I end up writing two reports. One is for the Agency to investigate the recent murder. An investigator will probably conclude that the council has no provable fault, since they’ve destroyed all the evidence that this woman—and her ship—ever existed.
The second report includes all my footage of the wreckage.
I don’t know what to do. I have the only evidence that the Poseidon was found, and I’m the only one from outside Mellivar who knows where it is. On one hand, the world deserves to know; on the other, how many more lives will need to be destroyed over this?
I watch Clarys and his son get on with their lives. They catch fish, they grow crops on the platforms, they sail the ocean. And they watch the skies for an inevitable retaliation.
Help is despatched from Artemis and arrives a few days later. The shuttle is small, and comes directly to the agricultural island. As I watch Mellivar recede in the viewport of the shuttle, I weigh all the options.
Now that I’m back in familiar comfort and technology, I can’t imagine that the people down there want to keep living their primitive, restrictive lives. The adults, maybe, but I think of the children. They deserve the truth. They deserve to be part of humanity.
I press send on the second report.
About Patty Jansen
Patty Jansen lives in Sydney, Australia. After having worked as a research scientist and non-fiction bookseller, she decided to try her hand at fiction.
She is most known for her Ambassador series (space opera thriller) and Icefire and Moonfire Trilogies (dark fantasy), although she also writes historical fantasy and hard science fiction.
She has written short stories for genre magazines, such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact. “This Deceitful State of Truth” is a second story in the Solaris Agency world. The first story, “This Peaceful State of War,” won the Writers Of The Future contest in 2010.
You can find out more about Patty on her website.
Afterword
I THINK IN TODAY’S AGE OF TECHNOLOGY, people tend to accidentally take books and shows and all manner of storytelling for granted. Collecting this many stories from so many great authors is incredibly difficult, so here at the end, I’d like to thank everyone who had a part in crafting Bridge Across the Stars.
First, my co-founders of Sci-Fi Bridge: Jason Anspach, Chris Pourteau, and I had an idea about a year ago to create a web service completely focused on Science Fiction. We wanted to do something that would set us apart from other, similar endeavors aimed at marketing Sci-Fi stories to readers. Our goals were twofold: to offer free promotions to independent and traditionally published authors like ourselves (so we wouldn’t have to depend on a paid service to shill our works for us) and, secondly, to offer readers a great opportunity to find new favorite authors who write innovative, though-provoking Sci-Fi stories. The undertaking has gone better than we ever could have expected. I still remember the first email we got from a subscriber saying how much they appreciate our suggestions and promotions. It’s an incredible feeling (and responsibility) to know there’s a group of readers looking to us for reading recommendations.
I have to give a special shout out to Chris Pourteau, however, for editing a ton of the collection. Without him serving as my co-pilot, this whole thing would be a mess. I’d also like to thank Steve Beaulieu for not only submitting a story to this, but also helping to design the front cover (using the amazing art provided by Elias Stern) and for beautifully formatting the entire book for production.
I want to thank all the other authors for working with us on this: Daniel Arenson, Lucas Bale, Maya K. Bohnhoff, David Bruns, Lindsay Buroker, Ann Christy, Chris Dietzel, Patty Jansen, Will McIntosh, Craig Martelle, Josi Russell, Felix R. Savage, and David VanDyke. They went above and beyond to deliver great stories as quickly as they possibly could. I’d especially like to thank Kevin J Anderson for writing a truly wonderful Foreword. It was immensely satisfying (and truly humbling) to have an author of his stature getting behind our little collection.
We also appreciate our advance-review copy (ARC) readers, who took on the responsibility of reading the anthology (under a tight deadline) and helped us launch with enough reviews to make a splash. Without them, we’d just be one more lonely e-book drowning in the crowded sea that is today’s publishing marketplace. I'd especially like to thank Debby Stapleton, our warp-speed ARC reader, who proofed the collection for us.
And last—but certainly not least—thank you, dear reader, for spending your time reading the stories in this collection. Few things are as precious a gift as another person’s time, and we at Sci-Fi Bridge appreciate your sharing yours with us. We hope you enjoyed the stories. Could we ask you for one small favor before you go?
Reviews are a key factor in promoting a work’s visibility—to other readers, of course, but also to critics and booksellers, who use reviews to determine, for example, what books to feature in promotions. As our readers, you’re both our market and our marketing force. So please, if you have a few moments, review this collection at the venue where you purchased it (as well as on Goodreads if you’re a member).
Thank you again for reading Bridge Across the Stars. We’ll see you again for Volume 2!
Rhett C. Bruno
Author, Editor, and Co-Producer
Bridge Across the Stars
THANKS FOR READING
Subscribe to Sci-Fi Bridge for news of upcoming titles in this series as well as tons of free giveaways from the world’s best Science Fiction writers.
www.scifibridge.com
Bridge Across the Stars: A Sci-Fi Bridge Original Anthology Page 42