Beginning of Rishalt,
Book 2 of Taxyon Space
Draft Blurb
Dr. Nikki Bell is devastated when the Watchers
reappear without her alien lover. Why did he return to his home planet without even
leaving a message? In search of answers, Nikki jumps at the chance to join the
diplomatic team invited to visit the aliens’ home world. On Rishalt, she must
contend with the intricacies of Warrish society and an undercurrent of
hostility.
Kiron Arqin Ramis is
summoned home by his family to the unwanted honor of a new triad and union with
a high-ranked female. Unable to forget Nikki, he accepts exile on a dangerous
wilderness planet instead of complying with his family’s demands. But, the
Triarchs have other plans for him.
Stakes are higher than
the lives of two individuals. Earth leaders are desperate to acquire the
aliens’ interstellar technology, while Warrish perceive few advantages to an
alliance. Can Nikki and Kiron pierce the barriers separating them to find
happiness with provoking an unequal war?
CHAPTER
ONE
The intercom beeped. A
shrill voice yelled, “Dr. Bell, you’re ordered to the hub. We have an emergency.
Unidentified floating object on the monitors.”
Noting the edge of
panic in the cantankerous Safety Officer’s voice, Nikki called, “Cut your jets,
Tar. I’ll be up in a second.” Anxious to learn the worst, she left the lab and sprinted
along the passage to the transit hub of Bathos, the submarine station in the
ocean of Europa. What the styx could it be? The prototype spaceship, Taxyon
One, had departed from Jupiter’s moon three weeks ago, leaving the fledgling
colony without transport off the moon.
As she reached the door
to the stairwell, Astrid Andersen raced from the opposite direction. The chief
of the Division of Xenobiology ran gracefully, her long legs moving easily and
her blonde hair bobbing behind. Nikki quelled a twinge of envy. Her mentor had
arrived only recently and her muscles were still adapted to Earth’s gravity.
Astrid said, “I had not
anticipated so much excitement during my visit. Is this alarm a normal occurrence?”
“Not in my experience,”
Nikki admitted. “I’ve no idea what the monitors detected. Even Major Tarlick
ought to recognize a large native animal.”
“Let’s find out.”
Astrid pushed the door open.
They leaped up the
stairs to the central hub and dashed into the transit center. Five of the Bathos
residents crowded into the front of the room. The others were working on
Topside, or away on a field trip. Everyone was staring at the big viewer.
Everyone except for Roy Wong, who tapped frantically on his tablet.
As they entered, Major
Tarlick glanced around, and gave a quick nod of recognition. Gesturing at the
screen, he offered an unnecessary explanation, “Unidentified object on the starboard
perimeter. Tech Wong is transmitting the image to Earth.”
The statuesque Dr.
Andersen stopped at the rear of the room where her height allowed her to see
easily over the heads of the people in the front. At ten centimeters shorter,
Nikki pushed to the front of the awed group and peered out. Instead of the usual
view of dark water rippling over red bedrock, and fat seaslugs feeding on
mounds of microbes, a sphere the size of a house hovered on the left of the screen
beyond the dome of the Greenery. Transfixed by the sight of the shimmering
sphere, she froze. The iridescent surface of the sphere resembled the surface
of Kiron’s bubble shelter. A shiver of excitement raced through her.
“It’s the Warrish,” she
cried.
Her cool voice
penetrating the shocked silence, Astrid asked, “The alien mermen you met?”
“Not mermen, but
humanoid,” Nikki said. “No tails or scales. They have legs and gill slits.”
“They’ve come back?” Deirdre
Foster, the director, asked. As the Station’s physician, she had relocated to the
medical facility on Bathos after the disaster, leaving the astrotechs and
shuttle pilots to camp in the reconstructed shell of Topside.
“Kiron predicted they
would decide to speak with us.” Nikki flushed in anticipation of seeing her
lover again. “He believed their leaders favored an alliance with Earthers.
That’s their name for humans.” Fifteen days ago, he had met her briefly in the
deserted Warrish base and given her a token of his affection. She fingered his
gift, the copper bracelet on her wrist engraved with his family emblems.
“Fair enough.” A faint
frown slid across Astrid’s calm face. “Why pop in unannounced like this? They
must know how to communicate with us.”
Nikki nodded. “Correct.
Their Watchers have been monitoring Galileo Station for years, and they have
translators.”
“Curious,” Astrid
remarked. “Perhaps they wish to make a dramatic entrance.”
“The Warrish?” Major
Tarlick scowled. “Is it an attack?”
A commotion from the
rear heralded the entrance of Tech Albright. Big Al, unofficial leader of the colonists,
marched to the front and glared at the iridescent sphere. “Styx, our
green-skinned mermen have arrived in style.”
Tarlick protested,
“They’re attacking Bathos.”
Al slapped the major’s stiff
back and boomed, “We’d be bloody dead if they wanted to attack us. They could
have slaughtered us at any time in the years they’ve been on Europa. We can’t
match their technology. If they’ve got interstellar transport, they’re surely capable
of dropping a bloody big bomb.”
“They’ve been watching
us for decades,” Nikki pointed out. “Plenty of opportunity to squash us if they
wished.”
“Understood,” Tarlick
groaned. “If they’re paying a friendly visit, do you think we ought to send
divers to meet them?”
Nikki shrugged. “I’d
guess the sphere is filled with air. They can breathe air like us, and the atmosphere
in their submarine base was close to Earth normal.” She had become the expert
on the aliens. In fact, nobody else had seen a live Warrish, although they had
images and tissue specimens from the dead alien.
Director Foster said,
“Major Tarlick is correct. We ought to meet them in their own element as a
neighborly gesture.”
“Wait for them to make
the first move,” Al suggested.
Astrid had been staring
at the strange sphere. She tilted her head and asked, “Where is the entrance,
Nikki?”
“If it’s like the
bubble shelter, you can enter the membrane anywhere.”
They watched as the
giant sphere drifted onto the seabed on the outer perimeter of the repulsion
field. A shoal of alarmed eels circled above the roof of the Fishery, ignorant
of the tank hatching their fellows for food.
Five tense minutes
elapsed without a change.
Tarlick exhaled
audibly. “They’re not attacking.”
“Reckon they’ve come
for a chat,” Al grunted. “Who wants to meet them?”
After a slight pause,
Director Foster said, “I’m the senior official on Galileo Station. Perhaps I
should go?”
Al patted her on the
back. “A laudable proposal, Dee, but you’re a bloody landlubber. You’ve never
swum in these gloomy waters. I’ll take the job instead.”
Astrid said, “Nikki’s a
fine diver and the aliens know her. She should be in the group.”
“Brilliant,” Nikki
cried. “I’d love to pierce their big bubble.” With luck, Kiron was waiting
inside the filmy shelter.
Major Tarlick insisted,
“You’ll need protection.”
“Nah,” Al grunted.
“Reckon we’ll have to trust they don’t mean to kill us.” He forestalled
Tarlick’s objection, saying, “Okay, Tar, you hold the fort on Bathos with
Deirdre. If we don’t come back, you can wield your bloody guns. Don’t be
surprised if they fail to do any damage.”
“Three people would be
good,” Nikki suggested. “Warrish work in units of three or six.”
“I’ll come along with
you and Al,” Astrid offered. “Even if only to satisfy my curiosity about the
aliens’ unusual physiology.”
Al nodded. “Okay, three
of us. We’re all comfortable in the ocean.” He grinned. “Let’s dive in.”
If you’re not familiar with these characters, they are introduced in
Europa.
Daredevil scientist & scarred
alien in perilous seas.
