Page 1 of Ancient Rising

Chapter One

Harwin looked at herprevious boss.“Thank you for taking care of me.I know it has been amusing for you, but you always made sure to brief us on what we were walking into.”

Madam Yorness looked at her and reached up to pat her cheek.“You were an excellent bodyguard.My ship will assign me to another one, and Kris will pick up the slack, but we all know that can be excessively messy.”

Kris shrugged nearby.“She’s not wrong.I am getting better.”

Harwin nodded.“You are, but you need a chance to practice more.I will miss you, but if Madam Yorness allows, I will send you notices as to what I am getting up to.”

Yorness chuckled.“Of course, child.I have gotten attached to both of you.I look forward to finding out what the ancient world is willing to show you.”

Harwin grinned.“Me, too.May I give you a hug?”

Yorness opened her arms, and Harwin bent down to hug the elderly woman.“Thank you for taking care of us.It was an easy bond to get through and very entertaining.”

“It was interesting.You adapted well.Still too tall.”

“Blame that on the medics.We used to be shorter.”Harwin chuckled.It was a common reference.

Her ex-boss’s eyes rapidly blinked when Harwin straightened.“Go to the shuttle.The team is waiting for you.I will have to send Yasku’s consort’s friend Nessa so that Cassandra does not benefit from setting you loose.”

Harwin grinned.“Yeah, she deserves to be punished for doing a nice thing, and Yasku deserves to hear about it because he was the one who paid me out.”

“Yes, I will ignore that he provided me with a bonus as well.The next time I am out this way, I will remind him of how he has deprived me of one of the best daughters I have ever had.”

“If I can find you, I will come and visit and tell of my adventures.”

Yorness pressed a palm to her cheek.“Go.”

Harwin fist-bumped Kris and grabbed her bag.She turned and walked out on the two closest people she had had since leaving the education station.Once she left the station, her education had truly commenced.

She walked the path to the designated berth for the short-range shuttle and scanned her palm at the entry point to the shuttle with the designated glyph.The gate opened, and she walked through.

Yasku didn’t name the planet after himself, but the station was Yasku Station, and she was now on her way away from a colony of her people and several good friends.

The door of the shuttle opened, and she walked up the ramp.The professor’s assistant greeted her.“So, you are the muscle?”

“Yes.”

The Lemani’s skin looked to be made of tiny grey shingles; their eyes were usually tranquil shades of blue, but their pupils were square.Their height was about two-thirds of the human standard.This specimen came to mid-chest on Harwin, and he held his hand palm sideways.

She clasped his forearm.“Harwin of Terra.”

“Sossos of Leman.”

“Nice to meet you, Sossos.”

“Come on.The professor is going nuts wanting to meet you and pick your brain about your people.”

Harwin smiled and walked with him, listening to the chatter of how the team had placed bets on whether she was dumb or just needed to be around intelligence to feel important.

“Oh, I am not dumb; I am lacking education.The universe out here isn’t something I could even imagine, so now, I am trying to catch up.”

He paused.“That is a scenario we had not come up with.”

They settled in the seats of the tiny shuttle.

“Smart people can be some of the dumbest in the universe.They surround themselves with so much data that the world outside seems a million miles away, and no new information can come in.”

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