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

Jack sat in his third unmarked pod as it wandered through the dark depths of the inlet. He finally found the lit ring and maneuvered the pod towards it. It docked successfully. Slowly it reeled him in up the dimly lit tunnel into the docking ports. Water rushed out from around the pod as the conveyer belt kept it moving. The tunnel opened up into a large room with hundreds of pods parked in the slips.


He stepped out onto the metal floor. This was unlike any other Sanctuary he had seen before. He just hoped the rest of them had made it. He walked down the aisle of pods toward what he assumed was the entrance to the rest of the base.


A guard working the security station stepped out. "Can I help you?"


"Jack Swift. Here to see Janice or Jimmy Swift."


"You're human?" The guard gestured to his own ears.


Jack pressed his hand to his ear. "Yes. These are synthetic. I'm undercover."


Chapter 206: Vacation