Excerpt Thursday: SILENT ORDER: ECLIPSE HAND
SILENT ORDER: OMNIBUS ONE was on Bookbub earlier this week, so today’s excerpt is from its immediate sequel, SILENT ORDER: ECLIPSE HAND.
This was the book I wrote to prove that you could write, edit, layout, and publish a book using entirely free software, so I have a soft spot for it.
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“Well, the director thought I had enough to publish,” said Cassandra. “I just had to think up a clever name for my device. I called it the Eclipse since eclipses are my favorite astronomical phenomenon, other than comets. We published the results, and then I forgot about it.”
“But then,” said March, “strange things started to happen to you.”
Cassandra blinked. “How did you know?”
“Because I know part of the story that you do not,” said March. “Go on.”
“Okay,” said Cassandra. She looked uneasy again. “Well…my paper got pulled. No one would tell me why. Then the military came to interview me. They seemed to approve of the work that I had done. But they told me I couldn’t leave Sonari City, and people were following me everywhere I went. Then I met Captain Torrence. I was sitting in a coffee house near the Sonari City spaceport, thinking about maybe leaving Oradrea for a while, when he sat next to me. He told me that he was part of the Silent Order, even though I could get him arrested by the secret police for telling me that. He said that I had discovered something dangerous to both the Oradrean government and the Final Consciousness, and they would kill me for it.” She swallowed. “I didn’t believe him, but I didn’t tell anyone. Then the next day I met President Murdan. He’s, uh, the President of Oradrea, if you haven’t heard of him.”
“I have,” said March. “President-For-Life Paul Murdan, I understand. Tell me more.”
“He was waiting in my lab at the University with his security people,” said Cassandra. “I didn’t know why the President would care about the Eclipse device. But he was friendly. He congratulated me on my work, said I was a credit to Oradrean science. But his security people…they kept staring at me. You know how men sometimes stare at women?”
“I’m familiar with the idea, yes,” said March.
She missed the sarcasm. “Men usually don’t stare at me because I’m not…you know, pretty,” she was wrong about that, “but they sometimes do. This, though…it was like they were wolves and I was a sheep. I didn’t like it. President Murdan said he would send a car for me to visit the Presidential Palace the next day, and…and I panicked. It was exactly what Captain Torrence had said would happen. And…I know what happens to people who disappear, who get on the bad side of the government. I’ve seen the execution videos the secret police put out.”
“So how did you get away?” said March.
“The astronomy department has a telescope in orbit,” said Cassandra. “Every week one of the instructors from the astronomy department takes the shuttle up to the telescope station to do maintenance. I put drugs in his coffee and stole the shuttle.”
“I’m impressed,” said March.
Cassandra blushed. “I…well, I was desperate. And the autopilot was pretty good. Captain Torrence said his starliner would be in the JX2278C system in another four days, and if I arrived, he would make sure I got asylum on Calaskar. I headed for JX2278C and jumped to this system…and then those Raptors were waiting for me. You know the rest.”
“I see,” said March. “That plastic trunk of yours, the heavy one. I assume you’ve got a prototype of the Eclipse device in there.”
“And the blueprints and technical documentation,” said Cassandra.
“That’s good,” said March.
“So…will you help me?” said Cassandra. “Will you take me to JX2278C and Captain Torrence’s ship? I think it’s called the Alpine.”
“I will,” said March. “If I can.”
Cassandra frowned. “If you can? Oh, the damaged hyperdrive.”
“It’s worse than that,” said March. “We’re both in a lot of trouble.”
Cassandra flinched. “But…but why?”
“Because I know the other half of the story that you don’t,” said March.
-JM