Multiverse 7

 A new year and a new book. Well, more than 1 of course. :)

Sitrep: I had a good holiday season, hopefully those of you reading this did as well. Mine was the usual fun chaos peppered with my questionable sense of humor. 😆

One thing that came out of it, my mother has wistfully asked for a copy of one or more of my books... in print form. I have tried twice to make that happen before, but gave it up when I realized it wouldn't work out. 

After the series of health scares she had last year, I'm trying again to make that dream a reality this month. So, I've been working with Mechmaster to revamp my Bootstrap Colony 1 cover again. It looks a bit better, but more on that later. (Still working on it)

In other news I've been working on Bootstrap Colony 5- the one with the crossover with PRI. I've blocked out 91 pages so far, so trucking along. Again, more on that later.

On to MV7.

Multiverse 7 is short, just 4 short stories, 1 Roo story, 1 PRI story, and 2 Federation stories. The Fed stories will play into the upcoming books. The Roo story will be seen in the Roo Collective, the next book on the schedule to come out. And of course the PRI story will come up in the book I'm currently writing.

Rea just shot the manuscript back to me, I just went through the final back/front edits and sent it off to Goodlifeguide.

On to the snippet!

The following is from Giant Slayer the Roo story:

 

Counter stumped through the new warren, feeling every bit of his advanced age. It was getting there though, one day at a time. He paused to let some younglings pass and then kept moving.

There were vertical movers but one was in use and the other was loading so he elected to take the stairs. It was hard on his old knees but the cane helped.

His free hand touched the polished railing as he took the steps up to the top of the tree.

The new warren was centered around the thunker tree that had offered his people refuge during their moment of crisis. Within the tree the Roo people had found temporary shelter against the weather, predators, and the giants who had attacked their old home with poison fog.

Now, thanks to the surviving diggers it was extending outward. They had gone out under the surface initially, splaying out in tunnels in all directions before going deeper to get below the frost line before the cold snap.

The diggers had achieved it. They had found an old stomper skeleton to help with their efforts. He had just come from touring that area in his rounds.

As he went higher, the air grew colder. He pulled the shawl tighter over his shoulders. His fur had thickened in the cold but he was old. The cold seemed to seep into him more and more as each cold season began.

The climb was good for him, and the view was refreshing. He enjoyed that there were fewer Roo as he climbed; most had moved into the tunnels and were huddled in the cramped quarters underground. Many of the oldsters were trying to hibernate. Some of the very old who had survived had passed away in their sleep. He worried about the additional loss of that precious knowledge.

Perhaps it was for the best though, the old ideas giving way to new fresh ones that might keep them alive, he thought as he saw Tinker in his workshop. He passed the open door and kept going.

When he got to the lookout point, he nodded to the sentries there and then looked out, sniffing his air and feeling his eyes slit from the bitter wind chill. He wouldn’t remain there long; he didn’t want to catch a chill. But he did like it now. Funny, he hadn’t before. He’d hated being exposed to the outside. Now it was nice; the smells were better than the crush of bodies below.

He took his time to look about them, nodding to each of the sentries. They nodded back politely.

At each of the four corners, he stopped. They were marked by the directions. One was to the east and the rising sun, opposite that the west and setting sun. The north was marked with an arrow pointing to the North Star and the northern lights. Therefore, the last point was to the south.

In each of those general directions, a Roo community was located. None had offered to send help. It angered him to be ignored. They hadn’t even offered to take in some of the refugees. Nothing at all.

He sighed. There was supposed to be a convoy of trade goods midway through the cold season if the weather cleared. He was curious if they’d hear about inquiries about it or see it at all. It wasn’t like his people had a lot to trade.

Well, certainly not food items. But a lot was coming out of the old warren these days. He turned and looked down. The heights were dizzying but he still looked. Below there was a path leading to the old warren. Half of it was underground, the other half in a trench of the white water. The ice had been packed over the top in some places. In others it was open, and he saw a steady flow of figures moving between the old warren and the new.

The younger set moved quickly to avoid the cold. He didn’t envy them the task of cleaning out the old warren, but it needed to be done.

He nodded once and then turned to the east and the distant glittering shape. He could just see the top of it over the screen of trees between them and the clearing far away. The white snow had fallen on the giant warren but it was still there.

He glowered at it but then shivered when the winds picked up.

“Better get inside, Elder,” a defender said. He turned to the defender in time to see the other Roo look to the sky. He looked up to see clouds moving slowly in.

“Storm is coming in,” the Roo warned.

Counter nodded and headed back inside. He couldn’t take the lift down until he went one floor down. Once there he waited patiently for his turn to ride it down. He could go upstairs but going back down was troublesome and dangerous. His fear of falling was great, so he exercised his patience and waited.

 ~======~