Q-GATES
A Silver Ships Novel
S. H. JUCHA
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by S. H. Jucha
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Published by Hannon Books, Inc.
www.scottjucha.com
ISBN: 978-1-7344707-4-1 (e-book)
ISBN: 978-1-7344707-5-8 (softcover)
First Edition: January 2021
Cover Design: Damon Za
Acknowledgments
Q-Gates is the twenty-third novel in the interwoven series of The Silver Ships and Pyreans, which tell the stories of Earth colonists and the spread of humankind throughout a galaxy filled with alien races.
I wish to extend a special thanks to my independent editor, Joni Wilson, whose efforts enabled the finished product. To my proofreaders, Abiola Streete, David Melvin, Ron Critchfield, Pat Bailey, Tiffany Crutchfield, and Gerry Hartman, I offer my sincere thanks for their support.
Despite the assistance I’ve received from others, all errors are mine.
Glossary
A glossary is located at the end of the book.
Contents
1: Hidden Access
2: Sixty Degrees
3: Below Deck
4: Darter
5: Tailors
6: Torque
7: Lost in Transit
8: Stranded
9: Fire the Engines
10: New Gate
11: Evacuate
12: Shift the Strategy
13: Temptation
14: Fystal’s Client
15: Safe Transit
16: Mistrallian
17: Gates to Where?
18: Returnees
20: Commander’s Quandary
21: Tech Dilemma
22: Unknown Sender
23: Tsargit’s Choice
24: Usaanan Charge
25: Assembly Trial
26: Bedlam
27: Attack Commander
28: Judgments
29: Holo-Training
30: Delegation
31: New Beginning
32: Survival Test
33: Serpent Veterans
34: New Carriers
35: Commander’s Lot
36: Move the Outpost?
37: Need the Fleet
38: Tsargit Uproar
39: Alex’s Request
Glossary
My Books
The Author
1: Hidden Access
<Nothing,> Luther, the SADE, reported. <We’ve finished testing every surface of the corridor and dorm rooms on the second level.>
Mickey Brandon was tempted to swear, but as the premier Omnian engineer, he was more patient than most. Discoveries were often a matter of persistence.
<Maybe, we need to think about this differently,> Jess Cinders, the outpost’s commander, sent. He and others were in the central hub of Outpost One: Resistance, a massive station located in the Pyrean system. The station served as the hub for peacekeeping forces within alliance space and was situated near Pyre’s third moon, Triton.
<Explain, Commander,> Miriam requested. Like Luther, she was a SADE, and both of them were Mickey Brandon’s engineering assistants. For the dome investigations, Luther was in the field, while Miriam remained with Mickey.
<We’ve been working on the assumption that a Q-gate’s power supply must be located below the dome,> Jess sent.
<There is no other place where the power could be located,> Luther reasoned.
<Continue with your thought, Commander,> Mickey entreated. He was well aware that Jess and his twin, Kasie Cinders, as Pyreans, had the most extensive experience and knowledge of the Messinant Q-gates.
<I’m not arguing with the assumption, Luther,> Jess apologized. <What I’m trying to say is that this reasoning leads us to search a dome’s lower levels for the access.>
<There is the possibility that the Messinants never provided a way to reach the power plants,> Lucia Bellardo, the outpost’s fleet admiral offered. <They could have sealed it underneath the dome’s entire construct.>
<Your pardon, Admiral, that’s not logical,> Mickey reasoned. <More than the power supply must be located below the dome. We haven’t found any facilities sources ... water supply and treatment, pallet cleaning, meal utensil recycling, and the wonderful paste supply.>
The laughter of Jess, Lydia, and Kasie echoed around the central hub.
<In time, Mickey, you get used to the paste,> Lydia sent, chuckling.
Mickey shuddered. He’d tried dining on the dome’s offerings of multiple pastes for two Pyrean cycles. Afterward, he left the on-site investigation of the Q-gates to the SADEs. Then he’d returned to the outpost and relished the recipes served by Méridien food dispensers.
<Commander, please return to your musings,> Mickey urged.
<The SADEs record the glyphs that adorn every surface of the domes they visit,> Jess continued. <Many are decorative, and the rest are instructive. None of them point the way to the access that we’re seeking. I’m beginning to think that we should take Kasie’s advice.>
Kasie stared at her twin in confusion. <I don’t know the way,> she objected. She kept her sendings brief, having adopted her implant recently.
SADEs had solved the issues of empaths receiving the tiny comm device. They coated the device to prevent interference from an empath’s sending, and they shifted the comm frequencies so as not to interfere with an empath’s power.
<Enlighten us, Commander,> Mickey requested.
<Kasie has often quoted the original explorers, our ancestors, Captain Cinders and Envoy Harbour,> Jess explained. <They intimated that the Messinants had a perverse sense of humor. Hiding the instructional glyphs among the decorative ones is an indication of their strange methods.>
<This leads you where, Commander?> Luther asked.
<What would be the places in the dome that we would never suspect?> Jess asked rhetorically. <The SADEs inspected every centimeter of the lower two levels. The deck wasn’t investigated except to study the glyphs.>
<The commander has an excellent point,> Miriam acknowledged. <It’s illogical that you would locate an entry to the deepest reaches of a structure from the uppermost level.>
<Which fits with some of the oddities of the Messinants,> Kasie pointed out. She grasped Jess’s head and planted a kiss on his cheek.
<If we follow the commander’s concept,> Luther sent, <Then we should suspect every structure of the deck ... the platform gates and the console.>
<We might consider that the Messinants took care to protect the entry,> Kasie proposed. <Think in terms of requiring two or three steps to trigger the opening.>
<We’ve searched the platform before we descended below main deck,> Luther sent. <The ring and surface of each platform is a continuous metal surface.>
<That leaves the console,> Jess sent. <If there is access to the dome’s power plant and facilities support, then it must possess the key.>
<We believe that we’ve discovered every submenu and explored each function,> Miriam sent. <There’s nothing in the console’s deeper layers that helps us.>
<Which isn’t where the Messinants would put it,> Kasie interjected hotly, and she quickly curtailed her power before she inundated the humans near her with her frustration. As a powerful empath, she had the ability to read
and transmit emotions to sentient beings.
The SADEs communed. Logic had failed to find the all-important access to the dome’s inner workings. Human interpretations of the nature of an ancient and long-gone species, who built the gates, had been ignored. An error in judgment had been made.
<Would Julien have counseled us differently?> Luther asked Miriam privately.
<Perhaps,> Miriam replied. <We’ve an opportunity to learn from our mistake and improve the balance between our decision processes and biological intuitions.>
<Kasie, our apologies for not listening to you earlier,> Luther sent. <We would hear your reasoning now.>
Mickey kept a hand over his mouth, while he eyed the audience in the central hub. He’d heard Kasie’s protestations when the SADEs had made a cursory investigation of the upper deck before they made their way below. However, he’d tasked Luther with commanding the dome’s search. In that regard, he had to let the SADE lead.
That Luther had come up empty-handed and was willing to consider an entirely different approach, a human’s intuition of all things, bode well for his development.
<The access would be similar to the basic commands that Aurelia Garmenti, the dome’s premier investigator discovered on the console,> Kasie sent. <It would be something so elemental that our eyes would skip over it. We’d consider it nonfunctional.>
While Kasie had been speaking, Luther had led the SADEs from the lowest level. They trekked up the ramp, down the first level corridor, up the next ramp, and onto the deck.
<Kasie, continue to muse on this subject,> Luther requested, as the SADEs fanned out across the deck to regard the single platform and console from different perspectives.
<In some regards, the Messinants have proven to be unfathomable,> Jess interjected. <Let’s remember that critical console actions required simultaneous inputs into two different panels. We know from the images of the Messinants contained within consoles that one individual of their race couldn’t have reached both panels. Therefore, it took two individuals to trigger those menu items. We consider those requirements some sort of safeguards.>
<If the Messinants would do that for an important menu item,>Kasie interjected, <what would they do to hide access to the dome’s power supply and the facilities services?>
Tacnock, a Jatouche, had remained quiet during the conversation, except for an occasional slurp on his Pyrean fruit juice. When a noisy suck on the straw heralded the drink’s bottom, he joined the discussion.
<I would echo what Jess and Kasie are saying,> Tacnock sent. <It’s supposed by the alliance races that the Messinants were an ancient race who existed for countless millennia before they disappeared from this area of space. A theory suggests that they didn’t originate from here but treated alliance space as their enormous laboratory for genetic experiments. They’d have carefully thought through the processes by which a race discovers a dome, gains access to the deck and the console, learns the console’s basic functions, and integrates with other races via the gates. Each step is a test, which the sentient species must pass. This challenge is no different.>
Kasie laid a hand on Tacnock’s furry shoulder and shared her appreciation with him.
Tacnock closed his eyes and relished the pleasant feeling that swept through his mind. It was in sharp contrast to the anxiety that had ruled his emotions during the latest assignment.
A close friend of Jess and Kasie, Tacnock commanded one of the outpost’s carrier attack teams. The carriers were tasked with freeing planets and domes from the Colony, the race of ravenous sentient insectoids that had inundated alliance space via the domes.
The alliance races had contributed funds, materials, and specialists to construct Outpost One, and Alex Racine had used Omnia Ships reserves of licensing fees with Sol to purchase four armed transport carriers designed by the SADEs.
After months in the field, a carrier rotated back to the outpost for relief, and Tacnock, who led two hundred of the cat-like Sylian troops against insectoid-held domes and planets, was enjoying downtime.
The other three attack commanders were Queen Homsaff, a Dischnya; Major Aputi Tulafono, a Pyrean; and Commander Sastisona, a Sylian.
Each commander’s tasks grew ever riskier. The Colony was quick to learn the outpost troops’ techniques and devise tactics to defeat them.
Jess, Lucia, and Kasie had concluded that the Colony had found a way to message through the consoles and warn every other dome held by the insectoids of the rebellion’s newest offensive techniques.
In the dome being investigated, the SADEs briefly communed, and Luther presented their opinion.
<Kasie, we would like to invite you to participate in the search,> Luther requested.
<On-site?> Kasie inquired.
<It would be the optimal method,> Luther replied.
Kasie’s power slipped free, and the central hub’s humans were inundated by fierce jubilation.
Before Jess could remind his sister, the audience heard Kasie mutter, “Oops.”
The SADEs recorded the energy release from Kasie’s mind. The unusual capability of the empaths’ biological minds fascinated them.
<We look forward to you joining us, Kasie,> Luther sent, having been informed of the nature of Kasie’s empathetic response.
“Yum, paste,” Mickey muttered to no one.
<The commander would be as valuable to have on-site too,> Kasie sent. <He’s as good at deciphering the Messinant intentions as me.>
No! Lucia thought vehemently. She held herself still. Jess and she had risked their lives innumerable times combating the insectoids’ deadly reds and grays. They’d led their troops from the front and had managed to survive despite the odds and the losses.
Having resisted the advances of other men for decades, Lucia Bellardo had fallen in love with the only man who’d found a way to her heart — Jess Cinders.
<I don’t think that’s a good idea,> Mickey sent. <We’ve no idea of what measures the Messinants have employed to protect a dome’s inner workings. I’m trying to minimize the investigative team. On that note, Kasie, tell the SADEs of your ideas, but don’t execute them yourself. Am I understood?>
<I understand, Mickey,> Kasie sent, having been reminded of the dangers of meddling in the creations of the Messinants.
Belatedly, Mickey remembered his place within the outpost’s hierarchy. <Of course, Commander, that’s my suggestion.>
<Sensible, Mickey, even though it’s not my preference to risk my sister,> Jess sent. <However, we’re not making any progress with the present methods. No disrespect intended, Luther.>
<None taken, Commander,> Luther replied. <When SADEs haven’t succeeded in an investigation, it’s obvious to us that a different approach must be taken and welcomed.>
Jess turned to Kasie, but she’d already left the hub. His implant located her heading for her cabin to pack.
Sam’s going to be unhappy, Jess thought.
Sam Fleetfoot, an Omnian security lieutenant of New Terra origin, had been hired and promoted to major by Jess to head outpost security. Kasie and he had often enjoyed their downtime together on Pyre.
Originally, the nearby planet was home to a fierce race who had gone to war with the Jatouche via Pyre’s single dome connection.
The Jatouche had retaliated and their weapons had ignited the planet’s surface, resulting in an atmosphere occluded by dangerous quantities of ash and noxious gases. Feeling guilty about the planet’s catastrophic state, the Jatouche had worked with Pyreans, the new colonists from Earth, to restore the planet.
It was nearly a century before the planet was habitable. Then, during the next two centuries, the surface had gained its present green state.
Lucia also took note of Kasie’s quick exit. She tasked a traveler to transport Kasie to Triton, the third moon outward from Pyre, where the system’s dome was located. Then she sent a link to Kasie.
Kasie intended to use the dome network to reach the site of the SADE investigation. Her pilot launche
d from the outpost, made the short trip to Triton, and landed within a surface bay that Mickey’s teams had built.
Traveling through a tunnel, descending via a lift, and traversing more tunnels, Kasie passed through the dome’s entry point, crossed the lower level corridor, ascended a ramp, and arrived on the gate’s deck.
There was no need for Kasie to communicate her destination. Triton’s dome had a single platform, which connected Pyre and Na-Tikkook, the Jatouche home world.
Kasie stepped onto the platform and nodded at the console operator.
A tap on a console panel sent blue light emanating from the platform to merge with the dome’s hemispheric projection, and Kasie disappeared.
Arriving within the Jatouche dome, which was located on Rissness, Kasie threaded slowly through the Jatouche, who were anxious to pay their respects. Not only was she recognized as a premier interpreter of bizarre console mysteries, but she was a descendant of the venerated explorers, Envoy Harbour and Advisor Cinders.
Selecting the next platform, the dome administrator halted journeyers to allow Kasie to ascend next. Then the console operator sent her on her way.
Kasie’s trip through the domes to reach the investigation site shouldn’t have been that far, as the distance between systems went. Jess and Mickey had chosen a system nearby to Pyre’s star, Crimsa. It was unoccupied by a sentient race, including the Colony.
However, Kasie’s route was roundabout. Messinants didn’t build the gates to connect between the nearest systems. The domes appeared to have been constructed around the interests of the Messinants to see how their genetically tinkered races integrated after achieving spaceflight.
The route could have been shorter using the quickest gate links, except for one issue. There were some dome locations that had to be avoided. The insectoids held those.
Some domes were unoccupied. When Kasie arrived in these locations, she hurried to the console, set a panel for remote firing, climbed onto the next platform, and journeyed to the next destination.