Some of you will be familiar with this world, which is where I set a space opera trilogy some 10 years ago in. This is the start (well, near the start) of a possible sequel. Prior to this, we've had about 500 words setting the scene: Lichio, the POV character, is an ambassador, living with his partner on a very pleasant world called Mersor. He's just been visited, with no warning, by his old boss and previous Emperor, Kare (who has, apparently, embraced his inner Space Roamer and floats around the galaxy on one of their ships, whilst supporting the development of the outer zone).
They've just ordered coffees. Lichio remembered how Kare takes his... and then we come to here, the rest of chapter one.
For new readers: can you make head or tail of this established world? I would like this to be a second entry novel, for those new to the series. Are the stakes, which are a personal stake for an already established set of characters enough to engage you? Does the whispered sub-plot around the powers engage without the full context?
For those who've read Abendau: does this feel like the world and characters you remember? And for those who liked the series, do you like how they come across here (hopefully older and more mature)? For those who aren't fans, don't worry - this is definitely one for those who like their Space Opera dark and not a little cheesy.
Also, the info-dumping. I'm not sure how to do this without dropping in salient points from the first trilogy, but I'm trying not to get bogged down in it all.
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Kare leaned forward, rubbing his temples with his hands, the crooked fingers massaging, digging deep. Suddenly, Lichio wanted to end this meeting, to say he had a lunch planned, or make any excuse not to hear whatever Kare had come to tell him.
“I don’t remember how you take yours, Lich.”
This, from Kare, who remembered everything. Lichio was tempted to make a smart comment, to say something like that was because Kare had been in too lofty a position to notice, but he didn’t. Instead, he waited.
“I have… problems with my memory.” Kare took a visible breath, steadying himself. “In fact, apparently my brain cells are having something of a terminal event.”
Lichio’s heart gave an unpleasant stutter. “Terminal?”
“As in, they’re dying. Much quicker than they should be.” Kare held a hand up, silencing Lichio’s next question of how, and when, and what was to be done about it? “It started a year or so back. Small things. Forgetting the next day’s appointment. Having to fall back on diaries, then lists. And then the bigger things, more noticeable. Forgetting where I was in meetings. At that point, I went and got it seen to.”
“Good.” The hospitals on the Ferran hub, where Sonly’s presidency was based and ostensibly, at least, Kare’s place of residence, were the finest in the Seven-Stars. “What treatment can the medics offer?”
“We found the cause.” But no answer as to his treatment, Lichio noted. Kare tapped his head, two light taps. “Whatever little cocktail my mother landed me with has finally caught up with me.”
“But you don’t have your powers anymore,” said Lichio. Once, Kare had been the most renowned psycher in the galaxy, until he’d sacrificed those to close down his mother’s. Now, Kare utilised the Roamer mesh when needed but he’d never have his old abilities back.
“That seems to be part of the problem. Their absence has sped up whatever damage I have, we think.” He gave a sad smile. “I always said it felt like the centre of me was missing. It turns out I was right.”
“So what are you getting done about it?” Because, with Kare, it took a person to be direct and not give him any wriggle room. “Presumably Sonly has ensured the best treatment is on offer to you.” His sister, the force of nature, would not allow her husband anything less.
“I haven’t told her.”
That made sense of a conversation from just a few days ago. ‘It’s like he’s avoiding me’ Sonly had said. ‘Even when I make the effort to see Kare, he finds a reason to be elsewhere.’ Now, Lichio knew why: there would be no hiding Kare’s condition from her. She’d pick it up, just as he had.
There was a long pause. What the hell was Lichio to do? Know and not tell Sonly? She’d never forgive him. Tell her, and break Kare’s trust? He wasn’t sure he’d forgive himself. He forced himself not to fill it the silence, not to break first.
At last, Kare grimaced. “I can’t tell her because I’m only one… half of the problem.” He leaned forwards, fiddling with the data-set on his arm, tapping the metal and then tracing its line around the inset plate, skin on metal, metal on skin, man and machine combined. Finally, he nodded, presumably having retrieved the data he needed. “Baelan has the same cocktail as me. He’s not just my son – he’s virtually a clone, remember?”
“Damn it.” Lichio shivered, even though the room wasn’t cold. Baelan was a security nightmare but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about what happened to the lad.
“Baelan has had a lifetime of holding his powers in.” Kare’s fist clenched, until he winced, an old grounding habit borne from his time in the palace, when pain had been the only thing he’d known. “Damn whoever taught him that.”
“And Kerra?” Baelan was one thing but his niece another. He’d known Kerra her entire life. She’d grown up when he ran the security detail for Kare and his family. She called him Uncle Lich and, unlike her father, never passed Mersor by if she was in any kind of vicinity to it.
“She’s not at risk. Her powers are akin to the Roamers’, not mine. But Baelan is. Lich, I have no way to warn him. Not unless I can find where he is.”
Lichio had a horrible feeling where this might be going. Selfishly, hating himself for it, he wished he hadn’t heard any of this. Mersor had brought a freedom he’d never known before. Yet, here it was, laid in front of him, all the complications of the past that he could not, had never been able to, turn his back on.
“I’m out of shape,” said Lichio. “In case you’re about to ask me to become your superspy again, and seek Baelan out.”
He fought the urge to shift in his seat to try to disguise the spread of middle age that had crept up on him.
“I understand. Gods, Lich, I don’t want to be here asking you this. But I have no one else.” His eyes went slightly vague. “I can’t tell Sonly. She will lock me in a ward and try what she can to save me.”
Back to the previous conversation, away from Baelan and back to Sonly. Kare’s condition was real, not something that could be denied.
“Good. Let her.”
Kare shook his head. “I’ve been checked over by a very discreet private clinic. There is nothing they – or anyone – can do. This will get worse and then… it will end. That, they assure me, will be a blessing.”
His voice was flat, hiding any emotion. Kare had faced death so often – was it a relief to know there would be an end? Or was he compartmentalising it under a to-do list that had become its own filter from reality?
“I can’t find Baelan. Apart from this…” he tapped his head “…I have other avenues I’m exploring.” A brief glance at the data-unit which must be providing some level of pre-planned agenda for the meeting. “We know the powers I inherited from my mother were manipulated. But I’ve also had an analysis of the Roamer bloodline carried out.” He frowned, held a hand up, and tapped his data-set. “They, too, were manipulated. It’s safe to guess all other psychers were created thusly.”
How frustrated must it be, to half-know things, when Kare had always been so competent?
“I talked with Kerra regarding the possibility of tracing the background of the Roamer power further.” A drawn in breath. “After all, she will be their Queen soon. She should know where her people came from.”
“Where is she?”
“Beyond the Seven Stars. Well beyond them. But that’s my side of the conundrum – well, mine and the Roamers.” He didn’t say it, but Lichio understood the subtext: the Space Roamers would not allow Lichio, an outsider, access to their heritage. “But Baelan is closer, we believe.”
Lichio almost groaned, knowing where Baelan must, surely be. “You think he’s on Belaudii.” Where bloody else? Lichio had sworn he’d never set foot on that planet again.
“You know Belaudii, and Abendau city. You know the hidden places where he might be.” Kare met Lichio’s eyes. Lichio wanted to look away, but couldn’t. He never had been able to, not when Kare was his commander or now, when he was his friend. “I need you to find my son. Will you?”
Would he? He was no longer a part of an army that could be commanded. He had every right to say no, and he should. He’d been out of the game for years, getting soft in the warmth and laziness of Mersor.
“Look on the bright side,” said Kare, trying for a smile. “This is the last time I’ll ask you for your assistance.” He swallowed but didn’t look away. “They tell me in a few months I will not be taking any decisions.”
It was unbelievable.
“I’ll go,” said Lichio. Kare had played him as well as he ever had. “But I have one condition. You tell Sonly.”
Maybe Sonly would find a medic with more experience. No one else had the resources she had – and she’d throw everything at this. But it was about more than that; about honesty, and trust, and a three-way history that superceded husband and wife, brother and sister, friendship and trust, into something in their very roots.
“She needs to know, Kare.” And the news would destroy his sister – but so, too, would its omission.
Kare gave a sharp nod. “I’ll do it.” Was there an edge of relief in his voice? Perhaps.
“Good. In return, I’ll find Baelan for you and warn him. What he does with that, I will leave up to him. If you are right, and he’s on Belaudii, he will be under tribal law. I can’t override that.”
“Thank you.” The words were soft but Lichio found his chest filling with a pride he knew from the past. He’d served Kare since he’d been barely a man himself. Even now, in middle-age, his praise still mattered. He suspected it always would.
They've just ordered coffees. Lichio remembered how Kare takes his... and then we come to here, the rest of chapter one.
For new readers: can you make head or tail of this established world? I would like this to be a second entry novel, for those new to the series. Are the stakes, which are a personal stake for an already established set of characters enough to engage you? Does the whispered sub-plot around the powers engage without the full context?
For those who've read Abendau: does this feel like the world and characters you remember? And for those who liked the series, do you like how they come across here (hopefully older and more mature)? For those who aren't fans, don't worry - this is definitely one for those who like their Space Opera dark and not a little cheesy.
Also, the info-dumping. I'm not sure how to do this without dropping in salient points from the first trilogy, but I'm trying not to get bogged down in it all.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kare leaned forward, rubbing his temples with his hands, the crooked fingers massaging, digging deep. Suddenly, Lichio wanted to end this meeting, to say he had a lunch planned, or make any excuse not to hear whatever Kare had come to tell him.
“I don’t remember how you take yours, Lich.”
This, from Kare, who remembered everything. Lichio was tempted to make a smart comment, to say something like that was because Kare had been in too lofty a position to notice, but he didn’t. Instead, he waited.
“I have… problems with my memory.” Kare took a visible breath, steadying himself. “In fact, apparently my brain cells are having something of a terminal event.”
Lichio’s heart gave an unpleasant stutter. “Terminal?”
“As in, they’re dying. Much quicker than they should be.” Kare held a hand up, silencing Lichio’s next question of how, and when, and what was to be done about it? “It started a year or so back. Small things. Forgetting the next day’s appointment. Having to fall back on diaries, then lists. And then the bigger things, more noticeable. Forgetting where I was in meetings. At that point, I went and got it seen to.”
“Good.” The hospitals on the Ferran hub, where Sonly’s presidency was based and ostensibly, at least, Kare’s place of residence, were the finest in the Seven-Stars. “What treatment can the medics offer?”
“We found the cause.” But no answer as to his treatment, Lichio noted. Kare tapped his head, two light taps. “Whatever little cocktail my mother landed me with has finally caught up with me.”
“But you don’t have your powers anymore,” said Lichio. Once, Kare had been the most renowned psycher in the galaxy, until he’d sacrificed those to close down his mother’s. Now, Kare utilised the Roamer mesh when needed but he’d never have his old abilities back.
“That seems to be part of the problem. Their absence has sped up whatever damage I have, we think.” He gave a sad smile. “I always said it felt like the centre of me was missing. It turns out I was right.”
“So what are you getting done about it?” Because, with Kare, it took a person to be direct and not give him any wriggle room. “Presumably Sonly has ensured the best treatment is on offer to you.” His sister, the force of nature, would not allow her husband anything less.
“I haven’t told her.”
That made sense of a conversation from just a few days ago. ‘It’s like he’s avoiding me’ Sonly had said. ‘Even when I make the effort to see Kare, he finds a reason to be elsewhere.’ Now, Lichio knew why: there would be no hiding Kare’s condition from her. She’d pick it up, just as he had.
There was a long pause. What the hell was Lichio to do? Know and not tell Sonly? She’d never forgive him. Tell her, and break Kare’s trust? He wasn’t sure he’d forgive himself. He forced himself not to fill it the silence, not to break first.
At last, Kare grimaced. “I can’t tell her because I’m only one… half of the problem.” He leaned forwards, fiddling with the data-set on his arm, tapping the metal and then tracing its line around the inset plate, skin on metal, metal on skin, man and machine combined. Finally, he nodded, presumably having retrieved the data he needed. “Baelan has the same cocktail as me. He’s not just my son – he’s virtually a clone, remember?”
“Damn it.” Lichio shivered, even though the room wasn’t cold. Baelan was a security nightmare but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about what happened to the lad.
“Baelan has had a lifetime of holding his powers in.” Kare’s fist clenched, until he winced, an old grounding habit borne from his time in the palace, when pain had been the only thing he’d known. “Damn whoever taught him that.”
“And Kerra?” Baelan was one thing but his niece another. He’d known Kerra her entire life. She’d grown up when he ran the security detail for Kare and his family. She called him Uncle Lich and, unlike her father, never passed Mersor by if she was in any kind of vicinity to it.
“She’s not at risk. Her powers are akin to the Roamers’, not mine. But Baelan is. Lich, I have no way to warn him. Not unless I can find where he is.”
Lichio had a horrible feeling where this might be going. Selfishly, hating himself for it, he wished he hadn’t heard any of this. Mersor had brought a freedom he’d never known before. Yet, here it was, laid in front of him, all the complications of the past that he could not, had never been able to, turn his back on.
“I’m out of shape,” said Lichio. “In case you’re about to ask me to become your superspy again, and seek Baelan out.”
He fought the urge to shift in his seat to try to disguise the spread of middle age that had crept up on him.
“I understand. Gods, Lich, I don’t want to be here asking you this. But I have no one else.” His eyes went slightly vague. “I can’t tell Sonly. She will lock me in a ward and try what she can to save me.”
Back to the previous conversation, away from Baelan and back to Sonly. Kare’s condition was real, not something that could be denied.
“Good. Let her.”
Kare shook his head. “I’ve been checked over by a very discreet private clinic. There is nothing they – or anyone – can do. This will get worse and then… it will end. That, they assure me, will be a blessing.”
His voice was flat, hiding any emotion. Kare had faced death so often – was it a relief to know there would be an end? Or was he compartmentalising it under a to-do list that had become its own filter from reality?
“I can’t find Baelan. Apart from this…” he tapped his head “…I have other avenues I’m exploring.” A brief glance at the data-unit which must be providing some level of pre-planned agenda for the meeting. “We know the powers I inherited from my mother were manipulated. But I’ve also had an analysis of the Roamer bloodline carried out.” He frowned, held a hand up, and tapped his data-set. “They, too, were manipulated. It’s safe to guess all other psychers were created thusly.”
How frustrated must it be, to half-know things, when Kare had always been so competent?
“I talked with Kerra regarding the possibility of tracing the background of the Roamer power further.” A drawn in breath. “After all, she will be their Queen soon. She should know where her people came from.”
“Where is she?”
“Beyond the Seven Stars. Well beyond them. But that’s my side of the conundrum – well, mine and the Roamers.” He didn’t say it, but Lichio understood the subtext: the Space Roamers would not allow Lichio, an outsider, access to their heritage. “But Baelan is closer, we believe.”
Lichio almost groaned, knowing where Baelan must, surely be. “You think he’s on Belaudii.” Where bloody else? Lichio had sworn he’d never set foot on that planet again.
“You know Belaudii, and Abendau city. You know the hidden places where he might be.” Kare met Lichio’s eyes. Lichio wanted to look away, but couldn’t. He never had been able to, not when Kare was his commander or now, when he was his friend. “I need you to find my son. Will you?”
Would he? He was no longer a part of an army that could be commanded. He had every right to say no, and he should. He’d been out of the game for years, getting soft in the warmth and laziness of Mersor.
“Look on the bright side,” said Kare, trying for a smile. “This is the last time I’ll ask you for your assistance.” He swallowed but didn’t look away. “They tell me in a few months I will not be taking any decisions.”
It was unbelievable.
“I’ll go,” said Lichio. Kare had played him as well as he ever had. “But I have one condition. You tell Sonly.”
Maybe Sonly would find a medic with more experience. No one else had the resources she had – and she’d throw everything at this. But it was about more than that; about honesty, and trust, and a three-way history that superceded husband and wife, brother and sister, friendship and trust, into something in their very roots.
“She needs to know, Kare.” And the news would destroy his sister – but so, too, would its omission.
Kare gave a sharp nod. “I’ll do it.” Was there an edge of relief in his voice? Perhaps.
“Good. In return, I’ll find Baelan for you and warn him. What he does with that, I will leave up to him. If you are right, and he’s on Belaudii, he will be under tribal law. I can’t override that.”
“Thank you.” The words were soft but Lichio found his chest filling with a pride he knew from the past. He’d served Kare since he’d been barely a man himself. Even now, in middle-age, his praise still mattered. He suspected it always would.
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