Tyche Forever: Tyche's Fallen, #1

By Richard Parry

When someone kills your buddy, it's time for a road trip.
October Kohl no longer captains the Emperor's Black. He's spent his time since the war drinking whiskey. When a courier arrives carrying a message from an old friend, he knows it's time to saddle up. The AI Algernon joins him.
What they find defies belief: an ever-young crew aboard an ancient starship. The Immortal carries a dark secret. The Ezeroc have a new weapon: they offer us life eternal.
Kohl and Algernon race across the stars in a borrowed starship. Empire Navy insurgents working with the Ezeroc stand in their way. If they can't find the Ezeroc's forever-young technology, humanity will surrender to the enemy willingly.
October Kohl's faced worse odds. He's never done it sober.
If you like page-turning action with great dialogue, get your copy of Tyche Forever today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mondegreen
• Release date: May 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9780473469023

Book preview

One

Algernon walked the Guild Hall with a measured step. His golden form shone, polished to a sheen after the war. Appearances mattered to humans, and he tried to present himself how Jody Mercadal’s generation made him. Tall, but not imposing. Eyes of white fire, warm rather than accusing. But no matter where he looked, humans faces fell, eyes dropping to the Guild’s beautiful inlaid ceramicrete flooring. They ignored what Algernon carried; they didn’t know what was inside the metal case, and their gazes didn’t linger on his plasma rifle.

Humans are confused. Three months ago, you were their enemy. Today, you’re the remembrance of their gravest sin. Life sucked, sometimes.

Algernon found San Francisco bizarre. Part of it was why humans would rebuild a city the Ezeroc would destroy again. Planets were orbiting targets. Perhaps that was their nature: to stand against the storm and dare.

The other part was because, while constructs helped organics rebuild their home, some people weren’t on Team AI. They lurked in dark places, murdering Algernon’s kin. Few succeeded, but enough were to make things difficult for organic-construct relations.

The remains of his people split their forces between Earth and Mercury. Some helped frail meat socks rebuild their home. Constructs made excellent workers, regardless of which human recording they wore. Math was a part of their structure like blood was a part of human’s. It meant they could double as Engineers, precious few of the Guild around, and those here were exhausted, pale ghosts of themselves. He’d trawled cam archives of the Guild, seeing this once bustling hive of the brightest technical minds now a shadow of itself. A handful of humans walked the halls.

Some plotted Algernon’s death. He’d made an appointment to meet them.

His internal comm chimed. October. Perhaps my best human friend. Maybe my only one, after I killed Hope’s Saveria with a nanobot plague. The Guild sinned, but like all meat socks, their accomplishments pale against those of my kind. I saved a world but cut the heart from the person I should have protected. Hello, October Kohl.

Hey, Al. Get your shit. Kohl sounded more sour than usual, with a salting of concern to his voice.

Why? It’s not like I have a lot of ‘shit’ to get.

We’re going on a road trip. Kohl dropped the comm, leaving Algernon to his thoughts. While the golden man walked, he tapped into the city comm net. He found Kohl’s location, rewinding cam footage from the area. A church? He watched the telltale flicker of blue-white light from the windows of the church after October entered. ‘Road trip’ might be a euphemism. Kohl was in trouble.

It’s not like Algernon had much to anchor him here. Still, he’d made an appointment, and he intended to keep it.

The elevator that took Algernon from the ground level to the Guild Master’s hall was smooth, perfect despite the war. Like all humanity’s machines, it operated much better than they did. The Guild Hall was partially repaired, the ruins of the gravity elevator still scattered across the grounds, but the roof held the rain