Not quite paradise

I'm delighted to feature Aubrie Dionne on my blog again today. Author of Paradise 21 and the new book Tundra 37, Aubrie has imagined a fascinating future earth, and colonists who venture on centuries' long journeys to distant stars. The following is the prologue from Tundra 37, where the fascinating beings who pilot the spaceship Expedition to Paradise 18 are introduced.

PrologueThe Seers
I'm losing her.

Abysme guides the vessel in silence,her blind eyes rolling as she senses our course, two hundred years away fromParadise 18. She's scattered her thoughts among the stars, and her mind driftsfarther from the sister I once knew. I fear the machine has engulfed herindividuality. She's forgotten the meaning of our goal, the oath we took threecenturies ago. Most of all, she's forgotten me, creating an emptiness inside memore profound than the desolation surrounding us.

If I had my arms, I'd reach out tocomfort her and usher her back from the black abyss spread before us. Aschildren, I kept her alive through the destruction, signing us up for the Expeditionand winning two tickets off Old Earth before it succumbed to hell. But can Isave her now?

I send impulses through my brainwavesand into the ship. Bysme, do you hear me? 

Unlike her, I have one operating eyeand can see the control chamber we hang from. Twisting my head, I search herfeatures. Her skeletal face twitches. She writhes and the wires holding her inplace stretch taut. I wonder what I've done to us, the shock of ourdisembodiment jolting me. Every input hole drilled into my skull snakes withactivity. The ship surges through me, a vast intranet of information, names,status charts, and infinite trajectories. If I couldn't feel the cold,regulated air on the remnants of my torso, I'd be lost in the machine too. Iremind myself of our mission and the perseverance flows into my veins.

She doesn't respond and the fear wellsup from within me. Can I guide the ship alone? I realize I've left her at thehelm for too long while I drifted into memories.

Status of Beta Prime? Bysme speaks in monotone computer speech asshe turns to the corner of the main control deck where the orb glistens,tempting us with the mysteries hidden in the cosmic swirls within its core.Sometimes, I wish we'd blasted the ball off the hull after its tendrilsattached to the outer frame instead of recovering it for study. We've guardedit for so long, Project Beta Prime has become part of us, yet we're furtherthan ever from unlocking its secrets. All I know is the insistence of mymemories, like ghosts that refused to be ignored.

Unchanged. The weight of my voice in our mindspeakreflects my disappointment. Like everything else.
Bysme falls silent, and I scan thesystems searching for answers that aren't there.

 


But how is the gene-pool of these colonists kept vibrant and strong over hundreds of years of interstellar travel? Meet Genne, the Matchmaker.







Chapter OneMatchmakerThe Expedition 2751

Names trailed in pairs along thewallscreen as the next batch of destinies unfolded. Gemme pulled her hair intoa ponytail and sipped her synthetic coffee, reviewing the computer's choices.Beside her, a constellation of stars glittered on the sight panel. She studiedthe spherical pattern, content to watch the world float by from the safety ofthe Expedition's computer analytics wing.

She'd live and die on the decks of theaging transport ship. The certainty of her fate comforted her from the blackvoid pressing in. Consistency gave her solace, and in her life regularityreigned. She lived through her work, finding life in numbers.

After another long sip, she gazed upat the screen and read the first pair of names.

Aaron Tixton and Cassandra Smith.

She accessed their profiles with thetip of her finger on her keypad. Both Lifers tested well in energy maintenanceand ship repairs. Their personalities were type ISTP and type ENFJ, and theirfamily trees didn't intersect until third cousins in the first generation,providing a promising match. Neither showed any manifestation of the rarehypergene they'd searched for since they left Earth, but no one she'd evermatched had. There were no guarantees the Seers would last until the shipreached Paradise 18. Suppressing a moment of worry, she scratched her chin,then typed an affirmation on the touchscreen.

Ray Ellis and Melissa Stewart. Although they were three years apart, Raybeing the senior, their genes were optimally compatible. With resistance toAlzheimer's, cancer, and heart disease, they would produce durable children.The touchscreen flashed as her finger pressed enter.

Molly Fritz and—

The portal beeped, interrupting herwork. Who would visit so early on the first morning shift? She'd draggedherself out of her sleep pod for a reason. The Seers expected the next reportby fourteen hundred, and she didn't have time for unplanned meetings.

Gemmesighed and clicked off the screen. 

If you want to know more, you'll have to read the book. Suffice it to say, spaceships and love are both subject to changes of course.

 
Aubrie Dionne is an author and flutist in New England. Her writings haveappeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, Emerald Tales, Hazard Cat,Moon Drenched Fables, A Fly in Amber,
and Aurora Wolf. Her books are published by Entangled Publishing, Lyrical Press,SynergEbooks, and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. Aubrie teaches flute at PlymouthState University and the Manchester Community Music School. Please visit herwebsite: www.authoraubrie.com
Book Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XcwFtmeTcM Twitter: @authoraubrie Aubrie's Blog: http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com Buy on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Tundra-37-New-Dawn-2/dp/1937044491/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329478503&sr=8-1 Buy on B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tundra-37-aubrie-dionne/1108616503?ean=2940014020817&itm=1&usri=tundra+37 Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/search?query=tundra+37