Sunday, April 10, 2011

Sample Sunday Science Fiction

As readers progress through the books in the Infinion Trilogy, they drift deeper and deeper into more traditional science fiction.  Although this has cost me some of the fans garnered by Regression, it is a truer reflection of my own tastes and interests, and the kind of stories I enjoy writing. Not to say I didn't love writing Regression, but part of my pleasure was knowing where the story was heading.

And so, here is an excerpt from Revolussion, the work in progress which will be the final instalment of the trilogy. I am still considering the companion to the series, Nicholas Weaver's tale, but it would follow his lifetimes rather than the final one he experiences in the Infinion Series. This is a rough draft, unedited, but gives an idea of where the story is going.


He used his far-ranging sensors to locate the ship carrying his brothers. Docked at Ceres station, it was out of range of the Effigee weapons, but he still blocked the image from appearing to the voracious predator species. By bringing his cells into their ship, by merging his plasmid with the structure of their craft, they had actually imbued him with the power to defeat them. At least, this one ship. As he filtered through the alien technology, learning the signals and impulses of his artificial systems, he realized there were dozens of the Effigee ships ranged around the perimeter of the solar system. Some were in very poor condition, their onboard plasmids few and far between, making their use limited and haphazard. This was why the Effigee were coming. The death of a cell on board the ship meant the loss of a portion of the computer power of the ship’s control. Each individual cell was linked to the whole and supported operations. Without a host to grow new plasmids, the Effigee ships had begun to decay. This really was their last chance.
But he did not care. He was human. Pluman. And would ensure their survival at his own cost.
His body had contained trillions of cells. Trillions of plasmids. Would they use his body to bolster the other ships?
He would make it so. With a simple thought, he summoned the ship’s apparent leader. When they were not controlling the ship, the Effigee massed on the floors of the craft like so many cockroaches. Their roiling undulations would have revolted his living self, but merely amused his new essence. What an incredibly insignificant creature to be of such great threat to Earth. Yet, when the individuals merged to work together, they were as powerful as they needed to be. His summons brought an undulation into formation, rising above the tide of bodies to take on the six-limbed shape of the original owners of the ship. Using the mockery of a hand, the Effigee touched the screen and opened the communication stream between the other ships. With a series of clicks and squeals, the creature spoke to another replicant on an identical ship. Then Avery felt a draw on his system, like a thread being pulled from a knitted sweater.  He followed the drain, and found a mass of cells being collated. They were doing as he said, and sending portions of his cells to the other ships.
The mass of tissue was still part of him, and still connected to his awareness. He no longer thought or processed like a human with one central nervous system and brain. Instead, he was more a group consciousness. A collective. As much as he hated the comparison, his being was now like the Effigee, with countless individual comprising the whole, able to work collectively and discretely. He hoped.
The nearest Effigee craft pulled alongside the ship Avery inhabited, and his tissue was transported through a transfer tube between the two.
It worked. He could still sense the cells even after the tube had withdrawn. And, as they permeated the second ship, his awareness expanded and intensified. He was now two.
It was then he felt the presence of his mother.