“I expected you to have taken your boots off.” Dorian’s voice jarred her out of her zen.
She flashed a wistful smile. “Tempting… but I’m still on duty, and it is a little cold.”
“You know you did what you had to do, and there’s no reason to feel sorry for Albert. He made his own decisions.”
“It’s his dad. All those memories… that whole family just vanishing into the black like they never existed.”
Dorian patted her shoulder. “So do most people who aren’t famous. It happens. It is the way of things.”
She hugged the urn to her chest and looked down at the lapping water. Her belt caught the fading sunlight in gleaming smears of orange.
He offered a meaningful look, speaking after she made eye contact. “I don’t think it’s really about Henry. Everyone needs a connection to other people.”
The faucet opened, sending tears down into the tide. Dorian knew her well enough to read her. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she dwelled upon having no one to miss her if she died. Dorian had died without children, but he accepted it; he even enjoyed his new existence.
“You’re only twenty-two, numbnuts. You have plenty of time. Stop thinking like you’re about to go into menopause without having ever been kissed.”
A laugh burst out at the unexpected joke. “Yeah, I guess.”
The somber thoughts ebbed as she twisted the urn open and let the wind take Albert out over the beach. She watched the expanding grey mist of ash as it settled into the brine until it became indiscernible from the sand.
“Well Albert, if any trace of you remains here I hope you find peace.”
“Oh, by the way.” Dorian turned to face her. “The captain is looking for you. He said another case crept up and you’d be perfect for it.”
She laughed. “Never a dull moment.” After a long silent stare at the receding water, she looked at him. “Do you think Albert was evil?”
Dorian tapped at his chin. “The Harbingers thought so. I suppose it can be argued that an evil nature and an evil act are different things.”
She nodded. “If he was evil, truly evil, he wouldn’t have let it take him. I’m starting to wonder if the white light is something more than just energy.”
He grinned. “What, like God?”
She tapped her boot. “I dunno. To an ant, I’m not a person with thoughts and personality. My boot is an all-powerful wall of black. I still think no human has the right to claim to know the nature of what lies beyond the veil; but I’m not so sure about my own opinion anymore.”
“That’s all we can do.” Dorian squinted at the horizon and sighed. “Wonder.”
I’d like to express my gratitude to the following:
The “Group” for being a soundboard of ideas: Ed, James, John, Marty, Pam.
Chris Eke for the kick in the seat to stop thinking about writing and write.
The folks at AQC for all their input.
The amazing people at Curiosity Quills.
Anita for referring me to said amazing people at CQ.
Donna Capdevielle for being a great beta reader.
Alex for designing an amazing cover.
Casey for modeling for said amazing cover, and James for taking the shot.
Thanks to everyone who provided bits of feedback and opinions throughout the process of writing, especially James Wymore for suggesting a certain major plot tweak that improved the story a great deal.
I would also like to express my appreciation to you for reading Division Zero, and hope you take the time to like my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.
Now that you have completed this book, we hope you will leave a review so that other readers may benefit from your perspective. Authors like Matthew Cox live and die by your reviews, after all!
Please visit http://curiosityquills.com/reader-survey/ to share your reading experience with the author of this book!
Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place. He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey.
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.
He is also fond of cats.
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ISBN: 978-1-62007-478-7 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-62007-479-4 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-62007-480-0 (hardcover)
Prolongment, by Grace Eyre
(http://j.mp/1gL6XgS)
Would you like to live forever? B&E Labs has created a commercial process called Prolongment, letting their very old and very wealthy clients extend their consciousness beyond death using time travel technology, then return with new memories. Postmortem memories. Memories of the future.
Prolongment touches everyone, from the victim of a haunting, to a wealthy client, to a rogue scientist experimenting with her own brain, and finally, to B&E’s CEO Ken Muerta, whose moral boundaries grow increasingly murky as he struggles to hold the company together. The fate of the living, the dead, and Time itself is in their hands.
Shadow of a Dead Star, by Michael Shean
(http://j.mp/17VBzuW)
As an agent of the Industrial Security Bureau, it is Thomas Walken’s duty to keep the city of Seattle free of black-market technology.
But when a trio of living sex-dolls he has recently intercepted are stolen from custody, Walken finds himself seeking a great deal more than just contraband.
He will be forced to use his skills and preternatural instincts to try and keep his career, his freedom, and his life.
Bone Wires, by Michael Shean
(http://j.mp/Npsr8B)
In the wasteland of commercial culture that is future America, police are operated not by government but by private companies. In Seattle, that role is filled by Civil Protection, and Daniel Gray is a detective in Homicide Solutions.
What used to be considered an important – even glamorous – department for public police is very different for the corporate species, and Gray finds himself stuck in a dead end job.
That is, until the Spine Thief arrives.
The Actuator 1: Fractured Earth, by James Wymore & Aiden James
(http://j.mp/1eyuK4P)
On a secret military base tucked in a remote desert mountain, a dangerous machine lies hidden from the American public. Known as “The Actuator”, this machine is capable of transforming entire communities into alternate realities.
Meanwhile, an unknown saboteur dismantles the dampeners. The affect is catastrophic. The entire world is plunged into chaos, and familiar landscapes become a deadly patchwork of genre horrors. It’s up to Red McLaren and his band to set things right again. They must survive their journey through the various realms that separate them from the Actuator, where ever-present orcs, aliens, pirates, and vampires seek to destroy them.
The Kulture Vultures by William Vitka & Bill Vitka
(http://j.mp/1f4bGIB)
In the black of the cosmos, the Combine rules over entire planetary systems with an iron fist, maintain
ing a monopoly over hearts and minds everywhere with their terrible sitcoms.
Just so happens that the best pirated culture comes from Earth. The human monkeys might not be smart, but damn if they aren’t entertaining.
Earth’s biggest fan, a lowly intergalactic cab driver named Zel, joins a few not-so-loyal companions in a race to prevent humanity’s extinction – by resurrecting Earth’s great pulp writers and scientists. The only ones with enough creative craziness to figure out how to stop the Combine.
Blake 187, by Aiden James & Michelle Wright
(http://j.mp/K6hszk)
In the year 2912, a virus had wiped out most of an already diminished population broken down by centuries of war and climate change. Severance, a new world order founded by a nomadic wild man, Pye Peters, took control. Five years later, his fanatical illuminati were unprepared when another virus, stronger than anything previously experienced resulted in a catastrophic mutation.
The newly deceased rose from death, as they had done in the distant past, only to be rehabilitated back into a broken world who despised and discriminated against zombies and witches alike. But, the wind of change was now in the arms of a few brave zombie souls.
Appetizer:
Book Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Main Course:
Chapter One: Crisis
Chapter Two: Nutcracker
Chapter Three: Malfunctions
Chapter Four: Breakdance
Chapter Five: Omnipresence
Chapter Six: Street Temple
Chapter Seven: Breadcrumbs
Chapter Eight: Transposition
Chapter Nine: Identity
Chapter Ten: Maya Six
Chapter Eleven: Day's End
Chapter Twelve: Crushed
Chapter Thirteen: Partners
Chapter Fourteen: Desperate
Chapter Fifteen: Privacy
Chapter Sixteen: Waiting
Chapter Seventeen: Moth
Chapter Eighteen: Deleted
Chapter Nineteen: Intera
Chapter Twenty: Complication
Chapter Twenty-One: Answers
Chapter Twenty-Two: Remnants
Chapter Twenty-Three: Ashes
Chapter Twenty-Four: Family
Chapter Twenty-Five: Boom
Chapter Twenty-Six: Womb
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Defiance
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Released
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Exposed
Chapter Thirty: Defenseless
Chapter Thirty-One: Perdition
Chapter Thirty-Two: Ritchie
Chapter Thirty-Three: Evidence
Chapter Thirty-Four: Understanding
Chapter Thirty-Five: Hunting
Chapter Thirty-Six: Wrath
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Precarious
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Harbinger
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Dust
Dessert:
Acknowledgements
Closing
About the Author
Copyright & Publisher
More from Curiosity Quills Press
Division Zero Page 31