The Inner Circle E-Book

Julie Steimle

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

After generations of searching space, they finally found a habitable world to live on, only to discover that a dangerous alien race got to it first...

Catherine Bailey, the daughter of Brigadier Bailey is betrothed to Lieutenant Charles Dubois, a candidate for membership in the Inner Circle and a leader within society. Her connection to the Inner Circle—the exclusive governing body that manages their small society of survivors who were seeking a new life on a new planet--is crucial to her happiness and success. However, the transition on the new world is not as easy as she had hoped. The world seems to hold a dreadful secret. To make a haven, their soldiers had to clear the planet of hostile flesh-eating plants, and there are rumors of savages in the wild lands and alien beings on the sea.

Will the world ever be entirely their own?

Sequel to The Race

Leseprobe

Julie Steimle

The Inner Circle

a Novel

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Chapter One

 I gazed out at the stars that so commonly shone through our ship’s window. I had dreamed of one day waking up to see a sunrise over a mountainside, but until recently that could only be a dream. This morning as I dressed, I felt my hopes rise as quite possibly our ship would reach the habitable world our scouts had found for us.

I don’t know how long we had wandered space, though my father says it was about four generations, give or take one. He never said exactly—but that was how members of the inner circle were…all secretive-like.

Yawning and stretching, I turned from the window and walked over to my closet where I would find my favorite dresses ready for me. I had five now. Nana had made a new one for me to wear when we landed, which would be today hopefully. My father—the Brigadier Bailey, now retired and soon to be governor of our new colony—had said I had to look my best for the ceremony. To be honest, I wanted to look my best for my beau, Charles Dubois—Lieutenant.

Oh, I hugged myself, thinking about that. Lieutenant. And one day I would be a lieutenant’s wife, maybe a captain’s wife if he continued his glorious rise through the ranks. Presently he was one of the scouts that had spotted this world. We had traveled so far and so long. At last we would have a home.

Tossing away the hanger, I held the dress up to my chest and stood in front of the floor length mirror. I smiled, admiring my figure in the reflection. Though my hair was presently disorderly, I imagined how it would look tonight when we set foot on land—real land. Charles would smile at me and I would flirt with him, tossing my hair with a gentle smile that would tease. Oh, how fun and romantic it would be, walking hand in hand with him on grass, real grass.

That was the thing. Grass, trees, clear blue sky…they were all stories until now. I slumped against the dresser and lowered the gown, sighing dreamily. Today they would be real.

“Miss!” I heard Nana call through the door. She had such terrible timing. “Miss! Are you dressed and decent?”

I really hated how she used the word ‘decent’ as if I could possibly be indecent. It was like implied misbehavior. I was a Brigadier’s daughter. It was impossible for me to misbehave, even if I wanted to. Embarrass my father? It was a preposterous idea.

“Miss, open up,” Nana called. Sometimes she could be so bossy.

I zipped open the back of the dress and quickly slipped it on, pulling back up the zipper. Then, feeling really irritated at Nana, I tromped over and opened the door.

“Really, Nana,” I said, letting her know my displeasure, “It is awfully early for you to come bossing me. I’m dressed.”

“And I must do your hair, Miss, if I may remind you,” Nana said in her same old bossy mother-preach me sort of way. Even my own mother didn’t talk to me like that. I really hated it in Nana.

Sulkily, since I felt like it more with Nana there, I trounced over to the vanity chair and sat down so Nana could get done and over with her job. I only looked up once, feeling Nana pulled it too tight when she straightened and then curled my hair. If I didn’t need her for the job so badly, I would have surely had my father fire her. She yanks when she thinks I’m not sitting still enough. It really is pathetic how she expects me to be so still too. I’m not a statue after all.

But Nana does know her place and she remained silent. Once she finished the job, she did the smart thing and left before I got angry with her and threw my shoe at her. Alone again, I returned to admiring my figure in the mirror, peeking only once at my chest, which sadly to say, I had to stuff to make look bigger. Because I am so thin, they also aren’t big. It gets embarrassing actually. I mean, Sarah Dawes is so fat—I saw her trying to squeeze into one of my dresses the other day when she visited me (said she wanted to borrow a comb) and her breasts were jutting out like her fat thighs and butt…. But men say she’s curvaceous. I just hope that Charles doesn’t take her fat for womanly figuring and think her more beautiful than me. I think I’d die if that happened.

Taking one more twirl in front of the mirror, I heard my father call to me. “Catherine Bailey, hurry up! It is nearly time for the first morning view.”

 “Coming, Father!” Turning from the mirror, I ran over to my shoes and pulled them on. They were tight, but I didn’t care. I would get new shoes soon enough. The scouts had said the world we were going to had many resources…maybe even animals that would provide leather and fur. I smiled dreamily at the thought.

Opening the door, I looked out into the ship’s hall. I kept thinking how wonderful it would be to no longer look around a ship’s metal corridors and soon look at those walls made of newly built wood or stucco. I had read about them in a novel and thought them very romantic. I pictured the trellises with vines leading up to second story windows—or balconies where Juliet would stand and murmur about her Romeo.

Sighing, I walked past the soldiers in uniform and waved at one, hoping he thought I was pretty. They all waved back. But there are times I think they do that simply because my father is the brigadier. I continued on my trek, passing the tall painted bulkheads and doors, reaching a room where my father stood like a regal figure from history, peering out the wide window with an admiring sigh.

“Do you see it, Catherine?” he asked me, sounding awed as well as incredibly pleased.

I looked out to where I saw the world we were approaching. It did look wonderful: blue with seas, green with forests, and brown with deserts; ice caps that topped it in peaks of white, and swirling clouds that would bring rain—fresh rain to the world. I was in love with it at once.

“It is marvelous,” I said.

He smiled and twisted his mustache. “We are going to name it Earth II, after own old world.”

“Is it inhabited though?” I murmured. It was a question many had asked already.

“The scouts tried looking for settlements, but they say they found no evidence of sentient civilization. This world is a plant world, ruled by vegetation rather than animals.”

“A plant world?” I said, blinking at him.

“We got the report just this morning,” my father said, glancing at me. “We won’t be able to set down today. The scouts report that the plants are carnivorous, and are trying to decide if we can set down at all.”

“Carnivorous plants? But doesn’t that mean then that there are animals down there?” I asked. His remarks were rather surprising. I had never heard of plants that ate animals before.

He nodded to me, smiling with a wink. “Indeed, there are, but they are fewer in number than the vast forests of flowering plants down on the surface. But the scouts say those plants seem to be dying—lacking food. I think this is a dying world. We might have to move on.”

I frowned. “No. I don’t want to have us search for another world….”

“But if this one is dangerous, my darling—” He retorted rather too logically for me to accept.

“We are human beings! Intelligent and powerful,” I said with a bit too much of a pout. I knew I was overdoing it, but I really wanted to walk on grass that day. “Can’t we clear out those nasty plants?”

“Our people are going to try,” my father said.

There was no point arguing after that. When my father said ‘try’, it was always an understatement, especially when he smiled like he was doing now. I knew he already had a plan and was quite possibly instigating it as we spoke. He just liked to play games and then surprise me with wonderful results. That was our relationship. I thought after a moment that I was going to get my grass after all.

I turned to go back into the ship, maybe to go see Mother, or quite possibly to find Anna Firkin to compare plans for the settling ceremony. She had said that she wanted to set up a picnic. All of us expected to go camping before our homes were built. We were going to build an Eden, her mother had said.  I believed that of her. Her mother ran the ship’s hot-house that grew plants for oxygen and food. She knew all about Eden and good gardening.

“Catherine!”

I turned then smiled at my beau, who came over to me with outstretched manly arms. “Charles!”

He practically jogged over to me with his embrace, wrapping his warm arms around me, his large hands resting on my back. Then he pulled back to admire my face. “Darling, you got all dressed up. I’m so sorry. I wish I had told you earlier about the change in plans. I suppose you heard from your father the news?”

Reaching up to brush back the small blond curl from his forehead, tucking it into the rest of his hair, I said, “Yes. Father told me about it is infested with savage plants. Have you seen them up close?”

Lieutenant Charles Dubois nodded. “Oh yes, I certainly have. But the good news is, we will be able to eradicate them in about a month.”

I pushed back with a pout. “A month! I can’t wait that long!”

He chuckled, cradling me in his arms anyway. “I’m sorry, darling, but that is how it is. Besides, the construction crews will also have to build us some habitable structures to live in. Surely you wouldn’t want to camp out in the weather.”

“The weather…” I mused, sighing. “Rain on my face. A cool breeze…”

“More like typhoons and floods, Catherine,” he said, smirking at me in that charming way of his. “Not all weather is pleasant.”

“Oh,” I was immediately disappointed. “But snow. I have got to experience snow.”

Charles leaned in, kissing me on my nose. Then he chuckled, “I hear snow is cold.”

“So is ice cream,” I said. “And I enjoy that.”

He laughed. “You won’t be eating the weather.”

We walked arm in arm down the corridor towards the living quarters. I knew he intended to leave me there with the ladies while he would go off again, adventuring. I hung on as long as I could, breathing in every word, every touch, and every caress. I really didn’t want him to let go.

He paused at the door, turning to face me. “Catherine. Once we are settled in, I will speak with your father about finding a place for us. I am sure once all the fine details are finished, he will approve an active courtship that will lead to marriage.”

I grasped his hands eagerly. “Please do!”

Kissing me on the forehead one more time, he then kissed the tops of my hands and backed away with a bow. “Until next time, my beloved.”

“I will keep my heart open for you!”

He was so sweet, such a romantic. When Charles walked off, I just floated through the door, nearly skipping to Anna’s quarters. 

Anna’s door was open when I arrived.

I stepped in, peered around then called out. “Anna! Anna!”

“Come in!” I heard her in the back.

Tip-toeing between the draped dresses she had out, I giggled. Then I said, “It’s not today, Anna. I already spoke with my father and Charles.”

Anna trotted in, adjusting her dress with a sour look at me. “Oh you! Don’t tell me. It is already overpopulated, and with hostile aliens.”

I shook my head. “No. Just hostile plants. But my beau said that they should be cleared out in a month.”

“A month?” Anna’s angular face contorted so that her pointy nose scrunched up and her fat lips twisted and compacted so tight that Nana would have said it would stick that way if she held it long. She tossed her head back and returned to where she had been dressing. “I don’t want to wait a month. I want my picnic now!”

“So do I,” I said, nodding. I walked over to her chair, shoving off her dresses, listening to her unzip the gown she was wearing.

“It is entirely unfair that those men get to see the planet before we do,” she said. “Are you sure he meant the plants were savage, and not some wild beast?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I very sure. But that means they can just raze the land and start afresh. Plants can’t move very far.”

Anna stuck out her head, pulling her other suit back on. “But there are poisonous plants. Poison ivy. Poison oak. Poison sumac. And plants with the name of death in them. I’m telling you, we might be better off in space if that kind of world is what’s been found.”

I chuckled, looking around the room. I think I would go mad spending the rest of my life in space. All the promises the Inner Circle had made to us would be so empty if we did not settle on a world soon.

“I don’t want to stay in space,” I said. “Besides, my father says life is sweetened by risk. Our forebearers left earth with that very motto.”

“If earth was so great,” Anna muttered, “then why did we leave it in the first place?”

She knew the answer. She was just being obnoxious. Some of our people wanted to remain in space. They liked the novelty of space travel, seeing new worlds, being the explorers. But the answer to why we couldn’t remain in space was the same as the answer to why our ancestors left earth. Overpopulation. Our ships just couldn’t hold another generation. It was bursting at the seams, even with all the population controls we had.

I leaned closer and said to her, “Anna, when we get down there, where do you want to settle?”

Anna drew in a breath, sighed as she gazed across the room though not at me, then she said, “I’m not sure. I keep imagining a broad grassy lawn, like in those pictures of England. I want a big house, some trees, but not too many. I’d like there to be a pond. And my mother demands to have a garden. I suppose she wishes to garden the world.”

I nodded.

“What do you want?” she asked.

Shrugging, I said, “I can’t picture it enough. I think I want a balcony. I want a trellis. I want Charles to come to my balcony and call up to me.”

Anna and I burst into giggles. Then we sighed.

“Yes…” Anna sighed again. “That is a sweet dream.”

But then the ship lurched. After that the lights overhead flashed yellow. Anna and I sat up. It didn’t happen often, but when it did it was a warning that we could possibly be in danger.

Then the ship’s intercom switched on with a tinny hum.

<<This is Captain Ulysses speaking. There has been a sudden break in one of our fuel manifolds. We must have a forced landing. Everyone take his or her crash positions. I repeat, there has been a suddenly break in one of our fuel manifolds. We must have a forced landing. Everyone take his or her crash positions.>>

Anna rushed to her seat along the wall, shoving off the dresses and grabbing the restraints to strap herself in. I blinked at her, looking at the other open seat. It was for her mother. I had to get back to my room.

I spun on my heels, dashing out. There were others also rushing about, even as I darted into a hall.

“Catherine! Catherine!” my father called to me. I saw him wave me to hurry.

“Catherine!” Nana shouted, beckoning me back to our quarters. “This way!”

“I know the way, stupid!” I shouted at her, my adrenalin racing. My feet pounded the floor, my skirts clutched in my hands to keep me from tripping. Five people crisscrossed in front of me. I nearly crashed into one, but he caught me in time and shoved off to get to his post. Staggering to get back on track, I rushed to the door of the Bailey quarters and hurdled in, grasped by Nana’s outstretched fat hands.

“Hurry dear!” Nana can be so irritating.

I hopped to my seat. Mother was already in hers, her hands clenched together white-knuckled with her eyes darting at the window and then at the flashing lights. Nana tried to help me strap into my seat, but her fat fingers kept getting in the way so I shoved her off, shouting at her to get into her seat and leave me alone.

Her face went that splotchy red, and she backed up, muttering. I hate it when she muttered. It was practically mutinous. It was certainly disrespectful. Father really ought to fire her. However, she got the hint and dropped her big butt into her chair, pulling on the restraints.

The ship lurched.

Nana screamed.

Mother screamed too.

I held on, closing my eyes, imagining us landing somewhere beautiful. I imagined a safe and dramatic landing, not a terrible crash. I refused to believe that we would come all this way just to crash.

The ship started to make growing pitchy noise, the feeling of different gravity pulling at us sideways as the ship felt like it was tipping. It was a scary sensation. The captain made several announcements, but I am afraid I did not hear much of what he said. My ears were ringing. The pressure in them made them pop twice. I was also feeling really, really hot. Looking at our window, the outside edges were red, orange and hot white, like rushing flames.

But then I saw blue. It was just pure blue. Nothing else. Just blue.

The hot red was gone. The shaky tipping feeling increased, but then later leveled off to a more reasonable angle. Everything was shaking still, but as I drew in a breath, not realizing I had been holding it, the air was much cooler. Then the captain spoke once more. And I understood him this time.

<<All passengers. Please remain in your seats until I give the all clear. Right now we are piloting to a safe landing spot. I repeat. Please remain in your seats until the all clear.>>

I looked over to my mother. Her eyes were closed.

I glanced at Nana. She was staring up at the ceiling, muttering again and white as a sheet. Such a weakling. Honestly.

“Catherine,” my mother said, sighing now with relief. “We’re here.”

I looked to Mother again. Her eyes were shining as she smiled at me.

The rush to get out was stemmed only by soldiers ordered to regulate the mobs heading to the doors. My father hung back to the side, his face lit only with the flickering colored panel lights. When I saw him I decided to do the noble thing and hang back too. As he liked to say, the planet was not going to evaporate any time soon.

After a while I strolled out to the doors like a lady should. My mother had hung back also; but like the idiot she was, Nana was one of the first off the ship. Mother and I met Father in the doorway, breathing in the air where he was observing the people outside. He exhaled and turned to me, his grin spreading wide. His eyes glittered.

“Behold, Catherine. Earth II.”

I turned and looked.

Blue.

Blue sky, the color of this dress I have. One of my favorites.

Blue. Blue water, almost green in parts, purple in others, extending out to forever.

 And this tan colored land before us that stretched out long and flat for miles both ways, dividing both blues. This was a world? Though it was lovely, I kept feeling like it lacked something.

“Were is the green?” I asked, turning to him.

Patting me on the shoulder with his amused smirk, my father said, “This is only the beach dear. When it is safe to head further inland, you will see green.”

He walked off to join the frolickers. I stared after him, wondering. Then I closed my eyes, sucked in the fresh tasting air and sighed, dreaming of green.

Chapter Two

Sand is an obnoxious thing. It got into everything and stuck to our skin. Leaving the beach was the happiest thing ever. Entering our newly built city was even better.

Over a period of six months, we waited. Other ships in our fleet landed with ours along the shore of the place Father wanted to call New California. The Inner Circle’s heads overrode him and named the land Utopia. They called our new city Haven. The other colonies that were being built up were given likewise similarly optimistic names: Eden, Arcadia, Shangri-la, Atlantis, Nirvana, Walden, and Harmony. We moved to Haven city almost immediately, and I got my balcony.

Anna got her green lawn with a small but attractive pond.

Then we had the picnic.

I won’t bore you with the details. Just let it suffice that life in Haven city proved to be everything wonderful…until that day.

“Brigadier! Have you heard the news?” One of father’s lieutenants was interrupting us at tea again. All the servants had cleared out, so really it was family time with Father, Mother and me.

Father lowered his cup, while I held my patience. Ladies did not shout at idiotic lieutenants. I just hoped Father would.

But he said, “What news are you talking about?”