her instruments 02 - rose point (42 page)

“So... you will take control of the world, use the people to breed slaves, and kill those who object?” Baniel said.

“That would be the plan.”

“Excellent,” Baniel replied. “We will have all the leisure required to educate you in the use of your new talents.” He smiled. “I think you’ll find the body you stole very... very... useful.”

Their eyes met, and despite the alien intelligence in the one, they were very similar. It made the interruption of the moment jarring. Baniel turned toward the messenger, the words of reproach ready on his lips.

“My Lord!” the youth said, gasping. “The prisoner is gone!”

“Pardon me?” Baniel said.

“Gone,” he said. “And all his guards dead behind him! They say the Queen has escaped as well, and her mortal pets with her!”

The Chatcaavan hissed behind him, but Baniel held up a hand. “Thank you,” he said to the youth. “Go on, then. I will have instructions for everyone shortly.”

The boy trembled, but withdrew with alacrity, glad perhaps not to be punished. Baniel turned to his guest.

“You have lost the prize,” the alien said.

“A mere setback,” Baniel replied. “Indeed, this might be even better than we planned.”

“Ah?” The Chatcaavan lifted an Eldritch brow. “How so?”

Baniel smiled. “The Queen will return—she must—to reclaim her world. And my brother will come with her, for he has me to deal with. Knowing that...”

“Ah.” The alien smiled thinly, and already it was a better smile, a more natural one... or perhaps the predatory glitter in his eyes was merely a call back to his true form’s face. “Yessss.”

The Alliance is mostly composed of the Pelted, a group of races that segregated and colonized worlds based (more or less) on their visual characteristics. Having been engineered from a mélange of uplifted animals, it’s not technically correct to refer to any of them as “cats” or “wolves,” since any one individual might have as many as six or seven genetic contributors: thus the monikers like “foxine” and “tigraine” rather than “vulpine” or “tiger.” However, even the Pelted think of themselves in groupings of general animal characteristics, so for the ease of imagining them, I’ve separated them that way.

The Pelted

The Quasi-Felids
: The Karaka’An, Asanii, and Harat-Shar comprise the most cat-like of the Pelted, with the Karaka’An being the shortest and digitigrade, the Asanii being taller and plantigrade, and the Harat-Shar including either sort but being based on the great cats rather than the domesticated variants.

The Quasi-Canids
: The Seersa, Tam-illee, and Hinichi are the most doggish of the Pelted, with the Seersa being short and digitigrade and foxish, the Tam-illee taller, plantigrade and also foxish, and the Hinichi being wolflike.

Others
: Less easily categorized are the Aera, with long, hare-like ears, winged feet and foxish faces, the felid Malarai with their feathered wings, and the Phoenix, tall bipedal avians.

The Centauroids
: Of the Pelted, two species are centauroid in configuration, the short Glaseah, furred and with lower bodies like lions but coloration like skunks and leathery wings on their lower backs, and the tall Ciracaana, who have foxish faces but long-legged cat-like bodies.

Aquatics
: One Pelted race was engineered for aquatic environments: the Naysha, who look like mermaids would if mermaids had sleek, hairless, slightly rodent-like faces and the lower bodies of dolphins.

Other Species

Humanoids
: Humanity fills this niche, along with their estranged cousins, the esper-race Eldritch.

True Aliens
: Of the true aliens, four are known: the shapeshifting Chatcaava, whose natural form is draconic (though they are mammals); the gentle heavyworlder Faulfenza, who are furred and generally regarded to be attractive; the aquatic Platies, who look like colorful flatworms and can communicate reliably only with the Naysha, and the enigmatic Flitzbe, who are quasi-vegetative and resemble softly furred volleyballs that change color depending on their mood.

One of the unique features of the Eldritch language is the ability to modify the meaning of a word with emotional “colors.” In the spoken language, these are indicated by the use of prefixes, which can be used as aggressively or as infrequently as the speaker desires; a single prefix can color an entire paragraph, or the speaker can use them to inflect every word. Uninflected language is considered emotionally neutral. This modifiers are not often used in the written language, but when they are, they take the form of colored inks.

There are three pairs of moods, with the gray mode not necessitating an opposite. Each mood in a pair is said to be the ‘foil’ of the other.

Gray (normal)
– No modifiers are required to denote the neutral mood, however there is a prefix associated with it, and using it can be interpreted as a way of calling attention to one’s lack of mood.

Silver (hopeful)
– Silver Mode is the foil of the Shadow mood, giving a positive flavor to words. This is the color of hope.

Shadowed (cynical)
– When Shadowed, most words bear a negative connotation, usually cynical, sarcastic, or ironic. It can also be used for dread/foreboding or fear.

Gold (joyful)
– The best is always assumed of everything in the Gold mood, and all words take on that flavor.

Black (dark)
– Black, the foil of Gold, tends to violent, angry, or morose connotations of words. Whole groups of words radically change definition when referred to in the Black.

White (ephemeral/holy)
– Whitened words refer to the spirit, to the holy and pure. You often find this mood used for weddings and in the priesthood, and in the schools that teach the handling of esper abilities.

Crimson (sensual)
– The carnal mood gives words a sensual implication, and inflect speech to refer to things of passions and things of the body.

The Queen of the Eldritch has offered Reese Eddings a life out of a fairy tale, one beyond the imagination of a poor girl from Mars who’d expected to spend her life eking out a living with a rattletrap merchant vessel. Unfortunately, the day she reached out to accept Liolesa’s offer, Hirianthial’s enemies betrayed him—and his entire planet—to a race of sociopathic shapeshifters with their own dreams of conquest. Now the only thing between Reese and a castle of her very own is a maniacal alien despot, his Eldritch quisling and all the Eldritch dead-set on preventing the incursion of aliens at any cost, including the ousting of their current usurper, who happens to be an alien himself...

Reese, Hirianthial and the crew of the
Earthrise
have been battling these pirates since Hirianthial’s capture inspired their fateful meeting, but to beat them Reese will have to own the power she’s always denied herself, and Hirianthial must make his peace with the bloody past and his uncertain future.

The stakes have never been higher, and this last time will count for all. The final battlefield awaits.

Daughter of two Cuban political exiles, M.C.A. Hogarth was born a foreigner in the American melting pot and has had a fascination for the gaps in cultures and the bridges that span them ever since. She has been many things—web database architect, product manager, technical writer and massage therapist—but is currently a full-time parent, artist, writer and anthropologist to aliens, both human and otherwise. She is the author of over 50 titles in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, humor and romance.

The
Her Instruments
series is only one of the many stories set in the Paradox Pelted universe; more information is available on the author’s website. You can also
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