B. V. Larson - Black Phoenix

More books by B. V. Larson:

The Undying Mercenaries Series:

Steel World

Dust World

Tech World

Machine World

Death World

Home World

Rogue World

Blood World

Dark World

Storm World

Armor World

Clone World

Visit BVLarson.com for more information.

More books by Wayne Wightman:

Selection Event

The Days That Remain

Second Species

Life/Afterlife

Black Phoenix

by

B. V. Larson

and

Wayne Wightman

Illustration Tom Edwards

TomEdwardsDesign.com

Copyright 2019 by Iron Tower Press, Inc.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the authors imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

Its not the well-fed men that I fear, but rather those who are pale and hungry-looking.

Julius Caesar, 53 BC

Chapter ONE

Earths early colonial efforts were problematic. Interstellar travel was in its infancy, and there were countless perils to overcome.

The first hurdle was the simple fact that space is antithetical to life in every way. No air, no gravity, no protection from radiationit has none of these things planet-dwellers take for granted.

Then there are the vast distances involved. The first exoplanets targeted for colonization were over fifty light-years from our blue-green Earth. This meant the journey would take nearly a century of flight time using the fastest ships we could build in that era.

Logic would seem to dictate that sending a probe out first would be wise. The probes were sent and the waiting game began. Unfortunately, the reports coming back from these robotic ships took generations to receive.

Not everyone was willing to wait so long. There was a sense of urgency, as whoever made it to a lush planet first got to stake their claim.

Humanity built seven great ships of the Black Phoenix class before any of our probes called home. All seven of them left Earths orbit on different trajectories. They had the solar wind at their backs, and they were full of hope and pride. Although they were capable, they had little idea of what theyd find when they reached the stars at last.

Those first colonists were a daring lot. Their populations were small by necessity, numbering no more than twenty thousand souls on each ship. They were a mixture of the desperate, the idealistic, the social outcastsplus a few who might be generously be classified as half-mad.

Over the following decades, the various ships had great adventures. Some met with tragedy. A few spawned fresh civilizations of their own.

After a full century had passed only one of the Black Phoenix ships had yet to report back to Earth. Her name was Tarassis .

Chapter TWO

Of the two thousand-odd stars within fifty light-years of Earth, about sixty are similar to our sun. Of these, nineteen have rocky planets like our home world. These alien worlds are close enough in size, gravity, compositionand most important, climateto support life as we know it.

Liquid water could exist on the surface of all of them, that much we knew. The temperatures were right. But the details the Devil always lurked in the details

In the Earth year 2091, the colony ship Tarassis boldly launched toward one of these candidate planets. Traveling at hundreds of millions of kilometers per hour, particles no bigger than a grain of sand could damage or destroy the ship. To prevent this, electromagnetic shielding was employed. As a side effect, the shields interference meant Tarassis was out of contact with Earth for generations.

Compared to the sendoff, the actual flight was rather dull. The decades crawled by, with the guests and crew living in isolation. At long last they reached their destination. Due to longevity treatments and the relativistic effects of time dilation, some of the original colonists survived long enough to see the great day of Arrival. The excitement of planetfall was indescribable.

The emotion quickly transformed into sick disappointment when it was determined the world theyd all dreamed of was hopelessly toxic.

Spectral analysis told the tale before they ever reached orbit. The chemistry didnt lie. The atmosphere was a roiling mass of hydrochloric acid, carbon dioxide and other deadly poisons.

All was not lost for the intrepid crew and guests of Tarassis, however. They swung around the central star and flung themselves toward their second choice, only a nine light-years farther on.

Time passed, and the last original colonist succumbed to age. Isolated from Earth for so long, the culture of the colony grew darker, but still they retained hope as they drew near to their second destination.

One fateful night, the sixth generational captain released the terrible news. Despair swept the ship. The second planet theyd laid all their hopes upon was, for the most part, barren. There was a modicum of oxygen and a single cold ocean, but the atmosphere was nearly as thin as that of terraformed Mars back home. Worse, there were twenty-nine moons orbiting the planet and these floating stones occasionally collided with one another, sending deadly meteors to blast craters into the land and flood the continental shores with tidal waves.

A great debate began. Should they land here and make the best of it? Or should they venture on to their third candidate world, placing all their hopes on the unknown?

They couldnt come to an agreement. The guests wanted to land, while the crew wanted to press onward come what may.

Desperation grew in the colony, and they took up arms against one another. A vicious slaughter ensued, killing nearly a third of the population aboard.

Led by their captain, the crew faction won in the end. Raised to the status of a dictator, he renamed the body of his supporting colonists United Tarassisto give a name to those who supported his rule. He then ordered the great ship to come about on a new course.

They flew on into the endless night for two more long generations.

* * *

Tarassis wasnt a normal ship. She was a colony transport, and the Black Phoenix class vessels were very utilitarian. She didnt have a centerline beam or sleek expanses of metal running along her sides.

Instead, she was an ugly thing. The vessel was a hollowed-out asteroidshaped vaguely like a barbell. Sprouting and spread widely from its rocky hull were arrayed sets of solar panels and solar sails. These structures looked like too many wings glued onto a stone dragonfly.

The ship itself was built in two major layers. A metal structure embedded in the surface of the modified asteroid formed the core living quarters, over a hundred decks similar in nature to a large sea-going vessel.

Below-decks was a vast cargo hold in the hollowed-out interior. This region was broken into many levels and was not originally inhabited. As time marched on, the colonists took to banishing outcasts into the region.

The scarred exterior of Tarassis was dotted with artificial modules full of sensors and clustered steering jets. Rarely, an observation module encrusted with lead-lined windows thrust up from this surface. These tiny peepholes allowed a privileged few of the inhabitants of the great ship to see the stars with their own eyes.

Inside a special chamber within one of these observation nodules, a meeting was being held. Four men, five women and a trio of synthetics formed the United Tarassis Council. Most were commanders or lieutenant commanders, officers and members of the crew. They wore drab gray uniforms with only their gold rank insignia on each shoulder to relieve the monotony. Two of the group were from the guest faction, civilian members of the colonial government.