Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - StarShield Book 1

STARSHIELD

Volume 1:

Sentinels

By Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

Agent: Jonathon Lazear

The Lazear Agency

430 First Avenue North / Suite 416

Minniapolis, Minnisota 55401

(612) 332-8640

AUTHOR’S NOTE: What you are looking at is a unique document. This is the original manu-

script as it was submitted to the publisher in its first completed form. There have been changes, to be

sure, as it has gone through editorial (including a complete rewrite of the first five chapters of the

book when it first appeared in paperback). This, however, was our original vision -- flawed as it was.

We hope you enjoy this glimps into our creative world. While you’re at it, we hope that you enjoy

the story as well. Tracy Hickman

October, 1997

Permission is given to the purchaser of this CD-ROM to print the contents of this file directly from the

original CD-ROM file once for their personal use only. Any other reproduction or transmission of the

content of this file, either in whole or in part, including but not limited to photocopying, printing and/

or internet distribution is strictly prohibited. For information concerning this copyright, contact:

Tracy Hickman

720 S. River Road / Suite A210, St. George, Utah 84790 or via email at zanfib@starshield.com.

Contents

STARSHIELD ................................................................ 1

PROLOGUE: MYTH AND LEGEND .......................... 4

ALPHA: THE BOOK OF MERINDA ........................... 6

Chapter 1: Cascade ........................................................ 7

Chapter2: Minor Inconvenience .................................. 13

Chapter 3: Inflight ....................................................... 18

Chapter 4: Keepers of the Citadel ............................... 22

Chapter 5: Avenue of Diversion .................................. 26

Chapter 6: Dialogues .................................................... 32

Chapter 7 : Freefall ...................................................... 37

BETA: BOOK OF ARCHILUS.................................... 42

Chapter 8: ARCHILUS LOST..................................... 43

Chapter 9: Into the Frying Pan .................................... 45

Chapter 10: Uncertain Death ........................................ 50

Chapter 11: Information Half-life................................. 55

Chapter 12: Dissonance ................................................ 61

Chapter 13: Inquisitas .................................................. 68

Chapter 14: No Place Like Home................................. 73

Chapter 15: Old Friends ............................................... 79

Chapter 16: Escape ....................................................... 86

Chapter 17: Maelstrom ................................................. 91

GAMMA: BOOK OF THE SENTINALS ................... 99

Chapter 18: Omnet ..................................................... 100

Chapter 19: Oracles .................................................... 104

Chapter 20: Sword of Knowledge .............................. 109

Chapter 21: Runaway ................................................. 113

Chapter 22: Legends................................................... 120

Chapter 23: Oscan ...................................................... 127

Chapter 24: Faster than Thought ................................ 131

Chapter 25: Minor Deceptions .................................. 136

Chapter 26: Honor Among Thieves............................ 141

Chapter 27: Orders of Faith ........................................ 145

Chapter 28: Detour ..................................................... 150

Chapter 29: Underworld ............................................. 155

Chapter 30: Resurrections .......................................... 159

Chapter 31: Tempted and Tried .................................. 166

Chapter 32: Departures ............................................... 171

OMEGA: BOOK OF KHENDIS-DAI ....................... 176

Chapter 33: Avadon .................................................... 177

Chapter 34: Blasphemy .............................................. 183

Chapter 35: Downfall ................................................. 189

Chapter 36: Starlight................................................... 194

Chapter 37: Convergence ........................................... 199

Chapter 38: Enlightenment ......................................... 204

Chapter 39: Unified Fields ......................................... 208

Chapter 40: New Home .............................................. 212

APPENDIX I: OMNET.............................................. 216

Purpose ........................................................216

History .........................................................216

Organization ................................................216

Librae..................................................................216

Vestis...................................................................216

E’toris Maxim.....................................................216

Nine Oracles .......................................................216

APPENDIX II: QUANTUM WEATHER .................. 217

Quantum Fronts...........................................217

Quasi-stable states, Zones, and Convergence217

Transitional Fronts ......................................218

Flynch-Halpert Q-dex..................................218

APPENDIX III: SYNTHETIC MINDS ..................... 219

APPENDIX IV: TRANSLATION NOTE .................. 220

Colophon:

Being an account of the journeys of one

Captain Jeremy Griffiths (USN)

as translated into the English Language for

the class IV planet known locally as Earth.

Be it known hereby that this translation and distribution is provided in fulfillment of requirements

under the New Worlds Contact Pact of 9211 I.C. for first contact with emerging industrial worlds —

particularly Provision 972.E.815.a which requires ‘emerging sentient planetary societies . . . be gradu-

ally introduced to the realities of galactic society . . . through the use of local channels of entertainment

media . . . in order to minimize cultural shock and distress.” This document is distributed by IGNM, the

Intra-galactic News Matrix, a division of OMNET, in express compliance with those guidelines prior

to initiating direct contact.

When you want the really big picture, turn to IGNM.

IGNM: a universe of perspective you can trust.

Prologue: Myth and Legend

Shauna-kir walked the stars.

They were her birthright. They were her home. She danced through the nebula clouds of the

galactic disks with a silent step for fear of awakening the new stars within too soon. She laughed, her

hair whipping playfully about her oval face as the gales of the quantum wave fronts destroyed civiliza-

tions, histories and ideas around her. She turned and considered them for a time, those worlds where the

passing of one reality for another had caused the life their to shudder and cry out in pain. It saddened

her, for such was her greatness that she could be sad at the passage of such a small thing.

Yet sadness was not her nature. She turned again, diving through the black holes as a swimmer

moves through water surfacing again in another time and place. Each beauty enraptured her. Each

horror contemplated to its solid depth. Until, at last, she looked deep into the eye of the galaxy and,

through its rotating singularity, saw a gem.

Black, it was, its facets becoming more and more complex with its depth until its heart was

obscured. It was the greatest of prizes and Shauna-kir’s heart nearly burst for it. Not for the beauty of

the gem — for gems were her specialty and the rarest and most beautiful were made by her hand. By all

accounts, this gem was not the most beautiful. Yet within its depths, this gem held another prize: a prize

which was obscured by the facets of the crystal. The prize sang to the soul of Shauna-kir for its name

was mystery and never before had Shauna-kir encountered anything that was new or hidden.

“That which is hidden compels us,” came the sleepy, deep voice over her shoulder.

Shauna-kir turned to the Void which blotted out both stars and space alike, a hole in all creation

drifting near her. She spoke to him by name.

“Obem-ulek, you come to us unbidden. What know you of this gem?”

The Void drifted slowly around her in a sensuous nothing, considering her yet not foolish enough

to attempt surrounding her. “Why, nothing and everything, Shauna-kir! I know only that it’s worth lies

deep within it. Through it’s eyes only you may experience all creation and only through it’s knowledge

will you find your destiny. Sadly, all else is left a mystery,” Omeb-ulek lied the half-lie, speaking only

truth enough to satisfy his sister. “For knowledge is a mystery who are without it. Knowledge is a

prison for those who lack it. Knowledge is slavery for those who have it used against them. Does not

Kendis-dai keep you in mystery? Are you not a prisoner of his Mantle of Wisdom? Are you not a slave

to Kendis-dai before all he knows that you lack?”

Shauna-kir considered all these things for she knew that Obem-ulek was a cunning brother. Yet

the words were echoing in her heart and the desire was within her to honor Kendis-dai and not be a

slave to him. So it was that she turned from him and Chose — for choice was the greatest of gifts given

to all her kin — and in the choosing she dove down from the stars and into the heart of the black gem.

The sound of her crossing the boundary rippled across the cosmos.

Far from her, at the boundaries of all creation, Kendis-dai heard the murmur of her passage.

Fear gripped him in the instant, for he knew that Obem-ulek was abroad and that his hatred was terrible

indeed. The Starshield he brought with him to guard creation. The Nightsword he wielded to order all

things to his will. His mantle he wore that all knowledge of what was and what would be could rule in

impartial judgment. Thus armored, he flashed across the skies of a million million worlds unheeding of

the chaos in his wake. In the moment he came to the eye of the galaxy and found the hateful Obem-ulek

drifting triumphantly through the stars.

“She is lost to you, Kendis-dai!” Obem-ulek’s voice ripped time and space. Creation slowed

and watched. “Shauna-kir walks the stars no more.”

Yet Kendis-dai knew for the mantle of his wisdom was upon him. He saw the gem and saw all

that had gone before and all that was to happen after and he Knew.

She had fallen from the stars by her own volition.

“You offered her knowledge,” Kendis-dai spoke and his quiet words filled the universe. “Knowl-

edge of life and death. Knowledge of pain and joy. Knowledge of health and sickness. You offered her

all that experience can teach.”

From far within the void, Obem-ulek grinned.

“You offered her life and death. There is only one great teacher of the gods,” Kendis-dai spoke

evenly. “The experience of mortality.”

“I have won,” Obem-ulek roared. “She is fallen to mortality and shall die. You, Kendis-dai, are

but half a soul without her. Fall with her and you surrender creation to me! Stay and you shall fight me

as half a soul, sick for the loss of your mate for when she returns she shall be more powerful than us

both and my victory will be complete!”

Kendis-dai smiled and its brilliance shook the Void of Obem-ulek to its core.

“You are clever, Obem-ulek, but you know not the heart; and this is your flaw,” Kendis-dai’s

words sparkled across the eternities. “I do, indeed, go with my love into that forgetful place of mortal-

ity, but why should I not share my fate with those who made it possible?”

Thus did Kendis-dai embrace Obem-ulek whose cries fell through uncounted years to the ears

of frightened civilizations on untold worlds. Together they fell into mortality, forsaking their own

powers for wisdom’s sake and for the love of Shaun-akir.

There, among mortals, did Kendis-dai vow to learn knowledge and experience with the prom-

ise that when the time was ripe and the universe was in need of his hand once more, he and Shaun-akir

would return to the stars and forge a new empire.

Until that day, the Mantle of Kendis-dai, his Nightsword and Starshield lay hidden by his guardian

servants in the temple of the stars. Far from the sight of mortal eyes, they wait until that day.

— The Lay of Kendis-dai

ALPHA: THE BOOK OF MERINDA

(3256 Years Later)

Chapter 1: Cascade

Merinda Neskat stepped carefully about the slick rocks, the cool mists swirling about her cheeks

in the evening. It was wet, to be sure, and soon she knew that her hair would be heavy with the mists,

her thick curls struggling to maintain their shape against the clinging dew. Her clothing was already

soaking through — the promise of a cool later when she returned to the dryer climates higher up. But

for now, with the air nearly as wet as she was and dancing around her in gray forms, she was content

with the feeling of the water on her bare arms and legs. “Immodest,” she could hear the Dex Libris, her

most immediate superior intone in that sepulcher voice that was her hallmark. “An Atis Librae of the

Omnet should command more respect in her demeanor. How do you hope to get off the rock and make

a career for yourself if you do not respect yourself enough to allow others to respect you.”

Merinda choked off the giggle that the thought elicited and stood suddenly erect. “Yes, Libris

Gildesh,” she said in her most mocking serious tone, “I shall uphold the honor of the Omnet even in my

sleep.” The truth was that she was serious — far too serious for many of those who worked around her.

Merinda believed that she was saving the universe, in her own way and in her own small part. She

openly disdained the others around her who did not understand the importance of ‘recovering the past,

preserving the present and protecting the future’ as the slogan of her order maintained. She rarely

socialized at least as far as most of her coworkers were concerned. But, as Merinda reminded herself,

she didn’t need to. She nearly caught herself giggling again at the thought, kicked a curtain of water

into the air before her with her bare feet, and once more began picking her way around the rocks.

She loved it here. Her own home world was wet like this though not nearly so constantly warm.

That planet that had been the first place she knew had seasons — a concept which the local inhabitants

found droll at best and frighteningly incomprehensible at worst. The warmth of the mists pounding

through the air over the surging water of the rocks was filled with life and comfort; a safe haven from

the doldrums of her other existence. The monastery was cold despite the heat, cold in a way that no sun

could ever change. It was an austere place and some thought that it suited her — but then, they didn’t

really know her did they?

The outcropping of rock was coming to an end with a great pillar of stone jutting from the

frothing water. With practiced ease, Merinda reached up for the hand hold. A moment’s breath. A kick

of her shining legs in the filtered light and she swung around the stone to its far side.

Merinda caught her breath, daring not to breath. The sight always struck the wind from her, as

her mother used to say, a vision of surpassing beauty and wonder. It had taken her nearly an hour to

walk the path to this spot yet the time spent and the exertions of the way vanished in the moment.

The Denali Falls of Brishan V were once a religious secret held to be a vision which only the

local priests could full understand or appreciate. The waters gathered their strength from the high

mountains of the Krevish mountain range, a place where the ancient gods of this world were held to

have lived under blankets of the sky. The tears of the goddess Rhishan, weeping at the death of her

three boys at the hands of their cruel uncle Umbleh, were said to be the source of the three rivers that

converged at the top of Denali canyon and formed the great falls that cascaded with a deafening thun-

der nearly a thousand feet into the pool at its feet. Yet the beauty of the falls was not found merely in the

beauty of its height nor in the ancient monastery whose buttresses arched magnificently over the

confluence of all three of the rivers. The falls were made special by the Klenith vines that threatened to

choke the waters at the fall’s crest. The twisting vines were hollow, their nature allowing the water

itself to flow through their tubing. The effect was doubly beneficial. The hollow conduits of the Klenith

vines filtered the water for sustenance, thus purifying it as it fell through its tangled shape and, better

still, its twisting forms wove the pure water into braids of shimmering elegance in it’s cascade. Merinda

had, as always, timed her arrival well, for the sun D’rak was settling for the night at the edge of the

plains far below. Quite suddenly, it seemed, Merinda’s world became suffused with salmon-colored

light as the cascades and mists at the base of the falls were suffused with the twilight glow at the end of

another day.

Merinda stood ankle deep on a sand bar she had come to think of as her own and felt all of it

become a part of her again. This was life, she thought, this is sustenance. I need so very little to bring

me the joy that I want out of life. I’ll make my own way and endure the pain and the loneliness and the

frustration so long as there is a place like this that I can call home. I’ll travel wherever destiny takes me

so long as there is always someone, some singular one, who is home awaiting me.

The dark figure moved behind her, nearly invisible in the billowing obscurity of the thrashing

water. Footfalls without sound. No wasted movement. As the figure moved toward her it was revealed

as a tall man, his deep gray tailored clothing covering him from head to foot. The dark cloak he wore

over it all was heavy from the mists and did not billow as was its custom. Her back was toward him as

he closed the distance between them, coolly and efficiently, his large gray gloves reaching for her.

Merinda stood relaxed, gazing up into the woven cascade of the falls.

Her eyes flashed sideways.

Suddenly Merinda stepped backward, both hands moving up to grasp one of the threatening

arms. She thrust her hip into the approaching man’s own waist, attempting to leverage the attacker over

her. The man reversed, stepping sideways and twisting her arm back around behind her. She cried

out from the pain but in the same moment hooked one of her feet behind the ankle of her attacker and

shoved herself bodily toward him with her free leg.

They both tumbled backward against a rock outcropping at the edge of the beach. The gray

man’s breath rushed from him in a sudden “oof”, his grip relaxed slightly from the impact. Merinda

wrenched her hand free, kicked the man into the rock again. As he rebounded unsteadily, she grabbed

him by both hands, fell backward into the sand and planted both feet planted into his stomach.

The dark robes fluttered over her as she kicked and released him. The tall man sailed head down

over her, his arms flailing in the thick air as he unceremoniously fell back-first into the shallow waters

at the beach’s edge. The deluge of his impact had not yet hit the ground when she was already rolled to

her feet and leaping for him, her hand drawing her weapon from her belt as she moved. The final

droplets were just hit the water’s surface when she pressed one knee against his chest and leveled the

weapon’s sites between her assailant’s eyes.

His eyes. Those granite gray eyes.

He sputtered as a wave from the pool washed over his face, spraying water and coughing to

clear his mouth and nose.

Merinda laughed. “Oh, great and powerful Vestis Novus I see that you have once again proven

your superiority to us lowly Atis Librae. Will you surrender to me now?”

The hood fell back from the prone man as he craned his head up out of the water, straining to

keep his face above the surface. With the action came an explosion of black curled hair above a strong

face. It may have been considered to heavy in the jaw for some people’s tastes, Merinda reflected —

certainly that was the opinion of Librae Brenai, the Omnet coworker with whom she had roomed ever

since they had first met for their initiate training on Netprime over two years ago. Kiria Brenai had

quite firmly stated her opinion that Queekat Shn’dar could break stone with his lantern jaw, and, for all

Kiria knew, probably did.

Then, as Merinda watched, those gray eyes flashed at her and a wide smile spread across his

strong, angular face. Those eyes, she knew, were for her; that smile, somehow her property. “I surren-

der, Mistress Librae,” he spoke in a high, fluting voice, “to the honor of your order and its superior

training.”

Merinda’s eyes went wide with mock disbelief, “What? Not to me?” Her knee pressed his chest

down again, plunging his face momentarily beneath the small waves.

“Yes, yes,” Queekat sputtered as he surfaced again half laughing, “I surrender to you.”

Merinda laughed. She collapsed lovingly on top of him — nearly sending him back under water

a third time — and then rolled with him back up onto the beach. “Oh, Kat, when I heard you were

coming, I hoped you might remember this place — this one place that is more dear to me than any in all

the creations.”

“There are many more beautiful and terrible places in the stars than this one,” Queekat shook

his hair at her, spraying water into her squealing face.

“Not to me, you brute,” she replied when at last she could. “We met here, you and I. This is our

place, our private little universe so far from the worries of our professions or directors or . . .”

“Or the E’toris,” Queekat continued for her. “Say, how is the old cliff-goat anyway?”

Merinda screwed her face into a belligerent look that was betrayed by the brightness of her eyes

locked on his. She reached over with her cupped hand and splashed a small sheet of water in his general

direction.

“Hey,” he protested with little protest.

“Our E’toris Librae is fine, I believe and, as I am sure that you as ambassador and investigator

for the Omnet are well aware, is not planetside presently.”

“Oh, really?”

Merinda almost became serious. “Oh, Kat, don’t mistake me for stupid. You know as well as I

that your visit would have sent her into a fit of preparations and ceremonies. You were her brightest and

fairest of the fair to ever leave this rock. Imagine, a lowly information sifter from the D’Rakan Empire

actually rising to the post of Inquisitor of the Omnet. Kat, if she’d known you were coming there would

be so much ceremony that I’d never get to see you.”

“Yeah, E’toris Wishtan is awfully proud of her magnificent D’Rakan Empire.” Queekat sat up

slowly, drawing his knees up and hugging them as he looked up toward the first stars appearing directly

overhead through the mists. “I use to think so, too — until I left here. D’Rakan Empire is a find

sounding name until you put it up against the galaxy. Then — well, then it tends to get pretty small,

Rini.” Merinda rested her head again her hands in the sand. Queekat had called her by the familiar of

her name and she knew, somehow just knew, that he still felt for her as he had those months before.

“What’s it like, Kat — out there, I mean. What’s it like for an Inquisitor.”

Queekat smiled and shook his head. “It’s different than we thought, Rini. More complicated.

More subtle. Good guys and bad guys get lost in the details. Black and white begins to look gray from

Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - StarShield Book 1

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