Of A Darker Void: Asterion Noir Book 2, page 31
Members of NOIR who had scattered during and after the attack on The Chalet arrived in groups to guard the entrance below and treat the injured. She didn’t know if Joaquim or Perrin had asked them to come, or if they’d seen the Platform fall out of the sky and acted on their own initiative, but the sight of them here filled her with joy and fierce pride.
Dawn was becoming daylight when the door to the deck opened and Perrin peeked out. “Nika?”
The cocktail dress she’d arrived wearing, amid a tornado of hugs and exclamations minutes after the Platform’s destruction, was gone. Someone must have brought her a change of clothes, and she now wore a pair of heather leggings and an oversized powder-blue sweater.
Nika waved her out onto the deck. “Is everything all right?”
“Stars if I know. No one’s shot at us in at least an hour, so that’s a positive. Though, I passed Joaquim and Dashiel on the way up, and they were standing there drinking juice and calmly talking to each other, so it’s possible I bumped my head sometime during the night and this is all a hallucination.”
“You and me both. Great work tonight, by the way.”
“Me? I just went to a fancy cocktail party. You stormed the castle, rescued our boys and took down the Guides.”
“Well, sort of. Dashiel and Joaquim basically rescued themselves. We merely cleared the escape route for them.”
“I doubt ‘merely’ covers it. Listen, I realize you’re going on stage in a few minutes, but first, there’s someone here who badly wants to see you. And for the record, she’s wonderful.”
Before Nika could respond, Perrin spun around and hurried back to the door. A woman stepped out as Perrin reached it, and they shared a brief, murmured exchange before Perrin slipped inside.
The woman stared at her for several seconds wearing a strikingly poignant expression. Finally she approached the railing, only to stop a few meters away. “Nika, my goodness. I worried I would never see you again—I’m sorry, I realize you don’t remember. I’m—”
Nika closed half the distance between them. “Maris. I do remember…some things. Bits and pieces.” Another step, and she took the woman’s hands in hers. “I remember that you were my friend, and for such a very long time. Longer than seems possible. I’m not quite the same person I was, but I hope we can be friends again.”
Maris’ lips parted. “I would like that so, so much. Though I would never dare try to take Perrin’s place beside you. She’s wonderful. An absolute delight.”
“She is. Of course, she said the same thing about you. I suppose an ability to choose my friends well didn’t get erased in the psyche-wipe.”
“I hear it’s not the only thing—”
Dashiel stuck his head out the door, a broad smile breaking across his face. “Now this is a welcome sight for my tired eyes. I hate to interrupt the reunion, but Adlai says we need to broadcast soon.”
Maris gestured toward Dashiel. “Shall we, then?”
“You’ll stand with us?”
“Oh, yes. And I brought some friends.”
Drone cams buzzed around everyone who had gathered in the conference room. Most of the people were strangers to Nika, but they all knew her…and she was starting to make her peace with that.
Those who had come here needed a leader and a beacon as much as those watching the drones’ feed across the Dominion did. They needed a voice.
Rebel, diplomat, rebel once more and now both at once. Though too many pieces remained missing for her to fully understand the how and why, she was also starting to accept another truth: she had always been that voice. Time to step up and become it again.
“Live broadcast in 3…2…1….”
She faced the cams. “Good morning, afternoon and evening. Wherever you’re located, the world looks a little different now than it did a few short hours ago. You have questions, and I’ll try to answer them where I can. But many of the answers, we will have to find together.
“My name is Nika Tescarav. Or Kirumase if you prefer, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I’m not alone, and neither are you. Standing here with me are the greater weight of your Advisors. Not the Guides’ Advisors—your Advisors.
“We’re reaching out to you today because our beloved Asterion Dominion is in grave danger, and we need your help to save it.”
DON'T MISS THE FINALE OF THE
ASTERION NOIR TRILOGY
THE
STARS
LIKE
GODS
Coming in 2019
***
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
I published my first novel, Starshine, in 2014. In the back of the book I put a short note asking readers to consider leaving a review or talking about the book with their friends. Since then I’ve had the unmitigated pleasure of watching my readers do that and so much more, and there’s never been a more rewarding and humbling experience in my life.
So if you loved OF A DARKER VOID, tell someone. Leave a review, share your thoughts on social media, ask your library to get more copies, annoy your coworkers in the break room by talking about your favorite characters. Reviews are the backbone of a book’s success, but there is no single act that will sell a book better than word-of-mouth.
My part of this deal is to write a book worth talking about—your part of the deal is to do the talking. If you keep doing your bit, I get to write a lot more books for you.
Of course, I can’t write them overnight. While you’re waiting for the next book, consider supporting other independent authors. Right now there are thousands of writers chasing the same dream you’ve enabled me to achieve. Take a small chance with a few dollars and a few hours of your time. In doing so, you may be changing an author’s life.
Lastly, I want to hear from my readers. If you loved the book—or if you didn’t—let me know. The beauty of independent publishing is its simplicity: there’s the writer and the readers. Without any overhead, I can find out what I’m doing right and wrong directly from you, which is invaluable in making the next book better than this one. And the one after that. And the twenty after that.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to my beta readers, editors and artists, who made everything about this book better, and to my family, who continue to put up with an egregious level of obsessive focus on my part for months at a time.
I also want to add a personal note of thanks to everyone who has read my books, left a review at retailers, Goodreads or other sites, sent me a personal email expressing how the books have impacted you, or posted on social media to share how much you enjoyed them. You make this all worthwhile, every day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
G. S. JENNSEN lives in Colorado with her husband and two dogs. She has written eleven novels and multiple short stories, all published by her imprint, Hypernova Publishing. She has become an internationally bestselling author since her first novel, Starshine, was published in March 2014. She has chosen to continue writing under an independent publishing model to ensure the integrity of her stories and her ability to execute on the vision she has for their telling.
While she has been a lawyer, a software engineer and an editor, she’s found the life of a full-time author preferable by several orders of magnitude. When she isn’t writing, she’s gaming or working out or getting lost in the Colorado mountains that loom large outside the windows in her home. Or she’s dealing with a flooded basement, or standing in a line at Walmart reading the tabloid headlines and wondering who all of those people are. Or sitting on her back porch with a glass of wine, looking up at the stars, trying to figure out what could be up there.
Table of Contents
TITLE PAGE
BOOKS BY G. S. JENNSEN
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
GALAXY MAP
SYNOPSIS
CONTENTS
DECLARATION
Eight Years Ago
PRIMARY EXPRESSIONS
1: Ebisu
2: Ebisu
3: Starship #PV79-24116
4: Mirai
5: Mirai
6: Wayfarer
WILDCARDS
7: Mirai
8: Namino
9: Mirai
10: Wayfarer
11: Kiyora
12: Mirai
13: Mirai
14: Mirai
15: The Platform
16: The Platform
ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION
17: Wayfarer
18: Wayfarer
19: Toki’Taku
20: Synra
21: Mirai
22: Mirai
23: Toki’Taku
24: Mirai
LOGIC GATES
25: SR114-Ichi
26: Mirai
27: Mirai
28: Unidentified Space Station
29: Wayfarer
30: Mirai
31: Wayfarer
MERGE (FIELD)
32: Wayfarer
33: Mirai
34: Wayfarer
35: Namino
36: Mirai
37: Namino
38: Namino
39: The Platform
40: Wayfarer
COMMAND PROMPT
41: Wayfarer
42: Mirai
43: Wayfarer
44: Mirai
45: Mirai
46: Mirai
47: Mirai
END OF LINE
48: The Platform
49: Mirai
50: Mirai
51: The Platform
52: The Platform
53: Mirai
54: Mirai
AUTHOR'S NOTE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
G. S. Jennsen, Of A Darker Void: Asterion Noir Book 2
