Binary Cycle - (Part 1: Disruption) Read Online Free

workload was the council’s idea. They maintained that a busy colonist was a happy colonist. How else would people forget about the dangerous conditions of Taran? The constant threat of the Spindroth or gravitational disruptions? Life was a constant trial.
    Something Linsya said snapped Jonathas out of his thoughts.
    “Wait, you’re going to tell your dad about us?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. He had been hoping Linsya would tell her parents about their budding relationship for months now, but so far she’d been reluctant. “Why now?” he probed.
    Linsya blushed, “Don’t get me wrong, Jonnie, my parents love you. But they always hoped I’d end up with someone… of higher status than a repair technician.”
    The words stung, but Jonathas knew she was right. A girl like her deserved a man who could give her a better life, not get her stuck deep in the thermal mines.
    “What kind of person do they want you to be with?” Jonathas asked.
    She squeezed his hand tighter as they walked. “Well, someone like an Operator! My dad always said I should try to get to know Eddie Samson. ‘He’s the best Operator there is’, my dad always tells me, ‘and handsome, too.’”
    They both laughed at that. Samson wasn’t exactly what anyone would call traditionally handsome.
    “But honestly,” Linsya continued,” he’s too arrogant and shallow, I could never be with someone like that.”
    Jonathas caught her smile in the dim glow of the overhead lights.
    “So now that you’ve been promoted, my dad can stop bugging me about this. Isn’t that wonderful?”
    Jonathas pulled her closer to him in the dark and they stopped walking. He pressed her against a rock wall and as their lips met, passion flooded his senses, replacing any lingering doubts he had had about their relationship. She moved a hand up his back as they kissed, hugging him tightly against her lithe body.
    That was when the alarm sounded.
    Cursing, Jonathas looked up as the corridor lights began flashing a dull orange. They had nearly come to the end of the tunnel.
    “Come on!” He grabbed Linsya’s hand and they ran toward the large titanium doorway, which loomed fifty meters ahead.
    The ground underfoot began to shake and a strange, deep vibration crescendoed against the rocky walls. They stumbled awkwardly toward the door, but just as they reached it, a violent shudder sent them tumbling to the ground. A buzz emanated from the control panel and the heavy door slammed shut with a thunderous clank, locking them in.
    “Someone must have activated the security shutters,” Linsya said as she got to her feet. “Jonathas, are you okay?”
    Jonathas closed his eyes, blocking out the orange glow and trying to steady himself against the wall as his head spun. The alarm blared in his ears and images of metallic drones swam across his vision. The robots, chased by molten hot magma, coursed through fiery tunnels. Jonathas was there with them as the lava churned through the rock, trying to drown them all in liquid fire. 
    He fell to his knees and heard a scream mixed with the blaring klaxons. 
    Linsya...
    Jonathas called out to her and felt himself losing consciousness. His mind was succumbing to the shaking planet, and the network of machines which invaded his thoughts.
    “Jonathas!” Linsya's voice sounded distant as he crumpled to the floor with a dull thud.
    She knelt beside him, pleading with his writhing form, shaking him by the shoulders.
    “Come on, wake up! Jonnie, I need you. Please, I don’t wanna be down here alone.”
    ...Please Jonnie.
    Wake up.

• Disruption •

Chapter 4
    With thoughts of her errant mother running through her head, Skyia was too agitated to lie still any longer. She rose to her knees and pulled her tunic back up around her shoulders, brushing off little flecks of dirt and moss that had clung to her body.
    She skipped to the edge of the mesa and gazed out over her world. Standing at the top of the cliff, Skyia had an