by Jason Gurley
The Settlers
Jason Gurley
Copyright © 2013 Jason Gurley
www.jasongurley.com
Cover art copyright © Greg Martin
www.artofgregmartin.com
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
The Movement Trilogy
The Settlers
The Colonists
Other Novels
Greatfall
The Man Who Ended the World
"If you like sci-fi with a heart beyond the tech, this is your series."
"Great characters and clever, far-seeing plot. This (series) reminded me of some of Asimov's early work."
"I could not put this book down! Jason Gurley knows how to create great characters."
"The dialogue (is) beautiful. The words flow through your mind as if you are actually talking to the characters."
"Rarely do I find fiction these days that I (consider) art, but this qualifies. Brilliantly written!"
"I'm hooked -- this was wonderful! I can't imagine how I will possibly wait for the (conclusion)."
"An amazing movement. I am a fan. Good job, Jason -- please write books for a long time."
"Mr. Gurley is building a major story here. I could not help but be intrigued."
"A thrilling and beautifully-woven book."
"I can't wait to start the next (one). Brilliant!"
"This was an exceptional read. I want to read it again."
"The style and dialogue is wonderful. Very imaginative, keeps your attention."
Reader quotes from 4- and 5-star Amazon reviews
For Felicia and Emma
Who better to spend this one life with
ASYLUM
TASNEEM
BLAIR
EMIL
REVOLUTION
MICAH
BERNARD
NATHAN
ZITA
ELDON
INSTITUTION
DAVID
Dear Reader
About the Author
The first settlers were empty-handed.
They walked up the street like nomads. Fathers with arms around their wives. Children holding hands, their expressions bleak. The old people followed, pushing their walkers through ankle-deep water. They would be turned back long before they reached the spaceport. But still they followed.
They were survivors already, cast from ruined homes by a tempestuous planet. Their neighborhoods were underwater, or would soon be. The trees they had planted as children were uprooted, and floated like barges through the streets and canals. They had watched their loved ones die, often just beyond their reach.
The first settlers were in a collective state of shock.
Tasneem Kyoh was five years old then. Later she would struggle to remember life before that gray, damp morning. Surely she had formed memories of play dates, of birthdays, of watching cartoons on Saturday mornings -- but as an adult, she could not recall a single one.
It was as if her life began at the moment Earth died.
And after that day, she remembers everything.
Nobody knew it would happen so quickly.
For decades, environmentalists and scientists had warned that Earth had a tipping point, an invisible line that, when crossed, would bring irreversible change. Temperatures and sea levels would become unpredictable. Weather systems previously unheard of would surge into historically calm regions.
Only a few listened.
Change was too distant. It was too surreal. Filmmakers made movies about the disasters to come, but these failed as warnings. The content of the films were fantastic, unreal. Who could relate to the state of Colorado cracking in half? Almost nobody. And so, as politicians downplayed the crisis, the coming change became a fiction. A fairy tale.
And for years, it seemed that maybe the scientists had been wrong.
Oh, there were moments: great hurricanes that took unpredictable turns and landed on the wrong coasts. Coastal erosion that took entire resort communities down into the sea almost instantly. Winter storms that threatened traditionally warm climates.
It was hard to string isolated moments together into a warning.
But the great ice sheets at both poles collapsed and vanished, and suddenly more cities were built on waterways. These new cities collided with land, were swallowed up by immense waves. Temperatures rose, and the storms attacked mercilessly. The Earth turned on itself.
Humanity just happened to be in the way.
The years that followed challenged mankind in ways it had never imagined. While people all over the planet were submitted to terrible storms and watched their homes destroyed, rebuilt and destroyed again, world governments worked together to construct man's failsafe: a great home in space, where millions would be able to live free of the daily fear of death and loss.
It took thirty-three years to build the first space station.
In ordinary circumstances, such an undertaking should have been carefully planned and spread over half a century or more. To the average human, however, one who lived in abject fear of abrupt and horrible death, thirty-three years might as well have been ten thousand.
When construction began in 2047, the world's population was nine billion, down from 10.5 billion just three years before. The Earth's unstable season claimed lives in startling numbers, with incredible speed. When Station Ganymede was brought online in 2080, Earth's population was just 4.2 billion.
The new space station would provide a home for 3 million people.
Ganymede was humanity's greatest achievement, and it was only a life preserver.
Man was weakening.
Treatment
Name?
Tasneem.
Last name?
Kyoh.
The nurse looks up at Tasneem, then back down at her documents. Birthplace?
Seattle, Washington.
Age?
Thirty-three.
Birthdate?
June 11, 2075.
The nurse records this, then asks, Do you currently take any medications, or have any conditions that are under treatment?
No, ma'am.
History of cancer in your immediate family?
Tasneem nods. My father. Lung cancer.
What year?
I'm sorry?
What year did your father pass?
Oh. Right. 2068.
The nurse nods. The cloudburst, yes?
Yes. Did you lose anyone?
Eleven in my family, the nurse says. She shakes her head. Can you believe that? Just like that.
I remember.
The nurse clucks her tongue. It was a dark time. How about heart disease?
Tasneem struggles to keep up with the nurse's change of topic. No. Not that I know of.
Okay. Heart disease, no. Sexual activity?
Tasneem shakes her head. I -- I haven't.
The nurse glances up again, squints at Tasneem. Do you mean ever, or recently?
I haven't, Tasneem repeats. Ever.
No sexual activity, the nurse says to herself, making a note on Tasneem's file.
Thirty-three years old, and still she is embarrassed to admit such a thing. As though there is not more to life than a woman's virginity and its destruction, she often thinks to herself. She only allows herself to contemplate her lack of experience for a moment, however, lest it bring her down.
Any strong drink or recreational drug use?
No, Tasneem says. Pure as the driven snow.
The nurse ignores this comment. Your father, he was...
&n
bsp; Tasneem waits for the nurse to finish, but the question just dangles there, incomplete, so she attempts to fill it in. A consult to the embassy, she offers.
The nurse looks perplexed. I'm sorry. I meant, your father's ethnicity was... what?
Oh, Tasneem says. Of course. My father was Asian.
His birthplace?
Seoul.
What year?
2009.
Before the detonation, then, the nurse says.
Tasneem is dumbfounded. The detonation was in 2042, she says. My father was not twenty-six when he died.
Right, of course, the nurse says. Although, I am -- sorry, I am perplexed about one thing.
Tasneem waits.
You said your father died in -- the nurse looks down at her documents -- 2068.
That's correct. Tasneem has an idea of where the nurse is going with this, but she remains quiet.
And you were born in -- the nurse consults the papers again -- 2075.
Yes, Tasneem says.
The nurse looks up. She doesn't say anything, just stares quizzically at Tasneem.
Tasneem waits.
Finally, the nurse says, I -- how -- I'm just confused.
My father preserved the necessary ingredients for life, Tasneem says. So that my mother could have a child, even if he was not present.
Ah, okay, the nurse says. You're an only child?
The first few tries didn't take, Tasneem says. I was conceived from the last batch. So yes, I'm an only child. My mother is fiercely loyal, and did not remarry.
The nurse smiles uncomfortably. Let's talk about your mother, then. What year was she born?
2017, in Mumbai.
She was Indian, then?
Very much so.
Is she still alive?
No, ma'am. My mother died in 2087.
You were --
Twelve.
That's terrible, the nurse says.
Yes, ma'am.
Your mother was part of the first wave.
We both were, yes.
So she died on Ganymede, the nurse concludes. Not here on Aries.
Yes. Aries wasn't around until last year.
Right, the nurse says. I'm sorry. That's ridiculous of me.
It's okay, Tasneem says.
The nurse taps her pen on the paperwork. May I ask what from?
What from?
What did your mother die of? I'm sorry to be indelicate.
Tasneem says, My mother died because she was a creature of the Earth, and my father was buried there.
The nurse blinks. I -- I understand. It's just -- I need a cause of death for the, um, papers.
She died of respiratory failure, Tasneem answers.
The nurse notes this on the papers, then stands up. Tasneem stands as well, but the nurse says, No, please, sit. It may be a few minutes, but the doctor will want to interview you himself.
Is that standard? Tasneem asks.
You didn't think that the treatment was a simple pill you could take, did you? The nurse gathers the paperwork. No, every treatment requires a thorough investigation of your medical, emotional and psychological history, Ms. Kyoh. There's a bit more remaining, I'm afraid.
Tasneem sits down again. I wasn't told much, she says.
Generally it's a seven-week process, and then we administer the treatment or deny treatment permanently, the nurse says. You're at day one. I hope you're a patient woman.
Deny? Tasneem asks. Permanently?
The nurse nods. The doctor will tell you more. Can I bring you anything? Water?
No, thank you, Tasneem says.
Very well, the nurse says. Hold tight. He'll be here shortly.
Seven weeks? Ridiculous.
Tasneem stirs honey into her tea. I suppose it makes sense.
Sense how? Audra asks. I say if you're healthy and wealthy, you should get the treatment that same day. They're providing a service. You're the customer.
The customer hasn't always been right in fifty years, Tasneem says with a smile. Besides, I really do get it. Would you want to be responsible for making someone immortal who should not be?
Audra frowns. Like David? Because I'll tell you, that man has no business making it to the end of the week, much less the end of the millennium.
No, not like David, Tasneem says. What if you were the doctor who immortalized a pathological killer, for example? What if Jack the Ripper ripped his way through six centuries of hapless young women because you didn't do your homework?
You know, it's really hard to win an argument when you make so much sense, Audra complains.
Tasneem walks to the kitchen and picks through her produce basket until she finds a grapefruit. She slices it in half, then holds one half up inquisitively.
Sure, Audra says.
Tasneem plucks two grapefruit spoons from the rack and returns to the table. How are you and David this week?
Audra chuckles bitterly. Do you think most people have to be asked that? How are you this week. Do you think most people get along for longer periods of time?
Maybe, Tasneem says. I think of you and David as a special case, though.
Special! Audra says. Why, because David's high-functioning, and I'm just this shrill, incompetent thing who happens to share his bed?
Because you're both lovely people, and you've fashioned a partnership that's lasted about a hundred years despite some pretty fundamental differences, Tasneem says.
Well, this week, David's a complete jerk, Audra says. And stop being so nice about him. You're supporting me right now.
Tasneem pokes her grapefruit. That's pretty disingenuous, Audra.
Oh, whatever, Audra says. Look, everybody wants to wallow and be selfish sometimes.
And this is your time?
This is my time, Audra agrees. If you don't want to support me unequivocally, that's fine. Your prerogative. You're smarter than me, after all. I'm sure you see right through this bullshit.
I am smarter than you, Tasneem allows with a smile.
Oh, it's like that, now, Audra says.
Not really.
Okay. Good.
It's all going to be fine, you know.
Audra sighs. I know. But it's nice to pretend sometimes that it isn't. It makes these mood swings feel a bit more logical.
Twenty-two weeks pregnant deserves a bit of a break in the logic department, I'd say.
Thanks, Neem. Audra sighs. You know, David's talking about taking the treatment, too.
David would make a great immortal, Tasneem says.
We're disagreed about it, though. Immortality is a little scary to me. Audra sips her tea. I mean, in a boring way. I don't know if I could find enough to keep me busy and happy for a few thousand years.
Sure, Tasneem says. I understand that. I worry a little about that, too.
Why? You're perfect for it. You'd get to see everything happen that you've been thinking about for the last twenty years.
Oh, yes, and that's why I'm trying for it, Tasneem says. But I'm not all about my work, you know. And I've never really known what to do with my free time. Studying people for so long has changed me. I can't watch a program without wondering what future versions of us might think of it. What would they learn about me by watching it?
You really can drain the joy out of anything, you know.
It's a talent, Tasneem says.
The doctor's working quarters are sparsely decorated. The seamed wall panels are stark and unwelcoming. He is one of the fortunate few with a window on the outer ring of Station Aries, and Tasneem's view at this very moment makes up for her bleak surroundings.
Aries turns like a great wheel over Earth. From Dr. Widla's office, Tasneem is overjoyed to see her mother's birthplace. India descends into the ocean like a great fang, although it is narrower than it once was, and flanked by several small islands that were once part of the mainland. Clouds stretch thin like shoestrings over the land, and are blown into taffeta as they cross the sea.
&nb
sp; Humbling, yes?
Tasneem turns from the window as Dr. Widla enters the room. He's a stout man, perhaps in his late fifties, with a scruff of silvery beard hiding his mouth. Still, she recognizes a smile in his eyes, and returns it.
It's beautiful, she says. But only for a moment, and then it's horrifying.
I know just what you mean, Dr. Widla says. From time to time we pass over my home, and I'm troubled to discover that it is somewhere beneath the ocean now. But it is oceanfront property now, is it not?
Tasneem laughs politely.
It's okay, you don't have to laugh. It is the most terrible joke I could say. Dr. Widla settles into the chair behind his desk, and indicates the chair near Tasneem. Please. Sit.
Tasneem reluctantly steps away from the window. Already India has moved on. She takes her seat and rests her hands nicely on her knees.
So, Dr. Widla says, turning slowly in his chair. You would like to live forever.
Well, not forever, Tasneem says. I know that's not really the case.
Ah, but you must not imagine only the now, Ms. Kyoh. You must consider the future, when you have lived for a century and someone has discovered a way to improve this treatment. What then? Will you take it? How will you feel about becoming truly immortal?
I suppose I won't know until I've been almost immortal, Tasneem says.
Dr. Widla studies her closely. Then he clasps his hands sharply. Tasneem flinches.
That's not a bad answer, he says, and his beard smiles at her again.
Shaken, Tasneem digs deep for a half-smile. Thank you.
So I'll begin here, Dr. Widla says. There are many things that the average person doesn't think about when they consider taking the treatment. For example, do they love their career? Will they be content to forestall retirement for several hundred years? That's a long time to work if you aren't in love with your work. Let's begin there. What will you do for income?
