Title: Breaking the Surface
Series: The Outsider Project, Book Two
Author: Rebecca Langham
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: January 13, 2020
Heat Level: 2 - Fade to Black Sex
Pairing: Female/Female
Length: 81300
Genre: Science Fiction, LGBT, captivity, interspecies, politics, Sci-fi, teacher, futuristic, lesbian, space
Synopsis
Alessia is an Outsider—a member of the
not-quite-human community that has recently been released from their
underground prison. Shortly after their liberation, Alessia is given an
ultimatum: obey all the United Earth Alliance’s demands, or her mother will
forever remain a hostage—a mother she’d believed dead for fifteen years.
Reluctantly, she agrees, though she has no idea what those demands may be or
how she will balance her obligations to the UEA with her responsibilities to
her people and her family.
As the UEA tightens its grip on humans
and Outsiders alike, it becomes clear that meaningful social change will not be
possible without a revolution. Alessia and her peers embark on a mission to
discover just how far the government is willing to go to maintain their
monopoly on power.
What Alessia and her comrades discover,
however, goes much deeper than they’d ever anticipated. Who are the Outsiders,
really? What secrets of their destiny lay hidden within a top-secret space
station? And why are the Outsiders linked to an emerging disease the UEA seems
desperate to keep secret? As they delve deeper, it isn’t only Alessia’s
identity that will be called into question, but the fate of the entire planet.
Excerpt
Breaking the Surface
Rebecca Langham © 2020
All Rights Reserved
Lydia wanted so badly to pace, to burn
away her fear one exaggerated step at a time, but there was nowhere to go, no
floor space to haunt. The Camp had been a sanctuary for them all, keeping her
friends safe from unwanted attention since they’d taken their first steps as
free people, but now it suffocated her. It may have been off-the-grid, but the
complex was also small. Too small.
Given the number of people in the
control room, she had to settle for crossing her arms over her stomach and
gritting her teeth. But even then, she couldn’t silence the dissenting voice in
her head. Something wasn’t right. Why would the United Earth Alliance be
demanding a meeting so forcefully?
The UEA had been quiet in the two weeks
since the Outsiders relocated from the colonies, granting an eerie yet welcome
period of radio silence. Now they’d not only made contact, but threatened legal
action if Alessia and the Green Hats didn’t acquiesce to an immediate
communication with one of the government’s top advisers.
Lydia’s stomach churned.
As though reading her thoughts, Alessia
slid her hand into Lydia’s and squeezed her fingers. Lydia forced a weak smile
as she turned. “I don’t trust them.”
Alessia’s face—which, more than ever,
reminded Lydia of a finely carved alabaster statue— softened.
“Of course not,” she replied, her tone
sympathetic yet firm. “But it may not be wise to ignore the request. This could
be nothing more than an administrative issue and I don’t want to invite
trouble, not so soon after the release.”
“I don’t think you can ignore it,
Ly-dee.” Helen swivelled gently in an office chair, forearms resting on her
thighs as she considered her daughter. After all those years without Helen’s
presence, hearing that fruity voice still managed to surprise her from time to
time. Lydia had believed her mother to be dead for years. Finding out she
hadn’t died, but rather become a kind of political hacker, was unsettling to
say the least.
Life had changed so much in the last
nine months. Alessia did not remain trapped beneath the ground, and Helen had
re-emerged from the void.
No longer living with her politician
father, even Lydia had been partially freed from the web of her old
insecurities and frustrations. Sometimes though, it seemed like those
frustrations had dissolved only to be replaced by a whole slew of new concerns.
It had been a lot to process.
Helen sighed, a little too dramatically.
She reached for a cup of tea she’d left cooling on a nearby bench and cradled
it between her hands. “We knew they’d get their claws back in sooner or later.”
“Two weeks,” Lydia huffed. “They only
waited two weeks. Please can’t we refuse?” The frustration in her voice exposed
Lydia’s raw emotional state in a way she wasn’t comfortable with. Until
recently, she’d worked hard to present a subdued version of her thoughts to the
outside world. With such a prominent father, she’d had to if she had any hope
of protecting herself from those who sought to exploit her. Whether it be to
splash her personal life about the goss-channels, or to pressure her to
influence her father regarding some political issue or another, there had been
no shortage of people trying to use Lydia. It had been a kind of
self-preservation to surround herself in the dark veil she’d become enveloped
in, making it harder for people to really see her. But then Alessia had burst
into her life, a quiet yet powerful blaze of light.
Alessia and the other Outsiders had
reached right into her and reawakened feelings and sensations she’d muted long
ago.
“Is refusing a good idea?” Peleus looked
up from where he sat cross-legged on the floor a couple of metres away from
Helen. Peleus had been one of her earliest and most faithful followers and
friends, embracing her efforts to slowly change culture in the colony by sharing
positive stories and messages with the children. “They’re providing
accommodations and integration assistance to the four thousand Os who’ve had
their entire existence uprooted. Not taking their meeting might give the UEA
reason to withdraw support.” As Alessia’s confidante, Peleus’s presence always
lent a certain sense of thoughtful tranquillity to a situation.
Alessia pulled Lydia closer until their
bodies pressed together, banishing the air between them and soothing Lydia’s
nerves a little. They’d barely had time to catch their breath since Release
Day. When they had finally pushed their way through the obscenely large crowd
of onlookers in Thracia after the ceremony, they’d boarded an air-transport and
come directly here to the Green Hat headquarters in Quadrant Four.
Affectionately known by its inhabitants
as the Camp, the secure underground complex supported a community of
approximately a hundred people. Every one of them had dedicated their lives to
undermining the UEA’s ever-worsening abuses of its own laws.
The main control room at the Camp was
capacious and circular, with curved desks and ergonomic chairs that hugged the
wall. Each workstation offered a user access to the G-Hat virtual network, but
to connect with the outside world, one had to utilise the cylindrical, glassy
tower in the centre of the room. A reflective pillar when inactive, the hub
featured a projector that sent holograms into the middle of the tower as
required.
The hub worked much the same way as any
Hive wall, but with some modifications helping to prevent hacks into the rest
of their system. It was also perfect for situations in which more than one
person needed to participate in a communication link. Lydia believed the entire
setup was nothing short of spectacular. No doubt they’d been able to develop
the untraceable consoles only because of whatever financial support the MacNay
Corporation had been providing.
Still, Alessia and Lydia had traded one
isolated abode for another. At least this one wasn’t full of protectors or tainted
by decades of oppression. Greys had been replaced with blues, locked doors with
open spaces, and obstacles with possibilities.
The dormitory was unfortunate, though.
Each night, the enticing heat of Alessia’s body rejuvenated Lydia, yet they
were acutely aware of the other people sleeping nearby, and so Lydia had
accepted the fact they’d have no privacy for the foreseeable future.
In truth, she experienced relief and
disappointment in equal measure. They’d only spent a few weeks getting to know
one another in the Q4C, after a month of silent glances in crowded corridors.
The six months of separation following Lydia’s departure had done little to
quiet Lydia’s fears her connection to Alessia wasn’t as strong as she’d
thought, that perhaps she’d imagined the whole thing given the immediacy of
their attraction. Slowing things down, being with one another without
expectation, could be the best way for Lydia to validate the tether between the
two of them.
The rest of the refugees had been
relocated to government-sponsored accommodations in the major cities of Thracia
and New Sydney. Only Peleus and Fermi knew exactly where to find Alessia, and
Lydia wanted it to stay that way for the moment, regardless of Alessia’s
initial protestations.
The entire world knew Alessia’s face
now, and there was no way to predict how she’d be received by the mainstream
population or what her own people might expect from her as their de facto
leader. Leader.
Lydia rested the side of her face
against Alessia’s bicep. Her stomach clenched as she capitulated. “Peleus is
right, isn’t he? We should hear them out.”
Alessia kissed the top of Lydia’s head,
then nodded. “Yes.” She looked at Lydia’s mother. “Helen, I’m ready.”
Purchase
Don’t miss Book #1 in the The Outsider Project series, Beneath the Surface, available from NineStar Press
Meet the Author
Rebecca Langham lives in the Blue Mountains (Australia) with her partner, three children, and menagerie of pets. A Xenite, a Whovian and all-round general nerd, she’s a lover of science fiction, comic books, and caffeine. When she isn’t teaching History to high schoolers or wrangling children, Rebecca enjoys playing broomball and reading.
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