by Mike Sheriff
“Yes.”
“A dagger-ax man,” she said. “That’s what you love.”
“We haven’t carried dagger-axes in millennia,” Dominus said.
“And yet you cling to the title.” Myra flicked him a pained look. “That’s the Jireni for you. Thousands of years of tradition, unhampered by progress.” She returned her focus to Laoshi. “I saw you as a builder, not a destroyer.”
“I was always interested in structural engineering,” Laoshi said, hoping to steer her away from the subject.
“No,” she said. “Not a builder of things. A builder of minds.”
Dominus hooted. “Laoshi the Librarian!”
Cordelia squealed, seemingly delighted by the notion.
“See? Even little Cordelia thinks it’s a good idea.” Dominus hoisted his glass. “To Laoshi the Librarian. May he have a long and happy life . . . after his insertion into a certain sector of a certain mongrel colony that shall remain nameless.”
Myra rolled her eyes and hoisted her glass.
Laoshi joined them. He even conjured a smile.
What was another lie between friends?
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Survival Aptitude Test: Hope’s Graveyard
MIKE SHERIFF WRITES accessible science fiction for readers with curious minds and a taste for tension. Besides The Extinction Odyssey series, he also publishes short and snappy sci-fi stories under the LIGHTBURST imprint. When he’s not writing, you’ll find him mangling Rory Gallagher riffs on his Fender Strat or fending off high cholesterol through (yawn) diet and exercise. He lives in London, Ontario.
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Survival Aptitude Test: Rise
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mikesheriffwrites
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Also By Mike Sheriff
The Extinction Odyssey Series
Survival Aptitude Test: Hope’s Graveyard
Survival Aptitude Test: Sound
Survival Aptitude Test: Fury
Survival Aptitude Test: Rise
Lightburst Short Stories
Lightburst: Displacement
Lightburst: Love Like Gravity
Forthcoming Books
Survival Aptitude Test: Fall
Survival Aptitude Test: Life
Survival Aptitude Test: Death
Learn more at mikesheriffwrites.com
Copyright © 2017 Mike Sheriff
This book is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are
products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Edited by Bobbie Jo Reid
Cover Design by Tom Edwards
www.tomedwardsdesign.com
Published by The Appended Press
41 Craig Street, Suite 4
London, Ontario, Canada N6C 1E9
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-0-9952766-5-9