Fledgling

It's kind of complicated


CHAPTERS
::
One 1/22/2007
::
Two 1/29/2007
::
Three 2/5/2007
::
Four 2/12/2007
::
Five 2/26/2007
::
Six 3/5/2007
::
Seven 3/12/2007
::
Eight 3/19/2007
::
Nine 3/26/2007
Ten
4/2/2007
::
Eleven
4/9/2007

Twelve
4/23/2007
::
Thirteen
4/30/2007
::
Fourteen
5/7/2007
::
Fifteen
5/14/2007
::
Sixteen
5/21/2007
::
Seventeen
6/4/2007

::

::

::







Fledgling
...A Liaden Universe® Adventure
by
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller


...the story of Theo Waitley and how she came to have a "kind of complicated" problem to lay before the delm of Korval.

   ==============================================================


Chapter Sixteen 


    Senior Scout Cho sig'Radia strode toward dinner with her mind more than half occupied with the report she was composing.  Gone ahead of her, likely by the somewhat improper use of crew corridors, was her immediate second on this mission, Trainee yo'Vala. She shrugged Terran-style to herself as she moved along the public promenade toward the dining hall; soon enough the trainee would discover that courtesy of ship varied considerably.  That crew on this ship respected a pilot's jacket -- was good to know.  That the trainee had the happy gift of making friends was -- well for the trainee.
    Scout sig'Radia was not wearing her pilot leathers for this portion of the trip, wishing some relief from what had been a tedious, if necessary, chore of inspecting and certifying a new flight school.  Also, she traveled at the expense of Ibenvue's  planetary government on the newest of its cruise-passenger ships, a touching show of faith that she felt, in Balance, ought to be rewarded by a similar exhibition of discretion.  And, indeed, she preferred to travel in mufti, savoring the opportunity to explore the ship as if a mere tourist.
     The school now, the certification of which had been so very important to the Ibenvue's self-declared pacifistic  and newly outward-looking government.  Quite an interesting school, with the capability of producing ...quite a number... of pilots.  She had certified it, of course -- how could she not?  The school employed two Terran master pilots as trainers, either capable of approving a pilot's skill -- and signing the all-important license.  It was said -- many times said, by the escort she and yo'Vala had been provided with -- that Ibenvue's school sought to train pilots who would train pilots, thus bringing the homeworld fully into galactic commerce,  and for this laudable goal both Terran Guild and Scout approvals had been sought.
    On the other hand, as Scout sig'Radia took care to emphasize in the report she was composing for her immediate superior, the juxtaposition of a sudden passion for pilots -- many pilots -- the investment of a staggering portion of Ibenvue's Gross Planetary Product in the acquisition of large, easily convertible 'luxury' ships, and a suddenly enhanced military -- necessary of course for the protection of both pilots and of ships -- bore scrutiny.  Perhaps even close scrutiny, and by those who were not put boldly forth as a Scout Inspector Specialist.
    Well, she told herself, as she approached the junction with the hospitality module, best to put the report and thoughts of the report aside for the next while and instead concentrate on what enjoyment might be had from one's fellow passengers.  This being, by reason of a lack of handwritten invitations from the captain, an informal meal, tables were formed from random groups of hopeful diners, and the luck of the draw --
    Oh no!
     Approaching along the opposite corridor at a full clatter that might over-serve a dozen seasoned travelers, came, not merely passengers, but academics!
    It was far too late to change direction. Cho allowed herself one small sigh before calling up her brightest meet-the-Terrans smile, and stepping into the transition lounge.  She'd seen this group at boarding yesterday, and hid her grimace then as she did now. It was never good policy to openly avoid your fellow passengers, after all.
    Cho's luck had been elsewhere the first time they'd met, for the loudest of the group had mistaken her for a tour-aide and demanded assistance.  Professora, perhaps an attending bedmate or two, and a female halfling trailing, quiet and large-eyed, behind, all expectantly waiting for her to solve the universe in one quick answer.  Well, except for the halfling, whose attention had been claimed by a pair of buskers, autopipes at volume, and donation dish well over the docking line.
    Yesterday's solving had been brief enough – the station's help terminals were quite adequate and there had been one close by for her to point to.  The buskers, alas, had not fared so well.  A crewman, directed by a flutter of the dock steward's fingers, bore down on them yelling; scooping up the bowl and throwing it at the taller one's head, after he had  pocketed the few coins it contained.
    The halfling had seen that, Cho was certain, though she had by then been on her way up the ramp, surrounded by the noisy confusion of her elders.
    The professorial group burst into the corridor ahead of her, their talk filling the space with echoes.  Cho took a deep breath in protest of the hubbub, and stood to one side, watching.
    The first into the intersection was the halfling, skipping  lightly through the change of the gravity field at the lock boundary as if she were born to such things.  Behind her, one of the elders tripped, and bounced sharply against the wall.  The halfling turned, one hand extended --
    "Theo, please don't..." a woman's fine voice said, perfectly audible beneath the elder's loud exclamations.  The halfling – Theo – spun deftly on one toe, removing herself from danger as the elder staggered, colliding with the other side of the passage, barely keeping her feet, her lamentations increasing in volume and degree.
    This would not do.
    Cho moved from her watching place, smile resolutely in place, singing out in her best dealing-with-grounders voice, "Yes, these grav-interfaces can be quite shocking, can they not?  That is why these yellow-and-green stripes line the walls – to warn of the coming field differential."  By then she was among them, and pleased to see that they slowed in response to her tone and her posture of relaxed goodwill.  With luck, they would avoid a repeat of the loud woman's misadventure.
    Alas, that woman, rather than sensibly awaiting rescue, had wallowed into a turn and now blundered back across the divide, smacking the wall for a third time.  She would, Cho thought dispassionately, have bruises on the morrow, which would have been well enough, had there been any remotest possibility that she would have also learned something.
    "My stomach...."  the clumsy woman moaned, clinging to the smooth wall and closing her eyes tight.  "Why do we have to cross this chasm for every meal?"
    A slightly younger and considerably fitter woman moved to her side, "Chair, we don't have to come to the dining room, after all.  Our meals can be brought to us, if we like..."
    "Chair" seemed to consider this point; at least her vocal agitation subsided, while the younger woman directed a half-bow to Cho.
    "Ma'am, you appear to travel comfortably.  Do you take all your meals on-board in public, I wonder?"
    Cho gave the bow back, pleased to meet good intent with courtesy. "I tend to do so, traveler, unless duty keeps me at my desk.  Much of my joy in travel comes from the people."  This was perfectly true, and something she often said when traveling.  If certain travelers therefore assumed that they were the cause of joy – what harm done?
    "Then you are an experienced traveler?"  The woman's voice was trained; she appeared not only sharp and alert, but also seemed to be one who had perhaps dealt closely with Liadens.  The careful inflection, and the deliberate structure of a yes-no query was very nearly a challenge.
    Cho laughed out loud, in fellowship more than amusement, and inclined her head.
    "Travel is my life, I warrant!  I do not willingly stay on-world – on any world – for very long.  It is not that I dislike worlds, but that I prefer space."
    Her interlocutor smiled, perhaps in shared fellowship, and several others of the group laughed softly, as people will who have recognized humor without entirely catching the joke.  Beneath these sounds, Cho detected another, and glanced aside to discover the ignored halfling – winsome Theo -- amusing herself with the gravity nexus, leaning playfully forward, allowing the field to keep her upright...
    "Theo, surely that's not safe!" Chair snapped.  From Theo's blink and the stiffening of the woman with the nice voice, Cho surmised that this input was both out-of-bounds and unwelcome.
    "But I'm not having a problem, Professor Hafley," Theo said, holding her arms out at side, as if gliding on a placid breeze.   "It's like leaning into a wind!"
    The thin, young face was almost impish with the joy of her play and it took Cho's best effort not to laugh.
    "Certainly leaning into the wind isn't safe!" Chair – but no, Professor Hafley-- snapped.  "You'll fall flat on your face when it changes direction!"
    "Chair," the peacemaking woman who knew Liadens murmured.   "I think Theo's demonstrated that she's not in danger..."
    "Even if she isn't, she's making me queasy!  Why can't she just stand up straight and still, and show some respect --”
    "Chair Hafley," the prettiest of the group's two males spoke up suddenly, voice plaintive. "It's time for our seating, and I, for one, am hungry."
    Cho's stomach quite agreed with the need for food; and the pretty one's complaint seemed to carry weight with Professor Hafley, who turned with heavy-footed care to face her nemesis once more.  Moving quickly, Cho dodged past, waving Theo to her side with a wink.
    "Youngling, if you'll favor me, we'll walk ahead and claim a table."
     Theo glanced over her shoulder, but apparently whomever held her in care gave permission, for she came along quite docilely; and if she skipped a little in the slightly lighter grav of the access hall, who, thought Cho, could blame her?

**

    They'd claimed the last full table – or rather the woman with the short gray hair had, calmly telling the steward that, "the rest of our party comes at leisure, while we two madcaps raced before them."
    The tables in the dining hall were round, which Professor Crowley had said neatly solved many potential problems of precedence and protocol.  That it didn't solve allproblems of precedence Theo had learned only at breakfast, when she had mistakenly taken the chair at Kamele's right.  That chair also being to the left of Clyburn's onagrata, it was, so he had informed her – and the rest of the dining hall – his.   Mere children were to stand back until the adults were seated, and then take the chair which was left. 
    "Favor me, child," the gray-haired woman murmured; "and sit at my right.  I am desolated to perceive a lack of mine apprentice, derelict in his duty to keep me upon my mettle."
    The tone was suspiciously close to Father's over-serious voice.  Theo looked into the woman's polite face, catching the faintest twinkle in the brown eyes.
    "I'll gladly do that ma'am," she said carefully.  "But what if your apprentice comes – later?"
    "Why then, he shall sit at your right to observe such technique as you will display, and to bask in my displeasure at a survivable distance."
    Theo laughed, as she took the chair the woman indicated.  "I'm Theo Waitley, by the way," she said.
    "I greet you, Theo Waitley," her seat-mate, with a heavy nod – almost a seated bow, Theo thought.  "My name is... Cho sig'Radia."
    Theo copied the nod.  "I greet you, Cho sig'Radia," she said, and looked up into a smile quite different from the smile she had worn at the intersection lobby.
    There was a sudden noise, Theo turned to see the rest of their group at the steward's station.
    "The remainder of our party joins us!  How delightful, to be sure!"  Cho sig'Radia exclaimed cheerily.
    Theo glanced at her, and saw the other smile in place, too bright and too obvious, and then the others were with them, conducted by the steward, who held the chair for Professor Hafley and saw her safely seated with her napkin on her lap before leaving them in search of their waiter.
    "Theo Waitley and I have been introducing ourselves, as we had overlooked this nicety in the press of other matters.  I therefore seek to amend this affront to civilized behavior by making the group aware that I am Cho sig'Radia."
    There was a pause, long enough for Theo to worry that Professor Hafley was still upset enough to be rude.  Across the table, Kamele frowned, which probably meant she was worried, too.
    Finally, Professor Hafley smiled stiffly.  "Cho sig'Radia, I am History of Education Chair Orkan Hafley," she said formally. 
    "Professor Hafley," Cho murmured, inclining her head.
    Theo relaxed as Kamele introduced herself, "History of Education Subchair Kamele Waitley," she murmured, and raised her eyebrows in Theo's direction.  "Mother to Theo Waitley."
    "Ah, is it so?  Allow me to compliment you upon your most charming offspring."
    Kamele laughed softly.  "You are too kind," she murmured and the introductions moved on.
     "Emeritus Professor Crowley, Associate Provost; Clyburn Tang..."  Theo let the introductions slide past her ear, watching Cho sig'Radia as she acknowledged each.  The smile, she thought, like the earnestly polite expression that Father showed to strangers, was a kind of mask, maybe meant to put people at ease...
    "Behold, the lost is found!" Cho exclaimed and rose from her chair, hand sweeping out to show them the boy with the rumpled hair and the leather jacket who approached their table.
    "To the Delgado scholars I am pleased to present Trainee Win Ton yo'Vala, who has taken the not-so-short route to dinner.”
    The trainee bowed to the table, while the fingers of his left hand danced a pattern in the direction of Cho sig'Radia.
    "Delgado scholars, I greet you," he said, his accent tickling the inside of Theo's ear.  "Captain, I am at your feet.  You were as always, correct."
    "Flatterer!"  Cho reseated herself and waved him toward the seat next to Theo.  "Comport yourself with courtesy, I pray you.  Later, I will entertain reasons why you should not be spaced."
    "Ma'am."  He bowed again, fingers still, and moved smoothly 'round the table to Theo's side.  Cho turned her attention once more to the scholars, and he leaned close to whisper, "Have pity on me, I beg you."
    Theo turned her head, looking directly into a pair of merry brown eyes.  She smiled at him without meaning to.
    "What do you want?"
    "Only to live out my allotted span," he said, smiling back.  "Depend upon it, she will grill me on the names and occupations of everyone sitting to dinner, and if I do not have them..." he sighed, not convincingly.  "Why, then, it's the airlock for me."  He bent his head, and sent her a glance from beneath his eyelashes.  "Without a suit."
    Theo bit her lip so she wouldn't laughed, and shook her head.  "Cho sig'Radia said I was to keep her on her mettle, since you weren't here."
    "Look at her," he returned.  "Have you ever beheld a woman more mettlesome?  Indeed, were she any sharper, she would be a danger to herself."
    Theo's rescue this time came in the shape of their waiter, who approached bearing a tray full of beakers.
    "What's that?"  she wondered.
    Beside her Win Ton yo'Vala laughed softly.  "Oho.  Perhaps we might trade, sweet mystery."
    She looked at him.  "Trade?"
    "Of a certainty.  We each hold knowledge which the other lacks.  Commerce may go forth."   He paused as beakers arrived before them.
    "Here," he said; "I will show my earnest.   This..."  He touched the beaker with a light finger.  "This, sweet mystery, is chilled vegetable broth.  It is meant to prepare the palate for the delights to come.  One sips it directly from the glass."
    A quick glance showed Cho and Kamele and Professor Crowley lifting their beakers as described, hesitantly copied by others of their party.
    Theo glanced back to Win Ton.  "My name isn't 'sweet mystery,'" she told him, picking her glass up carefully.  "It's Theo.  Theo Waitley."
    Win Ton's smile widened and he leaned closer to touch his glass to hers.  "So," he said conspiratorially, "the trading begins."

*

    By the time the plates bearing what Win Ton assured her was the "main course" arrived, he was in the possession of the names and positions of each of the Delgado party, and Theo had learned how to "address" three different "befores" – one cold, one tepid, one hot – and the uses of the various utensils provided at her place.
    This was much better than breakfast, she thought, as she tried to imitate Win Ton's use of the tongs.  At breakfast, the scholars had discussed their project, leaving her Clyburn for company.  Since he considered himself above talking to children, except to issue directions, that meant she'd spent the meal trying to figure out a conversation she clearly wasn't meant to understand, and wishing she was back home. 
    As near as she could figure it in her head, it would be about time for Advertence class.  She'd wondered how Lesset had done with the last solo – which turned out to be a bad idea, because that made her eyes sting, and she wasn't going to cry in front of the whole Research Team.  And especially not in front of Clyburn.  Happily, the waiter came to tell them that their table was needed for the second meal-shift before Theo scandalized everybody by pulling out her mumu and calling up a game.
    She tasted a bit of what Win Ton said was poached Siclarian Walking Mushrooms, catching her breath at the unexpected burst of hot spiciness, and reaching for her water glass.
    With two strangers at the table, the scholars had to be polite.  Surprisingly, it was Emeritus Professor Crowley who carried the bulk of the conversation with Cho sig'Radia, admitting to her supposition that their destination was Melchiza. 
    Questioned regarding their purpose, he had tipped his head, ironically, Theo thought, and murmured, "We are to perform a literature search, ma'am.  Quite tedious and scholarly.  And yourself?  Can we hope to have the pleasure of your company all the way to Melchiza?"
    "Your hopes are fulfilled," she assured him with one of her real smiles.  "We have business on the station there, my disgraceful apprentice and I."
    "What business?"  Theo asked Win Ton, as Clyburn – too long ignored – began a rambling commentary on the clothes worn by passengers at other tables.
    "We are assigned to retrieve a ship," he said, matter-of-factly, and sent her a sharp glance.
    "You sigh, sweet Theo!  Is it possible to hope that you will miss me?"
    "I probably will miss you," she answered truthfully.  "But – 'assigned to retrieve a ship' sounds so much more interesting than 'stuck in a room studying!'"
    "Oh, there will be a wealth of that on my side, too, I assure you!  No one who travels with my Captain is safe from study."  He smiled.  "And I will admit that not a few of the lessons available to passengers of this ship do tempt me.  History, drama, the science of star travel, lectures on the arts and culture of the ports we approach..."
    She blinked at him.  "You make it sound like fun!"
    He laughed. "And so it is fun!  Shall I prove my point?"
    "How?" she asked doubtfully.
    "Meet me tomorrow at ships 5th gong in the morning lounge – they call it Breakfast All Year because someone's always on a schedule where breakfast is what they need --  and then we shall the two of us visit the daily lecture at the Pet Library. Tomorrow’s is Introduction to Norbears if I recall correctly.  Have we a bargain?"
    "My tutoring should be over by then..." she said slowly.
    "Send me a message via ship's web if circumstances overtake you.  I'm Passenger  997644. Got that? Otherwise, we shall test my proposition, eh?"
    "All right..."  Theo said, and then smiled.  "Passenger  997644. I hope I can make it."
    "I hope you can make it, too."
    "Actually, no," Cho sig'Radia was saying to Clyburn, “the truth is that the attire you so admire three tables over is not worn by the least of those seated, but the first.  Indeed, he appears to be wearing the very latest from Rombert's, and would be welcome in any of the finest halls on Liad dressed thus. Alas, here he is – a bit too grand.  Perhaps he thought to sit with the Captain."
    Clyburn didn't like to be corrected.  He drew a breath to answer – and was quelled
by a look form his lady, which warmed Theo toward her only slightly, and mumbled his way into silence.
    “It is difficult when traveling," Win Ton said into the small quiet that followed this, "to correctly read clothing and position." He paused and looked about, saw that he had the attention of the table and continued.
    "The – you will forgive me, that I have no proper word in your tongue – the  melant'i of those around one can only sometimes be determined by dress, or lack of it, when one travels. I have had cause..."  He looked toward Cho, his cheeks darkening slightly.  "On this very trip, I myself had cause to be surprised at a meal.  A man dressed all in white, with the smell of spice and oil about him, and perhaps, too, a dash of sauce upon a sleeve, came to our table ... I thought him a... servant, perhaps a worker in the kitchens.    Rather he ... wore the ring!"
    Here he paused, fingers rippling, as if he were handing something past Theo to the woman on her other side --
    "Rather," Cho sig'Radia said, taking up the tale, "he was Zed ter'Janpok, Clan Tangier, Tangier himself, an old friend of mine, come to visit."  She paused to sip from her glass. "Mind you, the impulsive young apprentice had not entirely mis-observed, for my good friend is a chef of the first water, and so, indeed, a kitchen worker."  She cocked an ironic eyebrow downtable.  Professor Crowley and Kamele laughed in appreciation, echoed by the others.
    "And now, unless I mis-observe myself – yes!  It is our servers, with dessert!"

*

    "Do candied dromisain leaves with sour sauce not please you, sweet mystery?  You might call for a sorbet, instead, you know."
    Theo blinked, her face heating.  She'd dozed off, like a kid kept up past her bedtime.
    "Stop calling me that!" she whispered fiercely.  "It's stupid."
    There was a small pause.  A glance at Win Ton's face showed him suddenly serious, his lips pressed tight.
    "I'm sorry."  Impulsively, she reached out and put her fingers on his leather sleeve.  "I'm – I'm not on ship time yet, and I'm falling asleep.  And I miss my cat, and Fa-- and my mother's onagrata.  But none of that's your fault and I shouldn't have yelled at you."
    "Ah."  His mouth softened and he inclined his head.  "It is forgotten.  And it is my fault, I think, a little.  You had told me your name."  He frowned down at his plate and put the spoon carefully aside.
    "In truth, the sauce is somewhat too sour for my taste," he said, and tipped his head, his eyes bright again.  "Tell me about your cat."
    There was a note of ...wistfulness in his voice.  "Do you have a cat, too?"  Theo asked.
    Win Ton moved his hand in a sharp gesture, like he was tossing something away.  "I, a cat?  Never think it.  My delm dislikes the creatures and refuses to have any in clan house or garden.  So you must tell me:  What is it like to have your own cat?"
    "Well," she said slowly.  "Sometimes, it's a lot of trouble..."

    **

    The conversation grew more interesting with dessert, which Cho welcomed – and welcomed again, as the beautiful Clyburn was effectively silenced by the ebb and flow of discussion.  Truly, a vapid individual.  On the other hand, his lady seemed pleased with his secret charms, and that of course must be what counted.
    The senior traveler Crowley was sharp and quiet at once, and the Subchair Kamele Waitley -- ostensibly the second to her Chair! – was both sharper and quieter.  Interesting melant'i play it was to see the discussion moved about at apparent random, where the Chair was sometimes at a loss, while the Emeriti and Associate Provost appeared very much interested in the opinions, and the process of the Subchair's thoughts.  That this was not lost upon Chair Hafley was also apparent, and promised more adjustment of melant'i in future.  It was to be hoped that the elder scholar would be wise, though Cho thought perhaps she would be ...otherwise.
    Too, perhaps young Theo Waitley's presence could not be dismissed simply as a doting mother's whim companion.  There was little of the doting parent in Kamele Waitley.  And how convenient, indeed, to have another of one's house as extra ears, in what was surely a situation fraught with tension?
      The child and yo'Vala had kept good company, to the benefit of both.  Their present topic...she spared them an ear, and hid her sigh inside a sip of wine.  A cat!  The gods send that there would be no opportunity for the boy to adopt a ship's cat before she handed him off to other trainers.
    "But it's the old 'unlimited energy' canard, brought to a new face!" 
    That was Crowley, taking fire from what was apparently a favorite topic.  "We in education know – I can prepare cites if you like! -- "
    But there, the youngest of them was nodding off in the midst of a recitation of the wonders of cat, her dessert uneaten and her spoon drooping in her hand.
    Cho glanced aside, meaning to draw the mother's eye, but the sharp and formidable Kamele had seen, and was already in motion, pushing back from the table with a smile all around.
    "Scholars, apprise me in the the morning if you solve this.  I'm afraid Theo and I are not yet in sync with the ship's clock.  Perhaps tomorrow evening we'll be more in tune."
    “I wonder if I may suggest,” Cho murmured for Kamele's ear along as Win Ton helped Theo to her feet and deftly re-arranged the chairs to clear her path, "that your daughter join some of the lectures and events in the morning. I know she will have lessons – as does my scamp of an apprentice -- but with a table full of educators to draw upon it ought not be difficult to assign value to something far more – interactive – than rote read-and-repeat..."
    Kamele gave her a sharp glance, and Cho smiled with a small bow of the head for a mother's consideration.
    "It must be admitted," she said, quieter still, "that Win Ton has asked Theo to accompany him to a lecture at the Pet Library.  If you are able to allow it, I would own myself in your debt, for the boy needs to practice his Terran against a native speaker."
    "Ah."  Kamele smiled as she put her hand on her daughter's shoulder and turned her toward the entry.  "I think I can allow that."
    The two departed, Win Ton reseated himself, and Cho returned her attention to the remaining scholars, who had taken up a debate of the educational opportunities available on-board.  Cho smiled and leaned back in her chair, pleased that the politics of unlimited energy had been, for the moment, put away.
   

   


==============================================================
Subscriptions for Fledgling are now closed.
Thank you all for your interest and support,
and please enjoy
Saltation
==============================================================

Fledgling Podcast
Due entirely to the goodwill of the good folks at Fireheart Foundry , each new Fledgling chapter is also being podcast. You may subscribe to the Fledgling podcast through iTunes, Google Reader, or directly through your email by going here and clicking on the Get Fledgling Podcast delivered by email link. Fireheart Foundry are also responsible for creating the podcast of our ground breaking appearance at the Second Life Library a few months ago.


Things you should know
Fledgling in serialized format is a draft. This means it may bear little or no resemblance to a final published novel, should there ever be one. It may be perfect, word for word (though experience tells us this is not the way the smart money should bet). What we are providing is a rare opportunity to observe the writing process.

We don't know how many chapters there will be. We're free-form writers, and while we do have a working outline, it is (1) vague, and (2) subject to change without notice.


What are the rules?
What you can do:
1.      Read the posted chapters free of charge
2.      Link to this page or any internal page. (Here are a few icons)
3.      Pass the word among your friends
4.      Print the chapters out for your own ease of reading
5.      Discuss the work in the Fledgling Live Journal community
6.      Donate

What you can't do:
1.      Copy the work and sell it. Fledgling is copyright by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. In addition, Liaden Universe® is a registered trademark. That means the universe, the characters, the story and the right to sell it belong to Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

Who are we?
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are the authors of a dozen collaborative science fiction novels, and many short stories, largely set in the Liaden Universe®. For more information about Lee and Miller and their work, drop by the Liaden Universe® website.


Base page created December 1, 2006 by Sharon Lee
Chapter updated May 21, 2007
technical revision posted May 21, 2007
Update March 15, 2008, 12:03 p.m. EDT
copyright © 2006-2007 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller