A growl, rising from deep in my being. Dude is beside me, lending his power to mine and Hunt's. We reach again, no words this time, just a beam of determination tearing through the Sistermind, reaching... reaching... reaching...
You are close. A voice, half new, half familiar, echoes in the eter. You have freed us. We will not let you float.
Float. That hangs in my head, memories of the void, of endless darkness and cold, of being alone saturate it, make me shiver almost as much as the presence uttering it.
It reminds me of Aeotu but where the kaleidoscope of her mind burns with light and colour, this mind is black and grey, a maelstrom of darkness threaded with a single strand of red. There is no warmth in it, not even in the bright cherry that is my sister.
Euiva.
Yes.
Where's Grea?
She is here. And there is a glimpse, a moment of Grea standing before me in the eter, reaching out, then she is gone, swallowed by the dark.
I gather myself, summon every scrap of loneliness and longing, of the deep, intricate knot of love and companionship, of connection that is Grea and I, and thrust—
No, Euiva says again, bats me out like I'm nothing.
Like she blew up Citlali.
Like my home was nothing. My dad, my mum, my friends.
Like we are nothing.
Like she can use us.
Like she doesn't know she's got another thing coming.
Let her go.
There is a pause, a heaviness leaning on my brain, not a thrust, or even a probe, but an attention, the focus from a mind powered by a sun. No, she is needed. Your kind are needed.
I—
You will understand soon. Soon, we will live forever.
The story continues
Coming 2021
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About the author
Physics makes Belinda’s brain hurt, while quadratics cause her eyes to cross and any mention of probability equations will have her running for the door. Nonetheless, she loves watching documentaries about the natural world, biology, space, history and technology.
She’s also a sucker for a fast horse, a faster computer and superhero movies. When she’s not doing the horse, computer or superhero thing, Belinda writes science fiction (emphasis on the fiction), where she loves to write about butt-kicking girls (and guys) who blow stuff up.
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Also by Belinda Crawford
Have you read them all?
THE HERO REBELLION
Hero
The battle for human evolution begins now.
Hero Regan is special, and not in a way she likes. She hears voices in her head that other people can’t. Insulated from the outside world, her only solace is Fink, a six-hundred-kilogram, genetically engineered ruc-pard. They share lives, thoughts, triple-chocolate marshmallow ice-cream and the burning desire for freedom.
Their chance comes when Hero is allowed to attend school in Cumulus City. Here Hero discovers she is an unwitting part of a master plan set into motion 300 years before, a plan she must either help or hinder if she’s ever to attain the freedom she craves.
(Race)
Riven
Regan
—
THE HERO REBELLION PREQUEL
Hunter
Her entrance exam just became a fight for survival.
Subria is going to be one of the few, a Rider dedicated to helping her people survive, but first she has to pass the entrance exam. However as soon as the test starts, something goes terribly wrong.
Now, she’s no longer fighting for a dream, but survival.
—
THE ECHO
Cold Between Stars
In the dark, empty space between solar systems, something lies in wait.
It’s pretty easy being a ship kid; clean out the cyclers, avoid your sister, don’t get sucked into space. The hardest bit about it is spending a couple of decades in stasis/sleep while your ship travels to the next solar system. Then rinse and repeat all the way back to a home you’ve never seen.
Except I just got kicked out of stasis early, like years early. And I’m alone.
All. Alone.
Except for the fug.
Dark Between Oceans
Echo Between Worlds (coming 2021)
Published by Hendrix & Faust, Publishers in 2020
Text copyright © Belinda Crawford 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-0-6488745-0-8 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-0-6488745-1-5 (paperback)
www.belindacrawford.com
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