Chapter 01 | Starbuilders

Nothaar Akii had left the village near the southern edge of the world tardier in the spring than he would have preferred. Over the long, dark, and cold season, the settlement's Keeper, Baubu Yoordi, had finally succumbed to his advanced age in the middle of his eighty-third winter. While Nothaar had originally found the geriatric man to be spritely and full of life, spending more time with Baubu had revealed how precarious his health situation really was, and how scared he was for his people's future. It seemed like all his actions were an intentional feint, trying to manipulate me into staying and taking over for him, Nothaar divisively thought as he continued his lonely trek through the now fully blooming woods. He even waited to die until he met me, using his passing to the next world as a way to get me to supersede him in this one!

For whatever reason, it appeared to Nothaar that Baubu did not trust any of his assistants - not even from his own bloodline - to assume responsibility over his role as a Keeper. He refused to officially apprentice any of them, and thus it looked like the long line of the Knowledge would be broken with his demise. However, Nothaar did not share Baubu's opinion about his subordinates and he had elected to stay on long enough to train someone else to be Baubu's true replacement. Her name was Anlynx, and she was one of Baubu's granddaughters. Nothaar was well-versed in the methods of propaganda and knew that having someone from Baubu's lineage would make the other villagers accept the transition more easily. Given Baubu's long reign, this would be a critical component of assuring that Anlynx inherited all the fidelity and confidence that Baubu had engendered from the people of his community.

Anlynx was not as convinced as Nothaar and, like her recently departed ancestor, tried to convince Nothaar to remain in their settlement. Pressed naked against him underneath a pile of furs, she asked, "Would it be so bad if it was you instead of me? We could even continue these little sojourns of ours on a more regular and… official basis."

As Anlynx started tracing her fingers up Nothaar's inner thigh, he felt tempted by the offer. To break the spell she was casting over him, he bluntly inquired, "Tell me: the first night that you found a way to roll under the sheets with me, was that of your own volition, or was it at Baubu's directive?"

"Couldn't it be both?" Anlynx queried as she attempted to maintain her sultry tone. Nevertheless, she had pulled her hand back in a telltale sign of being upset by Nothaar's disturbing insinuation. "Did Baubu urge me to get close to you, perhaps even to seduce you? Yes, yes he did. But I wanted to do that on my own anyway, and would have done so with or without his encouragement."

"I wonder how I could possibly accept or know if that is the unadulterated truth or not?" Nothaar pushed back. "How could you absolutely and unequivocally discern that about yourself? Even before I began coaching you, Baubu had taught you quite a bit of the Keeper's way. You used many of the techniques against me…"

"…and you let me because you liked it!" Anlynx finished for him, flashing an expression of satisfaction and desire that almost made Nothaar believe that it could be sincere.

Still, Nothaar contemplated at the time, now is the moment to be resolute. I must break Anlynx of any notion that I'm going to reside here at the bottom of the world with her. This will be her final test.

"My dear Anlynx," Nothaar began, "I have enjoyed every moment with you, especially those without any encumbrances separating us. More so, I hope we can prolong taking pleasure and solace in each other's arms for whatever time lingers for me here. But the new plants have started to push their heads through the snow, and the old ones have started to bud. It's a sign that spring is here and that I must begin the next phase of my mission."

At this, Anlynx shot up to a sitting position and let the furs fall away and expose her chest. "And what if I told you I was pregnant with your child?!" she shouted.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Nothaar knew the inflection point had come. "It would make no difference," Nothaar coldly replied. "I will abandon you and the baby. How many new parents are out there that need my Opus on the Language of Children so that they can raise their own offspring? You already have the benefit of my experiences; they still need me to provide the Knowledge."

This pronouncement had finally overwhelmed Anlynx as she started crying uncontrollably. She refused to let Nothaar console her, and, really, he did not honestly try very hard to do so. The crueler he was to her, the more likely she would be to finally realize that he was not meant to share a life with her. Eventually, she got her emotions under control, collected her clothing, and left his hut without another word.

From that day forward, they never shared a night of passion again. Things became quite tense between them, but Anlynx redoubled her efforts under Nothaar's tutelage. It was she who declared that she was ready to be officially anointed the Keeper of the Knowledge, and Nothaar quickly acquiesced and granted her the title. Within a few more turns of the sun and the moon, he was on his own, never having been allowed to examine Anlynx to learn if she really was impregnated with his offspring, one who would undoubtedly be yet another one of the transmogrified children.

Ruminating over these scenes in his head as he trudged along, Nothaar was suddenly shaken from his stupor by a loud, concussive blast of sound. Looking up, he caught sight of a ball of flame streaking diagonally downward through the sky, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. "A falling star!" Nothaar exclaimed aloud. If any of the plants and woodland creatures within earshot had a retort for him, they did not share it. Watching the celestial entity descend, Nothaar ascertained that it would soon hit the ground and, as such, he braced himself for the expected explosion and resulting shockwave.

However, once the massive object dropped out of sight below the treetops, nothing happened. Strange, Nothaar thought, there should have been a large blast by now, visible even at this distance. Perusing his memory, Nothaar remembered that he had seen a similar event before, in an age prior to the Sky Shift. Further, he had studied several accounts from other Keepers in the far-flung past. Something is very different about this one, he considered before electing to head in the direction he had last seen it plummet to the earth. Based upon his own experience and what he had read, he presumed that there would be a unique rock at the landing site. Falling stars had brought rare and highly valuable metals and gems, commodities he could use for trade. Although storytelling and doing administrative tasks could buy him lodging and some meager meals, having extremely desirable tangible goods would open up a slew of potential resources that he would need on this quest and duty of his.

Despite the fact that Nothaar tried to reach the descended heavenly gift as quickly as possible, it still took several rotations of the sun and the moon. As he approached the area where he reckoned it must be, his worst fears came true; someone else had come upon his prize first. It was evening when he finally reached the area, although he was quite perplexed and thought he must have been mistaken. The forest looked completely undisturbed. There were no signs of scorching or destruction that should have accompanied such an occurrence, nor really any evidence at all that anything unusual had happened. Instead, things were oddly quiet, except for the distant voices of whoever had come across his desired prize before him. Cursing under his breath, he pushed his feet onward.

Using the cloak of the nighttime darkness, Nothaar slowly approached the strangers' camp. He was hopeful that maybe they would be willing to work with him and split the bounty, but wisely knew they could also be jealously guarding their valuable find. It would not be the first time Nothaar had been met with violence when trying to strike a deal, so he wanted to know what exactly he was up against.

Getting as close as he dared, Nothaar was still unsure where things stood and what was going on. Peering out from behind some bushes, Nothaar saw that the unidentified people had set up a campfire and were sitting on the other side of it. Due to this, he could not make out their faces, features, or anything else about them. He thought that he could see the outline of two individuals, but that did not mean that others were not nearby. Now that he was close enough to surreptitiously observe their camp, Nothaar could finally make out what they were so loudly and indiscreetly saying.

The words completely shocked him to his core.

The above piece is an excerpt from the speculative hard science fiction novel Starbuilders by J.P. Prag, available at booksellers worldwide. Learn more about the author at www.jpprag.com.

Twenty years ago, the stars above Nothaar Akii's head suddenly changed.

Christening it the Sky Shift, Nothaar found that this event was merely the harbinger of a devastating metamorphosis that was about to befall his world. More than anything, though, it impacted the children. Newborns came out of the womb with strange physical features, far different than anything seen before. As they grew up, the youths intuitively spoke a tongue that no one else understood. After learning these conditions were not isolated to his far northern village, Nothaar set out on a long journey of discovery, taking him all the way to the southernmost tip of the land.

With his expedition seemingly completed, Nothaar decided to retrace his steps and share his discoveries with everyone he had encountered along the way. However, those plans were quickly waylaid when he chanced upon a gift that had come crashing down from the heavens. Expecting just to find a rock filled with rare and valuable resources, he instead met Syraaq Sec and Ifuwukoogeeq. The mysterious duo not only spoke the Language of Children fluently, but also possessed knowledge far beyond Nothaar's comprehension.

And then they declared Nothaar was the key to unraveling a great injustice, one that had been perpetrated upon his people and many others by the Starbuilders.

Starbuilders is a work of mixed fiction and nonfiction elements. With the fiction elements, any names, characters, places, events, and incidents that bear any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental. For the nonfiction elements, no names have been changed, no characters invented, no events fabricated except for hypothetical situations.