Born Into Shadows

By Micah R. Sisk

Five posthumans working as a crew together for the first time are sent on a fact finding mission to a remote and seemingly uninteresting nebula. Their mission: investigate rumors of a large object hidden in the nebula, an object said not to be of modern posthuman design. Only one of the crew knows the identity of the expedition's mysterious backers and...what it is they fear.

"Born Into Shadows" is a short story set in The Posthuman Cycle universe. Our solar system is controlled by baseline humans who reject posthumanism, eschew genetic modifications and all body/mind augmentation, insisting upon the dominion of the genetically pure. The rest of the explored galaxy is inhabited by the posthuman diaspora, humans who accept and embrace (sometimes radical) body/mind augmentation as the final step in human evolution.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Micah R. Sisk
• Release date: Jul 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311272362

Micah R. Sisk

Micah R. Sisk was born at the U.S. Army medical hospital in Landstuhl, West Germany (there was a West Germany at the time) in 1958, and has lived most of his life since in Frederick County, Maryland, U.S.A. After a close encounter with Engineering, Micah received a Bachelor of Science degree in Art from Virginia Tech. He now makes his living as a database analyst at a major U.S. corporation, while in other incarnations he is, or has been, a landscape painter, real estate agent, assistant gallery director, retail sales manager, microfilm quality control tech, musician, composer, and builder of electronic musical instruments.Micah is married with cat(s) and is often seen puttering around Frederick, Maryland on his bicycle, hanging out at coffee houses reading and writing science fiction tales.

Book preview

Born Into Shadows

—A Posthuman Cycle Short Story—

By Micah R. Sisk

Copyright © 2014 by Micah R. Sisk.

Published by Micah R. Sisk at Smashwords

Cover design by James, GoOnWrite.com

ISBN – 9781311272362

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

Thank you for downloading this ebook. Please share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non–commercial and non–derivative purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form, as specified by the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental (or the figment of your overactive mind).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title & Copyright

Born Into Shadows

About the Posthuman Cycle

About the Author

Other Works by Micah R. Sisk

Born Into Shadows

The Dremel popped out of hyperspace.

This is it? JL asked aloud.

This is it, Stacks replied, his words sounding only in JL's mind.

You sure? I'm getting no readings of interest.

Stacks shifted in his navigator's station to face JL, the pilot, and threw up six of his (currently) upper radial appendages in a V–shape, tactile nibs quivering uncertainly, the MenschMach equivalent of a shrug.

Tugs! JL called back into the ship. Bliss, Eyvon! We've arrived.

Wherever this is, Stacks said to JL via private Nplant channel. MenschMach—machine men, human minds translated into Programmable Bio–Matter bodies—had no vocal chords and spoke only via Nplant communication channels.

What'cha got? Tugs said, entering the bridge, a padded envelope in his hand.

We're at the coordinates you gave us, Stacks said over the common Nplant band.

Yeah, JL said, but ain't nothing out there except the nebula ahead of us.

Ah. Excellent, Tugs said, sitting at one of the available research stations and ripping open the envelope.

Well? JL asked.

Well what? Did you expect a giant arrow pointing the way? Tugs withdrew a rectangular polyresin slab from the envelope. The slab was a few centimeters thick and about the size of his hand. Tugs slotted it into a port on one of the instruments he carried with him. He reeled out a thin cable from the instrument's