Alien Shores by Heppner Vaughn

Author:Heppner, Vaughn [Heppner, Vaughn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781477873847
Amazon: B00HVF7OKQ
Goodreads: 21046118
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2014-06-24T07:00:00+00:00

18

Mentalist Niens picked up a cloth and blotted his forehead. He couldn’t believe his luck, and his swift elevation in rank.

That had gone against protocol on two counts: he had witnessed a Kresh’s murder by a man, and he had not attempted to protect or help Chengal Ras. Normally, on general principle, the Kresh would destroy such a person. Bo Taw had interrogated Niens through psionic probing. He disliked and feared that, but it didn’t matter. It never did with the Kresh. He’d wondered why Zama Dee bothered, and had expected death.

Instead, he lived, and he gained rank. That sent his curiosity spinning like a rodent on a wheel. Ever since youth, he had an insatiable desire to know why. In his secret thoughts, he believed it made him like a Kresh. Perhaps the intense self-training to keep that assumption hidden from the thought police—the Bo Taw—had set him on his present path. He realized his curiosity inevitably led him into modes of illegal thought. That in turn had long ago put him on the road of enjoying life while he could. He had these few precious moments of life and planned to wring from them every ounce of pleasure that he could. He’d better enjoy them before he was worm food. Then his damned curiosity would lift its simian head and he’d tinker with a thing, probing, wondering, and bringing himself nearer the edge of destruction.

Several incidents in quick succession now threatened his existence, because he couldn’t erase them from his thoughts. He didn’t know how the Bo Taw hadn’t detected them.

First, Klane had killed Chengal Ras, the giver of pain. After the agonizer, Niens hated the 109th. He also dreaded the Kresh. The human had slaughtered Chengal Ras, and Niens secretly approved. He tried not to, but he couldn’t help it. Klane had killed a Kresh and he had shown Niens mercy.

Why had Klane done that? Why had the man let him live? It was inconceivable. The more Niens thought about it, the more he wanted to know the answer, had to know the answer.

Niens knew he should be dead. Yet he lived and he had gained rewards. Zama Dee wanted something from the amazing Kresh killer. Was that why he lived? Did Zama Dee believe he had a novel perspective on Klane? Niens didn’t know the reason, but he would find out.

One thing was clear: the new rank had brought about commensurate rewards, and it had brought greater responsibility.

“Test the calibration, Niens,” the head mentalist said in a harsh voice.

Niens swallowed uneasily. He had a task to perform and he’d better concentrate on the here and now. He adjusted the setting a tap at a time. It was delicate work. They planned to go deep into Klane’s ego and begin to adjust his view of reality.

On Niens’s screen, a red dot blossomed into a larger green circle. The dot shifted, heading up toward the circle’s northeast quadrant. Carefully, he brought the red dot back to the center and enlarged it, attempting to fill the green with the red.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.