False Dawn - Author Extra!

Where did the weekend go? And on top of that, where did this morning go!? (Okay, I know where this morning went. It went to making two apple pies for the freezer. And there are still apples left for a nice crumble.)

It's the last day of my space barbecue and I've had great fun! I hope you have, too. To celebrate, I have the author extra I wrote especially for Release Day. Just because some lines got crossed and the book actually came out Saturday doesn't mean we can't keep the party going through today. Right? Right!

And along those lines, here's that Release Day Author Extra I mentioned. Hope you like it!

False Dawn by Maia Strong
Available from Torquere Press

EARLY NEWS HOUR THEME MUSIC RUNS AS TITLE TEXT AND GRAPHICS GIVE WAY TO:

SHOT OF MALE NEWS ANCHOR SEATED BEHIND DESK

IMAGE OF ENGINEER DAYAN ANDRUS, DRESSED IN STANDARD ENGINEERING COVERALLS, APPEARS IN UPPER RIGHT CORNER OF SCREEN

NEWS ANCHOR: Good morning. Here’s the early news. Our lead story, a senior engineer has vanished into thin air. Yoshiko Didier reports.

CUT TO FEMALE REPORTER STANDING IN CORRIDOR OUTSIDE DOOR MARKED “SECURE AREA -- AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY -- CLEARANCE REQUIRED FOR ACCESS”

DIDIER: Thank you, Steven. I’m standing outside Section 4 of Sector AP-10 on Aconcagua Deck. It’s beyond here that Senior Engineer Dayan Andrus supposedly disappeared over forty hours ago.

DIDIER CONT. [IRONIC TONE]: Of course, we can’t access the area directly without authorization due to the security precautions around the File Room, and that authorization has not been forthcoming. But is it just the sensitivity of what’s behind this door that’s keeping us out?

SCHEMATIC APPEARS ON-SCREEN

DIDIER: What you’re looking at here is the schematic for the section behind me. You’ll note the lack of doors and internal access hatches. There aren’t even ventilation ducts in the area of the alleged disappearance.

CAMERA RETURNS TO DIDIER LOOKING SKEPTICAL; SCHEMATIC SHRINKS TO UPPER LEFT CORNER OF SCREEN

DIDIER: Security claims to have no leads in the case. Judging by the obvious inaccessibility of the location, one might not be surprised. But can Lažna Zora’s vaunted security force really be so in the dark as that? Or could there be more here than meets the eye? I believe there’s more to this story than we’re being told. Could this disappearance be a case of experimentation gone wrong? Might Engineer Andrus have been the subject, knowing or unknowing, of new technology designed to transport a human being from one location to another instantaneously?

IMAGE OF SCHEMATIC IS REPLACED BY PICTURE OF DARK-HAIRED MAN IN ENGINEERING COVERALLS

DIDIER CONT.: I spoke earlier today with the Assistant Chief Engineer Alan Zamyatin who assured me, quite emphatically, that no one in Engineering was performing any experiments along these lines. He denounced such ideas as, and I quote, “ridiculous” and “absurd science-fiction”. Doth the gentleman protest too much? Chief Engineer Johnston was unavailable for comment.

IMAGE DISAPPEARS AND CAMERA RE-CENTERS ON REPORTER

DIDIER CONT.: Given such vehement denial of even the possibility of this new technology, one is forced to wonder what we aren’t being told. Whatever happened here, whatever Engineering’s involvement, or not, in the alleged disappearance, it seems highly unlikely that Security would be completely ignorant of that department’s activities--whether those activities are “secret” or not. Yet, if they aren’t ignorant? I, for one, don’t like to consider the alternatives. This is Yoshiko Didier reporting.

END REMOTE FEED

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