The Harbingers, page 1
THE HARBINGERS
THE SUNDERING SERIES
BOOK 3
D RAE PRICE
Copyright © 2023 by Donna Rae Price.
Maps and diagrams Copyright © 2023 by Donna Rae Price
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Book Cover Design &
Illustration © Tom Edwards
TomEdwardsDesign.com
Library of Congress Control Number:2023905157
979-8-985-2043-7-7 (paperback)
979-8-985-2043-8-4 (e-book)
First Edition April 2023
Published by: DRaePriceBooks, Concord CA, USA
Contact: DRaePriceBooks@gmail.com
Created with Vellum
For my Family
CONTENTS
Books in this Series
Notes on Science and Religion
Where we left off at the end of Book 2:
1. Coming Apart
2. No Haven at Seven
3. Hell and Heaven
4. The First Harbinger
5. The 81-Petals
6. The Sphere of Destruction
7. Veez
8. The Watcher
9. Mundicide
10. The Red Flag
11. Drumheller
12. Freedom
13. The Shimmer
14. Delegation Day
15. Extraction
16. The Exempt
17. The Sky Show
18. Fire in the Path
19. Raykatoo and the Ramians
20. The Zann
21. Hope and Salvation
22. The Last Tektites
23. Life in Paradise
24. Swing Jumps
25. Newcomers
26. The Realm of Heaven
27. #41
28. The Tram
29. The Dragon’s Den
30. Unhappy Reunion
31. Upheavals
32. Wheel of Fire
33. In Too Deep
34. Traversing the Kingdoms
35. The Ingathering
36. Havoc on the Hub
Afterword
Excerpt from The Sundering Series, Book 4: The Convocation
Also by D Rae Price
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Notes
BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
The Sundering Series
By D Rae Price
Published by DRaePriceBooks
Book 1: The Sundering
(Published in August 2022)
Book 2: The Unbounded
(Published in December 2022)
Book 3: The Harbingers
Coming soon:
Book 4: The Convocation
For printable maps and diagrams:
https://www.draepricebooks.com/maps-diagrams
NOTES ON SCIENCE AND RELIGION
LAGRANGE POINTS
Not to scale
In space, for a planet orbiting its central star, there will be five places, called Lagrange Points, where gravity balances. A small object, such as a space station or asteroid, could be placed in those spots and stay there. This also works for some planet and moon systems. These points were discovered in the late-1700s by the mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.
Three of these points, L1, L2, and L3, are “metastable.” It’s similar to a ball balancing on top of a hill. A small push will send it down the hill.
However, the L4 and L5 points are stable, as if the ball were inside a bowl. A little push will make the ball roll around in the bowl, but it won’t get out. In fact, there are asteroids that ended up in the L4 and L5 points of many planetary orbits, especially the bigger planets like Jupiter. These asteroids are called Trojans.
To see maps and diagrams, go to:
https://www.draepricebooks.com/maps-diagrams
The Bahá’í Faith
The Bahá’í Faith is a real religion, founded by Bahá’u’lláh in the mid-1800s. The quotes used are real quotes from the Bahá’í Faith. For more information: https://www.bahai.us/.
The Badí‘ Calendar
The Badí‘ calendar, used by members of the Bahá’í Faith, is also a real calendar. New Year’s Day is set on the spring equinox on Earth. It has 19 months of 19 days and 4-5 intercalary days, known as Ayyám-i-Há, so the calendar will match the solar year. The day begins and ends at sunset.
Names of the Months
(On Earth, dates vary slightly with the equinox, but these “set” dates are used in the sectors.)
Splendor: Mar 21 - Apr 8
Glory: Apr 9 - Apr 27
Beauty: Apr 28 - May 16
Grandeur: May 17 - June 4
Light: June 5 - June 23
Mercy: June 24 - July 12
Words: July 13 - July 31
Perfection: Aug 1 - Aug 19
Names: Aug 20 - Sept 7
Might: Sept 8 - Sept 26
Will: Sept 27 - Oct 15
Knowledge: Oct 16 - Nov 3
Power: Nov 4 - Nov 22
Speech: Nov 23 - Dec 11
Questions: Dec 12 - Dec 30
Honor: Dec 31 - Jan 18
Sovereignty: Jan 19 - Feb 6
Dominion: Feb 7 - Feb 25
Ayyám-i-Há: Feb 26 - Mar 1
Loftiness: Mar 2 - Mar 20
WHERE WE LEFT OFF AT THE END OF BOOK 2:
Heading back to Earth:
Oatah—Special Agent of Sector 1 Council, in charge of Project Restore and Project Contact
Reeder—Oatah’s assistant
On the Drumheller, stranded at the rogue planet after discovering the 81-Petals
Beezan—Captain of the Drumheller
Jarvie—Youth, Beezan’s son, pilot in training
Iricana—Deputy of Oatah, relaying his orders to Captain Beezan
Katie—Doctor
Thunder—Mechanic, husband of Iricana
Kelson—Professor of botany, counselor, founder of the One Tree movement
Sequoia—Kelson’s daughter, long jump pilot
Terina—Youth, Sequoia’s daughter, journalist and historian
Sky—Beezan’s black podpup, sister of Star
Star—Jarvie’s white podpup, brother of Sky
Rocket—Terina’s coffee and cream podpup
On the Cheetah, at Friendship, just after escaping from the pocket universe
Zahar—Youth, acting captain, former special monitor
Thayne—Former captain
Melawn—Thayne’s data hunter
Nkiroo—Thayne’s engineer
Tenshi—Thayne’s doctor
Evan—Jump pilot, spouse of Caspia
Caspia—Crew doctor, spouse of Evan
Kiwi—Zahar’s pastel green Ramian podpup
On the shuttle Enkindler, in the a-rings at Friendship, trying to escape the system
Lanezi—Long jump pilot
Euro—Youth, Enkindler crew, brother of Io
Io—Youth, Enkindler crew, brother of Euro
Whisper—Lanezi’s silver mist podpup
Summer—Io and Euro’s pastel yellow Ramian podpup
Dusty—Io and Euro’s pastel pink Ramian podpup
Blueberry—Io and Euro’s pastel blue Ramian podpup
1 COMING APART
Date: 3-Light-1084
Enkindler, outbound from Friendship
Aboard the shuttle Enkindler, in their suits, Lanezi and the twins, Io and Euro, gripped the arms of their chairs as Lanezi slipped into the one clear thread leading away from Friendship System.
The shock of learning at the last moment that the Cheetah had survived turned to despair as he realized that Friendship system was coming apart. The Cheetah may not have time to jump to safety.
The thread, the elusive jump path between the stars that they were riding, to whatever desperate destination Lanezi had sensed, was just about to drop them into normal space, when something catastrophic happened behind them, at Friendship. The thread snapped up, away from their destination, threatening to whiplash the Enkindler into oblivion. Vulnerable in their makeshift jump chairs, with tremendous gees crushing them and the shuttle, Lanezi hung on to the thread as it rebounded back down near the star. With his last conscious effort he tipped the Enkindler into normal space, praying for a rescue that they would surely need now.
“Venting alert!”
“Auto stabilize complete.”
“Medical alert: Lanezi.”
“Medical alert: Euro.”
“Medical alert: Io.
“Suit alert: Io.”
“Suit alert: Euro.”
“A-rings located. Course optimized.”
The calm voice of the Enkindler contrasting with the terrifying venting alarm, the cries of Euro, and the silence of Io dragged Lanezi back to consciousness. Pain. Panic. His ribs were burning. No. No. It’s not supposed to be like this.
“Venting damage temporarily repaired. Command Bay doors sealed. Venting alarm canceled.”
Lanezi gasped for air. “Pain meds, non-drowsy,” he whispered. A sting hit his arm, but it gave no immediate relief. The ship
“Euro,” Lanezi whispered, knowing Euro wouldn’t speak first.
“Lanezi! Lanezi—Io, I can’t see—my helmet is broken.”
“Euro, Io is okay. His suit has been punctured, but repaired and he has air. He’s breathing, but unconscious. He has lost some blood, but that’s stopped. His light is yellow.”
“Can I open my helmet? It’s dark. I want to see.” His voice was so scared and plaintive, Lanezi almost said yes. But his good sense was coming back.
“No. Not yet. I’m sorry. A few minutes. Close your eyes and I’ll tell you everything.” Lanezi slowly, carefully, got out of his chair, and holding one arm against his apparently-broken ribs, he started snagging the bigger debris while continuing, in gasps, to let Euro know what was happening. “Pups all have green lights. Enkindler, where are we?”
“System unknown. Multiple beacons. Ramian and other unknown signals.”
“Engage Ramian translator. Send mayday in Ramian.”
A schematic of the system appeared on Lanezi’s helmet screen. Multiple planets, a-rings. “Ships! There are all kinds of ships, Euro. They’re heading for the a-rings, like . . . like they’re running away.”
“From us?”
The Enkindler answered. “Ramian ships are all proceeding to the a-rings at high speed. Ships from the third planet appear to be chasing them. Human beacon detected.”
“Attention Human vessel. You have entered Seven system. This is a restricted system in Ramian space. Send messages only during blackout periods for the third planet. Instructions follow. Cooperate with Ramian command.”
Well, the Enkindler had been blasting their mayday for all to hear. Lanezi scowled. And didn’t turn it off. What have we stumbled into? “Enkindler, view of the third planet.”
The main screen was broken, but a popup slowly emerged from the panel showing a view of the third planet. Lanezi gasped, unable to put it into words. “Euro, open your helmet.”
“It looks like Earth,” Lanezi whispered in his confusion.
“No,” Euro said, sensibly. Lanezi shook himself. “There’s no moon,” Euro explained. Of course not Earth. But some planet so much like it. Lanezi opened his helmet. He could see tears on Euro’s face. He got vapor masks for the three of them and helped Euro out of the chair so he could go to Io, who was waking up.
“Enkindler, how much air, counting tanks?”
“35 hours.” Oh my God. That’s not much.
“Time to a-rings?”
“64 hours, 12 minutes.” He stopped. Repeated the numbers to make sure he heard them right. After all this? We can’t make it? Stay calm. Think of it as a math problem.
“Time for two people? No podpups.”
“NO!” Euro cried, turning to Lanezi in shock.
There was no answer. “Enkindler!”
“52.5 hours.” Okay. I won’t have to make that decision, thank God.
“Enkindler, add to mayday and focus broadcast to the Ramian ships. ‘Human shuttle requesting rescue. Damaged. Not enough air to make it to a-rings. We need a pickup. Please. Two children aboard. Please.’”
“Sent. 1.3 minutes lag time.”
There were extreme spikes of radiation coming from the vicinity of the third planet. “Explosion near Ramian ship,” Enkindler reported.
“Another one!” Euro pointed with his suit finger.
“Old records indicate this type of explosion is caused by weaponry.”
“No,” Lanezi whispered. A war is what they had stumbled into. Humans believed that any species advanced enough for space travel would have overcome its warring stage. They had always trusted that the universe, aside from being deadly in itself, was a fairly friendly place. But here was the contradictory evidence. And, he realized with a final bleakness, if the Ramians were running, no one would come back for them.
Drumheller, in orbit around the rogue planet
Beezan was with Sky in the Observation Bay where they’d been doing their social arts lately, forcing themselves to carry on, despite being stranded by the rogue planet. He had picked out music to represent their new situation, something that would take a lot of work, something hopeful. But now, he stared out the window at the rogue planet, the object that had derailed his life.
A gas ‘giant’ that wasn’t even giant, Beezan couldn’t believe it had yanked them out of a path and dumped them years from the nearest star. Cold, just one gray homogenous haze, with no bands or storms. No moons, no rings. Ejected from its birth system billions of years ago, its only distinction in creation was that it had captured two Human ships.
The first ship, the 81-Petals, the ship designed and marketed to be the rejuvenator of humanity, orbited the gray planet in eerie silence.Besides the mayday beacon, there was no other contact, even after six days. The crew’s initial excitement over discovering the long-lost ship was diminished by the silence. If anyone had survived, they were not answering—and the AI itself, despite Iricana’s classified override codes, refused to respond.
Beezan let his mind wander down previously forbidden paths. Could he jump without a-rings? Or a gravity ball? Or even a gravity assist? Could he just find some slower magic jump velocity and drag the ship into a path? Was there some other way to reach jump velocity, even if it took a few years? Was there anything he could steal a gravity assist from? He still hoped that his instinct to sacrifice their speed for the 81-Petals would be revealed as the right decision, but for now, they could only wait and worry.
Sky hopped from chair to chair behind him as he set out the music “Olympus Mons Ascent.” Then he got his violin and stared out at the planet as he absentmindedly tuned up. He could feel the tension in his whole body stretch out along the bow, as if it would never be long enough to let it escape. He sighed and took a breath. He was just about to try again when he felt a tiny electrical snap in his implants.
What was that? He’d never felt anything like it.
Carefully, he set his violin down on a chair. Sky was looking away from the window, eyes unfocused, as if she were staring across the galaxy. The door opened and Sequoia stormed in, closely followed by a pale Jarvie. “Did you feel that?” Sequoia demanded.
“Yes. You did too?” He asked Jarvie, who nodded.
“I saw a thread, blue,” she whispered, quickly adding, “just for a second.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to send you to counseling.” Which was generally what happened to pilots who reported strange things. “Have you ever felt that before?” he asked.
“No.”
“No,” Jarvie answered, “but I didn’t see anything.”
