Seedlings

Shattered Empire #2

by Cora Buhlert

Once Ethan Summerton was the heir to a lordship, and a whole planet besides. But all that was taken from him, when his father decided to side with the Galactic Rebellion against the Fifth Human Empire and was murdered for his troubles along with the entire Summerton family, leaving Ethan the only survivor.

Now, cooped up with more than two thousand other Rebels in the eternal night of the planet Pyrs, Ethan Summerton is reduced to tending the rebel base's greenhouse. Not that he minds – Ethan has never been a snob and besides, he's always liked gardening. Besides, it gives him the chance to impress his new best friend Holly with the crops he's growing.

A hardened mercenary, Holly di Marco doesn't have much use for gardens and greenhouses and strange leafy things. But they matter to Ethan and since Holly is supposed to take care of him, she tries to feign interest as well.

But then one day, an incident involving a lost little girl, chickens and batavia lettuce shows her what Ethan Summerton is truly made of.

This is a short story of 6700 words or approximately 20 print pages in the Shattered Empire universe, but may be read as a standalone.

36 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 5, 2014

About the author

Born on April 18, 1973, in Bremen, Germany, where she still lives today, she graduated from the University of Bremen with an MA degree in English.

She writes short stories, non-fiction and poetry in English and occasionally in German

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third story in Cora Buhlert's Shattered Empire science fiction space opera series and it's the shortest story. In fact, at about 7,000 words, it's typical short story length. The first two in the series were novellas as are the last three.

This short story surprised me at first. I was happy to see Buhlert picking up where the last story left off, with the key characters of Holly and Ethan, and their friendship/guardianship relationship. Ethan, unsurprisingly, found a role to play in the Rebellion where he could put his farming skills to use, winning the respect and admiration of absolutely no one, not even Holly. Rebel fighter pilots or farmers, who is the more glamorous?

The story despite its short length starts slowly. There is a lot of exposition and recapping, presumably for readers who haven't read the first two entries. Despite how much I like Buhlert's writing style and care about these characters she has created, I felt she was writing the first story in this series I could give just four stars to. After all, to give her five stars for every entry, well that shows an inability to discriminate. Right? I mean, if I gave every story five stars I'd just come across as some sort of crazed fan boy. So, I was actually happy to be reading a story I felt was headed for solid four-star territory, when all of a sudden Buhlert kicked it up a notch and worked her magic yet again.

Although the setting is science fiction, with an empire as corrupt and in decline as the one in Asimov's Foundation series, the stories are about the characters. They could be in any work of fiction, genre or non-genre. I appreciate that they're in SF while wondering if that fact will limit Buhlert's audience. Do SF readers want intensely drawn character studies like this? I don't know. I know I sure appreciate this fine writing.

Ultimately, this story is a love story of sorts, I think. Holly is coming to love Ethan. What is Ethan doing to win that love? Flights of derring do? By no means. This is not a Hans Solo, Princess Leia improbable pairing. This is a story about a young man earning the love of a worthy woman the same way it happens in real life, simply by being a kind, thoughtful, and caring person. It's why, I think, my wife loves me. What a beautiful and inspiring portrayal of the best of human nature this story is!