Ava Altair grew up reading fantasy and science fiction novels. She graduated from Florida Tech with a BS in Science Education – Physics and a minor in Computational Mathematics. She taught as an AP Physics teacher for five years in Florida. She now lives in Oregon, teaching horseback riding lessons and managing the stables with her mom. She enjoys hanging out and talking about science concepts and story ideas with her dad.

What it is to be human doesn't apply anymore. The surface of the Earth has been poisoned by years of abuse and now most life lives beneath the waves of the ocean. Over the last 500 years, humans have become fragmented and specialized by genetic manipulation, but two main factions exist in the Undersea. The hybrids, a race that continues to genetically modify themselves to climb the social ladder, and the humans, the unmodified organic race that makes up the lowest tier of society. 

Alex, a Delta Six hybrid, finds an unlikely companion in a human man, Jack, while on a mission to steal the Athena file. Alex withholds the file to elicit help from Jack and they set out on an adventure across the Surface. Their relationship is tenuous until a device mysteriously links them together. Now, running from Alphas, an elite group of hybrid assassins, Alex and Jack must weather the hostile surface of the planet to reach their common goal. They soon find they can't both have the thing they want most, but also can't seem to let each other go.

FLUX

Ow. Alex wiggled her fingers without opening her eyes. Her face hurt. Her shoulder hurt. Her leg hurt? Why did her leg hurt? She though she fixed that. She poked the hole in her thigh and felt fresh stitches. Where the hell was she this time? Probably a prison cell. She cracked an eye open and peeked around the room. Definitely not what she expected. Six large tubes lined one wall. One of them had a person in it. Their hair floated around their head like a halo. They held a breathing apparatus in their mouth and were naked, but controls and knobs covered everything below the shoulder. Screens shone brightly in the darkened room as a girl flicked at her flickerboard.


Chapter 35: Unwelcome, Part 1