Beneath the surface of the colony planet
Denub Six, an army of psychic children is trained for war.

 Kidnapped by three military recruiters, twelve-year-old Caleb Mitchell is forced into the ranks of the Underground Military.  Fitted with cybernetics to increase his psychic abilities, Caleb is ranked SubZero as the most gifted telekinetic among the young soldiers.  Their manipulative leader, General Powers, takes Caleb under his wing to train him personally.  For three years, Caleb suffers physical, mental and emotional abuse as Powers molds him into a heartless killer worthy of leading the corrupt UM in his stead.  Fooling everyone into believing he’s the general’s minion, SubZero plots to overthrow the Underground Military to escape his predetermined role as tyrant.

 As a teen, SubZero is assigned tasks and missions typically reserved for the elite flyers who command colossal, robotic war machines.  Sent to extinguish a race of psychic humanoids on the neighboring planet of Sanderra, SubZero discovers that he has an unexpected legacy.  His father, whom he thought was dead, is the emperor of the Sanderrians and Caleb is next in line.  He returns to Denub Six to destroy the infrastructure of the UM to protect the people he has come to love and to find retribution for his shattered childhood.  A final showdown against General Powers demonstrates SubZero’s power and Caleb’s humanity.  As a one-man army, he is able to defeat the general and destroy the compound without taking a single life.

1

Mom floated in a chamber half-full of translucent, oily fluid.

Caleb touched her hand to see if she was still warm.  He never trusted the monitors that displayed her vital signs.  He needed proof.  Her warm skin told him that she was still alive, but she did not know he was there.  She never did.  She couldn’t hear his whispered fears.  Could not see his anxious face.  Could not feel the touch of his small hand.  She was alive, but to her, the world was dead.  Her only son no longer existed.

A loud clap of thunder drew Caleb’s attention to the window of his mother’s room.  It was pouring outside.  Rainwater traced thick paths down the glass.  Caleb couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen precipitation.  It had been before his mother had succumbed to the Melbian Fever.  He remembered thinking she’d gone crazy when she’d taken him outside in the rain and danced with him in the puddles.  It must have been at least three years ago, maybe longer.  It hadn’t rained in New Washington since that day.

“Caleb, it’s about time for you to leave, isn’t it?” Martha, one of the long-term care nurses, asked him from the door.

Caleb turned his attention from the rivulets on the window to the doorway.  He kept his eyes downcast.  Most people thought he was shy because he never looked anyone in the eye.  He was, in truth, keeping a secret.  A secret easily revealed by his eye color.

“Can I stay until the rain ends?” he asked.

“Won’t your father be worried about you?”

He shook his head.  “No.”  That was not a lie.  His father was dead—a casualty of a war that had occurred a decade in the past.  The nurses did not realize Caleb was homeless.  They would turn him over to social services if they discovered his situation and then he’d have no way of keeping his secret.  When she was able, Mom had kept his abilities hidden from the authorities.  He could not let her down.  He had to be careful.