Typing in 2025 feels like I’m writting some far off date not the actual year. Not sure I’m in love with the future as it is but let’s concentrate on the things that we can control.
This year, I’m going to be extra ambitious with my resolutions. (Quick reminder, my resolutions are goals that are meant to push me.)
1. Write The Hounds of Bakerville
I have a basic outline and I’m going to start re-reading the first four to get back into it. It’s kind of exciting to be working on the penultimate book in the series.
2. Write a serial story
I’m not sure what I’m writing this year, but I will try to get a 1000 word chapter out each month. This is going to be the twelfth year I do it.
3. Master 1 song on the ukulele and record it.
I wrote a song for Elizabeth 4 and set up the chords, but between the colds and the medical issues, I didn’t get really good at it. I’m going to do my best to get good enough to record it.
4. Read at least 12 books
Last year I crushed my reading challenge and I’m hoping I can do the same this year. 12 might not sound ambitious but it is.
5. Build my new book nook and lego
Three years ago for Christmas I got a Magical Cafe book nook. Over the three years I’ve made it to page 17 of 40ish I think. There’s so much painting and gluing and it’s really hard. This year, my sister in-law took pity and got me another one that doesn’t need the paint or the glue. Maybe this will help build my confidence.
I also got an epic Van Gogh’s Starry Night LEGO set. It has a lot of pieces.
6. Feel less guilty
2024 was a busy year and now that I’m feeling better, I have more time that isn’t just for recovering. I’m having trouble taking that time for me and not feeling bad about it. It’s not selfish to read, it’s not selfish to watch a show on my own, it’s not selfish to do things for me. I know that, but I’m having trouble shutting up the little voice in my head.
7. Design and deploy a new coffee flavour for Ottawa Comic Con in September
I have an idea what it’s going to be, so this should be easy.
8. Plan and plot out the first in a cozy mystery series
I have this idea for a series of short cozy mysteries. The hope is to make them around 40 thousand words and just have fun. It would also give me the chance to play around with self-publishing. The idea would be to write this after Elizabeth 5 before I jump right into the final book.
9. Organize a massive birthday party and book release
10. Keep fighting to learn more about myself and how to make my life easier
I have learned a lot about my body and mind this year, and I know I have a lot of work, both to improve my health and to accept what and who I am. More details in a future post.
I hope that everyone has a productive, healthy, and good 2025.
A few months later Suzie and I were relaxing on a beach on Earth. Zuri and the Galahad had returned to their home to try and organize the survivors. Where Zuri went, the Myrddin followed. Diamond Stars and the crew of The Revenge returned home with the remnants of Black Sun to try and fix the harm they’d done. Captain Ng and the crew of the Warship Ennill had stayed to learn all they could from the various people.
The other speakers and people of the Sun fleet were given the chance to stay with a quarter of them doing so and the rest returning to their systems.
With all the technology we’d gained, travel between systems was going to be a regular thing now. The universe had shrunk significantly.
I was enjoying the feel of clear water on my toeswhen we got a call.
“I shouldn’t answer it,” I said.
“They won’t stop,” Suzie replied. She’d seen it was the Hey Sunny Too.
“What is it?” I asked into the coms.
“The Gate activated, get up here,” Adric replied and we had no choice but to get the shuttle and head back to our new ship.
The gate dated from the beginning of the universe and seemed to emit a kind of power we couldn’t recognize. Sol didn’t know what it was. Of course I installed it on my ship.
Once we were aboard, Adric said, “The gate activated and a crude robot came through, left this, and then went back in. The whole thing lasted less than a minute.”
He handed me a nicely embossed piece of paper that had a tree on it. As I stared, the words swam and formed, Yggdrasil Command Aether Earth. If your atmosphere is safe for us, we shall visit you in 24 hours. It was followed by a complex mathematical algorithm.
Adric anticipated my confusion and said, “It’s a formula for figuring out what their 24 hours means using the speed of light and the emission frequency of a hydrogen atom.” He stopped there and I gave him a quizzical look. “Oh. It’s close to our Earth but their day is roughly 80 milliseconds longer than ours which means they are probably from an alternate reality Earth that is further in the past.”
I blinked a few times and asked, “How do you get that from a simple calculation?”
“It wasn’t simple, and I also analyzed the note. It has massive quantities of microplastics and greenhouse gases which was typical of Old-Earth.”
I nodded and said, “I’m impressed. How long do we have?”
“Ten minutes. You really took your time.”
Suzie wanted us to greet them remotely but I figured if we’re going to meet interdimensional aliens, we should do it in person.
The gate lit up with blue energy that looked like waves, which was different from our jumpgates that just shimmered silver.
Two people walked through, a man and a woman in what looked like pseudo-military garb. He had dark skin, was tall, broad, and his long brown hair was streaked with grey and tied in a bun on the top of his head. The woman with him was also tall, but had white skin and blonde hair, just starting to turn white.
They didn’t look like any military I’d met and there was a strange power about them.
The man smiled and it was obvious from the creases in his face that he did it a lot. He moved forward and spoke gibberish.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand you,” I said. I was surprised, we’d installed a translator designed by the Children of the Stars, and it was able to translate almost anything.
The woman said a few words, pointed at Suzie, and at Suzie’s sword.
“I think she wants you to talk about your sword?” I said.
“I don’t want to tell them about my sword,” Suzie said, sounding almost offended.
The man held his hand out for a handshake and said, “Thank you, our translations need two native speakers and a few sentences to parse the language. I am Agent Jason Johnson and this is Agent Kennedy Johnson.”
“Nice to meet you.” I shook his muscular hand. “I’m Hal the Sun Speaker, this is Suzie, and this is Adric. You are on my ship in orbit around our Earth.”
The woman smiled broadly and said, “I love it when it’s a spaceship gate. It’s always so cool.”
“I don’t want to be rude, but why are you here and where did you come from?” These two were likeable, but seemed genuine and not fake.
“We’re from Aether Earth and we’re here with a warning. The Mulciber are coming.”
The word meant nothing to me, but it triggered a vision from Sol. I stood on a tall mountain on Mars and watched as a silver serpent of massive size decimated the Martian military.
At least it was less disgusting than the void-beasts, but it looked like I had another threat to prepare for.
While you wait for the next serial story, check out the previous ones:
Saturday the 13th of December, 2003 – Westmeath, Ontario
Running over to them, Jason checked the boy’s pulse and it was extremely weak but still present. “It’s not petrification. They’re fine.”
“Wasn’t there a tree in the middle of the dance floor?” Kennedy asked, before shouting, “Duck!”
Over a year of training together and a trust built on saving each other’s lives countless times meant he dropped to the floor without thinking about it. The silvery ball that would have hit him in the shoulders flew past and hit Dr. Amita. She froze on the spot, her face contorted in confusion.
People screamed and would have panicked but Kennedy said, “Everyone please move toward the exit in an orderly fashion.” Westmeath had enough strange things happening that people walked quickly but not fast enough to hurt each other. There were still quite a few people left, all frozen.
“Where did that come from?” he asked as he kicked up from the ground and landed on his feet.
“The tree,” Kennedy said, “But I’m not sure which one.” She joined him near the boys.
The five trees seemed to shiver at the sound of her voice. Jason used his shadow power to stretch his senses out and see if they moved.
“How does a tree that’s in a pot move around?” he wondered aloud. He felt the attack and movement before seeing it. Grabbing Kennedy’s hands, he swung her around to avoid a volley.
“I can’t tell which tree it’s coming from,” she said, annoyed.
“Even my shadow senses aren’t helping with that. It moves too fast. But only one is moving”
“The cake!” Kennedy exclaimed and ran to the buffet, weaving and dodging around attacks. She lifted up the large red Yule log cake and said, “We just need to figure out which one moves and we can use the cake to mark it.”
It was a good idea, but a shift in the lighting and shadows made Jason turn away from her. The room had gotten darker as the moonlight from the wall of windows was blocked.
Surrounding the room from outside were massive pine trees. The christmas trees inside stood just over two and half metres tall, the ones outside were easily ten times that height.
Kennedy gave a small squeak and said, “Well, that’s not good.”
The doors flew inward, followed by a figure in silver full-plate armour. He had a longsword on his left hip and a dagger holstered on the opposite side. His helmet was down but he looked around the room and lifted it before saying, “You need to get out of here. It’s not safe.”
Laughing, still comically holding the cake, Kennedy said, “Jeepers, that was dramatic, and we know.”
“Kennedy?” the man said, looking surprised.
“Albert?” she replied. “For heaven’s sake, is everyone I know from Baker magical?”
The armour was the symbol of the Gatekeepers and organization that was dedicated to protecting the world from Aether incursions. Creatures created from imagination and magic could cause havoc if not controlled. The creatures were returned or hunted, while the people or Aetherborn were educated and placed in communities like Westmeath.
“Not to break up the reunion but—” Jason was cut off by a volley of flying ornaments. It seemed the tree took a little time to reload.
“Right. Sorry. I am Gatekeeper Therien. I tracked a part of a rogue tannen-bomb here.” He looked out the window and replied, “and it looks like the rest of it just arrived.”
“Part? You mean this is all one creature? Like a magical Pando?” Kennedy asked. When the knight didn’t reply, she added, “Pando, the giant organism that’s one root system with tens of thousands of trees?”
“Yes.” He drew his sword and swatted at the ornaments that were flying toward them. “Why are you holding a cake?”
“It’s to throw at the tree so we know which one it is,” she replied sheepishly.
“Ah. Good idea, but it’s the one next to your husband.”
Jason whipped around, not used to being snuck up on. He raised a hand in defence but was struck by a freeze bomb. It didn’t hurt, and he could hear and see everything happening.
A cake flew into his vision and smashed into the tree, covering it in red icing, and some splashing on Jason’s face and hair.
“I just have to grab it and I’ll be able to banish the whole thing,” Albert announced.
Kennedy picked up two covers from the warm Hors d’oeuvre trays and said, “I’ll distract it.” With a few long strides, she made it to Jason and whispered, “Sorry and I’ll save you.” then she pecked him on the cheek. “Yum, strawberry icing.”
“Try to get it to run to me,” Albert said.
Banging her trays at the obviously marked tree, she said, “I was being sappy. Are you ent-ertained? Wood you please move toward the knight? No pining and no barking!”
The tree let out a horrifying shrieking noise and ran toward Kennedy.
“You said distract, not taunt,” Albert said, sounding amused.
“It’s following me, so it’s distracted,” she yelled. “Come on tree, are you that easy to needle?”
Despite Kennedy running as fast as she could, the tree was catching up. “Hold on,” she said. “It’s a tree!” Turning around with her makeshift shields, she braced for impact. Surprised, the tree reversed course right into the Gatekeeper.
Putting his hands on the tree’s branches, he shouted, “Ga Bort!” and the tree disappeared, replaced by an equal mass of clear pine scented goo. It was followed a second later by the rest of the trees outside and a wave of goo that covered the windows.
Everyone started to wake up and as Kennedy was distracted, the knight tried to walk away. “Albert, stay and enjoy the party,” she said, before running to check on Jason and the boys.
“If you insist,” he replied, making a magical gesture that transformed his armour into formal clothes.
The guests who had run away had been trapped in the lobby but now they were moving back to the party. It wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen in Westmeath. Not even this year.
Later, as everyone was enjoying good food and drink, minus a strawberry Yule log cake, Jason said, “The thing that bothers me about the whole situation is that I didn’t get to make a single tree pun.”
Kennedy kissed his now-clean cheek and replied, “Next time, when you’re not frozen. But I always have you covered, just leaf it to me.”
The story was written by Jen and Éric Desmarais with the help of Dragon Desmarais.
Assassins! Accidental matchmakersMonsters! Incidental Wedding GuestsCrushing ItWinging It
Saturday the 13th of December, 2003 – Westmeath, Ontario
They were halfway down the corridor to the cafeteria before the music reached their ears.
“Maybe that’ll be you in a few years,” Kennedy said to her teenage brother, Tommy.
He cocked his head, listening. “Nah, that’s a string quartet. I don’t plan on changing instruments.”
Jason chuckled. “They don’t get the same band year after year. You have a chance.”
“I think I’d rather spend my time eating that delicious smelling food,” Tommy replied. “And dancing with my boyfriend,” he added, squeezing Carter’s hand.
“I love the variety of decorations,” Carter said. “You’d think the mishmash of cultures would be chaotic, but it works really well.”
“You should tell Amita that,” Kennedy said. “This party is all her doing. She’s been talking about it for weeks.”
“Oh, it’s Amita now?” Jason murmured. “You finally managed to drop the ‘doctor’?”
Kennedy grimaced. “She had me practise. To her face. I still feel awkward about it, though.”
The corridor opened up to the large room, and the teenage boys halted in awe, almost tripping the older couple.
“I forget that you’ve never visited me at work,” Kennedy said. “We’ve had school groups in for field trips. Didn’t you come last year, Carter?”
“Yeah, but there weren’t five ginormous Christmas trees in the building then,” he said, shaking his head.
“We’re supposed to come in early January,” Tommy said absentmindedly, eyes wide as he took in the two full walls of floor-to-ceiling windows.
Through them, even with the lighting creating a mirror effect, they could make out the snowy courtyard and the fields beyond.
Carter recovered first. “They’re making some of the Everdome recipes we brought back with us! Come on!” He grabbed Tommy’s hand and pulled him to the buffet tables.
Kennedy was about to follow them, but Jason tugged her hand, pulling her against him. He pressed his nose to her neck, his fingers trailing down the mostly bare skin of her back as he inhaled deeply.
Her knees went weak. “Jason?” she murmured.
“Have I told you exactly how much I want to tear this dress off you?”
Kennedy bit her lip to hold in her laughter. Her emerald green dress, styled after the iconic Jessica Rabbit dress, never failed to drive him wild. “Many times. But if you tear it, I can’t wear it again.”
“The torture would end,” he teased.
“Excuse me,” said a new voice.
They side-stepped out of the doorway and she pinned him against the wall. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“That waistcoat and your rolled up sleeves are doing things to me.”
He grinned at her. “What kind of things, and can I get involved?”
Kennedy walked her fingers up the buttons on his chest. “Absolutely. When we get home.” She pulled away. “But right now, I want food, and then I want to dance with my handsome husband.”
Jason looked around comedically. “Where is he?”
She laughed and caught his chin in her hand. “Right where he’s supposed to be.” She pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. “Let’s be sociable.”
“If we must,” he groaned dramatically.
“Oh good, I was hoping I would get to say hello before the New Year,” Dr. Amita teased them when they approached the near-groaning buffet tables.
“You outdid yourself,” Jason said. “How will you surpass this next year?”
Amita waved a hand. “Pssh, nobody will remember this one next year.”
“I remember that you only had four trees last year, and this time you’ve got five,” Kennedy pointed out.
“Is it some sort of pardonable offence that you cut down trees to bring inside?” Jason asked.
Amita raised an eyebrow. “I only cut down trees from the side of the family that I don’t like,” she said dryly.
They glared at each other for a moment before Amita chuckled, followed by Jason. “You know they’re replantable trees,” she said.
“And yet I will continue to pretend you murder your family members every year,” he replied.
Kennedy rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I forget that you two go way back. I should’ve known Jason wouldn’t insult someone like that otherwise.”
“Go dance. You haven’t fulfilled the romantic quota for the night yet.” Amita shooed them onto the dance floor.
“We can be romantic and eat cheese!” Kennedy protested half-heartedly.
“You like this song,” Jason said, sweeping her into his arms. “One dance and then we can feed each other bites of cheese.”
“It doesn’t have to be cheese,” she replied. “Oh, look at the boys! They’re so cute.”
They were swaying slowly in place near the big tree in the middle of the dance floor, looking deep into each other’s eyes.
“We can’t let them out-cute us!” Jason teased.
“I don’t think the word ‘cute’ ever crossed my mind when it came to you,” Kennedy said thoughtfully.
“Oh?” He spun her under his arm.
“No. More like hot, handsome, jaw-droppingly gorgeous…” She laughed when he flushed. “Okay, maybe now you’re a little cute.”
“Whoa, watch out—” Jason pulled her against him, away from the couple they almost bumped into.
The other couple didn’t move.
Jason frowned. “Are you two alright?” he asked.
Kennedy circled them. “They’re frozen in place,” she observed before scanning the room. Several other people were not moving either. “Tommy,” she breathed, whipping around to the teenagers. They hadn’t moved since the last time she’d looked over at them. “Oh no, mom’s going to kill me!” she groaned.
Being helpless in a tin can is the best descriptor I’ve heard for living in space. But being trapped in your own ship, you can’t pretend you have any sort of power. We all sat there; assassin, immortal doctor, child prodigy, pilot extraordinaire, and three Sun Speakers. Each more useless than the last.
I considered playing I-spy but since the panic room was also my quarters, and I hadn’t had much time to clean, I decided it was a bad idea.
Finally, I heard the rumble of the ship being surgically cut to pieces by the Venusian mothership. They cut out just the panic room and pulled it to their ship while blasting the damned void-beasts that still crawled all over us.
Once in their cargo hold, we opened the doors and piled out. “Thank you for the save, Gwin. You owe me a ship if we get out of this.”
“If? We’re just mopping up the leftovers and we’re good,” she said, exasperated. She wasn’t arguing with me, she was trying to negotiate with the universe, and she knew she was going to lose. That’s why she barely paused before grumpily saying, “Fine. Where do you need to be?”
“There’s a last planetship that’s coming. Take us to the edge of the solar system,” I said, causing both Gwin and Suzie to gasp.
Suzie was the first to say, “That far out you’ll be almost powerless, especially with the micro-suns completely depleted.”
Diamond put his hand on Suzie’s shoulder and said, “It’s what has to be done.” He said it with such charisma and conviction that she didn’t remove the hand from his arm. I was impressed.
If the planet-ship got too far into the solar system it would start nudging the orbits of the planets and that would be devastating to those who lived on them. We needed to stop it quickly.
As we travelled to the right place, the doctor insisted I eat something. Apparently my body needed fuel. That would explain the headache and weakness.
“I’m tired of you almost dying. Can we take a relaxing vacation after this is over?” Suzie said, holding my hand like it was going to run away from her.
“If I find a way to survive this one, I will take you to Earth and show you what a real beach looks like,” I said, smiling. Despite the terraforming and millenia of living on the other planets, beaches didn’t have the same quality as the pristine beaches of Earth.
Our snuggling moment was interrupted by Zuri cooing and saying, “We’re going with you. The vision only showed you so maybe we can do it together?”
“That would only leave the converted Sun-Speakers to take care of Sol,” I said knowing it was a weak defence.
They gave me identical stubborn looks and I laughed saying, “I hope I look half as cute as the two of you when I do that.”
Suzie shook her head and said, “She’s adorable, he’s sexy, and you’re just barely tolerable.”
“Love you too!” I replied and kissed her passionately.
The planet-ship was more of the same writhing masses of void-beasts. That didn’t make it any less horrifying. I don’t think I could ever get used to that view and that’s probably for the best.
“So what now? How do we stop that?” asked Gwin, annoyed. She probably hadn’t rested since the war started.
“We are going to crash a shuttle in the planet-ship, and then take over its propulsion, sending it into the black holes at the centre of the universe,” I said with complete confidence.
Zuri added, “If we blow it up, we’ll disrupt the gravity in the system and that’s a bad idea.”
I got a kiss from Suzie, a stimulant from the doctor, a hug from Gwin, and a dirty look from her husband. All very reassuring.
“If these are my last words, I want you to remember that I died protecting humanity, not because it loved me but because I believed there was good in us.”
“Nice,” Diamond said.
“Little sappy,” said Zuri.
We got into the shuttle and they let me pilot, probably because they weren’t used to the controls. Both of them were better pilots.
Part way there, they both asked, “What’s the real plan?”
“Crash the ship and figure it out there,” I shrugged.
We crashed through into what the scanners had told us was the largest cargo hold.
The ship was so massive that it kept its atmosphere with gravity alone, which meant our ship piercing the walls did nothing.
The room was large enough that we could have put half the Venusian fleet inside with room to spare, but it was empty except for a large stone semicircular gate with alien sigils on it.
We stepped out of the shuttle and I walked toward the gate. In the vision from Sol, I died horribly in front of that gate, killed by a void-beast five times the size of a regular one.
When we were close enough, the large beast appeared and spoke in a raspy voice, “You are foolish to come here. I will kill you!”
“Foolish is definitely my strong suit,” I said.
Both Zuri and Diamond’s eyes flickered like they were getting a vision. I was jealous for a split second before I realized I was the distraction.
“You can talk. Why can’t the others?”
The beast growled and said, “We can all talk but not in your disgusting language.”
“Great. I’m guessing you’re a sun speaker?”
Its eyes grew wide and it moved forward like a cat about to pounce. It wheezed, “Yes.”
In my vision, this is where it pounced on me and played with my entrails until I died. I waited and at the last second threw myself forward and down. The beast flew over me and landed elegantly on its face.
“No!” it bellowed. I thought it was talking to me, but a quick glance back showed Zuri and Diamond holding the gate and forcing plasma energy through it with their powers.
I rushed to the beast and grabbed its head. I tried to cleanse it the way I had other Sun Speakers, but it wasn’t just loyal, it was part of its god.
My goal was to slow it down and not let it attack or call the other beasts to attack.
Suddenly the gate opened and connected to a black hole. “Now!” I shouted into my coms and we were teleported away.
The black hole turned the planet ship inside out and devoured it. When the metaphorical dust settled, there was nothing left but the gate floating in space.
Chapter 11: Hal doesn’t die but it isn’t from a lack of trying
I have spent my life in the service of Sol. They are my God, my compass, and my reason for existing. The family I built around myself is my heart, soul, and reason for living.
As I stood there with an alien abomination’s hand through my chest, I didn’t think about Sol. I thought about Suzie, Adric, Janet, Hoff, and all the others who I’ve called friends. That’s what made me decide to live. I might have survived despite me but who knows.
I burst into flames, using the power to cleanse myself and heal. It didn’t usually work on anything beyond sickness but I knew it would work this time.
Coming out the other side, I was naked but whole. I much prefer being whole over having holes.
I didn’t have much time to rest however. The beast who had perforated me didn’t wait long to try and do it again. The creatures weren’t just immune to the cleansing fire, they used its energy to make themselves stronger. I threw myself to the ground and Suzie took its head off with her sword.
Avoiding the fighting, I went to the locker on the far end of the cargo hold and quickly got dressed. There was no way I was fighting these things naked. Also under the seat was a bolt gun and Flare, my sword. I had recovered the sword on Venus during the civil war. Suzie had been doing her best to teach me how to use it.
The legend says that the sword was forged in the heart of Sol themselves and had been passed down to each Sun Speaker since. I hadn’t received it on account of being thrown out of the church as a teen.
The room was swarming with beasts but Suzie held them back, her blade whirling like death.
Zuri and Diamond were holding their own with bolt guns and fists. We’d all agreed on bolt guns since plasma guns just fed the beasts, not to mention what they do to a ship’s hull.
“Let’s get out of here and seal the doors,” I said and everyone started falling back to the exit. I pulled out the bolt gun and fought off those that were between us and the exit. They’d somehow managed to get in the cargo hold on the deck above and were moving down to flank us.
The void beasts are hideous creatures with melting flesh for faces that looked vaguely like if the black of space and molasses had a child. They smelled like rotting flesh; vaguely sweet, sour, and pungent. They were the things of my nightmares but they weren’t that tough or particularly good at combat. They relied on their numbers and the virus that they spread. We’d already been vaccinated from the virus but not the numbers. We were killing them easily enough but we’d tire eventually and then they would win.
Deep in the centre of my ship are my quarters. They also double as a panic room in case something like this were to happen. The room isn’t massive but it is reinforced and defensible.
Over the coms I ordered, “Everyone retreat to my quarters.”
We were in the corridor and fighting for each centimetre of movement when Sol sent me a vision. It wasn’t pleasant and it also could have waited.
“Did you see that?” asked Zuri.
“I think so,” replied Diamond and he looked a little green.
I holstered my gun and drew my sword as I said, “Anyone else getting tired of seeing visions of my death?”
Zuri snorted and she shot a beast in the head.
Diamond punched one and said, “I barely know you and I’m sick of seeing you die. Is all this normal for you?”
“Not really,” I replied.
“This is an escalation of normal but it’s not unprecedented,” Suzie said while chuckling.
I sighed and quipped, “I guess I just have one of those faces you either want to punch or kiss.”
Suzie didn’t hesitate to reply, “It’s both. Always both.”
The other two laughed and fought harder. A large part of leadership is convincing people to keep going. If all it took was some self-deprecating humour, I was happy to lead.
We made it to my room and found the rest of the crew there except for Janet. “Doc, where are you?” I asked, scared I would only get static.
After a second delay that felt like an eternity, she replied, “I’m in the medbay, but they have me trapped.”
We closed the big reinforced doors and I concentrated. When I was lucky, I could see if the teleporter would work. It only worked on biological matter ten percent of the time. “Shit,” I said when I realized it wouldn’t work.
“What?” Suzie asked as she cleaned her blade.
“The teleporter can’t save the doctor. It won’t work.”
It was Zuri that said, “Why couldn’t we force it?”
“What?” I asked.
She breathed out and started talking to me like I was a child, “Our visions see the future but they can also let us see the math of the future. All we need is to calculate the right program to teleport the doctor here.”
I felt sort of dumb trying to understand what she meant, but Diamond summed it up better, “If we work together we can pick the best outcome from our visions.”
I grabbed their hands and we found the solution. Zuri put the math into the computer, and with a quick humming noise, Janet was standing in front of us.
I cheered and Sol showed me the outside of the ship. It barely looked like the Hey Sunny. It looked like a piece of candy covered in ants. It was just a matter of time before they cracked the gooey centre of our panic room.
I reached for the connection I had with Gwin and hoped she was close enough. I pushed my thoughts out to the universe, “Help us! Please.”
From my point of view on the bridge of my mothership The Imperial High Cruiser Alpha Two,it looked like the Hey Sunny exploded and the solar system was covered in a spherical shield.
“Your imperial majesty. We’re reading countless jump points outside the shield. It’s already starting to fail,” helmsman Jones said.
I was still trying to decide who I trusted after the attempted coup but everyone on the ship had been vetted by Hal, and him I always trusted.
“Gwin, my dear. I’m sorry,” Raphael the King Consort, my husband, said. “I know you cared for him.”
“So did you. We were all friends once,” I snapped. It was an old argument, one that I knew hadn’t gotten any easier over the past decade. My husband was the man I was always meant to marry, and I love him, but my first love was Hal, that awkward gangly boy I found stowed away in my father’s ship.
A wave of soothing light erupted as the shield collapsed and I felt calm, something I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced. It felt like warmth and love. I dearly held on to that feeling but it was quickly destroyed by the ships that crashed through the shield.
They were black and oily, the surface seeming to constantly shift as if it was a river or tar. They didn’t fire torpedoes; they crashed directly into the closest ship.
“Open hailing frequencies to the Sun fleet,” I ordered leaning forward in my command chair.
“Open,” the comms officer said.
“Sun fleet. We may have our differences but it seems we have a mutual problem. Are you amenable to a truce?”
The answer came from a lot of their ships at the same time, “Yes. Oh Sol, what have we done?”
Jones tapped at his console and said, “The fleet is in disarray; they’re arguing about who’s in charge. The Black Sun command ship is only replying with sobbing. I think something happened.”
With a smile, I said, “Hal. That bastard converted them to Sol. That warm glowing feeling was his way of freeing the enemy fleet. Send a wide data packet to them with all our information on the void beasts and the virus they hold.” Hal had managed to fight the beasts once before and if they didn’t rip someone apart, the virus they held killed them horrifically.
I watched as the million-strong Myrddin fleet was torn to shreds. They fought valiantly but for every ten ships they destroyed, another hundred appeared. The void beast ships didn’t fire weapons; they crashed into their opponents and then swarmed them, leaving dead husks behind.
Gesturing to comms, I ordered our fleet, “Okay people. Hal would say that this is the moment we were all born for. Let’s show these abominations what the sol system and its allies can do. And don’t die.”
The sol fleet did its best to hold off the ships but they were fast and determined to crash into us. I was about to order a retreat when the Sun fleet joined the fight.
“This is Sun Speaker Gerald first converted to Sol from the Sun Fleet. We’re here to help,” The voice was confident and we started to coordinate. The three fleets started working together and I led the charge. The fight seemed hopeless and the enemy endless but soon they started to thin out.
I was thinking we were in the clear. More than half the Sun fleet was destroyed, the Myrddin counted less than a dozen, and the Sol fleet had lost a third of our people.
Then a planetship appeared past FarFarOut, the furthest human outpost in the Sol system. We’d managed to evacuate them back to Pluto. Thankfully, because the planetship devoured it.
The writhing oiliness of the ships was mimicked in this one, and after the fight, we knew it to be the void beasts that created the effect.
Raphael gagged at the sight and in a whimper he asked, “What can we do against that?”
Before Hal had gone and done something foolishly selfless, he’d sent me a message that said, “Gwin, I loved you from the moment we met and I don’t blame you for what happened. Sometimes we need to move planets for those we love.” With the message was a schematic for the wormhole generator from The Revenge.
“We need to create a wormhole right in front of that thing and send it straight to Sol.”
“We’d have to be right next to them!” exclaimed Jones. He looked pensive and finally said, “If we used the microsun drive to get out right after we opened the gate, the planetship would get sucked in and we might survive. But it’ll take a few minutes to open the gate.”
“Make it happen!” I ordered. Softer, I said, “We need to do this for our families, our friends, our worlds, and our god.” The crew cheered and I felt sick to my stomach.
As we raced to the planetship, we were almost surprised by a void beast ship that was hiding in its shadow. Powerful weapons blasted it out of our way followed by a voice saying, “Imperial High Cruiser Alpha Two, this is The Revenge and The Warship Ennill, we’ll cover you.”
We fought our way to the planet and opened the gate. The gravity of Sol reached through the gate and pulled the planetship into the sun. We and the other two ships jumped out in time to avoid a fiery death.
I breathed a sigh of relief. There were still some void beast ships but the Sun fleet was making quick work of them. I started to relax when a void beast ship headed toward us.
Just as I was about to order weapons at full power, I heard Hal’s voice in my head, Help us! Please. I then recognized the shape of the ship.
Under the writhing mass of beasts was the Hey Sunny.
“Target the Beasts on the ship. Prepare a boarding party. I want to rescue any survivors.”
I used to think that the noblest thing I could do was die for a good cause. I’m an idiot. Being a martyr can help motivate people but beyond that you can no longer help with anything.
I’m the mouthpiece of a literal God, I have been injected with a pseudo-magical immortality potion, and there’s one thing I know for sure; death is death. You don’t get perfect closure, you don’t get to haunt your friends, and you certainly don’t get to come back.
All of these thoughts crossed my mind as I stood on the bridge of the Hey Sunny and waited for everything to come together.
I had a plan. It was almost impossible, relied on luck and my own immortality, but it was a good plan.
“The micro-suns are in position,” Captain Ng said.
“Thank you.” I cut the coms and said, “Crew. Some of you have been with me for almost twenty years and some I’ve barely gotten to know. I need to take the ship into my nightmares. I want to be there when the beasts come out. If I’m lucky, I can minimise the death toll. I won’t ask you to come with me.”
Travis stood up and started for the exit, but he turned at the last second and punched me in the arm, “You idiot. Of course we’ll follow you. You’re the bravest, kindest, and best of us, and even if you’re broody, narcissistic, irrational, and make terrible jokes; we’re still going to follow you.”
He returned to his post and the rest of the crew shot me dirty looks. I wished I could send them away. I’d been having visions of this day for over ten years and they all had the horrors of the void-beasts, but unlike my other visions, I wasn’t in them. I don’t know what that meant, but none of the crew were in them either.
I guess I’d gotten used to knowing the future, and not seeing anything past the destruction scared me. The destruction itself wasn’t much fun to see on repeat either.
“Venusian mother ship, you’re in charge,” I sent before telling Travis to take us into position.
As he pressed the jump commands I told him, two people appeared on the bridge. Zuri and Diamond Stars gave me matching scathing looks, complete with hip pop.
“You idiot, you can’t do this without us.”
No, no, you’re needed with the rest of the fleet in case I fail, I said into their minds. I’m not actually going to try and blow up the suns, that was a clever lie.
“Hal, you’re not that good a liar, and Sol thinks you need help.” Zuri had the condescending tone that only teens can manage. In my head, she added, Gerald stayed behind. He’s still a little shaken from the conversion.
“We’re in position. What’s the real plan?” Travis asked.
Sighing dramatically, I said, “Did everyone know I was planning something?”
Everyone nodded.
Adric laughed and said, “You always have a fake plan, a real plan, and the cobbled together idea of a plan for when everything goes pear-shaped.”
“Fine.” I threw up my hands in surrender. “I planned on making a shield out of the micro-suns. A few centimetres of pure plasma would be enough to stop the void-beast fleet.”
That’s only half of it. You’re planning on cleansing all the Sun Speakers from the enemy fleet. You want to try and turn them. Diamond Stars smirked. He actually smirked, and damn him, he looked good doing it. When I smirk, I look ridiculous.
Me and the other two Sun Speakers went down to the cargo hold and I opened the cargo bay door. It gave me a perfect view of one of the micro-suns. It was beautiful and wouldn’t survive more than a week without a soul. That’s what stops the suns from burning too bright and too fast, their consciousness or souls.
Suzie stood in the corner, harnessed to the wall with a really big gun in her hands and a sword strapped to her back. I’d tried to tell her it wasn’t necessary, but I lost that argument.
I took the hands of the other Sun Speakers and reached out to the micro-sun. Its fire was bright and pure, ordered in the way that only manufactured things could be. Through it, I reached the next and then the next. Over two thousand spread into a circle around our solar system. 2000AU away from Sol and spread over an area of 12,000AU, each connected to the other and spreading its plasma out.
The feeling was exhilarating, holy, and painful. We channelled the plasma through our powers and felt every part. I knew instantly that I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the others.
We closed the sphere with Sol lending some of his own plasma, and I forced my will on all the other Sun Speakers. Our enemies’ prophets were brainwashed and not willing, so we gave them a choice. That was all we could do for them, that and pray.
I felt the void beasts arrive like a cold shiver down my spine. They saw the shield we’d built, and threw themselves at it with reckless abandon. There was no way we could hold it for long, but we did our best.
I was just starting to think we could thin them out when I heard Suzie screaming and her gun shooting.
I tried to take a step forward and couldn’t. Something was holding onto my chest. I looked down and saw a bloody cross between a paw and a hand sticking out of me. “That’ll give me pause,” I said, giggling as blood pooled in my mouth.That’s when I heard the voice of Denebola echoing through my head, sounding like screeching static, Hal The Sun Speaker of Sol, you and your God have been found wanting. Your death will be celebrated. You and your people shall be devoured.
Chapter 8: Brainwashing and soul cleansing are not the same thing
I’ll spare you the details of the torture, but it wasn’t very effective. That’s the secret no one wants to admit out loud; it’s not the pain that makes someone want to give up, it’s the hunger, thirst, and fear.
A good torturer can keep the pain fresh, giving lots of rests, but it’s still the same every time, and even those that break are reacting more to those other three elements.
I’d like to say that my faith in Sol kept me going, or my natural inborn stubbornness, but it was Suzy. Everytime I thought of breaking, I imagined her disappointed face and kept resisting.
Eventually, my time for action came and I called out, “I give up. Please.”
Gerald came into the room and hugged me like we were old friends. I wanted to be glib but I held my tongue.
“Brother, you have seen the light. It’s time for you to bathe in it.” Gerald had a glazed look in his eyes and he grabbed my head.
Instantly, I was transported to a metal platform in space, facing a large blue star and a smaller star that pulsed in different colours. In one voice, the binary stars of Spica spoke, “Your god has violated the rules of the council and will be destroyed for its impudence. You need not face the same fate. Join us and see a great universe.” The voices were like weights on my mind; they made me want to believe them. There was power in their voice, but not the same as Sol. It felt like Spica was trying to burn away everything that was me while Sol tried to burn away everything that wasn’t me.
“Yeah, yeah. Make the Universe Great Again. Politicians have been promising that for over a millenia. It’s bullshit from them and it’s no better from you.”
Gerald had spent a lot of his life converting others to his god. The process was always the same so that by the time the subject was ready, they couldn’t fight back. I had spent most of my time seeing the horrors of my solar system and being shown by Sol how it felt. I was used to pain and was nigh immortal when it came to hunger and thirst, so I was ready for a fight.
Through the connection that Gerald had made with me, I poured my will and power. I treated Spica’s influence the same way I would a virus or bacteria. Both of us burst into flames as Sol’s cleansing power washed over me and his healing power did the same to Gerald.
Gerald was surprised. The other suns didn’t care about healing. Humans were fragile but plentiful. I cleaned the man’s soul and mind of all the corrupting influences.
That’s when I realized the big difference between the council of suns and Sol. The first controlled their Sun Speakers directly, while the latter just guided us. Maybe that’s why Sol never spoke in words, only images.
“What in the Black!” cursed Gerald. I didn’t need to show him the way his mind and soul had been twisted, he already knew.
That level of cleansing would have killed me before Doctor Janet’s eternal youth serum. Instead, it made me feel weak and I collapsed.
Gerald had the guards take me to my cell and followed me. When I finally was able to sit up, he gave me some juice that tasted like sweet grapefruit. It helped me feel better and I asked, “How long before they realize?”
“The power of the council is a little slower here, there seems to be a delay of just under an hour.”
That wasn’t a lot of time, and I wasn’t doing anything fast.
Gerald smiled and said, “Funny you should say that, Sol showed me the way.”
Surprised, I asked, “You accepted Sol as your god?” I’d expected the Sun Speakers to be disoriented and reject their gods, not jump to Sol.
“They asked politely and for the first time in my life I was able to choose.”
Now I was definitely jealous, I’d never been given the chance to choose.
He picked me up like I weighed nothing and carried me to an airlock. He put me gently into it and for a moment I panicked. “I thought you were about to throw me out the airlock,” I said with less confidence than I’d hoped.
“Oh. I am,” He entered and closed the door behind him. I stood up to protest and he caught me. “Hold on to me as tight as you can, brother.”
I wanted to say something either cutting or childish or both but he hit the airlock purge button and we were thrown clear of the ship.
People think all kinds of strange things about space but most of it wasn’t true. The vacuum sucking all the air out of your lungs is true, but at least our eyeballs didn’t explode.
Just as I was starting to worry about my chest collapsing, I felt warmth and breathable air.
The Revenge had a cloaking device and must have been waiting for us. No one could have done the math to catch us. Thank Sol, the ship had a Sun Speaker on it.
With a jovial laugh, Bart helped me up, his tail was wagging. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that. I swayed and he caught me. “You look like you need a vacation.”
“I should have a few days before—” Sol cut me off with a vision so horrifying I don’t want to repeat it. They also let me know that we had three hours to prepare.
This fainting thing was becoming a bad habit. When I came too, I rushed to the nearest trash can and lost the juice from earlier. I wouldn’t be able to stomach that for a while.
“Get me to my ship. My nightmares are coming.” The real war was about to start and I prayed that the rest of the fleet was better prepared than I.
“My name is Hal, first Speaker of Sol and spokesperson for the Sol fleet. You’re ridiculous, silly, and completely out of your depths,” I tried to sound authoritative.
Despite my, well-founded, protests, the coalition had named me spokesperson. I was the face of an entire system and most of both sides now probably hated me.
Actual leadership didn’t fall to me however; that dubious honour went to Queen Gwinevere the Second, High Queen of Venus. She’d been trained in fleet combat as a child and learned at her father’s side during the hundred year Venus-Mars war.
I had voted for Zuri, since she was the reincarnation of Arthur, but apparently it’s weird to have a teen in charge of an army. I guess they don’t read the same books I do.
Gerald the High Speaker of Spica, Voice of the Conclave of Suns replied with, “Does that mean you are going to try to block us from collapsing Sol?” He sounded confused. Good, that’s what I wanted.
“We have fifteen or so factions here. Can you give us a week to work out what we’re going to do?” I said it in my best growly voice. No one expects you to be silly in this sort of situation.
After a few moments of silence, he replied, “You have twenty four hours.” That was a nice holdover from our enemies being descendants of Earth. They used the same time measurements as we did.
From beside me, Suzy asked, “Why are you stalling?”
“The sooner they start shooting, the less likely we are to survive,” I answered before opening a secure channel to the Galahad, “How are you coming with the suns?” I’d asked them to make non-sapient micro-suns that we could scatter around the solar system and use as bombs. I wasn’t actually going to use them as explosives. I had bigger plans.
“We’re on schedule. We’re just finishing the two thousand five hundred and sixty-seventh.”
“And are they deployed?”
Captain Ng replied, “All but this last one.”
“Excellent. When you’re done, sit back and prepare to help where you can.” I closed the line and hoped they could help repair and save the crews of ships that were damaged. With their micro-sun powered drive, they were the fastest ship in the system.
Have you ever had a really important meeting and then spent the entire day before it just being stressed? Yeah, that’s what I did. I paced, I figured, I even pretended to take a nap. Finally, the deadline came due and I hailed the enemy. “We’d like to negotiate a ceasefire,” I said.
“We haven’t fired at you yet,” Gerald said.
“We know and we’d like to keep it that way. We would like to meet face to face and discuss how we can let you through with the smallest loss of life possible.”
Their coms cut off and I could tell that Gerald was trying to figure out what our deal was. I was, of course, just trying to delay until the forces of Denebola showed up and started trying to kill everything, even their allies. For the thousandth time I wondered if they knew what was coming.
After a few moments, he replied, “Affirmative Hal, you have permission to approach our mothership with an unarmed shuttle and two guards.”
“I will be coming alone. Give me a few hours.” My words were greeted by gasps around my bridge and I had to cut the coms.
“For the record, I hate this plan.” Suzy squeezed my hand a little too tightly. Everyone else just looked baffled.
The night before, I’d realized I could do more damage on the mothership and had told Suzy what I was planning. She’d threatened to tie me to the bed, and not in a sexy way, until I explained things in detail. I had managed to communicate with the other sun speakers and I tried to do the same with her. It wasn’t as clear but it got enough information across that she’d agreed.
I took nothing with me for fear that they’d notice any tricks. I took a tiny shuttle and piloted toward the mother ship. It was a slow ride and I tried to nap but it didn’t work. The tension in the solar system was so thick, I half expected a snake-shaped asteroid would cause people to start firing.
I reached the moon-sized goliath they called a mothership and wondered how many billions were in it. They caught me in a tractor beam and pulled me into the belly of the beast.
I really wanted to make these people out as monsters and horrors of deep space, but they were just hyper-devoted bigots, something I was more than familiar with. They had families, feelings, and had spent their lives being told they were the chosen people of the gods.
I was met with an armed escort and by Gerald himself. “They don’t value your life very highly do they, Gerry?” I asked.
Again he looked confused but answered, “I am replaceable. If I were to fall, the gods would choose another Speaker as their emissary.”
“Alright, this is the part where you arrest me and try to force me to convert to your God,” I said and moved forward with my arms out.
“How could you possibly know that?”
“I don’t care how many centuries it’s been, you’re a human and we’re all the same,” I replied, trying not to think of what I saw they’d do to me.
“Your God didn’t tell you?” Gerald asked, surprised.
I shook my head and said, “He didn’t need to. Now, off to the torture chambers with me.”
“Once you’ve come to love Spica, you shall return to your people and spread his word. We shall convert you and the rest of your people. Thank you for winning this war for us.”
“Yay! The sisters at the orphanage always said I was a winner. Now hurt me, Gerry. I’ve been a bad rebel Sun Speaker.”
