The Space Rodeo

Space Rodeo Bk 5 Ch 33

The party was half victory celebration, half heartfelt reunion. I rarely found myself at a loss for words, but today was one of those times. My old teammates surrounded me, slapping me on the back and congratulating me.

They'd changed in the year we'd been apart. Alpha seemed more confident. It was clear she was the team leader now, not me. While I felt a little bittersweet about that, I'd come so far myself in the last year. I was glad they hadn't been left be...

License to Cultivate Bk 2 Ch 36

Quick author note: I realized that I should be having them climb up, not down, and have gone back and ret-conned this, but if you read the previous chapter where they were climbing down I don't want confusion.

Two-thirds of the way up the maze of ladders, ropes, bridges, planks, and nets, having been attacked every few minutes by enemies out of the darkness, Chang-li was beset by two competing worries.

Feng lay somewhere ahead of them. Had he a...

Space Rodeo Bk 5 Ch 32

COLIN POV 

We held a council of war as soon as we got back. Everything had changed. We just weren't sure yet just how.

"Sam will tell Shad, and then Shad will figure out something," Sage said. She was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. "This is wonderful. I've been wishing we could get the word out somehow, and now we have."

"Maybe," I allowed. "If Sam tells Shad what he saw.”

“Why wouldn't he?"

"He might not believe his own e...

License to Cultivate Bk 2 Ch 35

Min found herself at loose ends for the first time in many years. She rattled about in the nearly empty sect house, directing the servants to clean dusty corners or better rearrange the rooms to suit the new needs. She reordered supplies and filed the paperwork Chang-li had left for her with the Office of Cultivation here at the Tower Climb. She still wasn't used to being addressed as "Lady Morning Mist," but until they acquired a higher-ranking cultivator spouse, that was her title. That too...

Space Rodeo Bk 5 Ch 31

Grandpa was in a meeting.

"Get me in to see him as soon as possible," I told Coyote. "Cancel his next meetings."

Coyote hesitated. "Are you sure this is wise?"

"He needs to know everything I do as soon as possible."

"We don't fully understand the situation," Coyote said.

"Yes, we do. Sage is alive."

"She's also involved with something we don't fully understand," Coyote pointed out. "We don't yet know what all that is. Perhaps you a...

License to Cultivate Bk 2 Ch 34

Chang-li was trepidatious as they entered the green-tinged corridor. For the first few minutes, it seemed like the ones they'd been in before. Then, abruptly, it turned sharply and ended in thin air. Joshi put out his arm. The whole group stopped.

Chang-li came forward, peering past Joshi's shoulder at what lay beyond. They looked out across a vast open chamber. There was no floor to be seen, just a deep blue hole. A narrow wooden bridge, little more than an incredibly long...

Space Rodeo Bk 5 Ch 30

SHAD POV

Our portal opened onto a lush, green valley. The alpine mountains were stark against the sky, snow-capped and rocky. The valley was shades of green I hadn't had words for before I'd joined the army and gotten out of Arizona. I took a deep breath, hand resting on the holster of my gun, as Alpha barked ordered to her squad.

The castle was easy to spot. It was in the exact center of the valley, atop a hill. It looked like it came from a Disney movie, with towers...

License to Cultivate Bk 2 Ch 33

Chang-li had no idea how long they had been inside the tower. Without the sun and moon to indicate time, he had to go by the rhythms of his body. Ever since reaching the Peak of Bodily Refinement, those had become less familiar to him. He suspected that when plunged into a lux-rich environment such as the tower, his body had less need for food, sleep, and water.

They had paused twice now to eat, meditate, and rest. Both times, Chang-li had slept for what felt l...

Space Rodeo Bk 5 Ch 29

SHAD POV

When Kvaltash and his people came calling, I was ready.

“Captain Williams. We have a task for you. The last piece of the key is in a zone that three corporations — Proxima, Antares, and Kuala Rdia — are all squabbling over," Kvaltash said. "I've got an underpermit from Antares giving us a right to conduct archaeology in the area, but the other two organizations won't respect that. It does give us cover for what we're doing, though."

"Which...

License to Cultivate Bk 2 Ch 32

The orange corridors posed a new threat. When the orange lux first gathered in the walls around them, Chang-li slipped on his limiting bracer and prepared himself. Sharp, spiky light filled the air around them, dazzling him. He sensed the attack just in time and threw himself to the side. Daggers stabbed out of the air at him, some passing within inches of his face. Chang-li drew his sword and knocked them away.

Joshi had his gauntlet on one fist a...

Space Rodeo Bk 5 Ch 28

Sage and I slipped inside the wooden hut full of dispirited prisoners. They were wearing shabby, gray clothing, thin and emaciated. Outside the walls of the prison hut, artillery boomed and roared.

"Who's in charge here?" I demanded.

They looked us over, taking in the uniforms Sage and I had stolen off of guards. None of them seemed eager to help.

Sage tossed out a Cowgirl Cheer. I could feel it affecting everyone in the room. The prisoners seemed visibly more e...

License to Cultivate Bk 2 Ch 31

Chang-li knew they were on the right path when the deep crimson color of the light in the tunnels began shading to orange. He was practicing Mind's Wall as they proceeded, his bracer off, riding in his satchel where he could grab it easily if he needed to. Now he sipped at the lux, passing it through his core and purifying it. Yes, there was definitely orange flavoring the dominant red lux now.

They had fought another three packs of the stone creatures, each similar to the first. After ...

Space Rodeo Bk 5 Ch 27

COLIN POV

"We have an opportunity," I told Sage and Rok'gar. With Gambler’s help, we had moved Victoria's garden back to our headquarters at Monte Carlo and re-sculpted it around our town core. Now we sat in the shade of tall willow trees beside the pink snail monument. Gambler was listening in, as always, but he and I had already talked about this plan several times. “Victoria's allies gave her a connection to the first level. Gambler's absorbed that.” 2024-10-18 12:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post

License to Cultivate Bk 2 Ch 30

As Chang-li and his companions entered the gash in the third floor of the tower, the Inquisitor and several guards awaited them. "I was beginning to think your sect was not going to attend this," the Inquisitor said, frowning as he looked them over.

A team of bureaucrats in brown robes that hung open over their tunics and pants were unpacking crates full of equipment, crystals set in delicate metal wires. The largest were half as tall ...

Space Rodeo Bk 5 Ch 26

SHAD POV

I was starting to get just a little too comfortable in my dress uniform, and that bothered me. Juana gave me a look over and nodded approval. She was dressed to the nines. We and several other high-ranking members of our expedition had been invited to the Coalition's one-cycle celebration. A galactic standard cycle didn't quite match up to an Earth year from my point of view. We'd been here a little more than 11 months, but for the aliens, this ...

License to Cultivate Bk 2 Ch 29

Chang-li and Joshi stood atop a stretch of bare rock. This oasis barely deserved the name. A pool of water bubbled up from the center. Beside it lay the corpse of an enormous basilisk, its body all hard stone. It was on its back now, its underside scored with a dozen hits from Chang-li's burning blade.

Joshi was the one who had struck a killing blow. This was the seventh oasis protector they had faced. They had not gathered one of each color of tok...

Space Rodeo Bk 5 Ch 25

COLIN POV 

"She's got a fortress," Sage reported as she sent back images with Coyote's help. She was mounted on her dragon, whom she had named Mr. Smokey, above our heads. I was at the forefront of the invasion fleet. We had everyone with us: all of the surviving allied minds, myself, Rok'gar, every unit we could scrape together. We'd left a few defensive structures to defend our island from opportunists. I could always teleport back there if an emergency came up. But we wer...

License to Cultivate Bk 2 Ch 28

Chang-li stood beneath a rainbow whirlpool sky, his feet as steady as they could be on the stark white sand as he cycled through the pattern the ancient scroll described.

Having thoroughly established command of the physical lux, weave in a strand of life lux to stabilize the matrix in preparation for bonding with the spiritual luxes. If the disciple has difficulty with this, refer to exercises as described in Master Ariyandaksha Jhang's Guide to Visualizing Lux Layers....