Station 86, the station of first contact, has taken a little over a month to recover from the attack of The Core. Terrorists, opposing the stance of coexistence with fellow humanoid races, assassinated all but two members of the Council. While they did succeed in luring President Ly of Khloe to the station, her life was saved by police officer Sennett Montgomery and Councilman Godfrey Anders. But the station was horrified to learn that their police commissioner, Heather Stone, and their head Councilwoman, Sonya Voit, were both Core members. While Voit managed to kill herself before standing trial, Stone currently sits in a jail cell, awaiting justice.

Families and friends of those lost in the tragedy are healing. Leaders have stepped up to replace those who were killed or arrested. It is with great caution that the station looks to Joy Wheatly and Howard Stoat to keep things running while they decide what sort of government they’d like to have. Friends and neighbors look upon each other with distrust. There were too many Core members on the station for anyone to believe that they’ve seen the last of them.

As for Godfrey Anders and Sennett Montgomery, they’re doing their best to slip quietly back into their everyday lives.

Sennett has been promoted to detective. She’s moved into her deceased mother’s home with her younger brother and daughter. Godfrey is focusing on his wife and his food stall. But a shuttle is heading to Station 86 that will shake their lives again.

It was a little after three in the afternoon. Godfrey was preparing his shop for the after school rush. A sign above his head read ‘True Food Counter’.

He was a tall man, with light skin and a head full of curly hair. He had a Foundation Party pin, the four squares within each other, on his shirt collar. His stall was basic, just a counter with some stools. He had a hot stove, sink, and lots of counter space. On the counter sat a bowl of real, grown apples. They’d become very popular among school-age kids, who’d never had anything but replicated apples. Soon, the market district would be flooded with hungry kids, and college students after a meal before their evening classes.

He would also be getting some unwilling help.

Godfrey looked up as the transit arrived. A few minutes later he saw Mason Montgomery and his niece, April, making their way towards him.

Mason had all the appearance of a big, overgrown kid with pale skin, spiked blond hair and more tech on his face than Godfrey really felt that he needed. Two dots on his temples controlled a virtual visor. There was a silver earpiece in his left ear, occasionally blinking a green light. He also wore a scowl that seemed to be permanent.

April, on the other hand, was exactly what she seemed to be, a happy four-year-old. She had a mop of curly hair and the same dark complexion as her mother. At least, that was the appearance that her seeming device gave her. Godfrey knew, though few others did, that April wore devices that shielded her true appearance from others. She was half Earthian, half Khloe, the very first of her kind. Her mother felt that it was safer to keep that information private, and Godfrey really didn’t have a say in the matter.

“Hey there, Bit,” Godfrey said as April hopped up on a stool at his counter. “Did you learn anything useful at school today?”

“Yeah,” April said, reaching into her bag. Mason had already joined Godfrey behind the counter, grumbling as he pulled on an apron. “Mr. Miller said that since I’m doing so good with reading I can try a chapter book.” She pulled out a tablet and showed him the cover page. It was Socks, by Beverly Cleary. The cover image, a gray striped cat with white feet sitting next to a baby in yellow footies, was just the same one he remembered.

“Hey, that’s pretty good,” Godfrey said, “I couldn’t have read that when I was four. You Station kids are so much more advanced than we are on Earth.”

“How long do I have to come here?” Mason asked.

“Until you’ve worked off the damage you did to my plants,” Godfrey replied, “That would be easier if you’d stop ducking it and actually come every day like you’re supposed to.”

“I haven’t been ducking, my classes have been running late. I’m not leaving class to come take care of your dirty plants.

“Mister Godfrey, look at this,” April said, holding up her tablet again.

“What is it?” he asked. On the screen was a picture of a dog, he wasn’t sure of the breed. It was small and brown, with curly fur. “He’s at the Humane Society,” April said, “I asked Mommy to get him for my birthday.”

“Sennett already said no,” Mason called, pulling the full trash bag from the can.

April gave her uncle a derisive look. “She might change her mind,” she said. Godfrey didn’t think there was much of a chance that Sennett would allow a dog into her home, especially now that she’d moved into her mother’s house.

“Maybe you could ask her about it. She might agree if you think it’s a good idea,” April said.

“No way,” Godfrey said, “Your mom and I just started getting along and I don’t want to mess with that.”

Amy Wilson, an officer friend of Sennett’s, walked up to the booth. She was a small woman, with dark hair and brilliant green eyes. Godfrey’s chest tightened a moment at the sight of her blue uniform. He supposed that it would always do that, no matter how many officers he was friendly with.

“Hi, Miss Amy,” April said when she saw her. Godfrey leaned across the counter. “Where’s your partner?” he asked.

“Patty’s at the hospital today with her husband,” Amy said.

“Is everything okay?” Godfrey asked.

“Yeah, it’s fine. He’s got some weird cells near his heart, so they’re checking it out.”

“Maybe she’ll run into Ki,” Godfrey replied.

“That’s right, your wife’s a doctor. Weird, I keep forgetting you’re married. Your mom excited about her big promotion, Honey?” Amy asked, ruffling April’s hair.

“Yeah,” April said, “She bought a lot of new clothes since she won’t wear her uniform anymore.”

“That’s why I never wanted to be a detective,” Amy said with a laugh, “I don’t want to buy new clothes.”

“Hey, the Marshal’s are on tv,” Mason said, looking at the communication pad on his arm.

“I’m not paying you to watch your comm pad,” Godfrey said.

“You’re not paying me at all,” Mason muttered.

Godfrey turned to the receiver attached to the counter. He turned up the volume just as Howard Stoat and Joy Wheatly stepped up to a dual podium.

Howard was a tall, thin man who always seemed to have been professionally dressed. His gray tailored suit was impeccable. There was a silver Current Party pin, four interlocking circles, on his lapel.

Joy was a shorter woman, who always wore her thick hair braided in a crown on her head. She stood behind the double podium with Howard, looking grave. Godfrey figured that what they had to say must be serious. Not because of her appearance, she always looked like that. It was just that everything they’d had to say since taking office had been serious.

“Citizens of Station 86,” Howard said, “We won’t take much of your time today. But we wanted to let you know that we are working diligently to seek out members of the Core before they can endanger us again.”

“We’re working closely with Commissioner Schultz as she takes command of the station’s police force,” Joy added, looking far more serious than her counterpart. “We’re asking all of you, if you have concerns, to speak with someone on the police force. Above all, remain calm. The Core is just the same as any other terrorist group. Their goal is to make us distrust and fear each other. Don’t give them what they want.”

“Too many of us lost loved ones during the Core’s attack,” Howard said, “Take care of your neighbors. Please, if you see or hear something that doesn’t look right, report it to the authorities right away.”

“H must drive her nuts,” Amy snickered, “But it’s nice to see the two parties working together for a change.”

“It’s nice to see the parties in power, instead of the council,” Godfrey said.

“But you were a member of the council,” April said.

“Yes, but only because I was trying to make it fairer,” Godfrey said, “I’m very happy to not be a member anymore.”

“Are they going to hold elections?” Amy asked.

“Yeah, within the next thirty days,” Godfrey said, “They want to be in charge, but they want to do it fairly. I can respect that.”

“What about Saul Mai? Do you think he’ll run, now that his name’s been cleared of that, you know, thing?”

“No idea. I think he went off station to visit family,” Godfrey replied.

“Mister Godfrey, why are they both running together? I thought the parties didn’t like each other,” April said.

“That’s not entirely true,” Godfrey said, “It’s kind of like your mom and me. She’s Current Party and I’m Foundation Party. She thinks that things like technology and artificial food are always really good things. I think that people will be healthier if we keep eating natural food and don’t rely so much on technology.”

“But technology is really good,” April said, “People live a lot longer now. We’re healthier and we have all kinds of cool stuff.”

“Yeah, there’s lots of cool stuff that technology does,” Godfrey said.

“Like artificial organs and replicated food,” Amy said, “You realize that we’ve made hunger and lack a thing of the past.”

“Yeah, but we don’t know what sort of health issues that artificial diet is going to cause, long term,” Godfrey said.

“The Foundation Party wants to keep us in the past,” Mason said.

“You know, if I wanted to spout half truths, I could say that the Current Party is willing to poison themselves and others for the sake of progress,” Godfrey said.

April looked between the two, confused. “Sorry,” Godfrey said, “You shouldn’t worry about all this. You’re a kid, you don’t have to think about political parties until you’re grown.”

“Mommy says that the earlier I know what’s going on int the world the better,” April said.

“That sounds like your mom,” Godfrey said, “Let me make you something to eat.”

Other children were starting to collect in front of the stall. Godfrey and Mason were distracted, making smoothies and passing out fresh fruit.

Amy, apparently with nothing better to do, leaned against the stall. Suddenly, her wrist communicator started flashing red. “What’s that?” Godfrey asked quietly, trying not to draw attention from the kids.

She looked at her screen. “There’s an unreported ship docking in the shuttle bay,” she said.

“Should you go check it out?” he asked.

“No, I’m stationed here,” Amy said, “Besides, we get at least one mystery ship a week. Families who forget to log their destination. People from planets, station hopping for vacation on a whim. Hell, they might have logged in and we just didn’t get the report. A lot of stuff’s been missed since the IHP vanished. They used to handle the logs and do outer station security. We’re trying to pick up their slack at the station, but there’s so much of it.”

“That’s a concern,” Godfrey said.

“Have we heard from them at all?” Mason asked, passing out apples to a crowd of excited kids.

“Not that I’ve heard,” Amy said, “I don’t think we realized how much they did until they stopped doing it. We were stretched thin as it was.”

“Hey,” one little boy said, “this doesn’t taste like a cherry.”

“No, that’s what a real cherry tastes like. It’s not a simulated one, Dummy,” April said.

“We don’t call boys dummies,” Amy said, “Don’t you make me tell your mom, little woman.” She stood and stretched, then said, “I’d better get back to work. Godfrey, I’ll stop by after my rounds for some supper.”

“I’ll be here,” Godfrey said.

Amy wandered away, scanning the crowd as she went. Godfrey went back to blending fruit.

The crowd was dwindling when Godfrey’s screen started to flicker. He glanced at it. The newscast, which he’d been paying no attention to, seemed to be fighting for its space on the screen.

“Hey,” a man in the crowd said, looking down at his wrist pad. From all around the market, others stopped in their tracks, fiddling with devices and screens. Then, every screen went black.

A moment later the IHP symbol, their initials in a silver circle, flashed on the screen. Then it was gone, replaced by the image of a man that Godfrey knew very well. “Dad?” he said.

“This is a message for every member of -garbled static-,” The sound and image were broken, but it was Michael Anders looking at him. Behind him stood a woman in an IHP uniform, along with a handful of soldiers.

“Don’t let any unknown-,” the sound cut in again, then right back out.

“What the hell is going on?” Godfrey whispered.

“-My son. Godfrey, I love you. I tried to, I tried to do what I could, back home. Stay safe, please.”

The screen went black again. In another moment, the newscaster was back. She wasn’t looking at the camera, though, but talking to someone standing to the side of her desk.

“That was your dad?” April asked, “Isn’t he on Earth?”

“Yeah, he is,” Godfrey said, “I’m going to call your mom.”

Copyright © 2019 by Nicole C. Luttrell

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Station Central has been touted as the vacation destination in the stars. Its success and popularity as not only a great place to vacation, but a great place to live was the start of mankind moving off of Earth and into the stars.
Sennett, Godfrey and Liam head there in search of a much-needed vacation. Instead, they find a council at war with each other, a population starving and an accused murderer lurking in the shadows. Sennett and Godfrey fight to keep April safe as family secrets threaten to destroy them, even as the Hollow Suits come out of hiding and attack. Will they survive the fourth installment of Station 86?

Preorder Station Central now on Amazon

Godfrey froze, the barrel of the gun pressed against his temple. He could feel his heartbeat in every part of his body, and he couldn’t help but wonder how long he would have that luxury.

“Let him go,” Montgomery yelled, leveling her weapon at the assassin. What the hell did she think that was going to do?

The assassin didn’t respond. She squeezed Godfrey’s arm with a frightening grip. “You humans,” she hissed. She had the metallic voice of a Khloe. “How superior you all think you are.”

“I don’t know why you’re doing this,” Godfrey said, “but there has to be another way to make your message clear. You won’t have many allies among the Earthlings or the Khloe if you’re killing people.”

“What makes you think I have a message?” the woman laughed, “We just want to see as many of you dead as possible.”

“I said let him go!” Montgomery yelled.

“Can we maybe not antagonize her when she’s got a gun to my head?” Godfrey snapped.

“This isn’t a gun,” the assassin said, “But you might wish it was. It’s an acid injector. That’s why your fellow council member’s brain is currently leaking out of her ears. Do you know what? I think she’s still alive.”

“Please, I’ve never done anything to the Khloe people,” Godfrey said, “My wife’s Khloe.”

“And you think that makes you better than them?” she screamed.

Montgomery was doing something to the pad on her wrist. Suddenly the assassin’s weapon made a popping noise. She dropped it with a shout.

“Now get on the ground and put your hands behind your head, or I’ll find out what else you’ve got that’s electronic,” Montgomery said.

But the assassin had already pulled a coin like device from her pocket and clicked it. She vanished.

Montgomery ran to Godfrey, the other officer was still with Councilwoman McAvoy. “Are you injured?” she asked.

“She, she’s a Khloe,” Godfrey said. All of the adrenaline was leaving his body, and he nearly sank to the ground. “I think there might be more than one assassin.”

“Why?” Montgomery asked.

“Because when I asked her why she was doing this, she said we don’t have a reason, not I don’t have one,” Godfrey snapped, “And thanks so much for dragging me right into the line of fire, by the way. What the hell did you hit her with?”

Montgomery glanced up, as though making sure that her fellow officer couldn’t hear. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, “It’s a focused electric disrupter. They’re not strictly legal.”

“Great, a cop with connections who thinks she’s above the rules,” Godfrey muttered, “That never goes wrong.”

“Right, I’ll just let you get shot,” she snapped, offering him her hand. He took it because he wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to rise without help.

The transit station was growing thick with cops. Godfrey brushed the dust from his knees as Commissioner Stone walked up to them. He took a deep breath as she said, “Councilman Anders, are you alright?”

‘That’s right,’ Godfrey thought, ‘I’m a person of authority, not some farmer’s punk son. You’re going to be nice to me.’

“I’m fine,” he said, “I almost wasn’t, thanks to your officer, though. She drug me out of the transit window on that insane disc thing of hers.”

The commissioner’s eyebrow arched. “I am sorry if you were frightened, Councilman. I assure you, Montgomery is one of our finest uniforms. She wouldn’t have put you in danger.”

“I don’t agree,” Godfrey replied. Montgomery was standing at attention next to the commissioner, giving him a deadly glare.

Unfortunately, the officer who’d been on the scene when Godfrey and Montgomery had arrived chose that moment to approach. She set a hand on Montgomery’s shoulder, and said, “Thank God you showed up when you did. She’d have probably killed us both if you hadn’t, and all these other civilians.”

Damn their sorority mentality.

“I don’t like how this situation is escalating,” Commissioner Stone said, watching as an emergency medical team lifted Councilwoman McAvoy’s body into a transport pod. “Sennett, I’m sorry, I know you were on duty all day, but I need you to stay with Councilman Anders until I can free someone else up. It might not be until tomorrow.”

Montgomery nodded. “The killer’s pride might be hurt, failing to get both of them. There’s a good chance she’ll try again.”

“No,” Godfrey snapped, “I’m not having this woman in my house.”

Apparently, he wasn’t an important enough person to get away with that. “Councilman, I don’t think you understand the gravity of this situation,” she said, giving him a hard look. “You are the target of a dangerous killer. We’ve already lost two council members and I’ll be damned if we’ll lose another.”

“Fine, alright,” Godfrey muttered, “I’m sure that Officer Montgomery will make a very pleasant house guest.”

“Take the bullet shuttle, I’m upping your access,” Commissioner Stone said, fiddling with her wrist pad. Montgomery nodded and guided him to the circular tube that went straight down the center of the station. It was a bit of a walk from the transit to the shuttle. Montgomery didn’t seem to have anything to say to Godfrey, who felt as though he’d pushed his luck already. She didn’t seem the type to hit a man, but he didn’t want to find out.

Montgomery started to press things on her wrist pad again, and Godfrey heard Howard Stoat’s voice. “My fellow members of Station 86,” he said, “In light of the last few days events, I have a favor to ask you. Please, take care of your neighbors as we get through this together. Keep alert, keep safe and report suspicious activity to the brave police and IHP officers who protect us. For those of us who are faithful, pray for the families of the citizens we’ve lost. I will be attending a prayer service at the Grand Choral Star Synagogue this evening at seven.

“I know that we are struggling with our council for more of a voice in our community. We have a long way to go to achieve that right, a right that we should not have to ask for. But right now is not the time for political fighting. Now is the time to pull together, and look after each other.”

“Isn’t he smarmy,” Godfrey said as they reached the shuttle.

“Shut up,” Montgomery replied, waving her wrist pad over the security screen to open the door.

They remained silent in the shuttle and as they walked through the streets of the residential level toward Godfrey’s house. They were on his block when he heard a hissing sound behind them.

They turned, Montgomery setting a hand to her weapon. Saul Mai stood behind them. He raised his hands when he saw them, saying, “Don’t shoot, Officer.”

“What are you doing here?” Godfrey asked.

“I had to talk to you,” Saul said, “Godfrey, my wife kicked me out.”

“Wonder why,” Montgomery said.

“I didn’t touch Elizabeth,” Saul said, “The council is making this up to get me out of the way.”

“Why would they do that?” Montgomery asked.

“Are you kidding me? They’ve got ultimate power here, and I threaten that. Do you think I’m the first, Officer?”

“I don’t see anyone accusing Marshal Stoat of anything,” Montgomery replied.

Saul snorted, “That’s because no one likes him, Ma’am. Godfrey, please. You’re on the council, you might be the only one who can help me.”

Godfrey considered Saul. His hands were shaking, and his eyes were red. His normally handsome face was splotchy as though he’d been sobbing. Was it from fighting with his wife, or guilt?

“I don’t know, Saul,” he said finally.

Saul ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I’m not asking you to put me up. I’m not asking for money or anything like that.”

“Saul, I’ve seen the evidence,” Godfrey said.

“It’s not real! Come on, you can see that, can’t you? Look at the evidence, really look at it,” He glanced around, as though worried someone might spot him. “I’ll contact you soon. Keep safe, Godfrey. I don’t know how you got on the council, but I think having you there might be our only hope for freedom.”

As he turned, and faded away into the street, Montgomery said, “That was messed up. I can see why you’d want to distance yourself from him.”

“Shut up,” Godfrey said. They continued towards his house. “Can you get that video, maybe take a look at it?”

“No, but you can,” she replied, “You’re the one on the council, not me.”

They walked into the house. Ki was already home, stretched out on the couch, watching tv. She looked up and blinked a few times when she saw Montgomery. “So, you had an interesting first day, I take it?” she asked.

The next morning, Godfrey stumbled into the kitchen to find Montgomery sitting at his table, sipping klav and typing on a virtual keyboard. She glanced up when he came in, and nodded. “Did Ki leave for work already?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, looking back at the screen hovering in front of her. “She’s nice. What’s she doing with you?”

Godfrey ignored her and started pulling eggs from the fridge. “Sending a report?” he asked.

“Sending an email to my kid,” she replied.

“Does her dad mind that you’ve been at work all night?” Godfrey asked.

“She doesn’t have a dad,” Montgomery said, “My brother’s in higher education. He lives with us, and looks after her while I’m at work.”

“Oh, you had her made, then?” He cracked eggs into a bowl.

“I suppose you’ll have one the old fashioned way on purpose, with no advancements or bacterial protections,” she snapped, sipping her drink. “I mean, in this day and age, why not risk a slew of physical and mental handicaps with an old fashioned birth.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t clear enough with my scorn,” he replied, “I was just thinking how selfish it was to become a single parent on purpose.”

“Tell me how I should raise my kid, with all that experience you have,” she snapped.

He sighed. “Any excitement last night?” he asked.

“One of your neighbor’s dogs got into your trash can,” she said. After taking another long sip of her drink, she added, “I let him.”

He finished cooking eggs and toast, then sat down at the table with her to eat. She made a face at his plate but didn’t say anything.

“I suppose I can’t go to my shop today,” Godfrey said.

“No, what with the killer and all,” she replied.

“Ah,” he said. He finished the rest of his meal in silence.

He was just putting his plate in the dishwasher when Ki burst through the front door. Her shirt was torn so badly that she had to hold it together to cover her front.

“What’s going on?” Godfrey asked.

“I was sent home, for my safety!” Ki cried, “Godfrey, why the hell didn’t you tell me that you almost died yesterday, or that this killer is Khloe? Why did I have to find out from a nurse, after being spit at on the way to work?”

“How did people find out?” Godfrey asked.

“The only people who are supposed to know are police,” Montgomery said, already tapping away at her wrist pad. “Let me see what I can find out.”

“And why didn’t you tell me?” Ki asked her.

Montgomery shrugged. “You’re not my wife,” she said.

Ki muttered, and went to their bedroom to change. Godfrey followed after her. “What happened to your shirt?” he asked.

“Some bitch grabbed me on the transit,” she snapped, pulling it off and throwing it in the trash bin.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” he said, “I didn’t want you to be afraid.”

“Sure, yeah, you just almost died,” Ki said.

Before he could respond, there was a knock on the bedroom door. “Sorry,” Montgomery called, “but I just heard from Commissioner Stone. We’re getting all of the council members to a safe house on Level 2.”

“Why?” Godfrey called, “If they were gonna to do that, why didn’t they do it last night?”

“Because last night there were only two dead council members,” she called. “Councilwoman Heart and her wife were found dead this morning in their house.”

Godfrey opened the door while Ki pulled on a new shirt. “What happened to her police protection?” he asked.

“I guess she didn’t want to let him in the house,” Montgomery replied, “The officer is stating that he didn’t see anyone around the house, no one knows how the killer got in.”

“Maybe he was asleep on the job,” Godfrey replied.

“It was Officer Derick Donovan, who happens to be a good friend of mine and graduated with the highest marks to come out of the academy in three years,” she replied, “Now would you two pack? One bag a piece, please.”

“Fantastic,” Godfrey said, “House arrest wasn’t bad enough?”

“Like this sounds like a vacation for me?” Montgomery said. She stormed towards the living room, muttering. “Haven’t slept in two nights, damned spoiled brat.”

Montgomery led Godfrey and Ki to the bullet shuttle, a hand on her weapon and her eyes scanning the scant crowd on Level 8. Godfrey considered for a moment telling her to stop scaring his neighbor’s, but then he noticed the dirty and frightened looks Ki was attracting.

Level 2 was as quiet as ever. Even so, Montgomery was alert. She led them through the rows of buildings.

“Where are we going?” Ki asked.

“There’s a collection of safe houses, for when we need to keep someone under police surveillance,” Montgomery said.

“Why here?” Godfrey asked, “Why not on Level 10 with the barracks and prison?”

Montgomery gave him a grin. “Mostly because that’s where people would assume it would be.”

The building was non-descriptive, square with circular tinted windows, with cream-colored walls and a light blue door.

Inside, the furnishing was simple. A pair of off-white couches and some matching chairs sat in a circle in the living room. The kitchen was separated from the living room by a white chrome counter.

Councilman Chan and his wife were there already, sitting on the couch and whispering quietly together. Councilwoman Mostevich was there alone, a screen in front of her while she typed away on a virtual keyboard. Her head snapped up when she saw Ki, though.

“She can’t be here,” she said.

“What are you talking about?” Godfrey asked, “Mrs. Chan is here.”

“Mrs. Chan is Earthian,” Mostevich replied.

“Excuse me, It’s not your place to say if she can be here or not,” Godfrey said.

Councilman Chan gave Ki a wary glance. “I would feel more comfortable if Mrs. Anderson was not here as well. It’s nothing personal, Ma’am.”

“No,” Ki said, “I imagine you wouldn’t want any Khloe woman here right now.”

She turned toward the door. “Wait,” Godfrey said. He’d set down his bag, but he scooped it up again. “I’m not staying without you.”

“You can’t leave, Anders,” Mostevich said.

“I don’t care,” Godfrey said, “If I’m in danger then so is Ki.”

“What is all the yelling for?” Councilwoman Voit asked, coming through the front door.

Montgomery stood at attention. “Councilwoman, some of the others are concerned about the presence of Mrs. Anders,” she said.

“Really?” Councilwoman Voit asked.

“Sonya, you can’t pretend your comfortable with this,” Councilwoman Mostevich said, “She’s a Khloe.”

“Emma, what are you thinking?” Councilwoman Voit said. She put an arm around Ki. “You know, when I came to live here on Station 86, I was so proud. This is the station of First Contact, the beacon of sisterhood with our fellow humanoid species. Haven’t we, as a race, evolved far enough to not judge people by the color of their skin? Or are we really still so stupid?”

None of the council members seemed to have a response to this. “Alright,” Councilwoman Voit said, “now that this is settled, we can move onto more important matters. What’s for lunch?”

While the council members and their spouses ate a meal of simulated roast beef and thick slices of Horchee, a glowing green root vegetable from Toth, several more officers arrived. Montgomery seemed to know them all, greeting each one. They ate sandwiches and sipped klav, coffee and tea in the living room while keeping their eyes on the doors and front windows.

After the meal had been cleared away, Councilwoman Voit said, “It’s time to get down to business now, I think. Ki, Melissa, would you two mind giving us the room?”

“I’ll go lay down, I think,” Ki said, giving Godfrey a kiss on the cheek. She and Mrs. Chan left.

“So,” Voit said, setting her elbows on the table. “I know this is a difficult time. Heather, Shannon and especially Thorn were close friends of mine.”

“It’s been a shock to the whole station,” Councilman Chan said, “I can’t remember the last time someone was killed here.”

One of the officers gave a derisive snort, but none of the others said anything.

“I think that may be a bit more optimistic that realistic,” Voit said, “But we certainly have never had something like this happen. So, thoughts on how we should proceed?”

“It seems to me,” Godfrey said, “that we have more questions than we should right now. We’ve only seen one assassin at a time, but something that she said to me leads me to think there may be a whole organization.”

Voit looked over at him quickly. “Really?” she asked, “What did she say?”

“When I told her that she wasn’t going to do her cause any good, killing people, she said, ‘We just want to kill as many of you as possible’.”

Voit nodded. “She might have meant ‘we’ as in the whole Khloe community. Perhaps she believes that her people are on her side.”

“I think it’s likely that we’re just looking at a lone gunwoman,” Councilwoman Mostevich said, “Only one has been seen so far, at least.”

“Isn’t it possible that there are more people in her organization, just not killers?” Councilman Chan asked.

“It doesn’t hurt to assume that there are more, even if we’re wrong,” Godfrey said.

“Unless it distracts us,” Voit said, “Let’s focus on the one we know is there until we have something substantial to prove that there are more.”

“I hate that we’re on the defensive,” Mostevich said, “Can’t the police find anything?”

“We have them out day and night searching,” Voit said.

“And yet no one saw anything last night when Heart and her wife were killed,” Chan said, earning some glares from the officers in the living room.

“We have to act,” Mostevich said, “We know the killer is Khloe. We need to consider monitoring our Khloe citizens. It might not hurt to have them stay somewhere secure for a time.”

Godfrey raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding me? No, we can’t do that.”

“It’s not a punishment,” Councilman Chan said, “If anything, it’s for their safety. People are scared, and scared people can become violent people.”

“Your wife could stay with you if you prefer,” Mostevich said.

“That’s hardly the point,” Godfrey said.

“Excuse me.”

The council members looked over. Montgomery was standing in the center of the living room, her arms crossed. The other officers stood around her.

“I know that I’m not a council member, and haven’t earned a voice among you,” she said, “I also know that while my birth parents and foster mother were from Earth, I’m not. But we still learn about internment camps up here on the stations. We still know the term Crystal Noct. And I can promise you that if you lock up Station 86 citizens because they’re from a different planet, I’ll drop my badge right here, right now.” The officers behind her nodded in agreement.

“We need more like you, Sennett,” Voit said, “She’s right. I won’t condone seizing our own people.”

“Me either,” Godfrey said.

“Well, I guess I’m a little more concerned with people’s safety than hurting someone’s feelings,” Mostevich said.

Chan looked back and forth for a moment. Everyone was looking at him, and he didn’t seem comfortable with that.

Finally, he said, “It’s something I don’t think we should rule out, but I’m not sure it’s the time for it.”

“Alright, any other arguments, for or against?” Voit asked. When no one volunteered anything, she said, “Great, let’s get on to other matters.”

The rest of the day was full of virtual meetings with Commissioner Stone and leaders from other stations. Eventually, evening came. Ki and Mrs. Chan joined them for dinner.

They were just finishing their meal when an alarm went off on Councilwoman Voit’s wrist pad. She pressed a button, and everyone could hear the voice of Su, the Khloe ambassador. “I am sorry to trouble you so late into the evening,” she said, “but I have just heard from President Ly.”

“No trouble at all,” Voit said, “I’m glad you called.”

“President Ly has received your message, and is coming to the station to handle the matter,” Su said. “She will arrive in two days.”

“Wonderful,” Voit said, “I always look forward to her visits.”

“I am sure that the president looks forward to seeing you as well,” Su said.

Voit finished the call and looked around the table.

“What did she mean, handle the matter?” Godfrey asked.

Voit shook her head. “President Ly is very strict with her people. I wouldn’t be surprised if she intends to come hunt the killer down herself. It’s not like we couldn’t use the help.”

Despite the unfamiliar room, Ki fell asleep almost as soon as they went to bed that night. He supposed she had been up hours before him. Godfrey lay next to her for awhile, on the bed that wasn’t theirs. Finally, unable to take the silence and worried he would wake her, he slipped out into the living room.

Most of the officers were asleep. Montgomery and one other were awake, sitting on the floor leaning against the back of the couch. “Everything alright, Councilman?” the officer asked.

“Fine,” Godfrey said, “Just, you know, can’t sleep.”

“I’m going to do a quick walk around,” the officer said, getting to her feet.

“Something on your mind?” Montgomery asked after her fellow was gone.

“Well, all of this going on,” Godfrey said, “It’s also just, you know.”

“Not your house,” she said, nodding. “I know the feeling. I miss my place.”

“How are you still awake?” he asked.

She held up her wrist and tapped a copper band. “Targeted electric hits,” she said, “Stimulates your body the same way as caffeine.”

“Isn’t that unhealthy, though?” he asked.

“If I use it long term,” she said, “Right now, I don’t have a choice. When I take it off, I’ll crash for awhile.”

Godfrey sighed. “It feels like every year we get farther and farther away from being humans.”

“Do you think this makes me less human?” she asked.

“It makes me think you want to be less human,” he said.

She shook her head. “You’re over thinking technology. This is a tool, and it doesn’t make me less human. It just makes me a more capable human.”

“I don’t know about that,” he said, “One of the trademarks of humanity, all of the humanoid races, is that we’re frail creatures with physical and mental limitations.”

Montgomery shrugged. “Do we have to be?”

He got to his feet. “I think I’m going to try to get some sleep.”

She nodded, looking back towards the windows.

Somehow it made Godfrey feel better, knowing that she was there to keep an eye on things. He went back into the bedroom, laid close to Ki, and fell asleep.

When Godfrey first became aware of the screaming, he thought it must surely be part of his dream. But then he saw that Ki was sitting up.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but that sounds like Mrs. Chan,” she said, getting out of bed.

They went out into the hallway. Mostevich and Voit were already there in their night clothes. Mrs. Chan was standing outside of the bedroom she’d shared with her husband the night before, crying. Montgomery came out of the bedroom. “I’m sorry, he’s dead,” she said.

“No!” Mrs. Chan wailed.

“What happened?” Godfrey asked.

Mrs. Chan looked up, right at Ki. “You!” she screamed, “You bitch, you killed him. Why, what did he ever do to you!”

Ki took a step back. “What are you talking about?” she asked.

“Councilman Chan has been killed,” Voit said, rubbing her eyes

“How did this happen? We were supposed to be safe here!” Mostevich said.

“We’ve been right outside of this door all night,” Montgomery said, “No one went in there.”

“Could they have gotten in from the outside?” Mostevich asked.

“They would have had to blast through a wall,” one of the officers said, “There would be some sort of evidence. There’s nothing.”

“She killed him, I know she did!” Mrs. Chan screamed, pointing at Ki.

“Now look,” Godfrey snapped, “There’s no way Ki would have killed him. She couldn’t have. She was in bed with me all night.”

One of the officers, the one who had left to patrol the night before, said, “But that’s not true, Councilman. You came out here for a time last night.”

“He wasn’t out here that long, Joyce,” Montgomery said, “and we were still just outside of this door. We would have seen her come past. The killer has a personal transporter. She could have come from anywhere in the station. The question isn’t how she got here, it’s how she found out we were here.”

Voit looked up. “A personal transporter.”

“Yes,” Godfrey said.

“Ki, you work at the hospital,” Voit said. “You were issued a transporter for that?”

“Yes,” Ki said. She pulled a chain from around her neck that held the silver circle that was her transporter and hospital credentials.

“There, you see!” Mrs. Chan screamed.

“Mrs. Anderson, will you come with me, please?” one of the other officers asked.

“What are you doing?” Montgomery asked, “Even if she did have a transporter, he still didn’t have time to go from her room to Councilman Chan’s and kill him. Not in the time Anders was in the living room.”

“It’s too much of a coincidence,” the officer replied. She stepped forward, pulling a silver slip of paper from her belt.

“You’re arresting her?” Godfrey cried, “This is crazy!”

Ki held her wrists out, looking frightened. “Don’t be scared,” she whispered to Godfrey. “I’m innocent, so there’s no reason to be afraid of questioning.”

Godfrey thought that she could think that all she wanted, not having grown up on Earth. “No, I’m not letting you take her!” he cried, reaching for the officer who held her.

Montgomery grabbed his arm. “Don’t,” she whispered, “Or we’ll have to bring you in.”

“Listen to her,” Ki said, as she left, the officer holding her wrists, “Listen to Sennett, Godfrey. I’ll see you soon.”

Godfrey felt as though he couldn’t breathe. He watched as Ki was led out of sight, trying desperately to take a breath.

“I can’t, I can’t stay here,” he said and stumbled for the door.

“Godfrey, you can’t leave,” Voit said, “We’re in a crisis.”

“I don’t care!” he cried.

He rushed outside before anyone could stop him. He didn’t even know where he intended to go, just that he couldn’t stay there.

He was a few blocks away before he realized he wasn’t alone. Montgomery, Sennett, had followed him. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” she asked, “Look, there’s a bench over there. Sit down a minute.”

She steered him over to the bench and gave him a push. “She’ll go to jail for this,” he said, “She could be killed there.”

Sennett stood in front of him and crossed her arms. “No, she won’t,” she said, “because we’re going to find the real killer first.”

Copyright © 2019 by Nicole C. Luttrell

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Station Central has been touted as the vacation destination in the stars. Its success and popularity as not only a great place to vacation, but a great place to live was the start of mankind moving off of Earth and into the stars.
Sennett, Godfrey and Liam head there in search of a much-needed vacation. Instead, they find a council at war with each other, a population starving and an accused murderer lurking in the shadows. Sennett and Godfrey fight to keep April safe as family secrets threaten to destroy them, even as the Hollow Suits come out of hiding and attack. Will they survive the fourth installment of Station 86?

Preorder Station Central now on Amazon.

Sennett slipped into her apartment, trying not to wake Mason and April. She knew they didn’t like sleeping in their own rooms when she was gone at night. Sure enough, she found them both asleep on the sectional couch in the living room.

No one had expected Councilwoman Montgomery’s daughter to be on duty that night, so no summons had come for her. She was thankful because she would have hated to ignore it. She’d had no intention of being stuck on guard duty while the bitch who killed her mother stalked around the station.

Though, for all the good it had done her, she might as well have gone in.

She made her way her bedroom, intending to change her clothes, grab a caffeine bracelet and some khlav then head up to the police station on Level 10. Maybe someone had found some sort of lead. Maybe she’d get extra lucky and it would be the kind of someone who shares leads with uniforms.

“Mommy?” April called, rising sleepily from the couch.

“Hey, Baby,” Sennett said, “I’m in here.”

April came into her room, just as Sennett had finished tucking her uniform shirt in. She picked the girl up and set her on her hip. “You don’t have to leave again, do you?” April asked.

“I’m sorry, but I have to,” Sennett said, “I have to find the bad girl before she hurts somebody else.”

“But what if she comes here, and you’re gone?” April asked. She set her head on Sennett’s shoulder.

“You know what to do if that happens, don’t you?” Sennett asked. It had never happened, thank God, but no police officer was so dumb as to not have a backup plan for her family.

“Go into the closet with Uncle Mason and stay there until you come,” April replied. She played with the purple cuff on her wrist, decorated with bunnies and moons.

“That’s right,” Sennett said. She kissed April on the forehead and set her on the ground. “How about you and Uncle Mason make strawberry pancakes for breakfast?” she asked.

“Can I have cherry milk?” April asked.

“Yeah, okay,” Sennett agreed. She was jealous as she watched April run into the living room to wake Mason. She wished that a cup of cherry milk would make her feel better, if only for a little while.

She went to the kitchen to heat up a cup of khlav and a hatsu. Mason joined her there a few minutes later and started fussing with the simulator.

“How do you eat those things?” he asked, looking at her pastry.

“They’re delicious and filling,” Sennett replied.

“But they’re filled with rats,” Mason said, scratching his head.

“They’re not filled with rats, rats are from Earth,” Sennett said, “They’re made with soto.”

“And what’s a soto? It’s a rat from Khloe,” Mason said.

“How are you making jokes right now?” Sennett asked.

Mason looked over at her, looking so much older than his 19 years right then. “I’ve got to stay here and take care of April. Cherry milk isn’t going to distract her for long. If I don’t make jokes, I’ll freak out.”

“Okay, you’re right,” Sennett said. She gave him a hug and held on a little longer than normal. “Why would anyone want to kill her?”

“I’d start looking at the marshal from the Foundation Party,” he said, “He’s been the one running his mouth about how we need to do away with the council altogether.”

“Right,” Sennett said. She made herself let go. “I’ll be home when I can, but I don’t know when that’s going to be.”

“That’s cool. We’ll just hang out here and watch videos,” Mason said, “You worry about catching this bitch.”

The transit wasn’t as busy as most mornings. Sennett managed to find a seat and settled in to nibble on her breakfast and try to distract herself with her news feed. It didn’t work, but it gave her somewhere to look beside into the frightened faces of her fellow passengers.

An older man sat down next to her. “Ma’am?” he asked, “Excuse me, Ma’am?”

“Help you?” Sennett asked, looking up.

“You’re a peace officer, right?” he asked.

“That’s what my badge says,” Sennett said.

“Right,” he said, “Do you know anything? About what’s going on, I mean.”

“Only what everyone else knows,” she said, taking a bite of her hatsu.

“Oh, okay. So, um, should we be worried? I mean, do we know who attacked the councilwoman?”

Sennett sighed. “Sir, we live in a great big station hanging in the middle of space. On that station, every day, we hunt down thieves, loan sharks, killers and your garden variety asshole who just wants to get drunk and punch someone. The only difference today is that the person who was killed was someone we all know. So, I think, we shouldn’t be any more worried today than we are any other day.”

“Oh,” the man said. He got up to find another seat.

Level 10 was busy. Detectives sat at their desks, either working or doing very good impressions. Officers came from locker rooms, or supply rooms, either going on shift or coming off. Interns and office assistants bustled around, doing all the random odd jobs that no one noticed unless they weren’t done. All looked normal, same as it had been yesterday morning. The only difference this morning was that everyone wore a black band either over their badge or on their upper right arm. It was an ancient tradition, dating back to America on Earth, but an honored one. She had one on her own arm. It was nothing, weight wise, would barely have registered on most scales. She wondered if she was the only officer who felt it’s immense weight.

Sennett went to the clock in screen and clicked her name from the list on the left-hand side. It popped back to the right, indicating that she was about to be in the field. Just as she turned to check in with her sergeant, though, Commissioner Stone poked her head out of her office. “Montgomery,” she called, “Can I see you?”

She nodded, hoping she wasn’t going to be sent home before she learned anything.

The commissioner’s office was comfortable. A white desk with a sleek metal chair sat in the center of the room, with large screens on every wall. Two of Sennett’s fellow officers, Joyce and Amanda, were already there.

When the door closed behind Sennett, Commissioner Stone said, “Thank you for coming. Before we begin, Sennett, I want to extend my sympathy for the death of your foster mother.”

“Thank you,” Sennett said, but she bristled. She and Mason had never much cared for the ‘foster’ disclaimer when it had come to their mother.

“Last night, Councilwoman Sonya Voit was nominated as the new head of the council,” Stone continued, “Needless to say, she was in contact with me not long after. Her first concern is the safety of the station while we find the killer. As such, she is asking a lot of us. Doubling shifts, increasing the detectives that are investigating. Especially now that the IHP has left.”

“Where did they go?” Amanda asked, “Isn’t the whole point of the IHP that they’re supposed to protect humankind?”

“I wasn’t privy to their reason’s for leaving,” Stone said, her tone frosty. “They received a message from their higher ups, and left.”

“Great timing,” Sennett said, “All the times they’re in here interfering with our cases, and now when we could use a hand they’ve taken off.”

“No sense complaining about what we can’t fix,” Stone said, “Now, the council has also asked for some officers to help guard them. That’s what I’d like the three of you to do.”

“Do we think that the rest of the council could be targeted?” Joyce asked.

Stone shrugged. “You know as well as I do that Councilwoman Montgomery didn’t have any personal enemies. But with all those anti-council rallies recently I think it’s a good idea to at least be cautious. The council members are at their office on Level Two. Move out.”

“Commissioner, I was really only checking in,” Sennett said, quickly, “I was gonna go home if I’m not really needed, and if you’re sticking me on security guard detail-,”

“Montgomery, don’t lie to me,” Stone said, “We all know you were out last night, making trouble for the detectives.”

“I don’t think I made any trouble for anyone,” Sennett said.

“I don’t think that’s your call,” Stone replied, “You’re a uniform, not a detective. You don’t follow leads, you follow orders. Now move out!”

“You knew she was going to do that,” Joyce said as they boarded the transit. “I don’t know why you even came in. If my mom had just died I’d be freaking the hell out.”

“I’d be celebrating, but that’s me,” Amanda said.

Sennett shrugged. “There’s a killer on this station. So long as she’s out there, my kid isn’t safe.”

They arrived at Level two. No one else got off with them. People didn’t come to this level without a specific reason. It housed the council office, the post office, the offices for the Current and Foundation parties and some housing for visiting dignitaries.

Sennett and the others made their way down the quiet path to the Council house. It was larger than most buildings on the station, though it looked similar to other buildings in structure. With room being limited, buildings were made in simple, square forms. Most were made of a light, plastic-like substance that had been designed for station buildings. It was a light gray in color, giving the whole station a uniform, standard look.

Five of the council members were already in the conference room. It had a set of Vue windows, currently set for what Sennett had been told were Earth cornfields. The walls were a gentle blue color, with creamy flooring. The whole room spoke of calm.

Councilwoman Sonya Voit stood at the head of the circular table. She was a slight woman, with short silver hair that curled around her head. She gave Sennett a sorrowful look when she came in. “Honey,” she said, “I didn’t know Commissioner Stone would send you. You should be at home.”

Sennett knew everyone in the room. There was Councilwoman Emma Mostevich, a tall woman with dramatic blond hair that hung down to her waist, who’d sent her toy cars every Christmas when she was a kid. Councilman Kevin Chan, who’d moved to the station from China on Earth before they closed their borders forever. He had come to dinner and gotten into loud arguments with Mom about weapons laws. Councilwoman Heather McAvoy, a heavyset woman, hadn’t liked Mom and made a point of sending gifts of loud toys whenever she had an excuse. Councilwoman Shannon Heart was a gorgeous woman with dark black skin who always wore her hair in a tight bun, strung with silver chains that glittered in the light. Sennett had greatly admired her until she’d learned Heart’s opinion of a man’s place. While she still bristled at being stuck here instead of looking for the killer, she was less inclined, just then, to walk out on these people. They were her family.

“Thank you, Councilwoman,” Sennett said, “but right now, I’m needed.”

Sonya raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t argue further.

The door opened again. Godfrey Anders stumbled in. “Sorry, sorry,” he said, “I had to close the shop up, and there was this-,” He stopped when he saw Sennett.

“It’s fine, Councilman Anders,” Sonya said, gesturing to a chair. “Have a seat, and we’ll get started.”

“Can I ask why we have police officers here?” Godfrey asked, sitting down while he gave Sennett a dirty look.

“They are here to protect us. There will be an increased police presence all through the station,” Sonya said.

“Until we catch this assassin, our first priority is the safety of our citizens,” Councilman Chan said.

“And we’re sure an increased police force is the right way to do that?” Godfrey asked, “No, never mind, I understand. Pretend I didn’t say anything, please.”

“If we can focus, please,” Sonya said, “we have a busy day, today. The IHP has left the station, and I’ve been getting reports from Station 83 and 7 that they’ve left those ones as well. In addition to that, we have meetings with Howard Stoat and Saul Mai. We’ve got a meeting with Commissioner Stone about the assassination. And, if we have time, we need to look into the matter with the mail.”

“What’s going on with the mail?” Godfrey asked.

“No one’s been getting anything from Earth,” Councilman Chan said.

“For how long?” Godfrey asked.

“At least six months,” Sonya said, “But, as I said, that is not the first priority today.”

“Did the IHP give any indication as to why they were leaving the stations?” Councilwoman Heart asked. “Isn’t it their job to protect humans in space?”

“They did not share any information with us before they left,” Sonya said, “And, as we have no time frame for them coming back, we must rely on our own police force.” She gave the officers a smile, “I have every confidence in them. Honestly, I doubt we’ll even notice the IHP are gone.”

“Except for the fact that they handled security on Level one,” Councilwoman Mostevich said. “They also patrolled around the station. Do we have enough officers to take over those jobs and still patrol inside?”

“What if we had some citizens keep an eye on lower crime areas?” Godfrey asked, “Or even academy cadets? That way the more experienced officers can focus on the larger tasks.”

“Great idea,” Sonya said, “We’ll suggest it to Stone.”

From the table came the voice of the secretary. “Council, Marshal Howard Stoat is here for his meeting,”

“Thank you, Francis. Send him in, please,” Sonya said. “And if anyone hears something reliable about the IHP, bring it up as soon as you can. I don’t like not knowing things.”

The door to the conference room opened. Howard Stoat, the marshal of the Current Party came in. He was a tall, slender man, with a neat beard. He wore an earpiece in one ear, and a wrist cuff tucked under his jacket sleeve. He saw Sennett when he came in, and winked at her.

“Marshal Stoat,” Councilman Chan said, “Good to see you. Have a seat?”

“Thank you,” Howard said, settling into a chair. He looked, as he always did, as though he belonged right where he was. “Good to see you all today. Are we still waiting for Saul?”

“No,” Sonya said, her face suddenly dark, “Because the two parties are so different, it seemed better to meet with the two of you alone. That way, we’re hearing all that each party has to tell us.”

“That was thoughtful of you, thank you,” Howard said, but Sennett noticed that he frowned, for just a moment. He must have thought the same thing that she did. To divide the marshals, when they stood together on a subject for once, would weaken their position.

“The council was created on the ship here from Earth, did you know that?” Howard asked, “Six people, out of the 100 that originally came, were put in charge of running the whole thing. As those six members either passed away or retired, they were replaced by the other five.”

“Thank you, we all took sixth-grade History and Government,” Councilwoman Heart snapped.

“I bet it didn’t mention this,” Howard said, “The council was only ever supposed to be a temporary situation. Their job was to keep order on the station, but their second job was to decide upon a system of government. Instead, they simply kept replacing people as they left, with no outside opinions allowed.”

“You’re here now,” Councilwoman Heart said, “Aren’t you an outside opinion?”

Howard raised an eyebrow at her. “Councilwoman, I beg your pardon, but it took me a year and a half to make this appointment. I think it would make all of us feel better if there was some transparency in the way council members are selected. You make all of the decisions about our lives, and we have no say who is on the council and who isn’t. I see that Godfrey Anders has joined your ranks. Maybe some people might have had an issue with a man who just arrived on Station 86 a few years ago being in charge. Maybe we would have preferred someone who had lived more of his or her life here.”

“Maybe some would have preferred someone who didn’t have a Khloe wife, too,” Godfrey muttered.

Howard raised an eyebrow. “Someone from your own party might have made that objection, Councilman, not mine. But I know you. You oppose artificial births, food modification, human mechanical adaptations and I am not comfortable with you on this council, sir. I am very afraid that science will take a step backward if you’re making decisions, you should forgive me for saying. If you had been voted on, if the majority of people on this station had said they wanted you making our choices, I would maybe shut up about it. No one got that chance, though.”

“What are you suggesting?” Councilwoman Mostevich asked.

“Voting rights,” Howard said. “Elections. Not even right now, but when the council loses another member. Let the people chose who will sit with you.”

The council members looked around at each other. Finally, Sonya said, “That is something we will have to discuss. It may seem like a reasonable thing to you, but-,”

“But there is a reason we’ve never done that,” Councilwoman Heart said, “The people have a tendency to vote for the very worst reasons. Fear, manipulation, greed. I remember hearing stories from Earth about people voting for a leader because they felt like they could have a beer with them.”

“I was elected based on voting,” Howard said, “I don’t think most of the people who voted for me feel like they want to have a beer with me.”

“Thank you,” Sonya said, “I appreciate that you came to us. Perhaps a step toward compromise would be speaking to the marshals more often. Get the people’s opinions. What do you all think?”

“It would be a good idea, I think,” Councilwoman Heart said, “Assuming you can stop the protests, Marshal Stoat. We won’t talk to people who are screaming at us.”

“That’s fair enough,” Howard said, “I’ll talk to the people of my party, see what I can do.”

He got to his feet, giving the council a quick bow. “Thank you for your time. And, if there’s anything the Current Party can do to help you in this trying time, you know how to reach me.”

The door opened again, and Marshal Saul entered. He was younger than Howard, with a bit of stubble on his chin and a well-defined upper body. Sennett, like most of the straight women on the station, thought he was good looking. She was sure that was how he’d gotten elected.

The two gave each other curious looks. “I thought we were meeting with the council together,” Saul said, just the hint of accusation in his voice.

“That’s what I thought, too. But, what can we do?” Howard asked. He clapped Saul on the shoulder, and said, “We’ll meet up after and compare notes, alright?”

“Sure, yeah,” Saul said, but he didn’t look convinced.

As Howard left, Saul started to take a seat at the table. “Actually, we’d prefer if you stood,” Councilman Chan said. His voice was suddenly cold.

Saul looked confused but did as he was asked, clasping his hands behind him. “My esteemed council,” he began, but Sonya held her hand up. “Stop. I’m afraid you’re not here to discuss politics with us.”

“I beg your pardon?” Saul asked.

“Saul Mai, do you know a young lady named Elizabeth Conrad?” Councilwoman Mostevich asked.”

“Of course, she’s my goddaughter,” Saul said, looking confused.

The council members, except for Godfrey, nodded at each other as though this confirmed their worst assumptions.

“Do you mind telling me what all this is about?” Saul asked.

“Elizabeth is ten years old, is that right?” Councilwoman Heart asked.

“She is. Council members, I’m not fond of games. Why don’t you all stop hopping around and tell me what’s going on?” Saul demanded.

Sonya got to her feet. “Accusations have been brought to our attention that you, Saul Mai, had sexual relations with Elizabeth Conrad.”

Saul turned pale. “That’s not possible because that never happened,” he said.

“I think it’s very possible,” Sonya said, her face dark, “I’ve seen the proof.”

She tapped the table before her. A screen appeared that was out of Sennett’s line of sight. But she could hear the noises just fine. A little girl, whimpering with ill-hidden pain, and a man grunting.

“Sonya, what is this? This isn’t real,” Saul cried, “You’re part of my own party! You voted for me!”

“And I am sickened by that now,” Sonya said, “We find ourselves in a particular position. What you’ve done isn’t technically illegal. When we founded Station 86, we thought that mankind had evolved past that sort of illness. It seems that we were wrong. Still, we can’t arrest you for something that wasn’t illegal when you did it. We can and will arrest you if we find that it happens after today. I suggest, if you don’t want this to become public knowledge, you quietly resign as marshal of the Foundation Party.”

“This is outrageous!” Saul cried.

“We don’t have time for your lies,” Councilwoman Mostevich snapped, “You’ve seen our evidence and you have two choices. Resign, or we’ll inform the rest of your party of this. Let them decide what to do about you.”

Saul looked back and forth at the faces of each council member. Finally, he landed on Godfrey. “You must know this isn’t true,” he said, “They’re just doing this because people listen to me! Godfrey, are you really going to let them do this?”

Godfrey was looking at the table, a hand over his mouth. “I, I can’t-,” he said. He looked up at his fellow council members. “You should have warned me that this was going to happen today.”

“I’m sorry, there wasn’t time, under the circumstances,” Sonya said, “We can’t let this happen again.”

“Go back to your home now, Mr. Mai,” Councilwoman Mostevich said, “Consider the choices before you.”

Saul looked like he had much more to say. But instead, he turned, and left.

After the door closed, Sonya set a hand on Godfrey’s shoulder. “I am sorry, dear,” she said, “We should have warned you.”

“You’re right, though, there wasn’t time,” Godfrey said. He still looked as though he wanted to throw up. Sennett wondered if he was regretting his decision to join the council right then.

“We do have to move on, now,” Councilman Chan said, “We have much to discuss.”

It was hours later when the meeting concluded. Sennett felt as though she was losing her mind. She’d not come into work to guard people sitting in a secure room, she should be hunting down the killer. She tried to stretch her back without being noticed, being accustomed to walking for her shift and not standing in one spot.

As the council members rose to depart, Sonya said, “I’ve sent a request to Commissioner Stone for two more officers to join us. They’ll escort you all home.”

“What about you?” Godfrey asked.

“I was just declared the head councilwoman less than twenty-four hours ago,” Sonya said with a chuckle, “I believe it will be weeks before I see my house again. Good thing there are bedrooms here.”

“Someone should stay with you, Councilwoman,” Sennett said and regretted it at once. The last thing she wanted was to blow her whole night, watching Sonya while she did tedious paperwork.

Much to her relief, Sonya said, “I’m fine. There are guards here at all times, and everyone coming in or out of this level is monitored. Actually, if anyone else wants to stay with me, I wouldn’t think that a bad idea.”

Councilwoman McAvoy chuckled. “Sonya, no. And I’m not going to be shepherded to my house, either, thank you.”

Some of the other council members shook their heads. Councilman Chan looked concerned, though. “I think it’s a necessary precaution, Heather. At least for now.”

“Kevin,” Councilwoman McAvoy chuckled, “I’m a grown woman, I can look after myself.”

“Thorn was a grown woman, too,” Godfrey said quietly.

Sennett’s heart jumped, hearing her mother’s name in his mouth.

“No,” Councilwoman McAvoy said, folding her keyboard closed with a snap. “Have a good evening gentlemen, ladies. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She left, with no one else making an attempt to stop her.

“Officer Montgomery, will you escort me to my home? I think we live near each other,” Godfrey said, tucking his keyboard and screen into a canvas bag.

She wanted very badly to refuse, but as she couldn’t think of a polite way to do so, so she just said, “I didn’t know we lived near each other. I’m in section four of Level eight.”

“I know, I’m in section three. It’s right on your way,” Godfrey replied.

“That works out well,” Sonya said, “Sennett, perhaps you could also escort Councilman Anders here tomorrow morning?”

Sennett suppressed a groan. “Of course, Councilwoman,” she said.

They left the office together, making their way towards the transit “Sorry to spoil your afternoon,” Godfrey said, “Maybe you’d rather just let this person kill me?”

“I want to be hunting the bitch that killed my mom, not babysitting you,” Sennett said, “At this rate, I’m only gonna get a chance at her if she comes after you. Though, that might be a win-win for me.”

“What’s your problem with me?” Godfrey snapped.

“Really?” she replied, “You don’t consider yelling at me about ‘unnatural food’ poisoning our kids, artificial births making us less human to be in any way offensive? It’s not like you even have kids, I do.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t care about kids or the future of the human race,” he said, “You and your party, on the other hand, would rather trade our humanity for a quick fix for dinner.”

“Ignoring science and technology isn’t making you more human, it’s just making you backward,” Sennett said, “Is this why you asked me to take you home? So you could harass me?”

He took a deep breath, and said in a quieter voice, “I wanted to ask you a favor, actually.”

Sennett raised an eyebrow. “You picked a fascinating way to start off,” she said.

“Look, I’m sorry, but this is important,” he said, “I know what you just heard about Saul is, well it’s terrible. And I know you want to tell your party about it. But, please, if I could ask you to wait-,”

“Why do you think I would tell my party?” Sennett asked, “I know you don’t think much of police, but we do have a code of honor. That’s what’s keeping me from beating you, and what will keep me from even being tempted to share anything I heard in there.”

“Oh,” Godfrey said, “Well, I’m sorry that I offended you, then. But, I don’t know how much I believe that he raped Elizabeth,”

They boarded the transit. Godfrey took a seat, while Sennett stood in front of him, scanning the crowd. The car they were in was all but empty. “Why?” she asked, “You saw the proof.”

“I saw a video,” Godfrey said, “But I also know the man.”

Sennett leaned against the wall. She tapped her wrist screen and started scrolling through messages. April had sent her roughly seventeen drawings.

Just as they reached Level Three, her emergency program went off. “All officers, Councilwoman McAvoy has been attacked on Level 7.”

Sennett stood up straight, glancing at the indicator that showed what level they were on. “Four,” she muttered, “By the time we get there, she’ll be gone.”

“I don’t know what you want to do about it,” Godfrey said, but Sennett was already pulling a small disc from her belt. She tapped the center of it, and it grew in size until she could comfortably stand on it. She waived her wrist screen in front of the window on the transit, opening it. “Come on,” she said, grabbing Godfrey by the arm and pulling him onto the disc.

“Wait, what the hell are you doing?” Godfrey cried.

“Not letting her get away,” Sennett muttered. She tapped her heels on the disc, working the controls to lift it out of the window and up through the air.

“Oh, shit!” Godfrey cried, clinging to Sennett’s arm, “Why wouldn’t you just leave me behind on the transit?”

“I was told to protect you, and that’s what I’m going to do,” Sennett said, maneuvering onto Level Seven, “Don’t be afraid.”

“That’s asking a little much at this point,” Godfrey said. They landed, and Sennett grabbed her disc off of the ground before taking off at a run.

Officer Clark was already there. She was on one knee next to Councilwoman McAvoy, who was sprawled out on the ground.

Sennett looked around. She saw scared people, hiding behind trash bins or lying belly down on the ground, their hands over their heads. She didn’t see what they were cowering from, though.

Suddenly, there was a popping noise. A woman, dressed all in black with a cloth over her face, appeared behind Godfrey. She pulled him out of Sennett’s reach, pushing a gun into his temple.

Copyright © 2019 by Nicole C. Luttrell

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Station Central has been touted as the vacation destination in the stars. Its success and popularity as not only a great place to vacation, but a great place to live was the start of mankind moving off of Earth and into the stars.
Sennett, Godfrey and Liam head there in search of a much-needed vacation. Instead, they find a council at war with each other, a population starving and an accused murderer lurking in the shadows. Sennett and Godfrey fight to keep April safe as family secrets threaten to destroy them, even as the Hollow Suits come out of hiding and attack. Will they survive the fourth installment of Station 86?

Preorder Station Central now on Amazon.

 

In the year 2099, a company called Galitech launched the first space station meant for recreational use. They shipped up food, sand, sea water, a whole lot of booze and somewhere around a thousand employees. What they created was called Station Center. It floated just beyond the moon and was advertised at the ultimate vacation destination.

Once everyone was convinced that the whole thing wasn’t going to devolve into some terrifying human behavior experiment, the overcrowded Earth started looking skyward. In 2104, what was later called the Summer of The Stations, 99 space stations intended for residential use were launched.

At first, they were populated by the brave and the bored. Celebrities thought it was posh to move off planet. Eventually, moving to space was the equivalent of moving to another country.

In 2117, something happened that mankind had pretty much assumed was an inevitability. We made First Contact. A race of people called the Khloe found a random station, Station 86. The thing that surprised people most was that they weren’t really all that different from us. While it was true that their skin was red and their hair hard and crystal-like, they were a far cry from the ‘alien’ everyone had in mind. Even so, it was a day that no one would forget, least of all the children on the station, including a little girl named Sennett.

The Khloe people weren’t the last to find us. A few years later they were joined by a race called the Ma’sheed. They caused quite a sensation because they glowed. They sent envoys to stations and lost no time becoming friends. Finally, the Toth quietly made contact. A tall and exceptionally calm race, it was sometimes hard to tell them apart from an Earthian. The only real difference was that their nails and eyes were black.

Over time the four races got along with varying degrees of success. Because Earth was too far away, Station 86 became the political outpost for inter humanoid relations.

These are the stories of Station 86

Godfrey Anders leaned across the counter of his food district booth, scowling at the tablet in his hand. He’d been trying to write this letter for twenty minutes, and so far all he had was ‘Dear Dad’. He took a deep breath and shook his mane of dark curls out of his face, then tried again.

I know we haven’t really talked since Ki and I got married, but…

No, what the hell would that do? It was his dad that wasn’t talking. He backspaced, and tried again.

I miss you, and Ki would love to come meet you.

That was a lie. As much as Ki would love to see Earth, she had no desire to meet a man that she called, ‘that racist asshole.’ No sense starting this out with false expectations.

I’ve just found out that I’m terminally ill, and…

No, that would just make him think he’d been right all along. It wasn’t bad enough that his only son had run off to space to open a glorified food truck, but then he’d gone and married an alien. In the mind of Matthew Anders, a terminal illness was exactly what Godfrey deserved.

He wished people were in the habit of writing letters on paper still. Hitting the delete button wasn’t nearly as satisfying as crumpling up a page when writing became difficult.

Across the aisle from him was a screen, on which the news was playing. With no customers to distract him, Godfrey turned his attention to it.

“The station is all geared up for the homecoming of Head Councilwoman Montgomery this afternoon,” the news anchor said, a large grin on his face. “Down here at level one, security has been tripled due to recent anti-council protests. But that’s not going to stop anyone from having a good time! There are no less than 15 hospitality stands, where citizens can buy drinks, frozen yogurt, klav and a vast collection of other treats.”

“Excuse me,” said an older woman at the other side of his counter. Godfrey turned to her with a smile. She pointed to the sign above his head. “Do you really have fresh fruit from Earth?”

“The seeds are from Earth,” Godfrey said, “and the soil is. But the fruit was grown right here on Station 86, in my own little greenhouse.”

“But it’s real?” the woman asked, “It’s not simulated?”

“Nope, not simulated,” Godfrey said.

The woman raised an eyebrow at him. “How do I know it’s real?” she asked.

Godfrey laughed. He took a yellow apple from a basket next to him and grabbed a small knife. “You can tell by the taste.” He cut a wedge of the apple for the woman. “Try this, and tell me it’s not real.”

The woman took the slice, still giving him a distrustful look. All around them, people were milling around on the market level of the station. It was right in between the lunch and dinner hour, so no one was particularly interested in the food isles. Instead, they passed by, mostly men laden with shopping bags, running errands while the kids were at school.

The woman took a bite of the apple slice. As soon as she did, her eyes lit up. “I haven’t had an apple like this since I was a kid,” she said.

“I told you,” Godfrey said with a chuckle. “Simulators just can’t reproduce that taste.”

The woman started to reply but was interrupted by shouting.

They turned to see a young girl, her hand partway in the pocket of a man’s jacket. Holding her arm was a police officer that Godfrey recognized, Sennett Montgomery.

Godfrey guessed that some might have found Sennett attractive. She kept her long hair set in thousands of small braids, corralled in a metal band. She was tall, with dark brown skin and brown eyes. He, however, was too put off by the amount of tech she wore to find her very attractive at all. She had the three circular circles on her temple that indicated a virtual screen. On her wrist, she wore the receiver, a thick silver band that reached nearly halfway to her elbow.

“Let me go!” the girl cried, as the man moved away, looking disgusted. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Sennett snapped, giving her arm a shake. The girl wrenched left and right, trying to get out of Sennett’s grip.

Sennett shook her head and pulled the girl along with her. As they passed Godfrey’s stall, the girl thrashed, kicked the front and knocked his tablet to the ground.

“Hey!” Godfrey cried. “Can’t you keep your prisoner’s under control, Officer?”

Sennett scooped the tablet off of the ground, and looked at it, still holding the girl by one hand.

“It’s not bad enough you’ve been poisoning my plants, you’ve got to let pickpockets smash up the front of my stall?” he snapped, “I’d like that back now.”

“You made your complaint about me, it was looked into, and no evidence was found,” Sennett said, “So you can shut up about your greenhouse, I haven’t touched it.”

She took a step, just outside of his outstretched hands. “Well, what’s this?” she asked, “Are you applying to the council?”

She held the tablet up to show him the application form. Apparently, it had opened when the tablet fell.

“That is really none of your business,” Godfrey said, snatching the tablet from her.

“You’re a Foundation Party member, though. Isn’t it the Foundation Party leader that’s trying to overthrow the council?”

“Saul Mai just wants the council to be more transparent,” Godfrey said, “And if you don’t want that too, you’re a fool. No one has any say on who’s selected, the council chooses their own members. No one even has an idea of what happens during their closed-door meetings. I would think the Current Party would have a problem with that, too.”

“So your way to fix that is to be one of the people doing things with no transparency?” Sennett asked, “Yeah, that seems like pretty common Foundation Party doublespeak.”

“Yeah,” the girl said. Godfrey noticed for the first time that she was wearing the four intertwined circles of the Current Party as a pin on her jacket. Godfrey himself had the four overlaying squares of the Foundation Party on his own.

“You’re under arrest, “ Sennett said, giving the girl another shake, “You don’t get a say.”

She continued on, dragging the pickpocket along with her.

A few hours later, Godfrey was closing up when his wife, Ki, arrived. She looked tired, still dressed in her uniform from the hospital.

Even tired, Godfrey thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She’d been the first person he’d met on the station, and her red skin had caught his attention right away. Her hair was a brilliant red, hard a stone, and chipped short to her head.

“Hey,” she said, giving him a tired peck on the cheek.

“Hey,” he replied, “Do you still want to go down to level one and see Councilwoman Montgomery come home?”

“Yeah,” Ki said. She pressed a button on the side of the counter, letting loose three scrubbers. They scooted across the counter and the stove range, cleaning all of the surfaces. “It was just a day. David and the new Ma’sheed girl both pulled no-shows. Then, some kid at the college accidentally melted half her lab. No one was seriously hurt, but the ER was full of whiny college kids and freaked out parents.”

“So we’ll stop by a stall with some booze first thing, then,” Godfrey said, pulling a tray of clean dishes from the washer. Soon enough they had the whole shop cleaned up. They pulled the front shutter down and made their way to the transit station.

The transit had fascinated Godfrey when he’d moved there, five years ago. People moved from level to level on a set of train cars that traveled in a corkscrew formation along the outer walls. The clockwise trains went down, the counter-clockwise trains went up.

They obviously weren’t the only ones interested in seeing the head councilwoman’s return home. There was a line for the first train, Godfrey and Ki ended up having to wait for another. A group of college kids was waiting as well.

“Hey, check out the Cherry skin,” one of them called. Her fellows chuckled. Godfrey looked over at them and was saddened to see that they were wearing Foundation pins. “Won’t your parents be ashamed to hear about this,” he called, “when I tell them about it?”

When the kids looked unimpressed, he said, “Kathy, Rodger, I know your moms will have something to say about this.”

Realizing that they’d been recognized, the kids slunk a little farther away, shooting Godfrey dirty looks occasionally.

“Little punks,” he muttered, pulling Ki close. She rolled her eyes and said, “Kids are kids, no matter the planet.”

They boarded the transit and took their seats. He pulled out his tablet and started scanning through the news. “Take a look at this,” he said, pointing out an article to her. “There’s a new poll out that says Saul Mai’s got the highest likability ranking of any Foundation Party leader in the past decade. He’s more popular than most of the Current Party leaders, too. Even that new guy they just voted in, Howard Stoats.”

“Is it normal for Foundation Party leaders to be unpopular?” Ki asked.

“Well, it’s always been the smaller party,” Godfrey said. He sighed, and added, “I know we’re in space, but there’s still a place for tradition, and history. We’re out here to assure that our cultures live on forever, all of us.”

Ki sniffed. “Honey, you know I don’t understand this obsession Earthians have with political parties. It just gives everyone something to fight over.”

“No, it gives the people the numbers we need to get our voices heard,” Godfrey said.

They reached level one, the docking level. Godfrey hadn’t thought it possible that it could be any more crowded than it normally was, but somehow the people of the station had managed it. The hospitality stalls were packed, and any surface that could be sat upon was in use. Kids, clinging to parents or perched on shoulders, shouted everywhere. He was sure that everyone who lived on the station was there, from every planet. He kept a good hold of Ki’s hand, especially when they passed a collection of officers. Their blue uniforms were meant to resemble American police officers on Earth, and they did a horribly good job as far as he was concerned.

“Come on!” Ki cried, pulling him forward.

“I’m coming,” he said, laughing at her excitement. “It’s a big ship, we’re not gonna miss it.”

Ki looked back at him and knocked into someone holding a child. “Oh, sorry,” Ki said.

The woman turned. It was Sennett, now dressed as a civilian in jeans and a hoodie, holding what Godfrey assumed was her daughter, April. She looked very much like her mother, but with a head full of fluffy, dark hair. She was a cute kid, but Godfrey noticed that Sennett had her teched out as well. She wore decorative wrist cuffs and had an earpiece in one ear. Godfrey couldn’t even imagine what a four-year-old needed an earpiece for.

“No problem,” Sennett said. Next to her stood a man who looked to be a couple years younger than her. He was pale, well built, with dark hair that was shaved close to his head. Like Sennett, he wore the three metal dots on his temples. He also wore the Current Party pin on his jacket.

“What are you doing here, Hypocrite?” Godfrey asked, “After bitching about the council?”

“Wanna watch your mouth in front of my kid?,” Sennett said.

“Councilwoman Montgomery’s our mom, Dumbass,” the boy said.

“Mason, could you shut up?” Sennett asked.

“Well, that makes sense,” Godfrey said, “Not only are you a cop, but you’re a cop with connections. That’s why you’re getting away with poisoning my plants.”

“Give it up,” Sennett said, “I’m not doing anything to your damned plants.”

“Well, they’re not dying on their own,” Godfrey replied.

“Oh, why don’t you take you’re damned lame accusations, and-,”

She was interrupted by cheering. A massive screen behind them lit up. The Councilwoman’s ship was nearly home.

Godfrey grinned. He supposed it was nothing major. The head councilwoman was in and out of the station several times throughout the year. But there was always this pomp and circumstance, this celebration when she returned.

The ship was sleek, thin and silver, meant only for short trips between the stations. The screen changed from the exterior view to an image of the Councilwoman. She was older, with gray hair pulled back in a low ponytail. She was smiling at all of them.

“Hi, Grandma!” April cried, next to Godfrey. Councilwoman Montgomery must have heard her because she laughed.

“Hello, everyone,” she said, “It is good to see home again. I’ve got to stop going away so long.”

The crowd let up a cheer.

Then the screen went black. The next moment, it sounded as though several large things hit the side of the station, just outside of the loading docks.

From the front of the room, Godfrey heard yelling. The screen remained black. Several IHP agents, dressed in black suits, began to move towards the docking bay and their ships.

“What is this?” Sennett whispered.

“Everyone, please remain calm,” said a voice over the loudspeaker. “All officers and IHP agents are now on duty. Report to your squad leader or immediate supervisor for orders. All civilians please return to your homes, now.”

From the front of the crowd, someone yelled, “The councilwoman’s ship’s blown up. She’s been killed!”

“Are we under attack?” Ki whispered, pulling Godfrey closer.

“No,” Sennett said. She’d set April on the ground, and was looking at her receiver. “That ship couldn’t have been taken down by anything besides station mounted weaponry. It had to have come from the station.”

Copyright © 2019 by Nicole C. Luttrell

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Station Central has been touted as the vacation destination in the stars. Its success and popularity as not only a great place to vacation, but a great place to live was the start of mankind moving off of Earth and into the stars.
Sennett, Godfrey and Liam head there in search of a much-needed vacation. Instead, they find a council at war with each other, a population starving and an accused murderer lurking in the shadows. Sennett and Godfrey fight to keep April safe as family secrets threaten to destroy them, even as the Hollow Suits come out of hiding and attack. Will they survive the fourth installment of Station 86?

Preorder Station Central now on Amazon

Hey, guys. I’m bringing you a bonus post today to let you know about something cool. Something I’m feeling strong about, and I hope you do too.

I spend a lot of time feeling kind of helpless. I feel deep anger and frustration over a lot of things in our world right now. High on my list is the climate crisis. And it’s so hard to feel like I’m doing anything about it. I’m trying to control my waste. We switched our house over to solar energy. (By the way, if you live in PA you can do that too. You just have to call your electric company and tell them you want to do it.) I even use crochet market bags to avoid taking home mountains of plastic. But none of that is making the difference I want to make.

What will help, what will end up winning the fight against climate change, is being vocal in politics. To that end, I want to tell you about a bill from Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from Minnesota.

It’s the H.R 4050. And it’s to award grants for projects that are consistent with zero-waste practices. So, what that means is that if someone wants to build something that will help our country get to zero waste, like solar energy or anything renewable, this will help fund it. I want my tax money going toward anything that will help us not kill the planet. So, I’m emailing and calling my congressman, to make sure he knows I support this bill and I want him to vote for it.

If you feel, like I do, that this is exactly what we should be doing, I urge you to get in touch with your congressperson. Here’s a link if you’re not sure who that is.

We don’t have to feel powerless. We can speak up and talk to our elected officials. They work for us, after all. And if we want to keep living on Earth, we need more bills like this. And we don’t have any space stations ready for residential living yet, so we might want to stay here.

Every month Solstice Publishing hosts a Twitter Tale event with a different picture for inspiration. You can follow along with stories from several Solstice authors, including myself. Check out #Twittertales every Thursday and Friday. And now, check out my July story, Home Sweet.

Annie pulled her coat on, shivering. The one room in the old house was all the three of them could afford, it was always cold. She tucked her hands in her pocket, felt something. She pulled out a pair of thick, red gloves that she’d never seen.

Annie didn’t have time to figure out the mystery gloves, she had to get to work. She pulled them on and headed out. Old Blanch was sitting on the front porch, already. She’d gotten a bottle of something somewhere, and she was sipping at it.

Annie gave Blanch a nod on her way out, which the old woman returned. “Have a good day,” Annie said.

“You too,” Blanch said, her voice already slurred. “Hurry back. She don’t like when you’re gone long.”

Again, Blanch was going on about that?

Old Blanch sat back against the doorframe, watching Annie vanish into the crowds. She didn’t know, how could she know?

The house knew, though. Houses, even old ones like this, knew who belonged to them. And Annie belonged to this one.

The house knew her, had known Annie long before her life began. She didn’t remember, with her one lifetime of memories. But the house did. And it would take care of her. It would always take care of her. In this lifetime and the next.

Station Central has been touted as the vacation destination in the stars. Its success and popularity as not only a great place to vacation, but a great place to live was the start of mankind moving off of Earth and into the stars.
Sennett, Godfrey and Liam head there in search of a much-needed vacation. Instead, they find a council at war with each other, a population starving and an accused murderer lurking in the shadows. Sennett and Godfrey fight to keep April safe as family secrets threaten to destroy them, even as the Hollow Suits come out of hiding and attack. Will they survive the fourth installment of Station 86?

Preorder your e-copy now!

Like me, many of you probably just finished July’s Camp Nanowrimo session. Or, maybe you just finished being slightly annoyed by social media being taken over by Camp Nanowrimo. You know, wherever you fall in that spectrum.

I did win, as you’ll know if you followed me on social media. But, I found myself a little letdown. If you’ll remember, at the start of the month I thought this was going to be the most productive Nanowrimo ever. I was going to kill it, nothing was standing in my way.

A week in, I changed my goal again. Now, I made my goal, but it was a low one. All I asked of myself was to write 30,000 words or essentially finish the second draft of my new science fiction piece. I did that, but I thought I would be able to do so much more! Nothing was standing in my way!

Actually, a lot of things were standing in my way. As usual, I had 99 problems and created 95 of them my damn self. One of the biggest ones is that I was adjusting to a new medication. Totally dumb of me to think I was going to be able to write at my normal pace, let alone exceed that pace for any amount of time.

And speaking of time! Some day I will learn that time goals do not work for me! The problem is that I always either over or underestimate how much time something’s going to take. For instance, I write and even edit fairly quickly. But when it comes to doing social media stuff or creating graphics or posting blog posts, those things all take a superb amount of time. So a timed goal is hard to fit in, and unrealistic in terms of how much work I’m going to get done.

Oh, and if you were wondering why I’m spending so much time making graphics and working on social media, it’s because I’m launching a book this month. You know, Station Central. Available for Preorder right now. And launching a book is a ton of work. I mean a lot a lot of work. Once again, this was me being unrealistic about what I can do with the time allotted.

So, my uber-productive month was still more productive than normal. I’m pretty happy about that. I did finish the second draft of my new novella, and I’m not mad at that. I started on the beta readers edits of a new book I’ll be announcing soon, and I’m pretty pleased about that too. So, I’ve decided to focus on the good, focus on the happy. Because when I focus on the good, I find more of it.

And you know what? Camp Nanowrimo is still really fun! I love the communal feeling from my local writers, and writers all over the world. I have never done any Nanowrimo event that I didn’t feel like I got something great out of.

Next time I’ll just plan my goal a little better.

So how about you? Did you reach your Camp Nanowrimo goal? Let us know in the comments below.

Station Central has been touted as the vacation destination in the stars. Its success and popularity as not only a great place to vacation, but a great place to live was the start of mankind moving off of Earth and into the stars.
Sennett, Godfrey and Liam head there in search of a much-needed vacation. Instead, they find a council at war with each other, a population starving and an accused murderer lurking in the shadows. Sennett and Godfrey fight to keep April safe as family secrets threaten to destroy them, even as the Hollow Suits come out of hiding and attack. Will they survive the fourth installment of Station 86?

Pre-order Station Central now.

Every month Solstice Publishing hosts a Twitter storytelling event. On Thursdays and Fridays, several of us get together to write stories, 240 characters at a time, based on a shared picture. If you want to follow along, check us out at #twittertales with @solsticepublishing. But, I wanted to collect up all of the tweets that encompass my story and share them here with you. Here is my June story. Hope you like it. And check out the Twitter Tales every month.

It walked, unsure of how long it had been walking. There had been buildings before, but that had been how long? Days, weeks? So these building on the horizon had been a surprise. And a letdown, when It reached them. They were broken and empty.

It looked through the remains anyway. The food stores were dwindling, It couldn’t overlook a chance to find more. Inside one building it found a cluster of broken boxes and a few stray potatoes. It was pleased but worried. Why had these been left?

Hoping that the potatoes weren’t poisoned, It tucked them into a bag and kept scrounging. There was no use leaving until every inch was searched or until it was not safe to stay.

There, in the corner, what was that? A bottle, catching the light.

It crept towards the bottle, intrigued. When It got closer, It could see the label. A bottle of pop, something It hadn’t seen since childhood. Something It had dreamed of, surely something never to be had again. This was too good to be true.

At the last moment, It pulled it’s hand back. Since the darkness, there was nothing like this left. Other scavengers had taken everything. If something this good, was left, it was a trap. There was no doubt. It looked around, wary. Was It alone?

It heard things in the sand, slithering and slinking towards it. It dropped the bottle of pop and ran. This place was a trap, set by those who had given up on scavenging and taken to cannibalism. But they wouldn’t win today. It ran.

The bottle of pop stayed where it was, resting on a trap door that led to a well stocked cellar that had not been touched for years, and had been casually dropped by accident when the family who’d once lived there left.

Harold spent most of his son’s life protecting him from the man in the woods, while his neighbors lost child after child. Then, after a deadly car crash, he has to take his sixteen-year-old granddaughter into his home.

Then a reality company starts building a new neighborhood in the heart of the woods, placing hundreds of children in harm’s way.

Get it here now.

If you subscribe to PBW Update, then the last episode of Station Central came your way on July 29^th. If you’re reading Station Central here, then there’s just two episodes left.

The ending is explosive, get ready.

But, as always, there’s more to the story. There are two chapters at the end of the book that tell the story of what’s happening on Earth right now, and more information about Sennett’s birth parents.

If you can’t wait to get it, don’t worry. The ebook of Station Central will be available on August 30^th. But, of course, it’s available for pre-order right now.

And please keep reading as we reach the ending of Station Central right here on PBW.

This is a little late coming, but as you might know, I’ve been busy. I mean, I’m always busy, so that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. But I meant to write this back in June, and I’m just now getting around to it.

Oh well.

As some of you may know, my birthday was in June. And every year, I read The Giver on my birthday. I’ve done this since I was thirteen when I was given my first copy of it by a friend named Jamie over lunch on the last day of school.

This means that, as of this year, I’ve literally read The Giver twenty times. That’s right, the same book. Twenty times.

And you know what? It’s never gotten old. Every year, it feels different. Every year, even though I could quote you whole pages of it, it feels like I’m reading it with fresh eyes.

Why is this happening? It’s the same book. It hasn’t changed since 1993 when it first came out. I refuse to acknowledge that a movie exists, so that hasn’t colored my perception. And yes, there are more books now. But sadly, I’ve only ever read Gathering Blue. And that only once.

The book hasn’t changed. But the eyes reading it have. I am a far different person now than I was twenty years ago. I mean, I would hope I’m not the same person I was when I was thirteen. But I’m also not the same person I was when I was fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, or thirty. I hope that I’m not the same person a year from now.

And as I change, as I become a different person, the words ring out from the page differently. Their tune hasn’t changed, but I hear them different.

Different passages, different words touch me. Every year a different phrase moves me. Every year it means something new to me.

I can’t help but wonder if other people have experienced this. An I the only one who’s invested time every year to absorb the same words? I know that some people read the same poem over and over, studying its melody and features. But does anyone else do that with prose?

Some, I imagine, do this with holiday classics. I have tried to read two books in particular for Christmas every year, A Christmas Carol and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I don’t always have the time, and it hasn’t been so long a term thing. It’s also a bit more universal, you know? A lot of people read those books every year. No one, as far as I know, reads The Giver every year. This makes it a very intimate experience.

No matter what your age, you can start this tradition right now. It doesn’t have to be your birthday. Maybe you have a book you read every Summer, every Fall. The important thing is to pick a book with a depth that can be explored over and over. One that you will feel comfortable revisiting over and over. A book that means something important to you.

It’s best if the book has a significant meaning aside from the book itself. Though no matter the book you chose, it will start to collect that meaning over time. I read The Giver, and I remember reading it in my attic bedroom at thirteen. I remember reading it in my first apartment for the first time. I remember reading it under a shady tree in the grass, on a bus on the way to work. I remember reading it in twenty different places, in twenty different versions of my skin. And as I’ve read it every year, I’ve moved forward. I, like Jonas, have given myself over to a leap of faith. I have hoped that I would find people who love me at the bottom of that hill.

When a station goes dark, Sennett is asked to join the last remaining IHP members to investigate. When they arrive, they find so much more than they expected. A terrifying virus is loose on the station, that they might never escape from.

Meanwhile, Station 86 is having its first free election. Godfrey hadn’t had any intention of being involved, until he isn’t given a choice.

In the meantime, April’s true identity as the first hybrid humanoid is no longer a secret. And there are those who can’t stand that there’s a half Earthian, half Khloe. There are those that will never rest until the little girl is dead. With Sennett trapped, stations away, Godfrey and Mason have to work together to keep April safe.

Now available on Smashwords