Symbiotica - The Way Home (Book 3)

Symbiotica: The Way Home (Ultimate Edition)

The Third book in the Symbiotica New Worlds Saga

Third Edition

Copyright © 2016 / 2018 Alexander Nassau

Published by Alexander Nassau at Smashwords

ISBN: 9781370840397

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

"For those who teach

Teaching is a job which defies the definition of a job.

A long time ago in what seems a galaxy far, far away an English teacher laid out his thoughts and opinions to a class of young and far too impressionable minds. They were thoughts that no teacher should ever have shared with his students and left their dreadful and demeaning imprint.

A teacher should be passionate, inspiring and enjoy nurturing young minds. This book is for those that see teaching in this way, rather than something they do for a living. At the end of your working day, you can go home knowing the lessons you have taught will last a lifetime."

See More from the Author on my Blog

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Previously

Prologue

Chapter One - Start at the Beginning

Chapter Two - What's Important?

Chapter Three - Insurrection

Chapter Four - Judgement Calls

Chapter Five - Dead Line

Chapter Six - What Happened Next

Chapter Seven - What are friends for?

Chapter Eight - Dead Planets

Chapter Nine - Escape Plan

Chapter Ten - Rollercoaster

Chapter Eleven - Until the Dawn

Chapter Twelve - Settling Dust

Chapter Thirteen - Different Paths

Chapter Fourteen - New Beginnings

Epilogue

Symbiotica Continues - Preview of the Proteus Neo Alphius Saga

More Books from the Author

Proteus Unhinged - One Little Ship (Mini story)

Proteus Technical - Overview of Koli and Terrik

Authors Retrospective

About the Author

PREVIOUSLY

This is a story that needs a little background before you start to understand it.

Realistically it should only begin only a matter of months ago, but its roots lie back in the mists of time, over three hundred years before on a world far from here.

That world was Alphius Prime, a world not that dissimilar from Earth really, but there were some differences. The biggest one was that the dominant intelligent life there was not of a singular mind, but that of a partnership between two species, a host and a symbiote. Now I could explain how this partnership worked and about the history that led to this union between these two races, but suffice to say it was a fair and peaceful relationship that saw their world over thousands of years turned in to a Utopia.

Right up to the moment they discovered their sun was on the verge of collapsing which would lead to all life being extinguished. That bit came as a nasty surprise.

Still, with time against them they all pulled together, created a fleet of living ships to carry their population to safety and to find a new world they could call home. Sadly though, it all went terribly wrong. Their star collapsed ahead of time, their world burnt and only one of their ships escaped, carrying just ten bonded individuals to safety. Those individuals never gave up hope, but everything was against them. They searched the stars for three hundred years, visited new worlds and found more than they ever imagined. There was a problem though. The symbiotes lives were long, thousands of years but their hosts were a different story. Even with their healing abilities, they could only live for four hundred years at the most and for some, time had already run out as they found themselves alone and resigned to synthetic life giving bodies.

With things at their darkest and their lives almost over, their quirky ship, Koli, did something unexpected and naughty. Using the last of her energy, she jumped them to a small world on one of the galaxy's spiral arms where they found what they had desperately searched for. A race of creatures not only capable of accepting them, but also within their population a small number who had telepathic gifts they required to survive. The survivors with the last of the energy almost gone travelled down to the world in hope the humans they had chosen would accept them and that is where this story, on Earth at least, starts.

So much has happened since they arrived, enough to fill at least a few books, but if you were to look down to an island in the Caribbean long abandoned by its population thanks to the volcano that dominates its landscape, you would see that the mountain is quiet and now there are people there once more. They are not ordinary people though. Some of them are two beings, a host and a symbiote working together in a fair and peaceful union towards a greater goal.

For one person on that tropical island though, this whole story was quite confusing. She is still trying to get used to the fact aliens live on Earth and for some reason she still doesn't understand she is helping them. It's a good job her boss, and perhaps now her friend is on hand to explain that story.

* * *

Amelia looked down the street, work men and women all steadily doing their business. In the distance as the road rolled down to the shore, she admired the beauty of this wonderful place and wondered how they had got to this point.

For her and Jordan, this had all started with a flawed premise. Working at Aphrodite's Delight, one of the hottest clubs in New Oxford, she had fancifully thought her bosses, Poly and the twin sisters April and Simone were drug barons of a sort. She soon learnt the real truth and ended up flung in to their world although their timing was a little off really. What should have been a gentle introduction went to hell as the group learnt a truth of their own. What followed next was a frenzy of manic activity.

It had been nearly three months since they had left. She had talked with Jordan about how they could help and if the brave group now in the stars were successful, the survivors would be here soon, on this island. Her new friends had been kind to them both and over the months she had learnt about each of them. They were good people and they needed help, so with Jordan, this was their contribution.

Around her, it was lunch time, the construction crews having fallen silent as they took a break from the constant activity. Sitting outside this old school pub, she had already eaten her sandwiches and was having a cola and admiring this beautiful view in the peace and quiet, while it lasted.

Everything okay? Poly's voice echoed out as she looked to her sided smiling seeing her walking down the road from the town hall, standing next to her.

Poly always seemed to be busy, but always seemed to have time for everyone as she smiled at her boss now a little more reassured about her.

Feels like I have missed quite a lot of story when it comes to you all, she replied shaking her head. Poly nodded sitting down on the table outside the new pub they were building.

It can be a little overwhelming. Seems in such a short space of time we have done so much, Poly mused admiring the view, I can give you the short version if that helps?

She nodded a little and smiled. She knew Poly had her own young symbiote and had been one of the founding members of their original group so she was probably well verse in their complete story.

It all started about nine months ago, she began as she sat down by her side.

Somewhere way above Earth, a group of refugees from a long dead world arrived here and they were almost out of time. Everything aboard their ship was breaking and they needed hosts to survive and it seems Earth had the very specific life required for them to bond with. Human beings, consciously or subconsciously have a small number of telepaths and their species needed telepathic life to survive and to be their companions. They had little time and scattered all over the world to find and bond with their hosts. My first involvement in this whole story was with Melissa who had bonded with Kel and I met, and then I kind of fell in love with her. For a time we just enjoyed each other's company, but Kel wanted to find the others. They had planned it before they left their ship, along with selling some of their technology to several big corporations globally netting a financial fortune, but finding nine people in a world of seven billion was not going to be easy. We found Jo and Joulik pretty quickly, but when she got back I ended up with a Symbling, a young Symbiote which came as a huge surprise, not only to us but to them too.

That would be Neolash I take it? she asked as Poly nodded warmly back at her, nodding softly.

From there we found Kat and her Symbiote, Lyphius, who as it seems has romantic feelings for Joulik and together we built what you know as the Foundry, our little secret retreat away from the world where they could do the things they enjoyed. From there we found Jennifer Blaze and her Symbiote, Killish who it turns out is Joulik's little sister and to start with those two fought like cats and dogs, but they worked it out in the end. Then Mel eventually managed to collar Verish and her host Tie. Those two were oddities in their society as they bonded both body and mind. She is almost a seamless personality with her host. Then I did something stupid. Got a little too drunk on the grand opening of the Foundry and accidentally made something call a Cyte, an odd creature that when bonded to a human gives them unusual abilities as you well know.

Ah. I did wonder where those Cyte came from. So they were really a drunken accident?

No, it was actually Neolash being kind. She is very young and far too sweet for her own good, but that is where the Twins, Chloe and Flip came in to the story, all having Cytes. Things got a little more crazy after that, but the biggest shock was when they found Coras and her host Jessica Tavers who had somehow managed to not only contact Koli, their living ship, but bring her down and repair her too. Over time the others eventually found their way to the Foundry and it is a very long story, but when Ella and Sabine turned up that was where the biggest shock hit everyone so hard. They had got a distress signal from another in their escape fleet. They had assumed for a very long time their race was gone when their sun collapsed and wiped out all life on their world, but it turned out one ship had survived. So much to my reluctant annoyance, Mel, Kat, Jo, Jessica and Flip, who by this point had ended up partly bonded to Koli decided to mount a rescue mission, returning to their home world leaving me, and everyone else to deal with this place. Working with the UN the plan is to make a habitable island where all of the survivors, if they find any, can find a new home.

You were right, she muttered trying to keep up, You have done loads in the last nine months.

Yeah, Poly replied with a sigh, Far too much for my liking and still loads to do which brings me back to why I came to see you. Do you need anything for the pub?

Everything is good and is being installed, but I will let you know if anything crops up.

Okay, she said looking at her watch as the work crews started to walk back toward the pub,

Guess it's time we got back to it then.

PROLOGUE

She was proud of Eve as they both walked out of the Hotel. For the last three hours she had been like a warrior pinning down every detail of the deal. One of the largest fashion houses in the world had gotten wind of Veretex, the latex like fabric Tie had developed, and they were desperate to get their hands on it for use in everyday clothing. It had been tried before but with limited and poor results however their material was breathable, intelligent and even to a degree self cleaning.

What was even better was it was theirs and theirs alone. Nobody else could ever hope to produce this thanks to its unique manufacturing process.

Eve glanced down to her and nodded as they walked down the street, until eventually she stopped and every muscle in her body relaxed with one swift sigh of relief.

I can't believe we did it, she sighed out smiling at her, Once our lawyers have finalised everything, made sure there are no pit falls, we will never have to worry about anything ever again.

She laughed and put her hand on her sister's shoulders giving her a warm smile.

All those years of work building the business and now, you have got there, she replied just putting it all in perspective for her, Maybe now you can get that nice apartment you always wanted.

She could see the look of confusion on Eve's face as she tried to comprehend the wonderful thoughts running through her mind but as always it quickly changed.

We will need to look at ways of mass producing Veretex, she stated standing back up tall again, regaining her professional composure, It is a shame Tie didn't come to the meeting. I would have liked her to be there, after all without her, none of this would have been possible.

It was true. Tie was the reason for this with her miracle material, even if she was very dismissive of it.

You know she wanted to be a silent partner in this, she replied nodding thoughtfully, Considering everything, she prefers to keep things with her low key and under the radar. If I am honest, knowing her like I do I was thankful in a way. She can be quite chaotic at times.

Eve laughed and nodded know her crazy girlfriend far too well.

I had serious reservation about you two when I first met her, Eve said sternly, Then when I found out about her true nature I had even deeper misgivings.

They exchanged a tense stare for a moment as Eve thought about it.

I'm glad you met her and I won't judge your choices over wanting to be like her either. They changed everything for the better and I think mum and dad would be proud of you.

She looked at her older sister feeling a little tear welling in the corner of her eye and smiled, grabbing her hand and holding it tight. She was happier than she had been in years.

Then there was a noise that made her jump. She looked up at Eve to see the expression of panic and fear on her face as she lunged at her, pushing her back.

Then she felt excruciating pain, the most terrible noise filling her ears and then nothing more than darkness.

CHAPTER ONE

Start at the Beginning

Five Thousand Light years from Earth

Flip heard the door close behind her as she sighed finally feeling like she could take a break from her admittedly forced duties. Still though, she couldn't help but grin. In all of her life, she never imagined that she would be the first human to step foot on an alien world.

Well, at least she assumed she was the first human to step foot on an alien world, but who really knew?

Koli seemed to instinctively know how exhausted she was as the body cocooning her started to split open as she felt herself being released until she stood on the floor in just some boy shorts, glancing over her shoulders watching the avatar body reforming itself, shrinking down until it was almost the same height as her, the fragments of the body compacting, the skin reforming until Koli stood there in her naked and far more human form.

She grabbed a tee shirt from her bed and pulled it on feeling a little self conscious before picking the neatly folded pile up from the bed, handing them to Koli.

Still can't get used to that, she muttered trying not to look at Koli human form.

It was strange being bonded to Koli not to mention the fact she was bonded to something she was actually standing and living in, the very ship they were travelling the stars in.

What is wrong? Koli asked, pulling the sweat pants on, looking rather uncoordinated.

She frowned at her questioningly as she sat down on the bed refusing to reply.

While we were joined, I could feel you were unhappy. Do you miss home?

Of course I miss home. I was thinking how much the Twins, Kelly and Chloe would have loved to have seen a real alien world, she mused almost without thinking, Today was fun but I have to admit I didn't realise space was so empty. That was the first stop off we have had in nearly three months of travel. Still at least we are nearly there now.

Koli beamed out a smile as she sat down next to her, nearly falling over. She thought that Koli would have gotten far better at controlling her avatar, but she hadn't. She was still clumsy and she was now starting to wonder if it was the fact she was actually a three hundred feet long starship in reality. Controlling this tiny body in comparison to her own real body was something she simply wasn't capable of.

I think I felt more than that though, Koli said resting her hand on her leg, I have always had the feeling you are jealous of the others. They are fully bonded to their hosts, unlike us.

Oh sweetie, I am not jealous of them. I actually don't know how they deal with being fully bonded with their partners. I find it hard enough having this limited connection to you. What's bothering me is I feel like I am something of an outsider in this group, like I shouldn't be here.

Koli scrunched her face up in confusion, her cute nose crinkling up as she tried to understand. She laughed a little to herself. For a wise and old creature, she always behaved so young and innocent.

Okay, let me clarify this. What I mean is they know things I don't. Melissa, Jo, Kat and Jess all have Symbiotes and they share the memories of their pasts. It is like they know the full story. I am sitting here with you, and I have no clue where I am going, what their home was like, or even how you were made and how they got to Earth.

Koli nodded in her usual exaggerated manner as she thought about what she had said.

I think I may be able to help with that, she eventually said looking in to her eyes, My learning process is quite complex and in many way I learn like humans do, by experiencing the world around me and interacting with it. However my biological construction is different from yours. My tactile interfaces use a telepathic connection, but they do far more than that. I can learn directly from those who touch me, and over the years I have amassed a great deal of memories from those who have interfaced with me.

You mean you have a record in your mind of hundreds of people's lives? That is rather creepy and amazing at the same time, she said, the thought of her own memories being stored somewhere in Koli's mind somewhat unnerving.

If you would like to know the story, I think I can piece it together so you can see the world I came from and how I came in to being.

It would take ages for you to tell me those stories and I think we have far too much work to do.

Koli just laughed and smiled at her shaking her head.

You must remember our bond goes both ways. I don't have to tell you the story. Through our connection, I can show you it.

She raised an eyebrow as she considered this. To know the story of Alphius Prime would really give her a better insight. Ever since leaving Earth has had been apprehensive, not knowing what to expect when they got to their destination. Know the full story would mean she would be far better prepared, plus she had to admit she had always been curious. Looking to her innocent partner she had to also admit that Koli was so strange at time, but the one thing she knew was she always wanted to help.

I need to get a little food and then I think I will take you up on your offer.

* * *

Meylon City, Alphius Prime - 308 years ago

Entering the upper lab in the Astronomy Cortex, Joulik felt something, like a dark sense of foreboding pressing down on her and she didn't like it at all.

She had been summoned by Killish, something that usually involved her ending up arguing a great deal with people. She still had the bitter after taste in her mouth from the whole Preteus Grid incident where she near enough put her own head on the chopping block for her little sister and having settled her in to a safe place where she couldn't do too much damage, she had hoped she would actually find her way back.

Looking around the lab was dimly lit with papers scattered everywhere. She picked one up, reading the almost disturbed rantings scribbled all over them and shook her head. Killish wasn't getting better and Tora, her host seemed to be falling in to her mental instability as well. If they kept this up, she knew what it meant.

She would be committed and Tora would be separated from her. She would be effectively put in to stasis, this time for good.

Frowning she looked around, trying to find them, wondering where she was hiding herself. The lab was empty as she sighed, moving over to the open window overlooking Meylon City. It was dusk, the sky turning a beautiful shade of purple as once again the auroras started to light the night sky.

She could swear to herself that these were far brighter and more intense than they had been when she was younger, their glow almost bathing the city in an electric red and blue tint.

You're here, Killish's voice came out of the blue making her jump, That is a good thing. There is only one minute fourteen seconds left.

She looked around, but she couldn't see her however leaning out of the window, she found her sister sitting on the ledge precariously, looking out over the city.

What are you doing you idiot? she snarled although making no effort to pull her back in, And what do you mean. What's this deadline?

Killish said nothing and simply looked at the Personal Interface Device on her wrist.

I calculated that when the time has expired our city will be dark.

Her heart sank as she uttered the words. She nearly panicked wondering what Killish had done this time. She had a heart of gold and always wanted to be helpful to everyone but the way she did things usually ended up in a full scale disaster. She looked frantically at Killish who was simply looking out over the city with a frightening calmness, briefly glancing at the PID every so often.

In ten seconds, the auroras will turn to bright blue and there will be an audible hum, Killish stated nodding to herself proudly.

She really had lost it this time and she felt her brows furrowing, her tendril now twitching in an agitated way.

Then to her surprise there was the softest of hums echoing over the city. She looked up puzzled to see the dancing lights above them had changed to a shocking blue, their ferocity growing. She blinked just to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

She was about to speak, when Killish coldly interrupted.

Ten, nine, she began, counting down.

Damn. She said the city was about to go dark. What did she mean by that?

Eight, seven, six, five, she continued in her emotionless monotone voice.

She glanced at her trying to fathom a way to ask what on Alphius was going on!

Four, three, two...

She looked out over the city, the hum from the sky now turning to almost a crackling sound, the intensity of the light illuminating everything.

Dark.

There was a deafening crack almost like thunder from the sky as she watched in horror as every light, each tiny pin prick of brilliance throughout the city went dark, the whole power system shutting down only leaving the auroras above them, providing their ghostly light.

What did you do? she eventually whispered out quietly in disbelief at the darkness before her.

Killish didn't say anything, but extended her hand as she helped her back in to the lab, Killish moving over to an archaic wax candle, lighting it providing a little illumination to her chaos.

She pulled her round sharply looking her in the face, this time with more force than before, angry and disappointed with her. She didn't know how she had managed to do this, nor did she care.

She couldn't do this to her. They would take her away!

Explain what you did right now, she said slowly and clearly as Killish looked confused for a moment, puzzling her question.

With my calculations and numerous observations I have found something very interesting and significant, she stated coldly.

Our world will be dead in exactly three hundred and seventy eight days.

* * *

Three hundred and Seventy Days

It was one of those bright and sunny mornings that made her really happy to just be out this early, feeling the crispness of the air on her skin and the wonderful way she could forget about her daily grind, if only for a moment.

Things were starting to get back to normal in Meylon now with power restored to the city, the Lyrr Institute was finally reopening this morning. It had been nice to have a few days away from her work and she was going to squeeze out every last piece of free time she had. Fellus was also enjoying her time away too, and they had been down to the sea, eaten good food and actually enjoyed a little sun bathing. She had even met someone new and she liked her. They had even exchanged contacts.

She found herself quickly passing through the streets and out in to the centre of the main square, the hub at the centre of their great city, the Seleke Council Auditorium rising up, its spires twinkling in the morning light. It was so peaceful here at this time, no hustle and bustle, only the occasional early riser getting in to their work and the Nardaks flocking around, perching on the statues as they nabbled at each other.

It was at that moment she spotted a familiar figure sitting down in front of the fountain as she smiled walking over, Fellus laughing to herself in a quite annoying way.

Good morning, she announced beaming a warm smile to her old friend.

Joulik looked up at and gave her a troubled smile which instantly brought her spirits down as she frowned and sat down next to her, resting her hand on her leg.

Okay, what's with the thunder cloud above your head? she added more pensively.

Joulik shook her head, giving her a look that almost chilled her. It was a look she hadn't seen for over seven hundred years. She didn't say anything but continued to shake her head from side to side gently.

I learnt something a week ago, she finally said, sighing out, Something so serious I took it to Neyra to voice my worries and concerns. There is no easy way for me to say this and I am probably going to scare the hell out of you. I am so sorry to burden you like this but I don't have anyone else to turn to and I need help.

She looked at her and knew she was deadly serious. She had known her for over five thousand years and in all truth, she was her best friend even if they didn't get to spend as much time together as she would have liked. For her to even say that meant this was something her broad shoulders were struggling to carry.

Tell me, she said softly, grabbing her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Lyphius, you are such a sweetheart. I don't know what I did to deserve you, she said giving her another smile, her face scrunching up at her reluctance.

Our world has roughly one and a half years left before it's destroyed.

For a moment it seemed like the world went silent as those words echoed through her mind. She could feel Fellus's stomach twisting in to a knot, a wash of fear and panic building in her partner as she absorbed the information. It was a