Trouble in Paradise (The Directorate Book 3) Read online

  Trouble in Paradise

  Pam Uphoff

  Genetic engineering lifted psychic powers above the random background of coincidence. Backlash and prejudice against 'Magic' and 'Satanism' resulted in the exile of all genetically engineered people to dangerous worlds; not-quite-parallel earths they weren't expected to survive.

  Fourteen centuries of turbulent Earth history later the exiled magicians have been forgotten, rediscovered, clashed with . . .

  The Empire of the One grew from the accidental stranding of an early cross dimensional exploration party of the genetically engineered, two years before the Exile. They arrived in the middle of a war, where the three great powers, China, the Islamic Union, and Greater Argentina vied for possession of the no-longer-radioactive ruins of Europe and North America. The marooned explorers used their special talents, and a lot of flimflam and fast talk to place themselves on the top of the Islamic Union as the New Prophets of the One True God.

  Fourteen hundred years later, their descendants are still the elite of a united world with twelve cross-dimensional colonies.

  After several deadly clashes between Dimension Age civilizations, the newly fledged Department of Interdimensional Security and Cooperation is attempting, with fair success, to keep the peace among the growing number of worlds exploring the Multiverse.

  But trouble looms on the horizon, and a small group of college seniors realize they may graduate just in time to fight a cross-dimensional war.

  Copyright © 2017 Pamela Uphoff

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN

  978-1-939746-23-8

  This is a work of fiction.

  All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional.

  Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Art: Shooting Range Photo © Oceanfishing | Dreamstime.com

  Cover Design P.A. McWhorter

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Excerpt from an upcoming publication

  What I'm Reading

  About the Author

  Other Books by Pam Uphoff

  Chapter One

  Tuesday 29 Shaban 1403

  ". . . pre-nuclear war seed bank. The geneticists were at wit's end, wondering how to catalog the mess. Thank something I'd had one Info handling class. It was actually fun, setting up the system, but no way would I want it as a career. Boring, once I got it set up." Ebsa glanced at the Counselor's office door. Still closeted with another student. "I thought I'd be late. Ha! I ought to have stopped by the dorm and dropped my luggage."

  R'ad kicked his own luggage. He'd been exiting the Counselor's office as Ebsa rushed into the waiting room. "I spent six weeks analyzing Oner baby registration patterns. Boring as hell, until the patterns started showing up. Not to mention the party at Government house, where Izzo dropped an information bomb in the lap of the Prime Councilor. Glorious. But! The best part of the internship was all my extended family having gone on vacation. I stayed with Rael—you have got to see her house!"

  "Really? The one they say Xen Wolfson fixed up with magic? Umm, probably be bad for my ego. So, can you talk about this information bomb?"

  "Umm, it'll go public eventually. Fairly soon, in fact. Basically, all those stupid tabloid stories about the lack of Withione babies? True. Neartuones, as well. And when they retest the parents? Not Withiones. Not Neartuones. But! It's just the rape genes that are missing. None of them, parents or babies, have any of them. The problem was first seen in Alcairo, then other places, both cities and enclaves. The dates when Withione results of testing fell off the cliff progressed from place to place, spreading like an epidemic. By midsummer it was pretty well everywhere. Izzo spent a day closeted with the President and Urfa. The Prime Councilor refused to come to the meeting. 'Too busy. I have an open hour in two weeks, drop by . . . ' Then he attended the party. The bomb? The progression of places is the same, delayed a week or so, as the sightings of the Comet Fall God of Just Deserts in each place." R'ad sat back. "They've retaliated for that last raid with genetic sabotage."

  Ebsa boggled, gulped. "They can't have . . . Genetic engineering to remove Oner genes? We'll go to war over that! That's . . . Are you sure?"

  "Yep. Izzo has a small field analyzer. A bunch of us tested ourselves. Remember how that twist of mine went away? That was it. Mind you, it's not official, but I'm now a 210 Clostuone, and I'll never have those horrible dreams and urges again." A razor sharp grin of genuine glee.

  "Holy . . . What about the One?" Ebsa sat back, and eyed his friend.

  "Izzo is probably arriving there right about now. Should be . . . interesting." Ra'd's grin widened. "And don't be so sure about that war. The Multitude, the Halfers, the Servaones, the Clostuones? I think they will, by and large, be delighted by the downfall of the snobbish less than one percent of the population who might get reranked.

  "But a lot of Clostuones and Servaones will lose up to six genes of their total count."

  "But they won't slip in rankings. Clostuones are defined as anyone without a single complete set of the genes, but with six or more insertions. You, for instance, won't lose an entire insertion, so your rank won't change. How many of those genes do you have? Or more probably, used to have." That grin again. "I will lose rank, but it's worth every minute of peaceful slumber, every time I sigh in exasperation instead of fighting down a desire to hit someone. And how many other Withiones and Neartuones feel the same way?"

  "I . . . huh. I don't know." Ebsa scrambled his brains together as the door to the counselor's office opened. An irritated student exited reading his screen.

  Ebsa reached for his luggage and Ra'd waved him off. "I'll wait out here for you."

  ***

  "Well, if we aren't at war with in days, I'll be taking so many classes I won't have time to read the news and find out what comes of your information bomb." Ebsa grabbed his suitcase and backpack and followed Ra'd out the door.

  "Unless, of course, Mr. High-and-Mighty Counselor changes what we'd agreed on . . . Ah, they just posted. History 200. Ugg. Sociology 100. Eh. Information 400? Yes! Yuri comes through! I got credit for the internship! Advanced Techniques of Magic. Yes! Team Equipment 400. Yes! Introduction to Project Management. Ooo, I thought the counselor was going to spit when I requested that one. Zoology across dimensions. Current Events Seminar, thank the One, just once a week, Wednesday nights. Martial Arts section B? I think I've been demoted. Firearms Practicum 3. Isn't that what I had all last year?" Ebsa lengthened his stride. Fourteen hours on the plane, and then waiting for his scheduled appointment with the counselor. Still had his fortunately small amount of luggage with him. Was not going to be late for dinner. He was starving.

  Ra'd snorted. "That's how many times a week you are required to spend an hour at the range. I've got one. And Martial Arts, Advanced. They're splitting us up."

  "Well, I do need more training in techniques . . . they haven't given up on you for Action Teams, have they?"

  "That's what I'm afraid of. I will not merge with those twisted brutes."

  Ebsa paused. "I wonder if they got dosed with whatever, however it was administered? Perhaps you sho
uld check them out, and find the ones you consider tolerable. You only have to eke out a passing grade for two more semesters."

  Snort. Ra'd lifted a dismissive shoulder and looked at his minicomp. "I've got Magic, History, and Current Events with you. Then I've got Statistics and Comparative Cultures. Military Science 100, whether I want it or not."

  "The counselor said there would be a seminar tonight after dinner. I didn't realize they started so soon."

  "He said this was unusual." Ra'd raised his head from the list and frowned at the men casually lounging around the entrance to dorm seven.

  Ebsa sighed. "Do we have to do this every year?" He made it loud enough to be heard by the loungers.

  The four men stopped pretending to lounge and loomed. Not as well as they had last year. I've grown, in more ways than one.

  Ebsa tried for casual. "Ed, Oh Hey. Yuck, Idjit . . . Don't tell me something happened to Ogly? And . . . who else is missing? No, wait, Ogly and Mac actually managed to graduate, didn't they."

  Four glowers from the waiting men.

  "You got Wedge and City arrested. They were expelled when they were found guilty of filing a false police report." Oh Hey stepped closer. "And no one knows what the hell happened to Blob and Ape. No one will tell us anything. Not to mention Edge . . . dying. Accidentally. Five of the top Action Team Trainees. Gone."

  "Leaving, what, seven seniors? That'll be a lot less competition for the Across slots, eh?" Ebsa set down his suitcase, shrugged off his pack and shoved his comp into the side pocket. As this will inevitably come down to a fight.

  Ed looked baffled. "Seven? You aren't any competition. Wqlw Ra'd is in . . . wait, you're counting those women?"

  Yuck growled and stepped forward. "Are you claiming that those cunts are real contenders for Action Team slots? Are you comparing us to women?"

  Ra'd failed to resist. "You aren't women?"

  Four to two. Hardly fair. They had the idiots on the ground in seconds.

  Ra'd grinned at Ebsa. "Now that we've got them, what shall we do with them?"

  Ebsa looked from Yuck, flat on his face with his arm twisted up behind his back, to Ed, on his knees attempting to wiggle in a way that wouldn't involve Ebsa breaking the pinky finger he was holding. "Well, I don't actually want them, so maybe we should just let them go."

  Ra'd sighed loudly. "You never let me have any fun." He stood up and walked back to his luggage. Ebsa released his pair and stepped over to grab his stuff, walked back through the quartet of idiots groaning their way to their feet, and not looming. Nor interfering in any way.

  "Poor things." Ebsa grinned at Ra'd. "They're used to having Edge, with his Speed, to take the lead."

  "And six more idiots to help them bully other students." Ra'd shrugged. "It's just as well I decided to hit the counselor before I headed for the dorm. I might have had to hurt one of them, if I was alone."

  "I wonder if they've dropped a few genes? Life could get interesting once the news is released."

  "Huh. They don't act any less belligerent." Ra'd's door lock clicked as it received the signal from his ID.

  "Well, they've trained themselves to be that way. At this point they hardly need help from their genes." Ebsa walked on, heard his own lock click two doors down.

  "That's a depressing thought."

  They'd both taken everything they owned with them, so the bare rooms were untouched. The Directorate School frowned on University property being damaged, but it actually surprised Ebsa a bit that there wasn't even a slash in the mattress. A tap on the door.

  Ra'd stepped in and waved a hand at the bed. A glint of power, a wave of a spell. "Bed bugs."

  Ebsa sighed. "And I thought they'd showed restraint. Rather subtle of them, actually. I wonder whose idea it was?"

  "A new mastermind? Them? More likely they saw it in a movie." Ra'd shook his head and walked out.

  Ebsa looked around the bare room and shrugged. Unpack later. I'm hungry. And maybe . . .

  Yes, Paer was already eating, Heak and Azko were both just sitting down.

  Paer grinned. "The gang's all here. Ra'd's in the cafeteria line, slowpoke."

  Ebsa refrained from . . . oh grabbing her and kissing her . . . which must have leaked the way her smile spread. He fetched food and sat down across the table from her.

  "So, shall we make bets about the subject of tonight's unexpected seminar?"

  Paer frowned. "I don't . . . Well we've all been gone, so maybe we wouldn't have heard about a new crisis?"

  Heak and Azko shook their heads.

  Ra'd stayed silent.

  So he'll tell me something classified, but not the rest of the group?

  They hashed it over while eating.

  Ebsa glanced at the time, and dumped his tray in the disposal. Hideous meal. The cooking would improve when the semester officially started tomorrow. Tonight's diner had been fabbed.

  A long lingering gaze into Paer's eyes . . . Professional. Remember? We're going to be ever so professional and studious until the winter break.

  Chapter Two

  Wednesday 30 Shaban 1403

  The Current Events Weekly Seminar was held in the largest four lecture halls—the lower level of the soft sciences building was split on the diagonals into four huge lecture "theatres."

  The parts of the separating walls, up near the ground level entrances, were retracted. Ditto the lowest sections between the last seats and the square core in the center of the building.

  The core held all the piping and whatever for the upper floors, and a whole bunch of electronics for the lecturers, whose platforms surrounded the core.

  For these "attendance required" evenings, they had repeaters on the screens on every side of the core. They showed the speakers, and displayed data, as needed.

  They grabbed seats where Ra'd could get his paranoid back against a side wall and settled down to see what news the Directorate wanted their students to be up to date on.

  Professor Ivy started. "The diplomats have negotiated the release of the men whom the Fallen allege raided Comet Fall and kidnapped a woman. The Fallen claim that the statures left in the Gate City Central Plaza are in fact the teamers. A civilian witch is currently en route to the warehouse where the statues are being kept. 'To release them' they said. Her name is Vulpenite Particulardaut.

  "For those of you who haven't had classes on the Comet Fall magical community, the mineral name puts her at just a bit older than Xenotime Wolfson. Who was born in 1369 post exile, which is 1371 year of the prophets. Particular would be her mother's name. Most of the witches know their fathers names, but rarely have anything to do with them."

  The big screens switched to coverage of the late afternoon scene of a cavalcade of vehicles driving up to one of the older warehouses in the Gate Security Area. A number of people got out, including a woman in a business suit.

  The screen flipped to a cam inside the warehouse. Eight statues, on large chunks of concrete. About half on their feet, all looking like they'd just been assaulted.

  Ebsa recognized four of them. Blob was bent over, clutching his stomach. Wedge down on one knee, one hand on the ground, the other raised to fend off a blow. Ape throwing a punch. City sprawled limply.

  The other four looked older. Experienced Teamers. They'd obviously taken the worst damage. One curled up clutching his shin, mouth open in a scream. One reeling away, clutching his arm. The third man had both hands to his face, the fourth was flying forward as if hit from behind, a single toe touching the ground.

  The woman in the business suit walked up to the flying man, raised her left hand and scratched at the statue with her fingernail. The bronze color snapped away from her touch and the man completed his journey, crashing into a directorate staffer. They both hit the ground, the teamer rolling and staggering to his feet . . . slowing, his head jerking around as he took in his surroundings.

  Ebsa recognized Director Ajki stepping up and waving the man down. "Relax. You're home. And detained for questio
ning about your illegal cross-dimensional raid. Now shut up and sit down there." He pointed, and the man slunk off.

  The witch stepped up to Ape, and paused. "Would anyone like to stand right in front of the punch?"

  The two nearest flunkies shifted away. The witch gave two quick scratches to Ape's shoulder and turned away.

  Ape's swipe pulled him off balance and he staggered off his teetering chunk of concrete, ready to find something else to attack . . . froze as the crowd watching him registered.

  Ajki pointed. "Sit. Say nothing."

  The witch stooped to scratch at City. He continued to lie limp. The medical team moved in.

  Blob was next, and promptly barfed, holding his stomach and staggering. Wedge flinched back, and thumped down on his rear, mouth rounding out in horror as he took in his watchers.

  The witch scratched the shin grabber, and while he screamed, the last two. Blood flowed from a deep cut on one's arm, and nearly as much from the other's badly broken nose. The witch left them rolling on the ground, screaming in pain, and walked away as the medics rushed in.

  Ebsa studied the witch. Beautiful, a pale blonde, but her expression was cold and disdainful. Rather like the worst of the Princesses. Guards in the Directorate's brown dress uniforms trailed her.

  He watched the newsies home in on the Teamers. The former statues in the park. Wedge, City, Ape, and Blob from school. Wedge and City had been expelled before their very unwise raid. But not Ape and Blob. Would they show back up? Or would their allegedly unapproved raid get them kicked out as well?

  The other four were older. Tough, experienced men. I wonder how many Fallen it took to beat a compass of eight?

  The witch walked over to the Director. The mics didn't pick up what she was saying, but Ajki snapped some orders and the witch was escorted out by a man and woman in business attire.

  Ebsa squinted. Was that . . . ?

  "Ah, there's Ajha and the Fiend. The Director's making sure nothing happens to the witch." Paer grinned suddenly. "Ajha looks startled, I wonder what she just said?"