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

Alex sat in exile as Cart One rolled along its path. They left the mountains behind and were well on their way to the next big city. Jimmy walked ahead of the cart, occasionally looking through his scope at the dark landscape that morphed from mountains and windmills to desert and solar towers. The darkness around them brought a cool night breeze from the west that occasionally blew with strong gusts, then settled down. The wind sent chills right through her. Alex drew the blanket she was wrapped in around her tight.


Jimmy held up a fist. It took a moment for the people pushing the carts to notice, but eventually, the whole caravan rolled to a stop.


"Twenty minutes. I need five volunteers," Jimmy shouted.


Alex pulled free from the blanket then crawled out of the cart.


Jimmy approached her. "Not you. You stay here."


"What is it? What if you need my firepower?"


Chapter 184: Growth