The Toll Road Between the Stars (Perseus Gate Book 5) Read online

  THE TOLL ROAD BETWEEN THE STARS

  Perseus Gate – Episode 5

  BY M. D. COOPER

  SPECIAL THANKS

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Reads

  David Wilson

  Jim Dean

  Lisa L. Richman

  Scott Reid

  Katrina Able

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Copyright © 2017 M. D. Cooper

  Cover Art by Andrew Dobell

  Editing by Tee Ayer

  All rights reserved.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  SABRINA’S CREW

  CHANGE OF FATE

  FAREWELLS

  PERRY STRAIT

  BOARDED

  ELLIS REACH

  THE PERRY

  CHEEKY’S OUTING

  SLOP & DINNER

  THE BOMB

  PERINA

  THE DEAL WITH DERRICK

  BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT

  JUMP GATE

  ON THE ROAD AGAIN

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  FOREWORD

  Before you dive in, I’ll warn you that this one’s a bit shorter than the previous novellas in the Perseus Gate series. I had the story outlined and knew what it was about, but it just refused to get any longer than about 100 pages.

  I could have forced it, added some additional subplot, lumped in backstory about some new person that the crew meets on their journey, but I felt as though that would have taken away from the main thrust of the story, which is very much about Jessica coming to grips with a few personal issues.

  The other reason why this one’s a bit shorter is because of the grand finale; The Final Stroll on Perseus’s Arm will be much longer than the previous books—at least another 50-70 additional pages worth—and I want to get to that story so that I can wrap it up, and finally catch Perseus Gate up to the events of Orion Rising.

  This story also serves another purpose: to examine how all space is not as empty as what we see around our star.

  Sol is in a relatively nice neighborhood. Our fellow stars we travel with keep at a reasonable distance, not disturbing our Oort cloud, not going supernova (thank the stars), and generally leaving our dear Sol alone.

  But in other regions of the galaxy, in stellar nurseries, and globular clusters, stars are very, very close to one another. So close, in fact, that there could be as many as half a dozen within the volume of our Sol System.

  Those conditions are not ideal for humans in any form. Be it trying to terraform worlds while that many stars are glaring down from above (and bathing you in radiation), or even just trying to navigate with all the flotsam and jetsam, plasma, coronal mass ejections, and everything else going on.

  Most nebulae are like this. Superheated gasses, plasma, stars being born, and stars dying are everywhere. These are not the homes of sedate stars like our Sol; the type of star that will live relatively peaceful lives for ten-billion years or so.

  Such places often birth stars that only live for as little as a few million years. Massive A-spectrum blue giants that consume fuel at an alarming rate before exploding in supernovae that create the heavier elements required for stellar systems like ours to form.

  But you don’t want to live there, and if you do, there are a lot of places you don’t want to go. Even without FTL—and the fear of running into mass in the dark layer—very often, you simply can’t get to there from here.

  And that is where Jessica and the crew of Sabrina find themselves, flying through a narrow channel in the Stillwater Nebula, inhospitable space on either side, and a route that will take them through a less than savory locale.

  M. D. Cooper

  Danvers, 2017

  LAST TIME ON PERSEUS GATE

  In The Last Bastion of Star City, the crew of Sabrina came to Star City, a massive dyson sphere built around a neutron star.

  There, Jessica, Trevor, and Iris went into The Dream—the matrix-like artificial world where lifetimes are accelerated to move humans closer to ascension at a rapid rate.

  There, Jessica, Trevor, and Iris created sixteen AI children who became Bastions, the defenders of Star City. Those children successfully protected the city from the Orion Guard and will now protect The Dreamers—the final few billions of humans who have not yet ascended and remain in The Dream.

  Now, the crew of Sabrina must tear themselves away from Star City and continue their journey to New Canaan, facing the long, perilous path through the Stillwater Nebula.

  SABRINA’S CREW

  Cargo – Ship’s Captain

  Cheeky – Pilot

  Erin – AI embedded in Nance

  Finaeus – Passenger

  Jessica – First Mate

  Hank – AI embedded in Cargo

  Iris – AI embedded in Jessica

  Misha – Trader picked up in Naga System

  Nance – Bio/Engineer

  Piya – AI embedded in Cheeky

  Sabrina – Ship’s AI

  Terry – Mechanic recruited on Gallas

  Trevor – Supercargo and muscle

  NOTE: When Sabrina is italicized, it refers to the ship, but if Sabrina is not italicized, it refers to the AI. Yes, this would be much simpler if the ship and AI did not share the same name, but you try telling that to Sabrina!

  Just so you stay on her good side, never call the ship “the Sabrina”; it really gets on her last synthetic neuron.

  CHANGE OF FATE

  STELLAR DATE: 11.24.8938 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Manhattan, Star City

  REGION: Star City System, Perseus Arm

  Jessica stood next to the ship her children were giving Terry for her journey home. It felt surreal to Jessica that her own children were doling out starships…. She let out a long breath and placed her hand on the hull, wishing the craft a safe journey amidst the stars.

  “You worried about my ship?” Terry asked as she approached, carrying a crate of fresh produce for the trip.

  “It’s been a while since it’s been out in the black,” Jessica said. “Just giving it some good vibes.”

  Terry set the crate down and approached Jessica, running her hand along the hull as well. “It’s a good ship. I’ve checked her over, and so have Nance and Finaeus. She’ll get me home.”

  “Are you sure you want to go?” Jessica asked. “We only just got started on our adventure.”

  “Seriously, Jessica,” Terry said with a shake of her head. “Your ‘just getting started’ is most people’s ‘incredible adventure of a lifetime’.”

  “Sorry we scared you off, then,” Jessica replied.

  “That’s not it, Jessica. I know I’ve had trouble putting it into words, but when it comes down to it, I think I felt like I was abandoning my people. The Serenity Primus is an oppressive feudal system—something I learned about during some studies in The Dream. Knowing that my friends and family will live and die under that system, never knowing anything else…. It’s just not something I can let happen.”

  “I understand that.” Jessica nodded. “I couldn’t stay to fix it, but I couldn’t bear the thought of you staying there forever…so I took you away.”

  Terry took a step forward and placed her hands on Jessica’s shoulders. “And I thank you for that. You have no idea how much this has meant to me. I never had any clue of what is out here. I still barely grasp it, but I know I have to go back and make a change.”

  “What are you going to do?” Jessica asked.

  “I don’t exactly know yet.” Terry gave a nonchalant shrug. “A revolution of some sort. Maybe it will be peace
ful, maybe it won’t. You never saw how much it sucks for people in the lower rungs. Who knows…” her voice trailed off for a moment, “at the very least I could lead an exodus to Star City. Tanis told me that they would welcome us. Either to settle in a biome, or to enter The Dream.”

  “Those are some lofty goals,” Jessica said. “I wish you the best of luck. Who knows? We could see each other again as well. Some way, somehow, we’re going to see my kids again.”

  Terry nodded. “Of course, you will. I imagine once you get to New Canaan you can get back by jump gate—I mean, it’s how you got out to the Perseus Arm in the first place. Come to think of it, I’m not sure why Finaeus can’t build a jump gate here right now.”

  “Stars….” Jessica sighed. “We’ve been round and round on this one. Finaeus has a whole host of reasons why it’s a bad idea to build one here.”

  “Still seems shorter than a twenty-year flight,” Terry said.

  “Seems that way.” Jessica nodded again. “But it would still take some years to manufacture the mirrors. Finaeus is also worried about initializing a jump gate so close to the nebula and all this dark matter. I guess once the wormhole-thing is established it can pass through anything, but initialization can be tricky. I guess they run the risk of sending you anywhere.”

  “I bet you’re all a little leery of that,” Terry said with a grin.

  “Just a smidge.”

  “I can also imagine that if the Orion Guard folks saw that Star City had jump-gate tech, they might get antsy and renew their efforts to get here.”

  Jessica sighed. “There is that, yeah. Not keen on putting the kids in danger—well, more danger.”

  Terry took Jessica’s hand and leaned in to give her a kiss on the check. “Still can’t believe you’re a mom…of sixteen. You are unlike anyone I ever expected to encounter…ever.”

  “I’m sorry that we’ll never be able to find out if there’s anything between us,” Jessica said. “I don’t know what it is, but I find myself drawn to you, Terry.”

  A look of frustration clouded Terry’s face. “Oh, now you say it? You flirt with me back on Gallas, drag me across the stars, wait ‘til I’m about to leave, and then you drop the ‘we could have had something’ bomb?”

  Jessica pursed her lips. “I know. It was a jerk move. It couldn’t have happened anyway. Trevor’s a one-woman kind of guy. For this to work for him, I have to be too. But you never know. Life is long, and I’ll meet you again. I know it.”

  Terry leaned back in and kissed Jessica on the lips. Not a chaste kiss either. One full of longing and desire.

  “Not going to wait for you, purple girl. But if you come back, and are available…”

  Jessica grinned and stroked Terry’s cheek. “If I knew you kissed like that, I might have tried to convince Trevor.”

  Terry turned and walked away, grabbing her case of produce. “Well, too bad, Jessica. You missed a golden opportunity.”

  “Seems like it,” Jessica replied.

  Iris asked.

  Jessica grinned.

 

  Jessica watched Terry walk up the ramp to her ship’s airlock.

  Iris asked.

 

  Iris chuckled.

  FAREWELLS

  STELLAR DATE: 11.24.8938 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Manhattan, Star City

  REGION: Star City System, Perseus Arm

  The celebration that night was held in the physical world, not The Dream. The kids used holopresences to take part, commenting several times on how the lighting in the physical world seemed ‘off’.

  “You know,” Jessica said to Tanis after her daughter mentioned it, “we’re sitting atop a massive sphere with another sphere overhead. The light here is entirely artificial. It’s all but guaranteed to feel wrong.”

  “I know, Mom,” Tanis replied. “It’s not that, though. It’s something about the contrast between light and dark. It’s more pronounced here.”

  Jessica looked around and compared the scene before her to memories of The Dream. It looked the same to her, but then again, she saw things differently than her children—in both The Dream and the physical world.

  “I’ll have to take your word for it.”

  “I suppose you will, Mom.”

  Jessica studied at Tanis, memorizing her face, committing her small ticks and quirks to memory. The urge to stay at Star City was strong, but Jessica knew such a future would be hollow; it would be trying to live in the past while her children grew toward a future she could barely envision.

  “Mom, your mods give you an eidetic memory. You won’t forget what I look like.”

  “We organics are fragile,” Jessica replied. “You never know when a mod might fail and we need to rely on good ole neurons and our chemical memories.”

  “Sounds so dangerous,” Tanis said with a shake of her head. “To trust everything that you are to electrochemical impulses in living tissue. It’s a miracle humanity has managed as well as it has.”

  “Very illogical for an AI,” Jessica mock-scolded Tanis. “You know that because it has happened, it is probable that it indeed would have happened.”

  Tanis snorted. “Don’t quote probability at me. And I should add, there’s nothing artificial about me. My siblings and I are the natural evolution of life. You could join us, you know. We’ve found a way to overcome the issues that foiled Johan when he tried to convert other advanced humans to Bastions.”

  “What?” Jessica asked. “To become two beings? One still as I am, and another with you?”

  “Yes,” Tanis replied.

  No stronger temptation had ever been laid before Jessica. She chewed at her lip as she imagined a future as an AI, living in The Dream, or as a Bastion, or however she chose, probably ascending as an eternal being at some point.

  But she also knew that a version of her would remain behind. And that version would feel so very, very alone.

  “No,” she eventually replied. “We will be reunited at some point. And then…who knows. Only time will tell.”

  Jessica wished she could embrace her daughter, and contented herself with placing a hand within the projection of Tanis’s.

  “Yes, Mother. Only time will tell.”

  PERRY STRAIT

  STELLAR DATE: 04.19.8940 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Sabrina

  REGION: Perry System, Stillwater Nebula, Perseus Arm

  Two years later…

  “You thinking about them?” Trevor asked as he placed his hands on Jessica’s shoulders.

  She turned from the scan console on the bridge and looked up at her husband. “Yeah, it’s hard not to wonder what they’re doing.”

  “Hopefully not much,” Trevor replied. “Just tending to their crop of dreamers and not fighting hordes of Orion ships.”

  “By now they’ll have their own drone fleets,” Jessica said. “Or they’d better. I gave them the blueprints. They could produce a million a year given their infrastructure.”

  Trevor laughed as reached down for Jessica’s hand. “I almost—almost—pity the Orion fools.”

  Jessica took his hand and he pulled her up into a warm embrace. “I don’t regret it for a moment. Those were some of the best years of my life. And we’ll see them again. I know it. Once we get Finaeus to New Canaan, he and Earnest will work out a way to get a jump gate that can target while that close to the nebula and we’ll have regular trade with Star City.

  “I think that won’t be too hard,” Finaeus replied from the comm auxiliary station in the back. “At least getting there wi
ll be easy. Getting back…well, if we make a return gate at Serenity, then we can do return jumps from there.”

  Jessica flushed. She had forgotten that the entire crew, minus Nance, was on the bridge as they approached the Perry System. It had been so quiet, and she’d been lost in her memories.

  “I remember, Finaeus. We discussed the issues surrounding a gate at Star City for some time.”

  “OK, just making sure; it was a while back.”

  Jessica nodded, her thoughts still focused on the gate and its potential ramifications. “But if we built a gate at Serenity—which has a whole host of other issues associated with it—won’t it cause Orion to perk up and take notice? Star City can protect itself against Orion, Serenity cannot.”

  “Oh, well, yeah,” Finaeus said. “But in that case I think we can put it in Serenity Primus.”

  “What?” Cheeky asked, turning in her seat to look at Finaeus. “I love you dear, but some days I think you’ve lost your marbles.”

  “Well, not in in the planet. Gas giants like Serenity Primus get pretty inhospitable pretty fast. Just below the cloud tops. I think I could use the planet’s gravity to counteract the proximity of the nebula’s dark matter.”

  “And if it doesn’t work?” Misha asked, a worried look on his face.

  Finaeus shrugged. “Well, either you end up in some new, distant location, or you fly straight into the planet.”

  Misha shook his head. “So you’re saying it’s a bit risky.”

  “I guess,” Finaeus replied. “But so’s life.”

  Misha muttered something about how life with Finaeus was infinitely more so, and Cheeky laughed.

  The bridge grew quiet once more and eventually Jessica said, “It’s the long trip in the dark for us.”

  “Not so dark around here,” Cheeky said, gesturing at the display.