By Frank Kennedy

  c. 2021 by Frank Kennedy

  All rights reserved

  To my amazing readers:

  The stories contained within represent a prelude to the series, Beyond the Impossible, which begins with The Simmering Seas.

  Every reader is valuable, and I’d love for you to become part of my literary family. Go to www.frankkennedy.org and sign up for my newsletter, which wil provide an opportunity to receive free additional material and updates on my next release. Additional y,

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  Frank Kennedy 2

  Table of Contents

  THOSE LEFT BEHIND

  KARA SYUNG

  The Bul abast Tree

  To Be a Kohlna

  Fallen of the Gentry

  RYLLEN JEE

  Idiot of The Lagos

  The Idiot’s Mother

  Death of the Idiot

  TIMELINE

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  THOSE LEFT BEHIND

  The Chancel ors ruled humanity for 3000 years. They dominated Earth long before space travel. In time, they led exploration across the solar system and beyond. They discovered thirty-nine habitable worlds that would eventual y become colonies of their empire, the Collectorate. The Chancel or caste, supported by its invincible army, the Unification Guard, claimed Earth for itself. They cleansed Earth of al races and ethnicities but their own, migrating them to the colonies.

  They granted these colony worlds sovereignty with conditions. The Chancel ors received a percentage of revenue from each world’s most valuable natural resources. In exchange, the Chancel ory stationed Ark Carriers – massive city-ships – in orbit. The Carriers housed battalions of Guard soldiers, who were charged with silencing al violence conflict on the colonies.

  Stability was maintained. Al iances were forged. Interstel ar commerce flourished. But the Collectorate, which was careful y constructed over centuries, fel in a matter of months.

  In Standard Year 5358, the colonies became sovereign in every way.

  For many, this was long overdue liberation. For others, shock and dismay. They looked inward, stunned at the notion of charting their own destiny. Economies destabilized. Some races sought new al iances to fil the vacuum of power and restore interplanetary trade.

  On the ringed planet Hokkaido, population 2.1 bil ion, a tenuous peace is threatened by new ideologies, food shortages, clashes between the rich and poor, and a threat potential y deadlier than any Unification Guard battalion.

  The map to a new and dangerous future is about to be drawn. Its origin? The island chain known as The Lagos. The early lives of two notable residents of The Lagos are related herein.

  Frank Kennedy 4

  KARA SYUNG

  Songs were written about her deeds, but primarily in association with her role during the War of Nine. For during those years, she received her greatest fame – and infamy, some might say. As one would expect, her own people viewed Kara through a different lens than of -worlders. Regardless of ethnic or political divisions, her life beginning in SY 5365 is wel -documented. Resource bytes are available in the central stream archives of most worlds –

  especial y those involved in the war. Therefore, I wil not rehash these tales.

  Rather, I set my interest on her formative years. When we study historical figures of note, we often overlook the factors that shaped them long before the world paid them proper due. My investigation into the pre-War life of Kara Syung took me to a place I knew little of: The island system known on Hokkaido as The Lagos. I unearthed stories of a unique culture struggling to maintain its identity after the fal of the Col ectorate. I also found that Kara was more complex than I imagined.

  The fol owing stories are loosely based upon my research and extensive interviews of survivors.

  - Dr. Orson Baatch, SY 5430

  1

  The Bullabast Tree

  Standard Year 5357

  ARA SYUNG BECAME A GYMNAST when she climbed K bullabast trees. She braved their unpredictable twists and knots. She swung upon and flipped over the foot-wide fingers that bent jagged to simulate an elderly hand unable to close a fist. She leaped between trunks and dangled from the narrowest branches. At the end of her exercises, she reached the clusters, where misshapen and spindly green fruit hung.

  She peeled off the slender shell of a bulla and tore into its pink, sugar-sweet flesh. The juice made a mess as it streamed down her chin.

  She wasn’t supposed to be here. Much too dangerous, her parents said. The family estate had more than enough drone harvesters to retrieve the elusive fruit. What they failed to understand was that Kara

  did not climb the bul abast to capture fruit. She sought out the clusters because the giant leaves above the bul as – each thick as rubber but as soft as leather – formed a treehouse of sorts.

  A perfect cubby inside which she could disappear.

  The estate’s largest tree – the focal point of the west garden –

  towered over the gazebo where the Syung-Low clan hosted frequent revelries. They also used it as a convocation for their business partners, many of them Hokkaido’s greatest seamasters. For those gatherings, young ones such as Kara were forbidden. At least, that appeared to be the rule. Kara noticed a disturbing trend: Her slightly older brothers, Lang and Dae, joined with increasing frequency.

  She made a point of climbing the tree an hour before the business guests arrived, having dismissed her personal staff on the excuse of visiting her best friend, Chi-Qua Baek, at the neighboring estate.

  Kara learned how to manipulate the torso-sized leaves to al ow her a sneak peek upon the gazebo. The amp bead in her left ear magnified the audio.

  Many guests were repeat visitors, often executives from the planet’s leading seamaster corporations – Nantou Global and Hotai Counsel – both based here on the island-city of Pinchon. From time to time, however, trade negotiators and competitors from the continent came bearing gifts and a subservient tone, not unlike what Kara heard from the estate staff. They spoke of environmental and political chal enges unlike anything present on Pinchon, al uding to problems that seemed alien. Kara heard stories about the hardships on many other colonies of the Collectorate, but her schooling suggested the two bil ion residents of Hokkaido lived as grand an existence as any outside the empire’s home world, Earth.

  The prices for Kohlna fish were rising too rapidly, the negotiators told her parents. Many of the poorest Hokkis in megacities such as Puratoon, Senjo, and New Seoul struggled to afford enough Kohlna meal to feed their families. Her parents thought these claims to be ridiculous, insisting the supply of Kohlna was infinite, and processors moved at the fastest pace in history.

  “Who are we to feed the entire world?” Her father asked. “You can farm twenty percent of the continent. It’s not our fault if your

  agricultural policies are inefficient and antiquated.”

  Every time Kara’s father made this claim, the negotiators responded with the same but.

  “But Honorable Syung, you know our problem does not lie with our policies. The land is in decline. You have seen the reports. And the domed hydro-gardens do not produce at a rate to meet population growth.”

  Kara’s father, the Honorable Perr Syung, No. 2 Executive at Nantou and political liaison with the continent, spoke with a stern countenance while his wife, Li-Ann, sat in silence at his side with a dutiful half-smile.

  “This problem,” Perr Syung said, “has been building for too long, and the solution remains simple. Only the obstinance of clans like yours stand in the way of progress.” He pointed to the sky. “They have the answers. Almost certainly wil ing to help, if you Freelanders would swal ow your pride and ask for assistance.”

  Her father’s words cut deep. The man he insulted bowed his head.

  Was it the reference to the Chancel ors? Was it a reminder of the schism between Hokkis that deepened with each generation? Either way, the dialogue might only deteriorate from here. This was not the first time Kara witnessed such a turn.

  Perr invoked the Chancel ors, who orbited Hokkaido in great city-ships cal ed Ark Carriers. These ships, each of them miles-long, parked themselves above the planet centuries ago, shortly after colonization, and never left. Dozens of generations of Chancellors lived and died aboard the Carriers, but most rarely ventured to the surface. They were the ruling caste – wealthier, tal er, with longer lives and invincible military – and they made sure the Hokkis never forgot. They also possessed supreme technological artistry, always wil ing to dispense their knowledge for a price.

  The Freelanders, however, turned inward as colonization from Earth became little more than an asterisk in history. We cannot rebel against the Chancel ory, they argued, but we can forge our own way without their guiding hand. We wil be like our ancestors, who once dominated Earth’s Korean Peninsula, and forge a culture based on harmony with the land. Although many Modernists dismissed these ideas and even claimed the original Koreans were rapacious industrialists, the schism

  deepened. The continent developed a Freelander mentality, while The Lagos and other nations of the Greater Oceania saw the relationship with the Chancel ory for its true benefits.

  “We have contracts with the Carrier fleet,” Perr Syung told the continental negotiator, “as wel as distribution to five other colonies.

  We have committed our supply lines to four bil ion customers. Our profits benefit al Hokkaido. If we real ocate product to Hokkis,
wealth wil be diminished, as wil our reputation among our clients.

  I suggest agro-production wil accelerate if you bring Chancel or science teams into the equation.”

  The negotiator expressed his disgust at the notion but also pointed out what everyone under the gazebo understood al too wel . Hokkaido’s true wealth did not lie in fish and its many ancil ary products; rather, the greatest profits orbited the planet in quadril ions of rocks, large and smal . For centuries, the Chancel ors exploited the acenomite mining operations in the Kye-Do rings, taking increasingly larger percentages of the profits in exchange for providing help from their military, the Unification Guard, when cal ed upon. The deal was similar to most of the thirty-nine colonies: Mineral rights were shared, and the Chancel ors provided free law enforcement at the end of Mark 10 blast rifles.

  “If they see the Hokki people as desperate,” the negotiator said,

  “the Chancel ors wil always consider us children. Even if they lose interest in acenomite, they wil not leave us alone. They have dominated the human race for three thousand years. Nothing angers a Chancel or more than to see arrogant indigos try to survive on their own. Why can the Hokki people not work together to build wealth and prosperity without Chancel or intervention?”

  “If we were capable,” Perr said, “we would have done so centuries before now.”

  It was his last word on the matter, but Perr did not leave the negotiator without some hope. Using a wel -honed technique, Perr promised to appeal to the boards of Nantou and Hotai to plateau price increases for the next six months and increase production of Kohlna meal by two percent. He assured the visitor this would be achieved with patience and discipline.

  Kara saw the twinkle in her father’s eyes: He wasn’t making a concession. The offset in profits would be recovered another way. She wondered which clients would feel the next gut punch.

  Sometimes, ten-year-old Kara lingered in the bul abast tree to contemplate what she heard, deciding which of her many questions might be answered when she confronted her brothers later on. Lang and Dae, twelve and thirteen years old, resented her queries, suggesting she was too young to understand complicated matters of the seamasters. Besides, they argued, she’d never stand on the executive board of Nantou when she grew up, so what concern were these issues to her? Leave the future to us, they said.

  Only years later did Kara resent their condescension. She also knew much more history and held a firmer grasp of the economics and delicate politics involved. More important, perhaps, she began to appreciate the Freelanders’ ideology as her own interest in the land and environment expanded. She set her sights on a firm role inside Nantou, but not in the business sector.

  Three weeks before she turned sixteen in Standard Year 5357, Kara announced over breakfast her life objective: To join Nantou’s Bioresearch and Engineering Division. Perr and Li-Ann shaded suspicious glances, while Lang and Dae rolled their eyes.

  “Is this what you think of me?” Kara said to a silent table. She focused her glare on her brothers. “Nantou is our family legacy. Why is my ambition any less acceptable than yours?”

  Lang pretended to stab himself in the heart then laughed.

  “No one said you couldn’t work for Nantou, but everybody knows you’re best suited for the marketing division.”

  “We do?” Dae asked with a touch of snark.

  “Enough,” their father said. He took a slow drink from a tal glass of infused mango juice. “Kara, you have never expressed these interests before today. In addition, you placed midway through the first tier on the Science Regimens. Do you realize the alchemy required by al those employed within BRED?”

  Here we go, she thought. Time for the family bubblehead to lower her expectations.

  “What I know, Honorable Father, is the importance of working to

  ensure a better tomorrow for our world. This is the stated mission of BRED. As for my test results, are you as wel -versed in Lang’s Linguistic Appropriations scores? Or Dae’s Integrated Mathematics Regimen? If not, I’m sure they’d be wil ing to shine some light on their mediocrity.”

  She spotted her mother’s silent applause when Li-Ann raised her napkin to her lips to conceal an obvious smile of satisfaction.

  “Enough, Daughter,” Perr said. “I used the Regimens as an example of a larger trendline. You lack the overal discipline for such work. And for the record, I have already voiced my considerable displeasure to your brothers for their disgraceful outcomes.

  However, those skil sets wil not be essential to their success at Nantou. They wil not become accountants or analysts. They wil be training for corporate leadership. You, on the other hand, have time to reconsider your options. I suggest you put aside these notions.”

  After breakfast, her father and brothers left the estate in the corporate Scram, joining the UpWay en route from the exclusive Haansu District to the city center. Li-Ann visited Kara in her daughter’s bedroom an hour later, sending away staff. She joined Kara on the balcony and grabbed her daughter’s hand.

  “Do not listen to them,” her mother said. “They are testing you, Kara. Of course, they want you to succeed at Nantou.”

  “So long as no one confuses me with the true heirs to the Syung-Low dynasty. Right, Mother?”

  The grip tightened. “Why must you always be so sarcastic? Our family is old and revered. Are we to apologize for our extended good fortune? Kara, the men in your family simply want to make sure you have the necessary fortitude. Nantou’s competitors are fierce, and they extend beyond Hotai. The pressure to remain at the forefront of Hokki society can be withering. For now, rest your ambitions.

  They’l have time enough to stir. Your Festival of Years is only three weeks away. You’ve done little planning beyond reserving the beach. Cal Chi-Qua and bring in the staff. You wil only turn sixteen this one time. Enjoy it, Daughter.”

  Of course, Mother. I’l plan my birthday party. Something to keep me busy.

  Birthdays meant little to Kara. It came down to simple math. One day, she is fifteen years and four hundred nineteen days old. The next day, she is fifteen years and four hundred twenty days old. Except the second day is treated with great reverence, as if her ability to continue breathing into a “new year” should be regaled. Birth was little more than biological hodgepodge – sometimes based on meaningful planning but most often an accidental tweak drawn from reckless carnal needs. And there was, in Kara’s judgment, far too much recklessness on Hokkaido.

  Food shortages were growing, immigration policies tightening, and the wealth divide expanding. Few talked about these matters in The Lagos, perhaps because the continent was two thousand kilometers and many nightmares away. Rumors of environmental concerns extended beyond the decreasing arable land on the continent.

  Regardless, the birth rate worldwide continued apace.

  “We’l pay for this one day,” she told incredulous classmates during a heated debate at the exclusive Vox School for Girls.

  For now, what was left but to obey Mother and ignore Father’s condescension? Kara gathered Chi-Qua and her personal staff and planned the best Festival of Years ever seen in the Haansu District.

  Three weeks later, giant tents lined the beach, their silk canvases bil owing in a gentle ocean breeze. Lanterns designed in the ancient construct dotted the sand. The sun was setting to the east and the Kye-Do rings were rising from the west. High above, the moon Huryo shined in crescent mode.

  Every family worth its salt made certain to pay homage, sending at least one representative – regardless of whether they were invited.

  Most of her classmates attended (primarily the ones she could stomach for five minutes). Her parents were al owed to invite whomever they desired from the community of seamasters, which is why an inordinate number of Nantou executives and mid-level managers unknown to Kara spent the greatest time trolling the food lines.