The Upsilon Effect was supposed to be a Science Fiction series that
would play throughout a few interesting periods in time: The era of the
It's a fun sci-fi story but it's not written pretty well, there are a
little too much dialogues and I wasn't really good at giving descriptions yet…
Just to warn you, it is an UNFINISHED story.
THE UPSILON EFFECT
By Agelshaxe
ACT ONE
THE FALLING STAR
AD - 63
Chapter One
The sky was clear tonight. It was a big
surprise after all the rainfalls and storms there had been recently over
"Aittrin!" A voice called out from inside the
building. The young man quickly re-entered the house from his balcony and ran
down the stairs to the ground floor where his master was sitting near the
fireplace.
"Master? What is it?" Aittrin asked, breathlessly.
"What
have you been doing?" The master
asked in his guttural, raspy voice. The master was wise and considered one of
the greatest minds of the Empire, but he was beginning to fade away.
"I’m
trying to recognize the constellations." Aittrin said, and then he sighed.
"I still need much study."
"We'll
look back into them tomorrow, all right?" The master went into a coughing
fit for fifteen seconds and then let out a breath. "I think I'll go to
bed, now."
The
master stood up and Aittrin rushed to his side to help him, but he pushed the
young man away: "Stop it...I can still walk by myself."
Aittrin
nodded: "I shall return home, now. I shall see you tomorrow."
After
locking the door to the master's home, Aittrin walked down the street towards
his own house. He had inherited it from his father and mother after their
death; he lived there alone with his servant.
He collapsed onto his bed as soon as he got
home. His servant, known as Gallan, walked into the room: "Aittrin?"
"Yeah...I'm
home." Aittrin had never liked being called master. After needing to say
the word hundreds of time a day he got a little sick when Gallan called him
similarly.
"Are
you hungry?" Gallan asked.
Aittrin
shook his head: "No thanks. But I'd love to have a large breakfast in the
morning."
"All right." Gallan nodded. "Are you going to
Deretin's home tomorrow?"
Deretin
was the master. "Yeah. I need to learn the names
of the constellations. It'll take a lot of intellectual serenity so I think
I'll sleep now."
"Okay...good
ni..." Gallan was interrupted by another voice
coming from behind the entrance door:
"Aittrin! Are you there?!"
Aittrin
let out a long sigh: "Oh, joy."
"Aittrin! I know you're there! Let me in!"
He
stood up and began walking towards the door, he opened
it and tried to smile: "Hello, Tempra."
The
young woman looked up at him: "What took you so long?"
"I
was looking forward to a great night of sleep and tranquillity." He said.
"But I guess that isn't possible anymore. Correct?"
She
grinned then barged into his living room, dropping scrolls on his table.
"Tonight
there'll be shooting stars!" She said. "They're going to start any
minute now, why don't you come with me?"
Aittrin
yawned.
She
raised an eyebrow: "Aittrin? Shooting stars?"
He
sighed, then raised his hands up in defeat: "All right…Let's
go…But we won't stay there too late, okay?"
She
smiled: "Of course!"
He
frowned: "You said that last time."
She
rolled her eyes: "You have to admit it really was great to stay out so
long."
They
began walking towards the door, before closing it, Aittrin told Gallan:
"So much for my intellectual serenity."
On
the grassy hill, the two of them sat and watched the sky.
"So..."
Aittrin broke the silence, slightly sarcastically he said: "Where are the
dozens of beautiful shooting stars that always come at this time of year."
Tempra
almost didn't notice his tone, she answered: "They're coming...just
wait."
He
sighed and dropped onto his back: "Wake me up if something happens."
A
few minutes later, she jumped: "Aittrin!" She jolted him and he sat
up.
"Wha...?" He asked.
She
pointed into the sky, a streak of light had just
disappeared.
"Wow..."
Aittrin nodded. "So...that's all?"
"Wait..."
She put a finger up in the air and continued studying the sky, after a few
seconds she dropped her arm and said: "Uuuuh…Well…I
guess that was just the beginning. The rest will be coming soon."
Aittrin
waited a few seconds, then, nodded: "Okay, we'll wait a few more
minutes."
Ten
minutes later, he felt his eyelids being pressed down by the weight of sleep.
He struggled to keep them open, but ultimately failed. Suddenly, he was shoved
by Tempra who pointed at another point in the sky: "Aittrin! Look!"
He
expected to see a disappearing streak of light. But was
surprised when he saw a long streak of flame descending from the sky.
"What
in the name of..."
There
was a brilliant flash of light and a loud noise, the streak
became ten times larger than the average shooting star. It began falling faster
and faster towards the earth.
"It's
the rage of the gods!" Tempra shouted, she began to escape but Aittrin
grabbed her firmly by the arm, his eyes fixed on the ball of flame, as if
mesmerized.
"Aittrin!" Tempra tried to escape his grasp.
"Can't you see the gods are punishing us! We must
leave!"
"If that is the wrath of the gods. Then there
won't be anywhere to run, so stay here." He said. She pondered a moment,
then nodded and stayed.
The
flame began becoming larger and larger, soon it almost
matched the size of the moon. The larger part of the flaming streak was dark
and long, pieces of it were falling off and vaporized. It approached the ground
with augmenting speed and suddenly, struck a hill a few hundred meters away.
There was a thundering noise and it was as if the whole upper section of the
hill vaporized on impact, dirt and rock were thrown into the sky and fell back
upon the ground. The hill had lost at least fifteen meters of thickness. Then,
a wave of energy expanded from the hill, and threw Aittrin and Tempra down to
the ground when it hit them, it was as powerful as a hurricane and they
couldn't resist. When the rose, some parts of what was left of the hill were
burning, and the smoke bellowing from the inferno was black and rose up into
the sky, hiding the constellations.
"Aittrin..."
Tempra said, her voice betraying fear. "Can we go?"
He
shook his head: "Let's go check that out."
"What?!" Her eyes went wide. "But..."
"No
buts...That is not the wrath of the gods, and we are going to
find out what that is." Aittrin said firmly.
She
shook her head vigorously: "No! I won't I'm too scared...Death will come
upon us! I'm leaving."
She
escaped his grasp and began running back towards the city. Aittrin shook his
head, exasperated, and began walking towards the inferno that had once been a
hill.
It was hot, but it was tolerable. The
flames posed no threat to Aittrin as he walked up the hill that had been green a
few minutes ago, now it was black like coal and didn't smell like fresh grass
but more like the ashes left after a fire.
Atop
the hill was the largest fire, the smoke was essentially coming from here.
Aittrin pulled a silk tissue from his pocket and placed it over his mouth and
nose, it would allow him to breathe almost normally. He advanced into the
smoke, moving between the flames that were giving out more and more heat. Beads
of sweat began forming on his forehead and he felt the back of his shirt beginning
to stick to his skin.
Suddenly,
he put his right foot forward, obviously thinking the top of the hill continued
flat. It didn't, and his foot came upon nothingness. He couldn't help tumbling
forward and sliding down the sides of the cavity that had been formed by the
explosion. He reached the bottom a few seconds later; he stood up with a groan.
His white shirt was now covered in ash and dirt and he had lost the tissue that
he had been using to breathe. He dusted himself and looked around the crater.
The sides were rugged enough to allow climbing so he would have no difficulties
reaching the top of the hill again, it was the centre of this cavity that
worried him the most. In the centre, there was a mass of what seemed like
metal, but it looked more like frozen water. He approached it carefully, and
the heat continued to rise. When he was two meters away from the object, it was
so hot that his eyes began to feel like they were contracting. He rubbed them
and took another step towards the object, now he was close enough to touch it,
but he wanted to take his precautions. He pulled off his shirt, leaving his
chest bare -- which suited him since it was so hot -and threw it onto the
strange object.
The
white shirt immediately caught fire and literally vaporized in less than five
seconds. Aittrin took a deep breath, which was difficult with all the ash
floating about, and began walking away from the object. He would go get help
and new clothes, meanwhile the object would hopefully cool down enough for him to
move it.
He
climbed back up the sides of the crater and began running back towards the
city, unaware that someone was watching him and was now approaching the object
as well...
"Gallan! Gallan!" Aittrin barged into the home, almost knocking
his servant down as he stumbled into his room. "Gallan!
I..." He took a deep breath. "I saw something...Amazing! A ball of
flame! Did you see it? From here?"
Gallan
frowned, looking perplexed: "There was a flash and the sound of
thunder...I didn't see any balls of flame."
Aittrin
took another shirt from under his bed and swiftly pulled it on, then, he sat
down in his chair and said: "You must have misinterpreted the event. I saw
it, Tempra was with me."
"Where
is she now?"
"She
was afraid..." Aittrin had an expression on his face that was a mix of
worry and pity: "She ran away, she thought that the ball of flame was from
the gods. That they were sending their wrath upon us."
"You
didn't believe her?"
"No...There's
no reason for the gods to destroy us now, we're at the peak of our Empire's
achievements." Aittrin said.
Gallan
raised a suspicious eyebrow: "Really..."
Aittrin
sighed: "All right...Perhaps not at the very peak, but we're not bad,
right?"
Gallan
shrugged: "Not at the worse."
Aittrin
shook his head, exasperated. He poured himself some wine and drunk it all down
in one long gulp, then said: "You're impossible."
"Maybe
we should go see your fallen star, Aittrin." Gallan smiled.
"Yes."
Aittrin nodded. "But first, I'll take my glades."
"You
have a gladius?!" Gallan stared at his master, wide-eyed.
Aittrin
smiled as he searched for his weapon in a small compartment that was dug inside
the wall: "An old gladiator friend of mine wrote down in his last will
that he wanted me to have his weapon."
"Great."
Gallan yawned. "Can we get this over with?"
"Don't
worry." Aittrin said. "It'll be quick."
The two men approached the crater
slowly, Aittrin was holding his weapon tightly in his right hand and an oil
lamp in the left one, Gallan was besides him, still looking slightly dubious.
"Right
in there." Aittrin said, pointing down towards the bottom of the hole.
"It was at the bottom of the crater."
Gallan
ran down the walls with remarkable ease, while Aittrin was very careful not to
fall down. When they both came to the bottom of the crater, they move towards
the centre of it…
And
there was nothing…
Gallan
frowned, and turned to Aittrin. The latter was staring at the emptiness, his
eyes wide with disbelief.
"Where
is it?" Aittrin gasped.
"Where
is what?" Gallan looked at the other man as if he was insane.
"The metallic...The thing that was here. It's
gone!" Aittrin was shaking his head. "This is impossible."
Aittrin
climbed back up the opposite side of the crater with Gallan following closely
behind. When they got to the top, they found that the dirt had been crushed in
two parallel lines that went down the hill into the darkness.
"Someone
took it..." Aittrin was staring at the tracks.
"And
it looks like they escaped in a chariot." Gallan measured the thickness of
the wheel prints. "A big chariot."
"We
need to follow them." Aittrin was about to dash off into the darkness but
Gallan grabbed him firmly by the shoulder, stopping him.
"We
can't go out there." Said Gallan. "It's
almost the middle of the night. Robbers and murderers are rampant so far from
the city at this time. We should come back tomorrow."
Aittrin
looked very disappointed, but he nodded and said: "Right. Tomorrow, then."
Chapter Two
Aittrin woke up the next morning in his
bed and he was welcomed by the smell of food. He walked into the living room
and he found Gallan standing near the window, watching the streets. There was
bread and fruit on the table, including some wine.
"Who's
coming to the party?" Aittrin asked as he sat down before the breakfast.
Gallan
swivelled, confused: "What?"
"This
is worse than an orgy..." Aittrin tore a piece of bread from the loaf and
took a sip of wine. "You can only think more people are coming."
Gallan
smiled: "We'll need some strength if we're going to find your
object..."
"I
need to go to my master's house first..." Aittrin said, putting a grape in
his mouth. "Tell him that I need to do something."
"Okay."
Gallan nodded. "I'll get some stuff ready for our 'trip'."
* * *
Today,
the streets of
He
slammed his fist on the front door three times and waited...After fifteen
seconds, he knocked again, but still, no answer came.
Suddenly,
it swung open and an unknown face studied Aittrin suspiciously.
"Who
the hell are you?" The man asked.
Aittrin
frowned: "I'm a student of master Deretin."
"Ah,
yes...you must be Aittrin, the son of Laderain and Alassan Leptius. I knew your father."
The man smiled. "Please come in."
Aittrin
stepped slowly into the entrance hall, he looked around and saw many men,
garbed in the same way as the one who opened the door, they were moving
furniture and searching all over the place.
"What
are you doing? Who are you?" Aittrin asked
"I
am centurion Teryus. I'm from the
"Disappearance?" Aittrin frowned. "When was
this?"
"We
don't know...We only know that this morning, he wasn't here."
Aittrin
nodded: "Well...All right, I'll be going then."
He
turned and began walking out of the house but Teryus grabbed him by the arm:
"Wait a minute..." The centurion fixed Aittrin with a suspicious look
in his eyes. "Tell me where you were last night...For the sake of the
investigation."
Aittrin
hesitated, then said: "I was on the hills outside the city with a
friend...we were watching the...um...shooting stars."
"Whom? If you don't mind my
asking?" Teryus smiled.
"Tempra...I've
known her for a long time." Aittrin said.
"Ah
yes...Miss Tempra, she's the daughter of an officer in the Roman Legions, I
believe." Teryus said. "She's a formidable young woman."
Aittrin
sighed: "Oh, yes."
"I've
heard from some of my people that interesting things happened yesterday night,
am I correct?"
Aittrin
shrugged: "Well...There were few shooting stars."
"And some bizarre thunder, correct?" Teryus asked.
Aittrin nodded slowly: "Yes...There was a
brief flash followed by an explosion...but I believe it was very distant.
Almost as far as
"Fascinating..."
Teryus smiled. "Well, have a nice day, sir...Say,
you're looking a lot like your father."
"I
wouldn't know." Aittrin said through clenched teeth.
"Of course...My apologies." Teryus nodded curtly
before going to the second floor. "Good day, mister Aittrin."
Aittrin
walked out of the mansion and quickly accelerated his pace, eager to see what
had happened to the object in the crater. As he returned towards his house
through the busy streets of the city, he collided with at least five fellow
citizens. He was preoccupied with this business about the disappearance of his
master, and the Intelligence officers roaming about. Something was very
wrong...
With haste, Aittrin entered his house
and threw his bag on the table. Gallan called from another room: "Back so
soon?"
"Deretin
has disappeared..." Aittrin said, walking into the bedroom where Gallan
was preparing a bag of provisions. "There are operatives from the Imperial
Intelligence crawling all over the place..."
"The Imperial Intelligence??!!" Gallan
stared at Aittrin disbelievingly. "Why doesn't the military take care of
this?"
"I
don't know...Perhaps that centurion was hiding something."
"If
he was with intelligence, you can be sure he was hiding something." Gallan
closed the bag and slung it over his shoulder. "All right, we're all
set."
"Just a second." Aittrin flipped over the pillow
on his bed, under it was the gladius, he took it and
put it in his belt.
"You're
becoming paranoid, Aittrin." Gallan smiled.
"I'm
being careful." Aittrin corrected with a raised finger. "You ne..."
"...never
know. Right." Gallan opened the front door and
stepped out.
* * *
Aittrin
fell to his knees : "This is impossible..."
The
two men were standing on the hill where the crater was supposed to be. Now, it
was as green and natural-looking as it was before the collision of the ball of
flame.
"Don't
worry, Aittrin." Gallan was calm, he was studying
the grass atop the hill. "I can clearly see the separation between the old
and new grass, we weren't dreaming."
"Yeah...but
the tracks have disappeared." Aittrin was in a state of total despair.
"Now we'll never find the object."
"If
you weren't my master," Gallan said icily. "I swear I would give you
a nice bunch of fists. But that might result in a radical dropping of the
amount I'm paid by your family every month."
Aittrin
smiled: "Yes, precisely."
"I
think we should go back to town." Gallan suggested. "It's no use
staying here..."
"I'll
stay here..." Aittrin said. "I'll check out the area, there might
still be something to prove that something was here."
"Okay,"
Gallan nodded. "I'll see you on the central plaza in one hour."
Aittrin
agreed and Gallan walked off towards the city.
Gallan took the least crowded street to
get to the plaza, but it was still packed with people and merchants. He turned into
an alley where there was little light, the sun was still low on the horizon and
the rays of the sun didn't reach the interior of the backstreet.
Sitting in the darkness, a woman in fine white robes with a blank
look on her face. It was a bizarre sight, the woman was obviously rich,
her perfume was a popular one in the city, and, needless to say, an expensive
one. She noticed the man coming down the alley, and she fixed him with her
large blue eyes.
"The
wrath of the gods is upon us." She said flatly.
Gallan
stopped walking, turned and stared at her: "What?"
"Their
wrath..." She repeated.
"Whose?"
"The gods!" She threw her two hands up in the air
as she stood up. "They are going to destroy us all!"
Gallan
would have immediately left if this had been any other day, but with the recent
events that had transpired in the hills outside the city he needed to stay and
listen to what tis woman had to say: "Um...And,
how do you know this?"
She
frowned: "You are the first person today that has stopped to listen to
me."
"So?
Why aren't you explaining?" He asked.
"I
am suspicious..."
"That's
not very logical." He raised an amused eyebrow. "You wait for people
to pass so that you can explain to them that the wrath of the gods is upon us,
then, when, finally, someone stops to listen to you, you don't say a
word."
She
pondered for a moment, then sighed: "You are correct, sir."
"I
know..." He said impatiently.
"Did
you hear the thunder?" She asked.
Gallan
twitched involuntarily: "Uh...when was that?"
"Last night...Very late last night. There was a flash
and the sound of thunder. Did you hear it?"
"Perhaps..."
He said slowly.
"Well...then
did you see the inferno?" She asked. "On the
hills."
"No."
He said.
She
smiled, a smile that almost scared him. "The time
is near, the gods are ending us. Join us."
"'Us'?" Gallan frowned. "Who exactly is
'us'?"
"The
brotherhood...We want to have a place in the eternal joy...Come with me."
She put out her hand. "You will also have your piece of paradise."
Gallan
took two steps back: "I'll think about it..."
She
looked disappointed, then, she smiled again and said: "The way to eternal
joy is with the brotherhood, friend. I will be here tomorrow, at the same
time."
"Of
course..." Gallan quickly walked out of the alley, leaving the strange
woman behind. Something was happening to the people of
Aittrin stood up and dusted his shirt,
he estimated about half-an-hour since Gallan had left to the city, which left him
fifteen minutes of searching around the hills, and fifteen minutes to get to
the plaza. He had not found anything of consequence on and around the hill on
which the object had landed the night before. His first deduction had been the
members of the Imperial Intelligence, the operatives that had been searching
the home of Deretin had convinced him easily enough of their implication.
As
Aittrin gazed at the city in the distance, he suddenly heard a suspicious sound
behind him. He began swivelling to find the source of the noise but he received
a violent blow to the head. And he fell into darkness...
Chapter Three
Gallan
frowned with an impatient look on his face, he scanned
the plaza and still found no sign of Aittrin. He was going to tell him about the
'brotherhood', but obviously it was impossible if Aittrin wasn't there!
Suddenly,
he saw three men barging their way through the crowded plaza, two were in
military garb and the one in the centre, who was older than the others, was in
civilian clothing...albeit dark civilian clothing. It took him a few seconds to
understand that the trio was coming straight towards him.
"Are
you Gallan? Servant in the house of Letrius?" One
of the military officers asked him in a low, gravelly
voice.
Gallan
studied them suspiciously, then, said: "Yes. That's me."
"You
shall come with us." The same man said. "It is concerning the
business that your house is involved with. Nothing that we
can discuss in public."
Gallan
frowned: "Why are you asking the servant of only one member of the house?
Why don't you ask master Aittrin Letrius?"
The
older man spoke up: "Aittrin is exactly why we must ask you to come with
us. It seems something...sour has happened."
Gallan
hesitated, then sighed and nodded: "All right."
* * *
The
three men brought Gallan to a large building in the outskirts of the city;
there were not many people inside the entrance hall. There was only a desk with
a young woman sitting at it, she looked terribly bored and her face lightened
up when the quartet entered the building.
"Good
morning, what can I offer as service?" She asked with a pleasant smile.
"We
are bringing this man up for questioning." Said the
older man.
"I
see, what is the code today?" She asked.
Gallan
watched with curiosity as the man bent towards the woman and whispered
something in her ear, presumably the 'code'. This building was surely the base
of some secret service.
"Okay."
She said. "Room fifteen on the third floor is open for use. Have a nice
day."
A few moments later, after travelling throughout some white,
lifeless corridors and stairs. The four men arrived in front of a wooden
door in which was carved XV, fifteen.
They
entered and Gallan studied the chamber. There were two comfortable-looking
chairs besides a window; the walls were orned with
beautiful bas-reliefs and paintings. The older man invited Gallan to sit in one
of the chairs and then took the other one. The two other military officers
closed the door and left.
"Would
you care for a beverage, mister Gallan?" The man asked, pouring a glass of
wine.
"No,
thank you." Gallan said politely.
The
man took a sip of the wine and then said: "Well, I suppose you’re curious
to know why we've brought you here."
"Yes,
rather curious indeed." Gallan nodded.
"The
reason we didn't come to Aittrin Letrius himself, is because we have reason to
believe that he is part of a...a movement within
"Can
I take a wild guess if you don't mind?" Gallan asked, Teryus raised a surprised
eyebrow, then, he nodded. Gallan said: “The…brotherhood.”
Now
Teryus was really surprised. He frowned and studied Gallan: “How do you know
about this?” He asked.
“Well…”
Gallan smiled. “I had a bizarre encounter with one of their members who was
sitting in a dark alley near the plaza where you picked me up.”
“I
see…” Teryus nodded. “Well, members of the brotherhood do not only sit in
alleys. Some of them sit in the highest chairs of the government. Centurions,
senators, ministers…They are everywhere.”
“What
are the intentions of this brotherhood?” Gallan asked.
“They
are religious extremists who believe that the end of the world is imminent and
that it will be the gods punishing us for being an empire of decadent and
ambitious obese centurions.”
“Which
we are…” Gallan couldn’t resist.
Teryus
shot an icy glare at the servant: “I do not care about your political views,
mister Gallan. All I want is your cooperation.”
“My
cooperation…”Gallan repeated. “And what am I supposed to do for you?”
“We
need you to find out if your master, Aittrin Leptius,
is in some way involved with the brotherhood.”
Gallan
laughed: “I don’t need to find anything out. I know that Aittrin would never
serve such a ridiculous cause, even though he has a rather...mocking view of
the empire which could resemble the one of the brotherhood, that doesn’t mean
that he would…”
“Are
you sure…” Teryus smiled. “You see, mister Gallan…Appearances can be
deceiving.”
Teryus
walked to the door and opened it, someone walked in.
Gallan’s jaw almost hit the floor…
Agelshaxe 2003
In the end…There is a big gasping shock because you find out that Aittrin's girlfriend was actually a member of Roman
Imperial Intelligence (You see…I was already fond of shadowy Intelligence
groups.) and so is his "Master" (from the first chapter). Then they kinda pass the strange object around and finally lose it.
Well…I hope you enjoyed reading this little piece of fiction, you can
imagine up the end in your mind if you like because I don't think I'm gonna continue this one.
This is probably the only story I've written which isn't about
Star Trek in a while…Before that I was an avid writer of spy stories (pretty
bad ones), maybe I can find some that you can also read…just for fun ;-)
Agelshaxe