Orphans In the Black: A Space Opera Anthology Read online

  ORPHANS IN THE BLACK

  AMY J. MURPHY JOSEPH LALLO CHRISTINE POPE MATT VERISH CHRIS REHER KAY MCSPADDEN PATTY JANSEN CHRIS FOX CHRISTOPHER HOLLIDAY J.A. SUTHERLAND C. GOCKEL MICHELLE DIENER ANTHEA SHARP LJ COHEN RICHARD TONGUE M.R. FORBES LINDSAY BUROKER CHRIS DIETZEL DAVID ADAMS

  PUBLISHED BY C. GOCKEL

  Copyright © 2017 for each individual story by Amy J. Murphy, Anthea Sharp, Chris Dietzel, Chris Fox, Christine Pope, Christopher Holliday, David Adams, Kay McSpadden, Lindsay Buroker, LJ Cohen, Matt Verish, M.R. Forbes, Michelle Diener, Patty Jansen, J.A. Sutherland, Richard Tongue, Chris Reher, Joseph Lallo, C. Gockel.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All rights reserved.

  Created with Vellum

  CONTENTS

  About the Stories

  A Simple Thing

  Note to Self

  Gravitational Pull

  Autoscopy

  Fog of War

  The Alien

  No Eye in Emily

  Void Mage

  Lost Souls and Other Anomalies

  Spacer

  Murphy’s Star

  Interference

  Stowaway

  In the Clutch

  Iron Lazarus

  Dreams in the Dust

  Freedom?

  Combat Support

  The Last Astronaut

  Enjoy Anthologies & Box Sets?

  ABOUT THE STORIES

  A Simple Thing ~ by Amy J. Murphy

  Luc faces an impossible mission. To prove his worth to an elite fighting force, he must singlehandedly hunt down all alien fugitives in the treacherous streets of Tasemar. The aliens, humans as they call themselves, are dangerous infiltrators in the realm. But Luc faces other enemies… and knowing friend from foe is no simple thing.

  Note to Self ~ by Joseph Lallo

  Justin prides himself on his planning. Little does he know, a mysterious woman named Ruby has been making plans of her own. Now he has to ask himself just how long-term his plans should be.

  Gravitational Pull ~ by Christine Pope

  On a mission to investigate a stellar anomaly, Dr. Lina Golan knows to expect the unexpected. But is her growing unease caused only by the voices in her head…or something far worse?

  Autoscopy ~ by Matt Verish

  On the precipice of completing her life’s work, support for Rosa’s groundbreaking project suddenly runs out. Faced with an uncertain future, bereft of family, friends, and a career, she will make a dangerous decision. It’s a price she’s willing to pay to see her creation take its first steps toward humanity.

  Fog of War ~ by Chris Reher

  A deep space transport delivering dangerous prisoners is intercepted, helpless when their artificial intelligence is disabled. Only a few guards and officers remain to defend their cargo from the alien invaders.

  The Alien ~ by Kay McSpadden

  At first he passed for human to hide from the dreary collective of his alien world. But no matter how much creativity, passion, sex, and even love he found on Earth, he knew he was living on borrowed time.

  No Eye in Emily ~ by Patty Jansen

  Two women depend on each other in a deep space mission, sharing nothing except their first name. Emlee discovers quickly that Emily is no ordinary passenger with no ordinary goal.

  Void Mage ~ by Chris Fox

  The gods are dead, but they are not gone. Their bodies lurk in forgotten corners of the void, waiting for those with the will to claim their strength. Like it or not, I’m about to try.

  Lost Souls and Other Anomalies ~ by Christopher Holliday

  The death of Kaleigh's mother brings her home to the colony of Bergemon, where a haunting connection unfolds between monolithic artifacts, an indigenous species, and whispers of an afterlife unique to the former residents of her world.

  Spacer ~ by J.A. Sutherland

  Jon Bartlett's path is clear before him. Finish his last year of schooling, then off on the family's ships to learn the intricacies of interstellar trade. Then a message of tragedy at home comes for him and his expected life is flung far out of reach.

  Murphy’s Star ~ by C. Gockel

  Humans are alone in the universe. Or so I believed. That was before my research team picked up a stowaway … a stowaway that may the be key to surviving first contact with a deadly alien species.

  Interference ~ by Michelle Diener

  The tiny moon of Cepi is slated for destruction and all Nyha wants to do is get herself and her wards off of it. But someone else has plans for Cepi, and they think Nyha and her fellow orphans are just the ticket to getting what they want.

  Stowaway ~ by Anthea Sharp

  Liza Roth is on the run—from her past, from a tragic loss, from a powerful family who’s placed a bounty on her head. Forced to leave the space station where she’s taken refuge, Liza disguises herself as a maid on a luxury star liner, only to discover she’s not the only fugitive on board…

  In the Clutch ~ by LJ Cohen

  For the lone Human crew member on a ship full of Quentarians, dealing with the overheated environment isn't her only problem—her supervisor actively dislikes her and most of the rest of the crew barely tolerate her. But when something goes drastically wrong with the atmosphere aboard, it falls to the thin-skinned, warm-blooded, small-statured woman to save The Endurance and her reptilian crew.

  Iron Lazarus ~ by David Adams

  Kwame Bahati donated his body to science. Pieces of him were removed for this and that; his kidneys were used to test a new medicine, his torso for training surgeons, and various other organs were designated as transplants for those who refused synthetic body parts for religious reasons. But his brain was sent to somewhere else entirely.

  Dreams in the Dust ~ by Richard Tongue

  Long Shot. A world abandoned, caught in the cracks between galactic empires. A desolate wasteland, home to the desperate, the lost, the betrayed. And for Triplanetary Agent Logan Winter, one more battlefield in his war with the shadowy forces of United Nations Intelligence. Both sides seek the answer to a twenty-year-old mystery, with the life of every soul on the planet at stake...

  Freedom? ~ by M.R. Forbes

  In the wake of a catastrophic failure, a machine learns what it means to be alive and free.

  Combat Support ~ by Lindsay Buroker

  After escaping from the medical research facility where she was isolated and experimented on for years, Masika has found a place among the crew of the Snapper. She likes the people, and she’s finally doing something useful with her genetically engineered muscles. But her past hasn’t forgotten about her, and when bounty hunters show up, she must worry not only about her own fate, but about that of her new friends as well.

  The Last Astronaut ~ by Chris Dietzel

  As the human population fades away, one man decides to spend the rest of his life amongst the stars. He isn’t trying to escape the extinction. He’s trying to get away from a personal loss.

  A SIMPLE THING

  AN ALLIES AND ENEMIES SHORT STORY

  By Amy J. Murphy

  ABOUT A SIMPLE THING

  Luc faces an impossible mission. To prove his worth to the Seekers, an elite fighting force, he must singlehandedly hunt down all alien fugitives in the treacherous stree
ts of Tasemar. The aliens, humans as they call themselves, are dangerous infiltrators in the realm. But Luc faces other enemies …

  Knowing friend from foe is no simple thing.

  A SIMPLE THING

  “My expectations do not matter,” Information Officer Notker said to the gathered soldiers. But his tone suggested to Luc that his expectations absolutely did matter. “What matters is service to the Council of First and to its Citizens. That is your duty to the Known Worlds of Origin.”

  Luc didn’t know the ancient-looking Notker very well, but it was easy to see how in love he was with his own inflated sense of purpose. He strutted before them in his immaculate black uniform, the Great Seal of First as his backdrop.

  “You stand between Origin and her enemies. You will eliminate the Human interlopers from our stars.”

  The Humans—the aliens that claimed to be cousin of the Eugenes. They looked like his race, but were deficient in every conceivable way and therefore, a threat. What those deficiencies were Luc did not know, and he understood enough not to ask.

  Luc guessed that the nine other members of the Infiltrator Division—Seekers—had to be just as anxious to be free of Notker and his speeches. They were due for deployment within the hour. There was still pre-mission prep to do, and this windbag summoned them for this…whatever this was.

  The Seekers wore a motley arrangement of civilian clothing, all meant to emulate the styles worn by the denizens of the three worlds targeted for infiltration. Their appearance seemed out of place here in the sleek metal lines of the stealth-clad armored cruiser, the Monican Republica, like time travelers from a rustic era, come to visit a sanitized future.

  Luc’s own dark hair had been shaved to the scalp and his skin coated with synth dye to mimic the sun-battered bronzes of the people of Tasemar. His handlers had added a sepia tattoo of a water nymph. The ink depiction of a woman’s sleek body coiled along his forearm, disappearing under the sleeve of his faded blue tunic.

  For his first mission to Tasemar, he was to be Tarsk Cleo, a water broker from Gales. The tattoo was customary for those who had completed an apprenticeship in the water trade, a vital occupation on such an arid world. Luc’s jaw still throbbed from the silver-plated false tooth where the med techs had implanted his transponder—a limited intel database with the facts pertinent to his mission.

  The room was stiflingly warm, too small for the number of bodies wedged into it. Luc stared at the imagined middle distance just over Notker’s shoulder. His brain drifted as the officer’s voice echoed in the stale air:

  “Your duty in this great Purge is to rid the worlds of Tasemar and Gillum of the Human threat. The Citizens of these worlds commit treason when they aid the Human invaders. Do not be fooled. These abominations are not the fabled children of Miri that their faith proclaims. Lies! There is no higher authority than the Council of First. And you, Seekers, are here to remind them of that fact.” Notker held his arms out, fingers splayed as if he would embrace them.

  A low growl, a non-word, sounded in unison from the men and women in the room. Nine voices raised in gruesome assent around Luc.

  He hoped none of them noticed his lack of response. But they would. After all, they were Seekers. He corrected the thought: I am a Seeker now.

  “You know your mission: Identify those that aid the enemies of the Eugenes race. Eliminate the Human threat. The time for mercy has well passed.”

  This elicited another bark-growl response. Luc added his voice a little late.

  Notker led them in the recitation of Decca, the tenets of the soldier’s creed. Luc knew it like the song of blood in his body, had known it since his conscription as a boy.

  I am a warrior of the Regime; I am a guardian of all Kindred.

  My first duty is to serve my commander, the Regime, the Council of First and its Citizens.

  My strength is the soldier beside me; I shall not abandon him.

  My mission is priority; I will never falter...

  Decca was only thing familiar in his new posting, indeed the only real constant in his life. This was as close as any soldier would get to worship.

  And Luc had come to dread it.

  It forced his thoughts to wander into darker realms thick with questions. It had been that way since Picund. Sole survivor, they called him, as if it were an achievement.

  My strength is the soldier beside me.

  But he was alone in the Known Worlds of Origin. No unit. No one that knew him. No one left from his unit to call him “Luc.” Even after six months in this new assignment and the rather intimate size of the division—barely enough for a squad by the more familiar infantry standards—his fellow soldiers remained strangers. It was frightening in its own way. Not just the solitude, but the abruptness of it. Sole survivor.

  He wore the term like this unfamiliar garb, stiff and unyielding. It did not fit. He sensed it never would. His superiors called it his reward, this reassignment to the Seekers, a special division for lone agents sent out to track down non-reg species or anyone that First deemed an enemy.

  Notker signaled their dismissal. Relieved, Luc made for the door. He activated his embedded transponder and cursed at the information superimposed over his optic nerves. Precious little time left.

  “Sub-officer Lucrid Eno. A word,” Notker called.

  Suppressing a sigh, Luc turned and fell into attention.

  “I have changed your mission objective,” said Notker. “You will not go with Gia and the others to Gales.” He used Commonspeak and not the customary Regimental standard, the accepted language of all soldiers. Perhaps the old man thought it made him seem approachable to subordinates. It only made Luc despise him more.

  “Sir? I don’t understand.” He’d trained for Gales. His clothing, his background story had been customized for that region. “Then where?”

  “You will still go to Tasemar, but your target location is the city of Macula.” Notker tapped a finger against Luc’s chest. “And do you know why I do this for you, sub-officer?”

  For me? You’re not doing me any favors, old man. Luc frowned down at the finger then up at the Information Officer’s withered face. “No, sir.”

  Notker’s faded brown eyes narrowed. His voice dipped into a conspirator’s whisper. “I do not trust you, Eno. Your kind, in particular… conscripts. They cull you from that mongrel stock of orphaned colonies and wretched agri-stations. You might perform well enough for the rank and file of infantry, but you do not belong here. I have fought vigilantly to keep conscripts from this division. Yet I find myself overruled.”

  The old man stepped closer. “I am not about to see my efforts ended so easily. Your knack for survival served you well on Picund. Perhaps it will serve just as well in Macula.”

  Notker pivoted away, the only indication he was dismissed.

  Even as Luc stepped through the hatchway, a new briefing data packet for Macula popped onto the transponder’s visual display. He stored the file for now; he was already late to claim his supplies.

  The quartermaster frowned at Luc through the wire mesh screen of the resupply counter. She tapped the interface, sighed at the results on the screen and sauntered off into the recesses of the resupply. After what seemed an age, the woman returned and thrust a duffle at Luc through the window.

  “Best I got. Gia beat you to the good stuff.”

  “Of course she did,” he muttered under his breath and opened the battered bag. Inside, he glimpsed the sleek orange case of a med kit stashed among the civilian props of the fictional life of Tarsk Cleo and not much else. “What—?”

  Her tone was bored. “Basic pharms for a six-week mission. Bone knitter, pain shunts. Standard trauma kit.”

  “Weapons?”

  With a snarl, she heaved herself off her chair and disappeared into the room on her side of the counter. Luc wondered if the wire mesh over the window was less about security and more to keep her from attacking the ship’s crew. She reappeared with a sidearm. With inordinate car
e, she handed it to him through the window.

  Luc lofted the weapon before depositing it in the kit. Proud and new and shining silver, it seemed alien against the dingy civilian items inside.

  “A4 pulse gun. Variable compression setting,” she explained. “Good from full vac up to three atmos.”

  “What about coms?”

  “What about it?”

  “How do I report in?” Or signal for help.

  She snorted. “Let me guess. First mission with Gia?”

  “Yes,” he said with a cautious nod.

  Her upper lip curled. “You’re gonna have to see your lieutenant about that.”

  Lieutenant Gia and her two brothers paced and shifted in the throat of the metal corridor outside the level-risers. They awaited him.

  “There’s our brother Seeker,” she said, mockingly. “Quartermaster treated you real nice-like, I hope.”

  Her two brothers snickered.

  Gia was short but thickly muscled. She’d likely chew out the throat of a man twice her size before he realized it. Perhaps the handlers charged with crafting her false identity had tuned into that. Her normally short bronze hair was coiled into a ropey mass, and a coat of animal hides covered her compact frame.