Warp World Read online

  OTHER BOOKS IN THE WARPWORLD SERIES

  Warpworld

  What readers are saying about Warpworld…

  “Riveting story, great images, fast paced. Ama has captured my heart, Seg my mind. Hands down, this is the best science fiction I have read in a long while. Can’t wait for the next book!”

  ~Vangie Bergum, author A Child on Her Mind

  “This book is a page-turner … a full throttle adventure, balanced with a clever storyline & an engaging well developed cast of characters. … Not since Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or Hunger Games have I been so expectant for the next book in a series.”

  ~ Lisa Esteb, Goodreads reviewer

  “I was totally captivated by the pace, character reveal, movement of the story and the canter to Kristene's and Joshua's story telling voice. … If you like Sci-Fi… this one is a definite read!”

  ~ Stephen Filby, Amazon reviewer

  “Warpworld is written with astonishing depth; to step inside its pages is to walk its strange lands in realtime and be caught completely in the action. It's total immersion of the heart-pounding variety.”

  ~ Anne DeGrace, author, Flying with Amelia

  “Politics, dystopia, action, mystery, fighting, survival, enemies and blurred lines … so many good things rolled into an extra-large book.”

  ~ Imane Ridouh, The Cherry On Top justsimplynothing.blogspot.ca/

  “If you loved Firefly, you'll love Warpworld!”

  ~ Tia West, Goodreads reviewer

  “The worlds are real, the action breathtaking, the heroes deep and complex. It's our world, way down the line: class, gender, race and imperialist battles for resources remain unresolved, with the stakes higher and battles bloodier. Captain Ama Kalder and Theorist Seg Eraranat become our heroes in their unholy coalition to save the world.”

  ~Rita Moir, author The Third Crop

  “I loved the world building in this book… once there, it was a world I didn't want to leave.”

  ~ Sandra Stiles,The Musings of a Book Addict themusingsofabookaddict.com

  “I’ve read other reviews that compare this book to Stargate, The Hunger Games, even Harry Potter. I’d say… it’s all of those plus a bag of awesomesauce.”

  ~ Melissa L. Ruiz, Every Free Chance book reviews everyfreechance.com

  “After reading this book I only can say ‘What a ride!’”

  ~ Márcio Sousa, Goodreads reviewer

  “The way that Perron and Simpson wove the worlds together was incredible, it was almost like reading two different stories that were woven together but fit perfectly. … I thought I might like it, but how wrong was I! Like isn't a strong enough word, I loved this book!”

  ~ Laura Greenwood, Trips Down Imagination Road

  a-reader-lives-a-thousand-lives.blogspot.co.uk

  “I haven't been so caught by a book since Harry Potter.”

  ~ Robyn Skolbalski, Goodreads reviewer

  “…imaginative and well written, and not quite like anything I've read before.”

  ~ Jenny Quinlan, Let Them Read Books letthemreadbooks.blogspot.ca

  “…never a dull moment. Seg and Ama, Warpworld's two protagonists, are very finely drawn, yet different enough to ensure a constant tension and electricity between them. … Warpworld falls into a genre of literature I don't generally read. Thanks to Perron and Simpson's fine writing however, I may have to reconsider.”

  ~ Brian D’Eon, Goodreads reviewer

  “Perron and Simpson have created a work that is highly readable as it cocoons the reader in a time and space nothing like our own, yet totally believable.”

  ~ Ricki Marking-Camuto, Reading Challenged readingchallenged.blogspot.ca

  “I'm hooked and want more. You will too. You'll see.”

  ~ Faith D. Flaherty, The One True Faith

  theonetruefaith-faith.blogspot.ca

  “A truly original storyline, Warpworld is one of those science-fiction stories that truly engrosses the reader.”

  ~ Lissette E. Manning

  simplistik.org/lissetteemanning

  © Copyright 2013 Kristene Perron & Joshua Simpson

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the authors.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons,

  living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  ISBN: 978-1490499109

  www.warpworld.ca

  JoKri Publishing

  PO Box 478

  Gardendale, Texas 79758

  Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  Joshua

  For my parents

  Kristene

  For Fred

  A WORD ABOUT OUR WORLD

  “When is the next book coming out?”

  This has become both our favourite and most dreaded question. Wasteland Renegades surprised us more than a little. As Josh describes in his acknowledgments, it was indeed a journey of discovery.

  For those who are curious, we have written rough drafts for all five books in the Warpworld series. Rough means exactly that—rough. The final draft of the first book looked virtually nothing like our first set of scribbled pages, and the same can be said of the second book.

  Wasteland Renegades was supposed to be a short, relatively straightforward story about life for Seg and Ama after they crossed through the warp back to Seg’s world. The beauty (and perhaps the danger), of working with a compelling cast of characters, however, is that they will often whisper in your ear, “But don’t you also want to tell them about …” The next thing you know, you have another page, another chapter, another sub-plot, and so on. And as the series continues you’ll see that this is much more than Seg and Ama’s story, even if they are the stars.

  Other detours were very much our own doing. Yes, we write science fiction, with a dash of fantasy and a hint of thriller, but our goal has always been to tell the most realistic stories possible within the fantastic parameters of our worlds. It’s one matter for two people from very different worlds and cultures to fall in love—especially under the kind of super-charged circumstances that surrounded Seg and Ama in the first book—but what would that relationship really look like once the lovers got down to the business of day-to-day life? The answer may surprise you. The story will probably not be what you expected. But if we’ve done our job well, even the strangest parts of our world will feel real.

  Connected to our goal of realism is our love of exploring the grey areas of all our characters and worlds. Black and white is easy but, we think, boring. Just as there are often no entirely good and entirely bad people in real life, the world of
Seg and Ama is one where good people sometimes do bad things, bad people believe they’re doing good things, and the line between right and wrong is sometimes impossible to see. It takes more time to tell this kind of story but everything has a cost, right?

  If this book is your first leap into the Warpworld universe, welcome. We’ve tried to give you enough clues and backstory to help everything make sense. If it still doesn’t make sense, well, we humbly suggest starting with book one—Warpworld.

  For our returning readers, welcome back. You’re going to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones. You’ll find some answers but we’ve also thrown in more questions—we can’t help ourselves.

  Now, it’s time to power up the gate and cross over. Remember, eyes and ears open. Keep watch for dangerous bioforms—plants, bugs, water, even the Storm-cursed dirt. Going extrans is always a risk but we’ll do our best to see you safely to the other side.

  Blood for water.

  Kristene

  The World

  Year 863 of the Well

  Grand Marshal Devian Bendure let her helmet dangle by its strap—rhythmically bumping her thigh as she surveyed the remnants of her forces. Etiphar’s Expeditionary Corps had barely managed to extract the Family Household, and at the cost of three quarters of their troops and riders. She had fewer than two hundred troops left, not counting hastily impressed House employees who were little better than fodder for the guns.

  Legions. House Etiphar had once been able to call upon entire legions of troops. Their forces were among the greatest of the House armies and, with their financial resources, they could quickly augment themselves with a vast armada of independent raider charters. On a war footing, House Etiphar’s devoted troops and resources would have challenged any single opponent on the World.

  But not every opponent on the World.

  A rocky outcropping concealed the survivors of House Etiphar from enemy spotters. The wastelands of the World, however, were not a place of safety. The threat of the Storm was minor—their riders were well equipped with Storm cells—it was the terrain and its inhabitants that gave even the most battle-hardened raider good reason to keep a wary eye on the land, the sky, and even the rock. Everything that lived outside the protection of the cities had evolved to survive in an environment of scarce resources and the scourge of the Storm. Hostile was barely sufficient as a description for the wastelands.

  Danger lurked above, below, and on all sides.

  The rider engines growled in low idle. Even now the remaining forces of House Etiphar had to be ready to evacuate, yet again, if their enemies located them before they were ready to make their final move. Technicians labored to repair damaged equipment. Troops checked their weapons, redistributed their ammunition.

  House Master Urvish Etiphar, the only Person of authority above the Grand Marshal, touched her shoulder lightly. “Will this work?”

  She looked at him, mouth open for a moment as she processed the question. “Yes. Yes it will. Julewa Keep can be fortified. We carried away enough anti-rider weaponry to prevent our enemies from attacking directly. We can hold Julewa until the end of time, House Master.”

  Their enemies, Devian mused, now consisted of nearly the whole of the World’s population.

  “Thank you, Devian. I knew I could count on my people. What about the ones living in the Keep?”

  “Escaped caj and bandits. Julewa’s been abandoned for over two hundred years. Rocks and spit, that’s the worst we face in there.”

  “Carry on then.” A wave of his hand dismissed her, the House Master returned to his family.

  Devian pulled the helmet back onto her head, bucking the strap into place as she turned away to hide her revulsion. It was the House Master’s damned fault they were in this place. Urvis Etiphar knew he could trust his people, but the People knew they couldn’t trust Urvis Etiphar.

  Now every raider unit on the World wanted Etiphar blood.

  She reached a hand to her helmet to activate the comm but hesitated. She knew what was waiting, the cacophony across the comm channels as the remnants of her troops prepared for the assault. The final charge of House Etiphar, most likely, and this one had to succeed. She flipped the small switch and was bombarded with voices.

  The World

  Year 976 of the Well

  Voices. Ama stepped into the warp gate, the temporary passageway between worlds, and was swarmed by voices. Her second crossing to Seg’s world and, just as before, she felt as if she were being pulled, stretched in all directions, her insides twisted, her ears assaulted by voices, distant and desperate. But this time, the voices were getting close, scratching past whatever defenses her mind erected to keep them out. Not thousands, either, but millions. All telling their stories and Ama hearing every one at once.

  Below the noise, she sensed, was peace. She longed to dive down there, to escape the din. But there was something else, something lurking just below that layer of peace. Something monstrous, hungry, ready to devour her.

  I’m trapped, Ama thought, and a knot of panic formed in her stomach.

  The pulling and stretching threatened to tear her skin open. If only she could move—forward to Seg’s world, or back to her own, it didn’t matter which. She strained against the force holding her but her body didn’t budge even a hair’s width. How long had she been here? Hours? Days?

  Then, like a cork freed from a bottle, she burst out through the gate and fell, gasping, to her knees. Her left hand found the floor—smooth, metallic—and sent a stab of pain up into her shoulder. She would have collapsed if it weren’t for her right hand. She looked up to see it still clasped in Seg’s. His eyes, that silvery brown color that reminded her of the winter coat of a volp, were fixed on her with a mixture of concern and puzzlement.

  “How long were we in there?” she said, panting.

  Seg’s eyes narrowed slightly. “A second or two.” He studied her for a moment. “Ama? Is something wrong?”

  She caught her breath then glanced around.

  “I’m fine.” Not wholly a lie, now that she was free of that Nen-cursed warp.

  Ama pushed up from the floor. She could see they were in a decontamination chamber, though this one was big enough to accommodate the metal skyship that had attacked the Secat and carried eighty men to freedom. Shan Welkin, the woman who had piloted the skyship, was making a slow survey of the craft, inspecting for damage.

  But Ama was not interested in Shan. She swung her head to the left, where fifty men, all Kenda like her, took in this new world. Some huddled together, others raised their sefts—long staffs topped with curved blades—ready for a fight. Their voices echoed in the chamber as they muttered among themselves.

  She picked out Viren Hult and, unsurprisingly, he looked merely amused by the scene. Unlike her, he seemed very interested in Shan, as he slapped his friend Prow on the back and pointed toward the skyship.

  Young Tirnich, who had helped Seg and the raider Fismar at the Secat, wandered through the crowd in a daze. His eyes and mouth were agape at the sights around him. But where Tirnich’s expression was one of boyish wonder, the majority of the men looked on with obvious suspicion and fear.

  “It’s a trick!” A former prisoner shouted in the Kenda tongue and raised a hand that was missing the first finger. By his accent, Ama guessed he was a Westie. “Brin spoke nothing of this!”

  The outburst rallied some of the others who protested, raised fists, and banged their sefts against the floor.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Ama saw a crowd of men and women in white suits that covered every inch of their body—the decontamination crew, medicals, guards—waiting against the wall opposite the men. One of the white-suits raised a weapon and stepped forward.

  “I gave you orders!” Seg shouted, teeth clenched at the pain of the effort.

  The white-suit he
sitated, then stepped back.

  Ama walked as quickly as she could, limping slightly, to the crowd of Kenda. “Honor your oaths to Brin! My cousin did not deceive you.” She spoke in the secret language of her people.

  Her reminder calmed the men somewhat, though uncertainty remained firmly on their faces. One of the youngest, a scrawny boy who couldn’t have been more than fifteen, could not move his wide eyes from the waiting decon crew. Ama felt a swell of pity. Seg had brought these men here as part of some plan to change his world and she knew he would protect them, but to his eyes there was nothing to fear in this room.

  As Seg arrived at her side, she whispered and pointed to the white-suits. “The first time I came to your world, I thought they were demons. It was terrifying.”

  He nodded and turned to face the Kenda, then indicated the chamber with his hand. “This is a room for cleansing, to ensure we do not bring sickness from your world to ours and to protect you from any potential poisons. Those are men and women. They wear special protective clothing, that is all.”

  At Seg’s explanation, men lowered their sefts. Hostility was replaced by a natural wariness, and they began to look less like a pack of cornered animals. In contrast, the white-suits, held in place by Seg’s orders, muttered more loudly and looked through their visors at Seg with growing unease and contempt.

  “Get to the part about the women and the drink!” Viren shouted to Seg. The chamber echoed with Kenda laughter.

  Seg scowled but did not respond. Ama stifled a smile. If it had come from any other man, Seg might have laughed as well, but Viren had gotten under his skin from their first meeting, when he and his partner, Prow, had attempted to drug and rob him.

  Ama regarded the Kenda more closely, now that the alarm had diminished. They were not precisely the band of warriors Seg or Brin had hoped for.

  There was a small contingent who had fought at the Alisir temple with Seg’s people and, later, helped storm the Secat to free the Kenda prisoners there. These men sported bandaged limbs, their clothes were torn and bloodied, and dark circles ringed sleepless eyes. Yet, no matter how fatigued and wounded they were, a good meal, a visit from a healer, and a full night’s sleep would soon set these men right.