Some have requested that I put up a teaser chapter of my novel, The Genesis Particle, for the interested. Well here it is! I hope you enjoy it! An e-book version will be available in 2015. Meanwhile, please do enjoy this excerpt. And please do support my work with a purchase!
-- Ced Crawley, aka the Subspace Meditator
The
Genesis
Particle
Part One: Shroud
of Shadows
Cedric Crawley
The Genesis Particle, Part 1: Shroud of Shadows is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and
incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.
©2012 by Cedric Crawley
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the
written permission of the author or publisher.
Chapter 1
First City
CHANCELLOR TARIN NJOYA stood on the Canopy outside his personal
office watching the planet’s tri-suns begin their dive beneath the horizon.
Unexpected awe filled the centenarian leader and he patted his umber-hued hands
together at several instances in reverence for the great city and its ancient
relationship to the Nuiinian people. He often stood alone out here, letting the
east winds breeze through his tailored robes while meditating on the ancestral
inheritance—an inheritance of liberty, of destiny, which it was his purpose to
see endure the ages. It was a heritage passed on from the time of the Nine
Ancestors, a baton of promise once handed to him as servant of six hundred
billion souls.
One he
would see bestowed to the next generation in that same faith and freedom.
His large, brown eyes returned to
the canvas above, watching the suns fall away and give rise to dusk-bringing
ribbons of crimson sky. Beneath them an outline of mountains ringed the First
City in a half circle. Across the millennia, the mountains were chiseled away
and with time, Nulial grew to its present grandeur. Spiraling metal towers of
varied heights and contours sprouted up, becoming intermixed with majestic
waterways that snaked throughout the landscape. And between these were planted
beauteous trees of red and yellow hue that shifted their patterns and colors
with the seasons. The First City was a statement of his people’s penchant for
aesthetic harmony with nature; but more, a testimony to the wisdom and vision
of the Ancestors.
He looked farther, beyond the
city’s edge, beyond the roaring waterfalls that fed into the expanse of the
great sea, to the lone island sitting at the mouth of its inlet. There too, he thought, were the other mighty
defenders of Nuiinia’s ancient house of freedom, and Tarin Njoya knew,
remembered, that his cause was a just one.
A right one.
The blue-robed man turned from the
ennobling scene, whisking his long cloak behind his back, and reentered the
Presidium offices. Two elliptical crystal doors separated at his approach,
leading the way straight to a rather hefty and expanded desk composed of
similar material. On its obsidian surface sat a pile of data pads and other
executive business that drew the elder statesman away from his thoughtful
reflection on Nuiinia’s past and back into the turbulence of its present.
And the hope of its future.
Njoya pulled into the contours of a
plump chair and activated three-dimensional pictographic holography of
Nuiinia’s six-spiraled galactic home. He then enlarged the space of two of the
Republic’s most fearsome rivals and put fingers to chin in ponder. It would be
difficult to convince the Korion Stronghold of the benefits of a peace treaty,
but if the Vorkan Imperium signed on it would make cracking their alliance that
much easier.
Still, the chancellor knew that the
proposed concord angered many conservative hardliners within his
administration, with some sternly advising against both it and the upcoming
trip intended to secure its ultimate passage. Nuiinians themselves, Njoya
lamented, never mind their two greatest enemies in Sorkon, were not yet ready to
accept a bold new vision for harmonizing the war-torn galaxy. But Njoya
contrasted with them in vision and outlook, believing that the days of
interstellar standoff between Nuiinia and the Vorkan-Korion led sJrenist
movement must end for the sake of his people’s nation and the Sorkon Galaxy
itself.
He activated a holodisplay of the
text, crisscrossing his aged hands over gemstone buttons and interfaces to
consider it further. But soon a communication beep interrupted his thoughts.
“Chancellor Njoya,” an aide
announced over intercom. “Vice-Chancellor Eltantawi is here to see you.”
Hum, what could be so
pressing? wondered Njoya. “Send her in,” he said, shutting down the holos
to give her full attention. “Kessa.” Njoya rose to greet the woman who, in
contrast to himself, was quite sprightly in age and appearance.
She stepped beyond the star emblem
engraved into the glass doors of Njoya’s crescently-shaped office. With pride
he observed the young woman stroll across the Great Seal of the Nuiin Republic
carpeted beneath her feet, soon coming beyond the two couches surrounding it to
stand before him.
“Good evening, sir. I thought you
should know that Perceptor has departed stardock, refitting and upgrades
complete. She’s in orbit awaiting your embarkation whenever you’re ready.”
Njoya answered with a tsk tsk
and the full insight of his middle-aged VC’s intentions. “News that could have
been delivered by one of my aides. What does the vice-chancellor seek by
concerning herself with the mundane repairs of Nuiinia’s diplomatic flagship?”
But she said nothing, upturning her ample lips as if to show some irritation.
“You look pensive, Kessa. How about some laso tea?” He moved toward a corner
table, steering around to see her response. Brunette eyes brought light to a
lean sand-tinted face that pouted at his irksome fatherly manners.
“Sir,” she replied, folding her
arms.
Njoya laughed. “All right. You’re
right. They aren’t mundane repairs.”
Kessa reached for the brown ceramic
goblet from inside her thick auburn robe. Its rich texture stretched to her
feet and was embroidered with Nuiinian arts cambered and scripted from the
ancient days. A shawl draped over her right shoulder, flowing evenly from
golden honey hair twisted almost into a crown.
“No, they aren’t,” she returned.
“They’re significant upgrades for a significant journey, the itinerary of which
should precipitate the vice-chancellor’s inclusion on this trip.”
Ah ha, he smiled. She was
finally ready to present her argument, her real reason for coming. Njoya
replaced his own tea onto the table and moved toward the Canopy again. “Young
lady, come with me. Come along,” he repeated when she hesitated. Together they
stepped beyond the sliding doors and moved around the situated furniture. Kessa
followed Njoya to the water pool encircling the large veranda and stopped,
listening to a wise, elderly voice as it both questioned and enlightened. “Tell
me, Kessa, how often have you stood with me on the Canopy?”
“Since
becoming your vice-chancellor, four times.”
“Once for
each year of your office since my second term began. And in fourteen years as
chancellor, do you know that I’ve never allowed anyone else out here but you?”
She looked at him with amazement. “No, no one else. Not even Tium,” he
continued. “Why? Because this is a place where only the right people at the
right times in history should stand. What do you see when you look out there?”
He listened, watched her turn in time with each utterance.
“The
Dinyori. The Palladium of Judges. The Falls.
The island of councilors.”
“Not just
the tower of our galactic Senate. Not simply the seat of the High Court, or
Tunis’ Falls, or even the great dome and lighted spires of the descendants of
the Nine. You do not even see the hallowed city of our beginnings, its people
going to and from inside flying machines. You see the grand house, the
architecture of twenty thousand years of struggle and faith in the calling of
the gods. You see what it is your purpose as leader of these free people to
preserve. Do you know why I picked you?” he asked, taking her hand in his.
“I’ve always wondered.”
His eyes lit up. “I know you have.
Especially when all counsel ran against you saying that you were too young to
stand in the company of your elders. Those words were hollow, untrue. You do
understand the Ancestors’ inheritance, even more than some of those twice your
years. You grasp the purpose of these three towers of law, governance, and
justice. And I know that one day, when you take my place, you will not see that
inheritance brought to shame.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And that is why you will remain
here,” he said more practically. Tucking her arm in the crook of his elbow,
Njoya brought Kessa back inside and continued. “This is no ordinary jostle of diplomacy. I am going to rHuus, the Vorkan
homeworld. Nuiinia’s most formidable adversary should not so easily cast eye
upon both her leaders simultaneously. Should something happen to me, you, as
vice-chancellor, will be the first in line of authority. And the people will look to you for guidance
in such a circumstance. Don’t worry,” Njoya said, reading in her folded arms
displeasure at his wry sense of humor.
“Everything will be fine. And when I return, we will have a treaty that
will safeguard the lives of our friends in the Nirean Protectorate from further
acts of oppression beneath the Imperium hammerfist. Besides, between you and
the Stellar Intelligence Directorate, I feel as if I’m being smothered by an
over-protective nanny, burrowing me into her bosom so that I can but barely
breathe.”
Kessa laughed, childlike, lightened
by a cheerfulness Njoya was pleased to see. “Well, it is the job of SID to look
after you, sir,” she said. “As you say, this isn’t an ordinary diplomatic push.
It’s precisely because of the unknowns in your protection that the chairman so
urged against this trip. Quite frankly, brilliant speeches aside,” she
playfully mocked, “I’m in agreement. Any negotiation on behalf of Sorkon’s
peoples can be done between our ambassadors and the Vorkans’. It doesn’t
require your presence.”
“On the contrary,” Njoya countered,
pouring himself more tea. “It’s precisely because of this meeting’s high-level
nature that both I and Premier oManiqk have agreed to appear in person. Kessa,
in eight days a Nuiinian is going to set foot on the Vorkan home planet. That’s
a significant first step toward ending a stalemate that has ravished the galaxy
for a very long and bitter century. The Perceptor will depart in seventy-two
hours,” he said, speaking final words on the matter. “My diplomatic entourage
will accompany me. The admiralty has assured us that our starfleet is more than
capable of attending to our safety. And my fleet wings have been retrofitted to
exacting standards for this mission. I will be fine. And you will remain on
Nuiinia Prime.” He lifted a toast to the coming success.
But Kessa input one last caveat, an
insistence that had to be obeyed if she wasn’t going with him. “Very well. But I will accompany you to Stardock to see
you off properly.” She batted a brow at him and he knew she wouldn’t take no
for an answer. Njoya laughed with abandon.
-- end chapter --
I hope you enjoyed this teaser chapter from my work, The Genesis Particle, Part 1: Shroud of Shadows. If you would like to support me with a purchase, please do so by clicking on the photo below.
The Genesis Particle, Part 2: Roads of the Valiant is also currently out and can be purchased at the linked pic below.
Follow my blog by coming
here to see my meditations on space, time, and the human condition.
Thanks again for your support!
Until next time...
To the upward reach of man!
