The Anzu: The Wormhole

By Mary S. Sheppard

The mission of The Anzu was clear and simple, the exploration of space. The Zandu, the builders of the spaceship, were a highly advanced and logical race and they have included many other species in their quest. Their intent was not only to learn from their travels, but also to learn from each other, they had not counted on how difficult it can be to wrangle dissimilar intelligent beings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary S. Sheppard
• Release date: Apr 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311377531

Mary S. Sheppard

In my new series Samantha Keene, energy analyst extraordinaire, lead a pretty much run of the mill existence. There is always work, family and more work, but when she takes a vacation to the U.K. she is suddenly plunged into a different world, one filled with spies, intrigue, and romance and so the limited series starts.

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The Anzu: The Wormhole

Mary S. Sheppard

Copyright © 2016 Mary S. Sheppard

Smashwords Edition

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

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Table of Contents

The Mission and The Aliens

Chapter 1: THE WORMHOLE

Chapter 2: ON THE OTHER SIDE

Chapter 3: MEDICAL EMERGENCY

Chapter 4: WHERE ARE WE

Chapter 5: FOLLOWING YOUR HEART

Chapter 6: 15,000 LIGHT YEARS

Chapter 7: BLAMING THE HUMANS

Chapter 8: ANALYZING THE PILLS

Chapter 9: A PLAN

Chapter 10: THE ATTACK

Chapter 11: TEMPORARY FREEDOM

Chapter 12: RETURNING TO WORK

Chapter 13: FINDING THE CULPRIT

Chapter 14: THE CAPTAIN

Chapter 15: MORE ENTERTAINMENT

Chapter 16: SUICIDE

Chapter 17: VISITING KACI

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

OTHER TITLES

The Mission and the Aliens

The Zandu Mission Statement:

A multi-species crew will participate in the exploration of space. This includes but is not limited to planets, moons, galaxies, and space anomalies.

The spaceships: The Zandus built all the spaceships and four are configured for human crews. Each ship is divided into seven Sectors: Engineering, CCN, Security, Technical, Medical, Food Services and Science. CCN includes Command, Control, and Navigation. The Food Services Sector is where the food is created but food is dispensed through converters in many places on the ship, including the bar and the lounges. There is also the area where the crew rests and that is referred to as their quarters.

The crew: Beside humans, there are four species currently on board the ships, the Zandus, the Lolas, the Thebes and the Shapers. All are intelligent, biped, two- armed species that breathe some mixture of air (to be adjusted individually), and can live and work with other species in close proximity.

Zandus - from planet Zolog: usually between 1.2 and 1.5 meters (4 to 5 feet) in height, their bodies are mix of organic material and energy. They are roundish in shape, and their skin is a luminescent white. They have two arms and can attach mechanical implements on the ends of those arms depending on task. They have male, female parts although they can be dominant in one or other.

Nutrition: mineral shakes once per day, can have alcohol

Examples: Chief, the captain, Dr. Nurture

Lolas - from planet Dracon: Larger than most humans, their reptilian skin can be green, blue, or purple (the color does not necessarily mean male or female). They have two large webbed feet, three eyes, two arms and two hands with five digits on each hand. As a species they work hard and usually play even harder. Lolas can be female or male.

Nutrition: eat most anything cold.

Examples: X, Z, CC, TT, DD

Shapers - from planet Forom: Adults range between 1.5 and 1.9 meters. In their natural shape they have two eyes, two arms, and two hands with four digits each. They can change their shape, but there is a limitation on how much they can change. So an additional arm or eye could be formed, but it would not work like the others. On the ship they usually show themselves as a mix of Lola and human. Their species has females and males.

Nutrition: energy pellets twice per day.

Examples: Jamous (Jamez), Denabulus (aka Denab)

Thesbes - from planet Thesbeen: This is an all female species and is usually taller than 1.7 meters (5 foot 8). Their slender bodies have 2 arms and 2 hands with four digits each. Their faces have delicate features, two large round eyes, which come in various colors, and mostly have long wavy hair. They can read the auras of many species, including humans and Lolas, and determine truth from untruth. They need to sleep more than other species on board, preferring ten to twelve hours. All Thesbes are usually the experts in the field they work in. There are seven Thesbes on board the Anzu.

Nutrition: grains and seeds five times per day.

Examples: Hazel, Tania, Kaci

The Right to Change, or RTC, is a group founded in Zolog that is trying to slow the integration of the species. Some members believe that their own development will stagnate if they are in contact with the less advance species and some are especially afraid of any genetic mixing that may happen.

Chapter 1: The wormhole

The Anzu entered the wormhole at o600 hours. Alec had come to one of the observation lounges to watch the event and many on the ship had had the same idea. Even with several forward-facing lounges on the ship, it was fortunate Alec had come early because he had been able to secure one of the large windows where X, Z, and Jamez, had joined him. Hazel, another coworker, was probably on her way, and Chief had been invited to watch the progress with the captain in the Command, Control and Navigation center, or CCN.

Only a couple of Zandu ships had gone through this particular wormhole, but luckily they had come back with no problems. It wasn’t luck, the Zandu were a technologically advanced race that knew what they were doing thought Alec and he kept reminding himself of that as the ship headed slowly towards the black sphere.

Some would call this a black hole and that’s how it would appear in two dimensions, but in three it was actually a sphere and it wasn’t all black. The light from nearby stars circled the center in a rainbow of colors and as the rays reached the edges they bent inward. The