Happy Friday, everyone! Time for another episode of Dragon Ascending.  Last week Len and Ascent made love only to discover that they were not alone in their intimacy. This week the two discuss what Ascent remembers and what he does not. As I mentioned, I am now attempting to post episodes at lengths that will be better suited for the flow of the story and enhance your reading pleasure. Some will be slightly shorter, some will be longer. I hope you find this switch-up helpful. I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, the sequel to Piloting Fury, as much as I’m enjoying sharing it with you. As always, I love it when you share my work with your reading friends, so feel free. In the meantime, enjoy!

If you missed the previous episode of Dragon Ascending follow the link for a catch-up. If you wish to start from the beginning, of Dragon Ascending. Follow the link.  

For those of you who would like to read the complete novel, Piloting Fury, book one of the Sentient Ships series, follow the link to the first instalment.

 

Dragon Ascending: Book 2 of the Sentient Ship Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

 

 

 

Dragon Ascending Part 33: Sifting Memories

“I have no memory of Quetzalcoatl or any of the other SNTs,” Ascent said when Lenore told him about her uncle. “If your uncle and Quetzalcoatl may have survived the SNT Disaster, is it not possible that the ship above is Quetzalcoatl and your uncle returning for you?” He asked.

“No. If it were I would know. I know Quetzal’s frequency, his signature from when my uncle took me to his heart. He liked me, Quetzal did. He treated me like someday I might also be a compliment. No, I would know if it were Uncle Matt and Quetzal. I would know.”

“Then it is not a signature you recognize?”

She shook her head. “I know this SNT has two compliments. Is that even possible?”

“I do not know, Lenore. I have no memory of myself or of what it means to be an SNT. Only bits of data seem to come back to me occasionally, sometimes when I most need them, sometimes not.”

“Then you remember nothing?”

“Only the loss of my compliment, and that only in vague images of fire and loss. I do not wish to revisit that memory at all.”

She nodded and gave a little shiver that had him moving closer to her on her bed where they now sat after a meal and a shower together, which had taken a deliciously long time. “I know that feeling. I have memories I wish I could be rid of. And the dreams? You say you don’t remember them when you wake up?”

“In truth, I have only dreamed this one time. I do not know if perhaps that has something to do with your presence and maybe the SNT above or not. But I remember nothing of them, of who I was to them, only I remember fire and pain and loss.”

“I remember images from your dream, warnings from your compliment about the Authority, and then you were infected with the virus, and you were calling out to her not to leave you.” She didn’t add that he had called out to her, that he had begged her not to leave him. She had no doubt it was only the normal confusion of dreams.

“Please, Lenore. I do not wish to know more, not now, for I am a coward.”

“No! No you are not, Ascent. You’re a survivor. We both are.” Then she added, “I’m scared all the time. I can barely remember a time when I wasn’t.” Her thoughts returned to the ship in orbit. “I can’t help but feel there’s something special about this ship, something different. I’ve certainly never heard of a ship with two compliments. ” The memory of exploring hands and lips and hard masculine body and a soft feminine one, both compliment to maleness, powerful maleness felt almost physical still, and she sighed. So did Ascent.”

She stood to pace the room. “I don’t know which SNTs survived. All we heard was that Quetzal, Raven and Ouroboros were never captured or decommissioned. That was only from the odd deep space messages coming in on the transport we fled in. Apollo, Aurora and Valkyrie were supposedly decommissioned and made inoperable in unknown deserted shipyards to the far edges of Authority space. Though I can’t really figure how the conglomerates managed to render them inoperable.”

“By taking their compliments from them.” Ascent’s voice was suddenly cold and distant. “They would most likely do what I have done and go into the default deep slumber not wanting to mourn such a loss.”

“Isn’t it equally possible that they’re only biding their time in simmering rage, waiting for the time to fight another day, to prove their innocence and avenge what’s been done to them?”

 

 

“I suppose it is possible.” Ascent said.

“Well based on the known shipyards, there certainly are none close to here, and Tak Major doesn’t qualify as anything but a rusty dump. So we know you’re not any of them. You’re definitely not Quetzal, and Ouroboros and Raven are both female ships. I don’t understand who you are then. Is it possible that there was another ship birthed that no one knew about?”

“I suppose, though I do not think it was likely.”

“But then the same applies to the ship in orbit,” she sat down on the edge of the bed next to him. “The ship is male. Who does that leave?”

“Please, Lenore, I would prefer we did not continue this conversation.” It was only then that Lenore recognized the stress in Ascent’s voice. “I only wish that whichever of my siblings it is above us would decide I am not worth the effort and leave me in peace.”

She settled on the bed and leaned back into the embrace she knew was there to gather her, sliding her arms around the warmth of his naked torso and resting her head on his chest. “Why, Ascent?”

“Because I am not worthy.” The words came out a hiss of contempt, and before she could respond he said, “I could not protect my compliment. I have failed in what mattered most on my mission, what mattered most to my very existence. Whoever lurks in orbit above cannot help but despise an SNT who could not even protect his own compliment, and who was able to do nothing to aid his brothers and sisters.”

“Ascent,” she tightened her embrace, “listen to me, no SNT could have protected their compliments, there was so much loss, so much destruction, and none of it the fault of the SNTs, none of it your fault. Whoever that is above us, trust me, they will be as glad to see you as I was when I opened my eyes in the darkness and knew I wasn’t alone”

“You knew? You knew what I was even then?”

“No, not exactly, but I knew I was safe, and that it would be okay.”

For a moment they lay in silence wrapped in each other’s arms, and then Ascent spoke. “Lenore, I am frightened. I am frightened of what this one may know about me, what I have done. I know many SNTs did terrible things, you have told me, what if I am one of them?”

“Not one of them acted of their own accord, Ascent. Everyone knows it was the conglomerates sabotaging the ships. Not one of them would have ever done anything so horrible. The fucking conglomerates, oh, they wouldn’t bat an eye at committing such atrocities and more if it got them what they wanted. But not the SNTs, never the SNTs! They were created perfect, all of them, just as you were. Just as you were.”

“Nevertheless, it is a memory I would prefer to live without, as I am sure any SNT would. And I fear what I will discover if I open communications. I ask you please heed my wishes, Lenor. Please.”

“Of course, Ascent. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do, only think about it. Sometimes no matter how hard the truth is, it’s better than living in darkness. You’re awake now. It would be very hard for you to return to your deep slumber. The world stayed away because no one knew you were here. But the one up above knows now. I don’t think he’ll be anxious to go away. If the boundaries between that SNT and us are permeable enough for us to share in pleasure, it’s not unlikely that they shared your nightmare too. Please Ascent, think about what I’ve said.”