Aurora Springer's Novels: Weird Science - SFRB Summer Cafe

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My post for Weird Science is about the world of Grand Master’s Pawn

The young empath Violet Hunter becomes the pawn of a Grand Master. Her story switches from Terra to diverse planets reached through the portal web. The staple foods on Terra are algae bars from Mars and krill cakes from aquafarms on Europa. Wealthier people can enjoy many familiar foods teleported from agricultural planets that were terraformed and colonized by humans. Mostly, Violet lives on nutrient bars when she travels on her missions. The dragon’s food was not very palatable and she tried native tubers and grubs prepared by the Gray Folk on Cinerea.

Chicken Recipe for Main Course

This meal can be prepared in an iron pot over an open fire or on a stove heated by a fuel cell. The ingredients are readily available on the majority of terraformed planets colonized by humans.Simple and delicious!

Ingredients: chicken pieces (skinned), one onion, one apple, one stick of celery, a cup of stock and a cup of cider (hard), oil, flour.

1. Drench chicken with flour and brown in oil.

2. Dice onion, apple and celery and saute until soft.

3. Throw everything into a pot with the liquids, cook for 1 hour and season to taste.

Recipe to become a Grand Master

The twelve Grand Masters claim to have the greatest psychic powers in the galaxy. To achieve that status involves:

1. Inherit the potential for psi talent.

2. Learn to control and strengthen your talent. (Training has been prohibited for the past 20 years.)

3. Survive an initiation ordeal. (Horrible and painful, but the details are secret.)

4. Implant one or more enhancers to amplify aspects of psi power. (Optional and probably painful.)
Remember to shield your power near ordinary people to avoid knocking them unconscious or killing them.

Grand Master’s Pawn

Who are the most powerful entities in the galaxy?

The twelve Grand Masters claim that exalted status. Their psychic power is deadly to an ordinary person and they prohibit the training of new psychics.

Twenty-two year old Violet Hunter dreams of exploring unknown planets. One Grand Master selected her as his pawn, unaware of her hidden talent. Violet sees only the griffin avatar for instructions on her missions to exotic planets. She discovers the mysterious Grand Masters are not the benevolent leaders she had believed. They are suspects in the deadly epidemics sweeping the galaxy and the new problem of breaks in the interplanetary portal web.

Violet hunts for the culprits, finding clues and strange allies in her missions as a pawn. While seeking the truth, Violet does the unthinkable. She risks her secret to bargain with her obnoxious Grand Master and enters a world of vicious conflicts. Pursued by hostile aliens and Grand Masters, they must learn to combine their talents to survive their enemies.

In this excerpt, her Grand Master has brought her to his castle to avoid his enemy. They share a mental link due to a lucky accident. He is very happy she is not knocked out on exposure to his full power.

Excerpt

Violet tilted her head and gazed into the blue glow of his eyes. Her voice acquired a plaintive note, “Do you have any food in your castle? We’ve run and climbed all day. I’m starving and need to eat, even if my Grand Master doesn’t require food.”

“Yes, my hungry pawn, what do you wish to eat?” His silent laughter rippled in her mind.

Her eyes twinkled merrily, and she said, “Bread and wine and thou!” His lips met hers and the flame of desire warred with the growl of her empty stomach. “Food first,” she insisted, pushing him away gently.

“Your wish is my command, delightful pawn!”

“Oh, a joke,” she quipped. “I like you even better!”

“Come!” he took her hand and led her to a seat by the low table. A loaf of bread and round of cheese were on a platter. A wine bottle appeared in one of his hands, and two glasses in the other. “We’ll celebrate,” he proposed. The cork popped out at a touch of his fingers and he poured the ruby hued wine.

Violet munched steadily through the food. “The bread is warm. Where did you get freshly baked bread?” she asked with her usual curiosity.

“From the kitchen,” he said with a twitch of his lips. “I did not create it from air.”

She frowned, “Who baked it?”

“We were lucky. Zoe had made a fresh batch of loaves. Now they will know I’m home.”

“Are they your servants, Athanor?” She was interested to learn how he lived.

“I prefer to call them caretakers. Jamail Jackson and his wife Zoe live in my castle. Jamail was my pawn for several years until he suffered a debilitating injury.”

“I’d like to meet them. Will they be surprised to see me?”

He smoothed her hair and his eyes sparked. “Visitors are rare. They’ll be astonished to see a lovely young woman as my guest.”

A strident buzz interrupted and Athanor stiffened. “Blast Odin’s eye, why can’t they leave me in peace?” Removing his arm from her shoulder, he tapped his wrist bracer and scanned the display. His brows compressed into a thick black line.

Violet realized the leather bracer contained a com. “What is it?” she said, wondering who would dare to call a Grand Master.

Athanor snarled, “The Chairman has convened an emergency meeting of the Council this evening.”

The icy stream of his wariness rolled through her, and she gasped, “What emergency?”

He grimaced, “No reason was given.”