The Starship Who Seeked Lost Gods

By Rei Rosenquist

A Niu Lifeship travels through deep space looking for the truth about humanity's downfall. Jafen 1.0 takes care care of the navigational calculations and other such mundane things. At least, that's how things are supposed to work. But, Jafen and the ship keep agruing over the most mundane things.

 

Until, Jafen 1.0 logs a strange distress signal.

 

Could it be a trap? Will the Niu Lifeship Zero find more than they bargained for if they answer the call? Or, are the last secrets of humanity somehow aboard?

 

Only contact will reveal the truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rei Rosenquist
• Release date: Mar 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201168278

Rei Rosenquist

Rei Rosenquist first remembers life as seen out the high window of a hotel balcony. Down below is a courtyard, swarms of brightly dressed tourists, the beach. The memory is nothing but a blue-green washed image. Warmth and sunlight. Here, they are three years old, and this is the beginning of a nomadic story-teller’s life. Over the years, they have traveled to many countries, engaged many peoples, picked up new habits, and learned new languages. But, some things never change. For them, these are stories, food service, and traveling. These three passions have bloomed from hobbies, studies, and jobs into a way of life. These days, Rei can be found in between Tokyo, Kailua, and Bellingham, Washington pouring beautiful latte art, baking off a batch of famous savory scones, and cozying up with a laptop to obsessively write mountains of dark speculative fiction. You can find Rei’s stories and blog at reirosenquist.com. You can also reach them via email at [e-mail] or connect via Facebook (Rei Rosenquist), Twitter (rylrosenquist) and Instagram (rylrosenquist).

Book preview

The Starship Who Seeked Lost Gods

THE STARSHIP WHO SEEKED LOST GODS

REI ROSENQUIST

Weathered Ocean Feathered Sky Press

CONTENTS

Initiate

Remember

Accept

Comms

About the Author

Also by Rei Rosenquist

INITIATE

[Incoming data feed from Jafen1.0] central room’s screen pleeps, the alert glowing red.

[Yes Jafen?] I reply curtly.

Jafen 1.0 is a general intelligence cognitive robotics ganglion known as a GI. I recently acquired Jafen in a very back-end-of-the-universe kind of waylay station. The unit is a small, brushed steel ball no bigger than a typical comms box. A few square meters at most. I haven't actually seen the unit myself, though, so I'm guessing. The engineer at the station connected it to my ship body through a series of special neural synapses. Jafen sits along the back of my spine where I hardly notice the added mass. Narrow hallways hold the wires that carry our communication back and forth.

It's a bit hodge-podge, but I'm okay with that. Jafen isn't a necessary piece of gear, just a nice touch. It does all the hard math calculations and handles navigation. Troubleshoots things like asteroids and incoming debris so I don’t have to.

I'm willing to put up with inconsistencies, of which we have many.

Our conversations are always brutal. We can't seem to agree on anything, always second guess whatever the other has to say. After hundreds of bad goes in a very short amount of time, we finally agreed to keep our communications to a necessary minimum. If something uniquely interesting comes up on the scope while I’m out exploring, I get pinged. That's supposed to be it.

This time, Jafen does that annoying thing a GI shouldn't do: Jafen hesitates awkwardly.

[Well?] I try -- and fail -- to sound calm and collected.

[A ship, two L-units away, nearing proximity to preset parameters. Investigate further?] comes out in a jittery rush.

I shouldn't sigh.

I sigh. [Affirmative. Send a message to CHERP Team-Leader Miranda before we go in.]

CHERP stands for the Center for the Humanitarian Educational Research Project. So named because all Lifeships are as curious and hungry as I am