Birth of the Rim series Book 1
A distant Star Empire ruled by ancient Amazon warriors, forgotten by Earth for 3,000 years. In the other direction, an implacable alien enemy, poised to destroy every human on Earth. A final warning from an AI starship, who just happens to like humans. All dumped into the laps of Jake, Teresa, and Kirsten – three unlikely lovers. Now they must build a space navy from scratch – forge an alliance with an ancient matriarchy who doesn’t even know Earth exists – and prepare to fight a cruel and unmerciful enemy!
One path. One hope. One trio of Humans. It’s all on them!
All four books in the Birth of the Rim series are available for purchase on Barnes & Noble.
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Excerpt from Imprint of Blood © Copyright 2023 Phil Huddleston
“Can I help you?” Maddie asked. This time, the object didn’t move. It stayed in place, hovering in the air. Then, slowly, it began to move closer, floating toward her until it was only ten feet away. It moved lower, until it was a few feet off the ground, and stopped.
Suddenly a holo appeared, a flat, orange-tinged, transparent wall, in the air halfway between them, five feet in front of Maddie. On the holo were characters – letters of some kind, unrecognizable but clearly a writing system. The message was not long, about three words in length. But Maddie didn’t recognize a single letter. She shook her head.
“I can’t understand,” she complained. “I don’t recognize any of the letters.”
Instantly the characters shifted, another writing system, but again one that Maddie didn’t recognize. She shook her head again.
“No. I don’t understand.”
Quickly, sequentially, the characters shifted, changing every few seconds to a new set, but never anything that Maddie recognized. They went through at least thirty different character sets, and Maddie, frustrated, kept shaking her head.
“No. No. No,” she spoke again and again, growing more and more frustrated.
Her leg hurt like the devil. Her back was an ocean of pain, and her head throbbed. Her fever was spiking again. She needed the antibiotics and painkillers in the medpouch. But it was lying on the ground behind the hovering object, and she was afraid to interrupt the interaction that was playing out.
She decided this was some kind of drone. Probably some kind of monitor, or guard, which had been alerted to her presence.
I need help, I need it badly. I have to establish communication. No matter how much it hurts, I have to be patient. I have to make this work.
Suddenly she saw something she recognized. It was English, plain and simple.
“Yes!” In her excitement, Maddie had raised her voice, and it hurt her throat. She went dizzy again. Maddie waited for the vertigo to pass. Then, lowering her volume, she spoke again. “Yes. I understand!”
The words in the hologram began to blink.
“I don’t know how to mesh,” Maddie said. “I don’t understand what you want.”
The message changed slightly.
Maddie shook her head. “I can’t mesh, I don’t know what you want.”
After a long interval with no change, the message was replaced with a new one.
The holo disappeared, and the drone began to move away, heading off toward the trees at the edge of the clearing.
“I can’t walk!” Maddie said. “I’m hurt!”
The drone stopped, hovered for a bit.
It understands me!
The drone came back toward her, returning to its original position.
Well, of course. If it can project English to a holo, then it can probably understand it as well. That makes sense.
The holo popped into view again.
<YOU ARE DAMAGED?>
“Yes!” Maddie responded. “I am damaged. I need help!”
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