Tag: romance

Distant Love (Part 67)

Derek felt queasy. He should have known that Diane would have been aware of his cousin. His cousin, Aoife, lives in Zone B. She is the only family he has, and she always makes a big effort to stay in touch. Her baby, Lucas, is just six months old. He recoils at the thought of something happening to them.

“You wouldn’t!” he snarls.

“You know I would.” She lets out a little laugh to herself.

Derek shakes his head. “How do I know where Maeve is going to be?”

“Already sent to you in an encrypted email. Time to show me what you got.” She stands up and walks out. There is still coffee left in her cup.

Derek goes to the robotic waiter and pays, before heading back to his apartment. The guns are all laid out as she stated. Derek feels his heart racing as he checks his incoming messages on the desktop,

There it is. Maeve will be at lift 12B in under one hour.

No time to waste. I have no option, and at least Maeve will be safe for now.

He lifted one of the guns up.

It’s time to fix some of these to the wheelchair. They’ll never know what hit them.

Distant Love (Part 66)

“What do you mean where I come in?” Derek gasps in exasperation.

Diane fidgets, looking this way and that before staring right at him. “You are going to break her out. Then you’re going to be a good little spy, and tell me the family’s secrets.”

Derek’s eyes bulge. “What the..”

Her face contorts and turns crimson. She interrupts him. “Listen now. You’ll do exactly as I say. Otherwise, she will face her remaining years behind bars. And you, my friend will have a little, but fatal accident.”

“Wow, you really are such a bitch. Honestly what made you so?” Derek sighs.

For a few moments, there is silence apart from the robotic waiter moving from table to table in the distance.

“I have no choice do I? Not really?” Derek glared at her.

“No, you don’t. And look, we don’t have much time.”

Derek nodded for her to continue speaking.

“When you come back from your next shift, multiple T-35 guns will be left in your apartment. Attach them to your chair and automate as you see fit. I know about the advanced training you received, and that a relative left you a ship. Go wherever she wants and report back.”

Diane smiles. “And no funny business. I know about your cousin.”

“You wouldn’t!”

Wheelchairs Wars 2 (i)

The Emperor is the saviour of humanity – Sister Paletine

“So, what do you think of Timothy?” Jessica whispered from her bed. Audrey had found having a room all to herself strange, so had volunteered for a roommate. Jessica moved in at the last time cycle.

Audrey looked at the triangle in the semi lit room hanging from the ceiling. “I like the way he thinks deeply about battles, the strategies, different formations.”

Jessica giggled. “Not like that. Would you like to know.. you are about the same age.”

“Are you serious? Our lives hang in the balance?”

Honestly, where did I find her?

Jessica continued. Audrey had to stay stillstill to hear. “Well some of us think he’s fit. Daire can’t stop thinking about him.”

Audrey felt her stomach ache. Daire is beautiful.

“Time for sleep.” Audrey’s voice was loud, her tons stern.

“Alright, alright Audrey,. I was only asking. No need to go all fire and brimstone.”

“I didn’t. We have a big few time cycles in front of us, and we need to rest.”

Doesn’t she realise her life hangs in the balance? And that the men have women sent to their room anyway. And she really needs to concentrate on her skills.

Wheelchair Wars (ii)

There were men and women in wheelchairs, whichever way she looked. Their wheelchairs were armed, though with all manners of swords, hammers, and knives.

“Audrey” reverberated through the hall. It was Oreus, sitting imperiously in a battlechair, with two muscle-bound men at each side. She goes towards him, her heart throbbing.

“Yes, ssirr.”

He looked at her with contempt. “You must speak with conviction if you want to be a warrior. Demand respect.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied, her tone raised.

“Better.” He looked her up and down. “You have good control of your chair. Spatial awareness is as important as savagery. Without either, there is little hope of you lasting long.”

He scrunched his face. “Your next opponent is going to be formidable. I watched as his last opponent pleaded for his life. The crowd laughed.”

Oreus stared at Audrey, but she didn’t flinch.

She has the fire.

“Follow me.”

Oreus drives his chair to a narrow side tunnel, then down a long, downward ramp, using his jaw, with his goons and Audrey following closely behind. The din of chatter dissipates behind them.

They enter a large, cool chamber filled with rows of battlechairs of various makes, shapes, and sizes. Oreus led them to the back of the room. “This is the Falcon X.”

Audrey’s face lit up. “Is it as good as they say?”

Oreus smiled. “That’s what I want you to tell me.”

Distant Love (Part 59)

Derek moves his mouse this way, then that way. Anything to keep his mind occupied. There are only a few dots in orbit around the moon for him to worry about. It has been a boring shift. It’s been six Earth days since he met Lulu, and it is now in the middle of the lunar night in his part of the rock. There are only the stars and a distant Earth outside the habitat.

He longs for Earth to breathe natural air and to see its diverse landscapes.

An icon in the bottom-right corner of his screen flashes, with the name Maeve appearing in Times Roman above. His heart beat faster; he had been hesitant to contact her after Lulu, but now had no choice. He couldn’t afford to be seen as not complying with a request from the Lunar Police.

He clicks on the icon.

  • Hi Derek, how have you been? You haven’t been on Darko World recently. I’ve missed our chats.

Derek taps his fingers against the table.

What should I do? Maeve wouldn’t hurt a fly, but her family must be very different. All I know is that I care about her. I’m not going to let them lock her up and throw away the key,

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Distant Love (Part 58)

Lula puts her hand through her hair. “Well, it’s not Maeve exactly, more her family. We’re not sure exactly if she is involved.”

“Involved in what?”

“The transportation of drugs from low Earth orbit.”

Derek could feel his heart thumping. “No way!”

Lulu gets out of her seat and stands beside him, showing him her badge.

“Blasters.”

“Hey, no need for foul language. Now make sure to keep smiling. I don’t want to have to bring you to the station for interrogation.”

Derek raises his eyebrows. “Why would you do that?”

Her voice is more aggressive now. “Because, Derek, this is a very serious matter. The quantity of drugs is huge. But most importantly, it will earn me a nice promotion. You will help me, or you’ll be prosecuted as a conspirator. How does that sound?”

The Lunar police had a terrible reputation for corruption and targeting innocents. Derek never thought he’d ever get in their crosshairs. But he had.

“What could you possibly want me to do? Like, I haven’t even ever actually met her.”

Lulu puts her arm around him. “She is the weak link in the family, and you are the closest thing she has to an actual boyfriend. So, for now, keep on talking to her, and I’ll be in touch. I’ve seen how you have been looking at the women here, I’ll give you a piece of what you have been looking for.”

With that, she leans in, kissing him. Her tongue brushes against his lips.

And then she is gone.

Distant Love (Part 55)

Rosemary’s proves to be everything he hoped for. It is crowded, but not so much that he can’t move around in his wheelchair. The latest music from Earth, a strange electric form, is playing. Strobe lighting is going back and forth. Now, what to order? It had been some time since his last one.

A gender neutral bartender, with bright purple hair and a blue latex suit, approached. “What can I get you, sir?

“Any recommendations?”

“Well, my favorite is the Lunar Dicer. How about that?

Derek smiled. “Yeah, let’s give it a go.” He has no idea what’s in it. But that’s what he wants today, a change in the drudgery of his day-to-day, that seems to have gone on forever.

A moment later, the drink is beside him and within reach of his mouth with a straw. He takes a sip as he watches scantily clad women dance in the distance. The taste is strong, like that of cognac.

After another few sips, he starts to move to the music.

“Eh, you have some nice moves there, you should bring your chair out onto the dancefloor!”

It takes a second over the din of the music for Derek to realize that the woman at the next table was talking to him.

Distant Love (Part 54)

Derek spends hours more going from moon to moon after that. A siren goes off for a few seconds. It’s a warning that the fair is coming to a close.

Damn, I haven’t even seen Jupiter itself yet!

He powers over to the huge planet. There are no human settlements in its atmosphere to admire. Not yet, anyway, plans have been drawn up. He concentrates on its great red spot, a giant perpetual storm, and the differing colors of its clouds.

Feeling a pang of sadness, he turns around to look at the crowd around. Everyone else is either with their partner or with friends.

He shakes his head. Thinking like that will get him nowhere. Yes, it would be nice to have a girlfriend to share days such as these, but he needs to be realistic. The closest thing he had to one was Maeve, and he’d probably never actually meet her.

It had been a good day. That is what he needed to concentrate on.

Now, for the final part of his plan. A nice pint of ale in Rosemary’s. He had never been there before, but it looked like an interesting place to go, and most importantly, it was close by.

Distant Love (Part 53)

Derek marvels at the display of the base. The miniature buildings on the moon have all been made to the exact specifications. It even shows little people going back and forth between them, carrying out routine maintenance and other functions. He is most interested in the spaceport. This is where human exploration and colonization would expand to Saturn and beyond. Then there is the Le Poitre telescope that scans for habitable new worlds in the galaxy. He could have spent the whole day absorbed in that base, but there was so much more to see at the exhibition.

He looks up to see which moon he will look at next. The woman with the tattoo that had been on the train is standing there looking at him, but disappears into a crowd passing by.

Derek thinks little of it. Due to medical advances, there are very few people in wheelchairs. Even less on the moon. The odd time, Derek would find himself followed by someone enamored by his chair. Life is too short for him to worry about it.

He powers his chair over to the volcanic moon lo and watches intently as lava oozes over the surface. The realism is beyond his expectations.

Festive Updates: My Creative Projects in Progress

Hi everyone, I hope you are all enjoying the festive spirit. Personally, I love this time of year and having some time off. It’s great to catch up with people, also.

I like giving these updates every six months or so on all my projects. Occasionally, these posts prove really popular. Other times, I’d be lucky if anyone apart from myself reads it at all. Such is life, I guess. First, an update on my longer-term projects.

Wheelchair Wars

This has now been fully critiqued. I am about to employ a successful author to read through it to see how it could be improved. I’m aiming for the stars.

Romance Short Stories

Critiqued, but I need to work through the suggestions and rewrite as appropriate. Hopefully, this will be significantly improved over the holidays

Pegasus

The first draft is complete; the next needs to go through the critique process.

Distant Love

First draft being written.

The blog itself is going quite well. Last year, it received 1,746 views. It’s looking like this year will be more like 2,746. Still, quite a way to go to become profitable, but moving in the right direction.

I have 2,700 followers on Bluesky. Hoping to get that up to the 5k range by next year.

Plenty of things planned for next year, and hopefully, see you there!