A.M. Scott - Quinn of Cygnus

In memory of Kathy Russell McCoy, a true light in the world. Heavens paperwork is in order, their press is on point, and the angels symphony is brighter, but we miss you.

Cancer sucks like the big black hole of Andromeda.

Authors Note:

F OLDING SPACE SERIES readers know I use the classical eighty-eight constellations as fold destinations, which in the real world is ridiculous. Constellations are the stars as seen from our planet, Old Earth in my books. The stars we see at night can be hundreds or thousands of light years away from us and each other, even though they look like they are side-by-side to the naked eye. Traveling to the stars in the real world takes a lot of math, and Im sure that when we learn to fold space or create warp drives, someone will come up with a logical system. That person wont be me!

The reason I use constellations as destinations is simpleI want you to go outside and look at the stars. Space flight is challenging, and striving to reach the Moon, Mars, and beyond has driven scientists and engineers to make wonderful leaps in technology that benefit all of us. Id like us, as a community of human beings, to continue reaching for the suns out there and keep making discoveries. Better yet, Id like you to help. Study science, math, engineering, and other technology-driven subjects. Help educate others. Lets work together to reach for the stars and use those discoveries to make life better here on Earth.

An additional note on naming conventions. Some of the system names I use are real; the names of major stars in a constellation. But I also make up a lot of individual system names. I try to use star systems with planets in that constellation, and I name them after the scientists involved in the discovery of those planets or some related fact. If youre curious, Wikipedia has some excellent basic information about the constellations, and there are tons of cool apps that use your smart phones cameras for star gazing, like Heavens Above.

Happy star gazing!

Chapter One

Q GRINNED AT RUHGER , flying as co-pilot and evaluator in Lightwave s Alpha shuttle. Ready for pushback. Her final piloting test. After she passedand she wouldshe could fly any shuttle solo. With Ruhgers high standards, unending emergency drills, and a syllabus far beyond the normal shuttle pilot requirements, Q was absolutely certain she could fly any human shuttles. Maybe some alien ones, too.

Ruhger nodded. Lightwave , Alpha shuttle is ready for pushback on your mark.

The pilots seat under Q shivered, the shuttles latches releasing from Lightwave . Pushback in three, two, push, Katryn announced. Safe flight, Alpha shuttle.

Thanks, Katryn. Alpha out. Ruhger swept off the comms. Okay, Q, lets go. As I said in our briefing, the auto-pilot and the navigation net are unreliable.

Q initiated her thruster burn, tracking the planets of Queloz system in Ursa Major to stay on course. At least Ruhger wasnt making her fly completely blind; the shuttles vids were available along with manual control of the thrusters through the net. A warning blinked; CO2 was rising. Q sprinted to the emergency suit locker, jumped in the smallest one, and ran back to the pilots chair, correcting course with a split-second burn of the aft lower right thruster. She checked the suits air quality gauge against the shuttlesthe suit showed no issue, and there was no sign of low oxygen saturation in her e-torc health monitor. So, the shuttles sensor was probably wrong and probably a distraction. Or indicative of a larger problem with the shuttle because there should have been an audible alarm along with the visual warning.

She ran diagnostics on life support and command and control. Exercise comms. Lightwave , Alpha shuttle, possible emergency. Life support sensor readings suspicious. I am wearing an emergency suit, monitoring my health via e-torc, and running a self-diagnostic routine on the shuttles command and control and life support systems. Auto-piloting systems are disengaged for testing. I will leave them disengaged in case Alpha shuttle has command and control issues. Ready for full manual control of thrusters if necessary. Not that she wanted to do that again; running from corner to corner of the shuttle manually adjusting each thruster wasnt a fun thing to do.

A proximity alert flashed. Q brought up the surveillance and the vids on that side of the shuttle. The surveillance tagged the small folder as Hal. Were you expecting Hal to fold in?

No. Ruhger brought up vid comms with Saree. Were you expecting Hal?

No. Saree shrugged. Im sure well find out what hes doing here soon.

Greetings, Lightwave Alpha shuttle. Hals super soothing tenor voice came over the shuttles speakers. Can I assistoh, its a test. Sorry, Ruhger.

Not a problem, Hal, continue. Ruhger sat back in his seat.

I am checking in. The work continues on Old Earth. Dismantling the Galactica Librarian is challenging; occasionally exciting as well. There are so many layers of safeguards and copies of the core personality. It is quite fascinating. How is your research on ^ timespace ^ proceeding, Saree?

Slowly. Sarees brows rose slightly on the screen.

Q held her reaction back, then remembered she was safe; she could let Ruhger and the others know how she felt. She grimaced. Changing her expression was scary and freeing all at once. The bigger problem was why she wanted to emote. Her part of the ^ timespace ^ research wasnt proceeding at all. She couldnt seem to reach out in ^ timespace ^ to anyone, not even Saree. Definitely not the Sasa Warriors or any other Sasa. She could only wait for the Sasa or Saree to touch her. And every time they did, energy drained from her, whether or not they were folding. Saree reported that, during fold, she could direct Qs repelling energy into the fold and use it to ensure their accuracy. But that didnt help Q use it or call out to the Warriors for help. Or figure out how to help with fold. Or use the energy of a soothing stone. She should be able to do all of it by now, but she was still nothing but a weird, negative soothing stone.

Weve made some interesting discoveries about ^ timespace ^, so its been worth the time. Sarees brows narrowed. Why do you ask?