Zero Recall

by Sara King

  And, for those of you who do the Facebook thing, check me out: http://www.facebook.com/kingfiction (personal) or http://www.facebook.com/sknovel (my author page) or stay up to date on continuous new ZERO publications with The Legend of ZERO fan page: http://www.facebook.com/legendofzero

  Afterword

  In case you hadn’t guessed, this is the second book in a (very) large, sprawling sci-fi world. More ZERO stories are coming out very soon, if they haven’t already, and I will very likely write more novels in this world, simply because I’ve been told to. Repeatedly. By people with that crazed, hungry look in their eyes. (Shudder.) While I’m working on them, be sure to check out these great books, short stories, and additional ZERO materials on Amazon:

  The Legend of ZERO: Forging Zero. The story of how Joe Dobbs is captured from a devastated Earth and inducted into the Human Ground Force and trained to be a soldier for the alien army.

  The Legend of ZERO: Zero Recall. (The one you just read. It’s a play on Forgotten.) 53 turns after Forging ZERO, Joe Dobbs is recalled to fight a war the likes of which Congress has never seen.

  The Legend of ZERO: Zero’s Return. 20 turns after Zero faces off Forgotten in Zero Recall, he returns to Earth to fight a new kind of war—the kind that will determine the future of the Human race.

  The Legend of ZERO: Zero’s Legacy. After preserving Earth’s most precious resource from the hands of the Huouyt, Joe and his friends must now work together to survive this new post-apocalyptic world—and find the People a home.

  The Legend of ZERO: Forgotten. A Sacred Turn after Zero returns to Earth, his descendants seek out his ancient nemesis with a bargain Forgotten cannot resist: Remove Earth from Congress without a single death, and Humans will give him his freedom.

  The Complete ZERO WorldBuilder: A complete(ly massive) glossary, fun facts, timeline, illustrations, and cool details that I couldn’t pack into the books.

  The Moldy Dead: A story about the Origins of the Geuji, one of whom plays a dominant role in books 2 and 4. The Moldy Dead is easily one of my best short stories.

  Opening Night at the Naturals Preserve: A story about Congress’ discovery of the Baga, one of whom plays an important role in book 2.

  Planetside: A fun story about how the Ueshi earned the right to fly.

  The First Gods of Fire: The story of how Congress was formed.

  Breaking the Mold: How the Geuji were betrayed by Congress (again).

  Beda and Shael: A Jreet love story, a la Romeo and Juliet. Except this time, it’s Vorans and Welus. Yeah, sparks fly. And blood. And scales…

  Parting Gift: The Vanun struggle to escape the Huouyt, both of whom evolved on the same planet. (Vanun on land, Huouyt in the sea).

  Syuri: Everybody loves lackeys. Here’s how Forgotten got his. J

  And keep your eyes open for more, as I will keep putting them up whenever I have time. Just search “The Legend of ZERO” on Amazon. Also, if you liked ZERO, you’d probably like Outer Bounds: Fortune’s Rising. It’s another character sci-fi that’ll rock your world.

  And guys? Thanks. You are freakin’ awesome.

  Meet Stuey

  Meet Stuey. He's our mascot here at Parasite Publications. Stuey is a brain parasite. Stuey burrows into people's heads and stays there. He takes over your body. He shuts you away from your senses. He talks to you in the darkness. He makes you do things you would never do while you can only watch in horror.

  But he's an understandable little monster.

  Imagine your favorite action-adventure story. Your favorite romance. Your favorite epic sci-fi. Your favorite thriller. Each one of them is going to have a character that left you breathless, one that had you at the edge of your seat, rooting for, screaming at, and pleading with. Those are the only stories that Parasite publishes.

  Our goal at Parasite Publications is twofold: First, we want to produce memorable, sympathetic characters that readers will still be thinking about years after finishing our books. Second, we want to create a team of creative minds whose work can be trusted by readers to produce the same kind of character stories they love, time and again. We're forming a club. A logo. A place for readers to go to read books about people, not places or machines. A place for character writers to band together and create a brand that means quality to readers. Readers of Parasite books will no longer have to wonder if they're throwing their money away on novels that, even in 150k words, never really get into a character's head.

  They never have to wonder, because that's what we're about. Getting into the character's head. And, if we do our job right, Parasite will get into your head and stay there. Just like Stuey.

  Check us out on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ParasitePublications/info to read more about Stuey’s mission to change publishing for your benefit.

  Sara Recommends

  If you’re looking for other great character novels, Sara’s got some recommendations for you!

  If you like to read:

  Young Adult Paranormal Romance…

  Try Something Witchy by AJ Myers

  Sara Says: “AJ Myers was my first honest-to-God protégé, and we worked together heavily in the creation of this first book in the Mystics & Mayhem series. If you enjoyed my novels, be sure to check hers out! AJ’s got a spunky heroine, a wicked sense of humor, and has a way of making people laugh with the unpredictable that I can truly appreciate.”

  Fantasy…

  Try A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

  Sara Says: “For all you writers out there, George R. R. Martin is the guy you should study if you want to learn to write compelling characters. I can’t say he taught me everything I know ‘cause I never met the guy (lordy, I wish…), but he’s the greatest master of the entire range of human character that I’ve ever seen. He’s a character genius. Period. I bow to him.”

  Thrillers…

  Try Changes by Charles Colyott

  Sara Says: “Colyott is a character writer supreme. I haven’t had a novel grab me and hold on this tightly since George R. R. Martin. He’s an independent author that blows most traditionally-published authors completely out of the water. His books are awesome steeped in awesome sauce, stewed in awesomeness. This is a writer to watch.”

  Other Titles by Sara King

  Guardians of the First Realm: Alaskan Fire

  Guardians of the First Realm: Alaskan Fury

  Millennium Potion: Wings of Retribution

  Outer Bounds: Fortune’s Rising

  Terms of Mercy: To the Princess Bound

  The Legend of ZERO: Forging Zero

  Other Titles

  from Parasite Publications

  Mystics & Mayhem: Something Witchy ~ A.J. Myers

  Mystics & Mayhem: Something Wicked ~ A.J. Myers

  Coming Soon

  Mystics & Mayhem: Something Wanton ~ A.J. Myers

  Mystics & Mayhem: Something Wild ~ A.J. Myers

  Guardians of the First Realm: Fury of the Fourth Realm ~ Sara King

  Guardians of the First Realm: Alaskan Fiend ~ Sara King

  Guardians of the First Realm: Alaskan Fang ~ Sara King

  ZERO: Zero’s Return – Sara King

  ZERO: Zero's Legacy – Sara King

  ZERO: Forgotten – Sara King

  Terms of Mercy: Slave of the Dragon Lord ~ Sara King

  Aulds of the Spyre: The Sheet Charmer ~ Sara King

  Aulds of the Spyre: Form and Function ~ Sara King

  Outer Bounds: Fortune's Folly ~ Sara King

  Mini Glossary (i.e. the So-You-Don’t-Lose-Your-Mind Tiny Version)

  Glossary – Baga Terms

  Glossary – Dhasha Terms

  Glossary – Huouyt Terms

  Glossary – Jahul Terms

  Glossary – Jreet Terms

  Glossary – Ooreiki Terms

  Glossary – Universal Terms

  Glossary – Species

  Glossary – Measurements

  Glossary –

 
; Ranks

  Baga-specific:

  Counter – demeaning use for anyone non-Baga. Relates to the Bagan inability to count effectively beyond 6.

  Cracker – like ‘asshole’.

  Crack – like ‘fuck.’ Spawns from the Bagan history with their ancestral predators the miga, whose leathery wingtips break the sound barrier with each downward stroke. The crack of a miga’s wingbeats is enough to inspire instinctive terror in any Baga. (See Opening Night at the Naturals Preserve.)

  Dhasha-specific:

  Ka-par (ka-par) – The predatory game of wills that older Dhasha play with worthy prey creatures or other ancient Dhasha. A stare-down until one contestant submits.

  Ka-par inalt (ka-par in-alt) – ‘I submit.’

  Ka-par rak’tal. (ka-par rak*tal) – ‘duel accepted.’ *is used to denote a guttural, back-of-throat, almost hacking sound.

  Leafling – As the Dhasha are carnivores, as are their Takki and their greatest threats, ‘leafling’ is used to describe anyone who is utterly useless for anything but food.

  Mahid ka-par (ma-heed ka-par) – ‘may it begin.’

  Mothers – The four mythic beings who weave the lives of all creatures into a tapestry upon which the Trith can gaze. Considered the Dhasha gods by many.

  Vahlin (vah-lin) – the legendary leader of the Dhasha, prophecized to be ‘dark of body’ and lead them to independence from tyranny.

  Huouyt-specific:

  Breja (bray-shjah) – the quarter-inch long, downy white cilia covering a Huouyt’s entire body. Extremely painful to be pulled or mutilated, as it is basically raw nerves.

  Zora (zoh-rah) – the red, wormlike, many-tentacled appendage that exits a Houyt’s forehead. Much like a fleshy form of coral in appearance when fully extended. It is the zora that allows a Huouyt to digest and analyze genetic material to take a new pattern.

  Jahul-specific:

  Oozing furg – dumbass. Someone who’s young, stupid.

  Sivvet (siv-et)– the sensory organs within a Jahul’s head that allows it to sense the emotions of other sentient creatures.

  Jreet-specific:

  Beda’s bones – used alternatively as a curse or exclamation of surprise. Beda ga Vora, who was originally Beda ga Welu. A great warrior who led Congressional forces in a heroic multi-species civil war, but who was abandoned by his own people for falling in love with a Voran, only to be saved and claimed by the Vorans as the only gray-scaled (Welu) clan-member in history, one who was eventually held in such high esteem that he was given breeding privileges. (See Beda and Shael) Considered the epitome of a Jreet warrior.

  Tek (tehk) – the appendage sheathed within their chests that extrudes poison instantly deadly to any other species in Congress—but not Jreet. Can produce several thousand lobes of pressure in a single strike. The tek’s sheath is also commonly used as a storage area for Jreet to carry things like credit stubs and ovi, usually in a leather carrying case.

  Lesthar (less-tar)– the favored intoxicating drink of Voran Jreet. Smells like burning tires. Small sips will kill most other species.

  Ovi – the transparent, razor-sharp, glasslike knife that is used in every important Jreet ceremony. If a Jreet dies and his body cannot be returned to his clan, it is expected that his tek be removed with his ovi and carried back to his clan for burial.

  Rravut – the poison extruded by a Jreet’s tek. The most powerful poison in Congress. Causes instant death in all living creatures except other Jreet, who only get numbed or drunken from it.

  Ooreiki-specific:

  Ash/soot – a disgusting, unclean substance

  Asher – much like ‘asshole,’ but with an aggressive, fighting connotation

  Ashsoul – the most extreme insult in the Ooreiki language. Also translates to ‘lost one’

  Ashy – shitty/gross/disgusting/awful

  Burn/burning – used much like Human fuck/fucking

  Charhead – dumbass, someone stupid, alternatively: someone with an unclean/dirty mind

  Furgsoot – bull, bullshit, horseshit, crap, yeah right

  Niish Ahymar (nish ay-a-mar) - An Ooreiki ceremony to determine caste where a red-hot brand is pressed into a child’s skin. Vkala do not burn, and are then cast to onen. The traditional Ooreiki ceremony of adulthood.

  Oorei (oo-ray) – the Ooreiki term for ‘soul.’ It is the name of the crystalline sphere carried within every Ooreiki and removed by Poenian yeeri priests at their death. Emotional/psychological experiences throughout life change color of crystal. Considered to be the highest crime of Ooreiki society to harm an oorei.

  Shenaal (She-nahl) – Mark of the Pure. The burn left when Ooreiki niish are tested during the Niish Ahymar.

  Sootbag – someone disgusting, unprepared, unequipped

  Sooter – disgusting, unclean person; bastard

  Sootwad – degrading, denotes disrespect, a useless person

  Universal words:

  Ekhta (ek-tuh) – Planet-killer. The most destructive bomb in the Congressional arsenal, one of the many great inventions of the Geuji during the Age of Expansion. Like all Geuji technology, the manufacture is so complex that it is un-reproducible by any other mind, and Congress simply follows the steps outlined by the Geuji to create it. (For more info on the Geuji, check out ‘The Moldy Dead’ and ‘Breaking the Mold’ in The Legend of ZERO Additional Materials.)

  Ferlii (fur-lee) – The massive alien, fungus-like growths covering Ooreiki planets whose reddish spores turn the sky purple. Used as a unit of measurement: One ferlii-length is similar to a human mile.

  Furg – A short, squat, very hairy alien that is as ugly as it is stupid. A tool-user, but too primitive to use anything other than sharpened rocks. Think a stocky, 2.5-foot-tall Neanderthal who breeds fast enough to replace numbers lost to stupidity. Darwinian law does not apply.

  Furgling – A younger version of a furg. Shorter, hairier, and stupider than its parents.

  Haauk (hawk) – skimmer, the floating platforms used as personal planetary transportation

  Jenfurgling – One of the most blatantly stupid creatures in Congress. An evolutionary offshoot of furgs arriving on an island where the population underwent a severe bottleneck and had no predators. They delight in beating their hairy faces against the ground and playing with their own excrement.

  Kaleu – An Ueshi pleasure-planet known as a vacation destination. Any request will be accommodated.

  Kasja (kas-jah) – Highest congressional war-medal. Awarded to a very few, very highly esteemed. Usually comes with a three million credit reward.

  Kkee (ca-ca-ee) – yes

  Koliinaat – The artificial planet conceived of by the Geuji and funded by the Ooreiki one and a half million years ago, to celebrate the 100th Age of the Ooreiki. Is the home of the Regency, the Tribunal, and the Sanctuary. It is manned, in its entirety, by the artificial sentient life-form called the Watcher, also a Geuji construction, who conducts all Koliinaati affairs with supreme precision.

  Levren – the Peacemaker planetary headquarters. Also home of the Space Force Academy.

  Ninety Jreet Hells – The ninety levels of pain and unpleasantness that a Jreet warrior must pass through upon death in order to reach the afterlife. (See The Legend of ZERO Additional Materials.)

  Nkjan (naka-john) – war; also: “Evil”

  Nkjanii (naka-john-ee-ay) – “Evildoer” – battlemaster

  Non-sent – colloquial/shortened way to say non-sentient, usually used in a derogatory manner.

  Oonnai (oon-nigh) - hello

  Oora (oo-ra) – “Souled one” - sir

  Peacemakers- the governmental, semi-military authorities who are autonomous in judging, monitoring, and policing the populace. Their main task is to make sure nobody has seditious thoughts, symbol is an eight-pointed star with a planet balancing on each tip. Their base planet is Levren, but they also maintain the Sanctuary on Koliinaat, which is the only place on the planet that is inaccessible to the Watcher.

  Pla
netary Ops (also: PlanOps) – symbol is a single sphere, half red, half blue. Tattoo is of a green, single-moon planet with a headcom, a PPU, and a species-generic plasma rifle leaning against the debris ring. The tattoo glows slightly, a cell-by-cell gene modification that causes the tattooed skin to bio-luminesce.

  Regency – The sphere-shaped center of Koliinaat, where all the Representatives of Congress gather to discuss new laws or political conflicts.

  Ruvmestin (ruv-meh-stihn) – A whitish, extremely heavy metal with a greater density than gold. The most valuable metal in Congress. Used in Geuji technologies, esp. nannites, like biosuits and spaceships. Does not oxidize in air. Mined on the government planets of Grakkas, Yeejor, and Pelipe. Once ruvmestin is discovered on a planet, Congress immediately claims the planet for the common good, removing it from the Planetary Claims Board queue.

  Sanctuary – The one area of Koliinaat—about the size of a large city block—where the Watcher has no effect. Was claimed by Peacemakers almost immediately after Koliinaat’s creation, though it was originally constructed as a place for delegations of non-members of Congress to gather to discuss treaties, trade, and other matters of diplomacy. Since Congress has swallowed every society it has come across, unlike the intent of its original charter, there are no non-members to require separate quarters.

  Sacred Turn – Time period. 666 turns.

  Tribunal – The three members of the Regency chosen to represent and make judgments for the whole of Congress. The Tribunal are the power-members of the Regency, usually occupied by members of the Grand Six. Aliphei is First Citizen, and has maintained a seat on the Tribunal for the entire duration of Congress. The symbol of the Tribunal is three red circles inside a silver ring, surrounded by eight blue circles formed into two sides facing off against each other.