Table of Contents
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
THE SENTHIEN
Book One of the Descendants of Earth
by Tara Jade Brown
The Senthien
Copyright © 2015Tara Jade Brown
All rightsreserved
Tara Jade Brownasserts the moral rights to be identified as the author of the work.
All characters and events in this publication, otherthan those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance toreal persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of thispublication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, inany form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of theauthor, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other thanthat in which it is published and without a similar condition including thiscondition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Editor: Sarah Kolb-Williams
Book coverdesign: Prasanta Nayak
To my Mom and Dad
Table of Contents
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
Acknowledgements
About the author
Chapter 1
My feet are bare.
I’m standing on a hard,dark surface. Soft orange light casts shadows on rough black walls around me.
And he is here,standing in front of me.
Again.
His body is close tomine.
Tooclose.
No two individuals inUni would break the interpersonal space like this.
Yet he does.
And I want it.
I keep looking at him.
Dark hair. Dark eyes. Bronze-coloredskin.
I gaze at his lips,feeling the strange need to come even closer, to break the interpersonal spaceeven more.
My heartbeat picks up.
I’m confused.
And then, he does thesame thing he always does before I snap out of my Vision. He comes closer,lifts his hand, and places his warm palm on my cheek.
He slowly bends hisface toward mine and kisses me.
A strong electricsensation pulses through my body, snapping me out of my Vision and jolting meback into wakefulness.
Iopened my eyes to the complete darkness surrounding me. I might as well havekept them closed; it wouldn’t have made any difference. My heart still pounded—anaftereffect of my recurring dream. I placed my palm on my chest, feeling thedrumming beneath my rib cage. I swallowed, trying to keep my fast breathinginaudible, hoping it wouldn’t be detected by the AI sensors. I put my arms nextto my body, closed my eyes, and with deliberate intent and flawlessly trainedwillpower, I relaxed all of my muscles, slowly bringing my heartbeat back tonormal.
Behindmy eyelids, I still saw him. None of my dreams had ever affected my body in theway this one did. And I didn’t understand any of it.
Itcouldn’t possibly have been the future that I was seeing. He was a Human. Andmy Descendant ranking gave me no common ground with them.
I will never meet a Human.
I will never meet him.
Isighed silently just as the lights turned on. I pressed my eyelids together,covering them with the heels of my palms. It gave me a moment to get used tothe sudden brightness, the unnatural end of dark, theabrupt start of another day.
“Itis 81-03.7405. Good morning, Dana. I hope you have had a productive dream.Would you like me to prepare a report recording?” the pleasant female voice ofthe apartment AI asked.
“No!”I quickly moved my arms and opened my eyes—and then realized that I’dbeen a little too quick to answer. “Thank you, but… no,” I said in a calmervoice. “I did not have any productive dreams last night.”
Therewas a small break, and then the AI said, “A report of No Visions will be submitted. Thank you.”
Iknew it was a computer, but I couldn’t help but think I heard a hint of disappointmentin her voice. I decided not to dwell on it.
Igot up swiftly and walked to the E-bathroom, not turning back to the sounds ofthe bed being folded under the floor behind me. The bathroom door slid to theside as the lights inside turned on at the same time. I waited for a fractionof a second and then stepped into the E-shower.
Thousandsof tiny electric shocks pinched spots all over my body, stimulating the musclesunderneath. My eyes were closed and my lips pressed tightly together as Iwaited for the mandatory morning session to finish. Not for the first time, Iwished I lived on a planet with stronger gravity.
Afterseven passes, electric stings were replaced by soft waterdrops.
Isighed in relief.
Thewater-shower.
Iloved it.
Ilet the stream of water fall on my cheeks, slidingdown my neck, continuing the journey over my body. The water-shower stoppedautomatically after five passes. I opened my eyes, trying not to bedisappointed.
Thesemitransparent wall in front of me slid open and I walked into a small cabin,each corner one IP distance from the center. The doors behind me closed andwarm air started blowing from tiny holes out of four white corner pillars. Iclosed my eyes as the water drops disappeared from my skin and my heavy hair dried.
Ithought of my dream again.
Ihad seen him so many times I knew all the details of his face by heart. Andthen, I thought about the kiss. I touched my lips with the tips of my fingers,trying to bring back the feelings. It was amazing—such a simple touchbringing more sensations than anything else I had ever felt.
Who was he?
Does he exist, or is he only aproduct of my imagination?
Theair stopped blowing just as the last drop dried. I opened my eyes and loweredmy hand.
Thesemitransparent matte doors on the other side opened, and I walked into my brightlylit living quarters.
“Clothes,”I ordered to the apartment’s AI, and a drawer containing several different skinsuitsopened from the wall. I chose the whitest skinsuit I could find, although Iknew it would still be dark compared to Boolean clothing. I dressed quickly.
Myskinsuit was simple, with no additional attachments, pockets, or straps. For ashort port trip, I wouldn’t need any.
“E-band.”
Asmall flat drawer next to the wardrobe opened up. On its surface were seven nicelyaligned wristband computers standing in their chargers. I picked up the whiteone, secured it on my left wrist, and swiped the screen to bring it out ofstandby.
Iglanced at the food processor
