The Rising Sun: Episode 1 Read Online Free PDF

seat.
     
    He absently ran
one hand through his spiky red hair, relishing the feel of it. He
knew that the crimson colour of his hair, along with the tint of
orange on his skin which was barely noticeable(and which came to
prominence in sunlight), were features of the species he belonged
to. A rare species, known as Fyrlings. The thousands of man being
species found across the spectrum, such as the Fyrlings and the
Ivelings, were all distinguished by subtle and usually
insignificant features. Like the Iveling’s horns and dark patches,
and like Ion’s skin and hair colour. Among the countless species,
three stood out and were found predominantly in the spectrum: the
Ivelings, the Elflings(who had slanting eyes, and pointed ears),
and the Redlings(who had short red fur covering their entire
body).
     
    Less than two
minutes passed before the rim of a giant brown orb slowly drew
across Ion’s window, with the cruiser zooming towards it. Sacrogon,
Ion admitted, was the smallest planet that he had been to. Now
exiting space, the cruiser scaled down its speed drastically. In a
few seconds it had breached the planet’s atmosphere, streaking
through its spongy, cloud strewn sky.
     
    As the cruiser
glided into the lower level of the sky, the planet’s ground slowly
came to clarity. The city, or whatever could be seen of it from
this distance, appeared as a giant maze of short concrete buildings
spread over a vast, brown ground. Ion couldn’t help noticing that
the city carried an unglamorous, shabby air. It appeared to have
grown over an explosive, unplanned pattern. The tiny streets were
squeezed between the sprawl of structures in whatever space
available.
     
    The city zoomed
to clarity with the cruiser’s rapid descent. In a few seconds, the
giant vessel angled towards a gigantic, empty expanse in the middle
of the maze of structures. As the tiny dots perched on the empty
expanse slowly grew to clarity, Ion realised they were ships: this,
simple, inelegant and plain as it was, was the planet’s ship
station. The ground came hovering upwards as the cruiser soared
down, and in a few seconds, the cruiser had landed on the great
brown expanse, sending a slight shudder down the corridor.
     
    Shuffling and
bustling as they hurried towards the exits, the passengers pooled
towards the doors located down front. Ion waited patiently for the
crowd to clear before gathering his own belonging, a small black
rucksack placed under his seat, and heading out himself. As he
emerged into the open, he squinted to let his eyes adjust to the
shift in lighting.
     
    The cruiser had
landed somewhere at the edge of the clearing. Slightly ahead of
him, a line of short concrete buildings stretched against the
horizon. The lower range of the sky had a faint pinkish glow. The
evening sun, a blood red orb, lay half immersed in the line of
buildings, with a crimson halo painted around it.
     
    Ion allowed
himself a few seconds to intake the scenery as he stood and gazed
at it. Then, reaching into the rucksack held in one hand, he
unzipped the bag and dug through his contents for a while before
extracting from the mess, a crumpled yellow chit.
     
    Right where I
left you.
     
    This crumpled
yellow chit was the reason Ion was here…
     
    Dropping the
rucksack, he unfurled the yellow chit with both hands, and spent a
few seconds gazing into it. Then, drawing in a slow, deep breath,
Ion picked up his rucksack again and trotted forth into the
bustling city…

 
     
3
     
     
     
     
    The silence was
rigid, stone like.
     
    The large,
chamber like room was spread over a gigantic empty area. Its walls
were pushed well apart, and its roof hung higher than any ordinary
room’s.
     
    On both ends of
the room, standing as still as the walls behind them, were two
lines of Rash-cons. Even in the inactive state they stood in, the
robots seemed to fill the space around them with a fierce
mechanical menace. Something that their timid, thin builds failed
to