Josh Sinason
Genre: Sci-fi Romance
Publisher: TWB Press
Number of pages: 40
Word Count: 10,000
Book Description:
A botched investigation into the past triggers a domino effect, thrusting T.I. Agent Amanda West into a race to get home to the man she loves in a future that may no longer exist.
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/q7SzyIivKXk
Available at Amazon Smashwords TWB Press
“Let’s go, rookie.” I set my blaster on stun. “I want to be home in time for dinner.”
Corporal Winger nodded and drew his gun.
I noticed his hand shake. That should have been my first cue something was wrong. He clutched his gun so tense his knuckles turned white. This was his first op, and it already went way far south way too soon. This was just supposed to be a routine run: bring back a fugitive who had bolted through an unauthorized time portal. We were the closest ship to it. He was just one guy, but he had a gun. Who would have thought things could’ve gone so wrong?
I kissed the scar on my right hand before we chased him through Central Park in the year 2014. It was a silly ritual, but when I found myself far from home, I started to get superstitious. On cold nights, when time, space, and a universe kept me away, I’d look at that scar and think about Parker.
Winger was a hair faster than me catching up with our time jumper. Maybe if I’d been there a second or two sooner I could have stopped him, but I arrived just in time to watch him aim his gun. I was just within view when our jumper pulled in a hostage, a little girl, something that would’ve made any experienced agent hold his fire.
Winger was just reacting on instinct. He didn’t pull back in time, and the guy held the kid in front of him. The scene played out in slow motion. Maybe Winger thought he could make a head-shot on the perp, or maybe he just fired in the heat of the moment; we were both tired. All I knew was, as the girl and our jumper fell to the ground, the look of horror on Winger’s face didn’t last long.
I’d never seen a person fade from existence before, not until that moment. The theory, according to Temporal Investigations, was that one dies before actually disappearing completely. Sheer shock and horror was the killer, like falling off a tall building. But Winger looked me in the eyes the entire time, silently pleading for help as he faded right in front of me. I reached out to grab his hand, but it vanished, and that’s when I noticed my scar begin to ghost.
I didn’t know who that little girl was. Maybe she had invented something that made the Galactic Conferences possible, or maybe she was the grandmother of the grandmother of someone who assigned cores in the Academy, and because she no longer existed in the future, Parker and I may have ended up in different course plans. Or maybe she did something at just the right moment, a move in one direction or another, a decade from now, and things just fell into place for us. It was impossible to tell what could happen without her influence, but I feared something was wrong. I could have lost Parker already without even knowing it.
When I saw that scar on my hand ghost, I knew it was a sign that the time stream was starting to realign. We were briefed on ghosting at the Academy. They told us to run; they said always run back to the ship, flat out as fast as we could. But we all knew the truth. We couldn’t outrun a time realignment. It would be like outrunning the hand of the universe.
The moment I saw that scar flicker, I took off in a dead sprint back to the ship and leaped into the captain’s chair. As the controls came on around me I felt the hum of the hyperspace time bubble curling around the ship like a warm blanket. Then, when I tried to catch my breath, I felt a hot sting in my gut. Our jumper had managed to get off a shot, and as luck would have it, his blaster charge went straight through Winger’s ghosting body and hit me in the stomach. I did my best to breathe slowly, but each inhale felt like razor blades slicing through my chest. I winced and put pressure on the singed and bloody wound then throttled up the engines.
“Well today just sucked, didn’t it.” I looked at the picture of Parker I kept on my dashboard. We had our pictures taken when we were assigned to The Bartlett. Knowing this meant I hadn’t forgotten about him...at least not yet. Then I looked to make sure the hyperspace time bubble had restored the scar on my hand. Yes. I gave it another kiss for luck. Just lifting my arm sent shooting pains through my stomach, but I figured I needed a fair amount of luck right about then, so the pain was worth the effort.
“Just make it home for dinner.” I clutched the steering yoke tightly. “Just one more trip.” I forced a breath. “Let me see that everything is all right with Parker. Then let whatever changes I’ve made to the future do what they will to me.”
“Some time cop I turned out to be.”
I slammed on the thrusters hard and gunned the engine boosters through the time jump, but the inertia field didn’t have time to boot up, so I felt my ribs crack as my chest slammed against the crash belt and the back of my head bounced off the top of my chair.
I screamed in pain.
In flight school I had experienced what happened without an inertia field. Senior cadets would watch Parker and I train in the flight deck sim. We’d shoot to hyperspace without any problems. But every once in a while the cadets would program in an inertia field glitch just to see how we’d respond to the stress, at least that’s what they told the instructors. It was really a rite of passage made worse by the fact that the simulator didn’t have crash belts, so the only way to go was flying backwards. If it wasn’t for the crash helmets, our brains would’ve splattered against the cold metal exit door.
“Stupid prank,” I said, spitting blood. I was bleeding internally. The scar on my hand ghosted again. The time bubble was weakening already, so I started going over my past, wondering just how much of it I would forget.
I decide to listen to my personal logs and make sure everything was just as I remembered. Hopefully that last ghosting wasn’t a sign that I was too late. The computer accessed my files, starting with my first week studying for the Academy mid-terms.
I remembered that day by the lake on the Academy grounds, fresh in my mind no matter what time jump I was in. The lake was clear blue enough that I could see the incoming spaceships reflected in the surface. I had sat there so often over that first month I could tell how low the ships were flying by the ripples their wakes made in the water.
I sat near a tree, hoping to keep my mind on my introductory engineering midterm studies. Sometimes the Academy felt like a monster looking to swallow cadets whole, but out there, under the shuttles flying by and the transport ships jumping to hyperspace like little daylight shooting stars, the Academy grounds felt peaceful. That day the transports lit up the clouds like purple and red lightning. I listened to the low rumble of the shuttles as I skipped a rock across the water. Then I cracked open a book.
Character Name:
Amanda West and Parker West. I liked “West” as surname because it sounds vaguely like the name of an explorer to me and a big plot point in the story is exploring the great unknown vs answering a greater calling.
Character Bio:
Amanda is an agent for the Temporal Investigations Unit of the United Fleet in a future where space and time exploration are at our fingertips. She’s a driven young woman who refuses to let anyone see her scared. Of course that doesn’t matter to Parker. Parker is a natural explorer and leader with the bravado of Captain Kirk and a sense of ambition that mystifies Amanda.
Describe yourself what is your worst and best quality?
As a writer or as a human being? I’ll stick with as a writer and save the other for therapy. I tend to overthink things a bit. I’m working on just letting things happen a bit and trusting the readers to put things together on their own without getting so far in the characters heads I’m telegraphing things like character turns. My best quality as a writer? Is there a way to answer that without seeming cocky? People tell me I am a little already so maybe I’ll leave this one blank but I
What is the one thing you wish other people knew about you?
I learned how to tell a good story from reading Marvel Comics as a kid…I also probably learned how to tell a bad story too but mostly the good.
What is your biggest secret something no one knows about?
I talk too much to keep any secrets…but something I don’t tell people right away…I’m a huge pro wrestling fan.
What are you most afraid of?
I have a weird thing with bridges. I tense up when driving over really whinedy ones sometimes. I looked up what a phobia of brides is recently so I guess I have one of those….and bears…and probably dying alone…but yeah let’s go with bears.
What do you want more than anything?
Probably something I can’t have, (what else is there to want) but I’d love to go into space or learn to fly a plane.
What is your relationship status?
Single
How would you describe your sense of fashion?
I don’t leave the house in something without a collar and I only wear t-shirts to the gym. Those are really my only two rules of fashion everything else is whatever is clean…most of the time.
How much of a rebel are you?
10%
What do you considered to be your greatest achievement?
I preformed stand up comedy regularly for about six months, getting that first check for performing was pretty great. I hope the greatest is still ahead though.
What is your idea of happiness?
I root beer on a hot day at the beach and a girl laying next to me.
What is your current state of mind?
Wrestles, maybe on the way to being happy but I don’t necessarily believe in happiness as a state of mind.
What is your most treasured possession?
Stan Lee’s autograph
What is your most marked characteristic?
People tell me I smile too much…but that can’t be a bad thing really.
What is it that you, most dislike?
Which living person do you, most despise?
What is your greatest regret?
Probably some girl I said high to at a bar and never went back to.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Loyalty
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
A willingness to try things outside of their comfort zone.
Who is your favorite hero in fiction?
Spider-Man
Which living person do you most admire?
Dad
If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
I’d be less of a procrastinator. If someone stole my tv I’d get so much more work done…in those thirty minutes till I ran out and bought a new tv.
What is your motto?
“If you’re going to walk into walls run at them full speed.” Leo Mcgarry
Josh Sinason grew up in DeKalb, Illinois, and has been featured in the Two With Water reading series and at DIY-Film.com.
In addition he has won the Creativity in Media award for his work on www.stairwellblog.com
His work has been recently featured in Burroughs Publishing Lunchbox Romance Line and Eternal Press’ young adult fiction line.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8094737.Josh_Sinason/blog
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