COURAGEOUS BOOKS
PLANET WALKERS
Book one of the Planet Walker series
A. V. Shackleton
Published by Courageous Books
1081 Wallaces Gap Rd
Ballalaba
NSW
Australia 2622
Copyright 2017 A.V. Shackleton
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any forms by any means including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system without the permission in writing from the author except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, article, book or academic paper.
ISBN 978-0-9925814-7-3
Thank you to my family and friends for your tireless support and honest feedback, and to my intrepid fellow Planet Walkers - I’d be lost without you.
GLOSSARY
(Go to www.avshackleton.com for more detail)
Annangi: a dimorphic race consisting of angels and archangels.
Djan’rū: the point at which a planet can be joined by a navigator’s song.
El: deity. Annangi believe that the Breath of El blows through all. Asheru is El’s consort.
Great House: There are ten Great Houses, each with a home planet and a leader accepted by El.
Haze: easily visible aspects of an individual’s aura.
Mark: the soul mark granted by El to those who become proficient in a particular psychic gift. The Mark appears as a symbol shining through the skin.
Qalān:
Personal Qalān is a sub-dimensional space that surrounds every individual. Annangi access this space for storage of personal items.
Planetary Qalān surrounds every planetary body in a web of interconnected wormholes. Skilled Annangi can create portals in this Qalān for instantaneous travel between locations on a given planet.
Galactic Qalān connects the stars and planets of the galaxy. It merges with planetary Qalān at specific points known as Djan’rū. Navigators travel between Djan'rū.
Sajhar: both Mark and title of one who has mastered all powers entailed with the working of metal.
Screen: internally, a psychic construction that hides private information; or externally, a shield that hides one’s presence.
Shamkar: the Mark of one who is a master of the power of voice.
Shamkarun: the title of one who bears the Shamkar.
Tiamät: the Imperial House; the God-Emperor and Empress are of House Tiamät. The three clans of Tiamät are Gok, Enna and Ashik.
Tsemkar: the Mark of a master of mind power. This ability is often strong in those of clan Ashik.
Tsemkarun: the title of one who bears the Tsemkar. Although the current God-Emperor is a Tsemkarun, not all God-Emperors are Marked.
Veil: a psychic construction that hides thoughts and feelings from the perception of others.
Ziquarra: the Mark of one who can leave their body at will and send their soul to far distant locations. Ziquarra is also the name of this skill.
Ziquarudjan: the title of one who bears the Ziquarra.
PALACE OF GATES
In a distant sector of the galaxy, far from the more heavily populated regions known as The Belt, spun a small planet with a string of small moons and three distinct continents. Few regions beyond The Belt held planets of interest; however, this one’s transformation over several years from harsh, white wasteland to gem-like beauty of green life and blue waters then back again captured my attention. The Imperial navigator composed a song of translation, but for many long ages this song was unused.
Eventually, despite the climatic extremes posed by this planet’s eccentric orbit, an exploratory expedition was proposed, and, in due course, the Thirty-sixth God-Emperor, Tsemkarun Ishät Ashik, dispatched a team of explorers to make the long journey. But this was long after my retirement to the blessed solitude of my own lonely planet, a gift to me from his father, the generous and kindly God-Emperor Tsemkarun Zohrät Ashik.
… Within the Palace of Gates, the Journal of Ziquarudjan Ulisharu of Trianog, Imperial Scryer to the Court of God-Empress Karuzät Enna, Thirty-fourth Chosen of El, and God-Emperor Zohrät Ashik, Thirty-fifth Chosen of El.
THE NEW DIVINER
She looked around and saw him running.
Rough terrain crunched underfoot. Small branches clung to his legs.
He couldn’t move fast enough.
The bushes behind her rustled.
“NO!” he screamed, NO!
Ten prehensile fingers exploded outward. Red streamers wrapped the lean explorer in an unbreakable grasp. The giant plant’s nest of teeth scythed downward and a bloody stump bloomed where Joumelät Enna’s head should have been. Her body twitched and jerked as if it still fought. Viscous fountains sprayed the monster’s leaves red. Joumelät’s death-cry brushed his cheek with icy psychic fingers as it passed …
Huldar woke with a gasp. The sound of snapping bone echoed in his mind. He threw the covers aside and staggered to the washbowl to splash his face with cool, clean water, then wiped it off savagely as if blood and gore still stained him.
The image in the mirror was haggard. Helpless to stop himself he repeated the mantra: Why hadn’t she sensed it? She ought to have known it was there. Why was she so reckless? If only she had scanned as he’d asked her to do – time and time again.
He leaned by the window and watched the dark streets below. The moons had long since set, and high above the Imperial City stars peppered the ageless skies in a web of silvery trails.
Had it been his fault? The healers said no, but they weren’t there at the time.
Tomorrow he would meet Joumelät’s replacement. He knew she was Trianogi, and quite accomplished, but what would she be like? How would she take to life in isolation from the Realm? Would she fall prey to monsters as yet unknown, or even the monsters within herself? Many of her people found the inner silence too much to bear, but on this assignment, once they’d arrived, it would be too late for a change of heart.
He suspected the new planet’s unique and very harsh climatic pattern would test the hardiness and ingenuity of his team to the limit. Would the new explorer survive? And for that matter, would they?
The stars had no answer.
With a groan he padded back to bed, but sleep was slow to return.
His first choice for Joumelät’s replacement had been a Nhadu, un-Marked, but very experienced, however, while the Overlord dithered, he had taken another position.
There had been another applicant from Clan Enna. Huldar had nothing against them, but so soon after losing Joumelät – the team would be constantly reminded of her loss. And if he was honest, the average Tiamäti came with an abrasive sense of entitlement and took direction poorly. Joumelät had been no exception, and now she was dead.
Andel of House Trianog was highly credentialed, but lacked experience in survival situations. They were to meet as she arrived in the Imperial Bays.
Everyone has to start somewhere. He sighed. Let’s hope she has better luck.
_______
Brown hair caught back in a fourth-level braid; gait … a little unsure.
“That’s her there, Casco,” said Huldar.
Tsemkarun Andel of Trianog recognized him and made her way through the travelers and piles of cargo that crowded the Imperial translation bays.
Huldar weighed up the immediate cues and added them to what he already knew.
His logistician, Casco, waited with him – no doubt summing her up as he was.
Casco leaned closer. “She seems a bit delicate.”
Huldar tipped his head. Perhaps Casco was right, but on paper she’d made it to the top five on his list. “She’s a Marked Tsemkarun with experience in the field,
and she was keen to sign up.”
“In the fields, maybe,” Casco retorted. “A novice. Knew no better.”
“Some Trianogi find the isolation a little overwhelming,” he conceded, “but she looks determined, and she’s been briefed on the conditions.”
If the Guild has chosen wrong, it’s you who’ll take the blame.
“Casco!” Mind-speech in public was frowned upon by polite society, and especially between classes – all very well once they were away from the social strictures of the Imperium, but not there.
“Still true,” Casco muttered.
Huldar glanced toward him. “So, what do you think?”
“Not what my kind are paid for,” Casco grumbled. “And who’d listen anyway?”
The diviner hesitated as if steeling her nerves, then advanced the last few paces with her papers clutched tight between her fingers. Her mind leaked tinges of excitement. Huldar stifled a scowl. First Casco, now this one – was there something about him that invited people to take liberties? But when her buoyancy was suddenly contained, he regretted his moment of annoyance.
Casco gave a barely audible grunt.
She bowed and offered the credentials. As he took them, he noticed her hands were small but not soft. She was used to working outdoors then.
“Tsemkarun Andel of Trianog.” He bowed in turn. “Welcome to the Uri’madu.” He turned to his friend. “This is Casco, our logistician.”
“A fellow Lethian, I see?”
Her eyes were a warm tawny-brown, like her hair. She waited and he blushed, realizing he’d forgotten to introduce himself.
“Yes … my apologies. I am Shamkarun Huldar of Leth.” He made another small bow.
Her eyes danced. “I have heard of you,” she said. “When I found I was accepted into the Imperial Explorers and to be part of your team, the Uri’madu, I –”
More excitement leaked from her mind’s veil and Huldar didn’t know whether to be shocked or embarrassed.
She smiled an apology. “I can hear my mother now – always one for decorum – but I hope you will excuse me, this once? It has long been my ambition to join the corps of the Explorers’ Guild and today, despite her lack of faith, I have realized that dream.”
“Dream?” Casco snorted. “Might not be so thrilling when we’re alone in the wilds and shitting in the woods.”
“Casco!” Huldar snapped. “You forget yourself! Tsemkarun Andel of Trianog is an archangel, and Marked.”
Casco bowed deeply. “My apologies, Lady Andel. Our last diviner died horribly, and the shock has not yet left me.”
The diviner accepted Casco’s defense with a gracious nod, but when their eyes met again her excitement was withdrawn behind a veil of steely calm.
“I am new to your team, Shamkarun Huldar,” she said evenly. “I have presumed on my acceptance and I am sorry if my exuberance offends. However, I have some experience of new planets and I am aware of the conditions we shall be working under. As I said, this is my dream appointment, and I have, I hope, trained for every contingency, even, as your friend so eloquently puts it, shitting in the woods.”
Too late, Huldar realized that her show of emotion had been a gift – an early invitation to find out more about each other. Were her feelings hurt? Now that her psychic emissions were impeccably controlled, he couldn’t tell, and he sensed it might be a long time before he would get the opportunity again.
“The Uri’madu leave from the Imperial Bays at daybreak in one week from today,” he said. “Shamkarun Kandät Enna will be our navigator. The recommended kit list is included with your acceptance papers. Please try to keep personal belongings to a minimum. If you have any particular charms or substrates you need for your work, please ensure the list is discussed with Casco here.” He paused. “Any questions?”
“If I may?”
He opened his palm. “Please.”
“Why the limitation on personal effects? Not that it is a problem,” she added. “But things stored in personal Qalān can have no effect on our manifest or a navigator’s song.”
“A few things are good, but too much can impede our acceptance of exploratory conditions …” He hesitated, not wishing to sound harsh, then explained, “It’s something I’ve observed. Life in isolation from the Realm can take some adjustment.”
“I see.” She nodded. “Well, I will bear that in mind, and I need no special equipment that is not already listed, thank you.”
“Very well. Please, contact me if you think of anything else. Otherwise, I’ll see you here at daybreak, seven days from now.”
A touch of frost had crept into her gaze. She bowed with almost mocking precision and inwardly he sighed. It was only as she was walking away that he noticed how small she was.
For the next three years, the Uri’madu would be beyond contact with the Realm and utterly dependent upon each other, and if the group were not compatible, those three years could become an eternity.
“What’s next?” Casco asked.
He tipped his head vaguely toward the Explorers’ Guild. “Meeting up at head office.”
“Just to make your day complete.” Casco sniggered. “What’s it about?”
He gave a cynical snort. “Can’t wait to find out.” He pictured a group of shiny-pants officials who had never strayed from the Imperial City, telling him how best to run his assignment.
“The joys of leadership.” Casco smiled. “Will Duvät Gok be there?”
“Most likely.”
Casco nodded sagely. “The honey in the cake.”
A broad grin spread over Huldar’s face as he imagined their pompous Overlord as a spongy confection. He shared the image with Casco.
“There’s one dessert I won’t fight you for,” Casco chuckled. “Did I tell you about that clunky old desk he’s insisted we lug along? Had to ditch one of our kitchen trestles to make room.”
“Only the spare, I hope?”
“Still … what if one gets broken? Can we use his desk?”
“Might have a struggle on your hands! Still, we have to keep the esteemed Gok happy, I suppose. Perhaps I can bring it up at the meeting.”
Casco shook his head. “See you later down at the Red Weyfal? You can tell us all about it over a jar of ale.”
Huldar waved his friend goodbye and strode through the familiar streets of the Imperial City toward the Guild’s offices. A persistent grin spread through his mind as despite the puzzle of the unwelcome desk and lingering disappointment over his interaction with the new diviner, the ridiculous image of Duvät Gok as a cake wouldn’t leave him.
JOURNEY TO THE NEW WORLD
The navigator’s voice rang on and on as it hurtled the Uri’madu through the vast emptiness of space toward an unnamed planet on the edge of the Known. The chord had surrounded them at every moment for over a month now, pervading their souls with the song of passage.
Although an Imperial Scryer had been to this planet in spirit, this was the first time anyone had made the physical journey, so this was an exploration as much for their navigator as it would be for the Uri’madu once they arrived.
Andel of Trianog sat on a crate and watched the crew operate. Of the seven spinners, three would be singing at any one time, four when the navigator himself rested. They were experts in their field, of course, but there was always a blanching of tone in Kandät Enna’s absence, as if the heart had gone out of it.
During the early stages of their journey the jumps between rest-stops had been short – no more than a day or two between the inner planets of the Realm, but those times were well gone. Now they were traversing unknown territory, weeks had passed in eerie monotony and there was nowhere to rest.
After a while, the richness of the material world had come to seem dreamlike and barely relevant. Team members occupied themselves with games of ashut but she didn’t know how to play and no one offered to teach her. She longed to feel something solid beneath her feet again, to reclaim her reason for life. Only the storytelli
ng brightened the hours, and as the Uri’madu vied with props and charms to make their tales more entertaining, it became clear that Huldar was the best of them all.
The envelope juddered. Andel shuddered slightly as the chord wandered the edges of dissonance.
Kandät Enna waved a spinner forward and the thin Tiamäti entered the song with seamless precision. Andel watched as the navigator wandered toward his sleeping mat. His lean frame folded to the floor with a barely audible sigh. Most navigators were of House Maatu, but this one was of House Tiamät, the Imperial House. Shamkarun Kandät Enna, he was called, and woe betide anyone who did not address him by his full title.
He noticed Andel’s attention and brushed her mind with reassurance. She smiled her thanks, but looked away when he winked, hoping he wouldn’t sense her embarrassment.
It was said that navigators had a lover waiting for them on every planet, and recalling the amber flash in this one’s eyes, she could see the allure – mystery and intelligence – the status of the extensive Shamkarun’s mark on his cheek – but the instability of a navigator’s lifestyle would be hard to deal with, and she knew they rarely married.
She looked up as their team leader, Huldar of Leth, laughed and continued his chat with Casco. He was also a Shamkarun, but his vocal talents lay in a quite different direction. He was taller than the navigator and perhaps not as handsome – but nowhere near as arrogant, and his clear blue eyes and a ready smile were hard to look away from.
Andel smoothed her thumb along the top of the crate and barely noticed its woody grain. She wished she’d been in on the joke, but he’d made it perfectly clear at their first introduction – if she were to be accepted into the tight-knit group she would have to prove herself.
She knew about the terrible death of the team’s last diviner, killed by a moment of carelessness. She would have to be sharp if she wanted to survive, and never complacent. But that misfortune had been her gain, because there she was, a member of the Explorers’ Guild at last, team Uri’madu, no less, and on her way to an adventure of her own.
Planet Walkers Page 1