Yes, I've been kind of busy writing. 200,000! I NEVER thought I would do that much in a single month. And I still have a week left! I don't know how I did it. I'm sure as I come up for air and look around it's going to hit me that there is a ton of stuff that I haven't gotten done... but I don't care. I have been having a great time.
Here is a snippet from the last novel. Just kind of a fun snippet, really.
A sudden buzz brought Ertu out of sleep and sitting up, gasping with fear. She grabbed at her commlink, panic making her drop it in the covers.
"Lights!"
The lights came up, too bright as she blinked. But she found the link, took a deep breath and clicked it on.
"Ertu here."
"It's Marsit," an all too familiar and worried voice said. "We have problems --"
"Devlin!" she said.
He laughed suddenly. "No, Devlin's not here. It's not that serious. We're getting in reports about aliens, light -- something headed our way. I think you better get up here pretty fast before it hits."
"Okay. Grabbing some clothes. I'll be there in about five minutes."
"Theron is heading up, too. "
"Good. I'll be right there."
She was already out of bed, grabbing something from the closet. A quick stop in the bathroom, a brush through her hair -- a moment to look calm, at least, because the head of the station rushing out of her room in the middle of the night would not be a good thing.
Especially with this station.
Ertu once again wondered what madness had convinced her to accept the position as head of Aldebaran Station. She'd held the position before, of course -- back before Devlin blew the last station to hell.
She took another deep breath to try and drive that thought from her brain. Every disaster did not have to involve Devlin. And to be fair, the last one -- the one on Thesa -- had been her own fault. The locals had annoyed her with their 'you're just a woman' attitude. So she had asked Devlin to come in and see if she could handle things.
She had to have been insane to have done it, and it was not a mistake she was ever going to make again. Devlin and her team had arrived and everything went to hell. She'd ended up camping out in the open, living off the land, and running for her life. She was not a naturalist of any sort. She liked living in places like the Aldebaran Station.
Granted, Devlin had set things to right on Thesa, which she could not have done herself. She and her team had done a good job there.
But never, never, never again.
She reached control just as Theron did. He looked sleepy and worried, and gave her a quick nod. He was the head of their security, and came straight from the IWCS -- just like Devlin. Only calmer. More sane.
The center did not look sane. Reports were up on nearly every screen. She glanced across them, trying to make sense -- and then back to the main live screen because there was something there that shouldn't be.
"Hell!"
"Just light, as far as anyone can tell," Marsit said. He was at one computer, and didn't look up from the material that scrolled there. "It has light-like properties at least, but it cuts through everything -- hulls, shields, possibly planets. And it's moving far faster than the speed of light. However, the worst that can be said for it is that some people with psi abilities might hear voices whispering. Keep an eye on them; there was one bad reaction, but the guy came out of it all right."
"Hell, hell, hell." She had thrown herself into another chair and started reading reports -- and then looked up and realized she just didn't have time. "Theron? Any suggestions?"
"I'm getting all my people up and out there. I suggest that you get the restaurants open, anything that these people can do that might keep them busy for a little while. Start up the newsfeeds with information about the light -- and make it fun stuff. Make it exciting. How lucky they are to be part of this."
"You think it will help?" Ertu asked, already starting to call up the people to get the restaurants going.
"Better than doing nothing at all." He stopped and tapped the link in his ear. "Yes, Misea. Come on up."
Misea was his unofficial second in command, a woman with a rather checkered background from all Ertu could tell. But she'd stopped judging people by their records a long time ago. Misea did her work, and if Theron said she was fine, Ertu knew better than to question it. IWCS agents had ways all their own.
The woman came into the room at a quick walk. She nodded to everyone, and went straight to Theron, taking the seat next to him and keying up the computer. The woman at least didn't get too worried about things.
And the golden light was already starting to slip in.
"We can expect to start getting calls... now," Marsit said, and right on call the boards started to light up.
"Okay, we won't be able to handle all of that. I'm going to have to do a quick vid and just send them all that," Ertu said. She frowned a little. Then she nodded to Theron who had started to say something. "Yes, I know. Light and friendly."
She keyed on the vid cam and smiled. "Hello everyone. I'm sorry that I can not personally take your calls, but the call lines have overloaded and we can not sort them out just yet. Please tune in to the vidline news channel for information on this unprecedented incident that you are now taking part in!" She paused a moment and prayed to all the gods everywhere that no alarm went off just now. "Since I'm sure you'll be up and wandering around, talking with your fellow travelers about this wonderful event, I've ordered all the restaurants open, and there will be free coffee for everyone. I hope to see you there myself!"
She keyed it back off and took a deep breath, frowning at the spirals of golden light that drifted into the control area. Misea was batting at one, and it moved a little away -- not the way light should act at all, and it bothered her to see it.
"Calls have dropped by about twenty percent," Marsit said. "The rest are just going to be pissed that they can not get through to anyone, and they'll keep trying. Why did we come back here again?"
"Good pay, quiet station, rich people who usually do not want anything more than to be entertained," Ertu said. "But I'm beginning to think that I'm just crazy."
"Probably so," Marsit agreed. "Are you going to go out there and mingle?"
"In a few minutes," she said. She leaned back in the chair. "I want them to get used to the light first. Can you think of any other problems we're likely to have?"
"There are no Lindy or Caliente on the station at the moment," Marsit said. "I do not know if that's good or bad."
"If there's a riot, I would like to have either of them on our side," Ertu said. Then she saw the way both Misea and Theron were looking at the two of them. "Yes, it sounds insane, but I learned the hard way that if you have trouble, it's good to have people you can trust on your side. And if the Lindy are on your side, you can trust them."
"Ah," Theron said. He looked at Marsit. "You were the head of security here --"
"For one short, horrible stretch of time right before Devlin blew the hell out of the station," Marsit said. "And most of the time I was just following Devlin's lead. I'd worked with her on Terra Nova during the plague, too."
"And on Thesa," Ertu said and Marsit gave a little nod. "That was a disaster all on its own. But as long as Devlin is not anywhere around, I'm going to believe this is just an inconvenience, and not a disaster."
Theron laughed. "I've worked with her, you know. It's damned unusual to have so many people who worked with her and survived all in the same place."
"I do not know this woman," Misea said, looking around. She frowned a little. "Should I be happy about it?"
"Devlin and her team are the most competent, hard working people in the Inner World Council Security," Theron said. "They take on very difficult cases, and so far Devlin has had few losses."
"Except things like blowing up the former station?" Misea said.
"Oh no, that wasn't a loss," Ertu said. "As much as I hate to admit it, that was a stroke of genius that probably saved the Inner Worlds. The Verdi Elite were not at the gate battering to get in -- they'd already made it past the guards and were setting up their own base behind the lines. And they would have had a number of important people, many of them Earthers, as their hostages. No, blowing up the station was wise. And that's the problem, you see. She is involved in the kind of cases where doing something like that is a smart move. I do not know how she and the three who travel with her have survived. And you know, I wish to hell I knew where she is right now."
"Earth, at Keri's home," Theron said. The others looked at him, shocked by the answer. He laughed a little. "I have worked with her. I always make it a habit of knowing with Devlin or any of her people are so that I can stay clear of it."
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