Transportation of the future

TRANSPORTATION OF THE FUTURE

by Jessica E. Subject

While some members of my family are fascinated by automobiles and other vehicles of the past, I prefer to look to the future, especially concept vehicles from car companies, aircraft, and spacecraft.

Both my previous and upcoming series take place in a part of the universe far from here. And transportation is far more advanced than what we have on Earth. There are hovercraft that run on batteries the way of electric vehicles on this planet. These vehicles cannot leave the planet they are on. In fact, they don't fly any higher than a couple hundred feet off the ground. The space racing jets fly higher in the atmosphere, using hydrogen and ion power cells. While they have the power to leave the atmosphere, they usually don't hold enough power to reach another planet, especially after a race. Then there are the space shuttles, which fly between various planets in the quadrants of my fictional universe.

But what's ahead for the future of vehicles here on Earth?

A couple years ago, when I was writing my Shifter Towers series, I learned about the Hyundai Prophecy Concept EV. And while the company has since redesigned and released it as the Ioniq 6, maintaining the streamlined look that I love, there were features in the Prophecy that I was really looking forward to seeing in a vehicle that weren't included in the Ioniq 6. The most notable being the twin joysticks used to steer the vehicle, taking the place of the steering wheel. Many construction vehicles are already steered in the same way, as well as some helicopters and jets. I think it will be interesting when this way of steering can be found in everyday vehicles.

And last month, I watched a video from NASA about the future of aircraft. Right now, they are working on developing different types of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) working to deliver packages and fight fires to being used as taxis and ambulances. And they are also in the process of building more supersonic aircraft while developing more complex air traffic control systems and collision avoidance systems.

Speaking of supersonic aircraft, startup company, Boom Technology has already received approval to test their XB-1 supersonic jet over the Mojave desert. The XB-1 is designed to travel at Mach 2.2, which is 2.2 times the speed of sound.

Also, did you hear about the office chair that Volkswagen designed? While not destined for production, the electric-motored drivable chair is heated, has LED headlights, storage compartments, and an infotainment system. If it hovered, it would be like the chairs people spent their days in from the movie Wall-E.

So, while we don't know for sure what the future holds (Why aren't hoverboards like in Back to the Future 2 a thing already?), I am excited to see all the different concepts the various companies and organizations are working on.

What kind of vehicles would you like to see in the future?

Read more about the vehicles in my futuristic universe in the Kaddim Brothers series, and my upcoming release, 4 UNITED, the first book in my Romance Tales from the Quadrants series.

  

In the beginning, there was a waterfall ~ Post by Author Jessica E. Subject

IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS A WATERFALL

by Jessica E. Subject

Photo by Jessica E. Subject ~ Duchesnay Falls, North Bay, Ontario, Canada

While celebrating 12 years published last month, I also shared a bit about the story and series I was currently working on. Since then, I have finished revising 4 UNITED, submitted the story, contracted it to Decadent Publishing, finished content edits, and have a cover (to be revealed first in my newsletter). I still have to do line and galley edits. And I don't have a release date yet, but those are coming. I have also started plotting the next book in the Romance Tales from the Quadrants series, 2 FANS. But I've put that story on pause, already having plotted and am now writing a story for a secret group project. It is more paranormal than scifi. I'll share more on that when I can.

But for now, I want to talk about 4 UNITED. I've been working on this story for about a year. A long time to be working on a story for me. But, I had one child go off to college, another child return to in-person learning after 2+ years of online learning, an old, sick dog who we finally had to have put down, and the adoption of a new dog. It was a lot of adjusting for me, especially mentally. And now I can say it's done and I'm moving onto the next story.

In my previous posts, I've talked about pets in sci-fi romance. And I've talked about including water in my stories. Well, 4 UNITED does not have any pets in it. (Though 2 FANS does.) But, 4 UNITED does have water. In fact, the story begins at a waterfall.

Photo by Jessica E. Subject ~ Duchesnay Falls, North Bay, Ontario, Canada

Here's an excerpt from the beginning of 4 UNITED, when two of the main characters are young teens...

It was my last night on Ma’an. Though I didn’t know it at the time. I had climbed up the rocky left bank of Galsana Falls to Pentor Point, the best view of the waterfall and the land below. Nunki sat beside me, both of us with our legs hanging over the edge of the rockface. He was always with me. At thirteen-star cycles, we lived next door to each other, and had spent most of our lives together. I believed that would never change. In a few star cycles, we would marry. And in a few more, we would visit a doctor, and I would be inseminated with Nunki’s sperm plus some from two donors. Because that’s how babies were made on my home planet.

“Do you want an eipa?” Nunki opened a cloth, showing me the sweet and fruity pastry wrapped inside. Probably something his moema had sent along with him.

“No, it’s okay. You can eat it.” As much as I loved eipaes, I didn’t want to eat Nunki’s. Though I was sure he would let me have a bite.

He reached into his sack and pulled out another cloth. “I have two. Moema said to make sure you get one. She made them especially for you, anyway.”

Of course. She always fed me. More so after my poepa died and my moema had been busy planning for his funeral. Maybe she did that so I wouldn’t be sad. The adults I knew on Ma’an were often sad when a relative died. But I couldn’t be sad when it came to my poepa. I barely knew him. He was always at the Official Rotunda for important meetings, whatever that meant. And when he wasn’t there, he traveled off planet to make trade deals with the governments of other worlds within the Quadrants. I guessed communication through the comm system wasn’t good enough, no matter how many times I had sworn I wouldn’t interrupt him if he stayed home. He never used comms to talk to the governments of other planets, or to call home when he traveled. When I did see my poepa, he came for dinner before he took my moema to her sleep pod and closed the curtain. She would giggle and moan his name all night. Then he left the next morning for several more lunar cycles. I knew my l’sida’s poepa better than my own, and he owned a shipping business and made deliveries all across the quadrants. But he still made it home far more often.

My moema grieved with my poepa’s passing, cried a lot when she didn’t think I could see her. So, maybe I grieved, too, but for her. I wanted her to be happy again.

After taking the sweet treat from Nunki, I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Tell your moema, thank you. She makes the best eipaes.”

Nunki’s cheeks turned red before he took my hand in his. “We’ll be best friends forever, right?”

I nodded. “Of course.” I’d never doubted the idea. Nunki being in my life remained an irrefutable fact, something that would never change.

And here's the blurb for 4 UNITED...

Why would I ever return to Ma’an?

My moema and I escaped from the planet star cycles ago, to avoid her being forced to remarry after my poepa’s passing. I grew up well far away from there, not worrying about being betrothed to some government official just to bear his children. And now I work for the Universal Space Racer Association, traveling all over the quadrants to decide whether new teams meet the qualifications to join.

I never expected to be on a shuttle, heading back to Ma’an. The new chairman of Ma’an and the USRA assured me I’ll be allowed to leave at the end of my evaluation of the planet, but I have my doubts. I can’t even get out of the assignment. Trust me, I’ve tried.

At least I’ll be able to see more of Deyal, my only family member still alive. Plus, my best friend is convinced the three childhood friends I left behind are my fated mates, two of which are on the team, and the other is my shagard. I’m not ready to commit to one person, let alone three. And polyamorous relationships were banned on the planet long before my birth. But the three of them have grown from the cute boys I remember into sexy strangers.

It’s too bad I have a rule to never sleep with the racers I’m inspecting.

4 United is the first book in Jessica E. Subject’s sweet and spicy Kaddim Brothers spinoff series, Romance Tales from the Quadrants. 4 United features Eta, who escaped Ma’an with her moema just as her hair was starting to turn pink, her three childhood friends who grew up to be very sexy men, an unexpected assignment, fated mates, true love, and other family and friends getting involved to make sure the four of them get their happy ever after. If you like MMMF relationships, second chances at love, friends to lovers, and fated mates, read 4 United today.

Learn more about the USRA and space racing here

Learn more about the Kaddim Brothers series and space racing here

Find the writing playlist for 4UNITED here

Happy reading!

It's hard to say goodbye ~ Writing THE END by Jessica E. Subject

 

Writing THE END

I'm writing a story called RET right now, but lately, it's been hard to sit my butt down and write. Why? There are many reasons, but the biggest one is that I'm getting close to the end of the book. And that means I'm going to have to say goodbye soon. 

I always have this issue when I write any book, but with RET, it seems even harder. This isn't just the end of a book, but the end of the series. I'll be saying goodbye to the Kaddim Brothers and their family, and to the space racer team, ORIXA, pushing them out of my thoughts for good. I've had these characters in my head for over two years now. Yes, VAWN released in August of 2021, but the whole family occupied a space in my mind well before then, when I was still writing my Shifter Towers series. I'm truly finding it tough and very sad.

At the same time, I'm plotting out the first book in my new series. I'm not going to say much about it, except I have ideas for five books in this series already. They're all something new, but at the same time, they're very familiar for me. I'm so excited.

So, while I try to reign in my excitement for this new series, and deal with my sadness to finish writing RET, here's a teaser from the story for you that I shared last Friday for #FridayKiss.

If you haven't read the other Kaddim Brothers stories, you can find them here:

  

Happy reading!

Kaddim Brothers ~ A series about family

KADDIM BROTHERS ~ A SERIES ABOUT FAMILY

Hello everyone! Can you believe it's March already? Every years seems to fly by faster and faster!

At the end of February, the second book in my Kaddim Brothers series released. It is Genj's story. He's a shy and clumsy alpha space racer who has had an enormous crush on his younger brother's best friend for half his life. Genj is very different from Vawn, and from Ret, the brother whose story I'm writing now.

In writing this series, I was inspired by a video of seven guys walking together in racing suits with their helmets under their arms. For copyright purposes, I'm not sure I can share. But you can find the video here. My inspiration came at the end of the video. But I didn't want to write a story or series about seven racers. So I did a lot of pondering as to how I wanted to turn that image into a series. That's when I decided to focus on three brothers. 

The most important part was making all three of them different. And I think I've succeeded in doing so to this point. While the three brothers grew up on the same planet with the same parents, they always wanted different things. 

Vawn is an omega who always dreamed of having a family while being a fashion designer. His life wasn't always easy, as you can read in his book, but he managed to find his happily ever after.

Genj, as I mentioned above, is a shy and clumsy alpha. He never really knew what he wanted to be growing up, and never believed he was alpha enough to go after his crush. He ended up following his older brother to Eurebly to become a space racer, where he learned he has a talent for racing. He does find his happily ever after, but he needs a few nudges from his brothers to get there.

Ret is the oldest of the three. An alpha who always wanted to be a space racer, and has never allowed any romantic relationship to last more than one night. I'm writing his story right now, so I don't want to give anything away.

Since the three are brothers, there are scenes where they interact with each other and other family members. And their personalities must shine through here. But there is another family that I talk about in this series. The team.

Two of the three brothers are on the space racer team, ORIXA. Since the five members of the team train and live together for the majority of a star cycle (year), they do become very close like a family. So, their interactions are just as important as the three brothers when they're together.

Here's a snippet from GENJ, showing some family and teammate interaction... This is in Genj's point of view. Enjoy!

“Would you two stop it already?”

I glanced up after kissing Utahn’s neck, meeting my brother’s annoyed glare. “What?”

He sneered at me. “It’s sickening seeing you two all lovey, especially when it took the two of you forever to finally get together. I’m used to this behavior from Qé and Xac, but, somehow, with you two, it’s worse.”

Utahn shifted in my lap. “Well, if you had selected a more interesting holo-movie, we wouldn’t have had to occupy ourselves with other things.”

Qé laughed from the couch across the room.

“Hey.” Ret pointed to Utahn. “You be quiet. If not for me hacking into the hotel’s reservation system, and spilling my drink on the couch, you two still wouldn’t be together.”

“Um, what?” I tilted my head to the side, very confused. “You and Utahn planned this?”

Utahn jumped around to face me. “I had nothing to do with that. I’m not complaining that it happened this way, but none of it was my doing.”

Ret chuckled and shook his head. “No, it was Vawn who gave me the idea. We were both sick of hearing you two whine about how much you like each other. But now I’m regretting that. Can you please separate your mouths from each other for a bit?”

“It’s been a bit already.” Utahn cupped my jaw before kissing me.

Divine.

With a groan, Ret stood up. “It’s time to head out for dinner soon anyway. The all clear from the sandstorm came during the movie, so I’m going to have a quick shower.” As he passed Ilam, he placed his hand on the rookie’s shoulder. “And I’m very thankful I’m not the only single one here. Ilam and I are going to be bachelors for life, never committing to anyone.”

GENJ

Kaddim Brothers book two

by Jessica E. Subject

Genj is a cinnamon roll alpha. Even as one of the circuit’s best space racers, he’s shy and rather clumsy. Not qualities anyone wants in a mate, especially the omega he’s crushed on for years. But when Genj invites Utahn on a whim to visit him for a weekend, the omega agrees.

Utahn never expected his best friend’s older brother to reciprocate his feelings. Genj is a space racer, and everyone in the universe knows they rarely commit. When the two get together, sparks fly. And what once seemed impossible becomes a dream come true.

But situations change. And past relationships have a way of interfering with new ones. Can Genj and Utahn work through past traumas, or were they never meant to be more than a childhood crush?

Available in ebook and paperback:

Amazon US | Universal Buy Link

Also find Genj here:

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Meet Vawn and Ojo in this couple's interview... VAWN by Jessica E. Subject #SciFiRomance #SFR #MMRomance #CharacterInterview

Hello! As I am busy writing the second book in my Kaddim Brothers series, I wanted to give a little insight into the couple in the first book, VAWN, which released last month. So, I’m sharing an interview with the couple, Vawn and Ojokun. This interview occurs between the two stories, so there may be a few spoilers for VAWN. Or maybe, it will pique your interest. 😉 Anyway, here they are…

Tell me the story of how you met.

Vawn: I was visiting my brothers for a ‘family and friends’ weekend the space racers hold a couple times each star cycle. I first met him at the spaceport where my brothers were supposed to pick me up, and learned then that he was on the same team as them. We got to know each other very intimately that weekend.

What were your first impressions of each other?

Ojo: He was gorgeous. Lots of delectable curves. And when he turned around, I was even more pleased.

Vawn [blushes as he swats Ojo]: I knew I wanted to spend the night with him. 

What did you do on your first date?

Vawn: I don’t know if we ever went on an official date until after we were married. But we were at a club that weekend we met, had a couple drinks, and then slept together. A very memorable night.

What were your main methods of communication then?

Ojo [laughs]: We had none. He left me in the middle of the night, while I was sleeping, and I didn’t see or hear from him again for a while. When I finally did see him again, I made sure to get his contact info so I could keep in touch. Since we were on different planets, we messaged each other and had video chats. Some of those were memorable, too.

How did you know things were getting serious?

Vawn: When we started arranging everything else around time to talk and see each other.

Ojo [barks out a laugh]: You thought I was going to break up with you. You were serious, but didn’t realize how serious I was until I asked you to marry me. Though I honestly became serious about him on Rennir—we weren’t together then—when I passed up spending the night with others to help take care of Vawn’s sick daughter. 

What did your families think of your new boyfriend?

Vawn: My brothers were on the same team as Ojo, so they got along okay, but my oldest brother, Ret, did not want me with Ojo at all. Eventually he came around. My parents loved Ojo from the first time they met him, and would want to talk to him when they video-chatted with my brothers.

When did you know that you would end up getting married?

Ojo: Because he’s an omega, and I’m not an alpha, I didn’t know how to make him mine. I couldn't exactly claim him, so I talked to Ret when he no longer had a problem with us being together. He told me about marriage ceremonies that used to happen on Trid before his ancestors settled on Orez. I knew immediately that’s what I wanted.

Do you have children? If you do, how did you make the decision to have children and how has having children changed your marriage?

Vawn: I was widowed and had a toddler when I first met Ojo. Though he didn’t know at the time. And I was pregnant with our second precious girl when Ojo and I got married. I don’t think children changed our marriage at all, but being a parent is a continuous learning experience as they grow up. So, in some ways, it’s always changing. But, isn’t that the way life is?

Very true! Do you work? How do work responsibilities impact your family life?

Ojo: We both work. Vawn is a well-known fashion designer all over the universe. And I own a space racer training school here on Orez. Because we’re self-employed, we’re able to work our schedules around each other, and make time for each other and our family.

What is the biggest strength of your relationship?

Vawn: Honesty and communication. We learned early on what happens when we keep things from each other. Sometimes we still have communication breakdowns, but we try our hardest to talk everything out.

Ojo: I was going to say love, but your answer sounds better.

I think both answers are great! Here’s more information about Vawn and Ojokun’s story…

VAWN

Kaddim Brothers book one

by Jessica E. Subject

Vawn doesn’t need a mate. He’s already established himself universe-wide as a hot name in fashion, while raising his daughter. But he won’t say no to a fling with a hot space racer when he travels to Eurebly to visit his brothers. One night. That’s all he can give. Because his heart shattered when he lost his previous alpha, and he hasn’t been able to repair it completely. He refuses to love someone like that ever again.

Ojokun survived on Jenegath in order to leave the planet and become the best space racer in the universe. Though he flies with a team, he’s never depended on anyone outside of his jet. He keeps to himself. Has one-night stands, just like every other space racer. But, after a mind-blowing night with the brother of two of his teammates, he can’t stop thinking about the gorgeous omega, or the foreign longing that scares him more than his overly-protective teammates.

Can Ojokun convince Vawn that he wants more than one night? Or is that all they were ever meant to be?

Available in ebook and paperback!

Returning to Space with the Kaddim Brothers and Space Racers by Jessica E. Subject

 

Guess what? I'm returning to space! Not in a literal way. I've never left planet Earth, but I'm returning to space with my stories. For the last couple years, I wrote my paranormal shifter series, Shifter Towers, which took place on an alternate Earth. My new series, Kaddim Brothers, takes place on multiple planets, and space travel is quite common. The beings travel from planet to planet the way we on Earth travel from one continent to another.

There are also the space racers. They are multiple teams of five from various planets, who race their jets (think racing fighter jets) in a circuit. They train hard, race hard, and party hard. No time for love or family. Or so they say...

With that, I'd like to introduce the first book in my Kaddim Brothers series, VAWN...

VAWN

Kaddim Brothers book one

by Jessica E. Subject

Release date: August 9, 2021

Genres: Romance, Sci-Fi, LGBTQ, MPreg

Vawn doesn’t need a mate. He’s already established himself universe-wide as a hot name in fashion, while raising his daughter. But he won’t say no to a fling with a hot space racer when he travels to Eurebly to visit his brothers. One night. That’s all he can give. Because his heart shattered when he lost his previous alpha, and he hasn’t been able to repair it completely. He refuses to love someone like that ever again.

Ojokun survived on Jenegath in order to leave the planet and become the best space racer in the universe. Though he flies with a team, he’s never depended on anyone outside of his jet. He keeps to himself. Has one-night stands, just like every other space racer. But, after a mind-blowing night with the brother of two of his teammates, he can’t stop thinking about the gorgeous omega, or the foreign longing that scares him more than his overly-protective teammates.

Can Ojokun convince Vawn that he wants more than one night? Or is that all they were ever meant to be?

AVAILABLE FROM:

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Enjoy an excerpt:

“Daddy! Daddy!” Enif shook my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Look! Dey’re gedding ready to stard!”

I glanced at the starting hangar, where all the jets had moved to the front. The race was definitely about to begin. I rubbed my hands together. “I wonder if they’ll win this one.”

Enif sighed then dramatically threw herself onto my lap. “Of course dey’ll win. Dey’re ORIXA.”

Utahn chuckled beside me. “She’s right, you know.”

My omega father gripped my chair and leaned forward. “I agree. I did give birth to two of them.”

I rolled my eyes at the sentiment. He said that every time he watched a race, one of the reasons I had stopped going over to their place to watch. “There are three other members of the team you didn’t give birth to, you know.”

“Yes, I do know.” He sat back with a huff. “And I’m sure their parents are proud of them, too.”

I disagreed since Qé and Xac didn’t have parents, and Ojokun had never mentioned his. Yet, I didn’t have a chance to argue as the green start light flashed to signify the beginning of the race.

Jets darted out of the hangar structure right away. One after the other. So fast. Too fast. I gripped the arms of my chair, suddenly worried for the safety of the entire team. I never realized how quickly those jets moved until I saw them fly in person.

I glanced at the large screen, divided into different images, to see the location of each team. Team Storm seemed to be in the lead, which I knew no one on ORIXA would stand for. Team Light took the lead shortly after, but there were jets from Storm and ORIXA among them. Everything went at breakneck speed; it was hard to keep track of everyone’s positions.

Take Me to the Water! Why ponds, rivers, and lakes are in my books lately. Post by Jessica E. Subject

For as long as I can remember, I have always sought out water when I'm feeling stressed or upset, or simply to relax. When I was little, I used to head down the street to the creek and catch tadpoles, or wait for the muskrat to make an appearance. Whenever visiting my grandparents, I'd always go to the lakes near their houses. As a teen, my high school was right next to the river that runs through the city. And as I got older, I'd go to lakes, old gravel pits, wildlife conservation areas, and waterfalls to be near the water. Family vacation spots had to include water, whether for fishing, swimming, or simply relaxing near.

 

Since mid-March of 2020, I haven't left the city due to the pandemic. I go for long walks with my daughter, but only to cross the river rather than to walk the paths around it. I miss the water.

Subconsciously, I've been including water in my stories to make up for what I'm missing in real life.

In VAWN (Kaddim Brothers #1, coming soon from Decadent Publishing,) Vawn sits on the edge of a pond with his feet in the water after an argument with his older brothers.

In MEMORIES OF US (Shifter Towers #6 that will be part of an MPreg anthology,) Envi invites Hayden to spend the day with him up at Traverse Pond in an attempt to rekindle the relationship they once had.

I already told my husband that when he has his vacation time this summer, I want to go to the water, whether a lake, waterfall, or just a pond. It doesn't matter to me. I simply need to go to the water.

Is there a place like that for you?

Alternate Universes in Paranormal Romance and Sci-Fi Romance by @jsubject #PNR #SFRomance #Romance

 

ALTERNATE UNIVERSES

IN

PARANORMAL AND SCI-FI ROMANCE

As an author of both sci-fi and paranormal romance, I know we have to create alternate worlds for our stories. Because as much as we like to believe that aliens, shifters, ghosts, vampires, zombies, etc. exist on this planet, we don't see them walking around in public on a daily basis. So, we create our own where they do.

Now, these alternate worlds or universes can be as similar or different from our own existence as we want them to be. In my ALIEN NEXT DOOR series, aliens live on an Earth much like our own. And they try to blend in to human society so their secret is not discovered. The world-building was simple, as I only had to tweak a few things from our own world.

In my most recently published series, SHIFTER TOWERS, shifters live amongst humans in an omegaverse. There was a little more world-building involved with this series. As similar as I tried to make this world to our own, I did create new cities, towns, and landmarks to match the world I was writing in. And since the characters were mostly AOB shifters, there were a few other differences I had to consider. Like how often, and where they were allowed to shift.

With my GALACTIC DEFENDERS series and my upcoming KADDIM BROTHERS series, I went all out, creating new worlds with new rules, and so much more. And the joy of these stories taking place on multiple planets and on space craft as well is that each one is different from the other, leading to so many possibilities for things to happen.

As a reader, or an author, I want to know how close you like your stories to be to your reality? Do you like to wonder if your neighbor might be an alien or a vampire? Or, do you want the full escape to leave this world during your reading/writing time? I enjoy both, but I'm always curious about what everyone else thinks.

Here's a snippet from BRYCE, the first book in my Galactic Defenders series, where Lalia is on the Galactic Defenders ship and trying to find her way around...

Glancing one last time at her daughter, she pulled on her robe then exited the room.

Confident of their safety on the carrier and in space, the Galactic Alliance hadn’t assigned them any security. They’d been housed in the guest quarters, three floors up from Bryce and the rest of the Defenders.

No one patrolled the hallway at all, making her passage past the communal bathroom and  to the lift easy. “Second floor, Defender’s Lounge,” she recited to the computer after the doors slid closed behind her. The chamber softly glowed around her, no buttons or emergency phones on the walls like elevators on Earth. While Bryce had told her to locate him in the lounge if she had an emergency, she doubted he’d expect her so soon after he’d left her. But she couldn’t share her objections in front of her daughter. If they did end up on Hemera, she didn’t want Katrina to know how much she’d detested life on her home planet.

“Destination reached,” the computer said in a neutral tone, neither male nor female.

Peeking out, she spotted no one. With all the Defenders she’d met on board, she’d expected to run into at least one of them. Instead, closed doors surrounded the gleaming floor of the large, circular room. Tables, chairs, couches, and other odd-shaped furniture rested along the far wall, as if pushed there before one of the crew had cleaned the floor.

Would she leave marks on the polished surface if she stepped across it, evidence of her visit to Bryce? Or, worse, set off an intruder alarm?

The lift door whooshed toward her. Lalia jumped out of the way to avoid getting squished. She paused, waiting for an ear-piercing wail, for all the Defenders to come rushing out to see what had set off the alarm. Yet, an eerie silence hung around her, all the doors remaining closed.

She tiptoed around the edge of the room, searching the entrances for some marker indicating which one led to Bryce. Nothing. They all looked the same, brushed metal without even a window to help her find him. No number or any sort of identification to tell them apart from each other. How did any of the Defenders find their own room?

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