Sample Chapter

In the blackness, I stand on the rocky ledge, and the world is silent. No reflection of light off lakes or oceans—nothing for miles. There used to be a massive body of water here, home to sharks that were the stuff of nightmares. I’ve seen the digital recreations. The Helicoprion had a lower jaw full of rotating razor-sharp teeth—a creature that, frankly, I’m glad is extinct. I can’t imagine swimming with those monsters.

A shudder runs through me as I think about it. I’m up here, relying on a topographical readout to keep me from falling into oblivion, listening for the sound of my drones, but there’s nothing. Not even a whir. The usual desert sounds—owls, coyotes, even crickets—are long gone, extinct like the sharks. Only the cockroaches are left, because of course, they never quit.

I hear Anabelle's voice crackling in my ear. “Glenning, are you still out there?”

I hate it when she uses the breakthrough call like that. What if I were in the middle of something—important? Chuckling to myself, I respond, “Yeah, give me five more minutes.”

“I’m not your mom. Don’t give me the five-more-minutes line.”

I sigh. “Just a few more calibrations. There’s a wind from the east. You see that on the radar?”

She barely pauses before rattling off her answer. “There’s a windmill 5.98 kilometers southeast. But you knew that. I saw you enter the data before you left.”

Of course she’s right. She always is. But something feels off. I close my eyes, letting out a breath. This job keeps me away from everything I despise—politics, human drama—but sometimes even the drones can’t drown out that gnawing feeling in my gut. Something is happening.

I check my oxygen levels. 92. Not bad, but not great. Time to head back.

But as I walk toward the airlock, I sense that something—out there in the distance—is watching me.