Tales of the Chai Makhani Trio

Elyot loathes the massive Commonwealth ships that hover menacingly over his home world of Adghal. He hates the Commonwealth enforcers who harass the populace even more. But with his mother missing so long she surely must be dead, Elyot keeps his head down and strives to avoid notice. And he succeeds until the day two strangers appear in the tavern where he waits tables. One dressed in rags with her hands bloodied and bruised, the other in finery beyond the means of the average citizen of Adghal, but both sharing an anxious jumpiness and a fondness for deep hoods to hide their faces. Then a squad of enforcers troop in. Just looking for an after-shift drink? Or something more sinister? Elyot knows with enforcers, one shifts to the other in the blink of an eye. And that squad sits between everyone in the subterranean tavern and the only way out.

With the tavern where he works as well as life as he knows it literally on fire, Elyot takes the only possible way out. Down into the sewers that lead deeper into the catacombs. No one knows for sure what lurks in the depths. But every child knows the stories. He just wants to lead his new companions Keani and Alextra to safety. But with the enforcers dogging their steps and the caverns themselves conspiring to drive the three ever deeper, any hope for safety vanishes. The three know what the enforcers intend. But what lurks in the deep? Just might be worse. "The Maze and the Maw" is the second episode in the ongoing monthly science fiction adventure serial TALES OF THE CHAI MAKHANI TRIO.

Elyot, Keani and Alextra escaped the ancient monster at the heart of the catacombs under the city. But the Commonwealth enforcers launch search shuttles, and the side of the mountain offers no cover. The city above? No longer a safe haven for them. But below lies impenetrable jungle, stretching to the horizon in all directions. Keani loathes the idea of facing its many dangers. But she loathes the idea of abandoning her new friends even more. She fails to talk them out of it, but soon enough they will know just why facing squads of enforcers struck her as the better plan. "In the Jungle of a Thousand Easy Deaths" is the third episode in the ongoing monthly science fiction adventure serial TALES OF THE CHAI MAKHANI TRIO.