Forging Zero
Authors: Sara King
Copyright
© 2013 Sara King
All
Rights Reserved
No
part of this work may be photocopied, scanned, or otherwise reproduced without
express written consent (begging) of the author. For permissions and other
requests, email Sara King at [email protected].
(Don’t
worry, she’s really cool.)
Published
by
Parasite
Publications
Cover
Photography by
NASA
and STSci
and
the
Hubble
Telescope
Disclaimer
(a.k.a.
If You Don’t Realize This Is A Work Of Fiction, Please Go Find Something Else
To Do)
So
you’re about to read about a kid getting abducted by aliens and life on other
planets. In case you’re still confused, yes, this book is a complete work of
fiction. Nobody contained within these pages actually exists. If there are
any similarities between the people or places of
The Legend of ZERO
and
the people or places of Good Ol’ Planet Earth, you’ve just gotta trust me.
It’s not real, people. Really. Yet.
Books in The Legend of ZERO Series:
Listed
in Chronological Order
(because
nothing else really makes sense):
Forging Zero
Zero Recall
Zero’s Return
Zero’s Legacy
Forgotten
Dedication
These are the people most responsible for The Legend of
ZERO:
Tom Brion.
My first exposure to storytelling.
Fortunately for me, I learned from the very best.
Chancey King.
His gift for brainstorming was instrumental in creating
so many aspects of this world, and his genius is surpassed only by his
humility. Thanks, bro.
David Mackey.
Awesome covers, man.
Logan Brutsche.
The devious mastermind behind Forgotten.
Kyle Brutsche.
It all started with his homework assignment.
Stephen Buchanan.
If ‘moral support’ were a job description, he’d have the
Ph.D.
Sarah Liu.
My supremely talented editor on these books.
She has the eyes of an Ueshi and the brain of a Geuji.
(Well. At least a small Geuji.)
Patricia Brion.
She taught me to read. That kinda trumps it all.
Author’s Note
Forging Zero is the darkest book I’ve ever written. Not
by desire, but by necessity. Because, at the heart of every great epic, there
is something awful happening, something that demands change.
Forging Zero tells that story.
The Parasite Publications Glossary
(Because Somebody’s Gotta Tell You This Stuff!)
Character
author
– That rare beast who lets his or her characters tell the story.
(And often run completely wild.)
Character
fiction
– Stories that center around the characters; their thoughts, their
emotions, their actions, and their goals.
Character
sci-fi
– Stories about the future that focus on the characters, rather than
explaining every new theory and technology with the (silly) assumption that we,
as present-day 21
st
centurians, know enough to analyze and predict
the far future with any accuracy whatsoever. I.e. character sci-fi is fun and
entertaining, not your next college Physics textbook.
Parasite
– The Everyday Joe (or Jane) who
enjoys crawling inside a character’s head while reading a book; i.e. someone
who enjoys character fiction.
Furg
– Anyone who believes the best fiction
makes your eyes glaze over. (Unless, of course, the glazing happens because
you stayed up all night reading it and you can't keep your eyes open the next
day. Then you’re a parasite, not a furg.) ;)
Chapter 1
– An Alien Mistake
Chapter 2
– Little Harry Simpson
Chapter 3
– The Origin of Zero
Chapter 4
– Joe’s Groundteam
Chapter 5
– Early Balding
Chapter 6
– Bullies
Chapter 7
– An Unexpected Gift
Chapter 8
– Kihgl’s Prophecy
Chapter 9
– Kophat
Chapter 10
– Kihgl’s Choice
Chapter 11
– The Tribunal’s Visit
Chapter 12
– Representative Na’leen
Chapter 13
– Trained to Kill
Chapter 14
– Gracious Lord Knaaren
Chapter 15
– Called Out
Chapter 16
– Storytime
Chapter 17
– Kihgl’s Fall
Chapter 18
– Christmas Songs
Chapter 19
– A Battlemaster’s Folly
Chapter 20
– Yuil
Chapter 21
– Sleeves
Chapter 22
– Capture the Flag
Chapter 23
– Second Battalion
Chapter 24
– Contraband
Chapter 25
– Getting Ready for War
Chapter 26
– The Punishment for Failure
Chapter 27
– The Trouble With Takki
Chapter 28
– Finding the Flag
Chapter 29
– Night Terrors
Chapter 30
– Elf’s Release
Chapter 31
– Mourning the Dead
Chapter 32
– Ka-par
Chapter 33
– New Rules
Chapter 34
– Visions of Trith
Chapter 35
– It’s in the Blood
Chapter 36
– War with the Huouyt
Chapter 37
– Into The Lion’s Den
Chapter 38
– Loyal to the End
Chapter 39
– The Tug of Fate
Chapter 40
– Loyalties
Chapter 41
– The Congie
Glossary –
Dhasha Terms
Glossary –
Huouyt Terms
Glossary –
Ooreiki Terms
Glossary –
Universal Terms
Glossary –
Species
Glossary –
Measurements
Glossary –
Ranks
CHAPTER 1
:
An Alien Mistake
Joe Dobbs
was fourteen when Congress discovered Earth.
The day
they set their ships down in Washington, Joe found it hard to move from the
TV. His whole family, from his little brother Sam to his great-aunt Lucy…even
his dad’s old Marine buddies who came over for beer on Fridays…all of them huddled
together in his parents’ living room, attention locked on the broadcasts from
all over the world. Outside Joe’s house, there was relative silence. Nobody
was driving. Nobody was playing football or going to the zoo or having picnics
in the San Diego sun. Everybody was inside their homes, watching the invasion.
Joe’s dad had gotten a huge TV for Christmas, so his house had twelve bodies
packed in the room like sardines, filling all the empty space, breathing and
re-breathing the same stuffy air, leaning forward in their chairs and sofas in
silence, watching the live feeds from the frantic mass of reporters surrounding
the capital with the total, rapt attention of the condemned.
Pundits
took over the news channels, talking nonstop, twenty-four hours a day, debating
the endless pictures of aliens, alien ships, and alien weaponry. They said
that their squat, tentacled forms were semi-aquatic, and the flipping gills
that fluttered in the sides of their head were an evolutionary throwback, like an
appendix in humans. Sudah, they were called. Humanity knew that because a
reporter’s autistic kid was killed for touching them during a press conference,
and the live alien tirade that followed included the word ‘sudah’ about three
hundred times as the alien screamed at the bleeding, dismantled corpse of the
kid, his parent, and two otherwise innocent bystanders.
Sam,
however, disagreed. As usual.
“That’s
stupid,” Sam snorted loudly, once when it was just him and Joe in the room and
they were listening to yet another lecture about the cultural importance of
‘sudah.’ “It’s not an evolutionary throwback. It’s obvious they’re using them
to breathe. That means they came from a planet with something in the air.
They’re
filters
. They keep stuff
out
. They just don’t like
someone touching them there ‘cause it’s like putting your hand over someone’s
mouth and nose. Cutting off your air, you know?”
All the
adults had left to discuss whether it was safe enough to attempt driving out to
Uncle Davvie’s place for some meats and vegetables—which had quintupled in
price since the aliens had landed—leaving just Joe and his ten-year-old brother
Sam to watch the aliens in the living room.
With
just Joe in the room, Sam didn’t have to pretend to be ‘kiddy’ for the adults.
The skinny turd actually liked showing off to Joe. He got out a pencil and
walked up to the screen like an indignant college professor. “See that?” Sam
asked, slapping the pencil to the picture of a tentacled creature’s thick, ropy
arm. “So what if they’re boneless? That right there is built like a
snake
.
There’s no aquadynamics. It’s meant for swinging through trees. Like an
orangutan. They’re land-dwellers.”
“Just
shut up, Sam,” Joe muttered. He tried to peer around his brother.
Sam,
however, had other ideas. He turned to face the TV. “And they’re
not
a
hundred fifty pounds,” he snorted, speaking directly to the bald, sweating
Talking Head on the other end of the live news feed who was lecturing them on
body size. He crossed his arms over his chest and sneered, as if the very idea
was ridiculous. “They’re
denser
than us, you dipshit. Look at the way
it hit that car—” there was a famous video of a kamikaze attack by a drunken
motorist on one of the aliens…which had resulted in a crumpled car, a dead
motorist, and a very pissed off alien, “—it was obviously at least four or five
hundred pounds. Just the impact
alone
should’ve told you that.”
“Shut
up
,
Sam,” Joe muttered, irritated. “Get out from in front of the TV. I can’t see
through your scrawny ass.”
Sam
rolled his eyes and turned to face him, but remained firmly planted in front of
the television. “Not like you’re gonna learn anything new. They’ve been
saying the same stuff for the last three days.”
“
Now
!”
Joe snapped. “Go find a coloring book or something.”
Sam
sighed deeply and went to check on the adults.
Joe
watched him go, scowling. He hated the way his younger brother seemed so cocky
about the whole affair; like he had everything completely under control.
Or, at
least, Dad did.
Must
be nice to be a kid,
Joe thought, returning his
attention to the aliens. Something about them seemed…familiar, and it was
giving him a nagging sense of dread that he just couldn’t shake. Almost like he’d
had a bad dream like this a very long time ago and it was starting to unfold
before his eyes.