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    Grey Engines
    Grey Engines
    Grey Engines
    Ebook285 pages4 hours

    Grey Engines

    By Gareth Lewis

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    A weaponized message from space devastates Earth, leaving the few survivors with telepathic abilities. A century and a half later the aliens who sent the message arrive.

    With society still rebuilding, its delicate balance threatens to collapse with the tensions of facing an invasion, and the secret at the heart of their way of life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGareth Lewis
    Release dateJan 1, 2012
    ISBN9781465713469
    Grey Engines
    Author

    Gareth Lewis

    Gareth Lewis has written a number of novels and shorter works in a few genres, including fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers. A programmer, he has a degree in computer studies, and lives in South Wales.

    Read more from Gareth Lewis

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    • 4/5
      Grey Engines by Gareth Lewis

      I originally read this on Scrib'd but opted to buy it for my Kindle so I could make notes and do highlighting which are impossible to do in Scrib'd also it's impossible to do a simple dictionary lookup because of the nature of the Scrib'd files. All of these features need to be constructed and built into Scrib'd to accomodate their encryption or it makes it difficult for someone to go back and find things of interest not to mention the seach engine doesn't work at all .

      This story is a great story for anyone who loves those MMORPG's and wondered what it might be like to be connected to everyone in a virtual world. The virtual world is not quite fully built yet but the Avatars are here with the people who can wander away from thier physical bodies and into an electronic environment. These are the survivors of the psychic attack by some form of psyonic bomb. Those left with telepathic abilities and a need to cope with their new world and to diligently watch for the impending invasion from the race responsible for sending the bomb.

      In a highly structured society the invasion is going to shoehorn itself into their lives at the same time that many begin to question the leaders over the issue of who is in charge. While preparing for attack some day soon the leaders have kept a few secrets from thie poeple and when the invasion force arrive some of the secrets might be the only means of survival if they can get them out of hiding in time.

      It's rather difficult to tell as this story starts just who the story is about. There are probably four or more groups of people this centers on but the one that strikes me as the most potable for the main plot is Sarah and her interaction with Thomas who proves to be one of the many secrets that have been shuffled off to the side. Thomas is by far the most interestingly developed characters but the problem with Thomas is that his whole character development revolves around the way he speaks and that turns out to be a fiction he created thus making him the most unreliable character you could have in a novel.

      That leaves us with Sarah who is probably the most believable character in the bunch. From there there is her boyfriend Daniel who seems to be present to develop most of the real action scenes. I was a bit disappointed that we saw less of Sarah because I was certain that the part of the story that her life covers seems to contain the most consistent plot elements and introduces us to the ghost minds and the fact that Thomas is carrying a dark secret around with him. Not to mention that Thomas and Sarah are pivotal in the final resolution.

      That much said: there are still a number of annoying things Gareth Lewis's choice of style in writing. There are a consistent number of sentence whose structure can only be best discribed as having the same flaws that passive sentences have. The sentences become cumbersome and difficult to read many times-not to mention the weird nature of almost double negatives.

      In two instances we have this mouthful that says

      Svetlana's idea may not be without some merit."
      Lewis, Gareth (2013-11-11). Grey Engines (Kindle Location 1461). . Kindle Edition.

      "Your idea may not be without merit."
      Lewis, Gareth (2013-11-11). Grey Engines (Kindle Location 1766). . Kindle Edition.
      :which I think might mean the same as (might have some merit) but i'm not sure. And this is used at least twice.
      Had the surrounding text supported some other negative aspects in list or such then I might be tempted to see the rhythmic nature of saying it this way.

      And then there is this mouth full.

      He felt a sigh in his mind, but Akili's consciousness stayed with him as he detached from his body, travelling to where the others towards prepared to intercept the vessel.

      Lewis, Gareth (2013-11-11). Grey Engines (Kindle Locations 1191-1192). . Kindle Edition.

      There are at least a dozen more like this that made me stop and think and I'm pretty sure each time I was able to unfold them properly.

      All of that aside the story itself is very good and well told beyond those speed-bumps. Though I do have a problem with the plot because on the surface it seems to be Man against Alien : the alien's have used a weapon meant to wipe out mankind before they arrive to steal resources from a now dead planet(assumed dead). So you would think the alien invasion and the conflict and the outcome would encompass the plot, but I was torn because there is a sub-plot with the administrators of Earth in the new society and how there decisions impact certain characters including Thomas and Sarah and the internal conflict Sarah eventually has to deal with along with the guilt Thomas has to deal with while trying to force Sarah to face some realities. And this does not even cover all of Thomas's secrets. And the subplot seemed to hold more weight than the surface plot.

      Really you will have to read this to decide for yourself.

      Once more this is great SFF for those who like the science just a bit soft boiled.

      J.L. Dobias

    Book preview

    Grey Engines - Gareth Lewis

    Chapter 1

    Sarah had to force her mind to accept the reality of her false surroundings. She hoped the difficulty in doing so was down to her familiarity with the bar scene in which they sat. The music almost overwhelmed the atmosphere of the place, but she’d based the level on several memories, so was confident of its accuracy.

    A glance found Daniel staring about, bemused, taking the occasional sip of his drink. His distraction showed in the unconscious return of his shoulder-length black hair, to which he often reverted when his concentration drifted, rather than the shorter cut his physical body now sported. Dark-skinned and lean, his smile betrayed a hint of cautious amusement. He wore the clothes of the time she’d selected for him, but seemed less than comfortable in the flamboyant colours. She may have chosen them to achieve that effect.

    What do you think? said Sarah. She resisted the impulse to mess with the long brownish-blonde hair that lay far looser than she’d normally wear it. It’d look fine. She’d programmed it, and the dress, to appear elegant no matter how she moved.

    What? Daniel cupped a hand to his ear, leaning towards her.

    She almost spoke louder, before glowering at him. Within the telepathically generated environment, their communication was also telepathic. The music didn’t interfere with his ability to hear her.

    He let a grin show and relaxed back into his seat. His hair reverted to its current length. It seems... realistic.

    Good, said Sarah. Why do you have to make that sound like a bad thing?

    If you’re trying to recreate a historical scene for academic reasons, then this is an amazing piece of work. As a piece of entertainment, it’s not somewhere I’d want to spend much time.

    Sarah shook her head and sighed. Here I try to treat you to a night out as they used to spend them, and all you do is moan.

    I’m not moaning.

    Moan, moan, moan.

    I’m just saying, a little less reality might make it more enjoyable. Is this really what they listened to?

    Absolutely. I reassembled most of the pieces myself.

    And they had it at this volume? Were they all poor conversationalists?

    Pardon, said Sarah.

    Daniel raised his glass. How accurately did you reproduce the drinks? Will we become inebriated?

    I limited that side of it. We’ll just get the flavour. While possible to affect a telepathic thought-form in these artificial environments, it required warnings before they entered. Most scenarios eschewed such details, focusing on the accuracy of the environment.

    Perhaps that’s why I’m not enjoying it as much as the natives appear to, if they’re getting it unfiltered. He placed the glass on the table before them. Given your penchant for historical accuracy, I wouldn’t want to risk an urge to visit the lavatories.

    Some people have no sense of adventure. Sarah glanced around at her handiwork.

    Some people’s sense of adventure takes second place to their sense of self-preservation. I don’t want to risk permanent mental scarring by visiting your meticulous recreation of Pre-Scream society’s lavatorial hygiene.

    Spoilsport.

    Pedant. Can we go back to the earlier bar? That was far more conducive to pre-inebriation conversation.

    That type they usually visited first, said Sarah.

    Before their reasoning was inhibited.

    Some people have no appreciation of history.

    I can appreciate it in its place. That place being the past. But having it flood my senses is overwhelming.

    You prefer being a voyeur? said Sarah. Just watching.

    Since experiencing some of your scenarios at close range, oh yes.

    Art is wasted on you.

    Oh, it’s art, said Daniel. That would explain it.

    Determined to ignore his friendly needling, Sarah soaked up the detail of the environment she’d spent so much time recreating. She refused to agree with him about the discomfort, on principle. She was certain the details were authentic, having spent time among the memory fragments in the archives saved from the minds destroyed in the Scream.

    It had been nearly a century and a half since a signal had reached Earth from elsewhere. The fragmented histories said the scientific community had greeted it with excitement and turned their collective attention towards deciphering the message. While it took a few months, they succeeded. To their brief regret.

    When deciphered, and fully comprehended, the message had unlocked psychic potential within its victims, awakening telepathic powers they couldn’t control. Hidden within the weaponised message lay a command to spread it to every other mind in range. In hours the mental virus had swept the globe, feeding on the anguish of those already infected as it echoed through the minds of all newly awakened telepaths. A growing tidal wave of agony that proved unendurable to most.

    Most of the human race died that day. Only a few stragglers survived, now telepathically capable.

    Society had recovered slowly, as the scattered survivors learnt to endure each other’s presence. But necessity forced them together for survival, and they adapted.

    Little able to afford the loss of knowledge from before the Scream, and with fragments of the minds they’d touched during the disaster drifting in their memories, the survivors saved what they could. They had to develop a new technology in order to store them. Few lost individuals had left enough fragments to reform entire personalities, those who did being placed within the Ghost Bank. The remaining fragments stayed within the archive.

    Few now visited it. All its essential knowledge was long ago tapped dry by industrious research, leaving it open to those few who wished to investigate how life had been back then. Its fragmentary nature made it difficult to navigate, and of little use for casual sightseeing. But Sarah had a talent for navigating such terrain and developed an interest in recovering fragments of memory to recreate scenes such as the one their minds currently occupied.

    The shared mindscapes, such as the one hosting this scenario, lay within society’s brainbanks, artificial brain matter holding data too vast for a single mind to contain, or which was considered a communal resource.

    Okay, said Sarah. Let’s see yours.

    If you’re going to be like that about it, I’m not sure I want to show you, said Daniel.

    Okay, we’ll stay here the rest of the night.

    Come on, then. He took her hand and dragged her to her feet as their surroundings blurred. Sarah noted a few changes to make to the scenario.

    Their surroundings coalesced into a rooftop, overlooking a glittering night-time cityscape. While the surrounding soundscape quietened, it also widened. And deepened. While further away, and more dispersed, the sound seemed more suffocating than in the club. The sheer scale of the soundscape had its own presence.

    An amalgamation drawn from the memories of many cities. Even having been the one to recover the fragments, the size of the surrounding settlement overwhelmed Sarah. As did the height of the buildings. A glance over the edge found her staring a good six stories towards a far too distant ground.

    She stepped back, leaving Daniel to take in the vista with a genuine smile.

    They had abandoned the cities soon after society began its recovery. To clear them of the dead would have been a mammoth task for the hundred, or rarely thousands, who’d congregated near each. They established new settlements. Five large enclaves around the world, with smaller settlements near valuable resources. The settlements had the occasional building reaching three floors, at the most. She’d only been that high when Daniel dragged her up to the roof of one to take in the view. She hadn’t seen the attraction.

    He turned to her with an expectant smile. What do you think? His avatar now wore the more accustomed dull green of the military, but a looser style than they used. A t-shirt and trousers, with tough-looking, but light, running shoes.

    It’s... expansive, she managed. And high.

    It is, isn’t it?

    Please tell me you’re not planning for us to do the running and jumping off buildings. She looked hopeful. I’m hoping this visit is only for sightseeing.

    Hey, I played along with your nightclub of sensory torture.

    You could have jumped off the tables without falling far. She peeked again towards the distant ground. Even knowing the system would protect them from any actual damage, the experience of falling didn’t appeal.

    C’mon, it’s fun. Besides, I thought you’d have approved of keeping an old art like free running alive.

    I do, provided I’m not the one applying CPR to its withered remains.

    I’ve laid out a simple path, just try to keep up. He turned and started towards the edge of the neighbouring building.

    Sarah started to complain that she wasn’t dressed for it when she realized she now wore the same running clothes as Daniel. Overwhelmed by the metropolis, she hadn’t noticed the scenario dressing her on arrival. It was fair, she supposed, since she’d dressed him for the previous simulation. That didn’t stop her from feeling irked. She followed him.

    He’d already leapt to the next building, around five feet lower, using an antenna to control his descent. He vaulted across a chimney stack, then ran along the side of a wall, pulling himself up to a balcony on the next building.

    Sarah grabbed the edge of the roof to lower herself down to the next one, picking her path around obstructions.

    While hardly her choice of leisure activity, these meetings were the only time she got to see Daniel. Being trained as an administrator, her internship meant she’d stayed in the German enclave after the others had were assigned elsewhere.

    Their skills were assessed at a young age, and their training geared towards their strengths. Sarah had been selected as an administrator, like her father. Daniel had been selected for the military, and been shipped off at nineteen, a little under a year ago.

    Society moved members to other settlements when they became adults, to avoid the danger of the limited gene pool becoming too stale. Controlled breeding had been initially considered, but dismissed by consensus. The brain trusts warned couples who were too genetically similar, but the choice remained to the individuals.

    Amplifiers in braintech stations allowed telepaths to communicate with each other globally, rather than the mile or so they could manage under their own power. But the time zones limited their ability to stay in touch. Her contact with the others had lapsed over the last year, with Vivienne having moved to the Russian enclave, and Sandra and Marcus to the Japan one. Daniel was the only one she’d been able to stay in touch with. And when she moved to America in a couple of months, the time difference might put an end to that.

    Her determination to make the most of their time together soured as she regarded the balcony she needed to climb. The skill set the scenario had included in her head would let her match his movements. But he’d hardly entered into the spirit of things in the club, and that hadn’t included such heights, however virtual.

    She couldn’t spot him from her current location, but heard movement just beyond the next building.

    She selected a rooftop on the opposite side of the street and shifted herself there. She easily spotted Daniel from her new vantage point as he leapt a ten-foot gap between a pair of buildings. Shifting again, she appeared on the roof ahead of him.

    How much more of this are you intending? she asked.

    That’s cheating, he said as he slowed. He wasn’t even breathing hard, although psychosomatic exertion should tire them out.

    I’m exercising my mind.

    It’s less enjoyable that way.

    I’ll find my joy without the virtual-death-defying leaps if you don’t mind.

    Grouch, he smiled.

    Pathological thrill junkie, she smiled back.

    She would have said more, but the artificial reality crackled and went blank around her.

    It startled her out of the meditative trance, returning her to her darkened bedroom.

    Her father had turned on the psi-shielding built into all bedrooms to prevent a telepath’s mind from straying while they slept.

    He obviously considered it time for her to sleeping. She suppressed her irritation.

    Blue, she thought out loud.

    Yes, her ACTOR replied with a tone of forced weariness as his avatar appeared in her consciousness.

    Every child was given an Artificial Construct Thoughtform, or ACTOR, when born. To control their mental abilities until they could to do so themselves. The ACTOR helped train them to use their telepathy, as well as taking responsibility for part of their tuition, and became more of a confidant and advisor as they reached adulthood. Its personality grew to complement their own, either as they wanted it to be, or as they needed.

    Formerly a friend, and occasional co-conspirator, Blue had become more serious, exhibiting a sympathetic, if long-suffering patience. Possibly it was irritation at her having renamed him Blue, after her habit as a child of dressing him all in blue. He stood in her mind dressed in a smart dark blue uniform, waiting patiently with a look that said he fully agreed with her father’s decision, for reasons he would detail at length if given the opportunity.

    Please t-mail Daniel my apologies, telling him my father shielded me for the night.

    Done, said Blue. While the psi-shield prevented her from communicating outside the room, ACTORs could navigate around it without issue. Will there be anything else before you sleep to prepare for tomorrow’s test? His tone suggested his preference.

    Can you sabotage the psi-shield control outside the room?

    Can I, or will I?

    I can guess the answer to the second, said Sarah.

    Is it a technical question about my abilities then? Or is it simply an excuse to avoid going to sleep?

    You used to be such a compliant imaginary friend.

    No, said Blue. You used to be easier to fool.

    Sarah stuck out her virtual tongue. Why does he have to treat me like a child?

    Blue’s expression softened. He’s probably making use of the time you have left together while he still has a child.

    I was hoping for something more along the lines of you taking my side.

    On what experiential evidence was that expectation based?

    With a sigh, Sarah thought goodnight, and dismissed Blue.

    Not that she expected to find sleep soon. She felt a similar loathing to leave home. They’d grown distant since her mother’s death over five years before, her father becoming more reserved and formal, even with her. His pain was still clear in his eyes. Apart from the idea of moving to a completely new home, the idea of leaving him without closing the gap between them felt wrong. Although the few attempts they’d made to reconnect had never quite worked.

    She considered the upcoming changes with continuing unease, ignoring the faint hum of the psi-shield.

    Chapter 2

    The sun had barely cleared the horizon, and the day was already heating up as Daniel ran his morning route.

    He worked in one of the smaller African settlements, where the weather provided a reliable source of power for the nearby solar farm.

    The settlement had around three hundred inhabitants. These included the technicians who oversaw the farms, and the military contingent in which Daniel served.

    Situated near a water source, the area had vegetation. More than some of the surrounding lands. But it was interspersed among the dusty swathes, and that dust dulled the vibrant colours which enlivened the place after rain. A relatively majestic landscape, though, with wide vistas opening up from the hills.

    His route took him up a small rise a short way outside the settlement. Its peak offered a view out over the fields of solar panels, humming faintly as they began the day’s work. With the sun behind him, he needn’t worry about it glaring off the panels. Later in the day, it would be blinding. Hence the farm being built out of sight of the settlement. Or they’d built the settlement out of sight of the farm, since the planning had ensured the panels lay in the optimum position.

    His circular trail led him out of sight of the shimmering fields, and up another small rise, past the power transfer tower. It broadcast the energy gathered from the farm not used locally towards the Tesla Web: an array of satellites above the inhabited sections of Earth that broadcast power from places like the solar farm to other settlements. The three-storey circular tower was the same creamy white as the prefabricated housing of the settlement.

    Nearby stood the amplifier tower, of the same design but half the diameter of the power transfer tower. This held the braintech that allowed access to the global communications network.

    His destination was the next hill over and stood as a visual anomaly among the uniform constructions which composed most of his waking world. The observatory predated the Scream. Its stone walls showed some signs of age, but fewer than might be expected. Its presence played no small part in establishing the settlement here.

    From their limited contact with extra-terrestrial races, they’d learnt of the species who’d sent the message. The nomadic Vtharn pillaged technology from other civilizations, usually disposing of them before getting anywhere close, and targeting pre-spacefaring species. Stories they’d heard said the Vtharn had used the telepathic bomb before, reputedly wiping out their targets entirely. It also sent a signal that led the Vtharn to planets that had achieved a sufficient degree of technological advancement to decipher the message.

    The military had responsibility for scanning space to keep watch for the Vtharn. Both visually and psychically. The duty of scanning the solar system fell on those whose talents gave their telepathic abilities greater range than normal. The observatory held specialized braintech to amplify their range.

    Daniel slowed as he got close, catching his breath.

    This short on breath? You must be getting old, Manu thought at him. He heard his ACTOR’s smile, even though he hadn’t manifested an image in Daniel’s mind. He preferred to remain invisible, but sadly not inaudible.

    It was my dismay at not having heard your voice in a few minutes, said Daniel.

    So it’s not due to you sitting about all day?

    Doing my job, you mean?

    Is staring into space really a job?

    And what is your job, now my education is complete?

    Your education is never complete, said Manu. I shall simply be more subtle with my lessons.

    Any more subtle and they’d be as insubstantial as your body. His breath recovered, Daniel made his way into the observatory. He exchanged nods with Andre, who stood on duty wearing the uniform Daniel’s role let him avoid.

    He suppressed a shiver as the air conditioning, geared up for the day ahead, showered his sweat-soaked body with cold air. He moved through to the military facilities extension to the original structure, where he showered and changed into the slack clothes designed to allow them to lie in comfort, free from distraction.

    Back in the main building, he made his way to the room set aside for scanning. Of the four monitored reclining chairs, two of which were to be occupied around the clock.

    Daniel sat in a reclining seat and eased into the meditative state. This was the only time he could rely on Manu’s silence.

    Relaxed, he stretched his mind towards the braintech devices nearby. He pictured himself wearing the amplification signal like a suit and sent his mind towards his assigned quadrant.

    His probe met only the familiar ghostly hum. He ran his attention across the quadrant in a standard search, finding nothing. As he relaxed his mind, his view widened to take in the entire area as he settled down to keep watch. The braintech provided a simulated view of what space looked like in that direction, although it was a static programmed view rather than live. The task required focus, no matter how mundane it became.

    Nothing again, said Manu. His silence had ended now that the active part of Daniel’s duty was done.

    Disappointing isn’t it.

    What should we do to pass the time? I know. I spy with my non-existent eye-

    Space.

    You didn’t even let me finish, complained Manu. You can’t know it was going to be S.

    It would either be space, nothing, or a star, which you know I can’t name.

    Do you wish me to educate you as to their names?

    No, thank you, said Daniel.

    Anyway, you can’t know for sure it would have been one of those. It might have been something else.

    Such as?

    Void, said

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