The Cagliostro Chronicles II: Conflagration Read Online Free PDF

grown fat and lazy over the centuries, more than content in their power. As far as they were concerned no one, no race on any planet, could stand up to them.
    Until they somehow discovere d the Earth over a century ago, what they had seen in mankind was a predator that was not to be underestimated. But they did just that. They underestimated mankind and sought to curtail man’s hunger for exploration of the depths of space. For many years their plan worked.
    For over a century the Agalum conspiracy had worke d surreptitiously to undermine Earth’s space program. Presidents were replaced with shape shifters who did everything they could to destroy the space program. Ships were destroyed and astronauts died under mysterious circumstances. Finally the space program ended up being farmed out to the private sector over the years, and NASA became nothing more than an organization of space traffic controllers.
    The accidents continued to happen even with the private companies taking over the space program , but now there were many companies to watch over by mankind’s secretive opponent as opposed to one. Their plan had backfired against them. There were too many corporations with too many different ways of doing business in too many different facilities across the globe to keep track of, and to secretly undermine. Men like Mark Johnson came along and began to make strides. Space became accessible, but only to what astronauts and explorers would term as ‘locally’.
    The enemy must have settled for this after a time because things seemed to even out. At least until Mark discovered through countless hours of seemingly eternal testing the way to break down the light speed barrier.
    As per usual with Mark Johnson, not only did he break the faster than light barrier, but he did it in such a way that his ship was the fastest ship anywhere.
    ‘They waited too long.’ Mark mused silently as he entered the maglovator. ‘They should have been more concerned with updating their own star faring vehicles instead of trying to curtail our efforts.’
    A moment later he exited the maglovator and re-entered the command deck, “Status update?” he asked Red Robinski.
    “Unchanged, Mark. How’s Ari?”
    Eddie turned and looked at Mark also , wanting to hear how Ariel was doing himself.
    Mark cocked his head sideways and shook it slowly. “Not great. She has bleeding on the brain .”
    “What?” Eddie asked, his face belying his shock.
    “Troiano says she’ll be okay, she thinks, but she wants her resting for at least several days. The worst part of this is it seems that Ari has already lost her powers. She claims she hasn’t been able to use her abilities since the ape attacked.”
    He sat down in his command chair and shook his head side to side slowly, biting his lower lip before continuing, “I can’t believe I made her attack the ape that way .”
    “ You can’t blame yourself Mark. Who could have known?” Red offered.
    “I know. Y ou’re right, Red. But it’s hard not to take the blame for this. It was my blunder, and it may cost her permanently.”
    A mechanized voice blared over the conference room comm, jarring them all from their conversation. “Intruder alert, Intruder alert.”
    “What the hell?” Mark jumped from his seat and stared at the view screen . Most of the natives were gone.
    “Where’d they go?” Mark questioned.
    “Behind that treeline.” Red replied, pointing at the viewscreen.
    Mark spun toward Red, “And what could they have been doing while out of your sight? ”
    Red grimaced, his face turning the color of his nickname, “They dug tunnels.”
    “They tunneled beneath us? Who fell asleep on the job and did not see that?” Mark shouted angrily, “Wake up Robinski. It’s your job to watch out for stuff like this.”
    “Intruder alert, intruder alert ,” continued to blare annoyingly over the comm.
    “Find the intruders now!” Mark snapped.
    “Got ‘em ,” replied Red