The Crucible (The Ember War Saga Book 8)
Page 24
“What day is it?” Her brow knit in confusion. “Where am I? This isn’t my apartment.”
Two knocks came from the door, then two more higher up on the wood.
Shannon jammed an arm behind her headboard, looking for the pistol that should have been there, and found nothing.
The knock combination repeated…and a sudden wave of calm spread over her.
Shannon threw a pair of sweatpants over her bare legs and opened the door. A man and woman stood in the hallway, their eyes glazed over. A trickle of drool spread from the woman’s mouth.
“Good morning, Shannon,” the man said. She heard the words, but with the tilt of the man’s head and a slight facial tic, in her mind the words became “Safety. Entrance.”
Shannon stepped aside and let them in.
The man looked over the room dispassionately. He spoke again. Shannon ignored the words and took in subtle hand gestures, slight variations in tone, the direction of his eyes when he spoke certain words. His true speech came as a code within his plain speech.
“Do you serve the Naroosha?” he asked.
Shannon answered effortlessly in the sub-lingua.
“I do. What is our task?” she asked.
“The masters are absent, but their mission is ours. Bring the procedural technology to the spawn world and destroy the Crucible. We are few in number, but your position is useful,” he said.
Shannon’s mind went to Ibarra, the ghost within the probe. Yes, she’d served him for many decades. He trusted her implicitly, molded the mind implanted in the body to do his bidding without question or compulsion. Perfect.
“Difficult, but not impossible. It will take time to execute,” she said.
“This other one is defective,” the man said. “Her cortex does not process the sub-lingua properly, but she responds to commands.”
“Prompt,” Shannon said to the drooler, “jump off the top of this building immediately.” She scratched her pinky finger against a temple.
The woman perked up and smiled.
“See you guys later!” She left the room with a happy wave.
“I need a list of our brethren,” Shannon said as she went to her window and looked up to the roof. “The Naroosha gave us a task. We will not fail.”
TO BE CONCLUDED
FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you for reading The Battle of the Void. I hope you enjoyed it enough to leave a review and tell two friends about The Ember War Saga. I always enjoy hearing from readers and you can drop me a line at Richard.r.fox@outlook.com.
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Also By Richard Fox:
The Ember War Saga:
1. The Ember War
2. The Ruins of Anthalas
3. Blood of Heroes
4. Earth Defiant
5. The Gardens of Nibiru
6. The Battle of the Void
7. The Siege of Earth
8. The Crucible
9. The Xaros Reckoning (Coming November 2016!)
IRON HEARTS
IRON HEARTS
Elias, soldier of the Iron Hearts and pilots of a mechanized suit of armor, lies comatose in a hospital. His mind trapped within the prison of his failing body. With no other option but to watch their friend wither away, his fellow Iron Hearts concoct a dangerous plan to save him.
VENT RATS
Chief MacDougall hunts a Toth loose aboard the Breitenfeld with the aid of Steuben and Lafayette. Can the Karigole set aside their hatred to catch the infiltrator alive?
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THE QUEEN OF SIDONIA
Princess Cosima will be queen, if she survives to her eighteenth birthday.
In a galaxy controlled by massive corporations, few worlds are truly free. When explorers find a priceless wormhole near Sidonia, the hostile attention of the Aquitaine Corporation focuses on the small, backwater kingdom.
To protect their world, Sidonia’s royalty rush seventeen year old Princess Cosima into an arranged marriage, one that will guarantee a treaty and shield Sidonia from Aquitaine’s clutches. But Cosima never asked for the honor of becoming the next queen to a man she doesn’t love.
With the fate the planet in the balance, a team of deadly assassins targets Cosima. The best killers money can buy will see the Princess dead before her wedding day. Cosima will need her wits to uncover the identity of the assassins targeting her, and her courage to stay alive in the middle of an interstellar power struggle.
If you like space opera novels with intrigue, a fast-paced plot and a tale of survival against impossible odds, then read The Queen of Sidonia today!