Mirus

Elaine Noel

Description

After the disappearance of her best friend, engineer Marie Sayer worries the same will happen to her unless she travels to her mother’s home planet and awakens her inner hero.
Physics engineer Marie Sayer feels conflicting loyalties and fear mounting after the starship Foreigner disappears with her best friend Aria on board. Would Space Link and her father let the same thing happen to her?
Thrown into both an immediate and existential crisis, Marie journeys to her mother’s home world, Mirus, to address the systemic dangers and hostilities on the threatened planet. Told what to do and who she was her whole life, Marie Sayer becomes the hero she was meant to be.
Mirus is an imaginative science fiction story following Marie, who experiences a life-changing tragedy. Her faith in Space Link is shaken, leading her on a journey to Mirus, to find a way to help its people and herself.

Sujets

• Young Adult Fiction
• Fantasy
• Imaginaire

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 30 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781665569293
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

MIRUS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ELAINE NOEL
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2022 Elaine Noel. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse  06/01/2023
 
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6930-9 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6927-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6929-3 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022915957
 
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1       The Surety of Friends
Chapter 2       The Conference
Chapter 3       A Lesson in Proximity
Chapter 4       A Question of Identity
Chapter 5       Strengths and Weaknesses
Chapter 6       Fatalism
Chapter 7       Welcome to Mirus
Chapter 8       Layers of Consciousness
Chapter 9       A Sense of Community
Chapter 10     Playing with the Locals
Chapter 11     Getting to Know the Family
Chapter 12     Mine Games
Chapter 13     Jeremy and the Tarchies
Chapter 14     Acts of God and Man
Chapter 15     They Might be Heroes
Chapter 16     The Mirus Army
Chapter 17     The Battle
Chapter 18     The Evidence of Powers Unseen
Chapter 19     The Three Moon Celebration
 
Mirus: Cast of Characters
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Pacific Book Review
The US Review of Books
CHAPTER 1
THE SURETY OF FRIENDS
Yesterday, Foreigner was lost.
Waves pounded relentlessly in Marie Sayer’s head until she woke up gasping for air. Sitting up in bed, she caught her breath and said, “Daylight,” to her home environment assistant.
The opaque window turned transparent and scrawny gray pigeons scattered from the ledge. Attaching Feather-Lite sight compensators to her temples, soft sunlight penetrated the room. The ocher sun pulsed heat into the gold-streaked sky and the pigeons’ wings flashed teal as they regrouped in a pink orchid tree below.
On the street, citizens filed into a transit shuttle and it whirred into motion. Ring Vehicles carrying commuters rose into the dingy sky, and Vertical Take Off and Landers (VTOLs) scooted through the haze on an elevated virtual road.
“Headache,” Marie said, and meds released into the air. While waiting for the pressure in her head to subside, she noticed her muddy trousers on the white comforter, and remembered Jeremy pulling her aside at work the day before.
“I’ll have just one drink with you at The Blues after work,” he’d stated, pushing his glasses up on his nose like he was okay, despite his red-rimmed eyes.
They’d taken the tram to New Seattle and he’d led her down an alley. One brick building ended, another began, and between the two an arrow pointed down a dark stairway.
Relieved of her pain, Marie lay back on her pillows and continued to recall the details of the night before.
“This is it,” Jeremy had told her as they’d descended the stairs. At the bottom, a heavy wooden door flew open just missing her. It banged against the brick wall and a man stormed out, having underestimated his alcohol-fueled strength. Marie stepped back.
“Hey,” he breathed in her face, “You look like a Mirun.”
Marie turned away from the noxious assault as his equally inebriated, overdressed female companion pushed through the door, laughing hysterically. The two rushed recklessly up the stairs, leaving the strong scent of cheap cologne in their wake. Above the medieval-looking entryway, “The Blues” swung back and forth in neon. Jeremy stepped up and opened the door.
The smell of stale alcohol assaulted their sinuses. The bartender waved them in and a skittish Human businessman evaluated them, then found his cocktail to be more inviting. The establishment was deep and narrow, with a low ceiling. The bar stretched nearly to the back wall, where a mic stand lit from three angles stood front and center on a small stage. Jeremy chose a seat next to an off-Earth couple, and Marie slid onto the contoured stool next to him.
After several margaritas she remembered feeling a strange happiness, amusement really, when Jeremy became animated, addressing the bartender.
“Pete, my friend, you need to turn a profit!” Jeremy had gestured toward the bottle-lined wall behind the bar. “I will surmise the number of bottles and their volume, applying a quotient in relation to the number of patrons here today, producing the personal consumption ratio required to turn a profit.”
Pete was filling a pint glass at the tap and raised an eyebrow, hinting that he could use some profit. Jeremy took it as encouragement and sat perfectly still, both hands flat on the bar, twitching at the conclusion of each equation. After a few minutes he took off his glasses, polished them on his shirt, and put them back on.
“Eight and a quarter!” he announced. The businessman slow clapped, but Jeremy wasn’t finished. “Which is the exact number of Earth days to one day on the planet Mirus.” Satisfied with his results, he gazed at Marie with overly joyous eyes.
Pete placed two pints in front of the well-dressed Varsie couple next to them. Jeremy drained his glass, slapped both hands on the bar, and leaned over to get his attention.
“You need a sign that says ‘Eight and a Quarter Drink Minimum,’” he said. Then, looking straight into the jade eyes of the Varsie male beside him, he asked, “Right?”
“Riiight!” hissed Jeremy’s new best friend, slapping the bar in the same spot, claws extended, leaving marks.
Pete saw the marks, placed his arms akimbo, and said “Hey!” but the Varsie just snaked out his blue tongue and chortled.
Marie smacked Jeremy in the arm. “That’s ridiculous! Pete would have people passing out all night!”
She turned to the Varsie female and said, “He’s always quantifying, even when we were little.”
She’d remembered when Jeremy had taken all her marbles during recess, added them to his, divided them by type, and constructed a pie chart in the sand. All the kids lost interest and she never got her marbles back.
“It’s a sign!” Jeremy insisted. “Mirus is our answer to a positive future!”
The male Varsie looked a little blue in the gills and Marie was wondering if it was the lighting or a skin condition, when a lithe Phrygian draped in pastel scarves entered the bar. The diminutive being was frail as a will-o’-the-wisp, with heavy-lidded eyes. Heat emanated from the tiny blue creature as she sauntered to the stage, and a Human female carrying a synth-fiddle followed her in.
“She’s a great singer!” Jeremy clapped in anticipation, adding wistfully, “Phrygians have beautiful voices.” He placed a finger in the air, remembering an important detail. “Sometimes they take off their clothes when they’re happy—which is something you may want to consider if they invite you out.”
The duo delivered the most heartfelt rendition of “Who’s Crying Now” Marie had ever heard. The clients clapped their approval, Marie settled up with Pete, and Jeremy said goodbye to the Varsie male.
They left the warm glow of the bar and ascended to street level, where the lights were few and far between. It added a dreamlike quality to their stroll in the warm night air.
As reality set back in, Marie burrowed into her soft blankets, wishing she didn’t have to go to work. She smoothed her hair back with her hands and found a eucalyptus leaf. When she crushed it in her hand, the pungent scent opened her sinuses, and reminded her of their visit to the park.
Each light post had provided a haze-softened glow as they raced from illumination to illumination, down the tree-lined sidewalk. Jeremy jumped up to bat a low-hanging branch. Then he slipped between shrubs, and she followed him into the park. It felt good to play like they had when they were kids.
An elliptical moon reflected off the lake, lighting the domed community on the far side. They watched the people inside filing into lifts, descending to their homes for the night.
Marie remembered sitting at her mother’s feet when she was a child inside the dome. As her mom read from the Talmud, the Bible, and the classics, her advice to Marie was always, “Let your heart guide you.”
Just as comforting was the melody she sang while putting Marie to sleep: “The Perfect Song of Mirus,” the anthem of her mother’s home world. After her mom died, seven-year-old Marie and her father were deemed essential by the National Guard and provided a home outside the dome.
Last night, the park was quiet. The stillness was punctuated only by multicolored synthetic Earths that out-twinkled the stars in the azurite sky. Two Space Link launch towers stood tall beyond the dome. The wind’s white noise in the trees spoke to Marie of a kind of freedom that she imagined must exist, and she pulled off her boots as Jeremy watched.
Cool fingers of grass between her toes evoked a catlike reflex and she raised her arms and twirled. Fascinated by her graceful pirouette, Jeremy pivoted dramatically around a lamppost, catching her foot as she turned. He lost his balance, and they both tumbled onto the muddy grass.
When