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Back Stringers Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. FRONT COVER
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  63. CHAPTER SIXTY
  64. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

“I cannot help you unless I can orient the limb to the target!” Aptat cried from inside her brain. “Naecia!”

There was nothing she could do on the drift. No way to orient herself until she made contact with something to grab or push. The Vortu had figured out she was defenseless and were climbing up the inner hull as she tried and missed getting a hold. Another volley came at her from below, striking her feet and ankles, imparting horizontal spin. The engineer in her wondered exactly what the suit was made of. The rest of her was trying not to lose consciousness from spin on double axes.

She tried to focus on one point each time she came around to see it, so as not to pass out. “Aptat,” she groaned, lightheaded. “Can you fire the magmafier on my mark?”

“Yes, I can do that. I have the correct triggers set now.”

The remaining Vortu had closed and were waiting for her to complete her trip across the open space. Naecia counted out the rotations to get the timing down, accounting for the delay between herself and Aptat. “I need two separate bursts on two and then one, got it?”

“Got it.”

Naecia angled her arm with the magmafier node to the side, opposite the direction of her current spin. “Six, five, four, three, TWO!”

The node fired a short burst, immediately halting the horizontal rotation. “ONE!” she yelled, bending her arm next to her body as it flared the second time, stopping the roll and bringing her face-to-face with the hijackers. They reached for her.

The limb fired and the Vortu went limp. One second, they were on the cusp of capturing her, and the next they were dead, their blood suffusing the hull space in shining, yellow-black spheres. Naecia’s breath hitched in her throat.

“Naecia?”

The voice was more background noise as she felt the full weight of her exhaustion. Aptat called through again. She answered this time. “I’m here,” she said, still drifting. “I’m here.”

She settled eventually on the smooth arc of the inner hull and decided to lay there and breathe for a bit. Or forever.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

My dreams were as vivid as the meal I’d just transfused – and certainly a consequence of it. In them were every imaginable pleasure and feeling. From flying on a unicorn, to being a unicorn, to doing things unicorns do to each other when one unicorn surprises the other by doing the dishes. Some sensations I recognized, some were fully alien, some hybrid. I sensed in these dreams not just my own happiness, but the shared joy of those around me, overwhelming and enveloping me in their rapture.

I came to and righted myself against the chorionic wall of the enclosure. Dead to the world, Patton wore a contented grin. With him still out, I figured I’d just hook up the tube and have breakfast.