Rebel Fates: A Science Fantasy Why Choose Romance (Shadow Myths), page 1
REBEL FATES
A SCIENCE FANTASY WHY CHOOSE ROMANCE
SHADOW MYTHS
BOOK 2
YVE VALE
Published by Entraverse Publishing
Sedona, AZ 86339, USA
YveVale.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, actual events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2023 Yve Vale.
Cover Art © 2023 Yve Vale.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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CONTENTS
Author’s Note
1. Interview
2. Lift Off
3. Caged
4. Market
5. On Edge
6. Hide and Seek
7. Attacked
8. Confessions of a Ship
9. Holding Space
10. Trouble
11. Hunger
12. Showers
13. Wrestling
14. Escape
15. Disappearing Act
16. Healing
17. Punishments
18. Galley
19. Agreements
20. Scents
21. Licked
22. Threats
23. Challenged
24. The Enemy
25. Surrender
26. Hope
27. Plan
28. Lost
29. Hopeless
30. Sold
31. The New Guy
32. Missed
33. Heating Up
34. Information
35. Frustration
36. The Hunt
37. Reunion
38. Willing
39. Chimera
40. Bonding
41. Rescued Heart
42. Not Enough
43. Additions
44. Decisions
45. Connections
46. Missions
47. Potential Mates
48. Protectors
49. Revenge
50. Primal Needs
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Books by Yve Vale
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The Shadow Myths Series is a dark paranormal why choose romance.
It contains several dark themes that some readers may be sensitive to. For more information, visit:
https://yvevale.com/triggerwarnings
This is book two within the series, but the books do not need to be read in order to enjoy them.
1
INTERVIEW
GEMMA
I lean back and close my eyes, collecting my thoughts, enjoying what is hopefully one of my last moments on this insufferable planet. I arrived early at the LunaTek Corp’s Moonbase intake offices, so I took a seat on a park bench outside the facility to wait for my turn for my final interview.
Do I really want to leave everything behind?
I search through my emotions. Sure, there’s excitement, but there’s also a sense of trepidation. Regardless, I need to put as much space (pun intended) between me and my old life as I can. The moonbase would certainly do the job.
If the Mars project was closer to being completed, then I would request to go there. The farther I can get, the better.
Someone sits down on the bench next to me, but at least they’re on the far end, so I don’t open my eyes to glare at the invader of my personal bubble.
“Having doubts about going?” an old man asks.
He must know I’m here for an interview. I’m definitely dressed for it in my best (okay only) pantsuit purchased expressly to impress potential employers.
I crack open my eyes and give the man an appraising once-over. He’s the old guy who was protesting at the entrance when I drove up—probably some whack job with nothing better to do than to prevent progress.
I don’t respond, hoping to discourage a conversation.
But he’s persistent, as I knew he would be. “I’m not just some grumpy coot without a reason to protest, you know. I’m an astronaut, well, a former astronaut. I’ve been out there…” He leans toward me conspiratorially. “I know.”
“Okay, I’ll bite. What’s out there?” I ask, with just the right hint of sarcasm. I even add some air quotes for good measure.
“It’s not just us,” he says, like that should be enough to rattle me.
“The universe would be an enormous waste of space if it was just us.” I shrug. “The cosmos is so big, it would blow our minds to truly contemplate. But why would any aliens be hanging around our unfashionable corner of the Milky Way Galaxy? If they have the ability to travel faster than the speed of light, why would they come here?”
He chuckles, as though I’m the one that sounds ridiculous. “I once said the exact same thing.”
“So, you’ve seen them? These aliens?” My sarcasm is now approaching the maximum dosage.
“I’ve not met them in the flesh, but I’ve seen their ships. And our leaders know about them, though they won’t tell the public. I have a few friends with higher clearance than I had, and they know we have dealings with ETs regularly.”
“Dealings?” I narrow my eyes, frustrated by his vague answers. This conversation is heading down Conspiracy Lane, and I don’t like the detour. I just want to get off this damned planet, and away from the pain it’s caused me.
“Earth’s leaders trade people and resources for their technology.” He leans closer. “How do you think we advanced exponentially in the last two hundred years? From combustion engines to gravitational field transports that fly to a moonbase. We have gone from using leeches to medical nanobots? It isn’t because of our brilliance. It would have taken us so much longer to develop what we have. Centuries longer!”
I gesture at his balding head. “You forgot your tinfoil hat at home.”
“I’ve tried it. It doesn’t work,” he deadpans.
My eyebrows shoot up at his confession. Then he winks playfully.
I huff out a laugh and then ask seriously, “You don’t have any proof that there’s some evil scheme going on, do you?”
“LunaTek and the world’s leaders are too careful about their dealings.” He frowns. “However, let me ask you a question. Have you ever heard of anyone coming back from this new moonbase? And did they even make it there?”
I raise an eyebrow and deflect, “Have you been to the moonbase?”
“No. But they wouldn’t accept me at my age anyway.” He asks again, “Do you know anyone who has come back?”
“I don’t even know anyone who has gone.” Briefly, I consider what he’s inferring. “They told me, for profit’s sake, we have to sign a ten-year tour. With the station being operational for only five years, no one would have come back yet.”
After a conceding grunt, he asks, “Why do you want to go so bad?”
His question is innocent enough. He wants to get to my reasoning, but he also wants to undermine my decision.
It triggers me.
“My reasons are none of your business.” I rush off, irritated that I’ve given this guy an ounce of my time. I don’t need some strange stranger getting inside my head, questioning my choices. I’m done with guys trying to run my life.
Sitting in the waiting room, I peruse the Moonbase pamphlet. “A new life awaits you amongst the stars…”
I’m not ignorant to the fact that I will still be me. I’ll just be 238,900 miles away from everything that made me, well… me. My heart will still be broken. My mind will remain just a bit left of center. The scars will still be there, inside and out.
But off-planet, I won’t have to contend with an ex bothering me, harassing me. And my family can’t attempt to continue their abuse.
I’m done with all of them.
Plus, the generous salary will pay off all the student loan debt that I’m drowning in. With outrageous rents, I have to live so far outside the city it feels like I’m living on the moon already.
A handsome middle-aged man in a business suit opens the door and calls out, “Gemma Malik?”
“Here.”
He introduces himself, “I’m Dr. Smith. I’ll be conducting your interview today.”
Dr. Smith gestures to the chair opposite him after I follow the interviewer into his office.
He sits and opens my file on his desk, while I make myself as comfortable as I can in the interviewee’s chair. I do my best to resist squirming under his scrutiny. My whole life is under a microscope and my future rides on his assessment of my value.
“Your application and the answers to your questionnaire look good. Your background check came back clean. But we have some followup questions to get to know you a bit better and clarify some things.” He explains, and I nod. “On the Moonbase, you will have to get along with others, and rely on your coworkers. Would you say you get along with the people you interact with?” He looks up to study my reaction with an intense gaze.
For a second, I chew the inside of my lip. “In a professional setting, I enjoy working to
He hums and makes a note. “Would you say you get along with people in general?” he asks.
“I think I do. I’ve never had complaints at my other jobs with my co-workers. I like to help create a positive work environment.”
“There can be tense moments living on the edge of the frontier—space. Do you feel you do well in a crisis?”
Where to begin? I’ve been in several high-intensity situations in my personal life and at work. My level headedness was the only thing that kept me alive. “I believe I can. I’ve been challenged throughout my life. And I’ve been able to keep my wits about me.”
“Are you willing to follow commands, even if you don’t immediately understand why?” His attention narrows on me for this question, making me nervous.
Internally, my guts twist a bit at the idea of blindly following orders. I feel like resisting this question, but I need this job. “Do you mean like my boss tells me how to do something, but I don’t know why I should do it that way?”
He nods. “Can you do what your superior orders you to do without questioning it?”
Why does this make me skittish?
I’m doing the exact opposite by not answering. But the military works like this. If not, people get killed. That has to be what they are after here. They want to know if I’m going to risk other people’s lives. Right?
I gulp. “Yes. I can do that.”
“Good. Your life might depend on it.” He smiles. I suppose my thought process didn’t take as long as I believed. I guess I was correct—they want to make sure I won’t risk everything if I’m confused during an emergency. But something nags at me. It’s probably just my anxiety-filled past triggering my fears.
He studies my file again and hums with concern. “I notice you haven’t been working in the same field as your college degree.”
“No. I had some setbacks.” I knew this was coming. Every job interview comes around to this.
“Do you mind me asking about the nature of those setbacks?”
Taking a deep breath to settle my nerves, I decide to be honest. “I was in an abusive relationship. I lost my job at the design firm I worked for because of this person. And then, well, I sort of got looped into the service industry. That’s why I’m applying for this job, to get back into my chosen field as a design engineer.”
“Yes. Life can be challenging.” He nods understandingly, no judgment. “Is this relationship completely over?”
“It is over. Completely.” And it will be more than over when I’m on the moon.
“This isn’t a career path you should take lightly. You are leaving behind everything for a decade, maybe longer, if you decide to stay. Won’t you miss your friends and family?”
“I’m new to this area and haven’t had a chance to make friends yet.” I frown a bit. I lost the few friends I had when I was with Peter. Besides, I’m not great at making friends—not anymore. I can’t trust anyone. “I haven’t spoken with my family in over eight years and have no intention of starting now.”
“So, no one knows you plan to travel to the moon?” he asks with a raised eyebrow, seemingly shocked.
“No. And I have no plans to tell anyone where I’ve gone.”
“Good.” He puts his hands up to apologize and chuckles lightly. “It’s not good that you have issues with your family. Or have no friends. But good that you won’t experience overwhelming homesickness. That’s the hardest thing for our employees to deal with. We have learned people with strong connections to Earth don’t do well on the Moonbase.”
“That makes sense. So, you don’t hire people who have strong ties?” I ask.
“Unless the candidate is an expert who we need for a special project, we try to avoid it. Sometimes, we offer them a shortened contract.”
“It sounds like I’m a perfect candidate. No strings to hold me down.” I smile.
“Excellent.” He checks some boxes on his file and pulls papers from the far side of his desk. “Next, we need you to sign a release form for a full medical examination. Also, this non-disclosure agreement.”
“A NDA?” I tilt my head.
“We only ask for that so you don’t talk about our project with anyone outside of the program. It’s standard stuff for corporations with so much invested in the advancement of science and technology. We need to protect our assets. You understand?”
“So, then I can’t actually tell anyone what I’m doing?”
“You can’t talk about it in detail, no.” He looks serious but still friendly.
I nod and sign. What do I care? I have no one to tell.
He continues after I sign everything. “When you go back to the reception area, go to the desk and set up a medical exam with our doctors. If you get it done in the next twenty-four hours, you can take the next shuttle to the moon, which leaves in three days. That is… if you’re ready to go.”
“I’m ready,” I say. The idea of getting off this planet is exhilarating. However, the implication of what I’m about to do still gives me a touch of nerves.
I’m only human, right?
Fortunately, the medical offices have an immediate opening, and I head over to the medical wing after my interview.
The doctor and nurse conduct a pelvic exam and check my vitals. I run on a treadmill to show I don’t get exhausted easily or have heart problems.
They already have my old medical files since I had them sent over a few days prior, after my second interviewer requested them.
They take a blood sample and do a full-body scan.
They even give me a flexibility and mobility test, asking me to contort into several awkward positions, but I realize I might need to fit into small spaces on the base to fix components. Fortunately, I pass that with no issue.
“Looks like we have everything we need. As long as your scan, blood work, and pap come back fine, then it looks like you will be cleared to go.”
“Great!” I smile widely. Good to know it appears that I’m healthy too.
“I see we need to put a rush order on your results,” the doctor says. “Trying to get on the next shuttle?”
“I hope so. Start my new life and all that.”
The following day, I get the call that I’ve been accepted into the program. My salary is triple what I get at my job as a server. It will pay off my school loans, and it puts some actual distance between me and Peter and my family. It’s the perfect solution.
Except, that old astronaut (if that was what he was) has seeded me with doubt. I remind myself that I’m not just leaving the planet to get away from my problems.
I’m also moving toward something. My job was a dead end. With the space colonization program, I’ll have opportunities beyond the Moon, such as visiting Mars one day. And I can help develop innovative systems, using my technical design skills to invent new ways of accomplishing things.
LunaTek’s people send over a small travel case for me to fill with my belongings, but I have nothing except a few clothes to put in it. I’ve already packed up and donated or sold what few possessions I had. When I escaped Peter, I ran off with so little. It didn’t take a lot to clear out my life and reduce it to nothing. I don’t even need a storage unit.
I feel a bit sad that I don’t have anything that I need to hold on to. But I brush it off. It also means I am free.
2
