Sample of the Golden Mean
As part of the release this week of my new ebook short story, The Golden Mean, below is a short sample from that story. I hope you all enjoy it!
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| Cover Art by Michael Lam 2013 |
From the Golden Mean by Michael Formichelli:
The lift struck the floor hard enough to
send a jolt through Merte's body. The sound made her jump inside, though it was
worse in the old days when there were nothing but tunnels and mining equipment
on this level. They were gone now, along with long hours in the dark and the
stink of sweaty miners and ozone from the machines. Merte's revolution banished
such things to the realm of stories a long time ago.
The construction on this level was all
new. The gray halls were well lit and the apartments all had modern, iris style
doors. It was all thanks to a deal Ram worked out with a Confederate trader ten
years ago that included, along with modern doors and lights, getting proper
radiation shielding for the colony. Merte didn't need to know the details of
how he pulled that off with their limited funds. She knew that not asking
questions of Ram or most of their visitors was the path to happiness.
New Bimini was on the edge of the Confederation.
The system was located along the shared border with the Orgnan Empire and the
only thing scarier than their interstellar slave economy—the Revok Domain. Far
from of the center of Confederate life on Kosfanter, most of their visitors
were Orgnan, Revok, or Confederate citizens looking to do things out of the
Confederate Space Authority's sight.
The population of New Bimini was a mixed
group, mostly human since the ETMC was a Terran corporate barony, but there
were also high numbers of Galaeneans, and Volgoth thanks to the illegal slave
trading the ETMC conducted in the old days. Members of all groups waved
cheerfully to her as Merte headed for Oroth's, the restaurant that old timers
like herself favored.
"What's this all about,
Merte?" Das'Voq stood in front of a pair of glass doors interrupting the
regularity of the corridor—the entrance to Oroth's.
He masticated a length of blasting
cable in the fleshy beak of his mouth. It was a habit of his from the old days
before the revolution, and for a moment the excitement of that time rushed
through her like a rogue wave. She couldn't help a smile from creeping onto her
face.
His mottled brown-and-blue skin matched
the loose tunic and pants he wore on his well-muscled frame. Das'Voq was a
surly Galaenean with hot, purple eyes above a modest, single cheekbone that
stretched from one side of his face to the other. Although Galaeneans were
gender-shifters similar to amphibious creatures on Earth, Das'Voq had spent
decades in his male form due to their shared condition, and Merte often
attributed his ornery disposition to it even though she knew she shouldn't. He
was willful even when she first met him all those years ago in his female mode.
"You'll find out on the inside,
Das, like everyone else."
"Even I have to wait?" He spat
the cable out with a sound that was something between a pop and a bark. "So
being your mate gets me nothing, huh?"
Merte shook her head, bent down, and
picked up the ten centimeter length of cable.
"It gets you out of consequences
for this." Merte held up the cable. "If you were anyone else I'd fine
you for littering."
"Me? It is a cold female that fines
her life-mate, Merte." His mouth dropped open and his tongue lolled to the
side, but she knew his ire was faked. His mottled skin would dull if Das'Voq
was really upset.
"Watch it or I'll have you locked
up as well," she said.
"That has possibilities."
"Shut up and get in the
restaurant." Merte rolled her eyes.
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