J D Huffman [Huffman - The Star Mother

TOTALITY

The Star Mother

J. D. Huffman

Copyright

Original Publication 2019

www.jdhcreates.com

Moirae Publishing 2018

www.MoiraePubs.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all those whove believed in and supported me over the years. Thank you!

Acknowledgments

I must, of course, acknowledge the same people who made the first Totality book possible: Bradley Fletcher, Sam MacMillan, Mike Norris, Spencer Renehan, Amber Saint Clair, Wendy Lynne Timbrell, Bobbi Todd, tre, and Rakhee Watson.

Im also grateful to Katy Ireland and Moirae Pubs for continuing on with this series. Glad were not leaving readers hanging!

As always, thank you for picking up this book! Have fun!

Chapter 1

The Chronicle

There is freedom in servitude

Freedom from risk

Freedom from choice

Freedom from dignity

Freedom from consequences

And the Demons shall free us all

-Melchior

Retribution was the name of the ship. Sasha chose it for the name alone. It wasnt the most powerful bit of hardware the Order had to offer, but she found its name the most perfect representation of what she stood for. People have done wrong. And they must pay for it.

There had been so many wrongs in her life, from the day the Totality came to her world. When she was younger, before the Totality arrived, she had questions about everything around her. Why is the grass green? Why is the sky orange? Why do some animals squeal and others growl? Why do they have hair all over and we dont? Why dont they talk? She remembered her fathers exhausted expression as she bombarded him with inquiries, desperate to absorb every detail of the universe. Some things, shed have preferred not to know.

In retrospect, she knew her fathers life as a farmer was difficult. At the time, however, she knew nothing of the struggle. He kept his smile when the harvest was poor. His own plate would sit empty if it meant she got her fill. She would always share with him anyway, of course. She remembered visits from a man whose face she didnt like, a chubby gentleman with a long dark beard, streaked with gray in a way that frightened her younger self. Her father, by contrast, kept his face shaved except for a wispy mustache that tickled when he kissed her cheek. The image of him in her memory was a face of profound honestyshe couldnt imagine that angled visage ever uttering a lie to anyone. The bearded man, though, she knew he was a liar, and a cheat. She knew by the way her fathers mood turned sour after the mans visits. He came in a suit from the city, the tallest buildings of its skyline visible in the distance from her house, a testament to the flat plains upon which they made both their home and livelihood. Rarely did neighbors appear except to commiserate over the bearded man. She deduced he was a landlord, and she knew that she didnt like him. It made her distrustful of men who presented themselves as authorities, who used fashionable attire as a substitute for decency.

Her father shook her awake that morningthe morning she would never forget. We need to go, he said, his voice thick with worry. He threw her clothes into a knapsack along with a couple wooden toys, just what would fit and what was within easy reach. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she caught him placing items into another bag, as well: a photo of her mother, whose face she couldnt remember except from that picture, whose life and death her father never spoke of. And then there was the chronicle: bound in leather with pages jutting unevenly from within, nearly spilling out as if they contained too much history to properly contain. She watched her father carefully insert it into his own bag. Packing his clothes and a few other essentials, he took her hand and led her outside their small cabin. It was then that she realized what was wrong.

In the distance, where once stood gleaming towers of human invention, were smoking steel skeletons. The shimmering skyline that used to pique her childish curiosity had been replaced with a smoldering nightmare, a place she now never wanted to see up close. She noticed small objects hovering and darting through the air above the ruinswere they responsible?

Her father pulled her by the hand quickly, across the yard and toward the large wheat field to the east of their house, loaded her and their bags onto the green wagon hitched to his tractor, then climbed into the drivers seat and started it up. First there was a sputter, then a purr. He tapped a button to switch the proper gears and they began to move forward. With a turn of the wheel, the tractor went toward the gravel road, and once upon it, they moved at a slow pace in a direction opposite the city, heading south. She wondered if they would be fast enough to get away if anyone decided to come for them. Her father said nothing, only stealing concerned glances behind him from time to time, making sure she was still there and that nothing had descended upon them from above.

By late afternoon, Sashas pangs of hunger and thirst became too much to silently endure, and she spoke up. Daddy? Is there anything to eat? Or drink? Hed brought foodmostly bread and a handful of small potatoesbut, in his haste, hadnt thought to pack water.

Im sorry, Sasha, he said with a frown. She wasnt accustomed to seeing him so distressed, and even she could see he had forgotten the water, in their rush to leave. Luckily, he knew of a nearby stream, and drove the tractor down to it, with Sasha holding on as the wagon bounced around once it departed from the road.

He helped her down and both made haste to the rocky riverbank, where the water flowed quick and clear. Both cupped their hands and scooped up the chill liquid, slurping noisily. Sasha could still remember the slightly fishy taste, no doubt proof of the innumerable minnows that called the waterway home. But the cool refreshment more than made up for it, and it certainly helped to wash down the dry bread. Her father still kept his eyes on the sky, obviously worried that theyd be found even among the trees.

After drinking their fill, they returned to the road and drove on for several more hours, until the tractors fuel was exhausted. Her father had no more, having dumped his reserve into the tank before they set off. It had taken them as far as it could, and all that was left was to proceed on foot. Im sorry, he said soothingly. Well have to walk now.

She nodded obligingly and carried her bag while he slung his own over a shoulder. As the sun set, he commented, If we make it to the next city, we might find help. Hours more of walking took them to that city, sure enough, but as the forest cleared and they obtained an unobstructed view, it became obvious that no safety would be found here, either.

It, too, had been devastated.

She barely made out the sign that said Welcome to Valrin, pocked as it was with scorch marks from things she didnt quite understand. The two of them hid behind bushes near the edge of town, watching. What streetlights still worked illuminated stern men in gray uniforms, marching in unison, armed with fearsome-looking weapons. Shed seen her father brandish a shotgun a time or two, watched him shoot small animals that dug networks of tunnels under the house, threatening to collapse the ground from under them. She understood why he sometimes had to kill other creatures. She did not understand any of this. The men smashed down doors, dragged people into the streets, beat and pummeled them, restrained them, and then pulled them, one by one, to a single location near the edge of town. She could see the gathering of captured people, feet and hands bound so they could not escape, detained for some purpose she had not yet gathered.