Sci-Fi Saturday is here again and One Thousand Worlds has the pleasure of introducing Wodke Hawkinson's Tangerine in One Thousand Words. Tangerine is scheduled to be free on Amazon Kindle on Sept. 30, 2013.
Short story collections:
Tangerine-
Ava Majestic is
a young scientist who takes a job analyzing planets for possible habitation.
Pisk, her small feline-like companion, accompanies her in her space travels.
She is mysteriously drawn to the beautiful orange world of Tangerine, which is
on her list of assigned planets.
Ava soon finds
herself pitted against an egotistical Earth billionaire, Augustus Agnotico, who
believes she is in possession of an artifact with special powers. When she
denies owning any such item, he hires a rogue named Needle Flourentine to
follow her through space and spy on her as she performs her work duties. In
Tangerine’s moon city, Needle meets Ava face to face and contrives to accompany
her to the surface of Tangerine.
Once there, they
encounter life forms never before seen, confront danger, and discover a
treasure of immense power, a device that allows travel into the past. Ava and
Needle learn they are the heirs to this fantastic tool. In the course of their
time together, Needle falls for Ava and quits working for her enemy. But Agnotico
will not give up. He has already gone to criminal lengths to obtain the object
he desires.
Agnotico’s
pursuit is relentless and his greed knows no bounds. They must find a way to
prevent him from gaining possession of their legacy, even if it means his
death.
From the wild
reaches of space and back home again, Tangerine takes the reader into a future
where long-distance space travel is commonplace, aliens are a natural part of
everyday life, and human fallibility and drama still carry on.
About this author-
Wodke Hawkinson is the name under which Karen Wodke and PJ Hawkinson produce their co-authored works. In addition to Tangerine, they have published four novels: Betrayed, Betrayed, Including Alternate Ending, Zeke, and Sue. They have also released several short story singles and three short story collections: Catch Her in the Rye
Prologue
The visitors
arrived on Earth with the objective of mingling the genes of their own advanced
species with those of the inhabitants of the primitive planet. The visitors had
identified three distinct hominid species on Earth that met their needs. Hearty
samples of each group were obtained and secured in separate enclosures.
The subject in
Vector E fought his captivity at first. He cried out and flailed against his
restraints. His sloped forehead wrinkled in anguish, and incontinence darkened
his hairy legs. The specimen was necessarily sedated at times, since the
harvesting of semen confused and frightened him.
All specimens
endured the same or similar treatment. All demonstrated the same panicked
response. Females were tranquilized before the more intrusive or uncomfortable
procedures. The researchers did not intend to be cruel and tried to inflict as
little discomfort as possible. The scientists on the team all held a deep
respect for their test subjects and were protective toward them.
Mingling their
advanced alien genes with those of the pre-humans was a bold and controversial
component of the aliens’ experimental outreach program. The scientific
community was divided on the moral implications of this interference.
Manipulation of any species, even for its own benefit, was not without its
ethical concerns. However, the bright promise of success overcame principled
reticence.
All of the alien
researchers were driven by a pure passion for the scientific process, but some
also had altruistic motives, especially Zovnia, daughter of Rheyu and Avyuyl,
from the family Myhesthyc.
The subject in
Vector E was awake when Zovnia arrived at his room. He followed her with eyes,
wary but calm. She spoke to him gently, and he cocked his head, listening. She
had extracted semen from this specimen the day before, and had found the
process disturbingly erotic. A flush of shame warmed her as she recalled her
response to this creature. Yet, shameful or not, here she was in the middle of
the night, surreptitiously visiting her favorite subject, her attachment to him
a mystery.
Zovnia pressed the button that would shorten his restraints, pulling
him tight to the pallet, which she then lowered into a horizontal position.
Removing her clothing, she opened the enclosure and stepped inside. Tenderly,
she cleaned the animal with a wet cloth and was pleased when he did not
struggle. His gaze wandered from her face to the shiny medallion dangling
between her breasts.
As she ran the cloth over him, her senses
were assailed by his strong animalistic scent, a scent she found arousing.
Cupping his heavy genitals, she stimulated him while looking into his eyes,
watching him for signs of understanding. Before she mounted him, she stroked
his face tenderly. She wanted this to be an act of love, or as close to it as
possible. She straddled him and took him with an abandon she had rarely
experienced. He lay still at first, and then began to thrust upward within the
confines of his captivity. She finished with a soft moan moments before his own
release.
Zovnia held herself against the creature
afterward, her arms draped across his wide shoulders and her head on his chest.
At last, she crawled off him, left and secured the cubicle, and hurriedly
dressed. His dark eyes followed her as she raised the pallet to standing and
lengthened his restraints. With a surprising show of confidence, he strode to
the wall of the enclosure and pressed his palm to the clear surface, imploring
her without words. She placed her hand against his from outside the barrier,
searching his eyes for a long moment before she turned and left the room.
Zovnia visited the subject in Vector E as often as feasible.
She affectionately called him Vee.
Time passed. The researchers tagged and released all their
specimens, the harvested males and the pregnant females, back to their original
locations. They erased evidence of their visit and prepared the ship to return
home.
Zovnia, with head hung, refused to leave with them. They could
easily guess her shame as Vee loitered within sight of the ship, not fleeing,
as had the other test subjects. Rumors had flown through the ranks, as they are
wont to do. Taking the few items that were hers, Zovnia left the ship for the
last time. Not one of her colleagues wished her well or even said goodbye. As
the great ship speared the sky, Vee and Zovnia craned their necks upward and
watched it disappear into the blue.
Zovnia’s possessions lay in a pile on the ground. She stood beside
her belongings with one hand lightly clutching her necklace, and the other
resting on her abdomen. She was sick with apprehension, but her feelings for
Vee were stronger than her fear.
She was also pregnant.
The researchers were to track the results of their work every
century, but for reasons unknown, the program was stopped and Earth forgotten
for a great period of time.
As irresistible forces of nature doggedly drove the planet
into the future, the original bloodlines of hominids were eventually ground out
of existence, leaving behind a new species: humankind in all its various forms.
Over the passing years, the alien hybrids were absorbed into Earth’s
increasingly homogenized societies, their ancestry not readily apparent after a
few generations.
When descendents of the original visitors returned to the planet
thousands of years hence for the purposes of ambassadorship and commerce, they
agreed their ancestors would have been astonished at the remarkable outcome of
the ancient experiment.
The alien interference on Earth resulted in evolutionary surges in human
development and a widely diverse population. From these beginnings arose a
unique line of humans, possessing certain alien characteristics including
superior learning abilities, ancestral memory, and in a few cases, an
exceptional legacy. One of these individuals was Ava Majestic.
CHAPTER 1
The lengthening shadows warned Ava of night’s
quick approach as she steered her skimmer over the lazy river. She checked the
sky against her timepiece, and began looking for a
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