Vox astra, p.16
Vox Astra, page 16
part #1 of Vox Astra Series
On the dais before the viewport stood a tall man in a black uniform with hands the color of ash. A smooth, featureless, silver mask hid his face. Through its slits, his eyes flickered like sulfurous coals. They burned through Coleman. The effect dizzied him as though an invisible force reached out from the man to send Coleman’s thoughts aflutter like a child running through a flock of feeding pigeons. Coleman averted his eyes, but his legs wavered.
“Captain Chang, please meet Doctor Abgrund,” Aldrich said. “Together, he and I have become the architects of our survival and the champions of our freedom. Behold our works.”
The starship rolled, and the fleet drifted into view—ten, thirty, fifty, and more ships like the one on which Coleman stood, hanging in the endless night. Mounted along their flanks hung innumerable steel spears like the weapons of a giant-killer, an arsenal of missiles with the power to turn space itself to embers. The ships dipped and swayed, a school of mechanical fish, orienting themselves for a long migration. Between them, as they shifted, Coleman glimpsed the ruined shell of the world he’d once called home.
“We’ll make sure the stars can never be right,” Aldrich said. “We’ll destroy them.”
The auditorium exploded with applause. Coleman’s mind drained to emptiness in an instant. Through the darkness came only the simmering laughter of the man in the silver mask, a dissonant, vaguely musical whistling like the pressure of eternity forced through a narrow pipe that filled the void within him—and then he heard his own voice join in cheering on Aldrich’s mission.
Previously Published
“Against the Stars Themselves” first appeared in The Black Book, Peter Worthy, ed., January 2003.
“A Beach on Nellus” first appeared in In Harm’s Way, (Defending the Future, Volume 8), Mike McPhail, ed., Pennsville, NJ: eSpec Books, 2019.
“The Black Box” first appeared in Footprints in the Stars, Mike McPhail, ed., Pennsville, NJ: eSpec Books, 2019.
“Father of War” first appeared in Dogs of War (Defending the Future, Volume 6), Mike McPhail, ed. Howell, NJ: Dark Quest Books, 2013.
“Killer Eye” first appeared in Breach the Hull (Defending the Future, Volume 1), Mike McPhail, ed., Marietta, GA: Marietta Publishing, 2007.
“Law of the Kuzzi” first appeared in No Longer Dreams, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Lee Hillmann, L. Jagi Lamplighter, and Jeff Lyman, eds. Baltimore, MD: Lite Circle Books, 2005.
“War Movies” first appeared in So It Begins. (Defending the Future, Volume 2), Mike McPhail, ed., Howell, NJ: Dark Quest Books, 2009.
Byanntia, the Kuzzi, and related concepts and settings © Bruce Gehweiller.
About the Author
James Chambers is an award-winning author of horror, crime, fantasy, science fiction, and other genres. He wrote the Bram Stoker Award®-winning graphic novel, Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe and was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for his story, “A Song Left Behind in the Aztakea Hills.” Publisher’s Weekly gave his Lovecraftian novella collection, The Engines of Sacrifice, a starred review and described it as “…chillingly evocative.” He is the author of the short story collections On the Night Border, called “…a haunting exploration of the space where the real world and nightmares collide” by Booklist, and the collection On the Hierophant Road, of which Booklist said “fans of richly drawn, addictively compelling, speculative tales overflowing with dread and discomfort are in for a treat,” in a starred review.
He has also written the collection Resurrection House, the Corpse Fauna novellas, and the dark urban fantasy novella, Three Chords of Chaos. His short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, including After Punk: Steampowered Tales of the Afterlife, The Averoigne Legacy, The Best of Bad-Ass Faeries, The Best of Defending the Future, Chiral Mad 2 and 4, Fantastic Futures 13, Footprints in the Stars, Gaslight and Grimm, The Green Hornet Chronicles, Hardboiled Cthulhu, Heroes of the Realm, In An Iron Cage, In Harm’s Way, Kolchak the Night Stalker: Passages of the Macabre, The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias, Qualia Nous, Shadows Over Main Street (1 and 2), The Spider: Extreme Prejudice, To Hell in a Fast Car, Truth or Dare, Walrus Tales, Weird Trails and the magazines Bare Bone, Cthulhu Sex, and Allen K’s Inhuman.
He co-edited the anthology, A New York State of Fright: Horror Stories from the Empire State, which received a Bram Stoker Award nomination and edited Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign. He has also written and edited comic books, including Leonard Nimoy’s Primortals, “The Revenant” in Shadow House, and The Midnight Hour with Jason Whitley.
Visit his website: www.jameschambersonline.com.
All the Stars in Our Sky
Accelerator Ray, Alf Shupe, Andrew J Clark IV, Andrew Timson, Anita Morris, Anonymous, Anton Kukal, Bill Kohn, Bjorn Hasseler, Brad Jurn, Brendan Lonehawk, Brian Walker, Brooks Moses, Budding Dan, Carol Gyzander, Chand Svare Ghei, Christopher J. Burke, Craig “Stevo” Stephenson, Curtis and Maryrita Steinhour, Dale A Russell, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Dave Hermann, David Lee Summers, David Sherman, David Stolarz, Ed Ellis, Elmi, Ergo Ojasoo, Evan L, Gary Phillips, Howard J. Bampton, Hrvoje Bukša, Ian Harvey, IdleDice, Isaac ‘Will It Work’ Dansicker, Ixias, Jacen Leonard, Jack Campbell, Jakub Narêbski, Jason Rhine, Jennifer L. Pierce, Jeremy Audet, Jim Gotaas, JoanneBB, Joe M., Joel Jefferson, John Fallon, John Idlor, John L. French, John T. Sapienza, Jr., Jonathan Mendonca, Josh McGinnis, Joshua C. Chadd, Keith Hall, Keith Tracton, Keith West, Future Potentate of the Solar System, Kelly Pierce, Ken “Merlyn” Mencher, Ken Warner, Kerry aka Trouble, KJSP, L.E. Custodio, LetoTheTooth, Linda Pierce, maileguy, Marc “mad” W., Mari Hersh-Tudor, Mark Newman, Marvin Langenberg, Matt & Ellie A, Mike Maurer, Mike Skolnik, Morgan Campbell, Morgan Hazelwood, ND Gray, Norman Jaffe, Otter Libris, P Anne Stevenson, Pepita Hogg-Sonnenberg, Peter D Engebos, pjk, Pook, Raphael Yedwab, Rob Steinberger, Robert C Flipse, Robert Claney, Sam Lubell, Sam Tomaino, Scott Schaper, Sergey Kochergan, Shervyn, Sheryl R. Hayes, Steph Parker, Stephen Ballentine, Steve Perry, Svend Andersen, Tasha Turner, Thomas Karwacki, Tina M Noe Good, Ty Drago, Vee Luvian, Will McDermott, Yakira Heistand
James Chambers, Vox Astra
