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  BEAST OF DREAMS

  An Ellora’s Cave Publication, April 2004

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

  PO Box 787

  Hudson, OH 44236-0787

  ISBN MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-84360-838-3

  Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):

  Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) HTML

  BEAST OF DREAMS © 2004 CYNTHIA WILLIAMS

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. They are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Edited by Raelene Gorlinsky.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Beast of Dreams

  Cynthia Williams

  Prologue

  The Conglomerate created the wolfan—now they would destroy them.

  In 2306, the advent of faster-than-light space travel allowed practical manned exploration of planets outside of the Sol solar system. The people of Earth rejoiced; they now had a way to relieve their overpopulation and many signed on to immigrate to the newly available worlds. Unfortunately, more than half of the planets initially considered habitable were unsuitable for humans. Many had wide variations in their orbits, resulting in harsh climates often with UV levels that were dangerously high, or had predatory animals and plants that took the lives of colonists. Colonization was soon restricted to the safer worlds.

  By 2425, population pressure had been greatly reduced on Earth and humankind had spread successfully to fourteen of the more compatible worlds. Leaders from each of these worlds formed a new government to oversee trade and immigration between the planets and called themselves the Conglomerate.

  The Conglomerate saw opportunities in the vast natural resources of the twenty worlds found so far that were too harsh for colonization. Greed led the Conglomerate’s Council to make a decision to populate these planets with human life, but with a twist. They started the Human Artificial Adaptation Plan (HAAP), a program that set out to develop hardier Homo sapiens variations that could survive the elements and predators.

  Wolfan, Homo sapiens lupus, was the first successful subspecies developed. Wolf genes were used to modify the basic human genome. Skin would be protected by fur, strength and endurance increased, eyesight and sense of smell sharpened, and most controversial of all, predatory instincts inserted to ensure the wolfan’s survival in competition with a planet’s native flora and fauna. The wolfan were derived using only the most superior of human stock, with genetic material taken from people who were at the top of their fields in a variety of scientific and artistic areas. Animal characteristics were only added as needed to aid the subspecies survival in harsh climates.

  By 2789, the HAAP program was in full swing, and genetically modified human colonies using genes from the wolf, tiger, and other animals were the norm for many planets. The wolfan in particular showed outstanding success in colonizing other worlds, and after a few centuries, their numbers began to rival those of ‘standard’ humans.

  The numbers alone may have been alarming enough to some standard humans, but the new subspecies were designed to be genetically compatible with Homo sapiens, allowing for successful interbreeding. Because all mutations were coded into dominant genes to make certain they were carried from one generation to the next, a child resulting from the mating of a standard human and a wolfan was always a wolfan. A few standard human worlds even saw wolfan numbers increasing dramatically due to interbreeding alone.

  Soon the program was greatly restricted due to the growing fear that the wolfan were too different and too dominant compared to standard humans.

  Alarmed, the Conglomerate embarked on a series of policies to reduce or eliminate interaction between the human subspecies.

  They placed all planets colonized or planned for colonization by wolfan under an isolation decree. No ‘standard’ humans were allowed contact with wolfan on their planets and vice versa, other than for pre-approved scientific studies and a few other exceptions. Violation of the decree meant prison time.

  They restricted wolfan space travel, even within the wolfan territories, unless they were passengers aboard a standard human ship. To enforce this decree, the Conglomerate sent military ships to patrol wolfan space and paid its officers bounties for confiscating and/or destroying wolfan spaceships.

  With physical contact all but eliminated, the Conglomerate then controlled access to the Galaxy Wide Web (GWW) itself, ensuring it was restricted to human worlds, the tachyon directional beams carefully plotted so no planets controlled by wolfan, tigran, or other subspecies were able to receive news from their human cousins.

  As a result, within a few decades, interaction between standard humans and human subspecies became rare. Holovids of the wolfan were also becoming harder to find on the GWW, and those few left tended to depict them as somewhat sinister, prone to animalistic behavior, and often resorting to instinct because they were unable to think clearly like ‘pure’ humans.

  But not everyone believed these lies or agreed with these policies…

  Chapter 1

  2834 AD

  Amanda Parker stepped outside the shuttle transport, tilting her head upward to the shining Eridani sun, letting its rays warm her smooth skin. Her long lashes swept down over her eyes as she stood for a moment absorbing the happy feeling of being on solid ground after two months cooped up in her uncle’s spaceship.

  Of medium height with a body that was generously curved, Amanda was totally unconscious of the beauty of her green eyes, which showed every emotion and thought, or of the loveliness of her tawny curled hair, which refused to stay confined in the careless ponytail she liked to wear. No make-up adorned her apricot and milk skin, as she had no patience for feminine frills, yet her natural beauty still had the power to turn men’s heads.

  Hips swaying, Amanda strolled purposefully out to the middle of the glade, enjoying the opportunity to walk more than ten meters without turning around. She slowly swiveled, scanning the surrounding landscape, absorbed in the primal connection of being alive on a planet so lush with life. She pulled in a deep breath through her slightly upturned nose, the sweet fragrance of native flowers a refreshing change from the recycled stale air aboard her uncle’s ship.

  “Amanda, I’ll be back in ten days. That should be more than enough time to gather all the data you need.” Amanda’s Uncle Sirus reluctantly interrupted her reverie as he unloaded her gear from the shuttle. He was a tall man; tough, lean and sinewy, and at this moment, he was indulging his niece’s happy preoccupation with the lovely planet. Too often of late, Amanda’s moods had been brooding and dark. It was good to see her come out of her shell.

  “I appreciate that you went through all the trouble to bring me here, especially with no promise of profit,” Amanda teased, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

  Amusement flickered in the dark blue eyes that met hers. His obsession with making a profit from his travels had always been a long-standing source of humor for her and her father. “Unfortunately, that’s all too true, but I’m happy that we’re doing this. Perhaps you’ll find something useful and it really will help, as Jonathan had hoped,” he said.

  She walked over to where he stood and put her arms around his broad back, resting her tawny head against his shoulder. She would miss him while she conducted her search.

  “Stay safe, you crazy old pirate,” she replied in a low voice.

  “And you, Amanda,” he sighed, patting her back. At forty-three, Sirus grimaced a bit at being called old, but the pirate part wasn’t far off from what he did as an off-world trader. His reputation for
finding a way to create revenue even in the most unlikely situations and, perhaps more so, his loose way of interpreting regulations in his favor, sometimes had the local planetary authorities on the lookout for him.

  He worried about Amanda, his experiences having taught him to always be wary. He wondered if for all of her experience exploring uncivilized planets, she might be a bit on the naïve side. “I should stay here with you while you look…”

  She lifted her chin and fondly gazed at his leathery but handsome face. Her tone was apologetic. “You know we can’t do that. We’re already taking a huge risk landing here. A lone person is near impossible to detect but we both might get caught if someone detects the shuttle here. I’ve heard that people caught doing the same on other wolfan planets receive five to ten years of hard labor, assuming they survive the interrogation.”

  Perhaps not quite so naïve, Sirus thought. He stepped back to give the shuttle engines a quick once-over. Turning away, he shrugged matter-of-factly, a movement at odds with his inner turmoil. “Regardless, I don’t want you to hesitate to break radio silence if you need help, understand? There have been three attempts to colonize this planet—all failed. The first human and wolfan efforts died out. The second wolfan attempt by Dr. Logan crashed and never even got a chance to start.” He turned back to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. “I know you have three years of exploration experience, but you’ve always worked on teams. You’re alone this time and anything can happen. It makes a big difference.” Worry etched his face.

  “Sirus, we’ve been over this again and again, okay? This planet is no more dangerous than most I’ve explored, and between my Remington environmental suit and the stun gun you’ve given me, I’ll be fine,” Amanda said, used to his concern for her.

  Amanda appreciated her uncle’s concern but it was time to go. She needed to fulfill her obligation to her father. She grasped the handle of her heavy backpack and hefted the bundle over her shoulders, sliding her arms through the straps. Most of the weight came from survival gear and scientific equipment she’d purchased on Gliese III.

  “Dad would have been proud of you, Sirus, for your efforts in bringing me here, but isn’t this making a big dent in your credit reserve?”

  “Nah. It’s just a short break from the trade routes and I needed to get away for a little while in any case,” Sirus replied, uncomfortable with the praise. He had his own reasons for wanting her to find the truth, but he wasn’t ready to share that with her, at least not yet. His jaw tense, he pulled a small plasma blaster from his side pocket and placed it in her hand.

  Amanda gasped. “Sirus, what are you doing with this? This is a banned weapon. You could go to prison just for having one in your possession,” she admonished him, looking at him questioningly.

  Her reaction seemed to amuse him. “Now don’t get your tail in a twist on this, honey. I want you to have this as a little extra something in case you run into a bad situation. This could save your life in a pinch. See this black button on the left side? Slide it all the way forward and press it in firmly. That takes it off safety and makes it ready to kill. When you press the trigger, make sure you’ve got a good shot set up as it only has four charges left in it.”

  “Four charges? I thought they came with five?” she said in a suspicious voice.

  His eyebrows rose inquiringly. “Remember Griffith, that maggot who tried to rob me when I was down for ship repairs last month?”

  “Oh, shit. Do I even want to hear this?” she groaned.

  “No, you don’t. But what you should know is that when you hit the trigger, it takes about a second before it fires.” He grasped the handle of the blaster she held, pointing at the trigger and tilting it so she could see it in more detail. “Seems to need a bit of time to build up a charge before it fires. You want to be sure that either your target isn’t moving or that you can anticipate where it will be one second later,” he said.

  “What happens to the ‘target’?” she asked, her eyes glittering at him.

  He stared at her a moment, debating exactly what to tell her. “The target is completely consumed in an intense fireball. All that was left of Griffith was a pile of black ash and a few scorch marks on the ship’s deck.”

  “Don’t you think someone’s going to notice that he’s missing and the last place he was seen was near your ship? Dammit, Sirus, what makes you so sure the authorities aren’t after you?” she asked, anxiety making her voice shrill.

  He looked a bit sheepish. “Don’t you worry, honey. I covered my tracks pretty well. As far as what I did after I shot him… Well, you know that small banana tree that was dying? The one I repotted and anchored in the ship’s cabin…the one that’s doing so well now?”

  Amanda sighed and shut her eyes. She hoped he was lying but the sad truth was that the tree had made a remarkable recovery.

  “I suppose it’s useless to ask where you got the blaster?” she uttered resignedly.

  He laughed. “Finnegan.”

  Amanda deliberately slowed her breathing to head off the anxiety attack that was starting to build. Finnegan was one of her uncle’s best friends, despite the ten-million credit bounty posted on him if he was returned, dead or alive, to any of the three populated worlds in the Gliese system. It didn’t help that she and Sirus had just left Gliese III a month ago after doing some minor ship repairs and stocking up on equipment for the trip.

  Sirus stepped back to examine the pack on her shoulders and paused to tighten one of the straps. “I better take her up now. Make sure you stay suited up, and don’t take any chances,” he advised.

  She laughed at the incongruity of Sirus, of all people, warning her to be careful. “You too, Sirus. You’d better keep the ship hidden on the moon’s dark side,” she added with a bit of sarcasm.

  “Don’t worry, kid. You just watch yourself,” he replied with a sassy grin.

  Amanda watched the sunlight glint off his blue-black hair as he reentered the shuttle, and lifted her hand to wave goodbye. Sirus paused with his hands at his hips, shaking his head with amusement before waving in a quick farewell. He loved her dearly, but being in close proximity with her over the past few months, when her father’s death weighed heavily on her conscience, was more than he could take for now. He turned away to close the shuttle door and prepare for liftoff.

  Amanda watched the shuttle become just a small pinpoint of light as she settled her backpack into a more comfortable position. She headed to her first night’s campsite. The terrain was grassy and fairly danger free, allowing her thoughts to drift a bit while she hiked.

  For all the inconvenience of the two-month space journey, Amanda mused, the trip to Eridani would be worth it if she was able to determine what happened to Dr. Alexander Logan, the renowned but controversial geneticist, and his family thirty years ago.

  Logan was highly respected and had made a major breakthrough in discovering genetic links to psi talents. However, his marriage to a beautiful Homo sapiens lupus, a wolfan female, left much of the Conglomerate’s prejudiced community distrustful of his motives.

  Amanda had never had the opportunity to actually meet a wolfan. But she had a hard time believing the Conglomerate propaganda. Her father, Jonathon Parker, had taught her the history of the wolfan’s genetic development and she knew them to be a highly intelligent, adventurous people.

  Jonathon had brought her up with tales of the heroics and honor of the wolf people and their love for exploration after Amanda’s mother had died when she was just a young girl. Somehow these stories helped the small girl to break out of her shell of grief. She would often spend hours with her uncle Sirus, Jonathon’s much younger brother, pretending to be a wolfan explorer and begging him for stories of the real wolfans he and her father met during their interstellar commerce trips.

  As a teenager, she understood that both men had deep ties with the wolfan. However, due to the increasing tensions between the Conglomerate and the subspecies colonies, such contacts had been involuntaril
y severed, a source of concern to them. Although they tried to keep this concern from Amanda, she’d often learn of the issues they faced from listening in on their conversations while pretending to sleep on the sofa in her father’s office.

  Amanda was distrustful of the Conglomerate for other reasons. After joining ExtraSol as a planetary explorer specializing in mapping terrain, she’d been assigned to planets that were supposed to be safe for standard human colonization. Too many times she’d faced highly dangerous situations, and if not for her experience, knowledge, and luck, she would be dead. Despite her recommendations to hold off colonization, ExtraSol still continued forward, citing pressure from the Conglomerate to do so. In addition, programs that were set up to benefit the struggling colonies on these planets never seemed to be all that effective, despite the copious amounts of money supposedly funneled into them.

  Her father had never believed the Conglomerate report that said Logan’s mental health had deteriorated and that he had deliberately sabotaged his own vessel, killing all aboard. Her father had been a close friend to Dr. Logan and swore that he was not only one of the most stable men he knew, but a man of uncommon valor. When Jonathon learned that Amanda would be taking a leave of absence from her explorer position with ExtraSol for six months, he asked her to collaborate with his brother Sirus, now a well-established off-world trader, to see if she could determine Logan’s true fate.

  At first she declined, feeling that something that happened thirty years ago would now hold little relevance. She also was wary of the fact Eridani was under an isolation decree. Amanda had no desire to lose her hard-won explorer’s license. However, just before she was due to go on leave, her father had been killed during a raid by the Conglomerate on one of the wolfan space stations. He had died heroically, defying the isolation policy and sacrificing himself to help the wolfan families aboard escape before the Conglomerate’s military ships arrived.