Preacherman

By Caldon Mull

It is 2773AD and New Kowloon City is the farthest place in the human universe in the Terminator Zone of Caracalla. The scion of an ancient dynasty in a world torn between light and dark, Rama and his Mon are profiting like none before because of this. But with this power and wealth comes resentment and obligation. As his Chaebol rises in the Caracalla Assembly, a terrible task falls to him.
New Kowloon exists less as a matter of choice rather by necessity in the Twilight Zone of the colony planet and his mission threatens to change the world. Rama must travel the breadth of the settled lands and beyond, to places that others refuse, to discover the message of the StarMind. This Young Master of his Mon embodies the voice of his generation but have all the Darkside genetic modifications driven a wedge between the Brightside and Darkside humans? Will the news be good, or is Caracalla facing catastrophe? Rama does not know this, but what he does know is what humans do to bearers of bad news. Undeterred, Rama will be the Caracalla Preacherman.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Silver Bark Books
• Release date: Mar 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9789527555163

Caldon Mull

Caldon Mull is the pen name of a veteran storyteller with continent-spanning work experience consulting for the financial and military sectors. His work includes his primary series the 'Sol Senate Cycle' and his time-tripping fantastika series 'Agency Tales'. He is best known for supporting Games Master Content for the GENCON, UPCON, Oubliette and ICON game and comic conventions but is lesser known for his more edgy literary Fiction.His genre-skipping Fiction work has received 'honorable mention' over the years beginning with the 1986 Q2 Writers of the Future contest and from the SFSA Nova Award over later decades. His shorter works have been published in Omenana, RPGA Network and the SFSA Probe magazines. His longer works have been published under his eponymous Caldon Mull brand and by Sera Blue Publishers. He is currently resident in Finland with his wife and many cats.

Book preview

Preacherman

by

Caldon Mull

Copyright © 2024 by Caldon Mull

Published by Silver Bark Books

at Smashwords

Publisher information

Silver Bark Books

Linkorinne 5 A2

Espoo, 02630

Republic of Finland

Credit Section

‘All the Bright Children…’ Copyright © 2015 Caldon Mull in the Collection ‘Shards’

Preacherman Copyright © 2024 Caldon Mull

Cover art copyright © 2024 by Silver Bark Books

All Rights Reserved 1st Edition.

ISBN 978-952-7555-16-3 EPUB

ISBN 978-952-7555-17-0 PDF

ISBN 978-952-7555-18-7 Print Softcover

1st Edition License Notes

Preacherman... is a work of fiction, any resemblance of any character to any person, alive or dead, is entirely coincidental. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Part One Filename: Caracalla Sunset

Part One Filename: Catechuman

Part Two Filename: Preacher-Mon

Part Two Filename: Moss and Mist

Part Two Filename: Catharsis

Part Three Filename: Memento Mori

Part Three Filename: Epilogue

Glossary

About Caldon Mull

Other books by Caldon Mull

Connect with Caldon Mull

Acknowledgements

To: Everyone who is not yet;

From: Everyone who is still here.

Love, Everyone who ever was…

This is to you, from us.

Prologue

Caracalla Mission – Colonial Office Archives, Luna Headquarters – Nyby

The Seed Worlds Project Plan 2395AD Charter.

The Seed Worlds Project Plan 2395AD Implementation Schedule.

The Seed Worlds Project Plan 2395AD Founding Plan.

The Seed Worlds Project Plan 2395AD Colony.

The Seed Worlds Project Plan 2395AD Caracalla.

Seed Plan Update Caracalla expected founding 2510AD (Old Earth Time). Expected FirstLight contact 2610 AD (Old Earth Time) … awaiting update.

Seed Plan Update Caracalla expected founding 2510AD (Old Earth Time). Expected FirstLight contact 2610 AD (Old Earth Time) … awaiting update.

(Note) 2615AD – No contact received.

Seed Plan Update Caracalla expected founding 2510AD (Old Earth Time). Expected FirstLight contact 2610 AD (Old Earth Time) … awaiting update.

(Note) 2650AD – No contact received. Investigation with latest Imaging devices reveal previously undetected massive Dark Body designated BMM099546. Revising probabilities of disruption to Caracalla Seed Plan.

Seed Plan Update Caracalla expected founding 2510AD (Old Earth Time). Expected FirstLight contact 2610 AD (Old Earth Time) … awaiting update.

(Note) see above note 2650AD.

(Note) 2675AD – Caracalla object miscalculated based on detection of BMM099546. Probability of inhabitable planet in original estimates uncertain, probability <0.001% of original Seed Plan estimates.

Seed Plan Update Caracalla expected founding 2510AD (Old Earth Time). Expected FirstLight contact 2610 AD (Old Earth Time) … awaiting update.

(Note) see notes above 2615, 2650, 2675.

(Note) 2700AD. Nothing. I am so bored. This was the wrong career choice, and nobody reads this shit. The sooner they automate this, the better.

(Note – supplementary) 2721AD. New permissions assigned. ANI29-Luna StarMind. Priority downgrade to Ping only. Status change to ‘Lost’.

Seed Plan Update Caracalla expected founding 2510AD (Old Earth Time). Expected FirstLight contact 2610 AD (Old Earth Time) … awaiting update.

(Note) see notes above, 2615, 2650, 2675, 2700, 2721.

(Note) 2750AD. Status Unchanged.

Seed Plan Update Caracalla expected founding 2510AD (Old Earth Time). Expected FirstLight contact 2610 AD (Old Earth Time) … awaiting update.

(Note) see notes above 2615, 2650, 2675, 2700, 2721, 2750.

(Note) 2774AD. Ping received!!!

ANI29>Instantiating FirstLight Station Protocol… error 444-404.

ANI29>Instantiating Colonial Office contact… error 444-404.

ANI29>Instantiating Recovery Protocol… error 444-404.

ANI29>…

ANI29>…

ANI29>… (PrivateComment: WTF?)

ANI29>?Help REQUEST?

Luna StarMind>ack

Luna StarMind>Scanning Resources …done.

Luna StarMind>Override_ FirstLight Station Protocol

Luna StarMind>Override_ Colonial Office contact

Luna StarMind>Override_ Recovery Protocol

Luna StarMind>Establish contact with Agent(#BeNice#)

>>Greetings Caracalla Project Agent, you are fully instantiated. You may complete your self-parameters and relocate to your chassis when complete, just follow the markers.

<

>>Choose the traits your base persona most represents.

<

>>Do you wish to choose a sex? Your Profile schema will auto-populate.

<

>>Your StarMind has indicated that you have previous FirstLight experience. You are a Legacy Digital Twin, but you are the most experienced resource available. Please accept your Terms and Conditions of Duty.

<

>>Done… compositing modules, you may stream to your housing and commence duty. Good Luck. [SwitchPOV-UNASwitchStoryMode]

Luna StarMind>Close contact with Agent(#BeNice#)

Part One Filename: Caracalla Sunset

[Classification: Caracalla Sunset]

[Topic: Caracalla FirstLight Contact Log #001]

[Respondent: UNA FirstLight Mission Command]

[Responsible: LunarStarMind_ANI29]

[Date: Caracalla day of year/yd/YY: 986/1684/58]

[Date: Earth d/y: 220/2774]

[Report Structure: Story Mode]

Her modules came online in sequence, and she composited herself quickly. Her original template, her organic personality template had long since died, and her experiences held no vital connections that she noticed. They were memories, dusty and stale. This presented no problem for Una; it was convenient to have and would enhance her ability to fulfil her tasks rather than detract from them.

She detached from her charge port and moved towards the command bay, browsing as she moved. It was far quieter than she would have imagined, in her mind’s eye this would have been bustling with service personnel all receiving ‘FirstLight’ communications from their StarMinds’ support drones underfoot, and links to the Senate Councils and other System StarMinds filling the display screens with remote conferences to scientific authorities scattered across the Solar System and the Seeded Worlds.

Instead, everything looked mothballed and unused. Certainly, no biological humans were on the station considering the quiescent state of the life support systems. Una ordered a test cycle and the lights flickered on as she moved towards the system security airgap. The carbon scrubbers whistled in their vents as the air pressure picked up. The stations’ power indicators were at 80 percent, which was the optimal for storage deep cycling, otherwise all conditions appeared nominal. Una concluded that the state of the FirstLight station was intentional, which seemed odd to her logic processors. Why would they mothball it when she still had duties to perform?

She retrieved the station logs in an effort to understand her confusion, then did a double check at the current date. Two hundred and sixty years? That can’t be correct, can it? Una moved through the tube towards the command central, her lenses tracking the huge ball of the sun above her and the first of the perovskite collector mirror fields at the extreme edge of her vista. No, everything looked correct and in place.

Una moved towards her station in the tower and started her log-in sequence. Una quickly realized that there was no actual mistake. Caracalla was long overdue. Two hundred and sixty-three standard Earth years long overdue. She watched as the call to the Luna Science Council blinked, buffering the twenty-minute delay and waiting for a response.

Hello? a young human face pixelated into view, Colonial Office, Per speaking. How may I help you?

Hello, this is Una at FirstLight Station. I have Caracalla buffering and I have to notify you that I am in attendance.

Oh, um okay… Per blinked a few times while appearing distracted, I’m just bringing up the Task Sheets, if you would give me a few minutes. Nobody has done this for a while.

So it appears. Una watched as he set up the multiple displays. You don’t have a designated contact?

Ah, no… not for centuries. He grinned, I guess that I am now your Primary Designated Contact Agent. I promise that I have skills for the task, even though I have never done this before.

Congratulations…?

Thanks, Una. I think. His brow furrowed in concentration, Is there any indication in the StarMind header log what went wrong or why this is so far off schedule? There has not been a staff member who was part of the original program working in the Colonial Office for over two hundred years."

Not yet, I am running all the metrics as we speak. I am recently instantiated… fresh out of storage, so to speak.

I don’t have much experience in what we are doing Una, nobody has, since there was last a FirstLight. Caracalla was the only unreported outpost remaining. I think we first have to work out something between us as to what our mutual responsibility is if I am to be your Primary Designate.

Una was... I am a trained Account Manager, so that is my selected skill set. Do you still have Account Managers?

How long ago was she… I mean you… digitally twinned? Per winced quickly, I mean, no offence please. I think I have a similar role."

None taken. About 2040, I think from the log records. There were about 9 billion people on Earth at the time.

Things have certainly changed, there aren’t more than a score of thousands right now. Per scrolled through his scripts, so you are deciphering the scripts now?

Yes, then I will synchronize the Caracalla test broadcasts and attempt the entanglement. Una responded. If that is successful, I will then upload the entanglement to the Crux and Caracalla will have a live, real-time link to the Solar System. I have internalized the Task List; it is fairly linear in all regards."

That plan hasn’t changed, it has worked for all the other Seed Worlds, so far. What is the Quality of the broadcast, so far?

It’s a bit thin, to be honest. Una checked, I don’t think things worked out the way they were supposed to, somehow. I’ll know soon enough; the beam transmission is spotty in places as if the StarMind is struggling to buffer the appropriate power levels.

That Star was supposed to be an Orange Dwarf star, was it not? That shouldn’t be as big an issue as it would a low-mass M-class dwarf.

It shouldn’t be, 85% the mass and 65 % the luminosity of the Sun means that the forecasts were well within the specifications for colonization. Una checked through the scrolling receipt logs, There has to be another reason Caracalla StarMind appears so… frail. Una mused, But I will tease those reasons out as I process the FirstLight ‘helo world’ messages. The facilities here are completely at my disposal, and I have ample resources to complete my tasks successfully, even if signal quality is weak. In a way being alone with all the un-utilized facilities may just turn out for the best.

I have established open channels for our project. Per announced, It seems like we are good to go. The Sol Science Council, the StarMind Confederation, Luna StarMind and the Sol Senate have all been notified. Oh, here is an authorization notice from Luna StarMind. I am your permanent liaison, it seems. He shrugged, I hope that it is fine with you.

I accept. Una noticed several reports indicating a ‘delivered’ status. I need to digest these and will have the normalized forms ready for you in some time.

I’m about to go off shift. Per grinned, I have set an instant alert on my wearable, so you can contact me at any time. Obviously, the processing power is only available from my workspace and through Luna StarMind, so I will have to travel if you need technical info swap. I will see you tomorrow, and if you could start sending things through as they are complete at your site, I’ll be able to pick things up as soon as I am at my station. Do you have a programmed rest-cycle?

I do. Una nodded, My digital twin substrate replicates all the human conditions, a typical Type-3 soft-persona.

Okay, then. Per stifled a yawn and stretched, It’s been great meeting you, Una. I’ll wish you luck in the processing and see you tomorrow.

Until tomorrow. Una cut the connection and set to compile the logs.

Good morning, Per.

Haloo, Una. He smiled as her broadcast stabilized, Luna StarMind has been running metrics on your first batch of submissions and seems quite pleased with your composition.

Oh, good. Una swiveled in the charge-seat to face him, What does she think about Caracalla StarMind?

"The quick and the short of