The Space Rodeo

Space Rodeo 4.5 Ch 4: To Honeynest!

I followed my fellow escaped prisoner into the woods, thinking he would be my ticket to the mainline quest. Unfortunately, he stopped 50 yards away. 

 "Thanks for your help escaping. If you're ever in Honeynest, look me up. My organization could use a few people like you." He turned and walked away. 

 I started to follow, but he disappeared around a pile of rocks. And I do mean disappeared. By the time I turned the corner of the rocks, he was completely vanishe...

License to Cultivate Ch 31

By the next day, more than half of the lux Hiroko had brought from the tower had leaked from her. Cycling became difficult, like she’d tied lead weights to her limbs. The world gradually lost color and verve. She felt the lack like a missing tooth.

Hiroko resolved not to try to cling to the rest. Instead, she practiced her new skill on servants and the other cultivator spouses and began to understand what she was seeing. This was not an ability she had ever heard of before. It ...

License to Cultivate Ch 30

I've gotten nicely far ahead in the novel, so I've decided to release some extra chapters over the next few days, hopefully taking us to 10 chapters ahead of RoyalRoad! Thanks to everyone who's supported the story - it's colossally fun to write.

“That was stupid of you.”

Chang-li opened his eyes. Scribe Wulan stood over his pallet, glowing. The old man was as short and irritable as ever.

Chang-li sat up, throwing off his covers. The quiet snores of his f...

Space Rodeo 4.5: Release the Turducken!

 A dark shadow swooped over the fortress, and all the prisoners ducked. There was a loud “whump," and the top of one of the towers exploded, showering us with shards of stone. The bulk of the debris fell outside the castle walls, carrying screaming raven guards falling to their deaths.

"This way!" one of the prisoners cried. There was a mad rush towards an open doorway on the side of the keep. My user interface still had not appeared. We charged through an open dining hall...

License to Cultivate Ch 29

For the next three days, Chang-li felt like a fish gasping on the bank of a river, flopping about, desperate to try to reach the life-giving waters. He still clung to the last remnants of his lux, but having been immersed in it for so long, returning to the ordinary world left him feeling like something was missing. He wore his old life like an uncomfortable, too-small coat.

By day, he worked the scribe counter, helping the rest of the camp with dozens of mundane tasks. He found ...

Space Rodeo 4.5 ch 2: Intro-duck-tions

I make no apologies for the bird related puns, it's my cowriter at fault. This interlude is probably going to be about ten chapters long and will feature the cheesing exploits we couldn't fit into book 4.

By the end of the week, our team was on top of the leaderboard. When I spawned into the Orc ship lounge area, Rok'gar was there. I flashed him a grin, "I told you we would catch up."

“Shut it, Colin.” He glowered at me as a notification popped up that ...

License to Cultivate Ch 28

An Indigo princess listens twice as much as she speaks and watches everything. Hiroko had been taught the admonition from an early age, and falling back on that advice served her well as she was welcomed into the cultivator camp.

There had been such excitement over her arrival. The Dowager Pearl swooped down at once to take Hiroko under her wing, hurrying her away from the crowd of onlookers who had apparently been welcoming the arrival of another sect.

The Dowager P...

Space Rodeo 4.5 Ch 1: Ducking Hell

So, I said we'd start book 5 today... and then I showerd the other half of M. Talon the opening of book 5 and he said, "Wait, I want to see this bit you glossed over!" and I said I didn't want to write it so he said he'd write it so -- special interlude novella between books 4 and 5 starts now!

Hope the POV shifts aren't an issue, needed to have them be shorter than whole chapters.

Shad:

Shad was in total ducking hell...

License to Cultivate Ch 26

Joshi stared up at the edifice rearing out of the swamp above him. It was a stepped pyramid, seven tiers high, made of featureless black stone. When he cycled lux out of his body, the vented lux was drawn toward the pyramid and absorbed by its dark surfaces.

He sat down in a clear spot about 30 feet away, studying the single feature on the entire pyramid, an opening along the base on what he was calling the North Face. All around, the land raised gradually up out of the swamp, a barren ...

Space Rodeo 4 - Finale

Wrapping up book 4 here - book 5 starts right away!

It was a week after our brush with the Coyote fragment. I had spent the last couple days getting Colin's new team integrated and off to a flying start.  For the last few hours, I'd sat in a communication center, watching them take on a smaller and less ornery fragment. They'd worked together flawlessly with panache and exactly the sort of out-of-the-box problem-solving skill we'd looked for.

It was we...

License to Cultivate Ch 25

Min couldn't help feeling the same excitement as the rest of the Gem Court as they proceeded through the expedition camp. They were all wearing their finest: Min in her white robe edged with red, the same as Jai-lin and Shisa. Nima, in her orange-edged robe, preceded them, a polite six steps behind the Dowager Pearl. All five were flanked by attendants in black silks.

The Gems descended through the cultivator camp. It was the first time that they had officially left the royal seraglio s...

Space Rodeo Bk 4 Ch 40

When Sage appeared in front of me, I breathed a sigh of relief. So Williams had made it, and Sage was safe. "You have it?"

She tossed me a smooth white fang on a leather thong. "Why'd you send Shad through?" she demanded. "He's gonna get himself killed again."

"It was his idea."

"Of course, it's his idea. It's always his idea." She let out a dramatic sigh. "I was hoping to rescue him for once, not have him rescue me. All right, what's the sitrep?" She turned and...

License to Cultivate Bonus: The Scribe Exam

This is a chapter I wrote while developing the character of Chang-li to help me better understand who he was and the society he's in. I'm releasing it to Patreons only - enjoy!

Chang-li bent over the slate in front of him, carefully chalking each of the syllables of his answer in beautiful, flowing calligraphy. He looked it over, erased a "chu" and replaced it with a "shi" in the third stanza.

All around him, his fellows were stretching and gathering their supplie...

License to Cultivate Ch 24

Joshi counted the purification tablets a third time. Two left. He had stretched them as long as he could. He could feel his body starting to unravel under the weight of his unpurified lux. How long had it been since his last tablet? Definitely more than a day, though it was hard to keep track of time in here. The tower's second floor had the same extravagant quantity of violet lux as the first. Time had little meaning.

Joshi was cuing off his bodily signals, and as he cultivated more an...

Space Rodeo Bk 4 Ch 39

D'oh, released early and with the wrong chapter number. Oops. Well... yeah.

I was going to feel really dumb about this if Sage had the teleport beacon in her inventory. I took a deep breath, my Ruger in one hand, and reached out with my other to touch the beacon Colin was holding out to me.

A moment later, I was in a mine tunnel. There was a lot of screaming and shouting. I heard Sage shout my name. I was facing toward a bunch more of these alien conquistad...

License to Cultivate Ch 23

By mutual agreement, the three walked from where they had slain the tortoise to the nearest oasis, which they could see from atop the tortoise. They were careful not to go deep enough to engage its guardian. Instead, they rested at the edge, taking a few hours of real sleep, cycling, eating, and preparing for whatever would come next.

At last, when they were as ready as they could be, and Chang-li knew he was merely stalling, he pulled out all seven tokens and arrayed them.

"Now, ...

Space Rodeo Bk 4 Ch 38

Hopefully this isn't confusing: this chapter is part of the mainline plot. I've concluded the Sage bonus saga. It was a heck of a lot of fun but Sage wants to be in on the finale!

Sage and her team scrambled into action, swinging the tramway cart out over the edge of the cliff. "Go, go, go!" Sage shouted as they swarmed aboard. She leapt on last, then lashed out with her lariat, lassoing expertly over the handbrake lever beside the launching tower and giving it a...

License to Cultivate Ch 22

The Sphinx told them how to find the oasis whose guardian would yield up a green token. His directions were straightforward. “The place is not far from here, and the guardian is a rival of mine. I do not mind you killing her. But you will never find the orange guardian on your own. So here.” It gave a low whistle. One of the sleeping jackal dogs leapt up. Chang-li tensed, ready for a fight. The jackal snuffed around the clearing for a moment before bringing a stone to its master. The Sphi...

Space Rodeo Bk 4 Ch 37: Dambusters

As soon as Sage's team moved into action, a pop-up appeared: [Dam Breach: Structural failure in 27 minutes 17 Seconds.] Time for me to go; I needed to find Shad Williams before the timer ran out.

I raced along the edge of the cliff, the dam looming huge in my vision. As I reached the near end of the dam, I had 22 minutes left. My legs ached. It was so good to have legs that hurt when I ran—legs that would move, kick, and run. No matter how much bullshit all this ...

License to Cultivate Ch 21

A river had sprung up in the middle of the wilderness, right out of a hole in the ground. Chang-li hadn’t read anything like this in his book. They followed it as the land around became lusher and greener. Soon, they were walking through a broad river valley with plants growing up on both sides. Wide-branched, leafy trees overhead swayed in the breeze. Hiroko said they were called palms and grew far in the south ends of the empire, where it was always hot and people went about naked. Some, ...

Space Rodeo Bk 4 Ch 36: Sage

 This one is short, and it'll probably end up going to the freeloaders - sorry, this is where the threads start coming back together, but I hope you've enjoyed Sage's story! It's been a ton of fun to write.

"All right," Colin told the team. They had pulled up at the edge of the mesa, overlooking the canyon and mine below. Sage listened intently as Colin laid out the scoreboard. "According to the story in the Book of Legends, we need four i...

Space Rodeo Bk 4 Ch 35: Damned if I Do

"You know what's funny?" I asked as I raised my pick over my head and brought it down hard against a boulder, splitting the rock into smaller fragments.

"What?" asked Major Armstrong as he wheeled a primitive wooden barrow over to me and began loading in the rocks I had just split.

"Grandpa always warned me I'd end up splitting rocks in the hot sun if I didn't shape up." I moved to the next rock and swung overhead. The sun beat down. At least I still had my hat. Armstrong was wear...

License to Cultivate Ch 20

Hiroko was relieved when their next destination also proved to be a challenge and not an oasis. The longer she had to cycle and work on her skills before she was forced to face combat again, the more prepared she would be. She wanted to reach the same level as the two men, fighting fearlessly, holding her own, not being completely useless at the end of a battle. If the fight with the Hydra had gone on longer, she had been at the extent of her strength. If she had collapsed — Joshi and Chang...

Space Rodeo Bk 4 Ch 34: Team-up

Once we were about half a kilometer away from the slot canyon, I halted. The kids gathered around me, all chattering excitedly. I held up a hand.

"All right, hang on, one at a time."

 Sage stepped forward. She looked me over, eyes narrowing. "Who are you? I’ve never seen you before, but you're a member of our guild. You don't look much older than us, but you've got a class. I thought they weren't letting underage kids pick a class."

"My name's Colin Trevelyan,” I sa...

License to Cultivate Ch 19

Under Joshi's tutelage, Chang-li's attempts with a sword became less hacking and slashing, more elegant cuts and swoops. They added an hour of sword practice to every cultivation session. The extra time spent resting seemed to help Hiroko. She perked up as they made their way deeper into the tower.

Chang-li wasn't sure, because there was no way to tell time in this place, but he felt as though they were going more than a day between purification tablets. They took one every fourth meal....

Space Rodeo Bk 4 Ch 33: Rendezvous

The occasional jackrabbit or hawk flew overhead. I shot everything I could and wound up with a couple of skill seeds, combining two of them into [Double Jump: Activate to turn an ordinary jump into an incredible leap upward or forward as much as 6 meters, landing safely and with precision on your target]  and two more into my first passive [13-Second Rule: When you receive damage that would be fatal, instead you take no damage and return to the location and condi...