“Thank you. For saying that.” She laughed weakly and took a long sip of water. “I think I’m more tired than when I laid down.”
I reached over to ruffle her hair, which was damp and sticking to her scalp. “Just speaking the truth. If we were all more like you, maybe we wouldn’t have been duped so easily.”
“Nah. The universe just wouldn’t be right if there wasn’t a Higgens in it. One of me is plenty.”
I smiled at that, but when I went to pull my hand away from her head, she gripped it for a moment. Our fingers interlaced, and she leaned forward to rest against me.
“When we were captured…is what happened in there going to follow me forever?” she whispered, her weight warm and damp against me.
“In some ways, yeah. In some ways, no,” I answered honestly. I valued her far too much to try to sugarcoat things in any way. “But you’ll always have us around to help with it.”
“You know, I think you’re the only person I’ve ever believed means that when they say it.”
“And I always will.”
Read the rest of the story here:
amazon.com/dp/B078G25J4X
PREVIEW: RECRUIT
JACK FORGE SAT in the lecture theater watching the hands on his small silver pocket watch tick across its shimmering pearl face. The latest grades would be revealed in a few moments. The room was silent as the students counted down the seconds.
Attendance at his brother’s funeral had been authorized, so he had been free to leave his studies and attend. Jack knew missing time would count against his grade, but he was on top of his studies and his grades were excellent. He could afford to drop a few points and still maintain his two-plus student rating.
The recruiting sergeant stood at the front of the theater next to Professor Bowen. One of these men wanted the students to maintain their two-plus, the other did not. His classmates watched the seconds tick down on the large display. Jack watched on his small family heirloom. It was all he had left of his family.
The second hand reached the top of its final round. Jack heard the ripples of distress and gasps of horror as the students whose grades had dropped realized they were now the property of the military.
Jack looked up to the display. He picked out his name. He saw it there pulsing on the screen in red, a pattern that could only mean one thing. He scanned across to his grade. Two. Only two. The plus was missing for the first time in his three semesters. Three other names pulsed. Jack knew them all. He’d studied with them, socialized with them, laughed with them. He would most likely never see them again.
The sergeant barked out transfer orders to the first name on the list. Jack watched as the second hand ticked along. He was only seventeen seconds into his new life when his name was called out by the recruiting sergeant.
“Jack Forge. Fleet Marine training.”
Jack looked up from his watch. He looked at Professor Bowen. The old man was slumped in a chair, his eyes averted as his class was further reduced in number.
The doors to the lecture theater opened and military police entered. Jack had seen this before. Students had complained and argued, fought and resisted their removal from university to the ranks of the military or some war production facility. The arguments were familiar to Jack. He heard the most common of them now from across the lecture theatre.
The students being drafted into service promised to pull their grades back up. They argued that it was only a small drop. They argued that they were too smart to be sent to the military. The arguments and complaints descended into shouts and screams as the former students were dragged away. Friends shouted their good-byes. Lovers kissed and cried. As a guard came toward Jack, he tucked away his watch and stood. With a nod to his escort, he walked down the steps at the side of the lecture theater toward the open door.
Read the rest of the story here:
amazon.com/dp/B07695FRGG
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Mimic and the Space Engineer
1. Digging Up the Future
2. Shifting Paradigm
3. All You Can Eat Buffet
4. Friends in Unusual Places
5. Scan This
6. Pillow Talk
7. Imitation is the Finest Form of Flattery
8. Unlikely Allies
Mimic and the Journey Home
I. Through the Wormhole
1. Space Age Slip N’ Slide
2. Some Semblance of a Plan
3. Touchdown
4. The Great Unknown
5. Old Dog, New Tricks
6. Creating a Void
7. Bon Appetite, it’s Dinner and a Show
II. The Journey Home
8. Waking Up Lonely
9. Progress is Progress
10. Over-hyping the Finale
11. Memories in Gridlock
12. The Plan in Action
13. Nice Place for an Epilogue
Mimic and the Fight for Freedom
1. Say What Now?
2. Slice of Life
3. Total Shut Out
4. Danger Alert
5. Bound in Red Tape
6. Grand Theft Spaceship
7. It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better
8. Bully
9. The Dregs of Monotony
10. Surprise
11. The Most Welcome Case of De Ja Vu
12. Grand Theft Spaceship Part Deux
13. Dodgeball, Extreme Cruiser Edition
Thank You
Free Story
Preview: Mimic Raises an Army
Preview: Recruit
Mimic and the Space Engineer Boxed Set, Books 1 - 3 Page 25
