Earth Howl: Book 4 in the Earth Song Series Read online

  Earth Howl (Book 4)

  Book 4 in the Earth Song Series

  Nick Cook

  About the Author

  Somewhere back in the mists of time, Nick was born in the great sprawling metropolis of London. He grew up in a family where art was always a huge influence. Tapping into this, Nick finished college with a fine art degree tucked into his back pocket. Faced with the prospect of actually trying to make a living from his talents, he plunged into the emerging video game industry back in the eighties. It was the start of a long career and he produced graphics for many of the top-selling games on the early home computers, including Aliens and Enduro Racer. Those pioneering games may look crude now, but back then they were considered to be cutting edge. As the industry exploded into the one we know today, Nick’s career went supernova. He worked on titles such as X-Com, and set up two studios, which produced Warzone 2100 and the Conflict: Desert Storm series. He has around forty published titles to his name.

  As great as the video game industry is, a little voice kept nagging inside Nick’s head, and at the end of 2006 he was finally ready to pursue his other passion as a full-time career: writing. Many years later, he completed his first trilogy, Cloud Riders. And the rest, as they say, is history.

  Nick has many interests, from space exploration and astronomy to travelling the world. He has flown light aircraft and microlights, an experience he used as research for Cloud Riders. He’s always loved to cook, but then you’d expect it with his surname. His writing in many ways reflects his own curiosity about the world around him. He loves to let his imagination run riot to pose the question: What if?

  Copyright 2020 © Nicholas P Cook

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Published worldwide by Voice from the Clouds Ltd.

  www.voicefromtheclouds.com

  For everyone struggling during the COVID 19 pandemic. We will get through this.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Links

  Other Books By Nick Cook

  Author Notes

  Chapter One

  I woke up to see a golden hint of light creeping through the bedroom window. My consciousness began to surface and I was filled with a deep sense of peace as the warmth of Jack’s body soaked into me. There wasn’t a hint of tension in any muscle of my body – quite something considering the gymnastics of last night’s antics.

  I breathed in Jack’s comforting scent, trying to extend this magical moment as his naked body contoured round mine.

  He kissed the top of my head. ‘Are you awake, Lauren?’

  ‘Busted…’ I raised my head, turning it to gaze into Jack’s ocean-blue eyes. The swirl of sparks rippled through my abdomen.

  A wide smile filled his face as I pulled away a fraction to look at him.

  ‘Mmm, now that’s the way I’d like to get woken up every morning,’ I said. ‘You’re so much better than an alarm clock.’

  ‘I have an idea that would make that wish come true.’

  ‘OK, I’m listening,’ I said, narrowing my gaze on him.

  ‘What do you say to us sharing a room together? We practically live in each other’s spaces anyway.’

  I raised my eyebrows. ‘Six months of wild dating and you’re already thinking about us moving in together?’

  ‘Well, if you don’t think it’s a good idea…’

  I started to walk my fingers up his chest. ‘Oh, I think it’s a fabulous idea.’

  ‘Thank god for that!’

  He rolled me on top of him and started to attack my shoulders with kisses. And when his mouth sought out mine, those sparks grew to a forest fire.

  With every other guy I’d slept with, I’d often felt self-consciousness in the cold light of a new day. But not so with Jack. This just seemed so right – so easy and meant to be.

  His hands grabbed my bum, things beginning to get really interesting, when a loud knock came from the door.

  ‘I thought you’d both like to know that Jodie has managed to persuade Mike to join us for breakfast,’ Alice’s voice floated in from the corridor.

  I exchanged a wide-eyed look with Jack. ‘Mike’s finally left the infirmary?’

  ‘Yes,’ the president of the Sky Dreamer Corp. replied. ‘Not only that, but he says he’s ready to get back to work today in the lab too – although I told him there was absolutely no rush.’

  ‘I guess he couldn’t keep away from the big day with Lucy,’ Jack said.

  Alice laughed. ‘Basically, yes.’

  I felt a little twist of apprehension at the reminder of that event. ‘It will be great to have Mike back on the team,’ I said.

  ‘Absolutely,’ Jack agreed.

  ‘It will also be good for Jodie. She’s been running herself ragged. Anyway, when… ahem… you’ve finished up here, doing whatever it is that you’re doing, you’ll find coffee already brewing downstairs.’

  Jack grinned at me as I buried my face in his shoulder. We’d obviously been louder than either of us had realised.

  ‘We’ll be down in a few secs,’ I replied, doing my best to ignore Jack who was very unhelpfully kissing my neck again.

  We heard the creak of boards on the landing as Alice manoeuvred her wheelchair towards the lift.

  I reluctantly slid myself off Jack. He made a soft groaning sound deep in the back of his throat.

  ‘Later, I promise,’ I said as I stood grinning over my shoulder at him.

  ‘Oh, I am so holding you to that.’ He gave me a smile like a cat who’d very much had the cream and wanted to come back for more.

  I began to hunt for my clothes. Along with Jack’s they were scattered in all four corners of my room. I gave up trying to find my knickers – maybe they’d combusted during the explosive sex we’d had after getting back to my room yesterday.

  I grabbed a towel and turned to see Jack’s eyes lingering on my naked body. I returned the gaze. God, he was seriously gorgeous. After previous dancing around each other, at last it seemed this Viking god was all mine.

  ‘What state do you think we’ll find Mike in?’ Jack asked, obviously not aware of the direction of my thoughts.

  ‘Hopefully not as down as usual. The number of times I’ve visited that guy in the infirmary and I’ve found him staring at the ceiling.’

  ‘I know – the fight has really gone out of him since losing his leg,’ Jack said.

  ‘Let’s just hope that going back to work is the start of him rediscovering his mojo.’

  Jack nodded. ‘This is something I saw way too much of on the battlefield – young soldiers whose spirit was crushed by a life-altering injury like Mike’s. And I can’t help wondering if deep down part of him blames me for what happened.’

  My gaze sharpened on Jack. ‘How many times are we going to have this conversation, Jack? Mary said the medical team would have given up way ea
rlier than they did if it wasn’t for you. You kept pushing them on to try to save his leg. No one could have done any more. The important thing is that you saved Mike’s life – that’s what really matters.’

  Even though Jack nodded, I could still see the swirl of pain behind his eyes. Mike would never be just another patient to him. This was far too personal. Even it was rationally wrong to do so, Jack would always blame himself for Mike’s medical outcome.

  If I was honest, it wasn’t just Jack who was beating himself up over what had happened to our friend. After all, I’d been the one in charge – I’d led us out on that crazy mission in the first place. The icing on this guilt-trip cake was that Lucy had also been shot down by a TR-3B Astra on the same mission and hadn’t rebooted since…

  I sighed and gave Jack a hug as much for my own sake as his. I reluctantly let go of him and headed off to the bathroom to grab a much-needed shower and to try to make myself look at least halfway respectable.

  When Jack and I eventually headed downstairs, we found Alice, Jodie and Ruby sitting across the dining table from Mike. Our own little bubble of happiness dissolved away as I took in our friend’s appearance.

  In stark contrast to everyone else, Mike looked pale. It seemed as if the short trip from the infirmary had already taken a lot out of him. Just like Alice, Mike was also sitting in a wheelchair. But unlike our illustrious leader, there was an awful flatness in his jeans from his right knee down that everybody was doing their best to ignore.

  This was what the human cost of trying to save the world looked like.

  Mike had lost his lower leg after being wounded during a firefight with Alvarez and his soldiers amidst an operation to retrieve a downed Tic Tac UFO and its alien pilot. That mission had morphed into an attempt to retrieve another micro mind from Area 51 – part of the scattered consciousness of the alien AI that we called Lucy. The clock was well and truly ticking down to an alien invasion, so we badly needed to find these micro minds hidden around the world. According to Lucy, the secret to defending our world from this alien race who were coming to harvest our planet like an all-you-can-eat buffet was hidden within those micro minds.

  No pressure or anything.

  Mike looked up from the scrambled eggs he’d been picking at and managed a faint honestly, I’m doing OK smile. ‘Hey guys, good to see you.’

  ‘You too, Mike. I thought you were in danger of becoming a fixture in that hospital,’ I replied.

  I tried to use humour wherever I could with Mike. After all, what could you say to someone who had lost their leg that didn’t sound trite in the awful, life-changing circumstances?

  ‘No danger of that with Jodie on my case,’ Mike said, reaching across and squeezing his Swedish girlfriend’s hand.

  Jodie looked to Mike. ‘Hey, being your chief motivational coach is a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.’

  She managed a faint smile for him, but she looked just as washed out as Mike did. For a woman who’d been previously full of boundless energy, these days she was more like a husk in comparison.

  It seemed Jodie was as worried as the rest of us and couldn’t hide it as well. Mike was making good progress physically, but it was his mental state that we were all concerned about.

  Alice nodded towards us and then the coffee pot. ‘You’re both going to want to load up on caffeine. You have a very full day ahead, what with the training session followed by Lucy’s reboot attempt.’

  I felt the colour draining from my face at the last bit. This was going to be the final roll of the dice in our attempts to get Lucy up and running again. I was filled with a sense of foreboding at what we were going to do today – a sense that had been growing inside me for months.

  Alice broke off part of her croissant and looked at Jodie. ‘So you’re going to get to try out the new WASP drones today, Ruby?’

  ‘I am and they are going to kick ass, especially in my hands, hey, Lauren?’

  I rolled my eyes at her. ‘If you say so.’

  She took a large bite of her minute steak sandwich topped with caramelised onions and grinned at Jack and me. ‘I so do.’

  Mike gave Jodie a quizzical look. ‘WASP drone?’

  ‘It’s the acronym for Weapon Aerial Suppression Programme,’ Jodie replied.

  ‘Please don’t tell me you’ve been working on yet another project – not with everything else you’ve already got on your plate?’

  Jodie gave him a shrug. ‘Pretty much, but that’s what Alice pays me the big bucks for.’

  Alice raised her hands. ‘Just keep me out of it. I’ve been the first one to tell you to slow down, but you’ve just ignored me, Jodie.’

  Mike’s gaze immediately narrowed on his girlfriend. ‘How many times have I asked you if I could help, even if it was just looking at data on a laptop? Every single time you’ve just fobbed me off saying you had it all covered.’

  Jodie’s neck broke out in pink blotches. ‘I didn’t want anything to distract you from your recovery, Mike. That’s all.’

  His face hardened and he stared down at the tabletop. ‘I see…’

  I had the distinct impression that we were just glimpsing the peak of a very big iceberg of a conversation that these two had been having for some time. It seemed that Mike’s long convalescence wasn’t just down to him and was partly due to his girlfriend being overprotective.

  Mike looked up to meet Jodie’s gaze again. ‘We’ve talked this over a thousand times. You need my help more than ever now. So please stop shutting me out of what you’re up to. I’m more than ready to take on an active role again. That’s why I’m here at Eden.’

  Jodie chewed her lip. ‘Only if you think you’re really ready.’

  ‘Honestly, I need to do this for my own sanity if nothing else.’

  Jodie nodded. ‘Of course.’

  Mike seemed satisfied and turned towards Jack and I. ‘Guys, there’s something I need to tell you.’

  I took a mental breath. ‘What is it?’ I replied, hoping he wasn’t going to use the opportunity to lay into us for his injury.

  ‘To be honest, I think my days in the field are probably over. Let’s face it, I’ve been more of a liability on missions than a help.’

  I let out that mental breath and relaxed a fraction. This conversation I could cope with – even if I wasn’t generally happy with the idea.

  ‘No, you were never anything like that,’ Jack replied before I could.

  I quickly nodded. ‘Mike, you’ve always been an integral part of our team and you always will be. Having said that, I will respect your decision. But if you ever change your mind, please just know the door will always be open to you getting involved in future missions.’

  ‘What, even limping along on my peg leg, holding you all up?’ Mike asked with a thin-lipped smile.

  Alice shot him a sharp look. ‘As you know full well, it won’t be anything like a peg leg. It’s a state-of-the-art active joint prosthetic leg that you’ve been measured for. It’s been 3D printed and is ready to be fitted.’

  Mike started to fiddle with his ear. ‘Sorry – I realise everyone has worked really hard on it and I wish I could be more enthusiastic, but you know I feel uncomfortable about it…’

  Alice slowly nodded and sighed. ‘Yes, unfortunately I do. I really hope that will change.’

  I poured myself a coffee as I pondered the conversation. If anyone in this room understood the journey that lay ahead for Mike it was Alice. And she was exactly the right woman to push him when he needed it. She’d lost the use of her legs after the stunt aircraft she’d been flying had crashed. I also knew that she would go out of her way to guide Mike through the challenges he would face, both physical and mental. It sounded as if using a prosthetic leg was the first mental roadblock that Mike was going to have to overcome.

  Mike sat back in his wheelchair and his eyes sought out mine. ‘So today is the big day with Lucy,’ he said brightly, in a very obvious attempt to change the subject.

&nbs
p; If he was looking for something to take the spotlight off himself, he’d hit upon the perfect subject – one about which I was worried sick to the core of my being.

  Alice’s gaze flicked towards me. She knew exactly how I felt and had already heard my arguments a dozen times about why we shouldn’t attempt this.

  I sat down at the kitchen table and nursed my coffee cup. ‘You all know I’m still very nervous about attempting this. It’s got risk written all over it. We have no way of knowing how it will play out.’

  Alice sat back in her wheelchair. ‘Look, I understand your concern, Lauren. However, as you yourself have said on many occasions, we’ve tried absolutely everything else.’

  ‘I know, but that doesn’t stop attempting to merge Lucy with Red being a huge risk.’

  ‘What’s Red?’ Mike asked.

  ‘That’s the highly original nickname I gave the Area 51 micro mind – because of the colour it glows,’ Ruby explained with a shrug as she finished off her steak sandwich.

  ‘Maybe demon would be a more appropriate name, especially after your encounter with it at Area 51, Lauren,’ Jack said.

  I sipped my coffee, letting the caffeine sharpen my thoughts. ‘Any AI entity that can conjure up a hell version of Machu Picchu obviously has a certain amount of issues to work through.’

  ‘But isn’t that because it imprinted itself on Cristina Garcia in the same way that Lucy imprinted herself on to you?’ Alice asked.

  ‘With one major difference,’ Jack replied. ‘Cristina had basically been brainwashed by the Overseers into believing that we killed her husband and child. That could account for a lot.’