by Ben Winston
“What say you?” it asked the rest.
“The reports are fictional constructs created by captain and crew too long in the deep dark. The Talosians were all destroyed,” Dren replied.
“Perhaps, but we don’t actually have proof of that. We don’t know how many, if any, of their ships survived. We never managed to capture one of those damn AIs intact to question it. It could be that the descendants of one of those ships have come to the planet, and have discovered the wreck on the moon. They have established a small, isolated colony while they pick at the bones of the skeleton,” another Praetor countered. “The fact that there have been an increase in the shuttle flights would support this. But there is really only one way to know for certain. One of us will need to go there and verify what’s going on. One of our ships can easily handle a small salvage colony.”
No one spoke for a moment then, when Dren was about to suggest someone, the Grand Praetor pointed at him. “Thank you for accepting this challenge as your own, Dren. You do our family proud with such an action. Since we finished with the excellent meal, I make the motion we all retire for the day, and allow Dren to begin preparations for the crossing.”
The old being was grinning smugly at Dren’s trapped expression and didn’t hear who seconded, but the motion carried, and it was too late for Dren to back out. As the rest of the Praetors left the dining hall, the old being began sorting through other members of its family for Drens future replacement. The servants dared not look the great being in the face, as it moved past making pleased noises. They did however, wonder what this portent would mean to them in the future.
Also by Ben Winston
Talosian Chronicles
Olympus
Tides of Mars
Ascension
Conflict
Tides of Mars (Omnibus Version)
Standalone
Pollux Paradox
Watch for more at Ben Winston’s site.
About the Author
Ben Winston (1965 - ?) was born in Iowa and grew up in Minnesota on the family dairy farm. Upon reaching adulthood, he joined the United States Army as a communications technician. Before getting out of the military, he decided to go to school for computer electronics.
Shortly after getting out of the military, and after getting a new job with an over-seas company, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. A month after beginning the new job, he was laid off due to budget over-runs on the project he was hired for. Upon returning to the United States, he had difficulty maintaining employment because of the chronic illness.
He began writing as a form of stress release, from being home bound and not being able to work, and found he liked writing erotica. Ben wrote a trilogy called the Talosian Chronicles (Currently in rewrite to remove the graphic sex and finalized his vision of the story). The first book, Star Dancer, won awards and was nominated for many others by the online communities where it was posted.
Ben Winston returned to school for literature, after completion, he began writing professionally. Being an avid fan of science fiction he focused on this genre. He was, and still is, influenced and inspired by Gene Roddenberry, Anne McCaffery, David Weber, Isaac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury. Some of his favorite movies and TV shows are; Battlestar Galactica (both versions), Andromeda, Star Trek, Firefly, Star Wars, and many of the B-rated movies that were actually box-office bombs.
Read more at Ben Winston’s site.
About the Publisher
Currently, only Michael McClain and Ben Winston are published through Blue Space Publications, LLC. It was formed by those authors with the sole purpose of publishing their works.
We have recently added a new author by the name of Ian Williams to the family.
