Building New Canaan - The Complete Series - A Colonization and Exploration Space Adventure

by M. D. Cooper

  After sending short messages to Isa and Martin to let them know she would be late, Erin set out for the meeting.

  The story of what had happened took a while to tell, and Tanis naturally had plenty of questions to ask. Major Usef was at the meeting, too. He reported that the picotech module had been recovered but not Hart’s remains, aside from his legs. The labs hadn’t found anything on the legs or the armored vehicle that would lead to Hart’s accomplice or accomplices, though they were still working on the lead.

  Tanis thanked Erin for her help with the infrastructure problems on Carthage, then, as Erin had predicted, told her she could return to the outer system to continue her work there.

  “Have you found some time to relax while you’ve been planetside?” Tanis asked her at the end of the meeting.

  “I have. Just a little,” Erin replied, trying not to sound like she was eager to leave.

  “Glad to hear it,” Tanis replied with a wink, and Erin wondered if Murry had shared something with the governor.

  SOLUTIONS

  STELLAR DATE: 12.07.8935 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Landfall, Knossos Island

  REGION: Carthage, 3rd Planet in the New Canaan System

  Erin walked into the small eatery on the edge of the Party Field. She’d never been to the field before, though she’d seen vids of it. A part of her was saddened that her work in the outer system had precluded her from being a part of the Landfall celebration, but she knew that her work was more important.

  The field hadn’t changed much from the vids, she was surprised to see. The long grass and wildflowers seemed to be unchanged, though Landfall had grown up all around it. The only difference was the sculpture of Inner New Canaan that had been erected.

  By the time Erin arrived—an hour and a half late, due to her meeting with Tanis—the park was quieting down. Children were being called by their parents to go home, and people were drifting to the cafes and other restaurants, like the one Isa had picked. It was lucky she’d made a reservation. All the places were filling up quickly.

  Erin hoped that Isa and Martin wouldn’t be too mad for being kept waiting so long, assuming that they were still there. As she went in, she spotted them. They had both waited. Isa and Martin were sitting together in the far corner of the place. Erin wove through the tables and servitors to reach them.

  To her surprise, Isa and Martin greeted her with warm smiles; she’d thought the two of them would have talked and eventually figured out their similar connection to her. It had been on her mind all through her meeting with Tanis, and she’d regretted it, believing things would have gone better if she’d been the one doing the explaining. It was one reason she’d half-expected to find them both gone.

  Feeling confused, she sat down and ordered a cream soda from a passing servitor.

  “Thanks for coming,” she began, addressing her companions. “I’m sorry I’m late. I had to go to a meeting with Tanis on short notice. She’s a bit demanding sometimes.”

  Both of them looked surprised at the name-drop, and Isa gave a small laugh. “I’ve heard, it’s OK.”

  “Yeah,” Martin added. “It’s fine. We found plenty to talk about.”

  Erin winced a little inside. She cleared her throat, put both hands on the table and said, “I have something I need to speak to you both about, so I thought…”

  Isa and Martin watched her expectantly.

  “I thought…”

  The right words weren’t coming to her mind. She stopped, unsure how to go on.

  The pair burst into laughter.

  “Oh, that was cruel,” said Isa. “It was Martin’s idea.”

  “What?” Erin asked. “What was Martin’s idea?” She looked at the scientist, but he was still laughing too hard to respond.

  “He said we shouldn’t tell you that we knew,” Isa said. “He said we should make you explain.”

  “He did, did he?” Erin narrowed her eyes at the chuckling man.

  Martin finally managed to restrain his mirth. “Come on, Erin, you have to allow me a small revenge after that time on the beach.”

  “What time on the…oh.” Erin smiled. “Fair enough.”

  Isa asked, “What happened?”

  “She took advantage of my ill-prepared state,” he supplied.

  Erin said, “So I take it you two have been talking? And I guess you know why I asked you to meet me here,” she added, feeling more somber.

  “Well,” said Isa, “it didn’t take us long to figure out our connection to you. I have to say, it cleared some things up for me. I understood why I hadn’t heard from you.”

  “Yeah,” Erin said. “Sorry about that.”

  “It’s OK. I get it.”

  “But what we weren’t sure about,” Martin said, “was exactly why we’re here. I take it you wanted to talk to us about where we go from here.”

  Erin’s mood sank further. She nodded. “I’m heading back to the outer system soon. I don’t know when I’ll be back, and I wanted to sort this out before I go. I want to be honest with both of you.” She reached out and took one of each of their hands in hers. “I like you both, so very much, and I can’t choose between you, so I decided to put a stop to things right here. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  “You’re going to avoid relationships with us to not hurt us?” said Isa. She gave Martin a puzzled look. “Does that sound screwy to you? Because it sure sounds screwy to me.”

  “Sounds screwy to me, too,” Martin said.

  “I don’t have a choice,” said Erin, hoping her companions weren’t going to try to make her choose between them. “I can’t be with both of you.”

  There was a slight pause, then, “Why not?” Martin asked.

  “Because…because…” Erin spluttered. “It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

  “Not to me,” he replied. “Humans might traditionally bond in pairs, but monogamous bonds aren’t typical in nature. In fact, I can think of hundreds of marine organisms off the top of my head that don’t use that setup. There’s—”

  Erin held up a hand to stop him. “I take your word for it. But we aren’t marine organisms. We’re human beings.”

  “Pfft,” Isa said. “Back on the mining platforms, people ended up in all kinds of relationships and mixed families. We took what opportunities we had to be happy. No one cared.”

  Erin let go of Isa’s and Martin’s hands and slumped back in her seat. This encounter was not going at all as she’d expected it would. She looked from one pair of eyes to the other. Her companions were completely serious. A wisp of hope appeared in her.

  “You really think it would work if I was in a relationship with both of you?”

  “It could,” Isa said. “I mean, who knows? But it wouldn’t hurt to give it a go, would it? Besides…” She leaned across the table and put a hand to her face to hide her expression and words from Martin. “I don’t usually go for men, but, damn. I love your taste. I think he and I could be very good friends.”

  “And another thing,” Martin said, totally oblivious. “Like you said, Erin, you’re returning to your work in the outer system soon. I’m always busy with my work, too. Do either of us really have time for a full-blown relationship? I’m not the jealous type, and I want you to be happy. If you want to see Isa alone sometimes, I’ve got plenty of other things to do. Or you can both come and stay with me at the promontory. It could be great.”

  Erin could hardly take it in. What she’d thought would be a sad, painful goodbye was turning out better than she could have dreamed.

  “You really wouldn’t mind?” she asked them. When Isa and Martin shook their heads, she said, “You’re sure?”

  “We can try,” said Isa. “If it doesn’t work out, what have we lost? But I think it will work out. I thought I wasn’t going to see you again, Erin, after we had that amazing connection. After spending so long alone. Now it looks like I’ll have not only you, but this goon here to keep me company. That’s what I call a great result.
There’s no way I’m letting this opportunity slip by, if I can help it.”

  “Same here,” said Martin. “Except I wasn’t interested in much besides fish till I met you. What if another Erin never comes into my life? I don’t get out much, you know. And mermaids don’t exist—I should know.”

  Erin laughed and grabbed their hands again. “I can hardly believe it. What did I do to deserve two such great people in my life? OK, let’s try, shall we? The governor said I should take some time off before going back to work, and I told her I didn’t need it, but I’ll let her know I changed my mind. We can spend a week or two together.”

  “Great,” said Isa. “I know! Let’s go to Athens. I know an amazing place there.”

  “Hmm,” Martin pondered. “It might take some wrangling to get away for so long, but someone I know owes me a favor. Maybe I can manage it.”

  “Let’s do that,” Erin said. “But it’s on me. I have about a billion credits that I’ll never spend.”

  “No,” Martin said. “I’ll pay. I never spend any money, either.”

  “I’ll let you two fight it out,” Isa said. “I’m so happy, I feel like I’m going to burst. This is what I love about New Canaan; you can do anything here.”

  EPILOGUE

  STELLAR DATE: 12.08.8935 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Landfall, Knossos Island

  REGION: Carthage, 3rd Planet in the New Canaan System

  Myrrdan’s agent sipped tea and watched the children play at the Party Field while mulling over the failure of that idiot, Hart, to secure the picotech. The man had all the necessary augmentations, and a perfect plan that should not have failed. What had gone wrong? It must have been the merest fluke that one of the Marines—or perhaps that engineer, who had also been present—looked up and saw him at exactly the correct moment.

  It could not be helped. The attempt had failed, but losing Nathan Hart was no great disaster. The man was clearly incompetent, or he would have secured the picotech at his first try. It would have been so easy then.

  The agent set down the teacup. It was time to return to work. Maintaining a convincing cover was essential. No one could suspect that a scion of Myrrdan lived among them. That much was entirely unknown to the New Cannanites, it was clear. They were only aware that their picotech was at risk from local threats, which they would probably connect to the Transcend fleet that hovered beyond New Canaan’s heliopause.

  They had disposed of Nathan Hart, but they were no fools. At that very moment, they would be wondering who had helped Hart in his preparations. Especially Tanis Richards. When it came to the picotech, she wouldn’t be caught napping.

  The situation—

  A ball hit the table, sent sailing from the field by a child. The agent’s teacup fell off the table to the grass beneath it, spilling the remains of the liquid. The ball also fell. The agent leaned down to pick it up.

  A child ran over, a little girl, breathless and flushed, her blonde hair scattered and wild. “Can we have our ball back, please?” she asked.

  “Of course,” the agent said, smiling kindly and holding out the ball.

  “Thank you!” She took the ball and ran away, but after going a short distance, she paused and looked questioningly over her shoulder, as if something had struck her as odd.

  The agent was still watching her. The little girl smiled and waved, and Myrrdan’s agent waved back. The girl ran back to her friends.

  Such a sweet little thing.

  Carthage really was beginning to burst with life. It would be a pity to have to destroy the burgeoning colony to get the picotech, but if an act so extreme were necessary, so be it. Eventually, others would come who were prepared to do just that. New Canaan would lose its priceless technology in the end, one way or another. It was foolish of them to cling so tightly to it when the only result was that everyone saw them as a threat.

  Ah, well.

  The agent picked up the fallen cup and placed it on the table before standing up. It was time to return to another kind of work. The Carthaginians would use their precious technology again, or the search for the secret lab where it was prepared would bear fruit.

  However long it took, whatever it took, the agent would not rest until the picotech was in the hands of Myrrdan.

  THE END

  * * * * *

  AFTERWORD

  It seems a long time ago that Malorie Cooper and I sat together in a restaurant in Vegas discussing a collaboration set in the Aeon 14 universe. At the time, I felt both privileged and apprehensive about the idea. Tanis Richards, the voyage of the Intrepid, and all the related characters and stories that Malorie has crafted are so well-loved, I wasn’t sure that my contribution to the project would meet expectations.

  Yet Malorie’s universe is so detailed and complete, and the characters so richly drawn, that in the end I found that inspiration took over, and the characters of Erin, Isa, and Martin popped into my mind just about fully fleshed. Of course, Erin’s excellent engineering skills were already hinted at in prior Aeon 14 books, but the new character of Isa Chen developed as a natural consequence of the desperate plight of the Noctus and their escape from the Lumins. And Martin Ryland is an example of the elite scientists who would have had little trouble securing a place in an Aeon 14 colonization project.

  Another character who insisted on being a part of Carthage was Usef. His split personality was great fun to work with, and I expect we’ll see more of him in subsequent books in the Building New Canaan series, probably both in uniform and in thong.

  The settings in Carthage figured strongly as the story developed. From the Party Field to Landfall and hedonistic Athens, each came to reflect an aspect of the burgeoning society. The Party Field commemorates the momentous moment of arrival after the massive effort and struggle the colonists went through to reach their final destination, Landfall is the heart of the new civilization, and Athens is where the New Canaanites go to blow off steam and be a little uncivilized. (Athens was actually inspired by my current home, Taiwan, which lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and the wild hot springs where Usef meets his Marine friends are based on a real place.)

  Now that Carthage is complete, I’m looking forward to finding out how Erin, Isa, and Martin get along in their new relationship. I’m also interested to see what’s going to happen on the other habitable planets of New Canaan. I have a feeling that Erin’s problems aren’t over yet.

  J.J. Green

  New Taipei City, 2018

  TYRE

  BUILDING NEW CANAAN – BOOK 2

  BY J.J. GREEN & M. D. COOPER

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers

  Jim Dean

  Gene Bryan

  Timothy van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Marti Panikkar

  Steven Blevins

  Scott Reid

  Copyright © 2018 J.J. Green & M. D. Cooper

  Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper

  Version 1.0.0

  Cover Art by Andrew Dobell

  Editing by Jen McDonnell, Bird’s Eye Books

  Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered trademarks of Malorie Cooper

  All rights reserved

  FOREWORD

  If there’s one thing I love doing in Aeon 14, it’s coming back to New Canaan.

  It’s a real joy to write stories in this special period in the colony’s history. Though the colonists knew there were trials ahead, they were determined to make the most of their new worlds and build a lasting future for themselves.

  Even so, there are always those who want to spoil everyone else’s fun. People who are only happy if they can make everyone else miserable…or do things their way…or both.

  We find several such types in Tyre; people who have been given much, but don’t seem interested in using their gifts for good.

  Luckily, given what the people of New Canaan have coming their way, these events help them grow and prepare for what is coming next.

  As always, it’s a true pleasure to wri
te stories with Jenny. Her feel for the characters and what makes them unique is enlightening and makes them a lot of fun to get to know.

  We’re proud to bring you this second installment in the Building New Canaan books, and are gleefully scheming about what is to come in the next two!

  M. D. Cooper

  Danvers, 2018

  A FLIGHT AT THE OPERA

  STELLAR DATE: 03.07.8937 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Ore Handler K8-22, Cyprus Asteroid Group

  REGION: Macedon, New Canaan System

  Jacob Cimorelli’s thick fingers adjusted the delicate controls of his ore handler, as a soprano’s aria rang through his headset.

  The music helped the massive man to concentrate. Maneuvering a two-hundred-thousand-ton chunk of ore through space wasn’t easy, and the uraninite had to be kept separate from the rest of the extracted minerals in the mining operation on the Irridia asteroid. If he lost control of the ore before it was safely stowed in the Euphemia’s ore nets, Jacob would never hear the end of it from his supervisor.

  Max was the meanest bastard Jacob had ever worked for. Constantly finding fault, never satisfied, always skirting the line between overseeing and bullying. Jacob couldn’t wait for the day the man finally went too far and was demoted—or better still, transferred to another project, preferably on the system’s outer rim where operations lasted months with no time off. Then he might learn some manners and respect.

  That far out, away from the gaze of the central government at Carthage, ore handler pilots had their own ways of getting their pound of flesh out of a vindictive boss.

  Jacob took a calming breath and dismissed the irritating supervisor from his thoughts. Allowing the music to soothe his ruffled mind, he focused his attention on the readouts from his ship’s four pincers as they gripped the immense chunk of rock.