Hi and thanks for having a look!

This is the first book of an intended trilogy. This book is complete but needs a re-write, which I'm doing as I post this. I'm hoping to keep the chapters coming every two weeks or so. Right now, it stands at 160,000 words, but I might cut it down a bit in the re-write.

This was taken from a file in manuscript format so, as is normal practice, I have used underlines instead of bold and/or italics.

This is soft sci-fi and does include what some might consider "fantastic" elements, but they don't really come up until later on. But even most of these will have a basis in some of the newest scientific investigations (emergent behaviour, living chaotic systems, etc).

I am very open to criticism so you are welcome to approach with knives drawn.

Warning--don't get too attached to the characters in the beginning. It starts a little dark, but isn't that how all problems look at the beginning?

I hope some of you really enjoy this. In the end, isn't this what it's all about?

Cheers,

Tim

Boundary - Chapter 1

By joining the Union, your society will come to have no crime, no violence, and no civil disobedience

Using the most advanced techniques, any of your people moving toward anarcous thought will be identified before their destructive tendencies are able to manifest in your society. The Union's Suzerainty then recenters the would-be criminal's thought and emotional patterns. It is totally harmless to the individual and once centered, they naturally desire to live the wisdom of the laws and beliefs underlying the Union's prosperous society.

There is no need to live in fear of dangerous people, or support expensive detention centers. All the Union’s people live in total security, free to pursue a life of their dreams.

Archival Notes

Excerpt from the speech given to Taurus 3 during the 2728 AD Boundary expansion.

Boundary Guard document #TAUR:DIPL:147888:ARCH - Sec. Class 1

(Expansion division)

“There is only one event that leads to certain death: birth. All other events are simply the journey. It follows that the only thing creating death is life.” Duthail, 56 AD

2749 AD

At first, Lyall automatically dismissed it. Minor anarcous feelings were not uncommon and easily swept up by the automatic processes of his mind. But even to the end, it never went away.

At one point he wondered how he felt his death coming before he even saw the engineering drawings.

The presence of this persistent anarcous feeling complicated everything. It certainly seeded doubt in the mind of his partner. Perhaps Darach would have believed him if they both were not distracted by the anarcous feeling.

Lyall grabbed Darach’s elbow and whispered, "This is wrong."

The floor lunged as the huge ship absorbed another missile impact. Momentarily weightless, they bounced off a wall, before the floor rushed up to meet them again. Both men could have easily absorbed the chaotic movement, but instead, they allowed themselves to tumble onto the floor.

As they climbed to their feet, Lyall caught a fleeting not here look from Darach. They had to assume they were always watched.

Running feet! Lyall quickly recentered himself. There could be no mistakes. So much depended on what they did.

A repair party passed them swiftly, but their officer slowed as he recognized them. A teasing smile appeared on his battle hardened face. "Ah, Darach and Lyall. You see what I mean? The Boundary Guard is a lot tougher than they look on paper. You can't tell these things from inside an office. Real life has a way of shocking the chair explorers."

Being senior, Darach answered, "That is why we needed to get off planet and see it myself."

The officer nodded. "I always knew you were different. The office boys rarely want to see what’s really out here. Not enough soft cushions."

"It's not the lack of cushions I'm worried about," Darach replied. "It's Union missiles and assault guns."

"Hah!” the officer barked with false bravado. “Don't worry. Until this ship was built, I would have said nothing could have penetrated the Union defenses and survived. But everything has changed now."

Darach grinned. "They won't know what hit them."

The ship rocked from a solid hit. All three men were thrown diagonally upwards, bouncing off the walls. Darach allowed himself to fall into an uncoordinated heap, but Lyall landed lightly on his feet.

The officer glanced at Lyall but seemed to dismiss his sudden coordination as an anomaly. He reached down to pull Darach back up. "Well, I'd better get after my team. They will be wondering where I am … and then carefully concluding that beer is far more important than our air leaking into space." With a smile, he smartly saluted the two men, and then trotted after his men.

Lyall trusted Darach to find a place to talk because Darach was one of the best Suxerain the Suxerainty had. He used the brief moment of inactivity to recenter himself again.

"This way," Darach motioned Lyall to one of the stark internal transport pods that linked the vast ship through a series of tunnels.

As soon a Lyall followed him in, Darach set the pod to arrive at the furthest possible point on the ship. That would give them at least three minutes.

The pod lurched into motion. Darach quickly pried off the protective paneling, held it like a knife and jammed it into the exposed circuit boards inside. The delicate boards shattered.

The pod surveillance circuitry was ruined. If they were lucky, security would assume it was battle damage. But if anyone did even a cursory investigation before they got off the ship, they would be caught. Of course, if someone had been watching that camera while Darach did it, security would be on its way right now.

A soft tremor rumbled throughout the ship. Another missile had struck the vast ship, but far from where they were now.

Darach turned to Lyall. One hand scraped through his short sandy colored hair before he spoke. "I know this is hard." He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, "Unbelievably hard. You have to keep in mind what we are trying to accomplish."

Lyall looked Darach in the eye. "I’m struggling. Every since I saw the plans, my center hasn’t held.”

Darach wiped his eyes. “You know uncentered people invent realities. You know you’re struggling with your center. It's no surpise that you think you saw evidence that the Suxerainty sent the plans. But just think about what this would mean. This vessel is technically superior to everything we have. It could do exactly what they hope; successfully invade Union. If the Suxerainty actually sent these plans, they would be effectively committing suicide. It simply makes no sense, Lyall.”

“But I lost my centering after I saw the Suxerainty mark!”

“Couldn’t you seeing the mark be the first evidence of you losing your center?”

A thousand emotions rose up to defend Lyall’s point. A thousand uncentered emotions. Lyall winced.

“Lyall, what’s your uncentered thoughts saying?”

Lyall took a deep breath. “This mission is insane. The whole purpose of the Union is to preserve life. How many people on Caramm IV? Thirty thousand or so? Most of them our best researchers. And how many thousands on this ship?"

Lyall felt himself shaking as emotions threatened to overwhelm him again. “I just can't do this, Darach. Maybe I'm anarcous myself, but I don't care. I just can't do this."

Darach unconsciously braced himself against another sudden movement. "Listen very carefully. I understand all that you feel. Believe me." He scrubbed a hand over his forehead, obviously surprised to find sweat there. "We are Suzerain. It's our job to protect the Union."

"What about the people on Caramm? Aren’t they Union?”

Darach sighed. “Just as we do in our own bodies with aggressive tumours, sometimes we have to cut something out of the body if it threatens the whole. But we do this only in the worst case scenario. It’s been hundreds of generations since the Suzerainty has had to act this way.”

"There must be another way!"

"THEN TELL ME THE OTHER WAY!"

The pod slowed and lurched as it shifted channels. The throbbing hum of the magnetic drive was the only sound.

Darach squared himself to Lyall. "What will happen if we do not do this? Tell me!” Darach locked onto Lyall’s eyes. “That's an order."

Lyall licked his lips. "Caramm IV will continue to disseminate the Merefant information. Their centering will be compromised and re-centering will be unattainable. It will spread until large portions of the Union will descend back into anarcous behavior. Anyone could be a victim again. Woman, children ..." His hand covered his eyes for a moment. "The peace we have had for over 2000 cycles will be shattered and the Union as we know it will end."

Darach thundered, "And what about his ship, Lyall?"

Lyall felt dead inside. Silly things suddenly seemed the most important. Words that should terrify meant nothing. "A deadly piece of technology. It threatens the Union's security. We had to get aboard to assess its design. Directing it into the Union allows us to destroy it, slowing their development programs, allowing us to catch up."

Darach suddenly realised his fists were clenched and forced them to open. "God..." He slumped against the side of the pod.

"I'm sorry Darach. This assignment … has any Suxerain ever had to do anything like this? We've been months beyond the Boundary. Months, constantly around uncentered people. Duthail save me--I had no idea how difficult it is to maintain the centre when everyone else is anarcous. And the worst thing is, now that I’m surrounded by anarcous people I find myself liking them."

Darach responded gently, "But you when we first entered their society? How did you feel when you first saw the destruction yourself? Remember when we heard of that murdered child? You were furious. If I recall correctly, you said you wanted to wipe out this whole anarcous society."

Lyall shivered. "We both know that was uncentered anger talking."

"I know." Darach acknowledged. "I was reminding you of how anarcous societies made you feel. We are fighting the system, not the people."

"It wasn't the plan though, was it Darach? All we were supposed to do is infiltrate their military and to get the plans for this ship. Now we're racing back into the Union, battling our own Boundary Guard, on our way to destroy one of our own planets." He looked up at Darach. "This is hard, Darach. This is the hardest thing I've ever done."

Darach nodded hoping he looked calm. "I know. We were all the Suzerainty had. Our operation is a desperate one."

They looked at each other, the sharing of the pain strengthening both of them.

Darach asked, "How close are we to the Wesselton?"

Thoughts were loud in Lyall’s head.

"The science station?" Darach gently prompted.

Lyall sat up straighter, his expression neutral, only his eyes betraying how he really felt. "We'll be close enough to strike in four and a half hours."

"Is our exit plan in place?"

Lyall nodded, his face had taken on a slack sterile expression.

"As soon as the station is knocked out, there won't be anything to detect our departure. We exit immediately after."

"Like the two rats we are--"

"What?"

“Nothing.” Lyall shook his head. "Another 3000 people, Darach, and some of them are the best minds the Union has.” Lyall took a deep shuddering breath. "Perhaps we should stay to make sure they go for Caramm IV. These deaths will be for nothing if they deviate."

"They won't deviate. We've made sure of that. And we have to go directly to Isius. The Regent needs us to report back to him personally."

"And away from the crime scene so there's no possibility of being caught."

"Duthail's hairy--!" Darach forced himself to get a tight grip on himself. It wasn’t only Lyall who struggled with his centering. "No Lyall, to make sure nothing unravels. To make sure all these deaths aren't wasted. That is what I mean. And so does the Suzerainty."

Lyall shook his head. "Why didn't we check it first? Didn't we check that planet for traces of Merefant activity before any civilians arrive?"

Darach's face darkened momentarily before the recentering reflexes squashed the anger. "You know we checked it. Even though we have never found signs of the Merefant in this whole area of space. Ever. Still we checked. But we have never, ever found any evidence of the Merefant building any permanent structures before. So when the instruments picked up the remains of a large city, our scouts never even considered it might be a Merefant city! How many bloody times do we have to go over this?"

Even Darach is struggling, Lyall noticed. "I'm sorry, Darach." Lyall rubbed his face with both of his hands. "Who would think an archeological dig would be so deadly?"

Darach answered the rhetorical question. "The Merefant are the only known unassailable anarcous force. It is a Merefant site they are digging up. Even now, anarcous thought is spreading among those working the site. We have to move fast."

‘Feels wrong,’ something said inside Lyall. "I know! I know all this! Why can't I hold onto the center?"

Lyall looked down at his hand. It hurt. Then he noticed a new dent in one of the panels. "All I can see is I will be a murderer! This isn’t some anarcous group we are killing. It will be our own Duthail-blessed people on Caramm!"

The pod lurched to a stop. The doors opened. Darach immediately closed them.

Darach was quite for a moment. "Do you want me to a field re-centering on you?"

"I'm not a bloody criminal.” Lyall snapped.

“I’m not suggesting it to protect myself; I’m suggesting it to protect you.”

Lyall looked at Darach for a long time. The technique was normally used to pacify captured people on uncentered planets. But perhaps it would save him from slipping into an uncontrollable anarcous spiral. It made surprising sense. "Do we have time?"

The ship was quiet. They were through the Boundary and inside the Union. There was not much time. Darach shook his head. "We'll make time."

Lyall felt hope for the first time in some hours. "Are the scramblers working? If Caramm manages to get even one piece of their research to the Union, this murder we do will reduced to nothing but murder."

"I checked them myself," Darach assured him. "Did you program the engines?"

"Yes, this ship will explode in less than 12 hours." He added bitterly, "More than long enough to do its job..."

"... and with no time for it to attack any other Union targets," Darach actually smiled. "Come on, then. Let's get you recentered."

The doors opened. An engineer stopped in surprise at the sight of the two men.

Darach looked self-conscious and uncertain. For he was only an administrator, unused to the heat of battle. “We were afraid to come out. Ever since we’ve penetrated the Boundary we’ve been terrified!”