On a future earth, Aurora has been desperately searching for her long-lost sister, when she is sacrificed to Balthazar, leader of the fearsome Cyborgs who invaded earth. Now she is stuck on an alien spaceship with a crazy Cyborg who thinks she can give him a soul and who has a weird fixation with the way she moves. Aurora is desperate to return to earth to search for her sister while the President of United Earth insists that only she can save Earth from enslavement by the cyborgs. After spending time with the cyborgs, aurora realizes that the machine she thought would be easy to betray, the machine she has to betray, if she ever wants to rescue her sister from enslavement, has turned into a man she could come to love.
CHAPTER 1
Washington,
DC, Summer, 2116:
The President of United Earth had an
“I’ve got bad news but let’s smile and pretend it won’t destroy your whole
life” look on his face. “Ms. Skuy, come in. We don’t have much time before I
have to sacrifice you to the aliens.”
Aurora stumbled
through the door of the Oval Office. She’d like to believe his words had been a
joke, but she knew better. Tension hung thick in the air. “Excuse me?”
The president’s
tired face softened. “My apologies. That was in bad taste.”
He clasped her
arm and steadied her, giving her elaborate, medieval style dress a quick once
over and lingering on the elegant signature glass hairpins keeping her long,
upswept hair in place. In the outer corners of his eyes, crinkles appeared, as
if he wanted to smile. As if he was pleased. The dresses were her armor and the
hairpins potential weapons. But why was the president pleased about her wearing
them? “You wore your hairpins,” he said.
“As fascinating
as I find the fact that the President of United Earth apparently plans to
sacrifice me to the aliens with my hairpins in place, I’d like to know why your
soldiers invaded my office and brought me here at gunpoint.” That was an
exaggeration, but not by much.
He led her to a
royal-blue-velvet-covered visitor’s chair. “I need your help. The survival of
the human race is at stake.”
The president
had been the most powerful man on Earth,
until the alien spaceships arrived a year ago. Now the commander of the
menacing alien fleet orbiting Earth filled that position, even if he wasn’t
quite on Earth. And probably not even a man.
“When your
soldiers came to my office and insisted I accompany them here, I assumed there
was a crisis at one of my foundation’s soup kitchens. Human sacrifice did not
occur to me.” She really hoped he’d been joking, but the ruthless purpose in
his eyes and the ominous feel in the air told a different story.
He fixed her
with those fierce, battle-worn eyes. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? We finally get it
right. No more pollution, population numbers are manageable, and healthcare has
never been this good.” He rubbed his brow, a weary irritated gesture. “Goddamn
aliens.”
She nodded. “It
does seem ironic. Instead of 2115 going down in history as the year we
conquered famine, it’s known as the year the aliens came.”
He had to know
of the harsh realities the media glossed over. The previous president had all
but destroyed the freedom of the press. Men and women had been forced into
sterilization clinics during the last two presidencies. Her sister was living
proof that slavery was still thriving. Ever since his election, she’d wondered
what this man was capable of. “What do the aliens have to do with me? Why did
you mention sacrifice?”
The angry buzz
of the protestors outside filtered through the walls. They’d congregated
outside United Earth buildings all around the world, waving placards demanding
the aliens leave, with unimaginative slogans like,
Earth is for Humans and Aliens Go Back Where You Came From.
Instead of
answering her question, he held out a hairpin. “I need to give you this. As I
said, we don’t have much time.”
She studied the
glass pin--similar in design to the ones she had in her hair--designed to look
like old fashioned hat pins, adding an air of whimsy to her elaborate hairdo.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“It’s safe to
use in your hair, but if you twist the top like this, it turns into an
injection. It contains picos.” He demonstrated and, after sealing it again,
handed it to Aurora. Picos was micro technology, still experimental in their
application. “Never let it out of your sight.” His smile was little more than
an awkward upward turn at the corners of his mouth. “Or, in this case, hair.”
“What am I
supposed to do with it?”
He gave her that
tight-lipped soldier’s smile. “You have to find an opportunity to inject it
into their leader. The picos are programmed to turn him pliable to the first
person he sees after he is injected.”
“Why would you
think I’d ever meet the--” She closed her eyes. “The sacrifice,” she murmured.
“The sacrifice,”
he agreed.
The president
clutched the nape of his neck. In that
moment, he didn’t look like the President of United Earth. Instead, he looked
weary and at the end of his rope. “This morning, I received a--” He hesitated
and then shrugged. “--a call from the leader of the aliens.”
Aurora
straightened. “You saw one of them?” She forgot to be regal and graceful, to
keep her mask in place. No one knew what the aliens wanted, what they looked
like. Several experts had speculated that they could be artificial
intelligence, so-called tin men. The name had caught on, and now everyone
called the elusive aliens tinners.
“No, the call
was voice only. He spoke in English. Accented, but good English.”
The aliens had
announced their arrival by bombing the International Space Station and the
satellites orbiting Earth. Next, they’d bombed Washington, DC, from space.
Aurora would never forget the day that happened. She’d been in her office,
watching the destruction on television, the horror of it hard to accept even
now. Ever since, humanity had braced for
more bombings that never happened. And
then the aliens called the president?
“He?”
“Yes, the alien
who called me was definitely a ‘he.’”
“And you think
the picos could give us an advantage?” She was all for any advantage they could
get, but she didn’t want to be the one wielding the secret weapon.
“Yes. Those
picos are the reason I had you brought here. We’ve been working on a plan, in
the event that we encountered them.”
“What did he
want, Mr. President?”
He walked over
to the window and then turned to face her with a jerky, almost uncoordinated,
move. “He offered a ceasefire in exchange for certain...promises.”
“What promises?”
Whatever they promised wasn’t worth more than her sister’s life.
“He made it
clear that if we don’t give them what they want, they’d bomb us again. And this time, they won’t stop after
destroying a few empty buildings. His smile was bitter. “He used very precise
words. ‘Deliver or face another barrage of bombs.’”
Now they were
getting to it, the reason he had her collected and brought here. “Deliver
what?” she asked, but she knew. Oh yes, she knew. This wasn’t her first stint
into being the sacrificial lamb. This time, she’d fight. She had too much to
lose.
“He wants you,”
he said. “And I had the impression that the alien leader wanted you for
himself. That it was personal.”
The world tilted
around her. Even expecting his answer, her body still readied for fight or
flight. “Why? Why me?” Sure the foundation was influential, but why would the
aliens be interested in someone doing charity work? “How do they even know me
out of the billions of people on Earth?”
“I can only
guess.”
“You’re going to
hand me over?” She had worth, she should be protected. She was a tax payer,
after all.
He spoke between
clenched teeth, his jaw bulging like that of a bull dog. “If they’d landed
their spaceships, if we could fight them, I’d dare them to come for you and
give them a war that would make their great grandchildren say my name with
loathing.” He paced--long angry strides,
up and down in front of her. “My hands are tied. They shoot down our missiles
and planes before they even leave the atmosphere. I can’t get to them to fight them.” He sat behind the desk, shoulders
tensed, his hands fisted against his forehead. “Even if I could, those idiots
in the cabinet would oppose me.”
Her mind kept
screaming at her to get away from there. To run to safety. Her legs wouldn’t
run. “I’m--” She swallowed, tried again. “I’m your only hope to get to them?”
Her hands
started a fine tremble that spread to the rest of her body. She hid them in the
folds of her dress. She wanted to sound as if she’d be glad to sacrifice
herself for the human race, but she didn’t pull it off. Acid crept up her
throat. Why did this keep happening to her?
He stopped
pacing and turned to look her straight in the eye. “I hate to ask this of you.”
Those soldier’s eyes pierced hers. “I don’t even want to speculate on what they
want, but this is an opportunity we cannot ignore. We’d have someone on the
inside.”
“But you’re not
asking, are you, Mr. President?” Just as the man who had handed her over before
had not asked.
Aurora heard her
own voice through a peculiar swishing noise in her ears, the bitterness
penetrating like a whistle through fog.
She didn’t want to be Earth’s only hope. If she was the only one who could save
them from the tinners, Earth was in big trouble. Her sister could attest to
that. Aurora wanted to run and keep running. But this horrendous feeling of
inevitability chained her to her chair.
He became
military straight, lifted his chin. “I cannot afford to give you a choice.”
Aurora started
to lift her hand to push it through her hair, remembered she carried a deadly
weapon there, and lowered it. “Let’s face
it, you’d be a much better hostage. I’m only grand master of an organization
that builds schools and helps street children.”
She wasn’t done,
either. So many children out there still needed help while she searched for
Ter. She didn’t have time for the president to sacrifice her.
He punched his
fist into his palm, and she jumped in the chair. “Dammit, I don’t want to do
this. For whatever reason, they fixated on you. And this is a chance for us to
get someone on the inside.”
“What exactly do
you expect me to do once I’m up there? They’ll probably throw me into a cell
and dissect me.” She’d be helpless, unable to defend herself. It was ironic
really. She’d spent her whole life trying to ensure that she’d never be vulnerable and helpless again. But all her
martial arts and weapons training wouldn’t help her on a spaceship surrounded
by aliens. “And, anyway, pico technology has never worked the way its creators
hoped.”
In every test,
the scientists had lost control over the substance injected into lab animals.
“We have to try
it,” he said.
She couldn’t
suppress a visible shudder. “He could go crazy on me. Or worse, I could be gang
raped. Or dissected.”
He tensed. “Rape
is a very real concern. But I don’t think they plan to dissect you. He asked me
what you eat, the precise portions necessary to ensure your health. And I mean
precise. The temperature that would be ‘optimal’ for your ‘survival.’ His
words.”
“So how is this
supposed to work?” She had visions of chains clanging around her wrists and
ankles while the president handed her over. Social media being what it was, it would
go viral as well.
The president
paced. “It doesn’t sit well with me, sending a civilian into the enemy’s
hands--a female civilian.” She could see him vibrate with the need to go to
war. When she opened her mouth to repeat her question, he held up a hand. “To
answer your question, he said he’d come
get you here.”
Her stomach
turned, and she couldn’t stop her hands from crushing the heavy silk material
of her dress. It took all her self-control not to run for the door before the
tinner came to take her to her doom.
He stopped in
front of her. “I hate to say it--”
“I’m ’Earth’s
only hope,” she finished for him, the clichéd words tasting ominous on her
lips. “I want something in return.”
“I know of your
search for your sister. I will use every resource at my disposal to find her.”
She fixed him
with the gaze she used when she forced the board of the foundation to approve
funds for her pet projects. “Know this, Mr. President, as long as I am assured
you are saving my sister, I am Earth’s only hope. Cross me on this, and I’ll be
Earth’s biggest nightmare.”
Ever since she
walked into this office, she’d seen regret, caution, and other emotions in the
president’s eyes. Now he lifted a hand and patted her shoulder in an awkward,
almost boyish, gesture. He walked up and down in front of her, and she resisted
the urge to push him into a chair where he couldn’t make her dizzy with his
pacing. “We don’t have much time left,” he said. “You have to pretend to return
his interest if it’s sexual. Make it subtle, so he doesn’t realize you’re
playing him. Do whatever you have to do to gain his trust.”
“And if he’s a
machine, how do I gain the trust of something that has the same emotional
capacity than my laptop?”
The president
lifted his stubborn chin at her. “If he’s any type of AI, you appeal to his
logic.”
“When do I
inject him with the picos?”
“First, I need
you to get me some information. Where do they come from? How many of them are
there? Are there more on their way? What kind and how many weapons do they
have?”
Did he really
think they’d let her walk around the spaceship asking questions? She clutched
her arms around her middle. Oh God, she was going to be taken to the aliens on
their spaceship. Dread paralyzed her and stole her senses. She tried to speak,
to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. “Do you think they’d let me close enough
to one of them to inject?”
“He will if you
seduce him.”
“And, of course,
I would be the person for the job.” She didn’t care that her voice dripped
bitterness. “How do I report my findings to you? I doubt he’d just let me come
home to talk to you every now and then.” It was more likely that she’d be dead
the moment she passed on any information she managed to get her hands on. She
suppressed a shudder.
“I told him I
would only hand you over if I can talk to you every week.”
“And he agreed
to that?”
“Yes.”
Aurora could see
the same suspicion, that she felt at the tinner’s agreement, on the president’s
face.
“During a visit
last month to the hearing-impaired school in upstate New York, you used sign language.”
“You want to
communicate with sign language during those once a week calls?” It sounded like
a plan that could get her killed or tortured. “The aliens are clever enough to
build spaceships and travel to Earth from who knows how many miles away. Sign
language won’t fool them.” She shook her head. “They won’t fall for it.”
“We do not have
a choice. My first lesson starts tomorrow. Be very careful, just chat normally
a few times before you start reporting. Let them relax their vigilance, start
to trust you.” The president smiled, a
grim satisfied smile, his campaign smile. “We may yet prevail.”
If he thought
that smile reassured her, he was very much mistaken. She’d dealt with
politicians in her duties as grand master of the Phoenix Foundation. No, he
didn’t fool her at all. At this stage, he’d sacrifice his own mother if it
meant finding a weapon against the tinners.
“How soon do I
need to go?”
“He’s coming for
you in the next few minutes.”
Aurora stood and
started for the door, her legs trying to take her to safety. Again, that
roaring in her ears deafened her. She clenched her trembling hands into tight
fists and forced back the urge to flee. She turned around on trembling legs and
faced the pity in the president’s eyes. Coming from the man willing to
sacrifice her, she didn’t appreciate it. At all. “I have to let my assistant
know.”
“Already done.”
She couldn’t do
this.
Aurora took
several deep breaths and returned to her chair, trying not to look as if her
shaking knees would give way under her at any moment.
She had to do
this.
****
Available now
****
Ever since she can remember Marie Dry wanted to
travel. She had had the privilege of living in Zambia, Morocco, and Spain and
sees herself as a bit of a gypsy. Every few years she gets restless and has to
be some place new.
She read romances since she was nine and was fairly young when she decided she
would write the perfect story that had all the elements she looked for in a
romance. In 1997 she decided to go all out with her writing and to get
published. Being published by Black Opal Books is a dream come true for her.
There are several wonderful moments in her life that she would never trade for
anything. One of them is meeting President Nelson Mandela and the second being
published.
