Into the Forest Shadows Read online

  Into the Forest Shadows

  By J.A. Marlow

  Exclusively Published By: Star Catcher Publishing at Smashwords

  http://starcatcherpub.com/

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright J.A. Marlow 2011

  Discover other titles by J.A.Marlow at Smashwords.com

  Acknowledgments

  This book dedicated to my family, who have been supportive of all my writing since I can remember. All my stories are for you.

  To Jan Sophia Grace for copious amounts of tea, lots of wonderful brainstorming sessions, and a willingness to see the ridiculous side of life.

  This book is also dedicated to all those who love to daydream.

  Table of Contents

  Into the Forest Shadows

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  StarBlink Universe

  About This Story

  New Arrivals

  Hunter of the Shadows

  Kate

  About This Author

  Star Catcher Publishing Appendum

  Night of the Aurora Sample

  CHAPTER ONE

  "He's not my father!" Kate clenched a hand around the handle of the basket, trying not to grit her teeth.

  "He's your uncle, and he's only being friendly. Don't yell." Her mother's typical serene expression cracked around the edges with a tenseness around the eyes and mouth. A light blush appeared in the cheeks.

  Kate didn't care. Maybe Mom getting a bit upset would help her see what was going on around her.

  "I'm not yelling," Kate said, purposely lowering her voice. "I will not allow him to tell me what classes to take, or what to wear, or any of the other trillion things he wants. Six months since we arrived and it's all about control."

  The engines on the small shuttle behind her wound up. A few passengers hurried by them to board, casting them curious glances. Kate ignored them.

  "He's only trying to help you grow up to be a responsible young lady," her mother tried again.

  The same old argument. "Even if he were my father I wouldn't allow it. Or have you forgotten about all that daddy dearest did to us?"

  This time her mother's face went pale. Kate instantly felt horrible. Did she really need to say that part? Actually, maybe she did. Remind her that Father and Uncle were of the exact same family. Not real stellar examples of humankind in any fashion.

  Her mother's mouth tensed for a moment, but then relaxed in a soft smile that made Kate ball up her fists, "I haven't forgotten, and your Uncle Travis is a lot more responsible and even-tempered. Come to lunch with us. It's a lot safer than a visit to the forest."

  "Sorry, I would rather visit crazy Gran," Kate said. Her mother's mouth tightened again, making Kate scowl. "Oh, come on! What is everyone afraid of? A bunch of stupid trees? Granny has lived out there for years just fine."

  "They aren't just trees. They're unlike any you have ever been around. And there's more danger out there than the trees," her mother said.

  A movement to the right caught Kate's attention. A small creature with a patch of red on its back left the main entrance of Oburos City accompanied by two human Rangers. She recognized it as the native creature everyone called the Watcher.

  Kate mentally mocked the name. A Watcher over the humans, to be sure.

  And here she'd thought when her father died and Mom brought them to the one world where they had citizenship they would finally gain a little control over their own lives.

  But not with Uncle Travis causing trouble that only she seemed to see. Not with finding out that the human city on Oburos wasn't technically a fully recognized human colony because of the pre-existing native intelligence.

  Kate itched to board the shuttle. It was one of the newer ones, just shipped to the planet and would still have the padding in the seats intact. She'd been looking forward to flying in it, but now she only wanted to escape.

  To get away from all the trouble and turmoil. To drink tea with Grandma. The Watcher surely left more arbitrary rules for the humans to live by and she wasn't in the mood to hear about them. She would hear all about them in school soon enough.

  "Sometimes I worry about you."

  Kate's attention snapped back to her mother from the dark brown creature heading for the huge trees that towered in a wall of green around the small area the humans were permitted to live and farm in. "Excuse me?"

  "No fear. A lack of fear can be as much of a danger as too much fear."

  "I guess we're just a family that has both extremes covered, then, don't we?" Kate said.

  Her mother went pale, exhaling sharply. Kate bit at the tip of her tongue. Couldn't she have put that a little differently? Kate's tightening hand felt the pinch of the curled strands of wood of the basket.

  Her mother turned her head towards the ocean where curls of blue-green water still pounded at the shore after the storm that passed the day before. Kate tried to think of something to say in the midst of the awkward silence.

  "Ready for launch," the light-blue clad Ranger at the shuttle ramp announced. Another group of people in sturdy clothing headed for the shuttle, stowing their bags and boxes in the hatches underneath the main passenger compartment.

  "There are my favorite two girls!"

  Kate groaned out loud at the sound of the voice. She couldn't help it. Why did he have to show up? Her mother turned towards him with a smile that made Kate sick to her stomach.

  "Hello Travis. What brings you out of the office?" her mother asked.

  Uncle Travis's near-white hair moved in the breeze as he came to a stop next to her mother. He smiled down at the both of them, his teeth practically glinting in the sunlight. A smile that looked far too proprietal to Kate.

  She hated it.

  "Do you have everything for your grandmother, Kate?" Uncle Travis asked.

  The handle of the basket bit into her clenched hand to the point she thought it might bleed. Her jaw clenched as well, and she had to work hard to get the muscles relaxed enough to talk, "Oh yes. I have everything. Mom, before I forget -"

  "Don't forget not to leave the perimeter of your grandmothers cottage. You aren't prepared to go out in the forest yet." Uncle Travis snaked an arm around her mother's shoulders, smiling and waving to someone in the shuttle. Someone else shouted a greeting back.

  Good grief, why did people act like the man was so great? So what if he managed the biggest employer in the city other than the government itself? Couldn't they see past the surface veneer?


  Kate narrowed her eyes at how her mother leaned into the embrace. "I am fully aware of the so-called dangers of the forest."

  "Do you have the supplies she asked for?" Uncle Travis asked.

  "All the backup disks are here," Kate said waving the hard-sided covered basket that held the smaller and more delicate items. "I'm not an idiot!"

  Her mother cleared her voice. Kate glared at the serene look on her face.

  "Inform her the auto backups still aren't appearing in the corporation computers. We don't want her to lose all that valuable research." Uncle Travis pulled a small bottle out of his pocket and handed it to her. Kate instinctively reached out for it, but recoiled when her skin accidentally touched his. "Those are for Ms. Blackstone. The Doctor has ordered her to start on the regimen immediately."

  Her mother blinked, turning her head towards him, "Is Mother not feeling well?"

  "Let's be honest. She shouldn't be out there all by herself with no one to look after her," Uncle Travis said. "We should talk about bringing her into the city to the elder care facilities soon."

  "Oh, you would just love that, wouldn't you. Another of the family under your control," Kate shouted at him. "But Grandma wouldn't let you. She's too smart for you."

  Her mother sucked in a breath. The Ranger at the shuttle turned towards them.

  Uncle Travis's eyes turned hard. Matching his heart, Kate felt sure.

  "Enough out of you. You are upsetting your mother. Go, take the supplies to your grandmother and we'll talk about this when you get back." Uncle Travis took her arm and swung her around, marching her towards the waiting shuttle. "No respect, a smart mouth, and purple hair? I think you've been without a father for far too long."

  Kate found herself past the engine pods glowing orange and up the ramp and inside of the shuttle before she knew it.

  A computer voice behind her announced, "All passengers have arrived. Prepare for take-off. All passengers, please secure yourself in your seats."

  "Please step back," the Ranger said. "The shuttle is cleared for launch."

  Kate stepped back and the ramp of the shuttle started retracting as Uncle Travis turned and walked to where her mother waited.

  How dare he think he would get away saying something like that. She shouted at him, "Without a tormenter, you mean!"

  Uncle Travis swiveled on his heel. His icy-blue eyes promised dire retribution upon her return. The facade on her mother's face slipped, showing absolute shock and worry.

  Good, maybe her mother would remember the family that had brought them back to this back-world planet in the first place. Let her stew on all those wonderful memories. Heavens knew, Kate did and no way would she go back to it.

  The door sealed with a hiss. Kate glared out the portal of the door. Uncle Travis dismissed her with a flick of a hand, turning to walk back to her mother.

  Maybe leaving Mother alone with the snake all day wasn't such a good idea.

  "All passengers, please be seated and secure your restraint harnesses," the computer said.

  Even the shuttle auto-pilot was nagging her.

  With a muffled oath, Kate turned around. She pushed down the narrow aisle and found the one remaining seat. She ignored the curious and interested glances along the way. Let the passengers think what they wanted. She didn't care. She had more important things to think about and plan.

  She settled in the padded seat and stuffed the medication under the cover of the basket next to the bread and crackers Grandma loved. The basket went under the seat in front of her. The safety harness snaked over her shoulders and snapped with the ones that moved over her waist. A safety hologram played at the front of the cabin but she ignored it, even though it was a new version she hadn't seen before.

  She turned to the window portal, wanting to see what the weasel might be up to but they were already high enough that she couldn't see the landing field below them. But, she did get a perfect view of the human city.

  The towering buildings sat right next to each other, each one having a slightly different color and height, all of them filled with windows. They seemed to grow from a common root in the ground.

  In a way they did. The human colony ship had crashed on the exact spot over forty-five years before. The same ship her Grandma had been aboard.

  The city wasn't too bad, if one didn't mind living in the affordable apartments without windows. The numerous internal rooms worked well for people like her mother. For those that didn't want to see the forests.

  The fields came into view. Clean green, yellow and red stripes crisscrossed the land right up to the edge of the forest. She could see a few farmers and Rangers. The cultivated areas abruptly changed into the wild tangle of the Oburos forest.

  Yes, a lot of unknowns, but dangerous? She'd been to Grandma's house lots of times, with no problems. The most she'd seen were some of the native birds and the ever-present bunts, neither of which struck her as dangerous. Both ran away the moment anyone tried to approach them.

  Okay, she did have to admit the forest had a certain foreboding to it. For one, the trees were some of the biggest on any world yet known, some towering stories high. Trees of unusual shapes, colors, and producing materials suitable for everything from simple textiles to the parts for the Diamede Slipspace Drive most spacecraft used. The animals added an entirely different complication, as some of them could communicate, like the Watcher.

  The Watcher. Kate scowled at the thought. A small bundle of fur that claimed to serve a group called 'The Ancients.' A group no human had ever seen or spoken to.

  She knew they, or something, were real. The satellites protecting the approach to the world belonged to someone, and it definitely wasn't the humans. Thanks to them the approach and departure paths were restricted, as well as the number of ships allowed to approach and leave the planet.

  The restrictions overflowed to the design, size, and range of the small shuttles servicing the scattered Gatherer camps. Rules passed on to them by the Watcher.

  Limits, instructions, orders, told how to act, talk, and look. Kate brushed purple bangs off her forehead. Purple with a dash of red down the middle of the bands. Uncle thought he would have the power to change her? Briefly she contemplated neon yellow and green, but dismissed it. The colors made her skin appear washed out.

  Her mind ran over the argument before boarding the shuttle. She would have a few choice things to say back to Uncle's face when she returned. Silently she rehearsed her words, changing and rearranging to get the most bite in them. No way would he win this little word battle.

  The shuttle shifted. She looked outside and then at the time on her mobile. She slouched back into her chair. She'd been stewing so much about her stupid Uncle that she'd completely lost track of time. Of course it was time for the shuttle to make its first stop.

  Only then did she realize the amount of conversation around her. Everyone seemed happy and cheerful.

  She resented it.

  The shuttle came to hover over a small break in the forest canopy, slowly dropping straight down. Leaves and clinging bushy fronds brushed against the sides of the shuttle. The moment the landing gear touched the ground people rose and grabbed their belongings.

  "We have arrived at Gatherer station Alpha," the computer pilot announced.

  The ramp lowered. Kate hugged the window to get out of the way of elbows and bags as more than half the seats emptied. Robot arms worked to unload some of the luggage and supplies out of the underside cargo hatches. Gatherers already outside began taking the boxes, crates, and bags to the houses built into the gnarled roots of the larger trees.

  Beyond the nearest tree-houses stood one of the refineries with a group of Gatherers on one end feeding in cut trees. Carefully attached on the other side were bottles and canisters holding the refined substances.

  Kate didn't know how the Gatherers did it, but she was glad someone could live out here without even the smallest of civilizations luxuries. It meant she and her mom could live modestly
on the profits the exports provided.

  Profits she knew consumed Uncle. Grandma and her mother might own all the shares, but Uncle ran the day to day operations of their export business.

  Great, back into a furious mood again.

  With only a fraction of the people on board as before, the shuttle took off. Soon, they were gliding a few hundred feet above the forest canopy.

  Kate shifted in her chair, shrugging off the harness. Time for her to obey another stupid adult rule. But one she put up with. For Grandma.

  She lifted the red cloth from off the top of the basket and shook it out. The deep red cloth unfolded without a fold or crease. She flipped it around so it settled around her shoulders and tied the wide flat strings at the neck to hold it in place.

  No, not cloth. She'd watched Grandma make the thread out of red bark and woody filaments in the lab, the robots patiently weaving it into the cape. At the time she'd thought it was an experiment in new cloth-making. She'd never expected to be gifted the thing.

  She rubbed the fabric through her fingers. At least it didn't feel like bark. She wouldn't have worn it then, a gift from Grandma or not.

  Why did Grandma insist she wear it anytime she journeyed away from the human city? She couldn't find any point in it. The Gatherers never wore anything like it, preferring the muted tones of the forest floor. And it clashed with her purple and red hair.

  The shuttle angled towards the forest floor again. It stopped mid-air and began a vertical descent. The limbs of the closest trees brushed against her window.

  "We have arrived at the Blackstone Station," the computer pilot announced.

  The conversation didn't pause for a moment as she worked her way down the aisle towards the door with her basket. Outside the door to the right of the ramp a door opened in the belly of the shuttle. Robot arms lifted several boxes out of the cargo hold and set them away from the body of the shuttle.

  Kate looked around the small clearing surrounded by big fat gnarled trunks. A moist earthy scent hung in the air. Furry bunts of brown and white poked their heads over some roots, their large ears swirling around to study her. One of them squealed and all the curious heads disappeared. A few long tails could be seen on the other side of the roots as they scurried for their holes among the tree roots.