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  Alyssa evaluated the listing. “It’s more than we budgeted.”

  “Hardly a constraining factor,” Triss replied. “We’ve earned a little splurging. Plus, don’t you want to be captain of something you can boast about?”

  The shipyard proprietor waddled over to the sales kiosk, apparently having picked up on their interest. “She’s a beaut, ain’t see?” he said. “Got a few quirks, but what ship doesn’t?”

  “What’s it called?” Alyssa asked.

  “Registered name is the Regency Star, but you’re welcome to change it when we transfer the ownership.”

  “That’s a great name,” Jack replied. It was regal, gender-neutral, space-y…

  “I hate it,” Alyssa stated.

  Finn groaned. “Then we’ll re-name it. Just look at that interior! We can spread out, and I could even fit a round bed in that starboard cabin.”

  Alyssa looked around at the faces of the crew. “Okay, fine. I’ll agree to this ship, but on one condition.”

  *

  Jack reclined on the palatial couch in the common room of the newly christened Little Princess II. “I could get used to this.”

  He’d hated Alyssa’s name suggestion at first, but it somehow fit the vessel. The captain’s condition to change the name had oddly unified the team, since they were first brought together by the original Little Princess. Jack never would have dreamed his short-lived ownership of the craft would have netted him friends and a major ship upgrade within a week, but he was happy to have fate finally smile upon him.

  Not surprisingly, he’d been relegated to the worst sleeping chamber on the ship, which shared a wall with one of the washrooms. Though the washroom should have been for his sole use, and despite there being a preferable cabin amidships, the three other crewmembers had insisted that one of the washrooms and the other cabin be reserved for guests they would likely never have.

  As a result, Jack was awoken every time Finn flushed the toilet in the middle of the night, or whenever the waste treatment system cycled—which was every half hour. The setup was less than ideal, but it was still a significant improvement over being subjected to Finn’s night terrors.

  The common area, at least, was an exquisitely appointed place for Jack to relax and feel like a full member of the crew. As Jack stretched out on his couch of choice, Finn reclined on an adjacent couch he’d adopted as his own, and Alyssa and Triss nestled into their plush, reclining chairs.

  “We definitely made the right choice getting this ship,” Alyssa said.

  “We can really make it ours.” Jack pondered various redecorating options that might elevate the neutral décor.

  Finn rolled over so he could face the other members of the crew. “I almost don’t know what to do with myself. It’s been three whole days with no one trying to arrest us or shoot at us.”

  “No complaints here.” Jack crossed his arms.

  “It’s great the Vorlox turned out to be friendly,” Alyssa began, “but I can’t help wondering who destroyed Luxuria.”

  “Svetlana made a lot of enemies over the years. Whatever was going on with that, it’s not our problem anymore,” Triss replied.

  Alyssa shook her head. “I’m not convinced she’s going to let us go so easily.”

  “She did forgive Jack’s debt,” Finn pointed out. “Sounds like Competron offered her a good deal. Maybe she’s turning over a new leaf.”

  “No, someone like her craves power. She’ll get back in the game eventually,” Alyssa said.

  “Not our problem.” Finn waved his hand.

  Triss nodded. “Agreed. I’m choosing to focus on our good fortune. We have this beautiful new ship, and we can do anything we want.”

  “All right, I do have to admit that our newfound freedom is nice,” Alyssa conceded. “Plus, that galley! I can really perfect the MEC-brewed espresso with that kind of workspace.”

  Jack smiled with contentment. He had no illusions that all dangers were behind them, but for the first time in years, he didn’t have to worry about being destitute and homeless in the next day or week.

  “I never thought I’d be on a ship like this,” he murmured.

  “Hey, you’re part owner of this ship,” Finn corrected.

  “It’s crazy. A week ago, I was scraping together every credit I could to pay for the Lucile—er, Little Princess. I know you begrudgingly let me stay, but seriously, it means a lot to be here with you.”

  Alyssa softened. “I think all of us have struggled to find a place to belong at one time in our lives or another. Having each other’s backs is what separates us from some of the other criminal-types out there.”

  Finn nodded. “Except, we’re supposed to be respectable businesspeople now.”

  “Technically, that wasn’t part of the agreement with Competron,” Triss countered. “They arranged for our outstanding warrants to be dismissed, but no part of that said we can’t go back to our old ways.”

  Alyssa cast her a stern look. “We don’t need the money. We’ve set out what we accomplished to do—break up the GiganCorp monopoly. Now we can travel and do whatever else we want. No need to get involved in anything shady.”

  Triss sighed. “I guess you’re right. Maybe we can work our way through that travel guide of all the must-visit space station diners.”

  “Speaking of which,” Finn said, “who’s hungry for taquitos?”

  THE END

  — — —

  Want to read more by A.K. DuBoff?

  Continue the adventure!

  Jack and the crew of the Little Princess II have more shenanigans ahead! Read the next installment: smarturl.it/troubledspace2

  Or, for something more serious…

  CADICLE: AN EPIC SPACE OPERA SERIES

  “Appealing characters and detailed worldbuilding draw the reader into a tale of politics, sabotage, kidnapping, telekinesis, and clones. [...] DuBoff weaves together sympathetic characters, an intriguing plot, devious villains, exciting space adventure, and hopes pinned on a chosen savior.”

  - Publisher's Weekly

  The Taran Empire is fighting a secret interdimensional war... and they’re losing.

  Wil Sietinen is torn between two worlds. As a High Dynasty heir and the Tararian Selective Service’s most promising telekinetic Agent trainee, Wil is expected to be nothing short of exceptional in every way—even though the weight of responsibility is slowly crushing him.

  When Wil is captured by the Bakzen, a mysterious race skilled in advanced telekinesis, he learns he is the prophesied Cadicle. Foretold to have powerful abilities unlike any other, he can help end a secret war waging within a hidden dimensional rift, and time is running out.

  However, as the dire nature of the war and the truth about his own abilities begins to unfold, Wil realizes that he and his family are at the center of a generations-old galactic conspiracy. Enemies are not as they seem, and the future of the entire Taran Empire hangs in the balance.

  Wil holds the key to victory, but saving his people may come at the ultimate price.

  A timeless space opera epic, the Cadicle series spans three generations as one family challenges destiny to win a war and lead a revolution that will change the course of an empire.

  Begin reading the complete series now:

  smarturl.it/row

  About the Author

  Nebula Award finalist and USA Today bestselling author A.K. (Amy) DuBoff has always loved science fiction in all its forms, including books, movies, shows, and games. If it involves outer space, even better! As a full-time author, Amy primarily writes timeless science fiction and science-fantasy with broad scope and cool tech. When she’s not writing, she enjoys travel, wine tasting, binge-watching TV series, and playing epic strategy board games.

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  XENOVIRUS

  by Kevin McLaughlin

  A deadly virus has gone global on Earth.

  Doctors are falling ill and dying as they race against time to develop a vaccine.

  To keep them safe, a select few are sent to the only place completely safe from the infection: the tiny lunar colony. For Carmen, it’s just the opportunity she’s wanted: a chance to prove she’s every bit the virologist her famous father is.

  Patrick wants nothing more than to remain on his beloved moon forever. Up there in command of his team is the place he loves best in the universe. And now they have to babysit a bunch of doctors and lab techs. He knows how important this mission is, but the sooner they’re finished with their work and gone, the better.

  Then he meets Carmen, and everything changes. Being alone on the moon suddenly isn’t enough for Patrick anymore. But desperate people do dangerous things, and there are billions of desperate people back on Earth…

  Copyright © 2016 Kevin McLaughlin

  Xenovirus (this story) is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  All rights reserved.

  Chapter 1

  CARMEN WORKED hard to draw breath. The books she’d read about rocket takeoffs were right: it felt like a giant hand was pushing her back into her seat. She could still breathe, but it was a lot less comfortable than she was used to! She felt the beginnings of a little anxiety but pushed it aside. It was harder to quell her excitement as the powerful engines blasted the shuttle aloft.

  She’d never been in space before. What an awesome opportunity! And yes, nepotism had a little to do with her being allowed to go. Her father being appointed leader of the expedition probably helped a lot. But she didn't really care. She was going into space. That was what mattered.

  Her excitement must've shown her face. "Your first time, too?" the man next to her asked. He looked like he was straining to breathe a little, but wasn’t having as hard a time with it as she was.

  "Yes," Carmen gasped out. Then she laughed, a bubbly sound filled with joy. It just rolled out of her – she couldn’t help herself. It had been too long since she’d laughed like that. On the world below her, there was too little to laugh about right now.

  The source of the outbreak was never seriously in question. A team in Antarctica was digging up meteorites, looking to bring them home for analysis. They were looking for mineral composition data or something boring like that. Carmen didn’t recall for sure, and it had been months since she’s read the initial news reports. What that team accidentally discovered was something else entirely, though.

  One of the Antarctic team became sick before they even returned home. Nobody thought anything of it. Just another cold. But within a week the entire team was ill. Within two weeks, the entire team was dead. If things had stopped there, the whole event would've been a strange but curious anecdote. But by the time anyone realized there was an outbreak situation, it was too late. The virus – that's what they had discovered the thing was, eventually – spread like wildfire. No one on Earth had any natural immunity. Not to this virus, because it wasn't from here. Lab analysis of the virus left scientists certain it had evolved someplace other than our planet.

  And that might spell the end of humanity, if someone didn't figure out a way to stop the virus.

  Which was what her father intended. Earthbound labs hadn't seen much success in finding a cure for the virus. But someone had the bright idea that since the virus came from space, they might have better luck finding a cure in low or zero gravity environment. Personally Carmen thought that was bullshit. It was bad science at best. More likely, some politician didn't want the lab testing to be taking place anywhere close to his home, and came up with the idea as a way to ensure the research was being done as far away as humanly possible.

  There’d been a base on the moon for two years now. It was small, but it was slowly growing. There were not a lot of amenities, but there was a basic lab and the ship she was riding in was carrying out everything else that her father would need to find a cure.

  "So, are you going up with the med techs, or the engineering geeks?" the man next to her asked.

  "Medical," Carmen replied.

  That was where the nepotism came in. Carmen's father was a virologist. He was widely considered one of the best in the world – privately, Carmen thought he was the best, but she recognized she might have a personal bias. After finishing medical school she followed in her father's footsteps. And she was a fairly respected neurologist in her own right, though nothing near her father's stature. When her father was assigned as the head of this mission, he was pretty much handed a blank check by the United States government. Whatever Dr. Rosa said he needed, Dr. Rosa got.

  Dr. Rosa said he needed his daughter to go with them to the moon. Carmen Rosa got a ticket on the same rocket her father was taking.

  In the back of her head, Carmen had niggling doubts about whether her father had invited her for her expertise, or just to keep her safe. The virus had spread worldwide on Earth. Tens of thousands of people had already died, and the number of sick might already be in the millions. No place left on the planet was really, truly safe. But the moon was still clean. The lunar base, completely cut off from Earth, had been carefully isolated. Everything going up was sterilized – twice. The passengers and crew were carefully decontaminated after undergoing a battery of tests to ensure they were not carriers of the virus.

  So did her father want her along because he respected her expertise in their field, and wanted her help? Or was he sending her to the one place that he knew she wouldn't die of the virus before he could find a cure? She didn't know the answer, and part of her didn't really want to.

  "Wait – are you Dr. Rosa’s daughter?" the man next to her asked.

  Carmen nodded. She wondered how often she would be asked that question in the days ahead.

  "That's awesome!" he said. He smiled at her. He had red hair, and freckles covered most of his face. He had to be a couple of years younger than her. He certainly seemed friendly enough, though. And Lord knew, she can use someone to talk to up here!

  "Yes, I'm Carmen," she said.

  “I'm Jacob. It's awesome to meet you.”

  She smiled back, wondering how many times a conversation she was going to hear the word ‘awesome’.

  And then they hit the edge of space, and everything changed.

  The sudden shift took Rosa by surprise. She knew intellectually what to expect for the transition from high thrust to sudden weightlessness. But when the main thrusters cut off, it was like being tossed off the top of the world. Her body told her that she was falling, and for a moment she could feel terror boiling up inside her.

  Then her mind took over again. Falling was nonsense. She wasn't falling at all. She was flying!

  What an amazing experience. She set aside the faint grumbling from her stomach, which was still trying to adjust to the lack of up and down, and unbuckled herself from her seat. Next to her, Jacob was turning a color somewhere between white and green, holding a hand over his mouth. If he heaved, it was going to get everywhere!

  "Didn't you take the space sickness shot before you left?" she asked him.

  He shook his head, growing greener by the moment. She couldn't really chastise him - she had opted not to get the anti-nausea shot, too. She didn't want her first moments in space tainted or diminished by sedating medication. But where her stomach seemed willing to tolerate the experience, his clearly was not. She looked around for a space-sick bag. The last thing she wanted was bits of...stuff...floating around here in zero gravity!

  There they were! She snagged one of the small packets from the pouch in front of her seat. She ripped open the plastic wrapper and opened the bag inside.

  “Here,” she said, handing the d
evice to Jacob. He took it with a grateful look, pressing the opening in front of his mouth.

  Carmen wasn’t sure if he was going to barf or not, but she wasn’t really feeling good about sticking around to find out. At the same time, she felt bad about just flitting away and leaving him feeling miserable by himself. She floated there next to her chair, undecided.

  “Everyone all right in here?” The woman’s voice came a voice from the front of the compartment. It was the co-pilot, who’d helped get them strapped into their seats before takeoff. She kicked off from the hatch, up near the cockpit, and drifted down the center of the compartment, checking faces as she went.

  “Anyone having second thoughts about the space-sickness shot?” she asked. Carmen saw she already had a little plastic container with syringes in her hand. She looked around, and saw a number of green faces in several nearby seats.

  “Over here, I think,” Carmen said, waving at Jacob. Jacob nodded his head vigorously, looking even more miserable.

  “Here to help,” the woman said. Carmen read her nametag as she went by. It read Sullivan. With deft hands, the woman opened the plastic contained, while hanging on to the chair by hooking her feet. She slipped on a pair of plastic gloves, pulled out one of the prefilled shots, and popped it into Jacob’s arm.

  “There. You’ll be right as rain in a little bit,” the woman said. “How about you, hon?” she asked Carmen.

  “I think I’m OK, thanks.”

  The woman scrutinized her carefully. “You look fine. Tell me if you change your mind, though. Plenty of others around here to see to, anyway.” She rolled her eyes.

  “Is not taking the shot a common problem, Ms. Sullivan?” Carmen asked.

  “Amy, please. And yes.” She pushed off to the next chair, and administered a shot to the man suffering there. “Lots of newbies think that they’re going to be the ones who can manage space without feeling sick. Most of us can’t. Most people feel at least a little sick. You got a headache yet?”