Mom aeolus investigation.., p.1
Mom (Aeolus Investigations Book 7), page 1
Contents
Cover
Copyright
Forward
_____ Part 1: Mom ____________
Chapter 1, Rescue Party
Chapter 2, Ron
Chapter 3, Damarius Station
Chapter 4, Apollo
Chapter 5, Morning Coffee
Chapter 6, Setting the Scene
Chapter 7, A Brief Explanation of Time
Chapter 8, The Tessamon
Chapter 9, Vote of Confidence
Chapter 10, Dinosaur Beach
Chapter 11, Splitting the Team
Chapter 12, Time Lord
Chapter 13, Jurassic Park
Chapter 14, Why Are You Here, Lexi?
Chapter 15, Paradox
Chapter 16, Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Chapter 17, The Power of the Rose
Chapter 18, Saving Apollo
Chapter 19, Time to Heal
Chapter 20, Ancient Artifacts
Chapter 21, Back to the Future
Chapter 22, A Final Easter Egg
_____ Part 2: Thunder _________
Chapter 23, The Sting
Chapter 24, Suicide Mission
Chapter 25, Glaurang
Chapter 26, Pie
Chapter 27, Rules
Chapter 28, Personal Concerns
Chapter 29 The Big Bang Theory
Chapter 30, Jis Makes a Case
Chapter 31, Ostrieachia
Chapter 32, Abandon Ship
Chapter 33, Mutiny
Chapter 34, Counterstrike
Chapter 35, Home Fleet
Chapter 36, A Dangerous Attitude
Chapter 37, Boarding Party
Chapter 38, Ghostbusters
Chapter 39, Retaking Glaurang
Chapter 40, The Bolshoi
Chapter 41, Lexi’s Agenda
_____ Part 3: Overlord _________
Chapter 42, Ron Samue, Techno-Wizard
Chapter 43, The Sarkon
Chapter 44, Kill Them All
Chapter 45, Prison Planet
Chapter 46, Declaration of War
Chapter 47, An Afternoon with Lexi Stevens
Chapter 48, Pleasanter Topics
Chapter 49, Terraforming
_____ Part 4: Epilogue _________
Chapter 50, Aeolus: The Next Generation
Author’s Note
The Novice Elf, Chapter 1
Mom
Aeolus Investigations (Episode 7)
Revised 9.10.2020
A Lexi Stevens Adventure
by
Robert E Colfax
Cover artist: Dave Kirk
Editing/Proofreading: Dee Bullock
Publisher: Robert C Kirk
Thank you
Copyright © 2020 Robert C Kirk
All rights reserved.
The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher is an infringement of the copyright law.
Hi,
I’ll keep this brief. First, I hang my head in shame. Mom was released September 4th, 2020. Today, September 10th, I’m already uploading a version with revisions to typos, extra words, missing words, and wrong words. I really do know the difference between loose and lose. I strive to do better. This release is better although probably not perfect.
You’re about to read Mom, Episode 7 in the Aeolus Investigations series. Like Gladiator, due to the length of the “almost” novels as I envisioned them, this winds up combining Mom and the immediate sequel, which was originally titled Thunder. Other than not being what I wanted, I don’t think you’ll have a problem with it. Thunder takes place immediately following the conclusion of Mom. Overlord, a short story which follows Thunder chronologically, is here too.
These books are released chronologically in the order in which, ideally, you’ll be reading them. You won’t be lost if you don’t read them in order, but later novels almost always refer to something from a prior one. I’ve listed them below in the preferred reading order. Just to be cute, the first book in each series is a clickable hyperlink.
What else is going on? I’m glad you asked. You can always check my website for additional information. I hope to see you at RobertEColfax.com.
Focal Point, available November 2020, will be the final book of the Beyond the Divide trilogy.
I anticipate at least one additional Aeolus book out in 2020.
The Bradley Conundrum is the first book in a new mystery series. Not science fiction. The lead character is disturbingly like Lexi in many ways. Oops. It’s available on Amazon. If you want to cross genres, give it a try. I expect to have a sequel out in 2021.
I’m also working on a (hopefully) humorous fantasy series called The Good Elf. No publication date yet.
I can’t commit to any publication dates until I set them up for pre-order on Amazon. I usually move them up anyway.
Aeolus Investigations
1. Stowaway
2. Avenger
3. Paladin
4. Gambler
5. Gladiator
6. Shaman
7. Mom
8. Samurai (2020, probably December)
Beyond the Divide
1. Tipping Point
2. Turning Point
3. Focal Point (November 2020)
Lost Mansion Mysteries (writing as A. E. Temple)
1. The Bradley Conundrum
2. The San Francisco Conundrum (We’ll see!)
The Good Elf
1. The Novice Elf
Part 1: Mom
If anyone had asked Lexi how she wanted to spend the first forty years of her life, or even her summer for that matter, this isn’t what she would have come up with. Not in sixty-six million years!
You thought you had life figured out. Then it threw you a curve ball right out of the terminus of a Casimir wormhole.
Chapter 1
Rescue Party
Apollo, the sentient command-comp of the team’s starship currently sitting with the team in the small ship’s lounge in his avatar form, frowned. “Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the entire sim we just experienced, as well as the Easter egg that activated the warp drive, is embedded deep in my core programming. I couldn’t stop this if I wanted to.” The issue under discussion was what, if anything, they should be doing about the unlikely situation they found themselves in.
“That’s true,” Risha agreed. “The only people with access to do that are all people we trust. Also, let’s not lose sight of the fact that we all work for Lexi. She gave us this assignment. She’s given us enough information to work with. We know where we’re headed. We know what we need to do once we get there. Really, the only thing different this time is our course was preprogrammed.”
Kacen laughed. “All those years ago we were right about the time travel angle. We just assumed Lexi came forward to meet us, not her sending us back to meet her.”
“Excuse me,” Apollo said. “What are you talking about?”
Crane sighed. “Sorry, Apollo. When I was fifteen, Mom took the four of us with her on a diplomatic training mission. Things went sideways fast. You were there, but it was a couple of years before you became sentient. It’s all in the Cryton mission file, except for our guesses.” He looked fondly at his life-mate, Risha. “We noticed that Mom delegated far too much decision-making to her teenage crew. That, combined with Risha’s precognitive awareness, left us with the belief Mom traveled forward in time, that she already knew us as the adults we would grow up to be. Then we realized she had been gently manipulating the four of us for most of our lives, guiding us to want to become this team.”
“We swore never to mention it until we met her in what was our future-to-be,” Padi added.
“That was all we figured out,” Kacen remarked. “Not what would happen or when. Now, it seems we’re trapped by a damn Easter egg in what my analysis so far confirms must be a wormhole, traveling back in time, until we reach the terminus.”
“We should probably go over what we can’t talk about with her, shouldn’t we?” Padi said.
“I agree,” Risha said. “That’s probably why she told us what year we’re headed to. Crane and I won’t have been born yet. I don’t believe we should even let her know how old we were when we first met. She’ll probably assume I’m Jis Boc Seckan’s daughter Moa.” She smiled at Crane. “Fortunately, I got him first. We let her think that.”
“True,” Crane said. “How old is Moa now? About twenty? Still not old enough for me. We don’t let Mom know my birthdate either.”
Kacen nodded her head. “You’re only twenty-nine, Crane. Nine years is an acceptable age difference. More than just when you were born, Crane, she can’t be told about any of her children. She can’t be told she has a sister, either. Nothing about family. She certainly can’t be told about what she and Ron did when Crane was five.”
Apollo looked unconcerned. “Friends, we’re discussing Lexi Stevens. She knows how this has to work. Yes, you all need to keep your mental shields tight while she’s with us. She won’t pry. She isn’t going to want information about her future, Ron’s future, or anybody’s future for that matter. So just be sure you don’t let anything seep out. She has access to my full file system, but she will know not to go digging. Yes, I’ll sequester the material she shouldn’t see, which frank
Padi nodded. “He’s right. As long as we’re not careless, we won’t contaminate our timeline. She kept all of this from us until today for the same reason.”
Crane shook his head. “I agree with Apollo, too. She’ll know better than to pry. She knows that foreknowledge will create paradox. Besides, think how much of a bummer it would be to wake up one morning and think, ‘Right! Today’s the day I need to get pregnant with my son. Where the hell did Ron get to?’ I suppose that is one of the dangers of time travel. She kept all of this secret for my entire life. Despite that, see what you can do to block her access to the datanets.”
Apollo grunted. “Will do. It won’t keep her out if she’s determined.”
Risha added, “She won’t pry telepathically either, but still, everybody keep your mental blocks tight. We tend to relax them when it’s just family.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Padi said. “The Kreesh war is over and done with. She and Ron will have already discovered the Akai seed-ship. She will have just dealt with the Unity pirates and started the big environmental project on Earth.”
Kacen shook her head. “No, those last two will still be in her future. Soon, though. Those came close on the heels of Alexa’s birth. We’ll definitely be close to that time.”
Risha asked, “Have you guys noticed that Alexa sometimes seems to be hiding something? Her mental shields always seem really tight for a non-telepath, too.”
“You think she knows something about this? How could she?” Padi asked.
Crane said, “It doesn’t matter whether she does or doesn’t. What matters now is that we be careful. Mom and Dad have spent the last several months settling into the temporary headquarters in Manhattan. Since they got back from the Akai homeworld, they’ve been setting up that department to oversee the development of junior civilizations.” He laughed. “Risha, picha, keep discussion of your butterflies to yourself.”
Risha replied demurely. “The program has been very successful everywhere we’ve tried it. I love butterflies.”
“We know,” Padi said. He sighed. “It would have been nice if Lexi told us how long it’s going to take us to get back to Damarius.”
Crane said, “That’s true. Apollo, get to work on figuring that out, please. Also, run her time-theory rubric for all of us again. I want to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Then we all settle down to study both the mechanics and theory of time travel, and Mom’s personal history up through 2040. I don’t want us making any careless mistakes. We can’t afford it.”
Chapter 2
Ron
Ron Samue dodged back into a doorway as bullets impacted around him in what was nearly a steady stream. He faced two assailants at the moment, both armed with automatic weapons, probably something akin to the assault rifle he brought with him. He wouldn’t be surprised if more defenders were on their way. The shooters had a good position, crouched behind a heavy device which may have been nothing more sinister than a floor cleaner. There were at least two of the Gadtons taking cover there.
Ron momentarily lamented not bringing a Zapper. One of the first things Lexi invented after she joined Urania’s crew was the handheld ray-guns. She got it stuck in her head that space aliens had to have ray-guns. It was kind of cute. Except, the technology didn’t exist until she invented it. In fact, a beam weapon that size, more powerful than a flashlight, was believed to be impossible. Lexi proved the theorists wrong. A Zapper could easily burn through the machine his adversaries where hiding behind.
On a one-man rescue mission, he couldn’t risk being captured and having the technology fall into enemy hands. While they had lost many of the units during the war with the Kreesh, those were presumed destroyed or at least lost in the expanse of space. They had to accept the possibility that someday they would run into a situation where an enemy was armed with a Zapper. Ron didn’t think it would be today.
He knew he couldn’t stay pinned down here waiting for these people to bring in reinforcements. He was going to have to chance diving into the open, firing as he flew through the air, hoping that the body armor he wore over his skinsuit stopped any rounds flying his way. Enhanced by Lexi’s hulk-meds, his chances were good. He didn’t think Curdal’s Heart, the artifact that made its victims nearly indestructible, would make much of a difference this time, although it would be nice if it did.
While he was thinking that through, calculating where to fire to maximize the potential effectiveness of his ricochets, he heard the distinctive buzz of Zapper fire. The flurry of bullets immediately ceased. A man’s voice, over the team’s private comm-network, said, “Ron, I’m your backup. The immediate vicinity is clear for the moment. I’m coming to you. Don’t shoot me, please.”
A moment later, a large man stepped into the room, his empty hands held at shoulder height. He was dressed almost identically to Ron in one of the team’s skinsuits with a holstered Zapper strapped to each thigh. Like Ron, he had a sword hung on his back. Skinsuits were another invention of Lexi’s, replacing the older, bulkier, spacesuits used across the Accord for thousands of years. This fellow’s suit wasn’t the style issued to Fleet Marines. In fact, it was only marginally different than the model Ron wore, but it was definitely Lexi’s work.
In the distance, Ron continued to hear the noise of Zappers, mixed with that of automatic weapons fire, despite the fact that he should be the only one with access to a Zapper on the base. The team had always been extremely careful about protecting Lexi’s ray-gun technology from falling into other hands. That meant that somehow or the other, Lexi was involved with this. This had been a rushed mission from the start; he was operating without any intel other than the knowledge that Lexi was a prisoner here somewhere. “OK. I’ll bite. You’re in one of my team’s skinsuits and on our secure channel. Who are you? How do you know my name?”
The stranger said in a no-nonsense tone, “Lexi sent my team back from the future, Ron. My name is Crane Samue. I’m your son.” As he said that, he collapsed his helmet allowing Ron to see his face. “Mom needs our help getting out of here.”
Except for the red hair, it’s almost like looking into a mirror, Ron thought. He didn’t have time to be surprised, and after all, was there really anything to be surprised about? You let the woman out of your sight for a few days and this is what she comes up with. Time-travel. Three days and Lexi came up with time-travel. That explains how these people have Zappers. That kind of explains her being in two places at the same time, too, doesn’t it? He did wonder where the freakin’ DeLorean was parked. He nodded and said, “Let’s go, Marty.”
And because Crane was the son of Ron Samue and Lexi Stevens, he replied, “On your six, Doc.”
Chapter 3
Damarius Station
Through the thick fog that it seemed had defined her life for a very long time, Lexi was becoming dimly aware of alterations to her situation. For one thing, she might be hearing a lot of shouting and, yes, screaming too. She smiled at that. She was almost certain that, in this place, screaming was a good thing. Even in her perpetual daze, the sound of Zapper fire was distinctive. That could only mean Ron was coming for her. It didn’t take her long to figure that one out. She giggled.
Ron helped get her out of a similar situation the time she had been grabbed by bounty hunters. She remembered that she called him Rambo while they were escaping then. Of course, that time, she had not only been drugged, she had been running lines from a Schwarzenegger film where Jamie Lee Curtis referred to Arnold as Rambo. Although, maybe she only dreamed that one. The drugs continuously infusing her blood stream from the IV in her upper arm were seriously messing with her head. She laughed and a tall, scrawny man slapped her and demanded, “Quiet.”
