Cameron is back in command and it might be going easier than she expected - even with some tiny bumps along the way. Easy can become difficult in a flash and that might just happen with her ships smuggling client. She may have a vision after all these weeks away from the Exhibit Housing, question is was it purposely planted in her?

Cameron has feet in both worlds and continues to navigate what she ultimately wants next. Revelations about the transplant and not being able to return to her former self exactly as she was are news she wasn't expecting. And the question of Garrett may finally be put to rest...

Margaritas, Beaches, and Bikinis
by
Rebecca Anna Coleman
Chapter 4: I hope I don't hear Banjos

At three o' clock the next morning I found myself putting the twinkling lights of Benton behind me. Roughly five hundred or so miles of open road lay between me and Orange Beach. Or so Google Maps told me. For the trip that morning I decided to go all out. At first I was going to wear a pair of tan cargo shorts, a loose fitting cotton t shirt, and a pair of flip-flops. Then I decided, in a fit of madness that it was time to embrace being Rebecca and stop hiding her.

Cameron is thrust back into the role of "Captain" and it's not a role she's interested in assuming as quickly as she's required to take it on. It's yet another transformation, not a physical one, but a mental shift that will challenge her perception of self as a woman now. Adding to her troubles the Planetary Guild has some hoops for her and those held captive to jump through. She'll be told the true nature of the Exhibit Housing facility and it will shake her to her core. She'll wrestle with whether she should telling the others, but one slip on a small ship could jeopardize her command.

WARNING: The true nature of the Exhibit Housing is revealed in this chapter and it might be a bit disturbing to read. I can assure you the contents of this chapter do not dwell on that disclosure much and are only included to explain the 'why' humans were being held - which in the scope of the story is necessary. I tried very hard to not make this uglier than necessary. Can you skip this chapter and pick up knowing what's going on in the next one and not miss much? Eh, maybe, maybe not. There are pieces of the puzzle in every chapter and why they were held is a piece that gives their captivity scope - it isn't the story though. Please consider this warning as I do not EVER want to purposely cause anyone distress while trying to entertain. Thank you - Rachel M. Moore

Margaritas, Beaches, and Bikinis

Chapter Two
Belk's Department Store

A few days passed. And the writer's block still held its firm iron grip on me. I still felt like I'd abandon all of my writing projects and I felt like I owed my readership a reason why there had been no new Emily stories. Or any updates on her many misadventures. But every time I opened up a blank word document  and told myself that now I was going to work on her stories I found my mind going blank. Blank like the word document I was peering at.

Margaritas, Beaches, and Bikinis

Chapter One
A meeting with my Editor

I took a deep breath as I peered across the wooden desk. Sitting in front of me was a woman who seemed to be in her late thirties. Her long brunette hair was tied back in a tight bun and she was dressed in a charcoal gray skirt suit. Her dark green eyes reminded me of the eyes of a Russian Blue.

I have to keep myself from smiling as I touch up my lipstick, before liberally coating my long brown hair with shiny hairspray. Once my look is complete, I stand up from my dresser and examine myself in my bedroom’s full-length mirror.

The escape attempt is on, their chances may not be all they appear to be... The losses may be too much to handle.

I bite my lip nervously as I watch the countryside whizz by outside my window, partly because this is, by far, the furthest I have ever travelled as ‘Dina,’ but mostly because of what lies ahead of me — and what I’ve left behind me as well.

Science Changed Me For the Better

I had a moderate level brain fart when posting chapter 6 and ended up putting 2 copies of it on both the home page and my stories page. I have the impression it caused a few headaches to sort out, and from the number of hits this week (400 compared to last weeks 800+) I'm wondering if some people may have missed it. If that's the case, here's a direct link to chapter 6.