by Scott Rhine
Union of Souls
Characters
Timeline
Star Chart
Chapter 1 – Monkey on Your Back
Chapter 2 – Side Effects
Chapter 3 – Meeting
Chapter 4 – Withdrawal
Chapter 5 – The Accidental Pirate
Chapter 6 – Ethical Debates
Chapter 7 – Clarke’s Oasis
Chapter 8 – Secret Origins
Chapter 9 – Humble Pie
Chapter 10 – Attack
Chapter 11 – Not Out of the Elvish Woods Yet
Chapter 12 – More than Kin, Less than Kind
Chapter 13 – A Nonviolent Solution
Chapter 14 – Sleeping Beauty Aftermath
Chapter 15 – Next You Do It for a Few Friends
Chapter 16 – The Dignitary
Chapter 17 – Slow Boat to Shangri-La
Chapter 18 – A Goat’s Burden
Chapter 19 – Can’t Go Home Again
Chapter 20 – The Best Toys
Chapter 21 – A Reason to Drink
Chapter 22 – Equal Rights
Chapter 23 – Memorials
Chapter 24 – History and Hate
Chapter 25 – Firefight
Chapter 26 – Grief
Chapter 27 – Anger
Chapter 28 – Bargaining
Chapter 29 – Acceptance
Chapter 30 – Boxing with Words
Chapter 31 – Favor for Medusa
Chapter 32 – Enigma
Chapter 33 – Speech Writing
Chapter 34 – The Grand Tap Dance
Chapter 35 – Out of the Mouths of Babes
Chapter 36 – The Xerxes Conspiracy
Union of Souls
Book Three of Gigaparsec
by Scott Rhine
Amazon Edition
Copyright 2015 Scott Rhine
Thanks to my editor Weston Kincade. To my beta readers Steven Terry, Morgan Leigh Barry, and my wife, Tammy.
Cover art by http://www.thecovercounts.com
Characters
Alyssa Greenberg – Roz’s biological mother and a convicted con artist with the Probability Mechanics talent.
Blythe Gentle – A young female Goat with head trauma and the Dolittle talent, deep Collective Unconscious communication with other mammals.
Daisy DeLaurelin – A psi spy who specializes in demolition and hacking. Ivy’s triplet sister.
Draven Black – The current Black Ram, known for his guile.
Echo – Astrogator of the reclusive Magi race, married to Max and Roz so she can survive long enough to relate the data on the subbasement drive to the academy of sages. She is stuck in the form of the deceased holo actress Gina Millhouse Graham.
Fifi – Fiona Fidelos. The Laurelin Goat Ambassador’s personal pilot and receptionist.
Grady – A retired Union Navy repairman with bad memories of fighting Phibs on Winedark.
Herb Greenberg – Roz’s stepfather, a retired detective and former spy for the Bankers.
Ivy DeLaurelin – A psi who communicates instantly with her fellow triplets at interstellar distances. Roz’s best friend and Reuben’s girlfriend.
Jeeves – An odd alien mimic that hides under the bed … and makes it.
Kesh Far Traveler – Former money launderer for the Saurian mob posing as his deceased brother, the former captain of Sphere of Influence.
Max Ellison – A Human !Kung doctor and ex Special Forces operative. His name was selected from the Catholic prayer Kyrie eleison—meaning, Lord have mercy. He wants to start a new life devoid of killing. Married to Roz and Echo.
Menelaus – A Bat specialized in combating Saurians.
Reuben Black – A descendant of the Black Ram Xerxes, capable of boosting the mental skills of others. The Goat computer programmer chose this mission name because of his penchant for Reubenesque women and his pure artistry as a forger.
Roz – Chief Engineer Shiraz Ellison. Human starship pilot who possesses the rare Probability Mechanic talent, which enabled her to understand and repair the subbasement drive. Married to Max and Echo.
Timeline
The Anodyne calendar begins the year of the colony’s founding (1 AF).
015 Stewart Llewellyn rules Anodyne colony
070 Anodyne purchases first ansible
080 Anodyne teaches Earth oligarchy to build starships
091 Jotunheim mining colony founded by oligarchs
105 At Union Convocation, Anodyne named mentor for the Panda race
106 Venice founded as an oligarch farming and biofuel colony
125 Shangri-La founded, first Anodyne colony
130 Vegas founded by oligarchs to establish trade lines
138 Anodyne’s great terraforming project begins to save Earth
140 Eden oligarch colony attempted, the Great Mistake
141 Anodyne cosigns a long-term Goat loan from Bankers
149 Laurelin founded, Llewellyn’s private retirement planet
150 Jotunheim orbital shipyards established
151 Earth slips into the time of chaos, and the oligarchy inhabits the Moon
160 Cocytus founded by Blue Giant Fuel Corporation and an Anodyne defector
170 Over one million humans in space
210 Commercial interests dominate space and second Earth exodus begins
230 Stewart Llewellyn dies
256 Anodyne pays installment of Goat loan in exchange for New Hawaii
270 Mayflower colony ship misjumps
271 Black Ram Xerxes dies
278 Pirate activity forces construction of first Human warship
312 Border skirmishes lead to thawing of embryo Churchill Llewellyn
320 Evidence of Phib theft and genocide uncovered
321 Last Llewellyn raised by Stewart destroyed with his diplomatic vessel
333 Max joins Union Navy as a medic
338 New Hawaii falls
345 Mnamnabo falls, but tide turns in favor of alliance
351 Max joins Turtle Special Forces
385 Gigaparsec War officially ends
392 Max frees Echo and forges the Far Traveler partnership
Star Chart
Chapter 1 – Monkey on Your Back
“Wake up. We have a lot of work to do,” Roz said.
For the last year and a half, the ship’s chief engineer had been like a mother to Reuben, so he made an unsuccessful effort to sit up. His Goat metabolism had processed the alcohol, but a heavy weight sat on his chest. As he pried open gummy eyelids, a knife waved within a centimeter of his broad nose. Now he was awake.
The knife was being wielded by the strong, gray arms of a slothlike creature on top of him. The hair shifted in color to blend in with Reuben’s green maintenance coveralls. “Jeeves?” Brought onto the ship as a food mammal by the former crew of Saurians, the mimic had escaped and hidden under Max’s bed. Reuben equated the shy pet to a chimp that spoke sign language.
The mimic used the knife to clumsily spread a dollop of peanut butter on the end of a banana. “Eat-eat?” Jeeves shoved the end of the banana at Reuben’s mouth, and his dull, black eyes stared expectantly.
From his time as an animal handler in the cargo hold, Reuben recognized the banana as the creature’s favorite snack.
Roz had her back to them, busy flying the starship clear of the latest sun’s gravity well. “He wants to thank you for saving him from the jungle when things got crazy in the subbasement.”
His memories of the theoretical realm below subspace resembled a Dali painting. All Reuben knew for certain was that he was supposed to have secured the animal before the test of the new Magi star dri
ve but had passed out drunk instead. Shame convinced Reuben to open his mouth. The banana slipped past his lips, and he swallowed. Too late, he felt the hard lump. He coughed several times, and Jeeves fetched him a drink bulb. “He just gave me a pill!”
Smiling, Roz leaned over the cot made of gray hexagons and cleaned peanut butter off Reuben’s sideburns. Her shoulder-length, black hair shifted, revealing a scar above her intelligent, brown eyes. She couldn’t sense anything through the Collective Unconscious because a tragic childhood injury had turned her into a null. “My fault. I told him you’d need vitamins for your headache.”
Reuben climbed to his feet with her help. The astrogation chamber walls were lined with spherical mirrors that somehow shielded the heart of the ship from the worst effects of the subbasement. “You’re joking. Jeeves can’t read.”
“He learned all the letter blocks I bought him. Besides, he knows which bottle you used when you gave medicine to the mimics.”
Picking up the bottle from the cot, Reuben read “Veterinary Vitamins for Shiny Fur—Suppositories.” I guess my awakening could have been a lot ruder. “That’s giving this little guy a lot of credit.”
“Um … about that. We’re pretty sure Jeeves is sentient. He wants to be a voice for the spirits of those who died in Saurian hunts. We’ll set course for the Union Convocation as soon as we find out where and when the meeting is.”
The Union of Souls was a coalition of evolved, spacefaring beings that covered a gigaparsec of space in the Orion arm of the Milky Way. They met every seven years to discuss pressing business matters, laws, and sanctions. “The Convocation is on Giragog. It’s technically the Humans’ turn to host, but they deferred to my people, the Mnamnabonians, because we have a big loan payment due soon, and the Convocation always brings in money.”
Roz punched up a star chart. “If we miss this window, we’ll have to wait at least seven years for another hearing. I don’t know how long mimics live. This could be Jeeves’s only chance.”
Reuben put a hand on her shoulder. “Slow down, Chief.” His ancestors had the skill of multiplying their own IQ by tapping the planetary herd mind. Reuben possessed a mutation by which his touch could boost the intelligence of women he cared about. He vaguely recalled skin-to-skin contact, great concern for the mimic, and singing nursery rhymes to calm it. “If Jeeves is really female, maybe my psi talent gave her a boost.”
“Interesting. I never thought to check the gender. Max never held Jeeves. We all just assumed.” Roz scooped up the mimic and ducked behind a door.
“Males have a sheath like cats,” Reuben explained.
Roz’s husband was the ship’s doctor and Reuben’s special forces mentor. Such a mistake would result in weeks of ribbing from the crew. However, with his brown-sugar skin and blue eyes, all the women liked Max. Why should mimics be any different? Somehow he had ended up married to both this strong, curvaceous Human woman and a delicate Magi neutral. He claimed the triad bonding was necessary to save the Magi’s life because they did everything in threes.
Jeeves interrupted his perverted thoughts with childlike, high-pitched giggles.
Smirking, Roz reappeared. “We have a little girl.”
“So you’ll admit it’s a false alarm?”
“No. The possibility of amplifying implies she was sentient to begin with. Go tell Max. He’s thawing out Kesh right now. The Saurian’s freezer is acting up, and he could use help from an engineer.”
Reuben’s specialty was computer programming, but with such a small crew, he had learned to wire electrical systems. “I know you didn’t take a vote about heading to the Convocation. Echo wanted to steer deep into Magi territory, and I convinced you all to head for Laurelin to get Ivy medical attention.” Max had stabilized Reuben’s Human lover and assigned protector, but Ivy needed specialists to survive.
“With a ship that moves ten times the normal jump speed, we might be able to do all three. I’ll plot all course variations and present them to all of you at the meeting. We might need to drop Ivy off on the way back.”
His head was pounding from the hangover and his spike in blood pressure. “She was your best friend, damn it! You can’t just ignore her when you get a wild hair.”
Roz’s smile vanished. “I had blast burns of my own when I jerry-rigged the shuttle and flew her back to the ship. I risked my life three different ways that afternoon to save her.”
“Yes, sir. Sorry. I was out of line.”
“Once Grady is awake to repair internal problems, it’s your job to scrape the ship’s name off the hull.” They would need a fresh identity when they pulled into the next port, or everyone would know about the secret star drive. “You might need to shower before you climb into a vac suit, though. You’re covered in vomit.”
The reminder of his unprofessional drinking stung worse than an hour sparring session with the neural staff. He took a deep, calming breath, noting the stench of his own hair. “I just don’t want to rush into anything. You’re making the mimics more important than a person.”
“They are people. Give Jeeves any test you like,” Roz said coldly, placing the slothlike creature on the cot. She passed him a translator earbud. “She prefers speaking Bat.” Bats weren’t literally winged mammals. Humanity had a lazy way of labeling every creature they met as Earth animals. Pointy ears, ultrasonic squeaks, and having phenomenal pilots was good enough reasons to call the species Bats.
Reuben blinked. He would need to tread carefully to avoid offending Roz. Feeling foolish, he addressed the mimic directly. “Jeeves, I’m going to give you a fun word puzzle.” One most Humans couldn’t solve. “Are you ready?”
Jeeves swallowed the remainder of the banana and squeaked a phrase that translated to “Whee!”
Parrot. “Pretend you’re the driver of a bus.”
The mimic frowned, cocking her head at him. Roz interceded. “She has no cultural referent for a bus. She’s never seen one.”
“Fine. Pretend you’re the pilot of this ship.”
Jeeves bounced up and down with excitement. “Like Mommy. Fun, fun.”
“Yes,” he agreed, surprised an animal would make the emotional connection. “Say there are five people on the ship.”
“No. Eleven,” Jeeves corrected.
Roz explained, “Young minds are often very concrete. You did say this ship, and she can count up to sixteen on her fingers and toes.”
The constant interruptions were frustrating, but Reuben rolled with it. “Fine. Right now, there are eleven people on the ship. Once we reach the station, two people will get off.”
“What kind of people?”
“Doesn’t matter for this puzzle.”
The mimic actually held out eleven digits, and Roz helped her fold two back. “Nine.”
“No outside assistance.” Reuben described the process of unloading and loading cargo. As people hopped on and off, the mimic struggled to keep up with finger math. “Now for the big question. What color are the pilot’s eyes?”
Without hesitation, Jeeves said, “Black.”
“Very pretty black,” Roz said with approval.
Reuben stared into her little, nonreflective eyes with new respect. Was she a genius among mimics or just the first one old enough to show evidence of thought? Either way, the mimics deserved a chance to survive. “You’re right. Ivy could keep a little longer in stasis. An entire species won’t.”
Roz handed over the heavy ship’s mascot. “Would you drop Jeeves off in the jungle biozone on your way to see Max? It’s nap time.”
Speechless, Reuben staggered toward the round, central elevator. He had cared for dozens of these gentle creatures when posing as a cargo steward. The mimics’ ability to blend in and foxlike cleverness made them a favorite quarry of the Saurians. Not only were they considered tasty, but the more difficult the hunt, the more satisfying Saurians found the kill. The Blue Claw miners bragged that consuming the still-warm hearts gave one the strength of the prey. Reuben’s part
in the atrocity, no matter how small, sickened him. He wanted another drink badly, but he refused to let his partners down again.
Chapter 2 – Side Effects
The ship was eerily silent as Reuben stepped out of the lift into the crew section on the cargo deck. His slotted eyes magnified the dim emergency illumination to the power of moonlight, and he spotted one of the maintenance bots lying upside down on the floor like a dead cockroach. The bot had been sweeping dirty footprints and seemed physically undamaged. Reuben righted the device and opened the hatch to view its liquid circuitry. Crystals had crusted around the rim.
The mimic objected to the delay. “Seep-seep.” She probably meant sleep. She loped through the round hall to the nearest biozone airlock. Once the round door opened, the mimic clambered up a nearby tree to rest in a hammock.
Reuben stared at the jungle vegetation in disbelief. Branches of separate trees had fused together at junction points. He recognized a dozen such intersections because those were the places he had placed out a hand to steady himself during his nightmarish search of the zone. Competing versions of reality had overlapped during the subbasement trip, each unsure of itself. The only comparison he could come up with was that of a problem in a quantum computer, where every possible solution existed simultaneously. He recalled rescuing not one, but several copies of Jeeves out of this shifting forest. Each step had pulled at the fibers of his existence as if he had been made of cotton candy. Somehow, like a good witch in a fairy tale, Roz had guided them back through the chaos to the center. The memory brought him to his knees.
“Some brain cells are just asking to be put out of their misery.” Reuben tapped his badge and opened a broadcast link to the entire crew. “Um … guys. We had a number of side effects from that last jump. We might not want to go that far or deep again.”
Max replied over the ship’s intercom, “I’m up to my elbows in side effects. I need you up here now. Bring a battery.”
****
