Tanis Richards Read online

  TANIS RICHARDS:

  MASQUERADE

  ORIGINS OF DESTINY – BOOK 2

  BY M. D. COOPER

  Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers

  Jim Dean

  Timothy Van Oosterwyk Bruyn

  Marti Panikkar

  Alastar Wilson

  Scott Reid

  David Wilson

  Steven Blevins

  Gene Bryan

  Scot Mantelli

  Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper

  Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2018 M. D. Cooper

  Version 1.0.0

  Cover Art by Andrew Dobell

  Editing by Jen McDonnell, Bird’s Eye Books

  Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered trademarks of Michael Cooper

  All rights reserved

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  PREVIOUSLY IN ORIGINS OF DESTINY…

  MAPS

  CREW OF THE KIRBY JONES

  MELAS CHASMA

  THE IC

  AUTONOMOUS HUMANITY

  SNAFUBAR

  CHASING SIMON

  CASSIE HAWK

  PINAN GODAN

  DINNER AND A DRINK

  HIKING AND DIVERSION

  JOURNEY’S END

  A PLAN

  LOYALTY

  DISCOVERY

  DIVE AND A FALL

  COMMANDER ON DECK

  CANDY CANE SCHMUTZ

  AN UPGRADE?

  WHISKEY TANGO

  A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE

  IN THE WATER

  THE BLUE LAGOON

  GOING UNDER

  TORFIN AND AMEONIA

  TURNING THE TABLES

  TEETH

  CLEANUP

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  FOREWORD

  Ever since I read The Dolphins of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, I wondered about other life on Earth, and what it would be like to give it some gentle nudges toward greater intelligence.

  Though most of us grew up thinking that chimps and some of the great apes were the smartest non-human creatures on Earth, we’re learning that there are more ways to measure intelligence than we thought.

  A major factor is the brain mass to body mass ratio. A massive brain doesn’t directly correlate to intelligence, since most of the brain’s focus is on controlling the body.

  Humans rule the roost here, and, surprisingly, dolphins typically come in second (though individual members of different species vary). The animal that comes closest to us the most often is the orca (killer whale), which is the largest of the dolphin family.

  Fun point, dolphins are not closely related to any other sea creature. The closest living animal to them is the hippo. Weird that hippos are so angry, and dolphins are so helpful and happy.

  We’re also learning that the ‘intelligence switch’ in the brain is not the same in all animals as it is in humans. For example, a part of the human brain that does relatively little is larger in parrots and ravens and thought to be their intelligence switch.

  A key element of Aeon 14 books is the belief that we’re going to find ways to make every nook and cranny in the Sol System habitable, and we’re going to bring our Earth life with us. So it won’t be surprising that the seas of Mars, Venus, Ceres, and—of course—Europa are filled with creatures such as dolphins.

  Since Europa’s ocean (which contains much more water than all of Earth’s oceans) is covered by kilometers of ice, dolphins and other sea mammals that live there will have to be modified to breathe through gills, but perhaps they will also be modified in other ways.

  That is one of the other key elements of this story, the prevalence of mods, and how readily some people will alter themselves. In a future where adding a second set of arms is very nearly outpatient surgery—and entirely reversible—it will become common to see people trying out just about everything they can think of.

  In the future, chances are that we’ll make our own aliens.

  Michael Cooper

  Danvers, 2018

  PREVIOUSLY IN ORIGINS OF DESTINY…

  If you’ve not read Tanis Richards: Shore Leave (book 1 of the Origins of Destiny series), I encourage you to do so. However, if you’d just like to jump into this story, or you’ve read it all and just need a refresher, then this will get you up to speed.

  Aeon 14 is a portrayal of the future I hope our race will occupy. It’s not a perfect place—because we are not perfect—but it is a future where humanity (and our creation, the AIs) has managed to learn well enough how to survive, expanding out into the far reaches of the Sol System, and even to other stars.

  This story takes place just over two thousand years from now. Lives are measured in centuries, and trillions of humans fill the Sol System.

  Mega-structures have been built, such as the Mars 1 Ring and High Terra, which encircle entire worlds. Humans have terraformed many planets, and even changed the orbits of some.

  The Sol System (what you know as the ‘Solar System’) is divided into a few major political bodies, all under the umbrella of the Sol Space Federation.

  InnerSol (everything up to and including the asteroid belt) is under the umbrella of The Terran Hegemony—with the notable exception of the Marsian Protectorate.

  OuterSol (Which includes Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) falls generally under the Jovian Combine. Beyond Neptune’s orbit is the Scattered Worlds Alliance, a loose conglomeration of the hundreds of small planetoids which fill the outer reaches of the Sol System (NASA currently estimates that there are over two hundred dwarf planets out there, and very likely at least one large major planet, which is named Nibiru in Aeon 14).

  Our story follows Tanis Richards, a commander in the Terran Space Force. For the military folks, that makes her an O-3. Tanis is also what is known as an L2 human.

  Chances are that (so long as you’re not the next Einstein) you, dear reader, are an L0 human. You have about 100 billion neurons in your brain. All neurons have dendrites (input) and one axon (output). Some neurons have only one dendrite, some have as many as 200,000. There are trillions of dendrites, the connections to which are your synapses.

  As humans began to modify their brains, they helped to spur on evolution by making humans with as many as 150 billion neurons and many, many more dendrites than we have. Not only that, but they improved the speed of the neurons and their data transmission.

  The book Alpha Centauri (set roughly 1,000 years before this) in the Aeon 14 universe gets into this a bit more, but for all intents and purposes, people began creating humans with Einstein-type brains. Eventually, L2 humans began to crop up—first naturally, and then by upgrading the now naturally occurring L1 humans to L2 status.

  Tanis is one such L1 human upgraded to an L2. Her reflexes are faster, she can hold far more information in her head than most people, and she makes more intuitive leaps with more information as their foundation. Her memory is also perfect, though that is with the help of non-biological mods.

  But what Tanis has never been able to have is an AI implanted in her brain. In Aeon 14, this is called ‘pairing’ or ‘embedding’. It’s not terribly common, but most military commanders and many scientists share their head-space with AIs.

  AIs that take on certain roles also have to first spend time paired with a human to better understand them.

  Because of Tanis’s neurological density, she expected to never be paired with an AI, but advances by a company named Enfield have provided a way for humans upgraded from L1 to L2 status to be able to achieve this.

  The Terran Space Force is very interested in AI-L2 pairings and they selected Tanis and Darla to be some of the first to undergo this process.

/>   It was well timed, because in the previous book, Shore Leave, Tanis needed Darla’s help to stop a plot by rogue elements within the Scattered Worlds Space Force who were trying to smuggle old tech out of InnerSol, tech they could use to rebuild derelict ships from their ancient space force and once again pose a threat to InnerSol.

  Tanis, Darla, and the crew of the TSS Kirby Jones stopped the SWSF from gaining access to those components, and also uncovered that they had been in collusion with a Terran admiral named Deering.

  During that adventure, Tanis met a man named Harm Ellis, who is an undercover military intelligence and counterinsurgency agent working with Enfield on the L2-AI project.

  Harm aided Tanis and Darla, and in the end, he recruited her into Division 99, the official name for what are called the Mickies.

  After Tanis’s shore leave was cut short by her initial adventure with Darla, she managed to get some time to visit Mars, while her ship, the TSS Kirby Jones, undergoes refit and repair.

  Which is where we find her now.…

  MAPS

  Find full-size maps at www.aeon14.com/maps.

  CREW OF THE KIRBY JONES

  Note: This book takes place during the years of the TSF’s military division unification process. This explains why you see some odd ranks, such as Connie being a Technical Sergeant and an E7, while not a Chief Petty Officer. You’ll see some other odd ranks mixed together, and the absence of a rank of Captain.

  Flight Crew

  Ship’s Captain - Commander Tanis Richards (O-3)

  Ship’s AI – Lovell

  Helm Officer - Lieutenant Jeannie (O-1)

  Weapons and Scan – Lieutenant James Smythe (O-2)

  Chief Engineer – Technical Sergeant Connie (E-7)

  Engineer – Spaceman Seamus (E-3)

  Engineer – Spaceman Liam (E-3)

  Breach Crew

  Team Leader – Corporal Marian (E-4)

  Team Member – Private Second Class Yves (E-2)

  Team Member – Private First Class Susan (E-3)

  Team Member – Private First Class Lukas (E-3)

  Other Returning Characters

  Harm Ellis – Tanis’s contact in Division 99 and her handler. Harm is also undercover with Enfield.

  Colonel Higgs – Tanis’s commanding officer stationed on Vesta.

  MELAS CHASMA

  STELLAR DATE: 02.15.4084 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Northern Shores of the Melas Chasma, Mariner Seas

  REGION: Mars, Marsian Protectorate, InnerSol

  Tanis stretched out her arms, swimming with long strokes toward the shore that lay half a kilometer distant. Her breathing was easy and her mind calm, as she took her time closing the distance.

  Between breaths, when her face was in the water, her augmented vision gave her a clear view of the sea life that flourished in the Melas Chasma. Dozens of species of tropical fish swam in the reefs near the shore, while predators such as sharks and octopuses lurked in the shadows.

  When she turned her head to draw in each deep breath, she caught sight of fluffy, white cumulous clouds drifting high above, and the Mars 1 Ring and Mars Central Elevator Exchange twinkling in space beyond.

  Past the current that ran along the outer edge of the reef, Tanis twisted and lay on her back, gazing up at the azure skies overhead. The joy of being in the Melas Chasma’s warm waters, enjoying a swim in the world’s gentle 0.38g, suffused her with joy, and she laughed aloud with delight.

  No matter how long she was away, Mars still felt like home.

  After staring at the blue dome over her head for a few minutes—guessing at starship types by their engine flares—she turned back over and resumed her leisurely progress toward the shore.

  Peering into the depths, she saw a school of tuna darting away from a pod of bottlenose dolphins. They seemed to be chasing the fish more for sport than food, as none of them took a bite of the prey.

  As she watched, Tanis realized that the cows were teaching the pups how to hunt, corralling the tuna—no mean feat, with some of the fish being half the size of the dolphins—and then letting the pups rush the fish.

  Tanis drew in several deep breaths, using her mods to hyper-oxygenate her bloodstream, before expelling all the air from her lungs and diving down the thirty meters to where the pod was toying with the tuna.

  She could hear their playful songs as they whistled, trilled, and squeaked at one another. With her auditory mods, it was easy for Tanis to make out their intent, and even the trills they made that were unique to each member of the pod, as the cows instructed the pups.

  While her mods made the sounds clear to her, Tanis only had a rudimentary understanding of the bottlenose dialect. She was far more familiar with orcan speech.

  Darla asked, as Tanis passed the ten-meter mark.

  Tanis replied.

  As Tanis replied to Darla, three of the pups spotted her and abandoned the hunt, turning toward her and streaking up through the water.

  “Fwwwwt-t, Chuooooa, Heeeaaat-t, depths. Hunt,” one of the cows called up to the three pups. Tanis could barely understand the words and set her HUD to overlay a translation on her vision.

  “Human. Distress,” one of the pups replied as the trio approached Tanis.

  “No distress,” Tanis signed with her hands, lacking an underwater voxbox.

  Then the pups were upon her, prodding her with their noses and fins.

  “No gills,” another of the pups announced. “How you breathe?”

  Tanis pantomimed gulping down air, and was shocked to see looks of fear on the pups’ faces.

  “Drown!” the first one wailed, and suddenly, Tanis felt herself pinned between the three young pups as they raced to the surface.

  Tanis tried to sign that she was at no risk of drowning and could survive ten minutes without breathing, but the pups weren’t watching her hands as they pushed her up.

  They broke the surface and the pups made sure that Tanis’s head was above water as they chirped with delight that they had saved a human.

  Moments later, two of the cows surfaced and began scolding the pups for pushing a human when she was not behaving as though she was in danger.

  “It’s OK,” Tanis signed. “Better safe than drowned human.”

  “Not upset?” one of the cows asked, bobbing its head out of the water in a gesture of concern.

  “No, quite happy to see you. Worried I disrupted hunt.”

  “Only practice,” one the cows replied, giving the pups the dolphin’s version of a frown. “Pups need it.”

  Suddenly the rest of the pod broke the surface around them, half the pups flying through the air before splashing back into the water.

  “Hungry orcas impatient,” one of the other cows said. “Wanted tuna.”

  “Orcas?”

  Tanis pushed herself under the water to see seven killer whales darting through the now dispersed school of tuna, each killing two or three of the fish before beginning to devour their meal.

  “Orcas politely waiting,” one of the cows who had just come to the surface said. “But, since hunt disrupted, let them eat.”

  Tanis signed ‘Hello’ to the orcas, and one noticed, calling up “Good day, surface woman,” before returning to its meal.

  “They don’t like to talk while they eat,” one of the bottlenose cows said with a chirping laugh. “They think it makes them sound funny.”

  “That’s because it does,” one of the other dolphins said, then made a low moaning sound in the orca’s dialect. “Yum. Tuna.”

  Tanis laughed, and one of the orcas far below turned to give the pod a disparaging look and a low moan of disapproval, to which the bottlenose dolphins slapped th
eir tails on the surface while laughing with amusement.

  Below, the orcas took their catch in their mouths and swam away, their body language broadcasting their disapproval of the pod’s sense of humor.

  Tanis was sad to see the orcas go, but also apologized to the pod. “Sorry I ruined hunt practice.”

  “No worry,” the cow who had first surfaced said. “You right. Good for pups follow instinct and save surface dweller.”

  “Are you?” one of the pups asked, jerking its head toward the shore. “Or sky dweller?”

  It drew out the word ‘sky’ with a sense of wonder, and Tanis couldn’t help but laugh.

  “I was born on Mars, just like you. But I live in space now.”

  “I wish to go to the sky,” another of the pups said, while the cows shook their heads in disapproval.

  “Our people belong in the sea,” one of the cows intoned, and Tanis nodded, not wanting to upset the pod.

  “Your elders are right.”

  She had seen a few dolphins who traveled in exosuits, but none of them seemed happy, and she always heard that they hated being so far from water, only travelling to other worlds when they absolutely had to.

  The pups looked sad, and Tanis decided to change the subject. “May I swim with you?”

  The question brought squeals of delight, and wide dolphin grins surrounded her as the pod chirruped their welcomes.

  As they played, the bottlenose cows told Tanis of their travels, the seas they'd seen, and the delicious tuna they'd eaten. As with all pods, they spoke of their families, the new calves and those who were growing old and tired.

  Tanis had spent much of her youth swimming in the waters of the Melas Chasma, and it wasn’t the first time she’d enjoyed the company of dolphins, but it was the first in many years, and she savored the experience.

  Darla said at one point.