“Stand by for a video transmission,” Ariqat said. His face disappeared and the images of the Steward leading the attack on Underhive appeared in his place. When it finished the chancellor reappeared.
“Those images were taken a month ago outside of NHC. You can see that Lassiter was there” the chancellor said. “Sometime shortly after that, a nuclear weapon destroyed Underhive, and he died there. We do not yet know the exact circumstances of his death, but unless he rendezvoused with your fleet since then, he cannot have been in both places at the same time.”
“Stand by Chancellor,” Atwater said, tapping the mute again. He leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. He glanced at Captain Clark who was watching over his shoulder and shook his head. “What should we do?”
“I don’t know that we can keep fighting,” she said. “We’ve lost over half of our fleet.”
“Then I guess we follow orders,” he said. “Patch me through on the inter-ship net and link this back to the command com.”
“You’re live Commodore,” the com officer said.
“This is Commodore Carlton Atwater to all ships in the battle group. Under command authority of Chancellor Tamir bin Ariqat, I order you to disengage and stand down. The battle is over.”
Personal Quarters of the Executive Director: Galileo Station:
Derek Tomlinson made it back to his apartment and managed to place a call to his wife and kids to say what he needed to before the pulse tore through the station, plunging everything into darkness.
He’d made peace with the idea that somehow Chancellor Roja would end things on her terms. And he knew those terms would leave no place for him.
It might have been the jammer that let him hang on a few minutes, while the neurolink’s nanowires sizzled inside his brain, but it didn’t matter. Lightning danced behind his eyes as the visual interface shorted and cooked his eyesight from within.
He leaned back in his chair and listened to the screaming cacophony as a thousand instances of Odysseus all died at once. Eventually, they too fell to silence. Even the whispers had vanished into the dark.
The surge that shredded the immense awareness, wouldn’t have reached him at all, except that in its dying rage every single voice of the monstrous overlord Odysseus had become, unleashed its rage on him. Unjustified and irrational, it lashed out at the only human it could reach, and he accepted its howling fury.
He endured its dying moments and took some slight satisfaction in the idea that, despite its immense power, he would outlast it. However briefly.
Blinking his eyes to clear the residual images of the connection he shared with Odysseus, he reached out in the dark and pulled a thinpad closer to him. Blood trickled down his face and splashed on the screen as he tapped in a last message to Katryna Roja.
“I am free.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Grand Assembly Hall: Galileo Station:
The Tahrat Shan-che hung above the immense glass ceiling of the grand assembly hall, silhouetted by the fiery arc of the distant sun. The ship reflected a thousand lights from the station and it danced and shimmered like it was itself, alive.
It had been a month since the chaos had ended and this evening, the representatives of every colony in the Union filled the auditorium to capacity. A thousand faces all stared up in awe at the ship. Without understanding what it was, they all knew it embodied a dream. A promise. It was a gift from the past, and would light the path to the future.
Prime Minister Elect Katryna Roja stood on the dais in her FleetCom dress uniform and waited for the thunderous cheering to end. Behind her sat the former chancellors of the Union, each with their respective spouses or partners. Admirals Nakamiru and Quintana, and several visiting dignitaries filled the rest of the seats.
Jeph and Chei sat together on one edge of the stage. As governor of Gateway Colony, this was his first formal event, and he felt disconcertingly naked even in his formal FleetCom uniform. It was also the first time he wore no PSE under his uniform, in the earth normal gravity. He pulled at his collar and fidgeted nervously. Chei leaned over to whisper, “It’s alright. The rest of them are naked too.”
After a full minute of the tumultuous roaring, the Chancellor held up her hands and smiled as the crowd fell to silence.
“Today we start anew. The Union that we have all shared, now stands ready to move beyond. To take the next step in our journey together.” The applause started again, and she held her hands up again as she smiled at faces she knew in the crowd.
“The Union must grow to meet our new potential. So tonight, I tell you that I will be the last Prime Minister of the old Union. By unanimous vote, we have decided that it is our responsibility to shepherd humankind forward to a new future, with a new government, and a new destiny. Over the next five years we will organize a new charter, fit for our greater potential.” This time when she paused, silence hung over the room. No one had expected such a sweeping change, and the shock was universal.
“I would like to take this moment to introduce to you all the two people who deserve most of the credit for bringing this monumental change forward for us.” She turned to face Jeph and Chei and they both froze in abject terror. She winked and smiled. “I won’t embarrass you two, so you can just stand up for a moment.
“First let me introduce Doctor Chei Lu, the new Director of the Un Shan Takhu Institute of Studies at Gateway Colony.”
Jeph knew that they’d decided to grant Chei his formal degree, and he’d been in the room when Danel and Jameson had both nominated him for the Directorship without reservation. It had been almost impossible to keep it secret until the ceremony here. He thumped Chei on the back and then jumped up, pulling him to his feet while he shook his hand and hugged him. The applause was enthusiastic and Chei stood there for several seconds, blinking as he took it all in.
Jeph stepped back to sit down. “Not so fast,” the Prime Minister said, walking across the stage like she was on a mission. “I’d also like to introduce Vice-Admiral Jephora Cochrane, Governor of the Gateway Colony, and Chancellor of Extrasolar Contact.” Jeph’s knees buckled and he would have hit the floor except Chei and Roja both grabbed his arms before he dropped.
“It’s alright, he was an ectomorph last week,” she teased. “I’m sure the new body will take some getting used to.” She winked again and Jeph just shook his head.
When he looked around, both Nakamiru and Quintana had snapped to. Taking a deep breath to steady himself he squared and returned their salute. The thunder started again from the audience and he looked down at the floor.
She pulled the red and black baldric of the Chancellery out of her uniform vest and looped it over his head. Stepping back, she let Admiral Nakamiru come forward and pin the five gold bars of the FleetCom Admiralty to his sash.
“I’m overwhelmed,” he gasped.
She leaned forward and said, “You’ll adapt. You’ve got a knack for that.”
She held her hand out, and he eased back down into his seat as she returned to the podium. She waited again for the audience to settle and then cleared her throat and nodded.
“The time has come for us to leave behind the things that have held us chained to our bitter and divided past. No longer will we roll this boulder of war and hatred uphill, only to have it roll back and crush us again and again. This is the moment when we break the Sisyphean Cycle of our self-destructive nature.
“We stand at the dawn of a truly new age, staring up into what was always the vast unknown. Yet now we know we have reason to reach upward toward the stars. The road will be long and the voyage challenging, but we know we are not alone on this journey. We have a family out there. It is time to introduce ourselves.
“We, the people of Earth, have finally been given our wings.”
The End
125 years later humanity spreads its wings and discovers
what it truly means to not be alone in the universe.
Wings of Earth
> A doorway opens and the journey begins.
Wings of Earth: One
Echoes of Starlight
On sale March 2019
Follow the link to learn more about Redemption of Sisyphus.
Atlas and the Winds
Smart Money never bets against Colton Taylor.
When Colton Taylor finds himself on the wrong end of a secret about a coming global catastrophe, he must do the impossible to save mankind from the inevitable. Facing the almost certain end of civilization, he forces his corporate empire into the crossfire between China and the United States as they both try to save humanity on their own.
Political tension flashes as they race to challenge the relentless wheelwork of the universe. Unfortunately, even a partial success by either mitigation mission would leave the other unable to complete their plans.
Staring down the relentless certainty of the apocalypse, Taylor will risk everything to give the world one final option.
If he cannot succeed, the price of his failure may be the end of life on Earth.
Thank you for reading Redemption of Sisyphus. If you enjoyed the story, please take a moment and consider leaving a review.
Reviews feed the creative souls of all authors and are invaluable in helping readers discover new books to experience.
Thank you. EMC
Other works by Eric Michael Craig
Atlas and the Winds
Book One: Stormhaven Rising
Book Two: Prometheus and the Dragon
Shan Takhu Legacy
Book One: Legacy of Pandora
Book Two: Fulcrum of Odysseus
Book Three: Redemption of Sisyphus
Short Story
Ghostmaker
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eric Michael Craig is a Hard Science Fiction writer living in the Manzano Mountains of New Mexico. He is the former Director of Research for a private consulting laboratory in Phoenix, where he experimented with inertial propulsion and power generation technologies.
Fascinated with the "cacophony of humanity," he dedicated much of his life to observing society and how people relate to each other and the world around them. Ultimately this drove him to write full time.
When not writing, Eric is active in Intentional Community Design, plays guitar and bass, occasionally dabbles in art of various forms, and designs websites. He also owns way too many dogs.
Eric is a founding member of the SciFi Roundtable. The SFRT is an active online group dedicated to supporting indie and traditional authors by networking them with other writers and professional resources.
Connect with Eric at:
ericmichaelcraig.net
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From the Desk of Eric Michael Craig
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to my beta readers: Victor Acquista, and Jennifer Amon. Without you, this book would not be finished. As ever, thank you to my editor, Ducky Smith, without her there would be no Shan Takhu Legacy.
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