GAME

THEORY

OUTLAW COLONIES - 2

GAIL DALEY

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Warriors of St. Antoni

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Apex Predator

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*Working Title. Release dates TBA

COPYRIGHT

GAME THEORY Copyright © 2022 by Gail Daley dba Gail Daley's Fine Art

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

e-book ISBN:  978-1-68564-019-4

Print ISBN-978-1-68564-020-0

Hardback ISBN: 978-1-68564-023-1

ASIN:

For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed "Attention: Permissions Coordinator," at the address below.

Gail Daley

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Fresno, CA 93727

www.gaildaley.com

Ordering Information: Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the "Bulk Sales Department" at the address above.

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is unintentional and accidental.

Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

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Book Game Theory Gail Daley—1st ed. Copyright © 2022 by Gail Daley dba Gail Daley's Fine Art

Cover Art Copyright © 2022 by Gail Daley's Fine Art

The name Barsoom which is used as the name of a colony in these books, BARSOOM(R) is a registered trademark of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.  And Used by Permission.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

The Revolution is Coming!

An Outlawed Colony Adventure!

On a distant colony, a young couple plays a deadly game to stop a rebellion and keep their newly adopted children safe.

Mathias and Ivette were sent to earth to learn about Portal Technology. When they brought back the codes to reach the other outlawed colonies their bosses were ecstatic. Now Arcadia could develop trade directly with other the Outlawed Colonies instead of using the dangerous Portal on Earth and risking exposure to Earth's Draconian Governments and Industrial Giants.

While their families were glad they had returned, a few of them weren't as delighted to learn the pair had adopted seven cloned toddlers. Not all the Arcadian colonists are happy with the status quo either, and a rebellion is brewing. Mathias is horrified to discover his older brother is in league with the rebels. Does he betray his brother to save his family and his colony?

The rebels are furious when Mathias and Ivette return to live in the house she inherited from her grandmother. They have other plans for Ivette's property and having her and Mathias move in with their new family isn't part of those plans. When their home is invaded by the rebel army, Mathias and Ivette must not only protect their new children but defeat the conspirator's as well.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

GAIL'S OTHER BOOKS

COPYRIGHT

ABOUT THIS BOOK

INTO THE LABYRINTH

NO MORE TO ROAM

ALL BATTLE IS BASED ON DECEPTION

A MIDNIGHT CLEAR

HERE THERE BE DRAGONS

WHITE LACE & PROMISES

A KISS FOR LUCK

A HOME IN THE LAKE

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

CHERECHEZ LA FEMME

ATTACK & RETREAT

BLOOD & TEARS

THE WOLVES

WHEN TO HOLD & WHEN TO FOLD

FAMILY TIES

RUN—DON'T WALK

EARTH: OTHERWORLD GATEWAY

THE OUTLAW COLONIES

ARCADIA

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

TECH LEVEL

LOYALTY

DUTY

RESPECT

SELFLESS SERVICE

HONOR

INTEGRITY

PERSONAL COURAGE

ANIMALS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A NOTE FROM GAIL

BONUS: EXCERPT FROM THE APEX PREDATOR

COPYRIGHT

HUNTING VARMINTS

INTO THE LABYRINTH

THE PORTAL into Arcadia was as different from the one in Laughing Mountain as chalk was from cheese. Laughing Mountain had disguised theirs to resemble a simple stone archway. The hexagon shaped Portal on Arcadia’s side was all hardened blue glass and steel. Outside the portal, a shaded overhang was packed with wagons waiting to be loaded for transport to earth.

A month ago, Ivette had said goodbye to her new friend Tally, newly married to Liam Brendan. The uncertain legal status of clones made earth an unsafe place to raise cloned children. Because Earth-Gov required all clone DNA to have markers identifying their maker, any random DNA scan could turn up the fact the babies and toddlers were clones. The debate as to whether or not clones were human and entitled to the same protection under Earth-Gov's laws as naturally born humans was still unsettled. At the moment, the laws leaned in favor of the Clone makers who considered clones their property.  Tally and Liam were emigrating to the Forbidden Colony of St. Antoni with their six clone infants, and the woman Liam had hired to help care for them.

The two couples had found the abandoned children, six infants and seven toddlers in the debris of a massacre at a clone breeding farm north of the town of Laughing Mountain.

One of the toddlers, a little blond girl whom Ivette later christened Daphne, tugged at her pants and whispered "hungry". Ivette had looked into those sad blue eyes and her heart had melted. All seven of them were hungry and wet. Mathias had estimated it must have been at least twenty-four to thirty-six hours since the massacre. The children had been left to starve.

"Those monsters aren't getting these kids back," Ivette said fiercely, and Mathias had agreed. When they left the clone farm Ivette and Mathias had become the parents of seven toddlers, three girls and four boys. Tally and Liam had adopted the six infants.

Before they found the children, Mathias had successfully accomplished their mission to implant a virus in the Portal Authorities Search engines to hide Arcadia from them when they looked for new worlds to exploit. As a bonus he had also brought back a crystal with the coordinates for the other Outlawed Colonies. This would enable Arcadia to connect directly with Barsoom, Shangri-La, Lemuria, St. Antoni, and perhaps Halcyon,

The two golf carts from Laughing Mountain, pulling open wagons loaded with toddlers, baby furniture, and luggage looked oddly out of place next to the sleek modern transports waiting outside the terminal.

“Over there,” Ivette told Devon Morton, who happened to be their driver. Devon was fast becoming the colonies go-to guy for anything to do with the Portals. When he realized two of the colonies had sent representatives to plant codes to hide the colonies from Earth-Gov's Portal Authority, he had driven them up into the mountains to the original Portal Authority control center and helped them implant the virus that would block Earth-Gov's search engines from discovering the Colonies affiliated with Laughing Mountain.

Devon stopped his cart next to an empty transport waiting to be loaded. A man in dungarees came up as they parked. “I’m Georgios Martin and this is my sled. Do you need transport?” he asked.

“Yes,” Mathias pointed at the wagon loaded with the baby furniture. “We want to send it to—your mother’s place or directly out to the Lake House, Ivette?”

“My mother’s place, Hayes Compound,” she directed the driver, adding to Mathias, “She still has the codes to the Lake House. It’s mine, but she was taking care of it while I was gone.”

She touched the DNA credit authorization Georgios was holding out. When it cleared, he nodded for a couple of men standing by to load the furniture.

“What about the children?” Mathias asked. “I hate to leave you to handle all this by yourself, but I need to report in.”

She nodded. “Yes, I know. I contacted a taxi service and asked for a multi-person cab. That’s it pulling in now.”

She waved at the taxi. It was a long, sleek, pink skinned vehicle. The driver, clad in a matching pink skinsuit, hopped out and opened the doors. “Pull forward a little please, Devon,” Ivette asked.

She lifted the closest toddler, Donatello, still strapped into his booster seat, over the wagon lip and carried it to the waiting taxi.

“I’m Carolina. Welcome to Red Sky transport,” the driver said, eyeing Ivette’s burden suspiciously.

“Lieutenant Ivette Hayes-Bedingfeld,” Ivette answered. “As soon as I get the children loaded, I’ll give you a credit marker.”

“Er—children? I wasn’t told the passengers were children,” the driver said.

Ivette finished fastening Donatello’s booster seat into the transport and stood up. “Is it a problem?”

“Well—no, but—exactly how many children are we talking about?”

“Seven. Thank you, Devon,” she said as he set Jillian down. Jillian, who disliked being confined in the booster seat, kicked and hollered, “Out! Out!” as Ivette strapped it into place. “Just a little longer, sweetheart, and you can all run around to your heart’s content,” Ivette promised her.

She looked up frowning as she heard Leo’s unmistakable howl of, “Bad! Bad man!” and saw Cosimo take a swing at Mathias who ducked the blow and threw a punch of his own. Cosimo wasn't as lucky; he staggered back when Mathias's fist connected.

“What the devil—” she took a step back toward the wagon but stopped when she saw Cosimo stomp away and Mathias take the boy out of the seat to cuddle him.

“Who was that?” Devon asked, pointing at Cosimo's back.

“Mathias older brother, Cosimo,” Ivette said. “I wonder what he wanted.”

“Sibling fights can be nasty. Is that why Leo says he’s a bad man?”

“Probably,” Ivette replied. “Leo’s an empath. If Cosimo was angry enough to try to hit Mathias, Leo probably felt it. We need to get him a tutor so he can learn how to block negative emotions.”

“Oh,” Devon said. Empaths were becoming more common on earth as their skills were recognized. He kept his inevitable reflections to himself as he returned to the wagon.

By the time he and Ivette had moved all the toddlers except Leo into the waiting cab, Cosimo had disappeared. Mathias lifted Leo’s booster seat and brought it and the boy to Ivette. Ivette strapped the seat into the last place and detached Leo from his stranglehold on his father’s neck.

“What did Cosimo want?” she asked.

“Bad man!” Leo reiterated.

“Yes, darling, he’s a bad man, but your dad will make sure he doesn’t hurt you,” Ivette soothed.

"He didn't like it when I told him we were already married. He said I cheated," Mathias said. "He'll get over it."

“Hurt Daddy,” Leo insisted stubbornly.

“Daddy won’t let him,” Ivette promised.

Devon dumped several duffel bags near their feet. “Here’s the rest of your stuff,” he said. “I’ve got to get back. Keep me posted on the Portal status.”

He gave both of them a hug before getting back into the cart to drive it back through the portal.

Mathias and Ivette slung the duffels onto the roof of the taxi where automatic arms grabbed them.

“I’ve got to report in,” he said, but he pulled her into a deep kiss anyway. “That’s on account,” he said with a grin. “There’s more where it came from.”

Ivette snorted and gave him a playful push. “I can hardly wait,” she retorted. She cast an eye over the children to make sure no one had managed to unstrap themselves and put a finger on the DNA credit receipt her pink clad driver was holding out.

“Hayes Compound,” she said.

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NO MORE TO ROAM

EARTHBURY, THE capital city of Arcadia, was built at the base of a rugged mountain range the colonists had dubbed the Fractured Hills. Compared to the rustic charm of Laughing Mountain, Earthbury roared its adherence to science and technology. The backdrop of rich crop fields surrounding it only emphasized its modern wonders. Carolina, the taxi driver, took her sleek pink sled through downtown with its plethora of culinary food carts, bakeries and concession stands. Ivette sighed and tried to relax. She was home but she had a few unpleasant chores to handle before she and Mathias could move into the Lake House, a property she had inherited from her maternal grandmother.

The ride from the Portal terminal took about twenty minutes and seemed longer, accompanied as it was by Jillian’s constant demands of “Out! Out!”, Leo continuing to talk about the bad man, and Donatello and Rafael bickering over a stuffed toy elephant. Gabriel, Daphne and Francesca simply stared out the windows in wonder.

Ivette fixed the mirror on the passenger seat so she could watch her children and make sure none of them managed to unstrap themselves from his or her booster seat.

Carolina shuddered. “How can you stand it? Doesn’t it drive you nuts?”

Ivette considered the notion in surprise. “No, actually it doesn’t,” she said with some astonishment. “It’s just a little healthy individualism being expressed. I’d be worried if they were too cowed to act out.”

Hayes Compound was on the edge of the city. The defensive armament on the compound was artfully hidden by a tall white wall and wrought Iron gates giving the complex the appearance of an opulent home for the idle rich. Carolina stopped behind a loaded sled. “Looks as if we have to wait in line,” she said. “Isn’t that the sled with your baby furniture?”

Ivette scowled. “Yes, it is,” she said. She got out of the cab amid a chorus of complaints from the kids. She stuck her head back in the door to reassure them. “I’ll be right back,” she said. "You wait here for Mommy."

Leaving the door open, she walked to the gate where a middle-aged guard was arguing with Georgios.

“What’s the trouble here?” she demanded.

Georgios thrust a thumb over his shoulder at the guard. “This yahoo won’t open the gate,” he said.

“Is that right?” she asked.

The guard scowled at her. “The Colonel doesn’t want any riff-raff coming in here.”

Ivette looked him over from his head to his heels until he squirmed. “Open the gate,” she said, “and I might forget to tell my mother you just called her daughter and grandchildren riff-raff.”

“If you don’t leave, I’ll call the watch,” he said, ignoring her speech and resting his hand on his pistol.

Ivette pulled her sleeve back and tapped the wrist band control. The lock on the gates clicked and they swung open.

“Drive in,” she told Georgios.

The guard reached for his pistol. “If you draw your gun, I’ll kill you,” she warned him.

He hesitated and dove through the gatehouse door and pulled the alarm. Immediately a siren began to wail. “Help!” the guard yelled into the com. “We’re under attack!”

Ivette sighed and tapped her control band again. The siren quit wailing. When Carolina stopped beside her she got back in the car.

“Stop by the steps so I can unload the kids,” she said.

Behind them she could see the guard agitatedly pointing at the vehicles as he spoke to the men who had answered his request for help. Well, if all of them were as new as the idiot manning the gate, they might challenge her. She shrugged. She would deal with it after she released her children.

She unloaded Leo first with instructions to sit on the steps and wait, piling his booster seat on the step above him. Gabriel, Daphne, Don, Rafe, and Fran all copied Leo and obediently sat down. Jillian was next, and Ivette was starting to unstrap Don when she heard her daughter, crow, “Doggie! Doggie!”

Ivette whirled around to see her daughter toddling toward one of her mother’s Guard Voles who had come around the corner, followed by the pack.

“Jillian! No!” Ivette cried and ran to intercept the child, knowing with stomach dropping certainty she wouldn't be fast enough to reach her daughter before she got to the vole pack. Voles were native to Arcadia and used as guard animals; they were naturally territorial and could be vicious. Voles resembled a cross between a furry velociraptor and a three-foot-tall Meerkat. They had a wedge-shaped face, a wide powerful jaw, sharp fangs, and a long, bright blue tongue. Their aggressiveness made them excellent guard animals.

To her astonishment, the Vole in the lead sat down and allowed Jillian to hug her, slurping her bright blue tongue across the little girl’s face.

“Nice doggie!” Jillian crowed.

The kennel master had followed the pack. He too stopped dead when he realized what was happening.

“Jillian, please come here,” Ivette kept her voice steady with an effort.

Jillian looked over her shoulder. “Can the doggie come?”

“Yes, just please come to Momma.”

“It’s alright ma’am,” the kennel master had taken a small scanner out of his pocket and ran it over the pair.  He held it out so Ivette could see the readings. “Your daughter seems to have bonded with Rika. She won’t hurt her now.”

“What about the other children?” Ivette asked.

"It should be okay as long as they are introduced properly," he assured her. Ivette knew her mother's kennel master had a degree in alien species psychology, so she was somewhat reassured, but she didn't relax until Rika had slurped her tongue over every child's face, denoting acceptance of them.

By this time, they had been joined by her mother's major domo, Pritchard. Like most of the old guard, Pritchard was ex-military. He had served the family since before Ivette was born. He had watched the entire episode with the Vole with his hand on his sidearm.

"Welcome home Miss Ivette," he said.

She looked at him with a smile. "It's Mrs. now Prichard. These are my children, Donatello Bernard, Francesca Jeanne, Jillian Edna, Daphne Anne, Leonardo Henry, Rafael Algernon, and Gabriel Michelangelo."

"Fine boys and girls, Mrs. Ivette. I'm sure they will be a credit to the family. And your husband?" he asked a little sternly.

"Mathias is reporting in to his commander," she said. "He'll be here when he finishes. Could you please inform that moron on the gate to let him in when he does? The fool nearly didn't let me in!"

"I'll take care of it," he promised. "I see you brought furniture with you. For the children?"

"Yes, if you could see the beds set up in the nursery and notify Annie Germaine I could use her help, I would appreciate it. I know she's retired, but I'm hoping she can recommend someone."

He nodded and gestured to the two sturdy satellites who had followed him to begin unloading the sled.

"Oh, and Prichard, I'm going to need a sled assigned to me and one to Mathias. One of them needs to accommodate car seats for seven toddlers and apparently Jillian’s vole."

"Of course. I believe Colonel Anastasia is in the parlor if you'd care to join her."

In other words, get out of my hair, Ivette thought, but she smiled at the impatient children. "Come on kids, let's go and meet Grandmama."

"Rika too," Jillian declared.

"Yes, Rika too," Ivette agreed.

Mathias had a more welcoming reception when he reported in. Colonel Terrence McAdams, his commanding officer and head of the Hive, always looked a little rumpled. He was going bald and what hair he had left was turning grey. His unmilitary appearance was one of things making it possible for McAdams to serve as the Head of the Hive, the secret order charged with keeping abreast of threats to the Junta and Junta Rex without arousing suspicion. He was pleased to get the data crystal with the formula to locate planets using Portal technology.