The Sky Is Crying Read online

  She raised an eyebrow to that unwelcome notion.

  But Remy caught on fast. Smiling, he said, “Of course, Drey thinks—”

  “Why don’t you come work… with me?” she asked. “Here, at the station. We need all the help we can get. And you’ve proven yourself to be fairly capable.”

  She found it hard to maintain eye contact as he ruminated on this possibility.

  “Listen, I’ll be around if you need help… but Dreyla would never let me live it down if I became a cop.” Remy’s gaze shifted to the sheriff’s badge lying on her desk.

  Lilly had never heard the term cop before but figured it referred, rather derogatorily, to someone in law enforcement. All worlds and cultures had nicknames for those in authority.

  “And as for my brother?”

  “No,” he said, “I think we’ll make our own way.” The roguish half-grin had returned. “Nate’s on his own.”

  She sighed. “Great. All the better for him to get into even more trouble.”

  “But like I said,” Remy added, positively squirming in his seat, “I’ll be around. I mean, we’ll be around, if you need us.”

  With a wink, he bolted to his feet and hastened toward the door.

  “Remy,” Lilly called.

  Hesitating in the open doorway, he turned back to her.

  Her face suddenly felt warm. No doubt she was blushing.

  “Thank you,” she said, “for everything you did. This—this wasn’t your fight, but without you, Dreyla, and Tosh, we wouldn’t have pulled it off.”

  He nodded. “As the good doctor is fond of saying… an enigma says hello.”

  After a few seconds of awkward silence, Remy shrugged. “Yeah, I never knew what he meant by it either.” With that, he winked yet again and turned back to the corridor. “Catch you later, Sheriff Lilly,” he called as he vanished around the doorframe.

  Her shoulders sagging, she merely stared at the space he’d left behind—and contemplated all the mixed emotions that flooded her heart, not to mention all the questions left unanswered.

  Chapter 11

  REMY

  An hour or so after leaving Lilly’s office, Remy hopped a ride to Skully’s Scrapyard. Under the blazing Naillik sun, he stepped through the front entrance, nodded at some of the employees on duty, and slowly approached the Jay at the rear of the property. As he scanned her battered hull, he simultaneously felt relief at seeing her again and dismay at her current condition. Like meeting an old friend after serving in the same bloody war.

  While Remy was reluctantly recuperating from his gut wound, Dreyla had commissioned Skully to help her with repairs on the ship. Now, as he neared the two of them standing in the shade of the open airlock, he caught snippets of their discussion, which centered around determining the best way to convert the Jay’s power system so it could utilize the mineral Vox7.

  As Remy well knew from her visits to him in the infirmary at the sheriff’s station, this particular dilemma was all Dreyla thought about these days, obsessive little go-getter that she was. Since Vox7 resembled a less-developed version of their own TZ107, of which they had little supply and which didn’t seem to work in this universe anyhow, she figured revamping the ship’s power system would be the only way to get their baby back in the sky.

  “I think you’re right, Engineer Girl,” Skully said. “If we can design a basic converter, we should be able to install it in her power base.”

  As usual, all this engineering babble sounded like Greek to Remy, but he was nonetheless overjoyed that the capable mechanic and scrapyard owner had agreed to assist Drey in bringing the R.L. Johnson back to life. It also comforted him that Skully seemed to accept most of Drey’s theories and proposals, as he knew how much she prided herself on her mechanical know-how.

  Of course, the Jay needed more than just a new power source. In an effort to bust through the airlock and kill everyone hiding on the bridge, Darkbur’s asshats had done a number on the ship’s hull. Skully didn’t seem too concerned, though. He did own a salvage yard, after all. He had plenty of spare parts and materials, and while Remy hated to envision his girl sporting a patchwork hull, he knew that, as in most cases, functionality mattered way more than cosmetics.

  “Captain,” Dreyla said, noticing Remy hovering beside the open airlock. “Skully and I were just saying—”

  “You don’t have to tell me,” Remy said, holding up his hands in a beg-mercy position. “I trust you two to get my girl back in the air. I probably wouldn’t understand the details anyway.”

  Dreyla chuckled. She knew her father well.

  Skully, meanwhile, simply nodded. The old mechanic clearly considered the ships he built, salvaged, or repaired his girls, too. Despite the innumerable differences between Remy and Skully, their shared worldview was probably one of the reasons the scrapyard owner had offered them such reasonable terms for helping Dreyla with this challenging project. That, and the fact that Remy and Dreyla had promised to do some side work for him. Although they had yet to determine the specifics of such work, Remy knew Dreyla would enjoy roughing it with the engines.

  Nope, he couldn’t complain. The yard would provide a home for the Jay while she was being repaired. In turn, the Jay would once again be home for him, Dreyla, and Tosh. In fact, Skully had already run temporary power lines into the ship, enabling them to bring some of the more pertinent systems back online.

  While they repaired and cleaned up the Jay, the ship would be their only residence on Vox, just as she had been in their own galaxy. She was as good a home as they could possibly hope to find on this side of that weird portal. Better, even. And she had the added advantage of lying within easy driving distance of the sheriff’s station. Just in case Lilly needed him.

  Skully slapped his grease-stained overalls. “OK, kids, I gotta go. We’re expectin’ a big load of scrap material from Bane in a few minutes. A happy bonus of your successful nans mission. Lots of tearin’ down and rebuildin’ goin’ on over there.”

  Remy smirked. “Nothing goes to waste around here, huh?”

  “Nope.”

  With his eyes twinkling, the sprightly old man dashed down the temporary ramp and hurried toward the front entrance of his scrapyard.

  Well, at least someone’s benefiting from the Bane riots.

  Surveying the immediate area, Remy spotted the so-called Beast, which Darkbur’s men had used to rip the airlock door off the defenseless Jay. Although he could appreciate the practicality of its mad, mishmash design—and why Skully was so damn proud of it—Remy utterly loathed the monstrous thing.

  “So, you’re coming inside or what?”

  Shaking loose the terrible memory of that first battle with Darkbur’s men, Remy scurried up the ramp and followed Dreyla to the bridge. A moment later, Tosh appeared in the doorway.

  “I thought you were going to the hospital,” Remy said.

  “I did,” Tosh replied. “Didn’t take long to convince the staff. Nobody wants a repeat of what happened with the last nans shipment.”

  Remy nodded. “Good. With any luck, we’ll all be too busy to get in any trouble.” He smiled mischievously. “At least for a while.” His mood turned solemn. “But I promise you two, I will get us home. One way or another.”

  With a glowing smile, Dreyla gestured toward the consoles and bulkheads around them. “Captain, we are home.”

  Grinning in approval, Tosh stepped closer to them.

  “Something’s not quite right, though,” Remy insisted.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Tosh’s manic smile faded, and his gray eyes bore into him. “I mean, besides most of the ship being broken?”

  Remy headed toward his steering console.

  “No…” Dreyla gasped. “Really?”

  His face broke into a massive grin as he linked his tablet to the console, swiped the screen, and made his selection. An instant later, Robert Johnson’s “I’m a Steady Rollin’ Man” blared across the bridge. The rusty walls and metal decking seeme
d to bop along with the rhythm, reverbing like crazy.

  Yes, our home has a pulse again.

  He turned just in time to spot Dreyla rolling her eyes. But, as he walked back toward her and draped his arm around her shoulders, she didn’t budge from the spot. Didn’t even squirm like an embarrassed teenager. She just grinned and lovingly patted his chest, and together, they watched as Tosh began swaying to the old-time blues.

  Galactic Blues

  We hope you’ve enjoyed the ninth (and final) episode of the first season of the Galactic Blues serial. To be notified of new releases, please subscribe to the Newton’s Gate list.

  Join the Newton’s Gate Universe

  We know you love your freedom, so we promise not to bombard you with junk mail. We’ll only notify you about new releases, giveaways, and recommendations.

  Of course, if you did enjoy this episode of Galactic Blues, please consider leaving a positive review. Thanks in advance!

  PREVIOUS EPISODES

  Galactic Blues Episode 1 - Born Under a Bad Sign

  Good pirates fight. Smart pirates run. The best aim for somewhere in between…

  After pulling off the heist of a lifetime, Captain Remy Bechet faces harrowing space battles, mutinous scumbags, and a vengeful nemesis from the past—all while trying to protect the ragtag crew he considers family.

  Meanwhile, on the planet Vox, Sheriff Lilly Greyson finds herself juggling formidable black-market dealers, horny deputies, and a worldwide crisis in the making.

  And for both, the day’s only half over.

  If you’re a fan of space operas like Firefly, Defiance, and Dark Matter, then you’ll love the first action-packed episode of the Galactic Blues serial.

  OTHER NGU RELEASES

  It’s easy to find other Newton’s Gate work. Every release inside the Newton’s Gate Universe will be listed under the C.J. Clemens name. Many of the releases will have other authors listed as well.

  Here are some of the current NGU releases:

  Deliver or Die: A Newton’s Gate Series (The Delivery Mage Book 1)

  By Jamie Davis & C.J. Clemens

  A dangerous tech warlord. A devious damsel. Is this smuggler mage getting paid or played?

  Baltimore, 2055. Ex-special ops agent Kurt Carter refuses to resort to killing any longer. Though this mage isn’t above skirting the law with a little magic to smuggle goods through the interstellar portals and back to Earth, he never expected to use the Newton’s gates on a ransom mission for the ex-wife he can’t seem to forget…

  With the help of a trigger-happy sidekick, Kurt has no choice but to break into a government building and steal a mysterious sarcophagus. After his ex throws an unexpected wrinkle into his plan, the smuggler mage must improvise to keep an impatient warlord at bay. Can Kurt save the girl and protect his business all without getting more blood on his hands?

  Deliver or Die is the first book in The Delivery Mage series of urban fantasy novels with a touch of interstellar travel. If you like magical antiheroes, action-packed space fantasies, and unique world-building, then you’ll love Jamie Davis’s rule-bending tale.

  ________________________

  The Realm: A Newton’s Gate Series

  By A.Q. Owen & C.J. Clemens

  HELL. HATH. NO. FURY.

  Orion’s little girl, dead now this last year, haunts his every hour, waking or not. His ex-wife, deep in the grip of her own grief and a drug problem, has abandoned Orion, deserting him and what scraps remained of their life.

  So, Orion drinks. And drinks. And rages. And burns through his fortune. And prays for death. Until he stumbles across his old high-school nemesis, Steve, one night in a dive bar.

  This supposed chance encounter turns out to be anything but. Since the advent of magic and alchemy, now strangely widespread after a recent high-profile scientific accident, Orion’s old rival has been conjuring a “plan” for his distraught adversary. A plan Steve swears comes direct from the Almighty himself.

  At first, his plan sounds crazy. Hell, Orion thinks, it is crazy: use a divine sword, a hiding spell, and the protection of God to invade hell and slay the devil, using good magic to restore order to the world. And to get the one thing he wants more than anything: revenge.

  Not surprisingly, Lucifer has his own plans—and turns out to be the toughest mark this hunter has ever tracked. Not to mention Satan’s legions of bloodthirsty, rapacious demons, who’ve been aching to kill a human for millennia, and his dark agents on Earth, eager to kill their own kind to curry favor with their master.

  ______________________

  Zombie Chaos Book 1: Bloodbath in the Big Easy: A Newton’s Gate series (A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Tale)

  WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE. GRAPHIC GORE. GRAPHIC SNARK.

  What would you do if you received a three-week warning of the coming zombie apocalypse? How would you prepare? What if the warning was wrong—and the undead rose a full week before you were ready?

  Joe Daniels may be luckier than most, but heʼs still in a jam. After weeks of prepping, he gets caught in a zombie storm. To accomplish his plans and stay alive, he has to rescue his wife, Clare, and travel 1,300 miles through Americaʼs zombie-infested countryside to the safety of northern Michigan.

  But, first, he has to battle his way out of New Orleans. With his cat, Azazel, in tow.

  Bloodbath in the Big Easy is the first book in the Zombie Chaos series. If you like the drama of The Walking Dead, the gore of Romeroʼs Dead series, and the humor of Shaun of the Dead, follow Joe on his journey through zombie-filled New Orleans.

  _____________________

  MORE RELEASES TO COME!

  Acknowledgments

  Galactic Blues was heavily influenced by the terrific characters and entertaining plots of Firefly, Defiance, and Dark Matter. We’re grateful such awesome sci-fi shows exist, and as with them, we hope that our serial enables other space opera fans to disappear into the universe we’ve created.

  The Newton’s Gate Universe has brought together over thirty sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, and thriller authors, and while the stories might have a common origin, each one creates its own unique world for you, the reader. We hope you enjoy exploring the many worlds of Newton’s Gate, and we thank you for being an important part of this collective journey.

  Characters

  While writing Galactic Blues, we’ve had fun developing images to represent our characters and using them as shortcuts to identify each chapter’s POV.

  Captain Remy Bechet

  Dreyla Bechet

  Sheriff Lilly Greyson

  Commander Tara Shaw