The bridge spun dizzyingly around Miriam, and she lunged for the railing extending out from the overlook to steady herself. Then she tried—tried so—to stand up straight and proud.
She sensed her daughter’s shadow retreat out of view and watched as this…man…slowly lowered his chin in…respect?
“But it’s not up to Alex to convince you I’m real. It’s up to me, and I accept the challenge. I will do whatever I must, for as long as I must, to earn your trust. I’ve done it before. I can do it again.”
He took a step toward her, and she fought the urge to flee. He sounded so like David, from the rolling ‘r’s of the accent he hadn’t bothered to lose to the easy confidence lending affect to his voice.
She did not understand. She could not find a path that might lead to understanding. She’d never wanted to believe in something so tremendously in her life, but belief, no matter how strong it became, did not make something real. He was gone, so long gone, and nothing could ever bring him back.
Could it?
“When I agreed to take the Stalwart command for the Crux War—pardon me, the 1st Crux War—and leave you and Alex behind, I promised you I would come back to you.
“I remember how the moonlight streamed through our bedroom window that night. It made your skin glow like that of an angel—I didn’t tell you so then, lest you scowl horribly at me for indulging in whimsy. So instead you stared at me with this heartbreaking honesty. I knew the hard logic of your mind was insisting there were no guarantees in life and I shouldn’t make empty promises to you, but I think for once you chose to put aside the logic and believe me anyway.”
He took another step forward, and she forgot fleeing was an option. “It took a while longer than I’d planned, and for this I am so, so sorry, but I’m here now to make good on my promise. I will always keep my promises to you, even if I have to crawl through the chaos of more than one universe to do it.”
His words echoed other, older words he’d said to her, so long ago.
The universe is not ordered, and it will not become so simply because one wishes it. The universe is chaos made manifest…but even the chaos needs someone willing to stand in the center of it and say ‘enough.’
Dammit, if anyone had ever existed who could find a way, he would find a way. He was just that hardheaded.
“Moya vselennaya, there are so many more stars in the heavens than I imagined there were, and I still love you more than all of them.”
The floor fell out from underneath her, and she landed on her knees. Her face was wet, she thought. She couldn’t breathe, again. This was why the bridge was empty, wasn’t it?
She blinked through blurred vision that refused to clear. “…David?”
He dropped to his knees in front of her, and his palms pressed gently against her cheeks. His palms—she’d never forgotten how they felt. His eyes shone liquid silver, like the night when she’d chosen to believe in impossible promises.
“Hi, Miri.”
DON’T MISS THE THRILLING CONCLUSION TO THE AURORA RESONANT TRILOGY AND THE AURORA RHAPSODY SAGA:
AURORA RESONANT BOOK THREE
REQUIEM
COMING WINTER 2017
***
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
I published Starshine in March of 2014. In the back of the book I put a short note asking readers to consider leaving a review or talking about the book with their friends. Since that time I’ve had the unmitigated pleasure of watching my readers do exactly that, and there has never been a more wonderful and humbling experience in my life. There’s no way to properly thank you for that support, but know you changed my life and made my dreams a reality.
I’ll make the same request now. If you loved RUBICON, tell someone. If you bought the book on Amazon, consider leaving a review. If you downloaded the book off a website with Russian text in the margins and pictures of cartoon video game characters in the sidebar, consider recommending it to others.
As I’ve said before, reviews are the lifeblood of a book’s success, and there is no single thing that will sell a book better than word-of-mouth. My part of this deal is to write a book worth talking about—your part of the deal is to do the talking. If you all keep doing your bit, I get to write a lot more books for you.
This time I’m also going to make a second request. Rubicon was an independently published novel, written by one person and worked on by a small team of colleagues. Right now there are thousands of writers out there chasing this same dream.
Go to Amazon and surf until you find an author you like the sound of. Take a small chance with a few dollars and a few hours of your time. In doing so, you may be changing those authors’ lives by giving visibility to people who until recently were shut out of publishing, but who have something they need to say. It’s a revolution, and it’s waiting on you.
Lastly, I love hearing from my readers. Seriously. Just like I don’t have a publisher or an agent, I don’t have “fans.” I have readers who buy and read my books, and friends who do that then reach out to me through email or social media. If you loved the book—or if you didn’t—let me know. The beauty of independent publishing is its simplicity: there’s the writer and the readers. Without any overhead, I can find out what I’m doing right and wrong directly from you, which is invaluable in making the next book better than this one. And the one after that. And the twenty after that.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
G. S. JENNSEN lives in Colorado with her husband and two dogs. Rubicon is her eighth novel, all published by her imprint, Hypernova Publishing. She has become an internationally bestselling author since her first novel, Starshine, was published in March 2014. She has chosen to continue writing under an independent publishing model to ensure the integrity of the Aurora Rhapsody series and her ability to execute on the vision she’s had for it since its genesis.
While she has been a lawyer, a software engineer and an editor, she’s found the life of a full-time author preferable by several orders of magnitude, which means you can expect the next book in the Aurora Rhapsody series in just a few months.
When she isn’t writing, she’s gaming or working out or getting lost in the Colorado mountains that loom large outside the windows in her home. Or she’s dealing with a flooded basement, or standing in a line at Walmart reading the tabloid headlines and wondering who all of those people are. Or sitting on her back porch with a glass of wine, looking up at the stars, trying to figure out what could be up there.
Title Page
Dedication & Acknowledgments
Aurora Rhapsody
Maps
Dramatis Personae
The Story So Far
Contents Overview
__________________
PART I: FOR EVERY ACTION
1: Machim Fleet Fabrication Center
2: Anarch Post Satus
-- Planet MW-2189C
-- AFS Stalwart II
3: AFS Stalwart II
4: Chionis
5: Prótos Agora
__________________
PART II: THE DOPPLER EFFECT
6: Romane (Aurora)
7: AFS Stalwart II
8: Chionis
9: Siyane
-- Serifos
10: Serifos
11: Sagittae Gateway
___________________
PART III: TRANSCENDENTAL DISARRAY
12: AFS Stalwart II
13: Solum
14: Chionis
-- Mosaic
15: AFS Stalwart II
16: Siyane
17: Anarch Post Satus
-- AFS Stalwart II
18: Palaemon
____________________
PART IV: SHATTERSHOT
19: Earth (Aurora)
20: Anarch Post Satus
-- Palaemon
21: Presidio (Aurora)
-- Romane (Aurora)
22: Siyane
23: Chionis
24: Ekos-2
25: Palaemon
26: Siyane
____________________
PART V: SECRETS, LIES & SPACETIME MANIFOLDS
27: MW Sector 49 Storage Depot
28: Chionis
29: AFS Saratoga
30: Siyane
31: Palaemon
32: AFS Stalwart II
33: AFS Tamao
34: Palaemon
____________________
PART VI: LAWS OF MOTION
35: Palaemon
36: Palaemon
37: Siyane
-- Palaemon
38: Siyane
39: Palaemon
40: Siyane
-- AFS Saratoga
41: Milky Way Sector 62
-- Machimis
42: AFS Columbia
-- AFS Saratoga
43: Exobiology Research Lab #4
44: Exobiology Research Lab #4
-- Solum
____________________
PART VII: ILLUMINE
45: Siyane
46: Chionis
47: Siyane
-- Maffei I Galaxy
48: Palaemon
49: Palaemon
50: Anarch Post Satus
-- Palaemon
51: Siyane
-- Maffei I Galaxy
52: Prótos Agora
53: Siyane
54: AFS Saratoga
--Siyane
55: Machimis Stellar System
____________________
PART VIII: LIFE, INTERRUPTED
56: Centaurus Arx
--Chalmun Station Asteroid
57: Anarch Post Satus
58: Solum
59: Centaurus Arx
-- Siyane
60: Palaemon
61: Anarch Post Satus
62: AFS Stalwart II
____________________
Author’s Note
About the Author
Rubicon Blurb
Rubicon: Aurora Resonant Book Two (Aurora Rhapsody 8) Page 40
