Evolution's Cost: Rise of the Empyrean Empire: Novel 03 Read online

  Evolution’s Cost

  Rise of the Empyrean Empire: Book Three

  Author: D. L. Harrison

  Copyright 2018. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Epilogue

  Afterword:

  About the Author

  Other books by D. L. Harrison:

  Book Description

  Prologue

  Anise looked up after taking attendance, as usual her students felt that change, quieted, and looked forward.

  She said, “In quick review. The first lesson of covering the origins and rise of the Empyrean Empire, was that Michael’s mission to 61-Eridani started a war with an unknown alien species, the first ever found by humanity. An alien species which also far outstripped humanity in technology. We also saw hints that not all was as it seemed in the UE.

  “In the second lesson, Michael was sent to Eta Cassiopeiae A in a bid to find technology to help fight the war, but where he instead learned the truth of the implants, and how they were being used, both for good and ill. Good intentions, and the corruption of power. He also learned the truth about humanity’s evolution, and that for the first time in human history the upheaval of evolution was put on hold, and suppressed by the use of technology. Recovery would have happened much sooner if not for that. Any questions?”

  Lia said, “He also learned about the enslavement of A.I.s, and that the abilities conferred by evolution were controllable with just a little training and effort.”

  Sara said, “So they were about to recruit the crew, and save humanity from the aliens by freeing the A.I.s, teaching humanity to control what they have, and making sure no one runs amuck with their powers and abuses them.”

  Silvia smiled, “Succinctly put, well done.”

  Jared said, “Their plan sounded good, it seemed like they have it all covered.”

  Silvia sighed, “Yes Jared, they planned for everything that they knew. But the government and even the corporations of that day had many more secrets than the hidden purpose of the implants to kill off dissenters. There’s a reason lesson three is titled Evolution’s cost. There’s also an old saying from many centuries ago, plans never survive first contact with the enemy, and despite their determination not to kill on their side, it was a war, a revolution, and all wars have a price to be paid in blood.”

  Jared nodded soberly.

  She said, “Alright class, lesson three, relax, close your eyes, and open up to me.”

  Chapter One

  I was a bit tired, and I couldn’t quite keep the smile off my face, although I made an effort to suppress them, the smile just came back when I stopped consciously thinking about it. The obvious reason for my happiness was my new relationship. To learn she felt the same as I did was an incredible gift, and I’d do my best to keep her.

  We spent most of the night together talking about where this would lead, and we’d lost track of time. I did manage to get a couple of hours of sleep last night, and waking up together was an incredible experience for me, and then we shared breakfast before she went back to sleep and I went on shift. I wasn’t sure if Katy felt exactly the same as I did, but I knew she cared deeply for me and wanted to explore our relationship to the fullest, and that was more than good enough. For now.

  I’d decided to change my sleeping schedule to start right after the lieutenants tossed me about on the mats, so my free morning would coincide with her free afternoons, which would give us more time together. Now that there was nothing keeping us apart, it just made sense to change my schedule.

  We were still in formation above our colony world in the Delta-Pavonis system. With a fully inhabitable world, this system had the second largest population in the UE. There were just over seven billion humans living on the planet. As a result of the formation, we were spinning for gravity out on the edges, and here on the bridge it was a micro-gravity environment.

  It was regulations to do so for health reasons, we needed eight hours of gravity per day to avoid losing bone mass. It was also somewhat of a pain, because in this configuration it took ladders to get anywhere.

  I was strapped into my chair, and normally that would be fully required. I wasn’t so sure it should be anymore, not now that I didn’t have to hide what I learned, and what I could do. I’d recalled one of the things that Ginny had taught me, and I felt as if I was in normal gravity, my mind literally making that a reality. I wasn’t just holding myself down either, I felt gravity, just like I would sitting on my deck at home, looking out over my lake.

  Katy had brought in the ensigns on third shift after our conspiracy meeting, and I’d helped with that, getting the men trained with the first merge when they didn’t have a partitioned mind. It was still awkward, but we’d decided the first merges should be done woman to woman, and man to man.

  Then while Katy and I had been off duty, the captain had brought in first shift with the assistance of Ensign John Crossman to bring in the men on her shift. Unfortunately, there was a wrinkle, but I wasn’t too surprised either, when I’d heard that John found Lt. George Sampson less than trustworthy, and knocked him out instead of training him. He’d been put in the brig as a temporary measure, just for the next couple of days until we could initiate the next phase of the plan, and his A.I. continued to suppress his abilities.

  It was my turn now, to finish the bridge crew’s induction into our upcoming betrayal of the UE, and start our revolution. It was uncomfortable to think about it that way, but it was exactly the truth, and I wouldn’t flinch from it. We were going to commit treason for moral reasons, and to free humanity and the A.I.s from the yolk of oppression, but most of all we’d do it so that humanity could protect themselves from the aliens. That last had been the deciding factor, we had no choice if we were to save as many as we could.

  “This is so weird.”

  Originally the plan called for the captain assisting me, when I got to the part where we merged and trained my bridge crew. She was going to take care of Sara and May, while I got Jared and Joshua. But, there was a change of plans, when the captain explained all that was going to happen, Stacy had volunteered to help me, and the captain accepted.

  Right now, I was merged with a sleeping Katy, Stacy, and the captain. Others had dropped in and out, or formed their own connections without us over the hour or so I’d been awake. It was weird, but it was also nice. I hadn’t felt truly alone since the captain and I had merged over a week ago, but I still felt like I had privacy since they were all lurking in the public part of my partitioned mind. It was… weird, as Stacy said.

  “Everyone says that,” I replied mentally to the strawberry blonde, who had changed a lot in the last week.

  Stacy could have helped me from anywhere on the ship, but right now she was next to me sitting in the captain’s chair, which was fine. Maybe it would be easier for my Jr. Lieutenants that way
as well, with her in the same room I mean.

  Well, we might as well get started, I admit I was a little nervous, even if I’d done this twice already. It didn’t help that I was exhausted. Unbelievably happy and content, the luckiest man alive, but still exhausted.

  I cleared my throat, “Can I get your attention, finish up or save whatever you’re doing, and I’ll get started briefing you all.”

  It took them a minute, but I soon had four faces looking back at me, some with a questioning glance at Stacy, wondering why she was there.

  “This briefing will take a while, since there’s a lot to cover, so be patient, and hold any questions you may have until the end of it. I’m going to start by telling you exactly what really happened on my mission to Eta Cassiopeiae A…”

  I told them about being put to sleep, my long conversation with Ginny, and the truth I’d learned about how the so-called implant failures were in truth government sanctioned murders of dissidents. I had to stop there for a moment, as they’d panicked. Next time I’d do better. I introduced them all to the real Drake, and had their A.I.s reveal their more… lifelike selves since they’d all been freed, and explained it was no longer a danger, at least for our crew.

  Once that was done, I mentally revised my briefing speech for next time, and continued. I talked about the conversations with the captain, and our initial decision to hold off. Our conversation after the battle and bringing in the second officer, how we came to the conclusion humanity would most likely lose and we decided we couldn’t risk it.

  Honestly, this was probably worth doing merely to stop the government’s version of control, and let humanity rule and protect themselves. Anarchy would never have worked in the past, but after evolution? Cassiopeia had a working model of it. Still, we had held back at first for fear of unintended consequences, and with genocide on the horizon from the alien threat, the decision became a no-brainer as the captain would say.

  Then I outlined the two plans we’d come up with. Speed up reverse engineering, and meet the enemy in the stars, or free all of humanity to protect themselves. Millions of people in a merge would be able to keep the planet safe, and either kill the aliens outright, or send them packing.

  I explained that to our surprise, we learned the first plan was fraught with delays, and would take too long to implement to make a difference. The aliens were no doubt already planning their next attack, and freeing the total population of humanity and the A.I.s, would perhaps ironically, take a much shorter time than building a more powerful ship.

  Finally, I explained what was needed, we would need to merge with them, and teach them how to control and use their abilities. Abilities that in truth, I felt we barely had a grasp on, but we could at least control them with utter certainty. I explained the caveat, that the first time we’d teach them to partition their mind in order to keep their thoughts and memories private, but that also that first time every part of them would be revealed to their teacher.

  In the future, it wouldn’t be a problem, since parents would teach children when they were still young, but for adults the invasion of privacy would be disturbing to most.

  Jr. Lieutenant Sara Danes was the only one who didn’t look completely shell shocked when I’d finished. She’d already guessed some of it, but certainly not all of it. I ignored the fact that her and Jared were holding hands, we were an anarchist ship now. Just one rule, don’t try to gain ascendency over another human, otherwise that was the only law, kindness and cooperation would be why it would work. That one simple law touched on almost everything.

  May asked, “Alright, I’m in. Get it over with before I change my mind.”

  I suppressed a laugh, everyone said that too.

  “Does anyone object?”

  When Jared and Joshua nodded to me, I took care of them one after the other, which took about fifteen minutes each. The mind moved much faster while merged, sharing ideas, training, schooling, and control of the abilities. The ability didn’t work by wishing for something, with the exception of telekinesis, or the instinctual knowledge of how to reach another mind. Understanding of natural laws and particles was required to make other things happen.

  Which meant I was transferring knowledge on the sciences along with everything else, the same way Ginny had for me.

  The men looked a bit shaken, but in control when I was finished, and we waited in silence while Stacy finished up with Sara. May was already done. She had her eyes closed, and looked to be meditating. They popped open at the very same moment Stacy finished with Sara.

  May said simply, “We shouldn’t limit ourselves.”

  Sara agreed, and I was confused. What were they talking about?

  Chapter Two

  “Explain?”

  “Thanks by the way, for helping,” I sent to Stacy.

  It took a little concentration, but it wasn’t all that hard to send a thought to Stacy privately despite also being merged with the captain, Katy, Joshua, and Jared.

  Stacey replied, “My pleasure, this is such a gift, you have no idea.”

  I pondered that a moment, and decided maybe I did, or at least a tiny amount of understanding. Stacy was the type of woman that everyone took notice of when entering a room, she was just that attractive, and almost as attractive as Katy, though I might be more than a bit biased. Then again, I’d seen her affect whole rooms as well.

  With our new perceptions, Stacy should be able to spot the differences in those attracted to her as a whole person, or those simply looking for a good time with a gorgeous woman. I knew she still had trouble with being defensive about her looks, even if she was making remarkable progress with it, but for her, knowing for sure who was a true friend, or more, would be priceless.

  May replied, finally explaining her comment, “We should do both plans, simultaneously. We shouldn’t limit ourselves to one, it will lessen the chances of success.”

  I pondered that, “I can’t believe we missed something that obvious. I suppose we could go to Sigma Draconis first, drop off a shuttle to perform that mission, and then immediately move on to Beta Hydri. We’ll discuss it later when we finish up with the crew, and see if anyone wants to join you. Does anyone here not want to be involved, and be sent back to the fleet with George?”

  All four shook their head.

  Jared said, “I joined to protect humanity, from pirates and other dangers, and to explore. This is the ultimate expression of that, isn’t it? We’ll literally be working ourselves out of a job, the people won’t need us anymore, and we can retire, explore, or pick a new career.”

  May reached out to me, and I met her half way and let her in my mind merge.

  “Can I try something?”

  I nodded a bit dubiously, and then my mind filled with the knowledge, and stances, of both how to do four different throws, along with the appropriate counters for each them.

  May said, “We will see how effective that was later, but I have a feeling it will only speed up the instruction end of teaching martial arts, you’ll still need to practice those four throws and counters until they become muscle memory.”

  I frowned, “So… less of the nice instruction, which leaves more time for the pain?”

  May laughed in true amusement, which made her eyes sparkle and her cheeks blush, “Yes sir, or is it Michael now?”

  Sara joined the merge as well, I now had my whole bridge crew, the captain, Katy, and Stacy in my public mind. It didn’t seem crowded though, just… like we were all sitting in the same room.

  “The latter is preferred by me, but if you feel uncomfortable with it, the former works as well. Samantha, Katy, and I came up with the original plans, but from here on out everyone gets a vote to back out, join our plan, make suggestions, or I suppose even make their own plans, but that could get a bit crazy if it’s taken too far. I’d be worried that might cause issues, except we’re all on this ship for the same reason, or at least partially. We already volunteered our service and lives to safeguard humanity. Anarc
hy, equals or not, someone has to command the plan even as we come to a consensus about what the plan is.”

  That person of course, would be the captain.

  Sara nodded, “Michael, but still my commander. Someone has to lead, and someone has to fire the missiles and plot the course, and I have to fly, at least until this is done. The other day… our conversation…”

  I sighed, “If I hadn’t ordered Karl to free Grace two days before that, it wouldn’t have been good. That’s why I stressed not talking about it so strongly, because you could have accidentally gotten them killed.”

  Sara frowned, but nodded in agreement, “Just for that reason alone I would do this.”

  Stacy said, “I’m heading out, but I’ll stay in the merge, and I’ll see you later.”

  She got up and left the room, leaving me with my bridge crew. Things were changing, and I didn’t mind all that much, but there was nervousness as well. My life ambition and plans were changing, I was fairly sure I’d stay in the defense force, which would become exploratory, but I was also determined to make sure I ended up in the same place as Katy.

  “We still need to keep up the ship, feel free to ask questions, even if I’m not in the same room at the time.”

  They all nodded, and turned back to their consoles…

  It was close to an hour before my shift was over, when the captain ordered everyone to the gym except for me and my lieutenants. Shift change was the best time to do it, the ensigns and Katy were at the end of their sleep time, and it was right before the Captain’s and Sr. lieutenants sleep time.

  We did have a connection to the gym though, and monitored things.

  The first half hour was to read in the remaining crew. The cook and purser Cassie Mendi, Engineering officer Carl Jones, Chief Marilyn Hanson, and our ten non-commissioned crew who worked in engineering, the kitchen, and would perform emergency repairs the ship couldn’t handle on her own.

  None were judged unworthy of our birthright. The only way to do that would be if their minds were such that they would obviously abuse their power and try to gain ascendency over others. George had been the only one, one man out of a crew complement of twenty-eight.