Veiled Planet (Hidden World Trilogy Book 1)

by Teagan Kearney

  Hidden World Trilogy

  Book One

  Veiled Planet©

  By

  Teagan Kearney

  The right of Teagan Kearney to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchases.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover photo: Shutterstock

  Dedication

  To Tim, as always, for your loving support and help.

  And to every single one of my readers—a genuine heartfelt thank you.

  Acknowledgment

  Grateful thanks to my editor, Sarah Watts.

  http://yourwords-proofreading.blogspot.co.uk/

  Sign up for the author’s mailing list to receive a free copy of Hekate’s Chalice, Book One in the Adept Solutions Series, and information about new releases, discounts, and advanced reading copies: http://tinyurl.com/hk39yun

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One: An Encounter

  Chapter Two: Family

  Chapter Three: Flight

  Chapter Four: Animosity

  Chapter Five: A Helping Hand

  Chapter Six: Making Friends

  Chapter Seven: Clannad

  Chapter Eight: The Desert

  Chapter Nine: Getting Acquainted

  Chapter Ten: Arravata

  Chapter Eleven: A Binding Decision

  Chapter Twelve: Complications

  Chapter Thirteen: Shelter

  Chapter Fourteen: A Surprise

  Chapter Fifteen: The Artefact

  Chapter Sixteen: The Mountain Maruts

  Chapter Seventeen: Hitam

  Chapter Eighteen: Refugees

  Chapter Nineteen: A Setback

  Chapter Twenty: Double-Dealing

  Chapter Twenty-One: Standing Witness

  Chapter Twenty-Two: The Debrief

  Chapter Twenty-Three: Deception

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Forestalling Misfortune

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Collaboration

  Chapter Twenty-Six: Reunited

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: End Game

  FROM THE AUTHOR

  Prologue

  Memorandum to the Planetary Exploration Council.

  Rimor, the space exploratory vessel mapping the outer arm of the Eucleides galaxy, came across a G-type main-sequence star (G2V) orbited by one planet on the final sweep. Analysis of the planet’s initial survey met the threshold criteria for dispatchment of a first contact team.

  First Contact Report.

  The planet, assigned the designation XL3198, has two moons whose orbits are in close proximity indicating the possibility of notable seismic activity. Tests show the atmosphere is within the parameters ideal for settlement, and there are two land masses—one larger, inhabited (northern), and one smaller, uninhabited (southern). A sizeable ocean encircling the planet separates the two.

  The smaller southern continent is covered (98%) with a steep-sided fold mountain range. These are snow-capped, severely eroded, and show very little signs of fauna or flora. The larger northern continent shows a greater variety of habitats. These bands vary in width.

  One species of indigenous hominids has been identified in the northern continent. These are semi-nomadic hunter gatherers who tend herds of herbivores (Sankerii Kapoa). A First Contact team found the hominids (given name, Marut) friendly enough, and with a developed language and a simple social system in place. After protracted discussions they agreed to allow a limited number of colonists in exchange for a basic trade agreement, but withheld permission for colonists to leave the settlement. The land given, a mixture of temperate forest and scrubland, will allow crops to be cultivated and will allow the colony to make a start toward self-sufficiency with regard to food supplies.

  The first colonists’ transport ship will be left in orbit, and all other requirements will be delivered there and transported to the surface by shuttle until such time as a space port can be built. The first contact team recommends biologists, botanists and zoologists be included among the first colonists.

  Triumvirate Law on Colonization of Newly Discovered Planets.

  If newly discovered planets suitable for human settlement possess developed intelligent life, progress will take place at a pace ordained by the indigenous species rather than at the colonists’ dictates. This law was passed by a vote of two to one by the Triumvirate Council.

  Coda:

  Over millennia of space travel, Humanity’s instinct to dominate and mold whatever environment they encounter has caused tragedies, decimated other species, and lost us access to advanced technologies. Eventually, homo sapiens is learning that an ethical approach to planetary colonization provides far more advantages, as we have experienced recently with the benefits gained from our interactions with Yelavite species.

  Private Communique to Triumvirate Councilor Leonidis Marshall:

  The colony is flourishing. Numbers are increasing at a sustainable rate with the allocated number of children being birthed in the genisi unit of the medical center. Crop seeds passing the requisite tests in biodomes are successfully transplanted. The farms are providing enough to meet the colonists’ nutritional needs, but agriculturalists maintain this would be enhanced if we are able to extend the land allocated to us by the Maruts. Colonists have erected a magsen fence, for protection against predators, around the main settlement areas containing the community living quarters and the administrative centers.

  The indigenous Maruts requested we call the planet by the name they use, Hamarkhis, and in the pursuit of an improved relationship, we have officially agreed. However, from the beginning, this race has held themselves aloof from us. They continue to show no interest in the benefits, medical, technological, etc., we can offer, or any desire for social interaction with us. In return, I fear, the colonists are developing a view of the Maruts as a primitive closed society that does not bode well for the future.

  The initial survey of the inhabited continent showed large deposits of mineral ores that we are extremely interested in extracting. However, I am stating for the record, such a treaty with the Maruts may be a long time coming.

  As the first commander of this colony, it has been my privilege to oversee the satisfactory establishment of a settlement. I have been here for five cycles, and my appointment as commander here is approaching its end. I look forward to meeting up with you upon my return.

  Commander Asbeyno, Base Colony, Hamarkhis.

  Chapter One: An Encounter

  Colony Settlement Rule 561:

  Education should provide ample opportunity to gain experience of local conditions.

  Kara squinted, peering through the tall, thin jezebel trees. Their bare pallid trunks crowned with wide red leaves provided shade from the midday sun, but not from the heat, and she periodically wiped the sweat off her forehead before it dripped into her eyes. She could see where the upward trail led, but there wasn’t a single olive green cadet uniform in sight.

  “Hey, wait for me!” Kara winced at the saw-edged whine in her voice, but they should have waited. The core element in this test was cooperative functioni
ng as a team, and leaving someone behind broke the first rule of colony survival—you didn’t abandon anyone. If she didn’t catch up, she’d drop back to bottom ranking in her class. Not the result she wanted after she’d spent the last year clawing her way up two paltry places. Where in the universe were they?

  Kara blew out a breath of frustration, ran her sweaty hands through her short hair, and put her sulk on hold. Lifting one foot at a time and putting it down while scrutinizing the ground for signs of spring-beetle occupancy took every bit of her attention. The small pyramidal mounds were thankfully absent. A bite from the insect, while not life-threatening, could swell to horrible proportions. Her study of the insects last semester had given her far too much insight into the varying sizes and discomforts of post-bite swellings.

  Two corco birds flew high above the canopy, cackling to each other as their heavy wings beat the air with a soft thump thump. They were herbivores, although there were still many unknown species of plant and animal on the planet awaiting detection and classification.

  Kara halted for a second to observe their ungainly flight. Next year she would begin studies in her chosen subjects—botany and biology. She ignored the flush of guilt at the thought of the tiny gold speckled plants which had caught her eye. She was fully aware this wasn’t a field trip, but the urge to pop a couple into one of the specimen bags she always carried had been overwhelming. That was probably when she’d dropped behind, but one way or another, she would finish this course. If it had to be without the support of the rest of the class, so be it.

  Since she’d become a student at the academy two cycles ago, she’d had plenty of experience of being the outsider. Joining the class late, because she’d remained with her father after her mother died, made her different from the rest. Friendships, cliques, and lines of allegiance were already long cemented by the time she arrived. Her shyness had been interpreted as unsociability, and her absorption in her studies seen as boring. Then there was her lack of interest in team games. She had what was called a delicate build which translated into a lack of enthusiasm for the more physical aspects of cadet training. Kara didn’t consider herself weak, she just wasn’t the least bit interested in throwing her classmates onto the practice mats and giving loud shouts every time she did so. The local flora and fauna were far more fascinating, and at least they couldn’t make nasty remarks about her within her hearing.

  Her pack contained a map of the route, water, an emergency medical kit, and enough basic rations to ensure survival. Naturally, there was no comunit because calling for help defeated the point of the exercise. The original treaty with the Maruts, the planet’s indigenous hominids, prevented a true survival experience because they were forbidden to go beyond their settlement area, but now, alone—even though she was within a two-days’ walk of the colony—this so-called practice was worryingly more authentic than she’d anticipated.

  Fifty cycles ago, the Triumvirate gained permission from the Maruts for a colony on the planet, and the settlers’ situation was still far from permanent. Dangers from the flora and fauna, a variable climate, and the planet’s position at one end of a galaxy spiral placed it in the category of a limited outer world. But for Kara, it was home.

  She mentally ran through the list of worst possible dangers as she continued up the trail. The small red-humped salamanders were dangerous when they were in heat and defending their territory, but thankfully this wasn’t the season. Kallin bears hadn’t been spotted anywhere near this location for the last ten cycles, and this area wasn’t on the seasonal migratory route of the Maruts. However, these were merely a few dangers on a long list. She shunted these thoughts aside, lumping them together with her irritation and resentment.

  Kara ignored the midday heat as the hot Hamarkhian sun beat down on the forest, and wiped away the sweat trickling into her eyes with the back of her hand. She listened for indications that her companions were up ahead. Nothing. Her heart started to pound and she sucked in small puffs of warm air as she heard her father’s instructions in her mind. If you’re out there alone, be alert and don’t think about anything else except for what’s around you. Focus on the next step that’ll get you back to safety. Survival is a matter of breaking down the major objective of staying alive into smaller, achievable tasks. She closed her eyes for a minute, breathing slow and deep till her pulse slowed and her flight impulse subsided.

  If she didn't complete the exercise but retraced her steps to the starting point by going back down the hill, the entire unit would fail the exercise, drop their group rating, and have to repeat it after the term ended. This would give the other cadets more reason to resent her than they already did. If she finished the course, they wouldn’t achieve top ranking, but at least the assignment would be complete. Memorizing the route had been part of the preparation, and all she had to do was continue up the mountain to the summit, turn left and follow the trail till she arrived back at the spot where they’d camped last night. Easy.

  Ignoring the burning ache in her calves, she pushed herself and walked faster, clinging to the small hope that maybe a couple of cadets had been instructed to wait for her at the top of the hill. Yet a knot of anxiety remained, no matter how frequently she told herself everything was going to be fine. After another spell of steep climbing, the thinning trees warned her she was approaching the edge of the forest. She’d catch up with them soon. The trouble with fear is it doesn’t stay boxed away.

  Abruptly the forest ended, and a stretch of bare red rock led up to the summit. Here and there, the hardy brownish native moss had secured a grip, giving the landscape a burned mottled appearance and the slight breeze lifted small curls of dust. But there was no sign of any cadets.

  Thank the stars this wasn't the storm season, although on Hamarkhis no season was without irregularities as weather patterns were notoriously unstable and hard to predict. If a storm had unexpectedly blown in from the desert, the group leader, Nina, would have received notification as she had a comunit for emergencies—which was no help to Kara.

  She would have loved to collect more specimens but was far too aware of the price she was paying for her last stop. She listened and checked ahead before leaving the shelter of the trees. The low drone of the forest’s inhabitants rose and fell behind her.

  Where in the universe had they gone? Sixteen trainee cadets on a routine survival exercise couldn’t disappear. Practical jokes were the warp and weft of dorm life but this wasn’t funny. Anything might happen. Kara’s anger skyrocketed, and she stormed ahead with her eyes fixed on her goal as outrage fueled the last half klick to the summit. Well, no one was going to be laughing when she reported this to Commander Trench.

  As she mounted the final slope, she forgot her predicament and gasped in pleasure at the view. Row after row of red jagged peaks, crowned with snow, marched to the horizon. These mountains were the start of the Founders Range and covered the northern third of the continent.

  Pre-settlement surveillance had discovered the Maruts pastured their herds of satyrs in valleys peppered throughout this range. An anthropologist among the first colonists had nicknamed the herbivores satyrs, a creature out of an ancient fable, as a joke, and the name had stuck. However, the Maruts didn’t keep satyr herds for their meat, but for their coats which molted seasonally; they used the thick satyr wool and satyr hides for clothing, housing, carpets, tents. They milked the satyrs as well, which produced at least half a dozen food products. The satyrs were the basis for their way of life, and without them the Maruts could face extinction.

  Kara searched the slope below. No sign of her team-mates. How had she dropped this far behind? She hadn’t been that slow, had she? She started walking, but halfway to the summit, her stomach started making loud noises, and she figured she ought to eat. Basic survival training began early. The necessity of staying hydrated and fed was drummed into children living in a world of hidden hazards.

  She didn’t bother about the spring-beetles―the forest was their habitat―but
sat on a handy outcrop of rock and stuffed the bland emergency rations into her mouth, glugging the tepid liquid from her water bulb. The concentrated bars of essential vitamins and minerals were light to carry and quick to digest, and she brushed the final crumbs off her hands ready to face the downward trail. She would have to get moving if she wanted to reach camp before darkness fell.

  Then she heard it.

  A low growling, some distance away, behind and below her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she recognized the sound. It was one every colonist was familiar with, but only through educational holovids. She turned, and froze as a huge red and green kallin bear emerged from the forest. Kara stared, stunned, then pinched her arm hard. No, she wasn’t hallucinating.

  The beast raised its giant snout and sniffed the air. Catching her scent, the animal paced toward her, paw by gigantic razor-tipped paw.

  Kara’s training kicked in, and she pressed the adrenaline patch on the underside of her arm, releasing its one dose. As the hormone mixture flooded her bloodstream, enhancing her responses and donating an artificial mental clarity, she recognized she had no way of escape, and was unlikely to survive this encounter. A rapid stream of thoughts flashed through her mind. If only those in charge of such matters had anticipated needing more than one adrenaline boost. If only the others had waited, together their prospects would have been better, and what a story that would have been to tell her father. Rage at her classmates’ carelessness swept through her, and she cursed them a second time.

  Tracking the giant predator’s progress, Kara removed the stunner from her belt with careful slow movements.

  The animal began to charge, gaining momentum as it grew closer.

  Logic and reason informed her there was no way she could outrun the beast, even if she’d been in the forest, as its formidable sense of smell would allow it to track her scent as easily as following a lit pathway. She remembered the kallin bear’s swiftness and natural weaponry made it one of the dominant mammals on this planet. She very nearly smiled; her last moments and all she could summon up were facts from a biology lesson.