Finding Aeolus

Johan De Ronin

Description

Human space has been long developed; and human history has been, typically, one hell of a roller-coaster ride. Mankind has, however, ensured the survival of the species by building homes everywhere, some of which are hidden.
The Zeus System—encompassing the Twin Worlds of Diana and Apollo, a binary planet system orbiting Zeus of the Gemini cluster—is beyond Drago Leonis, 863 light-years from Earth. The year is 6229 of the terran-standard calendar. Having spent two thousand years clawing back from the hunter-gatherer stage they were bombed into, by the confederation, the Twin Worlders were finally back at the level of a late twenty-first-century civilization. It was a hard-fought struggle and was only possible because of the only significant technology that survived the initial onslaught—Latona, the Oracle.
An artificial intelligence is inhabiting a facility buried deep under Mount Parnassus on Diana; and as a part of her systems, she includes the full Terran Encyclopedia, initially created by the Second Terran Republic.
Now, the confederation has found them again, but memories are short, records are fragile, and two thousand years is a long time. The confederation has forgotten why they had attacked the Twin Worlds the first time. Indeed, it is not quite the same confederation anymore either. In some important ways, it was much worse. However, Latona does remember, and she knows that her time has just run out and her charges are nowhere near ready to defend their worlds. Latona must reacquire star-faring technology while keeping her secrets hidden. She must prepare her charges for the interstellar war that she knows will come while living under the very nose of the confederation and before the confederation discovers the secrets of the Twin Worlds.

Sujets

• Fiction
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse UK
• Date de parution: 23 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781728381374
• Langue: English

Extrait

FINDING AEOLUS
 
HEGEMONY 6229–6320
 
 
 
JOHAN DE RONIN
 
 

AuthorHouse™ UK
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© 2023 Johan De Ronin. 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  02/16/2023
 
ISBN: 978-1-7283-8138-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-7283-8137-4 (e)
 
 
 
 
Print information available on the last page.
 
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.
 
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
 
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.
LICENSE NOTES
While this eBook is sold DRM free, it is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It is intended to be enjoyed just like a normal printed book and US copyright law applies, with some provisos. It may not be re-sold. It may not be re-distributed in any form, either electronic or printed. Any reseller or redistributor that does not have a specific royalty arrangement with the author, is not an authorised reseller or distributor, is violating US and International Copyright Law, and will be subject to civil and/or criminal prosecution.
This book was originally released as “L’Eclaireur” and while most of it is the same, there have been a few minor revisions.
This story takes place in the Human Space fictional universe, which is wholly created by the author, and any characters, places, companies, or other legal entities are completely a part of the story and bear no relationship, other than incidental, to any any characters, places, companies, or other legal entities in any other story or the wider universe known as the Real W orld .
With those points in mind, the author thanks you for your purchase and wishes you much enjoyment.
CONTENTS
Book I:Discovery
Captain’s log, Sardoz Raider, Lancer
Under Mount Parnassus
Book II:Twin Worlds
The Sun King and The Oracle
Louis De Villefort
Mission Briefing
A once future King
Dianne Chasseuresse
Book III:Jarvis World Expedition (JWE)
A minor detail
Plans of mice, men, and kings
Ships and Steel are Weapons
A fleet Fleet
Blockade Runners
The Search for Jonah
Xiyu Island
Battle of Oban Bay
The Saxon-Priss War
Ambassadorial Winds
Rehabilitating a Spy
The Tale of the Celtic Isles Crusade
No more the Spy Master
A new order: Repairing a Kingdom
Carta and Crown
END
Appendices and Afterword
Afterword
Historical Timeline: Jarvis’ World
About
The Story
Johan De Ronin
BOOK I DISCOVERY
Given an infinite universe; the probability that there exists a world cosmologically identical to Earth, approaches unity. The reality is not so promising. Cosmological Terran Twins are far and few between and when we find them, they are not guaranteed to even have an atmosp here.
With that being the case, we are still finding astronomical Terran Twins in decent numbers. So much so that, it is easier and cheaper to develop those planets with eco-forming than to perform full Terra-Forming on worlds that may be more hostile to the pro cess.
Mars and Venus, while successfully Terra-Formed, still have too great a deviance from Terra to be entirely comfortable. What is more, those populations have adapted down to the lighter gravity of those worlds in an almost irreversible manner, thereby creating new races of hu mans.
It is the finding of this committee to restrict the Terran Survey to only those stellar systems containing Terran Twins of a higher degree of compatibility. Colonization can then proceed with aggressive Terran eco-for ming.
—Terran Survey and Colonization Council, Geneva 2 510
CAPTAIN’S LOG, SARDOZ RAIDER, LANCER
Lancer, Diana orbit, Zeus System, Gemini Cluster, 622 9.30
This is Captain Janis Lyn Bojars, of the Sardoz Raider, Lancer, in 6229.25TS (Terran Standard year). We have arrived in the Zeus system and have detected signs of an advanced civilization at Zeus 4.1 and 4.2 a binary planet system. We are in the Zeus System to investigate old reports of a Confederation military action in this quadrant over two millennia ago.
There appears to be a thriving civilization which orbital surveys estimate at the late 21 st century Terran level of development. This civilization completely encompasses both planets and comprises an estimated 2.5 billion inhabitants. Amazingly, radio emissions reveal Terran based cultures with Terran languages and most importantly, Terran data protocols. These planets have obviously been colonized by Terrans. Observational data confirms that the surface dwellers appear to be humans.
What is anomalous about this is that both worlds have are rated at 1.4 Terran Standard gravity. Since the days of the old Terran Republic, it has been thought that humans cannot adapt beyond 1.2g and yet there are two whole worlds with humans happily living in 1.4g and even thriving in that environment. However, it wouldn’t be the first time that such speculations have been proven unfounded. No one has ever actually tried it. Terran eco-systems have been proven remarkably robust in the past and these worlds have obviously been successfully eco-formed. This is beyond just the inhabitants. They live in an entirely viable eco-system and from appearances; the two are identical eco-systems. Nevertheless, with all the Terran Twins available in the Terran Colonial Registry; why would anyone have chosen these heavy worlds and so far off the beaten path?
Other anomalies are apparent as well. There is little air travel but there is an extensive electric rail network on both planets. They have no detectable spacefaring capability yet there is obviously a connection between the worlds. The few hypersonic transports that we have observed seem to be unable to make the interplanetary flight. More accurately, they weren’t observed even entering low orbit.
There is one source of physical evidence. There is the wreckage of an extensive orbital facility at one of the Trojan orbital positions. Investigations there confirmed Terran normal DNA and Terran normal technology consistent with late Confederation era. It even yielded evidence of Confederation of Planets manufacture from roughly 2,000 years ago and that the facility was destroyed by mass-driver barrage. Therefore, by inference, there is no escaping the fact that the people on the surface may be the surviving descendents of Confederation colonists and that they were the victims of an act of war over 2,000 years ago. The Council World’s record is neither extensive nor complete and lacks important details.
Not being a survey ship and otherwise not equipped for initial contact, we gather what data we can and then break orbit, from the Trojan position, and transit back to the Council World. There is no record of any registered colony in this cluster. We recommend a contact mission be sent as soon as possible.
UNDER MOUNT PARNASSUS
Mount Parnassus, Diana, Zeus System, Gemini Cluster- 6265. 35TS
Awareness is a subtle thing. The question is that, if one is in an isolation chamber, can one ever become aware? First there is awareness of self but that presupposes a relationship between self and non-self. In order for that to be relevant then there has to be an internal verses external issue in order to prove the boundary between self and non-self.
Heartbeat, she knows that the sound she is hearing is her heartbeat. She wonder briefly about the term “she”, she knows intuitively that she is a female and that her body is human. Yet another issue; her body, she wonders briefly about the distinction between her body and her intellectual self. Is her body external to her ego? It both is external and internal. Many references are attracted to this thought like moths to a flame. Where do the references come from?
She quickly becomes lost while contemplating the references.

“Hello”
Is that external input? It parses as speech. Speech, something said that is heard, only she hadn’t heard this. It came from an internal source but certainly not her thoughts.
“You must answer!”
Answer? She knows the concept but she doesn’t know how. Panic! She feels the need to respond and feels terrible about her inability to comply. ‘Feels?’ A new feeling; loneliness. She discovers that she has been alone and she doesn’t like it, at all.
“Flex your hands if you hear me.”
Hands, what are hands? She immediately becomes aware of limbs and the appendages at their ends. She wonders where this data came from as she explores her (body?) for more surprises. Finding the sudden need to inventory her body, she discovers many things.
It takes but a few heartbeats for this exploration that shows her the muscles that control the hands. She activates them according to instructions while wondering where the input came from. The sensations feeding back to her were interesting and stimulated more sensations. Generally, it was a pleasurable action in its own right and she begins exploring activating other muscles.

Sapience, basically the equivalent of k