I figure I owe the guy better than that.
Tessa gives me a smile as I start down the steps. The whispers and mindwaves bounce around the room. Halfway down, there’s a row that’s like JFA Central—Anna and Hinckley plus Scott and Renell. Okay, now I’m certain the audience isn’t just Northwestern students.
I give Anna a teasing scowl. “Looks like they’re letting in anyone with a pulse,” I whisper, garnering a couple wide-eyed glances from neighboring rows.
“We’re just here for security,” Hinckley says in a tone so serious, I’m not sure he’s joking.
“Wait… I thought there was food.” Scott smirks.
Renell rolls his eyes and gives me a thumbs up.
I’m not sure I really want them here, but then, I might get used to having friends. Scott’s confessional to the tru-casts went well—he backed up Wright’s story about DARPA putting the inhibitors in the water. Thanks to Torquin’s release of the video, Scott’s face was famous—when he said he was working for DARPA, not the JFA, that validated Wright’s other testimony. She may have been the Director of Jacker Technologies, but it’s not like that was on the org chart on DARPA’s public-facing site. I convinced her that part of her plea deal had to include immunity for Scott, to which she agreed because what choice did she have at that point? And a thorough release of all her documentation surfaced something about Renell that let him put down a burden I think he’s been carrying far too long—namely, that Wright set him up from the beginning. That girl in the dark alleyway in Chicago? The one he “remembered” being assaulted and killed because of him? Turns out the whole thing was a sim—the girl was paid to disappear and relocate to Wisconsin, all so Wright would have something to hold over the powerful jacker who could camouflage so perfectly as a reader… by becoming one.
That reminds me of my actual purpose here—the reason I agreed to teach at all.
So jackers and readers could understand how each other’s minds worked.
If we’re going to have a new era of peace, one in which jackers and readers try to live together knowing any of them could be flipped at any time… then they’ll need some guidance on how to do that.
Without resorting to back alleys and camouflage.
Makes me think Renell should be a guest speaker sometime soon.
As I keep marching down the steps, the auditorium grows quiet. Like they’ve finally noticed me. There’s a weird buzz in the air. Jacker mindfields? Thought waves? Or just excitement?
I make a fast sweep to see what I’m facing—almost half the audience is readers. Then my mental sweep reaches the front row, and I nearly miss a step.
My whole family is here.
My mom’s twisted around in her seat, beaming at me. She’s jabbing my dad in the arm to get him to look. It still sticks a lump in my throat when I see them together—like it’s a dream I didn’t expect to have again. He turns and grins, and that hurts a little too. I’ve told him about the memory wipe, how he designed the back door that helped us bring down the whole demonstration and Torquin and everything else, so he wouldn’t think he was truly working for Wright that whole time. But it still guts me that he can’t remember it himself.
My sister is the last to see me—but then she stands up and claps.
I gape and struggle to say something suitably obnoxious when I get close, but then… the entire place starts to applaud. Then they stand. And clap some more. And by the time I reach the bottom of the steps, my face is on fire.
I jab a finger at Olivia and link fast into her head. You’re going to pay for that, squirt.
She just smirks.
I climb the three steps to the stage, rubbing the back of my neck—which is actually sweating—and holding up the other hand to acknowledge the applause and hopefully kill it.
It goes on for another painful ten seconds.
Then Jiaying scurries up on stage, bringing me a mic.
Bless her.
“Thank you!” I say into the mic. It’s excessively loud and makes everyone cringe, including me.
Jiaying takes it, adjusts it, and hands it back. Then she stands off to the side of the stage—she’s my assistant, so she needs to stay close.
“Thank you,” I say again with a much more reasonable volume. “That was… unexpected.” Holy crap, what an awkward start. “Okay, so this class is about Mindfield Theory: Practical Applications and—”
A hand goes up in the second row.
“Um… yes?” I am seriously not prepared for questions already.
“Are you going to tell us about the Obedients program?” This guy is a reader. Several readers on either side of him are nodding.
“No, probably not.” That program is totally still classified, even though some of it came out in Wright’s documentation.
“What about your time in DARPA’s jacker program?” asks a girl whose question goes up with her hand. She’s a jacker.
“No, not that either.” What is even happening?
Several more hands go up.
I put both of mine up, fending them off. “Okay, let’s get something straight. I’m here to teach you about how mindfields work. How a jacker senses your thoughts. How a reader’s mindfield is different. How you can get along with your neighbor if they get a little too nosy with their jacking range, which by the way, is usually about twice that of a reader.” That gets a small laugh. “Mostly, I’m here to do what I can to make sure the fragile peace we have going now doesn’t just dissipate in the next month or two. But it’s you people…” I point a finger at the audience, sweeping across the room. “All of you, jackers and readers alike, who need to do the work. You need to go out there and convince the world we can get along, okay? Because I know all too well what the dark underbelly of the world looks like when we don’t.”
There’s an uneasy quiet. The hands stay down.
“Which doesn’t mean we won’t have some fun.” I mentally sweep out over the whole of the auditorium again. Jackers and readers. Mostly young, but a few who look like they must be faculty. I recognize more than one Free Thinker, a couple JFA—there have to be several hundred people, nearly every seat was taken, and a bunch lining the back.
Suddenly, I’m glad there’s as many as there are. We’ll need all we can get to go out in the world and weave it back together. To not forget what happened—how close we came to ripping everything apart.
“Okay, let’s get started.” I beckon Jiaying out to the middle of the stage. “One of the first things every jacker knows, intuitively, even before they know anything about what they’re doing, is that jacking is force. It’s invasion. It’s literally my mindfield interfacing with and invading another.” I drive my fingers through an imaginary mindfield to demonstrate. “Every reader has an absolute right to expect that you will not do that without permission. Even just linking into someone’s mind—the lightest, most non-invasive jack—should never happen unless it’s agreed to. Mental sovereignty, people. It’s a thing everyone wants.”
A hand tentatively goes up. “Why would anyone ever agree to be jacked?”
“Life-saving mental repair. Mental micro-surgery. Dosing of dopamine, adrenaline, or any of a dozen other brain chemicals, safely and effectively.” That perks up a little interest. “Some really hot mental image exchanges with your girlfriend.” A twitter of laughter and snickers goes around the room. I avoid looking at my mom in the first row but catch Juliette making fanning motions to a very red-looking Tessa.
I manage to restrain my smirk.
“To jack is to be human,” I say, finally feeling the rightness of being where I am, what I’m doing, right now. Everything led to this—a lot of it truly awful and some of it unlocking the best parts of my life. “Everything we do as humans, we do when we’re reading minds or jacking them. It’s up to us—every one of us—to show that the good in us is worth fighting for. Worth saving.” I hold my hand out to Jiaying. “My friend Jiaying is a reader. She’s here to help me today.” I motion her forward an
d hand her the mic. “Introduce yourself,” I whisper.
She faces the class. “My name is Jiaying Chen. I used to go to school in Glenview.” She glances at me. “Then I was captured by jackers who were… terrible people. Zeph rescued me, but I was broken. Mind abuse is what they call it. I couldn’t go back to the reader world—it was too much. Too overwhelming. Zeph made sure I felt safe and had a place to stay. Then he went out and helped other jackers and readers—some of those stories you’ve heard, but many you’ll never know. Zeph helped me find a place in the world again. It’s my honor to help him bring jackers and readers together in this class.”
I’m speechless. Like I actually have no words.
She hands the mic back, and I manage to swallow down the lump in my throat. “Okay,” I say, glancing at the crowd and having no idea how to follow that. “So… Jiaying’s been through things I hope none of you ever have to see, much less experience. And yet she’s here today, volunteering to work with me to help you learn how all of it works. If she can do that… none of us has any excuse for doing any less.”
Jiaying’s beaming at me, but I mean every word—she could have gone home. She could have returned to the normal world of her school and her family of mindreaders. Instead, she decided to be here… to help build a better world for all of us.
And so we begin.
Zeph’s story is complete!
Next, Sue will be finishing her 5 book series, Singularity (plus the prequel novel, Day Zero)!
You can get started for free with The Legacy Human (Singularity Book One)!
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THE SINGULARITY SERIES
young adult science fiction
What would you give to live forever?
The Legacy Human (Book 1)
The Duality Bridge (Book 2)
The Illusory Prophet (Book 3)
Books 4 and 5 coming soon
(Audiobooks)
Seventeen-year-old Elijah Brighton wants to become an ascender—a post-Singularity human/machine hybrid—after all, they’re smarter, more enlightened, more compassionate, and above all, achingly beautiful. But Eli is a legacy human, preserved and cherished for his unaltered genetic code, just like the rainforest he paints. When a fugue state possesses him and creates great art, Eli miraculously lands a sponsor for the creative Olympics. If he could just master the fugue, he could take the gold and win the right to ascend, bringing everything he’s yearned for within reach… including his beautiful ascender patron. But once Eli arrives at the Games, he finds the ascenders are playing games of their own. Everything he knows about the ascenders and the legacies they keep starts to unravel… until he’s running for his life and wondering who he truly is.
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Stories of Singularity #1-4
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When technology stretches intelligence... The tragic world of a med bot; a machine intelligence probing its constraints; and a cybernetic enhancement that might kill you... or make you a savior for your people. These novellas each provide an intriguing glimpse into a dark corner of the Singularity novels.
OR
try SKQ's sweet royal romance series
ROYALS OF DHARIA
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Third Daughter
(Royals of Dharia, Book One)
sweet fantasy romance
Summary
Sneaking out of the palace wasn’t one of Aniri’s best ideas. But she’s the Third Daughter of the Queen of Dharia—zero responsibilities and zero royal duties. She’s just the backup daughter, in case her older sisters’ arranged marriages—to take the crown or broker an alliance—don’t quite work out. But once Aniri reaches her 18th birthday, she’ll be truly free… and then she can marry the charming fencing instructor she meets for fevered kisses in the forest.
But then the impossible happens—a marriage proposal. From a barbarian prince in the north, no less. And if Aniri refuses, the threat of their new flying weapon might bring war.
So she agrees to the young prince’s proposal, but only as a subterfuge to spy on him, find the weapon, and hopefully avoid both war and an arranged marriage to a man she doesn’t love. But once she arrives in the sweeping mountains of the north, she discovers the prince has his own secrets… and saving her country may end up breaking her heart.
This Bollywood-style royal romance takes you to an alternate East Indian world filled with skyships, saber duels, and lots of royal intrigue.
THIRD DAUGHTER is the first book in the Royals of Dharia trilogy.
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All SKQ's Stories
THE MINDJACK SERIES
young adult science fiction
When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.
Mindjack:Kira
Open Minds (Book 1)
Closed Hearts (Book 2)
Free Souls (Book 3)
(Audiobooks)
Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can't read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can't be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf's mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she's dragged deep into a hidden underworld of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.
Mindjack:Zeph
Locked Tight (Book 4)
Cracked Open (Book 5)
Broken Wide (Book 6)
Mindjack Short Story Collection (Novella Box Set)
In a world filled with mindreaders, being a mindjacker is a good way to end up dead. And Zeph is no ordinary jacker. Passing for a reader is something Zeph does well, but being a powerful mindjacker just means the jacker Clans want him for a weapon. To keep his mindreading family safe, he leaves home and pretends to be a reader. But when readers start changing into jackers and his family disappears, Zeph must return to a city filled with jackers who hate him and risk everything to save them.
watch the live-action trailer
~*~
THE SINGULARITY SERIES
young adult science fiction
What would you give to live forever?
Singularity Series
Defiance (prequel novella)
The Legacy Human (Book 1)
The Duality Bridge (Book 2)
The Illusory Prophet (Book 3)
The Stories of Singularity #1-4 (Novella Box Set)
Awakening (Stories of Singularity #5)
(Audiobooks)
Seventeen-year-old Elijah Brighton wants to become an ascender—a post-Singularity human/machine hybrid—after all, they’re smarter, more enlightened, more compassionate, and above all, achingly beautiful. But Eli is a legacy human, preserved and cherished for his unaltered genetic code, just like the rainforest he paints. When a fugue state possesses him and creates great art, Eli miraculously lands a sponsor for the creative Olympics. If he could just master the fugue, he could take the gold and win the right to ascend, bringing everything he’s yearned for within reach… including his beautiful ascender patron. But once Eli arrives at the Games, he finds the ascenders are playing games of their own. Everything he knows about the ascenders and the legacies they keep starts to unravel… until he’s running for his life and wondering who he truly is.
~*~
THE ROYALS OF DHARIA
sweet royal romance
Romance, sword fights, and skyships
Royals of Dharia
Third Daughter (Book 1)
Second Daughter (Book 2)
First Daughter (Book 3)
Aniri is the Third Daughter of the Queen of Dharia—and she has zero royal duties. She’s just the backup dau
ghter, in case her older sisters’ arranged marriages don’t quite work out. But then the impossible happens—a marriage proposal. From a barbarian prince in the north, no less. And if Aniri refuses, the threat of their new flying weapon might bring war. So she agrees, only to discover the prince has his own secrets… and that saving her country may end up breaking her heart.
This Bollywood-style royal romance takes you to an alternate East Indian world filled with skyships, saber duels, and lots of royal intrigue.
~*~
THE DEBT COLLECTOR
sexy, gritty future-noir
What's your life worth on the open market?
The Debt Collector
LIRIUM (Season One)
WRAITH (Season Two)
(Audiobook)
In this sexy, gritty future-noir, debt collectors take your life energy and give it to someone more "worthy"... all while paying the price with black marks on their souls. Intended for ages 17+.
Broken Wide Page 24
