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    When everything seems dark, don't be.

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    • Chapter 4: Camp Cover
      by Starscribe Nathan doubted his intruder had gotten what she wanted out of her night with him. But she’d been drunk, hungry, and desperate, and he’d been raised better than that. At least being so drunk made her easy to get into one of the guest bedrooms, where she couldn’t hurt herself.“You are not what I expected,” said her pony, in a voice like a surprised guard dog. “The way Chipper Tune looked at you. You look as lonely as she is. But less drunk.”“Humans aren’t always what they seem,” said…
    • Chapter 4: Bureaucratic Barriers Cover
      by Starscribe And thus, it was for time Flynn barely counted. But then, that was nothing new for anyone in St. Justin’s. Nobody counted days, since for almost all of them those days were numbered. Flynn went on many adventures, each of them more real than anything he’d played in video games before. This time, he didn’t feel like he was wasting his time. Rather, he was doing something important.He rose through the ranks of the Broken Chain, until he was respected enough not to need an escort everywhere he went.…
    • Chapter 4: Branch Cover
      by Starscribe Dakota could not even remember the last time she hadn’t had her Synth. During the darkest moments in the hospital, he had been there. Cinnabar had been there when she was in surgery, been there when she was going through physical therapy. When she woke each morning he was there, generally with breakfast he’d requested from the hospital based on her preferences and a few interesting videos he’d collected while she slept.But now Dakota was alone—alone in what no longer felt like a warm, welcoming…
    • Chapter 4: Bad Luck Cover
      by Starscribe Kyle was rapidly running out of time.If there was at least one mercy for her, it was that they’d certainly gone out for dinner, buying her a little time to not get thrown out onto the street as some dangerous genetic anomaly. But that time was running out now—when they got back, she was going to have to explain this.Or maybe I don’t have to. As she paced back and forth in the corner of her bedroom, her mind raced. The baby had clearly been panicking—she’d been desperately hungry and not sure of…
    • Chapter 4 Cover
      by Starscribe The trip to New Accipio was uneventful, at least so compared to everything I’d been led to expect. There were no pirate attacks, though I did see plenty of other traffic along the route. We saw the Royal Navy more than once, patrolling our most important trade-route.I had plenty of opportunity to ask follow-up questions to Bluejacket, though there wasn’t all that much to ask. He didn’t remember any specifics about the religious service, or know very much about the new griffon religion.Beyond that,…
    • Chapter 4 Cover
      by Starscribe Unwilling RecruitJackie sat beside her sister on the comfortable leather seats, watching the world below retreating into indistinct shapes. So long as she didn’t think about anything, she could imagine this was just the flight back home after the convention. Her whole world didn’t have to change, she wasn’t a criminal. She hadn’t almost lost her sister through her own stupid mistakes. Up here, she could just sit comfortably and let all of that drift away.Harley seemed to recognize her discomfort,…
    • Chapter 4 Cover
      by Starscribe Marie’s eyes were glued to the television as they never had been before in her entire life.What she was seeing was impossible. But as she watched, there was no announcement that this was really just the trailer from some upcoming movie. There was no “April fools.” If the BBC was playing a prank on people, this was far more incredible than any spaghetti trees.“Authorities say the creature was spotted near Brighton pier at about six in the morning today,” said the bland presenter, looking as…
    • Chapter 4 Cover
      by Starscribe Evoli ruled over half the world.In a way, her campaign had felt almost too easy. After the death of Manipura, Visuddha’s territory had come next. The especially pure queen’s army had not done her much good, even if her spies had been better than Manipura’s. But seeing Evoli’s army coming was not the same thing as stopping it. After a few hours of siege, Evoli had taken her capital with most of its controllers and males.That Viśuddha had escaped with her retinue was only a slight annoyance to her.…
    • Chapter 4 Cover
      by Starscribe Eric faced Adriana, frozen in place. Except for the tail, which swished nervously back and forth. His ears moved too, both entirely out of his control."Did someone let an animal in?" someone else asked. "What do we do, call animal control?"John stepped forward, lifting his safety glasses away from his eyes. "Sure is dressed like Eric. I thought I was losing my mind, watching him one line over. But I can see it. That purple thing on his face...""Help me," he pleaded, abandoning all semblance of imitating…
    • Chapter 4 Cover
      by Starscribe Applejack (Engineering, Hydroponics) Twilight stared unblinking into her mirror, eyes watering even with the assistance of a pair of new plastic glasses. A thin line of fuzzy mane had sprouted in the week since she had first woken, the only healthy color on her whole body. Patches of her fur were still missing, with splotches of grayish skin visible underneath. But they’d started to itch terribly, which the manual told her meant they were healing. The joys of being generation one. She could only hope…
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