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Overview
The two geniuses, Sivad and Chorn, are creative in their thinking and known to be more mischievous than the acceptable societal standards of conformity and process.
On their first assignment, Sivad and Chorn are sent on a simple information gathering mission to a remote space port, when they divert from their flight path to view the Blue Planet. They collide with a piece of space debris called "Voyager I."
As they continue on their mission, little do they know that this piece of debris originated from the Blue Planet and it contains a key piece of basic technology that the rest of the galaxy desperately needs to jump a technological hurdle. The adventures begin when the technology falls into the wrong hands which could, ultimately, force a shift in power within the galaxy.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781426920066 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Trafford Publishing |
| Publication date: | 02/08/2010 |
| Pages: | 316 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.88(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Sivad & Chorn
The Adventures BeginBy Steven J. Davis
Trafford Publishing
Copyright © 2010 Steven J DavisAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4269-2005-9
Chapter One
The Adventures Begin
Sivad, a twelve-year-old Akanian boy, lying on his back in his well-organized room, bounces an oblong ball off the wall, with a ruler stretched out next to him. He looks up at the star systems he has drawn out on his ceiling and mumbles to himself,
"There are constants in our universe- planets are round, elements that make up life are identical, all species breathe some variety of oxygen, and evolution requires chaos."
He swiftly tosses the ball into the air, catches it, and then bounces it off the wall again. As the ball lands, he excitedly rolls over to measure the distance then springs up to jump on the bed. While continuing to jump, he writes a mathematical equation on the wall for the velocity, force, and energy projected from the ball and impact. He lies down on the bed again and starts the sequence over.
Suddenly, a voice yells from outside the bedroom door and down the hall,
"Sivad! If you could only stay out of trouble for two minutes, you could be something someday. I have no idea what, but you could be something! Now get your Akanian butt down here, RIGHT NOW!"
Sivad turns and looks at the door with wide-open eyes, saying,
"OOPS! The Ferbos!, mom found the Ferbos."
Sivad runs out the door and down the stairs to the food preparation area, or FPA, where his mother is looking up at the ceiling, with a broom in her hand, trying to knock fifteen small, furry creatures off the ceiling.
"Mom, stop! You don't want to hurt them."
"Sivad, what are you trying to accomplish here? You and your experiments! What kind of experiment is this one? To see how high I jump in fear when I see these horrible creatures on my ceiling?"
In a relaxed voice, Sivad replies, "No, Mom, I was just seeing how long they would stick and slide around with the Teflon glue. Besides, they're cute," he says as they watched the Ferbos glide around across the ceiling.
"Well, get them down and get ready for school. You're already running late."
"The compound will wear off in approximately thirty minutes or so, and they'll just fall down, unless they figure out how to pick up both their feet at the same time. And I still have two minutes before I need to go to the school transport," Sivad says to his mother with a mischievous smile.
"They'll just fall down when they're ready? Then what? I'll have these ratty things sliding across the floor? The sticking compound may wear off shortly, but the Teflon does not. What am I supposed to do with them then?" she asks with a smile, almost proud that Sivad had the ingenuity to conduct the experiment.
Sivad shrugs his shoulders as his mom says, "Now go get ready for school."
Sivad tears off, running up the stairs to get out of the situation and stay on time.
"That boy. I don't know where he gets all that energy. If we could only habituate him to think farther ahead, then he would only get into HALF the trouble he gets into now," Sivad's mom says to herself as she watches the boy run out of the FPA. She could hear him thumping above her as he changed and prepared for school.
She turns and grabs Sivad's lunch in anticipation of him stampeding through the door and off to school. As expected, the FPA door opens, and Sivad runs through no more than thirty seconds after the scolding. He casually catches one of the dropping Ferbos behind his back as his mom turns to hand off his lunch bag.
"Got to go! Uh, here you are." Sivad gives the Ferbo to his mother as he grabs his lunch bag from her other hand.
"Yuck! What if it excretes? You're cleaning it up after athletics tonight," his mother says as he runs out the door and down the street.
"Okay, see you!" Sivad's voice fades away.
His mother is left standing in the doorway, smiling, then she looks down at the Ferbo in her hand.
"Aaaeeeah!" she says as she quickly tosses it into the FPA sink, where it continued to slide around.
* * *
A few blocks away, an alarm clock sounds. A tired, lazy arm reaches up from under the covers to grab the clock and, with one brisk movement, throws it across the messy room against the wall. It lands next to a pile of mechanical parts spread out across the floor. Also on the floor, small rustic robots are moving and hopping about, serving no apparent purpose other than to move.
Two eyes pop out from under the covers to see the door crack open and a little Akanian girl, about three years old, enter. She picks up a small hammer-shaped robot as the covers are tightly pulled back over the peeping eyes with a groaning sound.
"5 MORE MINUTES, COME-ON"
The young girl walks over to the bed and proceeds to beat the covered Akanian boy with the toy hammer-shaped robot as it moves in her hands.
"Hey, stop it!" a voice says as a figure pops up from under the covers.
"Chorn, stop picking on your sister!" a voice cries out from the hallway.
Chorn looks at the built-in clock on the hammer robot and jumps up. "Shoot! I'm late!" he cries as he trips over some robots on his floor and hops over to the hanger, throws on his pants, and runs out the door within a few seconds of waking.
Chorn runs through the FPA, past his mother, stops, runs back, and grabs his lunch bag and heads for the door. "Bye! I'm late! I'm late!" Chorn yells as he spins quickly and bounces off the screen door, which needed to be pulled instead of pushed. As he springs back, still holding the door handle, he gracefully pulls the door on his recoil and charismatically spins, heading out.
"Look out for-" his mom begins to yell when she hears a clattering sound outside.
"CRASH@%$!"
Chorn lies on the ground, a tipped-over can next to him and garbage all around. He gets up in a bit of a tiff, looking back at his smiling mother and little sister as they hold back their laughter. He looks down, quickly grabs a bag, and takes off with a grunt heading down the road.
Chorn's mother walks out and picks up the lunch bag she made for him. "He'll be surprised to see that his lunch isn't what he expects it to be. That's what he deserves for not getting up earlier and not taking out the garbage, among his other chores." She sighs and smiles.
"I guess we're going to the school AGAIN just before lunch to deliver this. Do you want to go for a ride?" Chorn's mother says to the little girl, and the girl jumps in excitement.
* * *
That morning in the classroom, Sivad and Chorn sit a few seats apart, looking bored as the instructor speaks about twenty million years of Akanian physiology:
"The planet, Akan, is large and dense, and its five moons cause heavy gravitational forces. Our relatively close proximity to the sun, mixed with the dense gravitational fields of our five moons, causes high humidity and many shaded times. The high humidity, mixed with the temperature, causes moisture to rise up from the surface and condense in the atmosphere. The shaded times keep the moisture low to the ground. This has caused our bodies to adapt to the environment with our strength, larger eyes, hairless skin ..." Blah, blah, blah.
As the instructor speaks, Sivad takes his magnetic pencil cover and flicks it off the corner of his computerized, interactive writing board, bouncing it off Chorn's head. Chorn, who is diligently looking forward and trying to listen, growls and waves his hand for Sivad to stop messing around.
Sivad, seeing that Chorn is annoyed, smiles and finds a small clip, flicks it at Chorn, and bounces it off his head once more. The other students turn to look at Sivad being mischievous and are also annoyed, as conformity and discipline are societal practices of Akanian culture.
Chorn looks over at Sivad and says in a harsh whisper, clenching his teeth, "Stop it! You're going to get us in trouble!"
The professor turns and declares, "Chorn! Disruption is unacceptable. Discipline and conformity are not only rules, but also practices for optimal educational performance. Please write on your interactive board how and why Akanians became the first species to travel the galaxy."
"Yes, sir," Chorn says while smiling at the professor and giving Sivad an evil eye.
The disrupted class looks back at Sivad, whose head is hung low, as he just got his friend in trouble.
The professor, seeing this, looks at Sivad with a glare. "Sivad, you are always getting yourself and Chorn into some kind of trouble. The two of you having perfect grades does not excuse disruption. I want you to write, one, what you expect you will be able to do in the future if you do not maintain the conformist values; two, what will happen to our society if we do not have discipline and harmony; and three, what will be the impact to our efficiency levels? You two will never reach a level of intellectual insight unless you have discipline and focus."
"Yes, sir," Sivad says as he begins to write on his interactive board.
First Mission
After ten years of study and training Sivad and Chorn prepare their shuttle to take off from their home planet of Akan. They have been chosen to embark on a special mission to the other side of the galaxy. This mission is usually known to be given to more experienced travelers with a strong sense of process and intercultural relations. Why they were chosen over the more senior travelers never entered their minds. Their confidence and the excitement for their first adventure overshadowed the uniqueness of the voyage.
Akan is known for its dense jungle forests and high humidity. It is a tropical planet where the standard temperatures run between 90 to 120 degrees, with humidity levels at 80 to 90 percent during non shadow times. Blocked by five large moons, much of Akan is under shadow and is often dark. During Shadow times the temperatures can drop down to as low as 30 degrees; In turn, they have extreme high and low temperatures throughout the day. When the sun does shine on the planet, it charges ionic partials in the mist, helping the Akanians absorb electrolytes that augment their neuron dendrite development, allowing them to learn faster than most species.
Because the planet has five moons, there exists an uncommon dense gravitational force, making the Akanians 1.5 meters tall on average and very strong. The Akanians have developed high durability to external environmental changes. The Akanians are a peaceful race, relying on logic, objectivity, and efficiency more than emotion. They very rarely act out of anger or spite and are generally happy and supportive of each other. Akanians reached their technological peek along with the rest of the galaxy over three thousand years ago. Operations are as efficient as ever, but due to the lack of technical growth, there exists the constant question of "what is next. Is the best we can be? What about all the questions we couldn't answer?" Spiritual cognition and exploration of the inner mind is one of the main areas of study. It is believed that the Akanians were the first species to evolve in the galaxy and the first to travel through space with their first rocket launch over five thousand years ago. Because Akan is located in a remote solar system on the outer belt of the galaxy, the planet is far away from neighboring systems; thus Akanians are more isolated and self-sufficient than most other species. They tend to have their own technologies and are known as the most evolved and advanced species in the galaxy. Most systems do not have many interactions with Akan because of its remote location and solitary society. Akanians are not seen traveling very often, unlike other species that have roamed, colonized, and settled across the galaxy. When Akanians are seen roaming the galaxy, they usually have a specific goal in mind and ostracize everything around them, making others curious about their mission's purpose.
As Sivad and Chorn ascend from their planet on what appears to be a simple mission dedicated to information collection, their destination, the Miniloc Moon Exchange Port (or Miniloc MEP City), located on a remote desert moon across the galaxy.
On the surface, their mission is to explore the progress of the old moon space station used as a trading post for the more nefarious of species to conduct their gray market trade. The gray market trade is known for its questionable morality and product- and service-exchange protocols. Most often, the traders and buyers don't want to be known for selling or buying certain questionable items.
From the beginning, their mission was basic in design and, for Akanians, oddly ambiguous. Akanians are usually very detail oriented. This mission's structure, goals, and design have been brief, as if the original writer wrote it to be vague on purpose. And with Sivad and Chorn as the data-collection designates, mean anything could happen.
The Akanian senior chancellor and one of his executives watch from a high terrace just above the forest's tree-covered hood as Sivad and Chorn's shuttle prepares for departure.
Because of the spiritual cognition beliefs and inner-mind exploration of his people, the senior chancellor suspects that there is a higher reason for the selection of these two specific Akanians. He also knows that the mission could very well be of no great importance and that there are a million variables that could go wrong because of an ambiguous mission scope.
The senior chancellor's executive advisor, however, does not share the same optimism and does not believe Sivad and Chorn are the right Akanians to go on this journey. He speaks up, saying, "Sir, do you believe that Sivad and Chorn are the right Akanians to send on this mission? They have not ventured out before and still have minimal experience. And, their behavior is , well ... peculiar. Sending them to Miniloc Exchange Port is irregular, even for a simple mission as this, and could be dangerous. We Akanians do not travel that far very often. It has been over fifty years since our last visit."
In a slow, calm-toned voice, the senior chancellor replies with dignity and confidence in his decision to send the two. "The choices we make not only determine the outcome but also how events may begin, and the chain of events that follow. Because of their 'peculiar? attitudes, they may have the best chance of succeeding." The Chancellor continues, "I have been watching them and believe that Sivad and Chorn will soon realize that the current mission and objectives, for a simple task of information gathering, are not congruent with the requirements of what must be done."
The senior chancellor looks out toward the jungle interior and takes a deep breath, feeling the air around him, and continues, "I understand your concern. Sivad and Chorn are a bit odd for our species. Compared to other Akanians, they possess a slightly higher IQ, which is strange since they were both raised in the same controlled Akanian educational environment. It is this slightly abnormal IQ that is believed to be the explanation for their odd inventions and operational tactics.
"Some believe that they do not take anything seriously and are daydreaming goofballs; I have seen this at times as well. Others have told me that they believe their mischievousness is due to our over-controlled environment; thus nature is taking back a piece of what is hers; I do not believe that this is the case. The elite, however, are the majority, and they think that they have developed the personalities through their strong friendship, making their creativity more clever. In turn, they have the potential to somehow change the constants," he pauses, "out there." He turns to walk back indoors, stops, and looks at his executive advisor, saying,
"They seek adventure whereas we seek conformity."
The executive looks at the rising shuttle launching to the sky and says under his breath, "This will be interesting," gives a small laugh, and follows the senior chancellor.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Sivad & Chorn by Steven J. Davis Copyright © 2010 by Steven J Davis. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
1. Sivad & Chorn: The Adventures Begin....................12. Sivad & Chorn: First Mission....................11
3. Sivad & Chorn: Just Trying to Get There....................16
4. Sivad & Chorn: The Improbable-Out of Control....................19
5. Sivad & Chorn: Miniloc MEP City Adventure....................28
6. Sivad & Chorn: Ask the Clark....................36
7. Sivad & Chorn: Ganda Exploits....................42
8. Sivad & Chorn: Gen Planet Excursion....................64
9. Sivad & Chorn: Gen Village....................93
10. Sivad & Chorn: Trouble Brewing....................106
11. Sivad & Chorn: Dawn of a New Day....................124
12. Sivad & Chorn: Colony's Trek....................139
13. Sivad & Chorn: Colony Station....................145
14. Sivad & Chorn: Systems Ready....................167
15. Sivad & Chorn: Ganda Reunion....................186
16. Sivad & Chorn: Crash Landing....................196
17. Sivad & Chorn: Incarceration....................223
18. Sivad & Chorn: Royal Court....................232
19. Sivad & Chorn: Calvary Charge....................245
20. Sivad & Chorn: Carpe Diem....................267
21. Sivad & Chorn: Galleon's Flight....................272
22. Sivad & Chorn: Last Man Standing....................278
23. Sivad & Chorn: Feasting Time....................299
24. Sivad & Chorn: NASA....................303