Stellar

This day, 25 April, is the anniversary of the Gallipoli landing in 1915. My great-grandfathers and grandfathers fought in both wars; at Gallipoli, on the Western Front, in the Battle of Britain, and in the Pacific theatre. They returned home, but many of their comrades did not. Thousands of New Zealanders and our Australian cousins gave their lives in service of the Allies. On this day, we remember them and honour the sacrifice they made. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.

Congratulations Thorn!

It bothers me that this man was, to a degree, vilified for holding an opposing view. While I certainly don't think his opposition to gay marriage is correct, I question whether he should be held professionally accountable for this viewpoint. Of course it should be concerning to employees and any stakeholders if he intends to inject his personal opinion into company policy, but given he had just started the job does anyone know he would do that? Is there proof? It doesn't seem like he was given much of a chance. I am all for marriage equality and while I know words can have consequences, freedom of expression is pretty important too

Though it's quite probable neither of them will see this, nonetheless there are two I really want to thank, Myiege and Cassie: it isn't easy for me to find people I genuinely enjoy working with. Not only do you offer much-needed insight through your observations, but you also possess very different personalities. This richness of perspective is complementary, and completely invaluable to me as a writer. On top of this, you both tolerate my obsessive nature, excess of detail-orientation and occasional impatience with fantastic good grace. There is little more I could ask for in a beta. Thank you so very much for your friendship and all that you do for me.

Wow! Congratulations K.C

Thank you Mira's recollection of the time in orbit of Earth is his happiest so far, not least because of the lovemaking with Shay (their second time.) It isn't like him to be discouraged by *anything* either so it takes something unique and beyond his experience to force that. In this case, it's as simple as a road sign! The katana is one hell of a weapon under normal circumstances. Given his proficiency with fists alone, the enemy should rightly be fucking terrified. Chapter 7 will return to alternating between everyone. The rest of the cast hasn't been idle!

Thank you Mira's recollection of the time in orbit of Earth is his happiest so far, not least because of the lovemaking with Shay (their second time.) It isn't like him to be discouraged by *anything* either so it takes something unique and beyond his experience to force that. In this case, it's as simple as a road sign! The katana is one hell of a weapon under normal circumstances. Given his proficiency with fists alone, the enemy should rightly be fucking terrified. Chapter 7 will return to alternating between everyone. The rest of the cast hasn't been idle!

Thank you Mira's recollection of the time in orbit of Earth is his happiest so far, not least because of the lovemaking with Shay (their second time.) It isn't like him to be discouraged by *anything* either so it takes something unique and beyond his experience to force that. In this case, it's as simple as a road sign! The katana is one hell of a weapon under normal circumstances. Given his proficiency with fists alone, the enemy should rightly be fucking terrified. Chapter 7 will return to alternating between everyone. The rest of the cast hasn't been idle!

Thank you Mira's recollection of the time in orbit of Earth is his happiest so far, not least because of the lovemaking with Shay (their second time.) It isn't like him to be discouraged by *anything* either so it takes something unique and beyond his experience to force that. In this case, it's as simple as a road sign! The katana is one hell of a weapon under normal circumstances. Given his proficiency with fists alone, the enemy should rightly be fucking terrified. Chapter 7 will return to alternating between everyone. The rest of the cast hasn't been idle!

So, as per the end notes of Chapter 6, I thought it was a good idea to include a brief bio on each of the minor characters so far, as well as some detail on aqumi itself. Hopefully this will serve to elaborate and enlighten, and also to refresh the memory. Minor Characters Ayize Mthembu: One of the principal commanders in the Brotherhood of Man, 45 y.o. Ayize is perhaps the best known and recognised global figure from the realist paramilitary. Equaling his political associates in terms of reputation, nonetheless he has stayed, by choice, a step below the top of the command structure. However, his long experience and charismatic anti-corporatist persona have made his judgement and leadership indispensable to the Brotherhood, and he is seldom second-guessed in his field work by superiors. Ayize is from South Africa and is of Zulu descent; he speaks English, isiZulu and Afrikaans fluently, Xhosa and Swati conversationally, and the other Bantu languages to a much lesser extent. He became an adherent to realism when he was 17 years old, after corporate manipulation of the labour market in southern Africa led to a temporary resource shortages, sparking riots and violence in several cities and regions. The loyalist authorities did little to address the situation, and after family members were killed, he grew disgusted, angry and sought out an alternative ideological path. The pragmatism and activism of the Brotherhood's operation appealed to him, and he quickly became converted to the idea of a more just, less bureaucratic world. Lindani Mthembu: Ayize's cousin and second-in-command, Lindani is much like Ayize, only with less strategic shrewdness and no ambition to any higher command or office. He looked up to his older cousin from when they were children, after Lindani's siblings died during the events that eventually led to Ayize leaving home. Being seven years younger, Lindani spent much of his formative teen years idolising Ayize and his unflinching determination to change the world, but was not able to join him until he came of age himself. At 19, he tracked down his cousin in the Middle East and begged to join him in the Brotherhood's paramilitary. Initially Ayize refused, telling him to return home and choose a less hazardous career, though Lindani stubbornly refused and kept petitioning until he was accepted. Since his acceptance, he has become a capable operative and has stayed in his cousin's team despite being offered promotion to more prominent roles. Rashid Jahandar: An Iranian of mixed Persian-Azeri descent, Rashid was recruited by Ayize while the latter was assisting the Brotherhood's political security in northeastern Iraq. To begin with, he was employed as a mercenary hireling, but was retained after he proved his value in several heated encounters with CorpSec. Rashid quickly showed that he had a cool head under pressure and a knack for tactical weapons use, and when the Middle East assignments were over, Ayize took him to east Africa for further training. Though in the intervening years he has sometimes served in other Brotherhood teams, he still accompanies Ayize on most important missions, feeling a strong sense of loyalty and identity that was not present before he joined. Rashid is 36 years old, a Shi'ite Muslim and speaks fluent Farsi, Arabic and English, as well as a smattering of African from his time there. Kenji Shimizu: Born in California to a Japanese father and Korean mother, Kenji was brought up in a relatively affluent household. Earning tertiary qualifications in software engineering, he was at first apathetic about politics, though this changed in his early 20s. After he hacked a government computer system to win a bet, a very small error in judgement led to his arrest and trial for attempted espionage. Though unable to afford legal aid, Kenji was unexpectedly helped by the Brotherhood, who assisted in his legal defence and managed to secure acquittal. The monetary cost was forgiven, but there was a debt of gratitude and the promise of a better paycheck than his day job persuaded him to accept the offer of serving with the Brotherhood, who were at the time in need of more experienced technical experts. Kenji spent the first four years on assignment in Europe, but was then transferred to west Africa where he met Lindani. The two got on famously, and the rest, as they say, was history. At 31, Kenji is the youngest member of Ayize's current team. He speaks fluent English, Japanese and Korean, passable Spanish, basic Mandarin and German. He is also the only one of the four in a long-term relationship; his girlfriend lives in San Jose, California. Lucas Thessaloniki: Serving as an officer in Earth's military, Lucas is ingrained with the impartiality and discipline that such a career demands. He has a healthy hatred for corporate interference, as well as a general disdain for the ineptitude of politicians. While he is still young and has only been enlisted for a few years, he has already been assigned to a specialist role in his division. Hailing from near his namesake in Macedonia, Lucas is ethnically Greek and when not on active duty lives with his widowed mother and two younger sisters. Tamara Lebaredian: An Armenian descended politician in her early 50s, Ms Lebaredian is the premier of Earth's federal government. She had been in politics for nearly 30 years, and is affiliated with the SDCP, the primary controlling party in the loyalist bloc, also known as 'Society.' It is her second term in office, and while she remains a popular figure, she is faced with an increasingly fractured and immobile political system that is becoming harder and harder to keep functional. The Magic Of Aqumi Characteristics: The title of Hidden Sunlight is a direct metaphorical reference to aqumi, the mystic force which is acting in defiance of all the horrible stuff taking place in the first book. However, this force is not mystical at all; it is an extremely advanced alien technology that was present on Lucere for thousands of years before humanity arrived. The word aqumi is an acronym of the description given in Hidden Sunlight of this force: 'autonomous quantum-unified morphogenic integrity.' To translate that into something easier to understand: basically, it is an artificial energy field composed of tiny invisible particles that unify the fundamental forces of the universe at the smallest (quantum) level. So, this means the aqumi field is capable of manipulating those four forces -- electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, the strong nuclear force and gravity -- all at once. Essentially, it means the ability to rearrange the structure of atoms and to shift physical matter around in opposition to nature. Also, as 'autonomous' might suggest, it has a degree of independence and is regulated by its own programming, like a piece of software. However, it is when aqumi is transplanted into the body of a human being that the story starts to take off. This sort of power allows some very fantastic feats to be performed -- once some control is learned -- and I will list here what is known so far. By the early chapters of Veil of Shadow, it's shown that there are five individuals who are so 'blessed'; however for the following description I will focus only on Shay and Mira, as the other three have not been observed in any detail. Therefore, any ability they might have will be up to reader guesswork. It should be noted that the 'powers' listed will be amplified when the intensity of the aqumi field is increased. This means things like: telekinesis can shift bigger objects, physical regeneration will happen faster, super reflexes and super speed will be even speedier, etc. Also worth noting: Mira cannot project the field beyond his body, while Shay can. Their differences will be clear below in the descriptions. Passive Ability (both) Entropic Immunity: Also known as biological immortality. The body is constantly renewed, negating all effects of age and degeneration. Enhanced Physical Regeneration: The body's natural healing process is greatly assisted, making wounds disappear much sooner than they normally would. Also, the body is returned to the original state: healing is perfect with no scarring left behind. Pathological Immunity: Freedom from all forms of disease, including the previously unstoppable Sharpe virus. Any hostile micro-organism entering the body will be recognised and destroyed. Toxin Resistance: Decreased effect of poisons, sedatives and other such chemical substances. To an extent this can be consciously controlled to allow or prevent the effect, as aqumi does not always know whether the use of said substance was intentional. Sometimes there are positive benefits, as with certain medicines, sedatives and alcohol, so that's why it is not such an absolute. Active Ability (both) Aqumi Vision: The ability to see the virtual energy in a sort of visual overlay. It appears in a gold colouring wherever present. Extrasensory Perception: More than the five usual senses, this involves being able to detect and identify things some distance from oneself. Though this is a passive power to an extent, it can be used actively to 'feel' the surrounding area. The more an individual is boosted with aqumi and the more actively they are looking, the more obvious they will be to anyone else who also has this ability. The arbiters possess this sense, making them distinctively obvious to Shay and Mira when the conditions are right, and vice versa. Quantum Telepathy: Direct transmission of thought. This is along the same lines as the above; it requires a mutual compatibility. Both parties must be capable, although Mira has very rarely done this, and Shay only when he is super-powered. Also similar to the above, the arbiters are capable of communicating this way, which bypasses the normal language barriers, as it is a direct communication of meaning. Active Ability (Mira) Enhanced Reflexes: Greatly improved reaction time. Enhanced Strength: The ability to hit a heck of a lot harder. This isn't as notable for Mira normally, though when his aqumi is boosted, it becomes very scary. Enhanced Speed: The ability to run faster for much longer, and to jump further. Similar to the above, being boosted shifts him from 'wow he's quick' to 'that isn't humanly possible!' Steel Fist: A temporary hardening of the skin, usually on a hand or foot, so it can be used to break a physical object. This works in tandem with enhanced strength to make melee combat more effective, and also when boosted to allow things like smashing through a wall with bare hands. Mira cannot maintain this for more than a couple of seconds at a time, however. Kinetic Shield: A shield that hugs the skin and blocks all physical damage, though requiring utter focus to keep up. Mira has only done this once, and he could not move, think or pay attention to his senses while he was focusing on the shield; he was frozen. It is not clear if he could manage this feat without being boosted. Contrast this with Shay's kinetic shield. Visual Empathy: Mira's favourite way of communicating with Shay. Transmission of emotion and meaning through sight. A picture might be worth a thousand words, but in this circumstance, it's closer to ten thousand. Verbal Empathy: The ability to strongly influence emotions by speaking. Mira does not talk often (understatement of the year) so it is not clear whether this is an intentional thing on his part, or not. Thermodynamic Radiance: Channeling heat into an object being touched, or outwards from the body. Active Ability (Shay) Telekinesis: Manipulating physical objects remotely by the mental direction of aqumi. Arguably one of the most terrifying and powerful abilities Shay has, when boosted it allows for some feats that could accurately be called 'godlike.' Electrokinesis: Manipulating and channeling existing energy fields remotely by the mental direction of aqumi. Also possible to start an electrical reaction if the correct physical conditions exist. Shay doesn't have so much experience with this -- yet! Kinetic Shield: A shield that blocks all physical damage and can be centred and projected to wherever chosen -- the distance away and size of this projected shield are subject to current energy levels. This is not difficult for Shay to manage, though it does take some effort and concentration to maintain for any length of time. Contrast this with how it is nigh-impossible for Mira, who can only place it on his skin and not project outside of his body. Healing: Channeling the aqumi field into another organism to fix physical damage. However, this one cuts both ways! At this stage, a by-product of aqumi is exotic energy that also cause severe harm to anyone who isn't already aqumi enhanced themselves. Until this fact changes, it's a very dubious power.

It is worth remembering that corporatism is only one of three principal forces in Hidden Sunlight's future political landscape. Since our protagonists have become aligned with Brotherhood realists (Ayize & co.) there is present an inbuilt narrative bias against the other two ideologies. This is not to suggest that the corporate and government behaviours will be fair, ethical or moral, but more that we are witnessing events through a specific lens. With regarding to the arbiters reaching Earth: the alien enemy has *already* been there, however briefly. You may recall a mention in Chapter 3 during Ayize's conversation with Konstantin about Earth's political history: "We blew the scout away as soon as it appeared in orbit, trying to sneak in. They never sent anything more. No one knows why." This is in reference to a single alien ship jumping into our solar system, next to the Earth, and being promptly destroyed before it could do anything. The real mystery is why they have not tried to approach Earth for 214 years, long after the other colonies have been overrun and destroyed. Lastly, while the blade-hounds were carved up, the arbiter itself is still out there on Berchande. The pets are gone, and the master can't be happy that it has to take matters in hand ...

Chapter 6 is up! Were you missing Mira? Well ... he's back! There are a tonne of things separating him from Shay, but he is hardly one to be discouraged by nigh-impossible conditions! It's a long one, so sit back and enjoy the action.

From nothing, the heavenly light exploded and the darkness was banished. All the terrible pain and inflicted injury became less than trivial, the emboldening warmth filling him. It was renewal and inspiration, fortitude and courage, and his body and spirit became completely whole once more. Cured, alive, aware, connected, redeemed ... raised up. Now, it was inevitable that he break free, for there were only two paths to walk: failure and death, or life and the complete unity of his purpose. He

Wow, another promotion! Congratulations Graeme.

Mann, you are such a charmer Also, this beast has been offloaded onto my betas. *wipes his hands*

Chapter 6 is very nearly completed and will be in beta in the next day or two. Ugh, I'm such a slowass. I know!

Hi and welcome to GA I hope you find the atmosphere congenial and the fiction to your liking!

I'm sorry I did love the purple too!

Thank you everyone for your kind wishes! It really is an honour to be placed in the company of GA's Signature authors. I have to be truthful though; when I was offered it I was shocked. The step to Promising felt earned and 'fought for' in a manner of speaking. This next step is more intimidating, and a part of me keeps insisting I must do more to prove my worth. In any case, I am up for the challenge, and once again wish to say 'thank you' for the opportunity to appear with authors of such calibre. -Hamish.

Very true! I like the concept this illustrates.

The only problem with this idea is the foundation (that Mira is on the same planet as Shay) is wrong. He isn't. The reason for the micro-singularity was to allow transmission of video in real-time between Earth and the world Shay found himself on. If you recall the first scene of chapter one: Darcy Andrews and Zhou used the same method - a mini-singularity - to transmit their recorded data from Barnard's Star directly back to the probe orbiting Earth's moon. These smaller holes in space-time are big enough to admit a particle stream such as aqumi or digital video data, but not physical objects like a full-sized orbital gate. I could add more to this information, but there is future plot significance surrounding it, so I'll leave it at that for now. Part of Shay's continuing journey will surround the consequences of such terrifying power and how it can change a person - and how someone of that age, no matter their maturity, deals with this. What he did was very cold, but then again: the dark side of this is his power is coveted by *everyone* who knows about it, and he will be persecuted because of this simple fact. Is anything off limits when you have that kind of soulless pressure being put on you?

And here we go! Chapter 5 of Veil is up. Plenty is going on here, the culmination of the last couple of chapters! The turnaround time for this chapter was far longer than I wanted. I wasted a lot of time in mid-late January, so in all likelihood the next one will be quicker. Here's hoping.

Though I was by now quite accustomed to waking up in strange places, the room that I regained consciousness in was not what I expected to see. The modest comforts of the Yakutian apartment, the frosty metal railing of the balcony adjoining Dzerzhinskogo Ulitsa and the hum of Russian commuters moving on the street? All were gone. In their place was a single square room, maybe six metres a side. Plush velvety carpet was on the floor, a rusty red-brown mahogany paneling on the lower wall, topped

Firstly ... it is on the advice of my beta Miss Cassie that I apparently need to promote my chapter releases a little more publicly. This isn't a bad idea and can't hurt, so it is with that in mind that I have created this thread. Of course, if you are a regular reader I would encourage you to follow the stories themselves so you will get notifications delivered. For those that are passersby or more infrequent visitors, I will henceforth make an update in this thread whenever new material goes up. Any detailed discussion of the story content/themes should still take place in the requisite places for Hidden Sunlight and Veil of Shadow, and the same goes for any future works. So keep an eye out! Secondly, (a slightly belated) happy Saint Valentine's Day to everyone! It's worthy of an especially geeky author's mention this year because of the exact date and the thematic significance in Hidden Sunlight's universe of the numbers 2 and 14 in combination. Readers may recall that these numbers spring up in many places in the first book and the relevance of Friday's date -- 14-02-2014 -- is perfectly obvious and unique in that regard. This date sequence of numbers will only repeat once (in 2041) between now and 14-02-2104 - the date the Sharpe virus arrives! I couldn't have planned that if I tried, but the numbers pounced on my autistic sense of pattern-detection and refused to let go! The cataclysm is exactly 90 years away, folks! Please warn your grandkids Happy reading 'til the next chapter post!

Clichés aren't so interesting to me as story telling devices, and the placement of women into 'villainous divider' or the 'perfect mom' role Cia described seems disturbingly commonplace. It's nice to see women portrayed any other way at all, as there is a massive variety of potential for rich character depiction. In Hidden Sunlight my most prominent female character was the smartest in the book and very scientifically minded, while in the sequel Earth has a very shrewd female politician as head-of-government. Breaking stereotypes is always a good thing.