The Island Experiment
Page 26
She took it all in. This ship was darker than the Calypso, but much more spacious. She was grateful, because after so long in the fresh, open air of Kepos, she was dreading the sterile quiet of space. They had spent three months on this planet, from their first crash landing to the final repair of the colonizer.
It was hard to believe that the repairs were complete. The segment of the colonizer that contained the fabricator had been detached and situated right next to the Ficaran settlement. They had extended the newly fabricated walls around it, like a cell bringing in a particle via endocytosis.
In addition to Brian and his father, a few dozen colonists had decided to join them, but that was it. Everyone else was staying, ready to rebuild walls and repair relationships. The Aratians had also asked to send along the Green Cloaks, and Oberon had agreed, grudgingly. It turned out most of them wanted to leave, which was no surprise to Dione. They were outcasts, and in some cases, still prisoners, here on Kepos. Their only hope for a future lay elsewhere.
As eager as she was to go home, something heavy settled in the pit of her stomach. They had been out of touch with anyone in the Bubble for months. The Vens had been ramping up their attacks before they’d left, and she had no idea what they had been up to during her stay on Kepos. The Alliance was hiding information from the public, from officials like her father, but for what purpose? She wanted to believe that it was to protect humanity, but Bel and Zane’s skepticism was infectious. Once they returned to civilization, they would have tough choices to make about what to do with the information they had found on the datacore.
And what about the Sugians? Could they be allies, or would they compound the threat posed by the Vens?
One thing was clear. War was coming. It was coming for the Vens, and it was coming for humanity.
Thank You
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Acknowledgments
As always, without the support of my husband Jacob and my mom Jane, I couldn’t pursue this dream. Their encouragement means the world to me. Thank you to my son Valen for being a good napper and letting me get in some writing time. Thank you to my wonderful beta readers: Maggie Burnside, TR Dillon, Jane Eickhoff, Ralph Eickhoff, Adrianna Foster, Donna Royston, Bradford Karl Slocum, and Martin Wilsey. Thanks to Emma G. Rose for helping me with my blurb. Shout out to The Hourlings. Thank you for the discussion, support, and excellent insights. I’d also like thank Jessica Hatch of Hatch Editorial Services for continuing to teach me the grammatical errors of my ways.
Most importantly, thank you, dear reader, for sticking with me this long!
About the Author
Erica Rue is a reader and writer of science fiction and fantasy, especially YA. Her abandoned biology major and handful of astronomy classes have prepared her well for writing sci-fi. She enjoys learning new words and promptly forgetting them so that she can rediscover them. When she's not writing, she forgets to water her garden, completes every side quest she triggers, and boosts her dog's self-esteem.
Also by Erica Rue
The Kepos Chronicles
The Kepos Problem
The Ven Hypothesis
The Island Experiment
Short Stories
“Trompe l’Oeil” in The Curator (anthology)