Heist

by Ell Leigh Clarke

  Legba chuckled, clearly amused. “Many people, girl. Many, many people. The truth is a terrible and frightening thing, and even the best of us often resolve to simply avoid it.”

  “That just sounds so boring,” she said. “Why would you want to live in the dark when there’s so much light?”

  “Why, indeed?” Legba nodded, as though impressed. “You must always feel this way, if you’re to see this through to the end.”

  “Oh, I’ll see it through to the end,” Bentley said, self-assuredly. “There’s that knot I need to untie. If I don’t, then I won’t be able to forgive myself.”

  Legba’s eyes gleamed with inspiration. “I recall a tale of an ancient king who came upon a village that challenged him to solve an impossible knot. And he solved it in a matter of seconds.”

  Bentley finally took her hands from the screen to listen intently. “Okay, I’ll bite. How?”

  Legba answered with a muted glee. “With a sword.”

  Bentley sighed and shook her head with a smile. “What, like he just cut through it? That’s cheating.”

  “Is it, though?”

  “Of course it is,” Bentley insisted.

  Legba pressed on. “But if it solves the puzzle, is it not just as effective?”

  Bentley motioned to the screen. “Find me a sword that can solve this, then. Can’t be done. There are some problems that you can’t just cut through.”

  Legba looked as though he’d been waiting for this, grinning from ear to ear. “Oh, are you certain of that? Perhaps you just haven’t encountered the right sword…”

  Then Bentley was once again alone, standing in front of that great supercomputer. Her hand was no longer on a console but gripping the Sword of the Cross-Roads. It hummed and glowed in her grip, and she felt oddly at peace looking at it. It felt as though it were speaking to her in some unknowable, yet inherently understood language.

  It didn’t use words or symbols, but merely imposed a truth.

  And she knew one truth when she looked down at this blade in her dreams: she couldn’t abandon this. As she’d told Legba, as she’d told her mother, and as she’d told herself, she would see this thing through to the end.

  +++

  Bentley’s Quarters, Aboard the Chesed, Edge of Klaunox-Orion Sector

  Bentley gasped as she sat up, waking from that vivid dream state. Her whole body ached from a battle she could barely recall, but she realized she was lying in her bed aboard the Chesed. She’d missed the feeling of her room.

  Home.

  She’d relived her life a dozen times through that scan and her extended sleep thereafter, and as a result it felt like it had been decades, maybe even centuries since she’d last just been in her own present body, aboard the Chesed, with her own thoughts. It was disorienting, but the more she acclimated to it, the more quickly she felt the memories she’d recovered slipping away into the ether, as though they’d never been hers to begin with.

  “You’re awake,” a voice chimed into her thoughts.

  Bentley turned to see that Shango was in the room with her. He’d brought in a chair that he looked like he’d been sitting in for some time. A half-empty cup of his foul-tasting coffee was in one hand while he closed a view screen with the other. “How are you faring? Do you know who you are now?”

  “I always knew who I was,” Bentley answered with a renewed confidence. “I didn’t need my memories for that. I know that for sure, now.”

  Shango looked at her cautiously. “So you remember everything?”

  “Not really…” she said. “I remember remembering, if that makes any sense. I know that for a few minutes, or hours, or something, I knew exactly who I was. The details aren’t there anymore, but I don’t think I need them anymore.”

  “Oh?” He took a sip of coffee while he listened.

  “This thing, with you guys and me and the sword. I can’t say exactly how I ended up here or why, but I know I’m meant to see this ride out. I know that’s what I wanted. And it’s what I want now.” She smiled weakly. “I’m going to get you guys home. Whatever that ends up meaning.”

  Shango seemed relieved. Bentley hadn’t known whether he’d caught on to her doubts, but the way he looked at her now made her think he might have had some kind of suspicion. “Very good,” he said. “I’m glad that you feel that way. It was never my desire to force you into a life that you did not choose. This is a very difficult path that we will need to walk together, and it will only become more arduous and more dangerous from here. There is a great deal I need to fill you in on.”

  Bentley’s eyes widened in a realization of information she had been hiding in her mind since she had first awoken. “Me, too,” she said.

  Shango regarded her carefully. “Are you saying you remember something?”

  “Not exactly,” Bentley answered. “But… I think I know where Legba is.”

  +++

  Bridge, Aboard the Geburah, Edge of Klaunox-Orion Sector

  Amroth had arrived to find Thralldom station an empty, abandoned husk.

  Its full staff of android servants had abandoned the place, somehow having freed themselves of their control chips. Considering that Bentley’s DNA signature had been on one of the server consoles related to those subroutines, he suspected that she had been involved. This was not, as many of his underlings appeared to fear, bad news for him.

  Even in the short time that had elapsed between now and the station’s total loss of staff, it had fallen into disrepair. The casino portion of it was a fickle, unstable thing that relied on the constant maintenance by a team of obedient, unthinking automata. The security team that still remained there was ill-equipped to repair the damage to the hull, let alone prevent the structural failures that had followed. Most of them had left their posts, and when they saw the Geburah, they had assumed reinforcements had finally arrived to rescue them.

  But Amroth left them to wait in the wreckage of the casino’s interior. He had no interest in turning this into a rescue mission, not when time was of the essence. Bentley had been here, and it had not been long ago. From the reports he was already receiving, it had been with three ships, one matching the description of the Chesed.

  One ship might elude the Geburah, given the right combination of skill, luck, and technology. But three could not hope to go under the sight of its long-range sensors. He had spread out a wide net to search for any energy signatures, and had been combing the depths of deep space, searching for anything at all. And he had been rewarded for his efforts.

  “Sir,” the navigations chief reported, “we’ve found two ships on our sensors, paired with the warp signature of a third that appears to have gone FTL approximately one hour ago.”

  “Catch up with them,” Amroth ordered. “Now.”

  The Geburah’s full impulse took them to their destination in a matter of minutes. Amroth spoke with fulfilled anticipation. “On screen.”

  It was two ships, connected by an airlock tunnel mechanism. One, from the readings he saw on his displays, signified it had no power signature. The other, though, was exactly what he’d sought out.

  “We have confirmation that the Chesed is in our sights, my Lord,” the officer reported.

  Amroth narrowed his eyes at the ship. It had eluded him more times than he could tolerate. He sent a direct communication to tactical. “Power up the main guns, full salvo at the ready.”

  “But, my Lord,” Fourier protested cautiously. “If we destroy the Chesed, we may lose—”

  “Silence,” Amroth instructed him. Fourier ceased speaking as though the breath had been plucked from his lungs. “Lock on both ships.”

  Amroth knew full well the danger of bringing down the Geburah’s firepower onto this ship he had sought out. But he wasn’t ready to let them get away, not after the humiliation of their repeated escapes on this vessel.

  Without any doubt or hesitation, he pointed at the screen and gave the final order. “Fire!”

  Author Notes: Ell Leigh
Clarke

  Austin, Sunday, November 11, 2018

  Thank yous

  Lots of people go into making a series like this.

  I’d like to say a massive thank you to the team of suppliers who made this book possible: Amy, Canadian Brittany, Jeff-fa-fa, Max, Steve, and Michael C.

  Thank you!

  JITers

  Massive, uber thanks also go out to our JIT team and Canadian Brittany for all their hard work in making sure the words reach you well proofed, read and re-read, with all inconsistencies corrected. Thank you so much for all the care and attention you put into the process.

  We couldn’t do this without you.

  Reviewers

  Mega thanks also goes out to our Amazon reviewers. It’s because of you that we get to do this full time. Without your five-star reviews and thoughtful words on Amazon we simply wouldn’t have enough folks reading these space shenanigans to be able to write full time.

  You are the reason these stories exist and you have no idea how frikkin’ grateful I am to you.

  Truly, thank you.

  Here’s a list of Book 2: Taken reviewers that were live at time of writing:

  Mary Joy, tgtuc, e, Terrence Walsh, S. Petersen, Kathleen F, Crystal, Les Hager, Julie Y, Manie Kilian, Mary Morris, Steve, John A. Kossey, Nats4Us2, LoisA, and JSH.

  Thank you, thank you, thank you! This means the world to me <3

  Readers and FB page supporters

  I’d like to also thank *YOU* for reading this book. Your enthusiasm for the worlds, and characters, is heart-warming. Your words of encouragement, and demands for the next episode are the things that often stay in my mind as I flick from checking the Facebook page to the scrivener file when I start each writing session.

  Thank you for being here, for the giggles and interaction, for reading, and reviewing. You rock, and without you, there really would be no reason to write these stories.

  Thank You to Our Growing Patreon Family

  Last and by no means least I’d like to say a huge thank you to our growing Patreon family.

  Allan MacBain, Amy Teegan, Brian Roberts, Cynthia MacLeod, Darrell Heckler, David Pollard, James Burrett, Jason M. Greatreaks, John DeBlanc, Jolie Brackett, Judith Wiseman, Kendra Gilmore, Lester Nye, Mary Morris, Nat Thongchai, Russell Peake, and Sandra Chapman.

  You may occasionally notice that a normal/ “human” name is used for characters here and there. That is because this is one of the ways we honor our Patrons – we name characters after them. Since this book has been 12 months in the making we haven’t done that in this one, but as we release quickly, going forward, this is something that will crop up. (We’re already doing it in other series we have in the works.)

  If you’d like to get a character named after you, and to continue the back stage shenanigans, feel free to join us over at: www.Patreon.com/ellleighclarke .

  I’ll look forward to hanging out with you over there – either through the Author Shenanigan videos, or on one of our live streams.

  Bentley and the Sword Mage Chronicles

  I hope you’re enjoying the series. A few folks have had some concerns because there is so much that is not known. I thought I’d try this approach because there is a certain happy that comes when things fall together. Unfortunately, this means not having all the answers on book 1.

  Some folks seem perfectly happy with it.

  Others, not so much.

  (Yes, I read all the comments and feedback, and the reviews!)

  At this stage, I don’t know what to do about this, since the unravelling of the story line is all set out to give answers one book after another, so that it builds, along with the action and the size of the challenge Bentley and her team have to face. I guess there are elements of the mystery and thriller structures that run through the whole series.

  I’m seeing now that that’s not normal in space opera.

  Sigh.

  Anyway, I hope you’re enjoying it for what it is, even if it doesn’t match everything you’ve read before. And I hope that as things come together you’ll get those happy moments as new information is revealed.

  I just remember my first watching of Doctor Who and Torchwood, particularly during an episode when The Doctor came to Cardiff, in Torchwood Season 2. There was a moment that connected all the dots from several series around the Face of Boe:

  https://youtu.be/MogTR2RpcSU

  Notice Martha’s expression when Harkness drops that little pearl, that was me.

  Of course, if you’ve not seen DW, this won’t make much sense, but you can see her reaction is just a picture!

  And that feeling is kinda what I’m shooting for in this series as the plot evolves.

  If this isn’t happening, then hit me up with a fb msg, and I’ll see what I can put together to give more info up front. Someone suggested writing a prequel… which is a possibility, but would take away everything that I was trying to do with perhaps “slow rolling” the background details till now.

  Of course, if the series isn’t that successful, it will be hard to justify going back and writing more on it, in which case I’ll have to start a new series with a new concept.

  Time will tell.

  (You should excuse the timey-whimey Doctor Who reference.)

  A Night at the Symphony

  A few weeks ago Amy and I went to see the Austin Symphony Orchestra.

  We joined Austin Symphony BATS (Be At the Symphony) a few weeks ago when a friend invited us to a wine evening... which she told me after we'd agreed to show up was for the Symphony. (I think I might have squealed in excitement. I'd been trying to find something since I moved here, but I wasn't able to find an up to date schedule in my lame-ass internet searching).

  Anyway the story behind BATS is fascinating. As I understand it some dude in one of the corporate offices downtown bet his team that they would have a good time and sent them along to the orchestra one evening. He also asked the Maestro to go for a drink with them afterwards. They came back saying they had the best night ever! (Well, duh!) And so... BATS was born, to help encourage "young" people to see live symphony performances.

  And I'm so glad they did!

  It was a magical experience. In fact it has been my best night since moving to Austin in January.

  The theme was Bernstein, so we heard a great selection of work from On the Town and West Side Story (omg, their vocalists were INCREDIBLE!), as well as the Divertimento for Orchestra and the Suite from Candide.

  Of course, I've listened to Bernstein over the years, but I've never played any of his pieces... which of course gives you a different relationship to the music. I was blown away by how pleasing the syncopated rhythms were (as well as how difficult they would be to play!), and how he used the full range of the orchestra - including the finger clicking and voices of the people, not just the instruments.

  And what a difference it makes to be there in person, rather than listening through Spotify. (Although I did realize that my ears are better than my eyesight during the soloist performances!)

  If you don't know his music Bernstein would mash up jazz and contemporary vocals into "orchestral pieces". Die-hard classicists probably still struggle with this when they compare the rhythms and textures to the stylistically predicable Beethovens and Holtzs of ClassicFM (sorry CFM!).

  My favourite moment was during the Divertimento for Orchestra where there was a cascading arpeggio that ran from the fiddles, down the scale to the violas who took over, and then down through the cellos and basses. Oh my frikkin god.... MAGICAL!

  Sigh.

  Ok, so it was an emotional experience.

  The other thing that stuck me about the evening was that the theater is so damn modern. Having grown up going to places like the Albert Hall, and playing in old school halls, churches, and colleges in England (all of which are several hundred years old), this was a *new* experience in many ways. One I can probably get quite used to, with their heating *and* air-conditioning and seats that have enough legr
oom to allow people to pass. (The RAH was built at a time when humans were much smaller.)

  My only WTF about the whole evening was what happened to the encores? Is that not a thing in the US?

  Maybe I didn't call out loudly enough?

  Or maybe I just didn't want it to end...

  We also hit the BATS after-party and got our groove on. Some of the performers showed up and busted a move with us on the dance floor. The DJ was also incredibly talented. I guess that's what happens when you put a bunch of musicians and symphony lovers in charge of booking the DJ... you're gonna end up with someone awesome. :)

  Vegas 50books

  As you have probably seen from my facebook posts, I was in Vegas this last week. Truth be told, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I didn’t have a great time last year, for various reasons… and I wasn’t looking forward to being in a conference room with over seven hundred people.

  However, thanks to some good friends, and bumping into some awesome people – authors and fans – it made the experience not just bearable, but a tonne of fun!