Earth Rising by J.N. Chaney & Scott Moon

Author:J.N. Chaney & Scott Moon [Chaney, J.N. & Moon, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2023-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

For two days, I reviewed everything I could find about Azoks, Hoyons, and the best of them all, Kayans. Pya barely counted in the final analysis because there was only one of her, and actual information on her activities was hard to find and impossible to verify.

She’d claimed to have dealt with the Seer before, which implied the master of leviathan star travel was more powerful than any single being should be.

Please let her not be a villain in this shitshow.

What was that, Noah?

Nothing. Just thinking too loud, apparently.

Solen met me for a run around the main deck. We high-fived each other and got started without talking, though we both knew what was on our minds. Neither Kayan nor I had shared everything we’d learned. She needed to dig her share of it up before we biased her with our theories about the new Azoks, the wounded Kayan, and the seemingly orphaned Hoyon in Kayan’s vault. “Orphaned” was a word that fit the seed ships even if I was a bit sketchy on how they reproduced or where exactly they were from.

“You’re holding back something,” Solen said.

I was confident in the theory about the Polis family but slightly disappointed Solen hadn’t brought them up. She’d been working as hard as anyone. Grum, Leana, and even the Tytons were doing their part, and contributed information from time to time, but Solen was the scientist, the trained investigator, the master of espionage we needed to be sure we had everything right.

“I want you to find it without me mucking things up in your head.”

She made a sour face as we slowed to a walk. “You’re disgusting. Just give me one clue. What has you and Kayan so worked up.”

Share with her, Noah, the ship thought.

Fine.

Solen stopped, then gave me one of her confident, suspicious looks—head cocked, chin up slightly.

“Polis.”

Color drained from Solen’s face, and her eyes widened. “Stars. I should have seen that before. They were infamous researchers of living starships. Ostracized by the scientific community and greatly diminished now.”

“What happened to them?”

“No one cared about their final round of research before they essentially ran out of money and fell apart,” Solen said.

“What were they studying that killed their Gavant mojo?”

She frowned at me but shook off the new Earth word. “Hoyons.” Her left hand massaged the back of her neck, just for a moment. “No one ever cared about them. You can’t test anything because it would take a thousand years per trial, and even then, your conclusions as to what they did versus what effect the experimental variables caused would be open to debate.”

“Interesting.” I started walking. “Let’s see what Celia Kilis has to say about the Polis family and our recent discovery.”

Solen fell in beside me. “Aren’t you going to make her do three days of research first?”

“You’ve got jokes!”

We discussed our theories and how we would interrogate the Gavant hunter on the way, and we were soon facing her across a table in the galley, three cups of steaming coffee between us.

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