Uninvited

By Teagan Kearney

Reviewers say:

"I enjoyed the read and was intrigued from the beginning to the end."

"It has been a while since I last enjoyed a book so thoroughly. I wanted to yell with triumph, cry with happiness, and laugh aloud with the characters here. I can't recommend this book enough."

"When is the next colony ship leaving for this place? I'm there. lol!"

"The novel is gripping and was hard for me to put down (and I have read it twice). This is classified as a "coming of age" novel for young adults. Don't let that put you off. In my 60's, I was thoroughly satisfied with the book."  

The Maruts of Hamarkhis want nothing to do with the uninvited guests who arrived from the stars. Neither race has any interest in learning about the other. When a young Marut rescues Kara, she has no choice but to travel with the tribe. As she faces the biggest challenge of her life, she finds courage she didn't know she possessed and, determined to overcome the odds, what she learns changes everything.

If you enjoy your sci-fi full of drama, action, and intrigue with a romantic twist, then you'll love this adventure. Click 'Buy now' and enter Kara's world today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Teagan Kearney
• Release date: Jun 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386124467

Teagan Kearney

I was born in London of Irish parents, and I write paranormal urban fantasy and commercial women's fiction. I also write short stories in the science-fiction, magic realism, crime and romance genres. I love traveling, and enjoy photography, drawing, theater, film, reading, and when there are no gales blowing, I like to walk. I'm a fair-weather gardener, and am compiling an ever increasing bucket list of places I want to visit from Iceland to Australia.

Book preview

Uninvited

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By

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Teagan Kearney

The right of Teagan Kearney to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchases.

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

This book was previously published under the title Veiled Planet

The contents of this book remain unchanged.

Cover photo: Shutterstock, Unsplash

Copyright © Teagan Kearney 2017

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Dedication

To Tim, as always, for your loving support and help.

And to every single one of my readers—a genuine heartfelt thank you.

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Acknowledgment

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Grateful thanks to my editor, Sarah Watts.

http://yourwords-proofreading.blogspot.co.uk/

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Sign up for the author’s mailing list to receive a free copy of Hekate’s Chalice, Book One in the Adept Solutions Series, and information about new releases, discounts, and advanced reading copies: http://tinyurl.com/hk39yun

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One: An Encounter

Chapter Two: Family

Chapter Three: Flight

Chapter Four: Animosity

Chapter Five: A Helping Hand

Chapter Six: Making Friends

Chapter Seven: Clannad

Chapter Eight: The Desert

Chapter Nine: Getting Acquainted

Chapter Ten: Arravata

Chapter Eleven: A Binding Decision

Chapter Twelve: Complications

Chapter Thirteen: Shelter

Chapter Fourteen: A Surprise

Chapter Fifteen: The Artefact

Chapter Sixteen: The Mountain Maruts

Chapter Seventeen: Hitam

Chapter Eighteen: Refugees

Chapter Nineteen: A Setback

Chapter Twenty: Double-Dealing

Chapter Twenty-One: Standing Witness

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Debrief

Chapter Twenty-Three: Deception

Chapter Twenty-Four: Forestalling Misfortune

Chapter Twenty-Five: Collaboration

Chapter Twenty-Six: Reunited

Chapter Twenty-Seven: End Game

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Arbitration and Accord

FROM THE AUTHOR

Prologue

Memorandum to the Planetary Exploration Council.

Rimor, the space exploratory vessel mapping the outer arm of the Eucleides galaxy, came across a G-type main-sequence star (G2V) orbited by one planet on the final sweep. Analysis of the planet’s initial survey met the threshold criteria for dispatchment of a first contact team.

First Contact Report.

The planet, assigned the designation XL3198, has two moons whose orbits are in close proximity indicating the possibility of notable seismic activity. Tests show the atmosphere is within the parameters ideal for settlement, and there are two land masses—one larger, inhabited (northern), and one smaller, uninhabited (southern). A sizeable ocean encircling the planet separates the two.

The smaller southern continent is covered (98%) with a steep-sided fold mountain range. These are snow-capped, severely eroded, and show very little signs of fauna or flora. The larger northern continent shows a greater variety of habitats. These bands vary in width.

One species of indigenous hominids has been identified in the northern continent. These are semi-nomadic hunter gatherers who tend herds of herbivores (Sankerii Kapoa). A First Contact team found the hominids (given name, Marut) friendly enough, and with a developed language and a simple social system in place. After protracted discussions they agreed to allow a limited number of colonists in exchange for a basic trade agreement, but withheld permission for colonists to leave the settlement. The land given, a mixture of temperate forest and scrubland, will allow crops to be cultivated and will allow the colony to make a start toward self-sufficiency with regard to food supplies.

The first colonists’ transport ship will be left in orbit, and all other requirements will be delivered there and transported to the surface by shuttle until such time as a space port can be built. The first contact team recommends biologists, botanists and zoologists be included among the first colonists.

Triumvirate Law on Colonization of Newly Discovered Planets.

If newly discovered planets suitable for human settlement possess developed intelligent life, progress will take place at a pace ordained by the indigenous species rather than at the colonists’ dictates. This law was passed by a vote of two to one by the Triumvirate Council.

Coda:

Over millennia of space travel, Humanity’s instinct to dominate and mold whatever environment they encounter has caused tragedies, decimated other species, and lost us access to advanced technologies. Eventually, homo sapiens is learning that an ethical approach to planetary colonization provides far more advantages, as we have experienced recently with the benefits gained from our interactions with Yelavite species.

Private Communique to Triumvirate Councilor Leonidis Marshall:

The colony is flourishing. Numbers are increasing at a sustainable rate with the allocated number of children being birthed in the genisi unit of the medical center. Crop seeds passing the requisite tests in biodomes are successfully transplanted. The farms are providing enough to meet the colonists’ nutritional needs, but agriculturalists maintain this would be enhanced if we are able to extend the land allocated to us by the Maruts. Colonists have erected a magsen fence, for protection against predators, around the main settlement areas containing the community living quarters and the administrative centers.

The indigenous Maruts requested we call the planet by the name they use, Hamarkhis, and in the pursuit of an improved relationship, we have officially agreed. However, from the beginning, this race has held themselves aloof from us. They continue to show no interest in the benefits, medical, technological, etc., we can offer, or any desire for social interaction with us. In return, I fear, the colonists are developing a view of the Maruts as a primitive closed society that does not bode well for the future.

The initial survey of the inhabited continent showed large deposits of mineral ores that we are extremely interested in extracting. However, I am stating for the record, such a treaty with the Maruts may be a long time coming.

As the first commander of this colony, it has been my privilege to oversee the satisfactory establishment of a settlement. I have been here for five cycles, and my appointment as commander here is approaching its end. I look forward to meeting up with you upon my return.

Commander Asbeyno, Base Colony, Hamarkhis.

Chapter One: An Encounter

Colony Settlement Rule 561:

Education should provide ample opportunity to gain experience of local conditions.

Kara squinted, peering through the tall, thin jezebel trees. Their bare pallid trunks crowned with wide red leaves provided shade from the midday sun, but not from the heat, and she periodically wiped the sweat off her forehead before it dripped into her eyes. She could see where the upward trail led, but there wasn’t a single olive green cadet uniform in sight.

Hey, wait for me! Kara winced at the saw-edged whine in her voice, but they should have waited. The core element in this test was cooperative functioning as a team, and leaving someone behind broke the first rule of colony survival—you didn’t abandon anyone. If she didn’t catch up, she’d drop back to bottom ranking in her class. Not the result she wanted after she’d spent the last year clawing her way up two paltry places. Where in the universe were they?

Kara blew out a breath of frustration, ran her sweaty hands through her short hair, and put her sulk on hold. Lifting one foot at a time and putting it down while scrutinizing the ground for signs of spring-beetle occupancy took every bit of her attention. The small pyramidal mounds were thankfully absent. A bite from the insect, while not life-threatening, could swell to horrible proportions. Her study of the insects last semester had given her far too much insight into the varying sizes and discomforts of post-bite swellings.

Two corco birds flew high above the canopy, cackling to each other as their heavy wings beat the air with a soft thump thump. They were herbivores, although there were still many unknown species of plant and animal on the planet awaiting detection and classification.

Kara halted for a second to observe their ungainly flight. Next year she would begin studies in her chosen subjects—botany and biology. She ignored the flush of guilt at the thought of the tiny gold speckled plants which had caught her eye. She was fully aware this wasn’t a field trip, but the urge to pop a couple into one of the specimen bags she always carried had been overwhelming. That was probably when she’d dropped behind, but one way or another, she would finish this course. If it had to be without the support of the rest of the class, so be it.

Since she’d become a student at the academy two cycles ago, she’d had plenty of experience of being the outsider. Joining the class late, because she’d remained with her father after her mother died, made her different from the rest. Friendships, cliques, and lines of allegiance were already long cemented by the time she arrived. Her shyness had been interpreted as unsociability, and her absorption in her studies seen as boring. Then there was her lack of interest in team games. She had what was called a delicate build which translated into a lack of enthusiasm for the more physical aspects of cadet training. Kara didn’t consider herself weak, she just wasn’t the least bit interested in throwing her classmates onto the practice mats and giving loud shouts every time she did so. The local flora and fauna were far more fascinating, and at least they couldn’t make nasty remarks about her within her hearing.

Her pack contained a map of the route, water, an emergency medical kit, and enough basic rations to ensure survival. Naturally, there was no comunit because calling for help defeated the point of the exercise. The original treaty with the Maruts, the planet’s indigenous hominids, prevented a true survival experience because they were forbidden to go beyond their settlement area, but now, alone—even though she was within a two-days’ walk of the colony—this so-called practice was worryingly more authentic than she’d anticipated.

Fifty cycles ago, the Triumvirate gained permission from the Maruts for a colony on the planet, and the settlers’ situation was still far from permanent. Dangers from the flora and fauna, a variable climate, and the planet’s position at one end of a galaxy spiral placed it in the category of a limited outer world. But for Kara, it was home.

She mentally ran through the list of worst possible dangers as she continued up the trail. The small red-humped salamanders were dangerous when they were in heat and defending their territory, but thankfully this wasn’t the season. Kallin bears hadn’t been spotted anywhere near this location for the last ten cycles, and this area wasn’t on the seasonal migratory route of the Maruts. However, these were merely a few dangers on a long list. She shunted these thoughts aside, lumping them together with her irritation and resentment.

Kara ignored the midday heat as the hot Hamarkhian sun beat down on the forest, and wiped away the sweat trickling into her eyes with the back of her hand. She listened for indications that her companions were up ahead. Nothing. Her heart started to pound and she sucked in small puffs of warm air as she heard her father’s instructions in her mind. If you’re out there alone, be alert and don’t think about anything else except for what’s around you. Focus on the next step that’ll get you back to safety. Survival is a matter of breaking down the major objective of staying alive into smaller, achievable tasks. She closed her eyes for a minute, breathing slow and deep till her pulse slowed and her flight impulse subsided.

If she didn't complete the exercise but retraced her steps to the starting point by going back down the hill, the entire unit would fail the exercise, drop their group rating, and have to repeat it after the term ended. This would give the other cadets more reason to resent her than they already did. If she finished the course, they wouldn’t achieve top ranking, but at least the assignment would be complete. Memorizing the route had been part of the preparation, and all she had to do was continue up the mountain to the summit, turn left and follow the trail till she arrived back at the spot where they’d camped last night. Easy.

Ignoring the burning ache in her calves, she pushed herself and walked faster, clinging to the small hope that maybe a couple of cadets had been instructed to wait for her at the top of the hill. Yet a knot of anxiety remained, no matter how frequently she told herself everything was going to be fine. After another spell of steep climbing, the thinning trees warned her she was approaching the edge of the forest. She’d catch up with them soon. The trouble with fear is it doesn’t stay boxed away.

Abruptly the forest ended, and a stretch of bare red rock led up to the summit. Here and there, the hardy brownish native moss had secured a grip, giving the landscape a burned mottled appearance and the slight breeze lifted small curls of dust. But there was no sign of any cadets.

Thank the stars this wasn't the storm season, although on Hamarkhis no season was without irregularities as weather patterns were notoriously unstable and hard to predict. If a storm had unexpectedly blown in from the desert, the group leader, Nina, would have received notification as she had a comunit for emergencies—which was no help to Kara.

She would have loved to collect more specimens but was far too aware of the price she was paying for her last stop. She listened and checked ahead before leaving the shelter of the trees. The low drone of the forest’s inhabitants rose and fell behind her.

Where in the universe had they gone? Sixteen trainee cadets on a routine survival exercise couldn’t disappear. Practical jokes were the warp and weft of dorm life but this wasn’t funny. Anything might happen. Kara’s anger skyrocketed, and she stormed ahead with her eyes fixed on her goal as outrage fueled the last half klick to the summit. Well, no one was going to be laughing when she reported this to Commander Trench.

As she mounted the final slope, she forgot her predicament and gasped in pleasure at the view. Row after row of red jagged peaks, crowned with snow, marched to the horizon. These mountains were the start of the Founders Range and covered the northern third of the continent.

Pre-settlement surveillance had discovered the Maruts pastured their herds of satyrs in valleys peppered throughout this range. An anthropologist among the first colonists had nicknamed the herbivores satyrs, a creature out of an ancient fable, as a joke, and the name had stuck. However, the Maruts didn’t keep satyr herds for their meat, but for their coats which molted seasonally; they used the thick satyr wool and satyr hides for clothing, housing, carpets, tents. They milked the satyrs as well, which produced at least half a dozen food products. The satyrs were the basis for their way of life, and without them the Maruts could face extinction.

Kara searched the slope below. No sign of her team-mates. How had she dropped this far behind? She hadn’t been that slow, had she? She started walking, but halfway to the summit, her stomach started making loud noises, and she figured she ought to eat. Basic survival training began early. The necessity of staying hydrated and fed was drummed into children living in a world of hidden hazards.

She didn’t bother about the spring-beetles―the forest was their habitat―but sat on a handy outcrop of rock and stuffed the bland emergency rations into her mouth, glugging the tepid liquid from her water bulb. The concentrated bars of essential vitamins and minerals were light to carry and quick to digest, and she brushed the final crumbs off her hands ready to face the downward trail. She would have to get moving if she wanted to reach camp before darkness fell.

Then she heard it.

A low growling, some distance away, behind and below her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she recognized the sound. It was one every colonist was familiar with, but only through educational holovids. She turned, and froze as a huge red and green kallin bear emerged from the forest. Kara stared, stunned, then pinched her arm hard. No, she wasn’t hallucinating.

The beast raised its giant snout and sniffed the air. Catching her scent, the animal paced toward her, paw by gigantic razor-tipped paw.

Kara’s training kicked in, and she pressed the adrenaline patch on the underside of her arm, releasing its one dose. As the hormone mixture flooded her bloodstream, enhancing her responses and donating an artificial mental clarity, she recognized she had no way of escape, and was unlikely to survive this encounter. A rapid stream of thoughts flashed through her mind. If only those in charge of such matters had anticipated needing more than one adrenaline boost. If only the others had waited, together their prospects would have been better, and what a story that would have been to tell her father. Rage at her classmates’ carelessness swept through her, and she cursed them a second time.

Tracking the giant predator’s progress, Kara removed the stunner from her belt with careful slow movements.

The animal began to charge, gaining momentum as it grew closer.

Logic and reason informed her there was no way she could outrun the beast, even if she’d been in the forest, as its formidable sense of smell would allow it to track her scent as easily as following a lit pathway. She remembered the kallin bear’s swiftness and natural weaponry made it one of the dominant mammals on this planet. She very nearly smiled; her last moments and all she could summon up were facts from a biology lesson.

She raised the pistol, it had a range of approximately a quarter of a klick, but she was a lousy shot. Martial arts, self-defense, in fact, any of the physical skills that helped the colonists survive fell into the category of no ability and even less interest. But while Kara intellectually understood the longer she delayed the more she increased her chances of hitting the creature, her hands shook as she observed the slavering mouth and sharp canines as the bear increased its speed.

The bear’s fast rolling gait made it hard to get a fix on a vulnerable spot, but she zeroed in on the left eye. She aimed, fired, and hit the animal in the shoulder. Damn. She fired another shot. The stunner had ten more shots before it needed recharging, but the rabid predator closing in on her clearly had a quick lunch on its mind. Her next shot hit the upper chest and made not a whit of difference to its approach. She fired again, and the stun charge struck close to her first shot. The animal’s pelt shivered, but it came on relentlessly. An irrational urge to flee seized her, but the bear would outpace her in minutes, if not seconds. No, she’d stand and face her death. She fired repeatedly. With each hit the creature keened, an eerie high-pitched moan, began to slow but didn’t stop.

She kept count in her head. Three shots left. Nothing worse than thinking you have ammunition you haven’t, their instructor had joked at every session as he hammered the necessity of this procedure over and over into their brains.

The bear finally slowed and part of her mind continued analyzing the animal even as the gap between them narrowed. She noted the unkempt fur, emaciated hide, and the prominence of its ribcage. The beast must be far from its home territory, making it more dangerous as its need for her warm-blooded flesh was greater.

At this distance, she couldn’t miss, and, as the bear closed, she could see its red pupils and smell its rank fetid breath. She pumped out the last shots, clinically observing the bear’s pelt shimmer and quiver, as each shot hit home, yet she still managed to miss its vital organs. After the last shot, and impelled by an undeniable primal compulsion, she dropped the stunner, turned and fled—her last chance as the adrenaline boost would only last for another few minutes.

After inhaling the delicate flavor of a prospective meal, the bear, galvanized by the sight of its prey escaping, intensified its pursuit.

Kara scrambled and slithered down the escarpment, trying to avoid the small boulders and stones littering the surface. She hit a patch of shale and lost her balance. Sharp stones scraped the skin off her arm as she slid. Stumbling to her feet, she threw a backward glance at her pursuer and noticed the bear had slowed. The stun shots had finally had some effect, and she’d gained a tiny lead. She sucked in a deep breath and took off running.

Then it happened. Her foot landed on a small rock, and as her ankle turned, she lost her balance and toppled sideways. A fierce stabbing pain shot up her leg as her full weight bore down on the twisted ankle.

The bear stalked toward her, its massive claw-tipped paws moving softly on the slope. She tried to get up but arrows of agony shot up her leg. She hadn’t panicked, and had given her best, but she was going to die. If her father could have seen her, he would be proud of her. Shortly she would join her mother.

The last of the adrenaline drained out of her body and she shut her eyes as the backlash of fatigue hit. Shaking and terrified, she curled into a fetal position, and squeezed her eyes tight as she attempted to block out the awful sight and sound of her approaching death. She lay paralyzed, expecting to feel the kallin bear’s teeth and claws rip and shred her skin and muscles at any second as it prepared to feed. Please let it be quick, she begged.

Chapter Two: Family

Colony Settlement Rule 80:

Children born in new colonies where contact has taken place must be fluent in the languages of any indigenous hominid species. This practice has been shown to advance assimilation. (See appendices 3001 section F for the definition of ‘new’.)

Razor sharp claws seared the length of Kara’s leg. She shrieked in sudden shock, but a roaring howl drowned her screams. The roar faded to a keening wail that died as a massive weight crashed to the ground so close to where Kara lay that her body bounced with the impact. She hardly dared breathe.

Then silence except for the soft sigh of the wind.

Are you hurt? The voice spoke in Marut.

Kara looked up, the pain in her leg receding to a stinging pulse, startled to see a mature Marut man standing over the bear. The animal currently sported a vicious crossbow bolt sticking out of the back of its head, and was very dead. She looked at her leg. Blood seeped from two long cuts where the bear’s claws had ripped through her pants. The cuts weren’t deep, but they stung as if she was being stabbed with needles, the skin around them was turning an ugly purple, and her ankle throbbed. She stared at the Marut, glanced