Excerpt:
"If you must blame someone, blame me," Dr. Wei said. "Mr. Cooper takes his orders from me, as does the rest of my crew. He was acting on those orders, which the rest of my people were unaware of for obvious reasons."
"Dr. Wei, you’re our guest, albeit a rogue one at best. It’s about time you and your crew acted like it. You want NASA on your side and you have it. But this stunt does nothing except set back relations between us. Our trust has been—"
"Violated? Whether NASA was aware of Homeland Security’s intentions or not, our expectations of trust and respect do not stop at your organization."
"We had nothing to do with this!" She huffed for a moment as if she were gathering her thoughts. "The feds are not under my jurisdiction."
"Why not?" Cal replied over the comm. "Seeing as we’re on your base, you would think you’d know what your other guests are up to at all times, too."
"I can’t speak to that, but someone had damn well better tell me who authorized movement of the pod from the landing site in the first place." That last part sounded like she was talking to those outside of the MCC and not us. If she didn’t know about the attempted theft of our pod, then who did?
"The CIA," an officer said over his earpiece. "We had orders from our agency to move the pod to a more secure location where it couldn’t be accessed by any foreign entities."
"You’re an idiot," I replied. "You can’t get more secure than outer space, which is where it was going."
Jaxon activated the thirty-second countdown on the glass and the flashing security lights to warn people back. He must have finished laying out the course and double-checking his calculations. I began waving everyone out of the area. None of them wanted to leave, so I started shoving them to get their attention. It took a tremendous amount of thrust to get those engines revved high enough to push the pod through the Earth’s gravity.
"No way." Several of the officers began to move, but the lead guy didn’t. "I have my orders. That pod stays here."
"Your orders are going to get you blown to pieces, if you don’t get out of the way," I shouted. "There’s an initial blast to give the pod a jumpstart."
"He shuts those engines down now or I’ll blow a hole through the glass." He aimed his gun. "Tell him to stand down! Now!"
Worry etching his face, Jaxon pressed his hands against the glass at T-minus ten seconds. Once the engines started, turning them off wasn’t advised, since the ignition already used up a third of the power cell. Igniting it again, the pod will never make it back to the Bridgeway without a recharge. I doubted the feds would allow us to let the solar panels sit in the sun for even six minutes without trying to steal it.
Since the stupid officer wasn’t going to move, I raced back and heaved him out of the way. A blast sent us flying. We tumbled down a small hill. Pain sliced through my upper arm before we landed in the grass. We watched the pod rocket into the air.
"Damn it!" The officer leaped off the ground and stared. He turned his ire on me. "We had our orders! Keep the pod safe."
"Too bad your orders didn’t include the Bridgeway crew." Unable to move my throbbing arm, I crawled toward the tablet, grabbed it, and prayed it hadn’t been cracked in our nosedive.
Pain shot through my arm again. When I touched the spot, I noticed blood coating my palm. It hurt like someone stuck a hot poker through my skin and out the other side. Thankfully, it was the meatier side, but it still stung like hellfire.
The Book Junkie Reads . . . Interview with . . . V.G. Harrison . . .
Do you feel that writing is an ingrained process or just something that flows naturally for you?
In the beginning, it was a process. The rules were always in the back of my head and wanted to make sure I followed them to a tee. However, it’s more ingrained in me now because I’ve been doing it for so long. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a process, but more so, it’s less at the forefront of my brain when I’m writing. While it’s good to follow the rules, I believe there are times when it’s okay to break them to get some of the best lines on the page.
Do you people watch to help with character(s) development? Or do you build upon your characters during story creation?
Oh, I people watch. But the funny thing is I know exactly what everyone looks like in my book and which person I styled them on, except for my main character. While I have an idea of what she looks like, I don’t have a full view of her. So, for her, I have to use building blocks to get her centered in my brain and on the pages.
What are some of your writing/publishing goals for this year?
I want to finish a new trilogy I’ve been working on that has to do with what happens after a character who has been marooned for a long time comes home to realize the island isn’t done with her yet. And even though I would like to say my Dyson Bridge series is done with The Engine in the Sky, I’m not ready to let it go, yet.
If you could have dinner/dinner party with 7 fictional characters, who would they be?
Hannibal Lecter (No, he’s not cooking nor is he allowed to bring a dish)
Shug Avery (from The Color Purple)
John Wick
Jules Winnfield (from Pulp Fiction)
Zoe Washburn (from Firefly)
Inosuke Hashibira (from Demon Slayer)
Darth Vader
If you could go ANYWhere, money is not a concern, and spend one full year. Where would you go and what would you do with this time?
If we’re talking fictional, I would love to go to Wakanda and spend my time learning about the technology they have there. The geek in me would geek out so bad that I would have physical and mental withdrawal when it was time to leave.
If we’re talking reality, then I’m going to Ōkunoshima Island in Japan where they have hundreds of free-roaming bunnies. I would spend my days there relaxing, feeding, and playing with the fluffy babies.
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