Selene: Weal's People

By Wendy C. Giffen

Selene: Weal's World is the second in the series. The series is science-fiction, but not the bodice-ripper kind, nor the kind that focuses on high "amazing" tech. It's character-driven, about people who have evolved on other planets and are meeting again under a variety of desperate circumstances and end up not just surviving, but potentially thriving.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Jan 31, 2024
• ISBN: 9781988070087

Wendy C. Giffen

Wendy C Giffen is an unrepentant lover of life, author, certified psycholinguistic hypnotherapist, an erstwhile potter, and graduated as a teacher from Homerton College, Cambridge. She loves dawns and to dance, painting in oils, and to ride her electric-assisted bicycle. She collects witty fridge magnets, reluctantly cooks, and happily takes her dog for daily walks on the beach and trails where she lives in beautiful Nova Scotia, having moved from her beloved Salt Spring Island to be near family. When doing none of the above, she can be found enjoying a rather hedonistic life, writing and painting with her little mutt, Tommy.

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Table of Contents

Prologue: Planet Selene: The Woomina Estate

Chapter 1: Selene: The Woomina Estate

Chapter 2: The Planet GaT-tsg

Chapter 3: Selene: City of Jenna, The Senate

Chapter 4: Planet GaT-tsg: Inside the Tri-City Force Shields

Chapter 5: Selene: Central Park in Jenna

Chapter 6: Space: Selenese Scout Ship

Chapter 7: Selene: Semol Mine

Chapter 8: Planet GaT-tsg: Inside the Tri-City Force Shields

Chapter 9: Selene: RADA Underground Complex in Jenna

Chapter 10: Selene: RADA Underground Complex in Jenna

Chapter 11: GaT-tsg: The Ancestor’s Spaceship

Chapter 12: Selene: Ogat Mine

Chapter 13: In Space

Chapter 14: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 15: Selene: Degal’s Estate

Chapter 16: Selene: Fair Meadows

Chapter 17: Space: Selenese Spaceship

Chapter 18: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 19: Selene: Ogat Mine

Chapter 20: Space

Chapter 21: Selene: Ogat Mine

Chapter 22: Space

Chapter 23: Selene: Fair Meadows

Chapter 24: Selene: The Senate Building

Chapter 25: Selene: Capital city - Jenna

Chapter 26: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 27: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 28: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 29: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 30: Selene: Capital city of Jenna

Chapter 31: Selene: The Senate

Chapter 32: Selene: In Jenna

Chapter 33: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 34: GaT-tsg

Chapter 35: GaT-tsg

Chapter 36: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 37: GaT-tsg

Chapter 38: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 39: GaT-tsg

Chapter 40: GaT-tsg

Chapter 41: Space

Chapter 42: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 43: Selene: Ogat Mine

Chapter 44: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 45: Selene: Ogat Mine

Chapter 46: Selene: Kippene Hold

Chapter 47: Selene: The Senate

Chapter 48: Selene: Ogat Mine

Chapter 49: Space

Chapter 50: Selene: Ogat Mine

Chapter 51: Selene: Above Jenna

Chapter 52: Selene: Ogat Mine

Chapter 53: Selene: Above Jenna

Chapter 54: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 55: Selene: The Senate

Chapter 56: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 57: Selene: The Senate

Chapter 58: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 59: Selene: Woomina Estate

Chapter 60: Selene: Woomina Estate

Epilogue: Selene: Woomina Estate

About the Author

Quotes

"Status quo, you know, that is Latin for,

‘The mess we’re in.’"

~ Ronald Reagan

1911–2004

Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.

~ Dr. Laurence J. Peter

1919-1990

Prologue

Planet Selene: The Woomina Estate

Rowhan woke abruptly, and terror catapulted her from the large raised bed.

Moments before, she’d been sleeping deeply, snuggled beneath the soft wool-filled comforter.

She ran to the heavy carved door and threw it open, racing from the room. Her pale, slight figure in its long nightgown was hardly visible in the dark as she ran, her long hair floating out behind her.

Fear constricted her throat as she fled down the shadowy stone corridors and across the solar gallery, avoiding the heavy furniture by instinct, her bare feet smacking the warmed marble floors. The prescience of danger was so strong that she could taste the metallic tang of fear.

Yanking open the solid door to the nursery wing, the lingering smells of bathed children, damp hair, and their supper of grilled ammoch on toast assailed her nostrils. The sleeping chamber door was ajar. Pushing the door wider, her glance flashed around the moonlit room, taking in the sleeping children, the nursery furniture, the short curtains moving gently in the breeze, and the half-open door to the nurse’s room.

Everything was quiet. Everything seemed just as it should be, but something was very wrong.

She moved toward her little daughter’s bed, low and beautifully carved. The four-year-old lay on her back, lips parted and a halo of curls spread over the pillow, her covers and soft toys drained of colour by the moonlight.

Rowhan jerked away…the danger wasn’t there! The little boy was on his front in his cot, with his bottom humped up and his thumb near his mouth, all the softness of an infant clear in the brilliant moonlight. A beam of light lancing through a snow globe bathed his head. The heavy open window rocked gently back and forth with the night breeze.

Urgently, she grabbed her son from his cot and hugged his warm little body. He stirred sleepily, smelling sweetly of bath soap. Turning to stare around the room with its pretty wallpaper and pale paneling, she felt the danger diminish. But she could still see no cause for it.

Just then, a gust of wind caught the partially closed casement window and jerked it wide open, causing the latch bar to strike the heavy glass globe. Briefly the globe teetered on the edge of the sill, and then it fell heavily into the cot where moments before Jaden’s small head had rested.

Rowhan’s blue eyes widened as she stared at a damp stain slowly spreading across the sheets.

Nine years.

It had been nine years since the last event. She had thought they were over.

She shuddered, whether with the aftermath of her terror and Jaden’s close call, or the memory of her last premonition she didn’t know. She just knew that when she needed the psychic events the most they hadn’t been there.

Chapter One

Selene: The Woomina Estate

The discrete rattle of the refreshment tray distracted the two women. Lady Rowhan Lessand turned, her blue eyes smiling a welcome to Ooto, the grizzled senior member of her staff. His slight limp, gained during a Natog invasion while serving in one of the Wings hampering him not at all as he carried a laden tray with his usual erect posture. The girl with him opened a low table that squatted between the two women and Ooto lowered the tray onto it. After pouring the scented fala tea and placing napkins on the women’s laps they left, with Rowhan’s thanks, as quietly as they had come.

Rowhan smiled as she offered refreshments. Her eyes watchful as she studied her companion, she was still amazed by the changes a few short years had wrought in her mother-in-law. The first time Rowhan had seen Lady Sinta was on a vidi-screen. She had the look of one who is grieving. A thin woman in her late fifties, with guarded eyes, her skin stretched tightly over her facial bones. Her hair had been covered as some widows chose to do. No ornaments had relieved the severe neckline of her gown, nor the stillness of her face.

Now Rowan’s eyes softened as she gazed fondly at the silent woman. Lady Sinta’s short, light brown over tunic had blue and gold embroidered edges. The long, pale blue underdress fell in graceful lines as she sat unconsciously rubbing her slender hands together while she considered what Rowhan had just told her. She no longer had that faded, transparent look that had so worried her son, Ragul. As she fingered a heavy ring, her hands looked younger, as did her face, which had learned to smile again after years of grief. It was as if a decade had slipped from her shoulders.

Rowhan felt the return of the tightness in her chest. She had no idea how this aspect of her personality would be accepted on this world. Less than five years ago, she had been sentenced to die simply for being an alien in a failed experiment! If it hadn’t been for Ragul, this woman’s son, she and the three others would be dead. In the end, she had saved Ragul and they had greatly helped the people of Selene.

This isn’t the first, or only, time this has happened, Sinta. The last was about nine years ago, on Earth. It happened a few days before my surgery. I was a grandmother and in the early stages of a cancer in my brain. I had surgery and treatment and the cancer went into remission, but I was taking medication from then on and never had another event. The weekend before the surgery my eldest daughter…

Rowhan stopped, choking on her daughter’s name. Her children and grandchildren had been coming to visit the weekend the Natog had made their first raid on Earth. Rowhan had no idea what had happened to them. No idea if they were living or dead. She had not even had the courage to ask Ragul to enquire about them during his negotiations with Earth. She was afraid to know. Swallowing her grief, she tried again.

"I had accompanied my daughter, Sheila, to her car and had gone back inside to get the goodies I’d baked for her. I grabbed the bag and turned toward the door. Sheila seemed to be standing between me and the doorway, but instead of her smooth chignon and very smart casual clothes she had worn that day, her long golden hair hung loose and curling. She was in strange clothes, and they looked rumpled. Holding up a pocket knife she said, ‘Mom, tell me I must never go out without this!’ And she turned and disappeared. I clutched the bag of goodies and hurried out to where my daughter was waiting in the car, wearing the chic clothes she had worn all day, her hair perfectly secured. I told her what I’d seen. She laughed, but she made me tell her again, and then I kissed her and she drove away."

Lady Sinta watched Rowhan intently. What did it mean? Do the visions have meanings?

Yes. I don’t always know it at first, but it’s usually clear later. Not that one. I never knew what that one meant. Rowhan turned to stare out one of the long windows that made up the south wall of the large rectangular room, oblivious to the vista of the garden. The heavy metal shutters were folded back out of sight and she knew the thick stone walls were glowing like honey in the sun.

Rowhan’s long, red-gold hair was done up today, but she wore no brow band or circlet, and her fine bone structure and calm expression were belied by the slight tremble in her hands. Her delicate fingers absently stroked the warm autumn colours of her long gown, eyes bright with unshed tears. She blinked them away. On Earth she had been the mother of five children and a grandmother several times over. The Natog hunted for animal protein and had found new feeding grounds on Earth, but that didn’t mean her family was all dead. Maybe none of them were.

And you have had others?

What? Rowhan pushed her thoughts away and refocused on her mother-in-law. Oh. Yes, but not after the surgery and medication. It never occurred to me that, after being restored to optimum health by the Natog virus, I would start having premonitions again. What I don’t understand is why I didn’t begin having precognitive events before this. Heaven knows I was in enough danger when I awoke in that facility, not to mention later!

You had no warning of the Natog attack on your planet?

No. In the four years between the surgery and the time your people captured the Natog ship I was being processed in, I had none. And from the moment I came out of shock and regained full awareness of my surroundings and situation in the experimental facility until now, I have had no intuitive events until last night.

She offered Lady Sinta some more refreshment from the tray and leaned back against the cushions of her high-backed chair, sipping at the flavourful tea. Rowhan enjoyed most of the Selenese dishes, but like many strangers far from home, she had taught the cooks how to make a few parodies of the things she loved from Earth. The small sandwiches were a fair likeness to ones from home, and there were cheese scones using simini, butter, and a kind of cheese called ammoch. Both butter and amoch were made from the milk of the longabeast. The fluffy pink confections, however, were Selenese, and they were Lady Sinta’s choice.

When the older woman finished her mouthful, she held out her hand for Rowhan’s inspection. Have you seen a ring like this before? The larger one.

Looking at it thoughtfully, Rowhan nodded. Yes. I think I have. Sendal wears one. The shape’s a little like a shield. Rowhan remembered how the planet’s leading scientist in the field of fertilization had often pushed back his shoulder-length grey hair with a hand bearing such a ring, accompanied by a thin smile or a dry comment.

Lady Sinta nodded and returned her hand to her lap. She twisted the heavy silver ring on her finger as she hesitated, then plunged into speech.

I am only aware of ten or eleven of these rings still being worn. They came with our ancestors from the home world. The inset areas of stone change colour sometimes. Different parts of them, not the whole thing. My mother said each section had a meaning.

Rowhan watched her mother-in-law rise and come toward her. Was she trying to bring herself to hand over the beloved ring to her, as Ragul’s mate?

Would you like to try it on? She pulled the ring from her hand and passed it to Rowhan, who slipped it on the same finger Sinta had used and held out her hand for them both to admire the ring. She saw there wasn’t just one stone in the plain setting. There were the three longer stones set around a single, central stone. At first glance, each of the stones was a rather lovely smoky grey colour, but a second look showed the top one to be more luminescent and more silver.

Rowhan heard Sinta’s swift intake of breath and glanced up. Lady Sinta’s attention was directed to the ring.

Rowhan, do you see how the top edge is faintly luminous? It has never done that on my hand. Say something that’s totally untrue, with sincerity.

Rowhan felt like laughing, but made the effort. I hate cheese scones. To her amazement, the centre of the ring changed swiftly to an iron oxide red!

Now say something you believe with all your heart.

I love my children. The ring shifted to a lovely blue. Rowhan looked up at Sinta with surprise and curiosity.

Fascinating! The top part didn’t change, nor the sides. What exactly is this ring? Does it always work? Rowhan slipped it off as she spoke, and Sinta put it back on and held it out for Rowhan to see.

Rowhan, I love sandwiches. They both laughed as it turned slightly red. I love you, and not just because you are the mother of my grandchildren. The ring became blue, and Rowhan looked up at her mother-in-law in grateful surprise.

Sinta returned to her chair and continued, You are a remarkable person, Rowhan. I thought I had some measure of how remarkable, but it seems I…have more to learn.

Before Rowhan could speak, Sinta hurried on. This is a Veracity ring. They have fallen out of favour, perhaps for good reason. My mother told me they are infallible for revealing if the wearer is knowingly telling the truth or a falsehood. The stronger the statement, the brighter the colour. The two problems are that the person has to agree to put it on, and the ring can only tell what the wearer believes. So if you wanted to trick someone in a trade, you would tell your agent some fact about the deal that may not be true, but if he believed it, the ring would not detect the falsehood during the negotiations.

It’s impressive! But I can see why they might be considered a doubtful blessing. What does the top part mean?

Ah. She said that part revealed those people who can see, hear, and know things that other people couldn’t. The Receivers of Knowledge, she called them. I had never seen it light up until just the other day. Pippa was listening to a story as I read to her. She kept touching the ring and then asked if she could hold it. At four passes old, I did not fear she would swallow it, so I let her hold it as I continued the story. When the book was done, I asked for it back, and as she slipped it from her thumb, I saw a faint glow die away along the top. I didn’t know what to make of it. It has been troubling me, until today. So, she is her mother’s daughter. Her smile contained a trace of sadness.

Rowhan reached over to cover the older hand with her youthful one. Sinta, the knowledge I have received has never harmed me. Indeed, it has always helped, except for the last episode on Earth, which I have never understood. You needn’t fear that your grandchild will be strange and different, burdened by some unbearable weight. Actually, we all have it, some people just more than others. Perhaps the ring only reacts to significant amounts.

Looking back at the ring, Rowhan added, This left edge seems to be a brighter silver than when I wore it. What does that mean?

With a rueful shake of her head, Lady Sinta admitted she had no idea.

Ooto entered the room. He started to inform them that the Lady Rill wished to see them, but the young woman sauntered into the gracious room not far behind him and approached Lady Sinta with a smile in her fine, dark eyes.

Gracefully displaying that her hands were empty, she gave Lady Sinta a formal nod. This was not a Selenese greeting, which were many and varied in formality, but Lady Rill was from the planet Dejan. The simple greeting, which conveyed peaceful intentions and respect without implying inferiority, was quickly spreading on Selene. It was yet another reason the council members were increasingly anxious about the influence of aliens on Selene’s somewhat feudal society.

Lady Sinta laughed and returned the greeting. Rowhan rose to hug her friend. During this exchange, Ooto had moved another wing-backed chair closer for Rill and disappeared to bring another setting.

Rill ran her hand appreciatively over the fabric-covered chair. Very nice, Rowhan! But how are the locals taking it?

Lady Rowhan laughed. Pretty well, really. They have decided the style is exactly between the cloth-covered dais that the more traditional families continue to use and the ultra-modern plastic or bundle fibre chairs the more radical sections of society use.

Lady Sinta nodded and added with a smile, And a lot more comfortable!

As Rill accepted a cup of fala tea from Ooto, nodding her thanks, Lady Sinta asked after Paget, Rill’s young son. He had been named after Ragul’s stepfather, who had devised the plan to rescue processed aliens from a Natog ship and had died in the attack.

Lady Rill raised one eyebrow, and a small smile played around her firm and shapely mouth. His good health is growing almost as legendary as his mischievousness, Sinta, but with two such parents as Ragul and I, what can you expect?

Lady Sinta enquired further after her grandson, and joined Rowhan’s hope he would come and see them soon. Rowhan had no problems with Ragul having sired the child to save Rill’s life after she, Rill, and Loona had escaped from the institute. At that time, only being pregnant was likely to prevent Hagnot from having them killed. Instead Hagnot died saving Rowhan, one of life’s little ironies.

Rowhan grinned at Lady Sinta. Should we try the ring on Rill?

Lady Sinta slipped the ring off and passed it to the younger woman lounging in the chair opposite, while Rowhan explained about the ring.

Lady Rill’s short curls, catching the afternoon sunlight, glowed as if on fire. Lithe and supple of body, her’s was a face of strength, character and humour. On this visit, her calf-length tunic was of a velvet-like material with an embroidered gold edging. It was split down the sides and secured by a gold belt, unlike Rowhan’s, which was merely joined for a short section at the hip. Her long, silky trousers matched the tunic. She had adopted the Selene fashion of a gold band around the head for this visit. She looked what she had been on her planet: a leader.

Rill slipped the ring on and looked at it curiously.

Lady Sinta seemed to choose her words carefully. Rill, do you or Vaal have any plans for revenge for the way you were both treated when you arrived on Selene as an unwilling part of an experiment?

Lady Rill looked up in surprise. You know us better than that, of course we don’t. Any more than Rowhan, who was part of the same experiment. The ring increased the blue tones.

Lady Sinta sighed and smiled with satisfaction. Yes, I do know you better than that, Rill. But there are others who don’t know you, and are rather anxious. Now I can reassure them.

Rill looked back down at the ring, the colours gradually fading. Are you serious about this ring being able to tell if the wearer is lying or not? If so, it might prove useful. She sounded rather thoughtful as she returned the ring. Anxious…who is anxious about us, Sinta? Her glance at the older woman was both intelligent and piercing.

Lady Sinta’s composed features took on a slightly sardonic look. The guiltiest consciences, I expect! However, I have good friends amongst the councillors, though we keep quiet about our connection. They keep me informed and have expressed the opinion that Councillor Kanark is responsible for stirring up anxiety.

The two young women spoke at the same time.

Why do you need to keep the connections quiet? Ragul is the First Councillor, not a hunted man! Rowhan objected.

Kanark? Interesting. What do you know of him? queried Rill.

Lady Sinta laughed as she raised a hand in protest.

Rowhan, you know as well as I do that fortunes can change in hours. Her smile faded. And if it does again, I need more people on the inside than I had before. If it had not been for you, Ragul would have died along with you three. Seeing Rowhan about to remonstrate with her she added, Ragul is away, my dear, and his position is not as secure as it should be after all he has done for Selene.

She turned to Rill. Kanark is a second son and had little to recommend him other than his face and form. However, they were enough. He married well. He has two young children, and I understand his wife’s money is settled on them. Why do you ask?

Rill held her cup out for more tea as she answered Lady Sinta.

I’ve heard he has gained a couple of small holds over the last two passes, and not willingly transferred. It is said that when the holders fell behind with stocking and payment of ground crews he lent them money. When they could not repay the debt in the time agreed, he took the holds as payment.

Rowhan’s eyes dilated in shock. Selene had no credit, no loans. It wasn’t that kind of society. Family coughed up for things and shared in the blessings. Why didn’t they borrow from family?

Sinta frowned in thought. Perhaps they didn’t have any, but what I find equally disturbing is that they needed to borrow! Providing a shelter and stocking it, and providing ground crews, are all part of the hold system. Things are balanced so the holders can fulfill their obligations!

Rill drank some of her tea and changed the subject.

Something interesting happened yesterday. I was over at Arenok; in fact, that’s why I’m here today. I had heard there was an artisan with a business there, Yand by name, with considerable skill in the design of bridges. As you know, my holding has three rivers dividing it, and the bridges I have are old and inadequate.

The two women nodded; Gossot had held two holds. One was near the institute that had been in charge of the alien experiment. His holdings had been divided between Rill and Vaal when Gossot had been sent down the mines for his part in the abduction and murder of at least four aliens.

Rowhan had only met Gossot once and had not had the impression that he was anything other than an exhausted and irate military man. The other two men involved, Igan and Snard, had forfeited their lands as well. Igan had also been sent down the mines, while Snard had been left out for the Natog in the next raid as punishment for trying to kill Rowhan.

Rowhan and Sinta sat forward and listened. Rill spoke calmly and deliberately.

I found him in his shop. The front was open to the nice weather, and his apprentices and workers were busy, but they looked a bit glum. He seemed like a reasonable man and quickly grasped what I needed and began to suggest some ideas. We moved further into the back, and he began to show me designs and how they could be modified depending on the span of the rivers, the depths, and the nature of the ground on each side, and so on.

Rill stretched out her long legs and crossed her elegantly booted feet at the ankles.

Then this harassed looking fellow storms into the place and, not seeing us there, began ordering the apprentices to leave their work and get down to the hold’s mine. When Yand stepped in to interfere, he was told they had not fulfilled their quota in the mine. An argument developed, and I think it would have come to blows, with the mine agent’s two attendants weighing in, had I not stepped forward and prevented it.

Rowhan grinned. Rill had been a leader and a warrior on her own planet, and she knew from personal experience that her friend’s innate authority was pretty impressive!

They began to explain the problems besetting them, Rill continued. "The mine agent said that his holder, like others, was under pressure to provide more minerals and more manpower to the council for the military and sciences while still having to pay his full tribute. So he just didn’t have the money to pay enough men to increase the mine’s output. He’s had to call on the people living on his holding to contribute time in the mines, and they can’t be fully paid for their time.

The council, of course, can legislate for increases in tribute for defence and for fertilization experimentation, but it’s not obliged to recompense anyone for the extra materials or manpower involved.

Rill rose to help herself to a stuffed roll and a small fruit tart and sat down as she continued.

Yand said that people were being taken from their paying jobs to work in the mine and were not earning enough to meet their families’ needs. Their real employers were without enough workers, and many were falling behind with their orders and were having difficulties. Both sides realized that the increased demands are for Selene’s defence, and the future of the population, but felt some better way than this must be found.

Having consumed the tidbits, Rill leaned back in her chair. I left them with the thought that they might be able to attract some hold-less workers with partial payment from the holder and lodging and food from the artisans. In doing so, the artisans could keep their workers.

Rill had made a steeple of her fingers as she talked and lifted her eyes to gaze intently at the two women watching her.

I thought you should know. With Ragul away on a trip that the council is increasingly against, he may well return to find he is again fighting for his existence.

Lady Sinta’s hands whitened in their grip on the chair arm. How could he be responsible for this? The council’s increased demands were given after he left! She rose from her seat and strode jerkily back and forth, her pale blue skirts swirling as she turned at either end of the large rug, her hands massaging each other.

Rowhan rose and reached out to comfort her, trying to ignore her own fears. She’d been hearing rumours of swelling discontent too, so she couldn’t just utter some trite assurances. After a moment, she hugged her mother-in-law. We’ve been through worse, Sinta, and survived worse. But she wasn’t sure how comforting that was to either of them.

Chapter Two

The Planet GaT-tsg

Yellow light from the old star reflected from the mirrored hulls of the Natog mid-class mothership and the two smaller attendant hunter-class vessels as they began their approach. The hulking figure in the main chair on the bridge watched the central screen intently in the dim light, the seat’s webbing tight across the massive, hairy chest. It shook its head irritably, and a forest of quill-like tendrils rose stiffly about its head. It ignored the other figures moving about their business in the gloom. On the screen, the grey, arid planet of GaT-tsg grew larger, tiny eddies revealing two major dust storms in the southern hemisphere. It knew the planet was poor pickings, but the ship’s large holds were not yet full with the much-needed protein. It was irrelevant how sentient that protein had been…

Je-al was wiry for his fourteen years; his curly brown hair was cut short enough not to fall into his dark blue eyes as he hurried up the faint trail that wound over the bare rock and between large boulders. His feet were used to being bare, and he stepped on the green-grey clumps of moss for their delightful cushiony feel, which would pass as quickly as the spring, leaving them dry and crumbly in the arid summer. He only had a little time. His father would be sure to notice that he had finished cleaning the greenhouse glass and would have another job waiting.

He hurried past the faint trail leading to the vast crevasse, which was nothing but hive domes as far down as one could see. It smelled bad there, and he sensed it was dangerous. They weren’t his ants.

Ants…that’s what he and his friends called the T-tsg. Although they were warm-blooded—even if their blood was green—they did have six limbs and very narrow waists. And they had an exoskeleton. Their grey, leathery bodies were separated into an abdomen with four limbs, a bulging thorax with two limbs, and their turtle-like heads. They stood taller than a man.

Je-al’s people had force-landed on this inhospitable planet, and would have been killed by the T-tsg if they hadn’t noticed the mold that grew in large patches on the tough membrane covering the T-tsg exoskeletons. They offered to help the local hive by creating a cure. The mold was a new and persistent one that infected the hive and weakened them, causing early death.

The area the T-tsg gave them as a reward for their help was small, so the survivors had carefully controlled their numbers. The first thing the ancestors had built were the energy shields that protected their allotted area. Within those shields, ever since, their descendants had lived their lives, grown their food, and died, wasting nothing.

This part of the planet was so rocky that even the T-tsg couldn’t dig, so the ant people had covered the land with grey, papery domes in which they grew their food. Je-al wondered if it was because the area was poor—even by T-tsg standards—that larger hives hadn’t tried to take over. They probably would have if it hadn’t been for the invaders who occasionally swooped in from space to grab anything that moved. No one who had been grabbed had ever been seen again. Je-al liked to call them Space Invaders because it made them sound cool and scary…instead of just scary!

The trail had been widened in places to allow the original survivors to carry everything they could salvage from their downed spacecraft to their new homes.

As he ran, Je-al wondered again how his ancestors must have felt when they force-landed in such an inhospitable place. He had heard the story many times, but just the facts, not how they all must have been feeling. It must have been bad enough for their great ship to be stuck here, on this barren planet, but to then to realize that the inhabitants of the local hive intended to slaughter them must have been terrifying!

His father had told him the planet was overpopulated and there used to be battles between hives over land. But that was before the Space Invaders had found them.

Fortunately, his people were pretty safe, unless they were caught outside the shield. The thought made Je-al increase his pace.

The Invaders had been coming more