Soul Horizon

Soul Horizon:
A Space Opera Novella

Everyone has secrets, some secrets haunt you, some secrets can get you killed, and some secrets are far more dangerous…

Terras
The Port had a name but it was of no importance or meaning to Terras. He was an alien in this place. Hironi. A hunted creature driven to ground and last resort. On this ship which lay as helplessly caught as he, cradling him in its ruined body. Bitterly cold in its death throes. The stale air had the stink of his own fear and for a moment it threatened to suffocate him.
His hand slid greasily on the weapon. He could die sooner than of starvation. And wondered bitterly if that was not a mercy. Others had come. Come to steal. Come to kill. And now another hunter came…

Quell
Quell was a ship’s Speaker, dumped in the wrong Port at the wrong time, broke and unshipped. Even worse than that the Port had a problem and Quell was elected to solve it – get an exiled Hironi out of the Port, on a ship that was barely more than a derelict. A ship no other Speaker had been able to work.

Now Quell and Terras are both out of options and running for their lives, on a ship with secrets of its own, keeping one step ahead of their enemies, trying to stay alive – and trying not to kill each other.
Be careful where you voyage… you cannot always find your way home.

Soul Horizon is a short space opera novelette of around 14,000 words. It originally appeared in a slightly altered form in the Alien Shores anthology from Aphelion Publications.

Reviews
Blue Tyson’s Guide to Science Fiction: Soul Horizon 4 out of 5 stars.
Carole Nomarhas’s “Soul Horizon” is a piece of space opera which has a rich and detailed background, and is presumably part of a series of shared universe stories, or at least I hope so… Thoughtful and exciting, with sharp dialogue and some original hyperspace theories.
Martin Livings, Fresh Ink, Eidolon Magazine
“Soul Horizon,” a skilfully written story of far-future space intrigue.
Robert K.J. Killheffer, Review of Alien Shores Anthology, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction