuppan cursed, shooting in Levort’s direction with his smitegun. Levort rolled to the side just quickly enough to avoid being hit. The Dintuppan rushed toward Levort to get a better shot. His stalked eyes were no good in the strobing red light. Levort throttled the top of his salvager and pulled the trigger. As the cheater approached, a blast of hot plasma punched the Dintuppan back so hard he hit the opposite wall of the building’s interior. Debris loosened and fell on top of the Dintuppan.
Levort scrambled to his feet and moved toward the cheating prospector, unsure if he had killed the Dintuppan. With a burst of stone and rubble, the Dintuppan launched at Levort and bashed him into the ground. Levort was pinned by the Dintuppan’s immense weight and could only watch as he raised his fists, preparing to smash down on Levort’s head.
A white-hot bolt of lightning exploded into the room and struck the Dintuppan. The electricity shocked both the cheating prospector and Levort. Pain flushed through Levort’s veins, bouncing around his skeleton. The Dintuppan slumped to the side, freeing Levort, but both were too stunned to do anything except seize up.
Bayfo Niall entered the room, his white suit shining with bright light. He put his foot on the Dintuppan’s chest and trained his enforcer rifle on his crustacean head. Bayfo looked from the Dintuppan to Levort and asked, “You good? Sorry you got a piece of that stun too.” He lifted Levort onto his feet.
“Thanks,” Levort coughed.
“Bad luck charm, my ass.” Bayfo pulled a detainer from the sleeve on his thigh and pushed it onto the Dintuppan’s chest. It wrapped itself around the cheating prospector, inflated into a balloon, and then levitated off the ground. “Come on, we’re late now. Put your hood up and hope we get back before the storm overtakes us.”
“Don’t forget. Claim.” Levort struggled to speak, still half stunned.
“Sure. Move,” Bayfo said. With a few clicks of his gauntlet, the position was registered with the Fessenog Fleet as rightfully Levort Aatra’s claim.
They had no time to waste. Levort and Bayfo worked their way back to the street and down the hill toward the prospecting outpost. Bayfo pulled the cheating prospector along like a child holding a balloon while Levort nursed the pain in his shoulder. His teeth felt weird after the stun, and his tongue searched his mouth. They approached the prospector’s outpost as it began to drizzle acid from the sky. The shuttle had already gone through its preflight check.
The shuttlemaster, a Kurikoid, rolled her bulbous eyes at Bayfo. “What-what is that? You-you can’t bring that here. No-no room!” she croaked, pointing at the ballooned Dintuppan under arrest.
“This one’s out past curfew. His enforcer escort isn’t here. We should bring him back to see who’s long-terming,” Bayfo shouted over the shuttle’s roaring engines.
The Kurikoid shuttlemaster shook her horned amphibian head. “No-no room, I said!”
“Stick him in baggage, then. I don’t care!” Bayfo shouted, handing the balloon to the shuttlemaster. She reflexively grabbed it and tried to protest as Bayfo passed by her. It was her problem now. Levort quietly apologized as he moved past the Kurikoid.
Levort entered the shuttle behind Bayfo and took a seat next to him. The window on the opposite wall gave them a full panoramic view. The shuttle lifted off, and Tayoxe dropped away. There was some chop as they pushed through the acid storm clouds and rushed into orbit.
