Spotlight: The 5 Moons of Tiiana by Paul T. Harry

The 5 Moons of Tiiana by Paul T. Harry
Genre: Science Fiction
Tone: Adventure, mystery, excitement mixed with drama and humor.

Description:
The 5 Moons of Tiiana is a science fiction narration on a soldier caught in the middle of an interstellar war, faced with rescuing the princess he loves, and solving an ancient alien mystery that might bring peace to the galaxy.

Rez Cantor is a captain in the Imperial Army’s Shadow Guard, and the personal attaché to Leanna, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the Emperor, and sole heir to the Melelan throne.

On the eve of a treaty signing ending a twelve-year war between the Relcor and the Empire, Rez Cantor learns that the Imperial family has been slated for death.

Under orders from his Queen, Rez is given a final command–save the Princess at all costs. Unprepared, bewildered, and overwhelmed, Rez has only hours to formulate a plan, break into the Imperial Palace, and whisk the princess away before the Relcor learn of the deceit.

Not to be stymied, Rez is partially successful in his efforts. He steals Leanna away, and the two flee Melela in a spaceship, along with others of the Imperial Guard, including Rez’s arch nemesis, Philip Golan—but at the edge of space tragedy strikes. Their ship is nuked as it enters warp, and what happens next transcends all Rez knows or understands. Knocked unconscious during their tumultuous escape, Rez awakens to find himself on a beach–alone–without the princess and no idea where he is.  His predicament worsens as he begins to experience his new environment–an alien moon that harbors new hostilities and challenges at every turn, including a metal-eating cloud that appears to be both alive and deadly.

So begins the sojourn of Rez Cantor upon the Moons of Tiiana.

Trapped upon the water-covered moon of Urlena, Rez is captured by the water-breathing Aquella, genetically altered, and made a slave. For two years he labors in the ore mines at the bottom of the sea for his new aquatic masters. Determined to regain control of his life, Rez manages to escape. He makes his way to the moon’s surface and finds an ancient decaying city where he takes up residence. It is here, while fighting for survival, that he stumbles across a transfer point leading to another moon–Boutal.

Rez arrives on Boutal, sick and emaciated from his life as an Aquellian slave. He is found by a mystic called Ahska along with her son, Oolat, a giant humanoid ape-wolf. Together, these two nurse Rez back to health, while initiating him into life upon Boutal–a pre-industrial, medieval society, harboring many secrets. It is on Boutal that Rez begins to realize his destiny, though he lacks true understanding. It is only through a series of events, including the color of his skin being changed, that Rez learns that Boutal is under siege from external forces and that the Princess of Melela is alive and well. She is now a full-grown woman, and a dark-skinned beauty in her own right, easily capturing Rez’s heart. The only obstacle to their reuniting is the fact that she is now married to Hazadek, the medieval King of Casita.

Stealing Leanna from Hazadek, Rez and the Princess flee to the northern mountains of Luskia where, with Oolat’s help, they begin to look for a way home. It is during this time that Leanna becomes pregnant. Thrilled at the prospect of being a father, Rez becomes obsessed with finding a way back to Melela, but fate has other plans. The pyramid transfer point they discover in the Northern Plains is under the control of another alien race–the Zecla. The Zecla are a malevolent warrior race of spider-wasps who live on the moon of Zin. They are locusts that propagate every two thousand years, and to meet their biological needs they migrate, bringing death and destruction to everyone in their wake. As fate would have it, they have found access to Boutal and are preparing for an invasion. On their initial foray they kidnap Leanna and take her back to Zin.

In a desperate effort to find Leanna, Rez inadvertently journeys to the moon of Aura where he is reunited with his old nemesis, Philip Golan, the scientist and pilot who helped him and the Princess escape from Melela. Originally enemies, Rez finds that things have changed drastically for Philip–he’s no longer human. During their escape from Melela, Philip was critically injured, and while Rez ended up a slave on Urlena, Philip in turn ended up on the moon of Aura–a moon populated by robots. With extensive injuries to his body, the robots saved Philip the only way they knew how, by converting him to a wheelchair bound cyborg.

Because Philip is a genius, and the fact that he is linked with the robot race of Aura, he has gained an understanding of what has transpired upon the moons of Tiiana. He educates Rez on the two thousand-year-old war that ripped the moons of Tiiana apart. He also provides Rez with a way to save Leanna, for she is in grave danger. It is on Zin that Leanna lies in stasis, as fodder for the Zecla Queen’s hatchlings and her days are numbered. Sealing Rez within a suit of metallic armor, Philip transfers Rez to Zin with a compliment of six robots. Here, our hero races against time and the trials of an inhospitable environment. On one side, Zin is bombarded by radiation from Tiiana, on the other, the moon it is subjected the freezing reaches of space, and in the middle are millions of Zecla preparing for war.

Ever so successful in his efforts, Rez manages to grab Leanna and depart Zin–whereupon Philip’s robots detonate three nuclear weapons upon the moon. These weapons devastate Zin and the Zecla, hopefully destroying their ability to invade the other moons of Tiiana. Unfortunately, all is not well. Leanna is critically injured and lies in a coma, and Philip with all his know how and robot science is unable to help her.  She is dying.

Desperate to save his love, Rez turns to the only beings he has yet to meet–the Visi, the healers of the moon, Vashia.  Calling to them, he pleads for their help, which they eventually grant.  It is on Vashia that things begin to make sense for Rez.  It seems that while the Visi are elusive in their nature, they play a far more important role in the events that are transpiring on the moons of Tiiana than anyone knows. The airy life forms take Leanna amongst them and begin to reaffirm her body from a genetic level up–they also inform Rez that the Zecla are not dead. They are in fact, regrouping.

Rez’s destiny becomes clear.  He must somehow unite all the moons to fight the Zecla.  If he fails everyone will die.  Traveling between the moons Rez seeks a way to bring all the races together to stop the Zecla, but in order to do so he must overcome his own prejudices, and the racial hostilities that plague each moon.  Unwavering in his duty, Rez begins to pull the moons together, preparing each one for the struggle that lies ahead. On one side are the Aquella of Urlena, the Solula and Motula from Boutal, the Auraian robots of Aura and the Visi. On the other side are the Zecla and the Brata, a race of flying gargoyles who inhabit the volcanic islands of Boutal. It is these enemies who will meet in the Aritonian desert of Boutal for the final battle and the survival of the moons of Tiiana.

In the final outcome, Rez is successful in his mission.  He saves the Moons of Tiiana by restoring balance to the moons. The outcome is even brighter for Rez because Leanna is once again restored and Philip has made it possible for them to return to Melela in a new spaceship.  Rez’s only concern is the uncertainty of what is waiting for them on Melela.  When they left the Relcor had conquered everything and were bombing Melela into oblivion.  What will they find there?  If he returns with the Princess, will she be safe?  With these unanswered questions lurking in the background, Rez and Leanna return to space, taking with them Giragoc, the viral cloud weapon that Rez first encountered upon arriving on Urlena. The metal eating cloud has plagued the moon for almost 2000 years, nearly destroying it. With this last charitable effort, Rez is under the assumption that he and Leanna are taking Giragoc into deep space where he will be left to die, but that is not the case. The Visi have other plans.

Warping through space Rez is perplexed by the fact that Giragoc is following their ship as they make each jump through space–and he’s getting closer.  Suddenly on their last jump, Rez is given another surprise; he and Leanna have not been returned to Melelan space.  Instead they have landed in orbit around the Relcor’s home world.  Rez is in total panic–this is a total screw up, and their ship now under attack from the Relcor. What have the Visi done?

Rez’s apprehension is short lived and he realizes that all is as it should be.  He sees Giragoc’s form pouring through the warp hole behind them and the hundreds of Relcor ships approaching–a smile crosses his face–he understands what the Visi have done. The Relcor are a metal based life form–metallic hybrids–the very substance that Giragoc craves and he is famished.  With tears of joy running down his face, Rez understands that the Visi have just given his portion of the universe the only weapon capable of destroying the Relcor.  And they’ve just dropped it on their doorstep.  He and Leanna can now return home to rebuild their lives and their world.

Meet the Author: Paul T. Harry

Paul T. Harry attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas as an English major with a theater arts minor before beginning his career as a writer and music producer. He also worked as an editor with Second Avenue Songwriter’s magazine and has spent the last 30 years writing novels, screenplays and short stories. Paul is married with four children and resides in Gold Canyon, outside Phoenix.

Visit him on his Website -- Twitter -- Goodreads

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