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And keep turning the page to read a sample of Deimos Station, part two of the Broken Stars series.
Deimos Station Chapter One
The gray sphere plummeted into Earth’s atmosphere, riding shock waves of superheated air. Despite the intense friction on the sphere’s hull, the three passengers on board barely registered the steady tremors as they reclined on their couches.
Only Carmen Vincent stood.
Her mind commanded the virtual controls of the harvester while it was simultaneously logged into one of the Cordice spindlebots inside the sphere. Perfectly balanced, strong, and nimble, the tall, thin, metallic humanoid machine responded instantly to every command, each action informed by the harvester computer in case of an emergency.
Landing a stolen spaceship wasn’t half as hard as she expected.
Meanwhile, her body slept.
She lay millions of miles away on board the translator She Who Waits’ shuttle.
Without Carmen’s consciousness present, the delay in issuing orders would mean minutes in which anything might happen to the ship. And since the ship wasn’t hers, she thought it would be a good idea not to damage it any more than she already had. She would give it back after she delivered her passengers. The Cordice could retrieve it once she arrived on the Framework and relinquished the encryption. But they would have to be patient for a few more hours.
An illuminated bubble screen on top of the bot displayed her face as she watched her sister sleep.
Jenna Vincent had lost part of her leg and suffered a gunshot wound. The leg had been an accident when evading the malfunctioning Cordice caretaker. The Melded Primary Executive had later shot her, causing a critical injury that now threatened her life. The Melded had been trying to commandeer the harvester. Carmen and Jenna hadn’t given it to them.
The final decision to return home had been Jenna’s, as the options for treatment back on board the Cordice ship were to either upload her sister to their simulation or allow the Melded to perform surgery.
Since the Melded leader had been responsible for almost murdering Jenna, Carmen didn’t want any of them to touch her sister. And uploading meant life in a computer. No matter how perfect the Cordice simulation seemed, the thought chilled her.
Jenna had a hitch in her breath. A choking cough began. Carmen drew closer, not sure what to do.
“Hang in there, Jen.”
Faster. They needed to go faster. But how much faster could they go?
Carmen surveyed the data screens over and over. Faster meant more g’s, resulting in an equally harsh slowdown. When they had first been abducted by their mom, they had been on board one of the harvester spheres and had barely noticed motion. Not the case now. But the sooner she could get Jenna to the hospital, the sooner doctors—human doctors—could start treating her.
The stray thought resulted in an instant response.
The sphere began accelerating. While Carmen barely felt a thing through the sensory inputs on the bot, her readouts confirmed it.
Agent Barrett was screaming. “Are you still in control of this thing?”
What had she done? She tried to calm herself and realized she was having a hard time keeping focused. She had been awake too long. Her strange ordeal hadn’t afforded her much chance of rest and now her sister was counting on her.
With the touch of a virtual control, the harvester’s trailing spheres slowed theirs down via an electromagnetic beam. Too much deceleration. A jolt rocked the sphere, and the passengers instantly experienced the heightened pressure, forcing them deeper into their couches.
Barrett tried to look at her but could barely raise his head. “What’s happening? Carmen?”
“Everything is going well. I’m slowing us down. We’ll land back at Garden Village General and you’ll get the care you both need.”
“You’re sure you can stop us?”
“Yes. You’re almost home.”
He pressed his eyes closed. His broken hand remained swollen. A slightly overweight man in his thirties, he looked as worn and exhausted as she felt. She had been awake during most of their return trip.
She tried to shake the fuzz from her brain. Even the shadows within the sphere seemed to move with a life of their own. But rest would come later. She couldn’t afford the luxury of relaxing yet.
Through it all Jenna remained unconscious, having slept for most of the two-day-long return trip from Mars. Neither of them had known responding to their mother’s call for help would result in their being abducted and thrust into a situation beyond anything they could ever dream of. Alien refugees. The harvester, which everyone wanted but Jenna and Carmen controlled. And an enemy which threatened to destroy everyone, including Earth.
Carmen found the ship’s previous settings for course and speed. Allowed the computer to once again take over. The shaking eased and stopped altogether.
The sphere continued to cut a swathe through the air as it descended towards North America. It would take them home. Carmen had to trust it. She wished she could enjoy the view as the layers of sky peeled back, revealing the greens and browns of the land and the clouds and oceans to the west.
She confirmed her repeating message was still being sent at whoever might hear them.
“This is Carmen Vincent, daughter of Sylvia Vincent. We’re approaching Earth from Mars. I’ll be landing at Garden Village General Hospital with my sister, who will need medical attention.”
What kind of reception would they have? Were the surgeons ready? Would they be skilled doctors? The mad thought that the sphere might strike a plane on the way down occurred to her, but she forced herself not to think about
