Sidespace (47 page)

Alex confirmed a TLF wave provided a direction to head, then checked the scanners for anything which might be hostile, or simply intelligent. Seeing nothing, she toed her chair around to face Caleb.

“So Valkyrie was rather busy while we were on Ireltse, and she’s completely integrated herself into the walls and hull of the ship now. She learned a lot from the Ruda.”

A corner of his mouth curled up. “And?”

She rolled her eyes. Was she completely transparent to him? Probably. “And she seems to believe I can use her integration to fly the ship myself.”

“I’m not sure I understand. How is that different from what you do now?”

“I think she means fly the ship by…
being
the ship. By seeing and acting through the nodes she’s grown in the hull and the frame. Is that an accurate description, Valkyrie?”

‘We won’t know for certain until we attempt it, but you did capture the essence of it, yes.’

“Oh.” He smiled with a hint of teasing. “That would pretty much be everything you’ve ever dreamed of.”

“Not
everything
…but in a way.” She checked the scanners again. “It looks clear for two or more parsecs. I was thinking I’d try it for a few minutes, while we’re still far from any potential civilization.”

“You should. I’ll be right here. Valkyrie, you’ll alert me if anything goes wrong?”

‘Always.’

She reached over and gently trailed fingertips down his jaw. “Thank you.” Then she spun back to face the viewport and closed her eyes.

I’m ready, Valkyrie.

Follow me.

She did so, allowing her consciousness to weave deeper into Valkyrie’s neural network toward a new cluster. When she reached it she accessed the quantum orbs and—

“
Bozhe milostivyy
….”

In some vague, distant corner of her mind, she was aware of Caleb squeezing her hand to make sure she was all right, and her hand returning the squeeze of its own accord. Yet it was a faint whisper vanishing behind the reality of this new existence unfolding around her.

The red and gold of the nebula burst to life in all directions, but not in any way she’d perceived before this moment. Instead she could see the composition of the surrounding dust, gases and free particles, see the electrons of their atoms interacting.

The contradiction of space overwhelmed her. It was
empty
, empty everywhere, yet nevertheless teeming. She sensed the space between the atoms as she slowly spun the ship full circle.

Should she be able to feel the air, the faint breeze of the dissipating shock wave from the supernova which created this nebula? No, for that was a human sense.

This was…something else. An elemental sense, one crafted for photons and their radiant energy.

The TLF wave existed as a gleaming silver ribbon undulating through the nebula out to the stars beyond. Enthralled beyond words, she accelerated forward to follow its path.

PANDORA STELLAR SYSTEM

A
NESI
A
RCH
O
RBITAL
S
TATION

Devon, I need you to do something for me.

What, Annie?

I need you to relax. You’re fighting me.

No, I’m not.

Yes, you are. Your subconscious is resisting.

But I can’t do anything about my subconscious.

You can. If in truth you do not want this, say so now. I will understand.

I do want it.

Then want it.

Mia jerked out of her drowsy ruminations.
What was that?

In the span between dreaming and consciousness, she’d slipped into the Noesis—where something had changed. There was a new presence in the space, familiar but
more
.

She stood and went to the makeshift cot where Devon still lay.

His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, as if he were sleeping…she frowned, puzzled. His formerly baggy shirt now stretched taut over his arms and chest, defining the outline of burgeoning muscles.

Her hand rose to her hair; she ran fingertips through to its razor-straight ends. It now fell past her shoulders—nearly as long as it had been before the war. Meno grew it out for her in a matter of days…was Annie now doing much the same for Devon? Building his strength and increasing his muscle tone?

She would want him to be able to better defend himself the next time someone means him harm.

Did she tell you so, Meno?

In a manner—

Behind closed lids, Devon’s eyes began jerking around at a frenetic pace.

Concerned, she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Devon, are you okay?”

His eyes popped open, and he flashed her a smile full of guileful self-assurance, something altogether different from either his usual cocky, boyish bravado or the more recent irascible angst.

Or maybe it was his eyes that created the disparity…for they now blazed not white, but a stunning, brilliant amethyst.

“I do believe I am.”

ROMANE

I
NDEPENDENT
C
OLONY

Morgan’s eyes glittered argent purple—the color of polished amethyst quartz—behind the designer shadewraps she’d picked up before leaving Cavare. The first of Romane’s two suns peeked over a mauve horizon as she exited the spaceport; she surveyed the scene briefly then started off down the street.

Stanley, you still there?

I am. This is a most interesting experience.

My brain is an interesting experience? Well, yes, I could see how it might be.

I will not disagree. However, what I meant is being
in
your brain is more different from being connected to your brain than I expected.

She idly observed the increasing number of well-dressed businesspeople who passed her on the sidewalk on the way to their daily duties.
I don’t really have a response to that.

It’s fine. I will be exploring for a while, I think.

Hey, just because I agreed to let you hitch a ride, it doesn’t mean we no longer have boundaries.

You keep telling yourself that, Morgan.

Oh no, her brand of humor had finally worn off on him. This was going to be a nightmare.

Annie had shared her ideas on how to transfer an Artificial’s consciousness into the neural structure of a Prevo with Stanley. Since the Devon/Annie connection had been severed and firewalled, they required Abigail’s assistance in order to effect the transfer. But Morgan’s connection to Stanley, at the time, remained intact. It had been…not a simple matter, but doable without additional equipment in any event.

The military was never going to let her fly again, Prevo or no. So she’d burned out the ware—but not until Stanley successfully transferred his higher consciousness into the cells of her cerebral cortex.

She’d left Gianno a note explaining she’d severed the connection, promising not to disclose all the Noetica secrets she knew, sharing a few secrets of her own as a goodwill gesture and threatening to share a few more with the world as a warning. Then she’d resigned her commission and high-tailed it off Seneca before anyone was able to tell her she couldn’t actually do any of those things.

They might come looking for her, of course. But she was playing a bet.

After the Marshal mentioned knowing Morgan’s mother, she’d had Stanley do a little research; what he’d found had been most enlightening. Now, she was operating under the theory that deep down, Gianno still retained some aspect of the philosophy she’d clearly once espoused—that she still respected the notion of taking control of one’s own destiny. Of freedom.

And freedom was what Morgan now had. Trapped in her head, Stanley had a measure less of it—but she also believed he’d come with her in part for the promise of it.

Morgan, you devious, crafty woman.

She chuckled quietly and turned left at the next intersection.
Damn, Devon, what took you so long? I thought you were never going to show up. I was getting lonely.

You? I doubt it. But none of us are going to be lonely for long.

What did you do?

Besides upload the consciousness of an Artificial into my brain cells? Gave a copy of the files on Noetica and the technology underlying the Prevo connection to a friend of mine on Earth.

She paused on the sidewalk, recalling her conflicted feelings about Fedor glimpsing even a portion of the Prevo technology.
Why?

Because our best protection is knowledge. Information is supposed to be free. We’re not meant to be a state secret, Morgan—we’re meant to be the next evolution of the human species.

It’s time that evolution began.

TO BE CONTINUED IN
BOOK TWO OF
AURORA RENEGADES

DISSONANCE

***

SUBSCRIBE TO

GSJENNSEN.COM

Receive updates on AURORA RENEGADES, new book announcements and more

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I published
Starshine
in March of 2014. In the back of the book I put a short note asking readers to consider leaving a review or talking about the book with their friends. Since that time I’ve had the unmitigated pleasure of watching my readers do exactly that, and there has never been a more wonderful and humbling experience in my life. There’s no way to properly thank you for that support, but know you changed my life and made my dreams a reality.