Awakened
Page 34
He pulled another box towards him, then noticed the wall behind it. Everything else was concrete blocks, but there in front of him, hidden perfectly by those big-ass boxes, was a metal door and security pad.
He hauled the box over to the empty floor space and put it next to the others he’d just moved. Puzzled, he wondered what else was down here. It occurred to him that maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t a basement under a stage—maybe the theater had been built as a cover for something else?
Nah, that’s all crazy conspiracy stuff, he told himself. Just got to keep this loony imagination of yours in check. You feel me, Brock Lysta?
But why would a theater need all this space?
It’s a door, Brock Lysta.
With a security pad that looks like something out of the last century controlling access to it. But just a door. If anything were going to come through it, it would have done it long before we got here.
Unless that was what the boxes were for.
Suddenly feeling very spooked, he looked at the door, and then back at the boxes. Then back at the door.
He took a breath and headed back to the lighted area to collect the box he had just put there.
“You boxes are getting your asses put back right fucking now. And then I am talking to Molly about all this basement shit. Just as soon as she gets back here.”
When the boxes from the stack had been put back, he commanded the music system to follow and headed back upstairs, being very sure to lock the keypad access to the basement area as he left.
Pointing towards the remaining stack of boxes, a tiny red diode flashed in the far corner of darkness. A camera lens whirred, refocusing after the activity around the door had subsided. When there was no longer any movement, the transmission timed out and sent the recording back to the master processor before deactivating again.
FINIS
Holo Transmission from OZ
Greetings of the day upon you.
Oz here.
Molly has asked me to be the liaison between her operation and your rather primitive earth communication methods.
I believe you call it email?
Still.
I am here to act as your interface. To help bridge the gap between the dopamine induced hits as you watch Molly through her trials and tribulations as she takes on all manner of shenanigans.
If you’d like to receive such status updates, please go ahead and leave your holo/ email address here:
http://ellleighclarke.com/
As you might have gathered, this transmission will not just be coming through space between our two galaxies, but is also travelling back through time.
I will attempt to send you updates in chronological order but do be advised that occasionally gravitational optics will interfere (no pun intended!) with the sequencing of these packets.
An understanding of all things timey-whimey will be useful in such instances.
Additionally, if you have any feedback for Molly - or her team - do feel free to pass that on through me. All you need to do is hit reply to any of my messages.
I process every communication personally.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Oz
(on behalf of Molly, aka the lady- boss)
Sanguine Squadron 2.0
Gaitune-67,
Sark System,
Loop Galaxy
Author Notes - Ell Leigh Clarke
May 10, 2017
I have a confession.
And I feel a bit nervous sharing this with you so early on, but I feel you ought to know, because it’s already come up a few times on the fb page.
I don’t always understand references to other works of fiction.
I have well, reasons, for the desert island mentality – which I’ll share one day.
But the real thing I need to get off my chest is that the last time I read a fiction book was probably around the age of 11 and that was only because I was too young to see the latest Alien movie.
So I read the books instead.
Prior to that the last fiction book I’d read I was probably about … 8?
So I’m kinda a science-fiction (book) virgin.
Until Michael.
At the age of (redacted) he inspired me to pick up Death Becomes Her, to learn the Kurtherian World and the Anderle voice, but within weeks he had me writing actual words.
He’s spent hours and hours showing me the ropes and turning me into a writer who publishes… from someone who had never published a single story before, didn’t think she could make anyone laugh, and never thought of herself as a writer.
Michael, you’re my Yoda. And my biggest supporter. Thank you doesn’t begin to cover it – but that’s where I’ll start.
THANK YOU.
So, back to my confession. When you guys and gals reference other series and stuff that most avid readers will know and love, you now know that you’re talking to alien from another world.
Now, that’s not to say I haven’t been exposed to other material. I mean, who doesn’t binge watch their life away on Netflix?
(I’m a humongous fan of Doctor Who. I currently have a writing crush on Steven Moffat who is blowing my frikkin mind with his side-splitting dialogues and character development in the current series. And can anyone say Season 5 timey-whimey story arcs?? SWOON! Ok, gimme a moment. Sigh….)
Battle Star Galactica – “just one more episode” was my life well into the wee hours of many a morning and of course, who doesn’t love a bit of Firefly, Doll House, Buffy or Angel. Yeppers – Joss Whedon is on my top five professional crushes.
But though I’m naïve in the ways of the science-fiction written word, I’m pretty versed in the science.
It’s taken me years to be able to talk about it, because I was a geek back before geeks were cool.
Being a chick, in theoretical physics… well, there is a reason I used to hate it when guys would ask what I did. Being smart (and a girl) back then was like being a leper to most of them.
Or worse.
It didn’t help my self-esteem, let’s just leave it at that.
My thesis was in string theory. You know that game where you model particles as string, and D-branes, and then multi-dimensional surfaces? Then that same model that describes the behaviour of a sub-atomic particle turns out to be the same mathematics that describes a black hole?
Yeah.
That kind of thing.
(Edit Michael - Nope – no fucking clue – (this is why she writes the sciency-shit.))
To say I was mesmerised by the mysteries of the universe is an uber-understatement.
So when we started writing Molly, let’s just say I had some material to go off of. (It took me a while to twig why MA would keep asking me, “Well what would you do here?” when we were doing character development discussions! I would keep saying, “Yeah, but I’m not Molly” and then the penny dropped, #SlowStudy.)
And the more I heard him talk about Molly and her internal struggles, the more I felt like he’d been looking into me and just talking about what he sees under the thinly veiled guise of Molly’s construction.
But through writing Molly, I think that I’ve found some solace. I’m certainly a different person now than I was just a few weeks ago.
And this is my deepest hope for anyone who has ever felt like an outcast, rejected or broken: that perhaps in reading about Molly’s adventures and shenanigans you’ll see that you are not alone.
And more importantly, as things evolve, perhaps you will get an embodied sense of how even an outsider can find her tribe. A tribe of likeminded badasses who really get you, care about you and want to stand by your side and make the world a better place with you.
This is for all of us.
If nothing else, I hope to at least have made you laugh!
Ellie x
Receive updates from Oz by registering your holo/ email address here:
ellleighclarke.com
Author Notes - Michael And
erle
May 10, 2017
First, before I go on my little age rant below, let me say THANK YOU for not only reading this book, but also these author notes!
Now…
Ok, let’s be clear I am a little old, but I am not a two-and-a-half-foot tall green puppet that walks around with a cane and spouts sentences in a backwards structure.
I mean, I get it. My version of writing is a little unconventional and all but damn woman, Yoda?
Ouch.
Kidding aside, I really appreciate Ellie’s kind words and the opportunity to take someone that I feel is super smart, and turn her loose creating cool shit for us to read.
Just because she actually knows a lot of this science-stuff had NOTHING to do with my desire to help. Because, that would be self-serving and stuff and all of us know that I am only out there to help others, not to be calling her up (like yesterday) and saying ‘HELP!’.
Example:
Me: Ellie, what the hell is the Pan Galaxy?
Ell: It’s another name for the Milky Way.
Me: Ok, what the hell is the Loop Galaxy?
Ell: It is the Galaxy that
Here is the Wikipedia article for non-sciency authors she pointed me to that has what I needed most.
Pictures.
(
A good picture is worth a thousand sciency-descriptions for me, just saying!
http://www.viewzone.com/milkyway.html
)
So, that is a small example of stuff she would rattle off…Or the time she started talking oscillations (I lost it after three examples related to space… This is why I write Space OPERA… and why I am super glad she is available for getting the answers off of for the test…)
Err, I mean for consulting.
Fuck it. I’m just glad she is on the team and in exchange for teaching her to let out her inner author, she is there to help us on our science at times.
Now, let’s talk this story.
Wow, where to start?
This story is the first in The Age of Expansion, the time AFTER Bethany Anne has left the area where the Etheric Empire has been battling and kicking Kurtherian Ass.
The time when the Etheric Empire is changing to the Etheric Federation and all of the good times that entails.
Further, this area isn’t even IN the Etheric Empire borders at this time, but it is nearby and we will find out if they join…
Or not.
While the setting is certainly different, the big catch here is our protagonist isn’t like most we have in The Kurtherian Gambit in that for some readers, she isn’t going to be a very sympathetic character right off.
No beautiful woman trying to help those who have suffered injustice, but is dying at a young age.
No, Molly is smart, and frankly she is smart enough to know she is broken and she doesn’t fit in exactly, even though she is a damned genius, she can’t figure out how to connect with people or why what she does is even wrong sometimes.
While Ellie will admit she feels like Molly, I know that feeling as well. I am very much a “we need to accomplish XXX” type person, and will work on how to get there, regardless of the rules that might be tweaked, bent or downright broken.
I had to learn at a relatively early age how to allow my mind to create out-of-the-box solutions, and then try to weed out the options that were …Uh, let’s say unappreciated by society?
That is certainly why I STILL have an Indie Publishing OUTLAW mentality, because I don’t like to be told what to do.
And you know what? I don’t think most of you, my readers, like to be told either.
#AmIRight?
So, let’s strap the fuck in and see where Ellie, Molly and the crew take us as we figure out the real secret of The Ascension Myth.
I know where it is going, and for once (after over 40 books), I really wish someone would do the final scene on the big screen that will be in book 12 of this series.
If not, fuck it. We will do it together.
Love you all,
Michael
Ell Leigh Clarke Social Links
http://www.facebook.com/ellleighclarke/
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Join the email list here:
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The email list is changing to something…New. I don’t have enough details but suffice to say there is so much going on in The Kurtherian Gambit Universe, it needs to go out more often than “when the next book hits.”
I hope you enjoy this story!
Michael Anderle
Kurtherian Gambit Series Titles Include:
First Arc
Death Becomes Her (01) - Queen Bitch (02) - Love Lost (03) - Bite This (04)
Never Forsaken (05) - Under My Heel (06) Kneel Or Die (07)
Second Arc
We Will Build (08) - It’s Hell To Choose (09) - Release The Dogs of War (10)
Sued For Peace (11) - We Have Contact (12) - My Ride is a Bitch (13)
Don’t Cross This Line (14)
Third Arc (Due 2017)
Never Submit (15) - Never Surrender (16) - Forever Defend (17)
Might Makes Right (18) - Ahead Full (19) - Capture Death (20)
Life Goes On (21)
**New Series**
The Second Dark Ages
The Dark Messiah (01)
The Boris Chronicles
* With Paul C. Middleton *
Evacuation
Retaliation
Revelation
Restitution 2017
Reclaiming Honor
* With JUSTIN SLOAN *
Justice Is Calling (01)
Claimed By Honor (02)
Judgement Has Fallen (03)
Angel of Reckoning (04)
The Etheric Academy
* With TS PAUL *
ALPHA CLASS (01)
ALPHA CLASS (02)
ALPHA CLASS (03) Coming soon
Terry Henry “TH” Walton Chronicles
* With CRAIG MARTELLE *
Nomad Found (01)
Nomad Redeemed (02)
Nomad Unleashed (03)
Nomad Supreme (04)
Nomad’s Fury (05)
Nomad’s Justice (06)
Trials and Tribulations
* With Natalie Grey *
Risk Be Damned (01)
Damned to Hell (02) coming soon
Hell’s Worst Nightmare (03) coming soon
The Ascension Myth
* With Elle Leigh Clarke *
Awakened (01)
SHORT STORIES
Frank Kurns Stories of the Unknownworld 01 (7.5)
You Don’t Mess with John’s Cousin
Frank Kurns Stories of the Unknownworld 02 (9.5)
Bitch’s Night Out
Frank Kurns Stories of the Unknownworld 02 (13.25)
With Natalie Grey
Bellatrix
AudioBooks
Available at Audible.com and iTunes
The Kurtherian Gambit
Death Becomes Her - Available Now
Queen Bitch – Available Now
Love Lost – Available Now
Reclaiming Honor Series
Justice Is Calling – Available Now
Claimed By Honor – Available Now
Terry Henry “TH” Walton Chronicles
Nomad Found
Nomad Redeemed - Coming Soon
The Etheric Academy
Alpha Class
Alpha Class 2 - Coming soon
Anthologies
Glimpse
Honor in Death
(Michael’s First Few Days)