Defenders of
Nightstar
SHANE GARVEY
Copyright 2012 Shane Garvey
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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DEDICATION
To my kids, Connor and Lyam,
To my wife, Leanne
And to everyone who supports my efforts,
Thank you
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the encouragement of quite a few people. To my kids, who inspired me to write the book in the first place. Thanks must go to Leanne, Janine, Paul, Kaysie, Jen & David, who all kept up the message of support and encouragement. Thanks also to Todd for the logo design; we still make a great team even after ten or so years!
Prologue
Look, up there in the night sky. Do you see that bright star just to the left of the moon? The blue one, glittering like the most precious of jewels? Yes, that’s the one. That is Nightstar, and it is a world much like ours but also very, very different.
The people who live on Nightstar are very similar to ourselves. In fact, if you happened to meet someone from Nightstar, you would think they were from Earth. They look and talk the same as us, wear the same clothes and eat the same foods. They go to work and school, drive cars, play sports and talk on their cell phones. They play computer games, watch television and do all the other things that the people of Earth do.
Everyone on Nightstar lives in massive cities, again not unlike the cities we live in. Tall buildings reach for the sky, each one housing hundreds or thousands of people. Roads criss-cross the landscape, winding in between houses, shopping malls, restaurants and fast food outlets. In short, it is what you would expect to find in a typical Earth city. Everything, that is, except for the outer walls.
You see, each city on Nightstar is surrounded by a very large, very thick wall made of stone and steel. This is not merely for looks, nor is it designed to keep people from leaving the cities. Nightstar is not like that and people are free to do and say whatever they like. No, the walls are there for another reason, and that is to keep things out of the cities.
While the people and cities of Nightstar are almost the same as us, the similarities to Earth end there. Outside of the cities - the safe havens where men, women and children live their lives in bliss - lies a dangerous and wild world. Vicious jungles, jagged mountains, blistering deserts and massive swamps dominate the landscape. These are inhabited by all manner of monstrous creatures; giant, poisonous spiders weave massive webs in an attempt catch a tasty morsel, while wild, ferocious animals stalk their prey, taunting them and terrorising them until they are ready to pounce. All manner of venomous creatures lie in wait and even the plants and trees may turn on a traveller, ensnaring them with branches or vines before devouring them whole. Perhaps most deadly of all though are the monstrous abominations that also live there, such as the man-eating dinosaurs and the terrible fire-breathing dragons, as well as a multitude of others. The walls that surround Nightstar’s cities are designed to keep the worst of these creatures at bay and to provide a safe place to live.
After hearing that it will come as a surprise to many to learn that some people do, in fact, live beyond the walls of the cities. These people have, over the many generations they have lived there, been changed into more primitive, more aggressive folk who barely resemble a normal human any more. The harshness of the land, as well as the daily struggle against Nightstar’s many predators, have left them stronger, tougher and much more violent than their city-based counterparts and, while they still resemble a human, they now count themselves as separate races.
But enough of the lesson. This story centres around three young people, all siblings, who live in one of the largest cities on Nightstar, Bright City. They are three ordinary children whose lives are about to get very interesting.
Tam is the oldest of the three at age fourteen. He has spiky black hair and is tall for his age. He is athletic, playing many sports like football and basketball and he excels at them all. As the oldest he considers himself the ‘boss’, something his brother and sister ignore more often than not.
The middle child is Cal, who is only a year younger than Tam. His older brother picks on him a lot though it is always in a friendly, playful way. Cal is much shorter than Tam and nowhere near as good at sports, a fact Tam reminds him of daily. However, he is very clever and wise and he has a stubborn streak that is greater than most.
The youngest of the family and the only girl, is Molly. She is eleven years old and is a charming and lovely girl who makes friends easily. Both of her brothers are very protective of her, for she reminds them greatly of their mother who passed away three years ago. Molly believes she is more than capable of looking after herself and thinks the boys are silly for being so ‘overbearing’, as she puts it.
Chapter 1 - Invaders
This story takes place on a warm Spring day in Bright City. The midday sun shone down brightly while the birds in the tress sung their merry songs. The flowers were blooming, their sweet perfumes giving the city a fresh, beautiful smell.
In the centre of Bright City was Middle Park, a large grassy area bordering on a cool and deep lake. People flocked to Middle Park on nice days as there was plenty to do there. Families picnicked on the lawn, fishermen paddled out on the lake in their boats hoping to catch a tasty fish or two, people walked their dogs and children played on the playground equipment.
On this particular day Tam, Cal and Molly were all in the park. Molly was watching her two older brothers play football; Tam would kick it to Cal who in turn would try to kick it back. Cal was not as athletically gifted as his brother, however, and Molly would laugh every time he tripped over or stumbled while attempting to kick the ball. This annoyed Cal, but only slightly; he knew it was all in good fun.
“Kick it, clumsy!” Molly yelled out to Cal. Cal stuck his tongue out at her and then went to kick the ball as hard as he could, but got tangled up in his own feet and fell over with a thud. Molly roared with laughter while Tam went to his younger brother and helped him up.
“You’re trying too hard,” he explained to Cal. “Just kick it gently, try to guide it with your foot. You don’t need to kick it out of the park,” he grinned.
Cal got up and dusted himself off. This was how their days normally went; Tam trying to teach Cal how to play sport, while Molly looked on and laughed every time he made a fool of himself.
Suddenly a large shadow fell over Middle Park, blocking out the warm sunlight. This was strange, for only moments before there had not been a cloud in the sky. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up.
Hovering in the sky above Bright City was a huge space ship. It was enormous, almost half the size of the city itself, and its silvery hull glistened in the sun, which made it to look like it was glowing. Everyone stood looking on in astonishment, wondering what was going on.
Suddenly a huge, booming voice sounded out across the entire city. “My name is Vol, and I come here to Nightstar as your conqueror. I will be your new Overlord and you shall all obey my every command!”
Everyone looked around in fear and terror. What was going on? Why was this happening? they asked. What is going to happen now? they wondered.
The voice boomed again. “You have four days to surrender your planet to me or I will take it by force. In the meantime I will make sure you don’t try anything stupid! Behold, my Doombots!” There was a blinding flash of light and, when they could see again, Tam, Cal and Molly were amazed and terrified by the sight in front of them. Hundreds, if not thousands, of robotic men stood before them. They had metallic, silvery bodies and evil, glowing green eyes. Each one of them was armed with some sort of high tech gun and a sword that glowed with blue electrical energy.
“Should anyone try to stop me,” the voice of Vol continued, “my Doombots will destroy the city! Hahahahaha!”
For many long moments the Doombots stood there, mute and unmoving, while people fled in terror. The three kids stood there watching, waiting in anticipation of what would happen next. Others stood near them, eyes firmly focused on the silvery robots in front of them.
After a few minutes a rumbling noise could be heard in the distance, slowly getting louder and louder. The Doombots did not move. Another couple of minutes later and Tam, Cal and Molly could see a large tank roll into view. Following it were around fifty armed soldiers, machine guns held at the ready. As they approached Middle Park the tank stopped and the soldiers quickly got into position.
The children and other onlookers watched in fascination. Suddenly the soldiers opened fire, sending a barrage of bullets into the Doombots. The onlookers cheered, but their joy was short-lived; the bullets didn’t seem to harm the Doombots at all!