Izanahka, Duthora, and Hell's Heart: A Scene from "Game Over"
Story by Spiders Thrash on SoFurry
While I had a spare moment, I thought I should post something here that's not my usual bitching and ranting. So here's a sample from "Game Over" (the rough draft of which was previously titled "Arena"). It was originally a novella, but when I decided to try one last time to get it published by an actual publisher, I needed to add about 20,000 words to bring it up to the minimum required word count, so this scene is from the new stuff I added to the end. The publisher's guidelines said they take about three months to accept or reject a submission ... and they rejected Game Over SIXTEEN DAYS after I submitted it. (The same happened with the last several attempts, as well. In one case, a publisher that usually takes six months to respond rejected my novel in one week.) That was the point where I gave up on the idea of ever getting a foot in the door, and decided to try serializing my books on Tapas.
Anyway. This scene takes place after the rapid-fire life-or-death situations the characters had been dealing with since they woke up in the alien arena, and has them learning a little about the place they've found themselves in. Including a bit about Grishnag's homeworld, a place where life was so harsh that her species was on the brink of extinction throughout its entire existence.
Game Over can be found at the following link: https://tapas.io/series/GameOver1 The whole book is uploaded and ready to go, with "episodes" scheduled to go live every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.
More info, including character profiles and info about their homeworlds, can be found on my blog: https://fredtkerns.blogspot.com/
Links to specific profiles, including an introduction to the book, can be found in this entry: https://fredtkerns.blogspot.com/2019/03/trying-something-new-again.html
Cora zoomed back in on the Sun and its surrounding stars and highlighted one. "Turns out I was right about this station being in the Gamma Leonis system." She moved the image to the left and zoomed in on another star. "That's the mulathi home system. They call their planet Izanakha. Humans call the star Alnitak, and its Bayer designation is Zeta Orionis. It's in Orion's Belt."
"What are my people like?" Syala leaned forward and held Dylan's hand between both of hers.
"They began exploring outside their star system a little over thirteen thousand years ago. They're one of the most widespread spacefaring species in the galaxy and have a pretty intimidating military force. Their society has gone through a number of changes, and for the past few centuries they've been kind of rigid and militaristic."
"Oh." Syala's smile faded a bit. "That's very different from the people I remember."
"Yeah, I got the impression that the society you grew up in was a little bit hedonistic." Cora smiled. "They seem to be turning slowly back to that, though. Probably thanks to contact with humans and zorai." She winked at Grish and Dylan.
"That's good to know." Syala leaned back and sighed. "I wouldn't feel like I belonged if they didn't know how to have fun."
"Well, you and Grish will like this, then. Dylan, too." Cora nodded at the display. "One of their biggest colonies is a planet they named Tevsa. The larger spaceport cities have a number of 'sex parks' where visitors can indulge themselves. Well, to a reasonable extent, anyway. Also, the sex-worker industry is pretty big there."
"I know what planet I'm adding to my bucket list, then." Grishnag smirked. "For scientific curiosity, of course."
"Of course. We'll have to make use of one of those parks if we ever visit Tevsa." Maybe for our honeymoon, if all of them agree to get married. Cora was dying to ask them, but it was probably too soon. She processed thoughts and emotions faster than they did, so they might not be ready yet. She needed to look into the legality of such a marriage, anyway, when she could do some investigating on her own. Maybe they'll get there soon. I can hope, at least.
She turned her attention back to the screen and moved the image to another star. "This is where Nishara's people live, about five hundred-fifty light years from Earth. The star's Bayer designation is Alpha Scorpii. Humans named it Antares. The mekharan homeworld is named Duthora. They've been a spacefaring people for around four thousand years." Cora glanced at Nish and arched a brow. "Their need to explore space was driven by their discovery that Antares will probably go supernova sometime in the next fourteen thousand years. Well, ten thousand, now."
Nishara gasped. "Like the place we escaped?" She covered her mouth with her upper hands.
"Yes. Ten thousand years is a long time, but once they realized it's going to happen, they were smart enough to make a space program their top priority." Cora reached over to hold Nishara's lower-right hand. "They've been gradually colonizing other planets and moving their population off Duthora. If they keep going at a constant rate, the planet will be completely evacuated long before Antares explodes."
"That's good to hear." Nish sighed. "It's still frightening to know my home will be destroyed by its own star, but at least it won't happen until I'm long gone." She managed a slight smile. "And my people are prepared for it. That's what matters."
"Yes." Cora smiled and patted her hand before turning to Grishnag. "Well, here's something you'll find amusing. Someone finally gave your homeworld a name."
"I never thought about it often, but every now and then I wondered if it would be given an official name." Grishnag glanced around at the others. "My people hated the place so much, none of us gave enough of a shit to bother naming anything there. So, Cora, what did they come up with?"
"Hell's Heart."
Grishnag burst out laughing. "That's perfect!"
Cora grinned. "No one ever figured out its location. It may be in another galaxy, for all we know, since the only way to get to it was through a rift. It orbited only one star, but there was a black hole nearby, as well."
"Ah, I bet that's why there were so many meteorite impacts. The black hole probably ripped another planet apart -- maybe more than one -- and we got caught in the rubble's path as it was pulled in."
"Might also explain the frequent earthquakes and horrifying weather," Dylan said. "If the planet had a sun and a black hole pulling on it, its orbit could've been unstable and the tides would've been stretching and pulling it in different directions."
"That makes sense. If the orbit was unstable enough, sooner or later the planet would've been dragged into the black hole. Or the star. Or just torn apart by both of them." Grishnag shivered. "If my people hadn't talked the humans who found them into relocating us to Earth, we would've all died there. And it would've been a horrible death."
"Then I'm glad they got you away from that place," Zilaka said. She took a slow breath and shook her head. "That's disturbing to think about, though."
"Sure is." Grish nodded and glanced around again. "Maybe another topic, then?"
Ayastal cocked her head. "What is a black hole?"
Grish laughed again. "Because that's a cheerful subject."