Relativity: Aurora Resonant Book One (Aurora Rhapsody 7)

by G. S. Jennsen

  Alex grinned. “Not every day, but…kind of, yes.”

  Miriam shook her head with a pensive sigh. “So long as you’re happy.”

  “I’ll be ‘happy’ if this meeting goes swimmingly and we win this war and the people I care about aren’t sacrificed in the process of winning it. Will ‘fulfilled’ do for now?”

  “Quite well.”

  Your serotonin levels spiked noticeably there.

  So she gave me the warm fuzzies. I’m allowed to get warm fuzzies from my mom.

  The glow took shape as they neared to form an archway three meters tall and two wide, filled with molten metal, or a form of amorphous glass, or…something else. The material rippled as water in a pond, but it was both more opaque and shinier than water. If it stopped rippling and stilled, it could be mistaken for a mirror.

  “It is a teleportation gate.”

  She jumped in surprise at the disembodied voice. Caleb and Miriam both tensed and began visually searching the area for approaching danger.

  A shadow encroached on the archway until the object was nearly obscured. She shivered as a chill ran over her arms. “Miaon?”

  “Yes.” The solitary word warbled through the air like the note of a reed instrument.

  Caleb relaxed a fraction, but her mother remained tense. “What is Miaon? The shadow?”

  “Yes. It’s a—”

  “I am an ally. We can acquaint ourselves in due time, but at present you are expected before the Sator. Accompany me through the gate. Mnemosyne?”

  It will be an uncomfortable passage, but I will accomplish it.

  So, quantum teleportation? Neat. They checked one another for confirmation, and Caleb stepped forward and through the archway to disappear. She quickly followed—

  ANARCH POST SATUS

  LOCATION UNKNOWN

  —and stepped into an airy, sun-lit room.

  On confirming Caleb had reached the same location, Alex spun in time to see her mother step through an exact copy of the archway here in the room and Mesme to materialize in front of it. The shadow Miaon was nowhere to be seen.

  Valkyrie, I expect you to be able to tell me how teleportation works in the next…three days? Do you need four?

  I will do it in two, and spend the other two determining how you accessed sidespace without me at the Mirad Vigilate.

  A good use of your time on both fronts, I think.

  The archway vanished, revealing an Anaden woman in a beige pantsuit standing behind it. Her modest attire, fair skin and blond hair styled into a practical twist ruled her out as Praesidis, Machim or Idoni. Yet another Dynasty, then. Antalla? Erevna?

  The woman nodded perfunctorily at them. “I am Xanne ela-Kyvern. If you will accompany me, the Sator is expecting you.”

  Or that one.

  She knew both Caleb and her mother were scanning the vicinity for potential threats. Confident she was well protected, she scanned it instead for aesthetics.

  The decor was bright, sleek and smooth, but displayed enough character to not come off as sterile. This felt like a place where people not only worked, but lived. People who weren’t sociopaths or automatons.

  Speaking of…she increased her pace to catch up to Xanne. “Excuse me. One of your agents has been helping us, and we haven’t heard from him since—”

  “Since now?”

  Alex spun to see Eren swagger through a door to the left, looking not a whit like he’d been atomized the day before.

  He stopped a meter or so away, which thankfully avoided the awkward determination of whether they’d reached hugging status yet, and smirked. “So there are more of you.”

  She grinned. “A few. Thank you for the rescue back at Helix Retention, truly.”

  Eren gestured in the direction they were heading. “Much as I’d like to take all the credit, I can only take…eighty percent of it. The rest goes to the Sator.” He smiled. “You look much better, by the way.” His gaze drifted to Caleb. “I guess you do, too. Less like you’re about to go supernova on us.”

  Caleb nodded with a touch of amusement. “Yes. You have my thanks as well.”

  Eren made a face, then closed the distance and clapped Caleb on the shoulder. “Told you I’d see you again.”

  “You did. Are you coming to the meeting with us?”

  “Love to—not really—but I’m on my way out. Got to see to a thing. Have fun, though. Nisi’s, um…” Eren arched an eyebrow “…unexpected.” Then he tossed them a casual wave and jogged out the door.

  Alex caught her mother’s dubious expression and motioned toward the door. “Eren.”

  “So I see.” Miriam huffed a laugh. “You have collected quite the assortment of allies.”

  Xanne made a tutting noise and ushered them on before she could respond. “We shouldn’t keep the Sator waiting.”

  They began traversing a sky bridge, and Alex finally got a glimpse of what lay outside. A lush forest stretched to the horizon beneath a clear capri sky. They were on a planet. Outside the bridge, two large birds soared and dipped above the trees.

  She zoomed her vision in closer. Yep, they were Volucri. Though their colors and markings were different from the ones Felzeor had displayed, she nudged Caleb and pointed them out. It was oddly comforting to see them here and flying freely.

  Ahead, a central structure acted as a hub for multiple bridges similar to the one they crossed. Beneath the hub, a brilliant, golden ball of energy spun rapidly in the air.

  Unfortunately, it vanished beneath the growing profile of the hub before she could study it further, and a minute later they reached a door.

  Xanne gestured to the door. There were no visible security routines blocking entry, but then again, they’d presumably passed through half a dozen silent scans. “I will return to retrieve you when your meeting has concluded.”

  Miriam took the lead in stepping through the entry, and they followed.

  The door opened into an…office was the closest approximation, though it seemed to serve multiple purposes. Decorated in warm amber and russet, it felt even more welcoming than the rest of the facility. Several chaise lounges were arranged off to the left, near a wet bar and an Anaden-style kitchen unit. In the center was a large circular table, and a type of workspace framed it. On the far wall behind the workspace were two doors, both closed.

  A man stood at the transparent wall to their right, gazing out at the jungle below. His back was to them, but he pivoted as soon as they entered.

  Alex didn’t need to be told this was the anarch leader, for authority radiated off the man in spades. He wore a simple cream-and-tan tunic and slacks that complimented olive skin and strangely abyssal raven eyes. Or were they indigo? They changed with the shifting of the light.

  The door shut behind them, and her mother took several steps forward. She spoke slowly and carefully; she’d only received the translation files a few hours earlier, and her eVi was still assimilating the Communis language. “Sator Nisi? I’m Commandant Miriam Solovy, leader of the AEGIS fleet.”

  Nisi brought his hands together in front of his chest in a prayer stance and bowed slightly. “Commandant, welcome. I am not your Sator, so please, call me Danilo.”

  “As you wish. This is my daughter, Alex, and her husband, Caleb. You may have some knowledge of their presence here of late. The Katasketousya is Mnemosyne.”

  “Yes. Eren had much to say about all of you. Mnemosyne, our mutual acquaintance Miaon has recently seen fit to share some fascinating tales about you as well as your kin. We will speak further later—about a great deal, I suspect.” He dipped his chin in greeting to Alex and turned to Caleb.

  Caleb was staring at the man, a most peculiar look on his face, and now he hastened forward in greeting. “Sir—”

  A tendril of crimson sparks drifted up and away from the exposed skin of the man’s forearm; it was so faint it might not be noticeable if Alex hadn’t gotten used to searching for such traces.

  Nisi’s eyes flared for a single blink
, and he held up a hand in a firm warning. “You, do not touch me. Do not approach me.”

  The statement was delivered as an order, and a resolute one. Her mother started, taken aback. “Is there a problem?”

  Caleb smiled enigmatically and retreated a deliberate step backward. “It’s all right. Apologies, sir. For a moment you…” his brow furrowed “…reminded me of someone, and I neglected to consider what might happen.”

  Nisi’s physical stance softened. “The mistake was mine. Please, do not interpret as hostility what is merely self-preservation.”

  Miriam cleared her throat. “Is there something we should know?”

  Alex tilted her head in Nisi’s direction. “He controls diati.”

  “Only a small measure of it, but what I possess I intend to keep.”

  “You’re Praesidis?” Now that she thought about it, he did favor them, after a fashion. Lacked the cold malevolence that was the Praesidis stock-in-trade, though.

  “Yes, and no.”

  Alex bit back a groan. “What does that mean? I’m not trying to be rude, but we’ve learned it’s sort of important.”

  “Indeed.” He clasped his hands in front of him. “I am no Dynasty, and all Dynasties. My genes are those of all Anadens, with no preordained destiny written upon them. I am and have long been free to follow any path I choose.”

  “So you started a rebellion.”

  Nisi arched an eyebrow at her; did she amuse him? “There was already a rebellion, tiny and desperate though it was, when I came to it. Sadly, the brave souls who began it are all gone, leaving me to honor their legacy by growing the resistance into something more.”

  “Gone?” She frowned. “What about regenesis?”

  “Back then the resistance had but a single lab, and a rickety and spartan one at that. It was destroyed in a Machim attack, as was everyone at the base.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It was more millennia ago than I care to dwell on, though part of me continues to mourn the friends I lost. On bad days more than good ones, as is the way of such things. Now, I have naturally invited the four of you here for a reason, but first let me apologize for the inconvenient trip. Secrecy is our most paramount and constant concern. It tempers every action we take.”

  Alex wandered over to the window and peered down. “Where are we?”

  “You can never know the location, I’m afraid. As I said, secrecy.”

  “Can I ask what the energy generation beneath us is? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “Actually, I believe you have seen something like it, albeit on a much smaller scale. It’s a Zero Drive.”

  The drive on Felzeor’s capsule had only been a few centimeters in size. This apparatus was immense.

  Nisi’s expression bordered on smugness. “I’m sorry, did all of you believe this was a building? On the contrary. It is a starship.”

  Her jaw dropped. “Chush’ sobach’ya. Where can I get one?”

  Caleb laughed behind her.

  I know, I know. He’s a terrorist, and we’re in the opening hours of a war for the survival of humanity and liberation of pretty much everyone else. I still want one.

  We win this thing, and we’ll get us one, baby.

  It’s a plan. What was that about earlier, with Nisi?

  I’m honestly not quite sure.

  “Perhaps another time.” Nisi’s lips drew in tight. He’d opened the meeting with congeniality, but it could be her irreverence had begun to irk him. “To business, shall we? Your victory at the Provision Network Gateway will provoke a war, and my people will have no choice but to play a role in it.”

  Miriam squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “Our war is with the Machim leaders who set out to annihilate our universe, and by extension with the Directorate that ordered their actions. I have concerns regarding the tactics you use, but the circumstances are such that I would welcome your assistance—but I am not demanding it or pleading for it. Your role will be what you make it.”

  “The circumstances being that you know nothing about our society, political structure, customs, varied alien species or technology.”

  The muscles in Miriam’s jaw flexed. Barely. “I wouldn’t say nothing, but far less than I’d like, yes. There is no denying we are newcomers to this place, while you have lived—” another twitch “—some thousands of years in it.”

  Ugh, enough with the alpha wolf dominance games. Alex grumbled loudly and stepped up to Nisi even as her mother took a quiet step back. “I’m sorry, Danilo, but don’t you want the Directorate taken out? Isn’t it the entirety of your purpose?”

  “The entirety of my purpose is freedom, Ms. Solovy.” His eyes ran across them in turn, and he exhaled ponderously, as if coming to an unpleasant decision.

  “I cannot say this to the other anarchs, but I have never believed we could succeed in unseating the Directorate. The institution and its Primor members are vastly too powerful, enjoying unlimited resources at their disposal, and we are infinitely too few and too weak.

  “My purpose these last millennia has been two-fold: firstly, to give a home to those who felt freedom’s call, a place where they could live as they wished and conduct a life of meaning.

  “Secondly, I have worked to build a universe-spanning network of spies, operatives, information caches and other resources. A network designed and crafted so as to be of maximum strategic value when the pivotal moment arrives at last and the fulcrum upon which the cosmos will turn emerges.”

  Alex regarded Nisi curiously. “And you believe our fleet is that fulcrum?”

  Nisi smiled. The effect was surprisingly impactful—charismatic, thoughtful, a touch mysterious. “After the dramatic battle at the Gateway, it has without question proved its worth. I have no doubt it will be necessary, even indispensable for victory in the coming war.

  “But, no, Ms. Solovy. Your fleet, formidable though it may be, is not the fulcrum I have prepared for and long sought.”

  The anarch leader settled his piercing gaze on Caleb. “He is.”

  TO BE CONTINUED IN

  AURORA RESONANT BOOK TWO

  RUBICON

  COMING IN 2017

  ***

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  AUTHOR'S NOTE

  I published Starshine in March of 2014. In the back of the book I put a short note asking readers to consider leaving a review or talking about the book with their friends. Since that time I’ve had the unmitigated pleasure of watching my readers do exactly that, and there has never been a more wonderful and humbling experience in my life. There’s no way to properly thank you for that support, but know you changed my life and made my dreams a reality.

  I’ll make the same request now. If you loved RELATIVITY, tell someone. If you bought the book on Amazon, consider leaving a review. If you downloaded the book off a website with Russian text in the margins and pictures of cartoon video game characters in the sidebar, consider recommending it to others.

  As I’ve said before, reviews are the lifeblood of a book’s success, and there is no single thing that will sell a book better than word-of-mouth. My part of this deal is to write a book worth talking about—your part of the deal is to do the talking. If you all keep doing your bit, I get to write a lot more books for you.

  This time I’m also going to make a second request. Abysm was an independently published novel, written by one person and worked on by a small team of colleagues. Right now there are thousands of writers out there chasing this same dream.

  Go to Amazon and surf until you find an author you like the sound of. Take a small chance with a few dollars and a few hours of your time. In doing so, you may be changing those authors’ lives by giving visibility to people who until recently were shut out of publishing, but who have something they need to say. It’s a revolution, and it’s waiting on you.

/>   Lastly, I love hearing from my readers. Seriously. Just like I don’t have a publisher or an agent, I don’t have “fans.” I have readers who buy and read my books, and friends who do that then reach out to me through email or social media. If you loved the book—or if you didn’t—let me know. The beauty of independent publishing is its simplicity: there’s the writer and the readers. Without any overhead, I can find out what I’m doing right and wrong directly from you, which is invaluable in making the next book better than this one. And the one after that. And the twenty after that.

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  G. S. JENNSEN lives in Colorado with her husband and two dogs. Relativity is her seventh novel, all published by her imprint, Hypernova Publishing. She has become an internationally bestselling author since her first novel, Starshine, was published in March 2014. She has chosen to continue writing under an independent publishing model to ensure the integrity of the Aurora Rhapsody series and her ability to execute on the vision she’s had for it since its genesis.

  While she has been a lawyer, a software engineer and an editor, she’s found the life of a full-time author preferable by several orders of magnitude, which means you can expect the next book in the Aurora Rhapsody series in just a few months.

  When she isn’t writing, she’s gaming or working out or getting lost in the Colorado mountains that loom large outside the windows in her home. Or she’s dealing with a flooded basement, or standing in a line at Walmart reading the tabloid headlines and wondering who all of those people are. Or sitting on her back porch with a glass of wine, looking up at the stars, trying to figure out what could be up there.