Split (1)

train · 122k rows

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19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 23	Jim sat silent in the living room in the thick aftermath of the FBI bombshell. Miller, another detective, and poor Daniel Hodge had sat at the table for an hour, going over everything he could remember from Sophie in her youth. It'd not been a particularly pretty story. Dan was a decent guy and recapped it all, even ad...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 24	It was a short walk to the end of the block. After that, Jim had nowhere to go. Any farther and he wouldn't be able to put eyes on the house. He sat on the curb under the glare of a streetlight. He got out his flask. Took a long drink. Enough to drown the guilt for a moment, anyway. The anger would hang around for a go...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 25	The dumb detective led her straight to the house. He made a couple of odd turns, but he was as easy to follow as a kindergartner playing hide and seek. Even a cop wouldn't suspect a minivan of following anyone, would they? There were four billon of the oversized, ugly things on the road and most were the same nondescri...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 26	An oil-burning delivery truck blasted past him as he stood on the curb. The thing was puking sooty exhaust that made Jim hold his breath as he headed for the Coffee Girl across the street from his townhouse complex. As he entered the lot, Oscar Olsen pulled in on his equally roaring—but non-oil-burning—bike. The loud ...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 27	Shrill lyrics reverberated around the car. Not that Sophie could understand the words to any of the tracks. It was in Italian. She knew the story the opera told without the actual words. A count kills his countess after an affair in the afternoon. Classical opera, full of death and tragedy. It had taken years to unders...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 28	The door to Scruffies looked more like the entrance to a strip club than a firing range. Screaming red neon confirmed the establishment was, in fact, open. There were fliers and posters plastered over the entire surface of the glass door, blocking any view of the interior. He'd not been here before. Jim had not stepped...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 29	Annie circled Jim's legs as he sat at Ely's table. The cat was desperate for his attention. So much so that she jumped up and perched contently in his lap. He ran his fingers though her long, silky fur. Not a luxury he experienced very often. The cat loved to be close, but touching was usually a deal breaker. She doled...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 30	"Hope you got the insurance." O got out of the car and stretched his legs. The trip from the airport had taken near forty-five minutes. Jim pushed the button on the fob but also double-checked the handle to ensure that it wasn't opening. Not that any door locks made were going to help. This was the kind of neighborhoo...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 31	Carla trotted off the porch as fast as her little legs would carry her. "Don't go off too far. That drive wore me out. I don't want to be chasing you." Sophie went in and rummaged through her quaint kitchen cabinets with the carved wood trim and found an odd glass bowl that didn't match the rest of the set. All the f...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 32	"It's past my dinner time." O rubbed the back of his neck with a white bandana and then shoved it back in his pocket. Even after dark it was over 80 out and the humidity levels had to be topping out over 90 percent. They'd been walking around the known hangouts of the local working girls for a couple hours. It was clo...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 33	The margarita was harsh. Probably the cheap tequila. But it was cold and it contained a good amount of alcohol. Basic survival needs. The food far surpassed his expectations. The hole in the wall in Dallas was as close to authentic Mexican as he could get without a passport. No sour cream, no corny uniforms or giant b...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 34	Jim was drying off when he heard the knock at the door. He'd jumped in the shower right after leaving the restaurant. Wanted the grime and sweat of the dying neighborhood and the steamy Texas heat off his skin before he went to sleep. "Yeah?" He never put his eye to a peep hole. "Pizza delivery." O's rumbly voice was...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 35	It was definitely not a breakfast date. She met him in the dining room precisely at eight a.m. He was finishing up his steak and eggs, which was better than the paleo-vegan mush at the Coffee Girl, but the place lacked a certain charm—that charm being Sandy. He hoped that girl stayed in school for a long time, otherwis...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 36	"Stop by and see Max on our way to Mary Callas, the mom?" Jim closed the car door. FBI car. Big and dark and with state-registered plates. About as stealth as the Empire State Building rolling down the Strip. She drove. He'd never be caught in a dark blue or black sedan of any type. Cop car, cop engine. In his line of...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 37	Mary Callas's trailer was, at one time, pink. Flamingo pink, Jim would guess. Now it was faded I-don't-give-a-shit salmon-ish. A tiny porch was missing half the handrail and the driveway was more weeds than gravel. The surrounding lot had not been mowed all season. Haphazardly placed along the mobile home skirting were...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 38	Carla trotted happily around the splintered wooden picnic table. She'd pooped and peed and was now sniffing the signatures of a thousand other dogs who had ventured through this rest area. Sophie took a drink of her vitaminwater. She'd go herself before they got back on the road. Carla was fine moving about in the big...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 39	Jim's stomach felt like an abandoned well. Empty and dusty. He glanced around the area surrounding his hotel as they approached. Slim pickings. "Anything better around here than the Arby's?" Agent Webb pulled to the curb. Didn't put the car in gear. "I'm heading to the Grove. It's a cop hangout. But it has a good beer...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 40	Jim paced the length of his hotel room. Eight strides in depth, thirteen in length. He'd made that journey fifty-seven times. Not that he was counting. His computer sat open on one of the two double beds, notes and pictures scattered around it. He'd hit a dead end. Everything stopped with Elizabeth Stanton. Nothing be...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 41	"First flight to Vegas in the morning?" There was some key chatter as the reservations agent put in his request. "Five a.m., Mr. Bean. Would you like me to assign you to that flight? There's two seats left." "Yes." No sleep for him tonight. She rattled of a confirmation number. He'd get the email with the details, h...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 42	Three blocks west looked more like a blown-out Middle Eastern war zone than a good place to pick up johns, but there was a four-lane street and an abandoned ball court. The hoops were rusted rings standing guard over a lost court. Three benches lined the far part of the tarmac with three girls lounging on one. They not...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 43	Sophie sat in the van watching the new age diner. The lot was empty, and the only lights on were the safety lights above the back door. She'd decided to snatch the waitress on the morning drive in. After talking to momma, Sophie realized that she'd left a very troublesome loose end dangling in the wind. She needed ins...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 44	Style wise, the new safe house looked incredibly like the last one. From the first scan of the windows, it simply had one more room downstairs. Miller's car wasn't there yet. Jim showed his ID and passed by the undercover at the door. Dan was standing in the kitchen in only pajama pants, which showed off a tattoo of a...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 45	Jim walked home from the diner after the last of the crime scene people had left. He was exhausted. A couple hours' restless sleep on the flight was all he'd had in two days. The heat and humidity of Texas had drained all his energy. If Sophie took Sandy, the possibility of an imminent attack on Dan was high. And it w...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 46	An hour past sunset and it was still hotter than snot, but at least there was a decent little breeze. Perfect for her intentions this evening. Sophie pulled the pack of matches from her homemade attack suit. It looked like a SWAT team Halloween costume with its black cargo pants and a long-sleeved black shirt with ven...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 47	Jim made it through the shower in record time. He was pulling on his pants when the bell rang. His front door. No one used the front door. This time he would have a shirt on. He had a couple clean black T-shirts left in his drawer. That was about all. Not that he cared. She knocked again as he got to the bottom of the...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 48	The little fire finally generated enough heat for the tank to exceed its tolerance levels. The liquid of the propane turned to vapor faster than the release valve could handle it. The explosion was louder than she'd expected. The wave from the blast reached her even behind the boat. It blew the hair from her shoulders ...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 49	"My car's across the street." Agent Webb headed for the door of Jim's apartment. The rage in Jim's gut was back to levels he'd not felt since before his first anger-management class. At first he'd only gone because the court mandated it, but he soon realized the time with the group did him good. Like AA for people wit...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 50	The girl was crying. She was awake enough now to know she wasn't where she wanted to be. It was a pathetic whimper, really. Sophie needed to pee. It was midafternoon and she'd driven for hours without a break. Dan would be rousing soon too. She needed to stop and manage all three. "You ready to stop, baby?" Carla ju...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 51	The meeting room would have been drab under the best circumstances given its tiny putty-gray tables and folding chairs with chipped brown paint. The walls were decorated with a poster reporting some Vegas crime statistics, a picture of a missing kid, and several other memos. All taped to the wall. They reminded Jim of...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 52	MediBridge resided in a midsize building in Bakersfield. The receptionist was cheerful. The decor was a mix of bright orange and teal that gave the visitor the impression that the place was crisp, the business intelligent. Jim leaned over and gave the receptionist his best smile. "Do you have pictures of your employee...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 53	The road twisted up to Breckenridge. Back and forth, winding like a snake with a bellyache. It was summer, so there was no snow to fight, just vacationers in their oversized campers taking up both lanes. Jim supposed it should be a pretty drive, but the circumstances distorted the beauty of the scenery. When she got a...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 54	She would go to the left, he to the right. But the place looked deserted. She didn't look back at him. Her brain was already on her mission. Jim's brain was deciphering what his gut was screaming at him. Would Sophie leave her hostages unattended after so much careful planning?
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 55	Ava moved out. That left him no choice. He turned and headed in his assigned direction, skirting just inside the tree line. The yard was narrower on his side, bringing him closer to the house. Glare from the sun blocked his view inside the tall front windows. A cheerful spring wreath with white birds on it adorned the...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 56	No sound. Jim was deafened. His legs were numb and he couldn't breathe. No way this was good. He tried to breathe, drew in water. In a panic his lungs coughed out the fluid. Jim tried to move his arms. They answered. In an instant his body returned to the normal responses to his mental commands. But his hearing was ...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 57	The cell phone on the dash started talking. A ring tone. The cartoon. Marvin the Martian. "Where's the Kaboom? There should have been an earth-shattering Kaboom." No need to respond. It was an electronic message sent from the device planted under the cabin. She closed her eyes, ignoring the road. The bastards had fou...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 58	A man came running around the back of the house. He was tall, red-headed, and had a dry phone in his hand. He fell to his knees beside Ava. It was clear he was talking. Some sound was drifting through the haze of Jim's hearing. Not enough to understand completely. Call maybe. Others? Jim shook his head no. At least h...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 59	Agents, cops, and firemen were scattered over the lawn like ants. The house had burned hot and fast. His hearing came back in increments. The last guy Jim spoke to figured there was a large amount of accelerant expelled during the explosion. No one there was a bomb specialist, but that much was obvious. He sat beside ...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 60	Jim eased back in his seat. They should be getting close to the small town where they believed Sophie was holed up. Locals had done a drive by and someone was in the house. That's all they were asked to do. The fruity smell of the Tahoe made his stomach turn. He was in the back seat. Maybe this had been a K-9 unit at ...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 61	"Oh my, but you do looked pissed." The waitress had been awake a while. She'd screamed her fool head off for about an hour. Now she was quiet, her red-rimmed eyes hard. Her cheeks flushed with fear that Sophie guessed was quickly turning to anger. She didn't want the child to be resistant; she wanted her crying and pl...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 62	"You stole a baton from a cop?" O shook his head. They made their way past the property at 11103 Southwest Highway. Its driveway led into the dark. No way going in the front door was going to work. They had gone to the next farm road and cut through the woods on foot. O held his gun at the ready. Jim had managed to f...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 63	She chewed her fingernail. Dan was looking at her, his eyes sparkling as if he were amused. She considered slapping him for his smugness. "You know how this ends, don't you, Soph?" If she didn't know better, she'd say his expression had changed to pity. She didn't want his fucking pity. She was in control of this sit...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 64	"Lights went out," O said. "Time to move." Coming from inside, her night vision would be lacking. They'd have a few seconds before it adjusted. "Stay on the gravel path. Less likely to get blown up. She had to leave herself a path out of here." Jim hoped. He went first, running low. Staying in line with the shack so ...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 65	Sophie tried to breath normally, to calm and assess. Dan was too far away for her to manage without dropping the knife. She had the detonator for the explosive, and the charge was large enough to take herself out with it. Maybe that was the way to go. Take them all out. Blaze of glory, really? Stupid girl. Rain start...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 66	Dan staggered, struggling to make his way to his feet with his hands tied. He was still looking at Jim. Jim mouthed, Now. Dan flung himself backward, into the girls. Sandy screamed, probably assuming her death was imminent. Sophie scrambled up, still holding the detonator, and glared down at Dan. If she pushed that b...
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 67	Stupid girl. You should have killed them all. "I couldn't kill Dan."
19 Souls	J. D. Allen	[ "mystery" ]	[ "" ]	Chapter 68	Lynette Hodge died tragically Wednesday the 18th of August. Born in 1928 in Austin, Texas, Lynette received a M.Ed. in Nursing Education from Texas Christian University in 1955. Hers was an entire life spent putting others first, even perishing to protect her son. Lynette was a beautiful individual, a jokester, Fitzge...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	Chapter 1	It wasn't until we met Captain Parker that we were discouraged. Others had told us it couldn't be done, but before it had been easy to rattle off glib answers to their doubting questions. To the ex-Army officer who had had an amphibious jeep sink from under him in a calm bay we had replied, "But ours has a watertight c...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	Chapter 2	A PORTLY man in a shabby green uniform and sporting a thick Stalin mustache greeted us as we drove over the border from Nogales, Arizona, into Mexico. Taking our identification and automobile registration, he led us to a tiny cubicle, where we proceeded to answer the questions of an even portlier man with an even bigge...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	Chapter 3	FOUR years before, in the same town and in much the same way, we had been told the same thing: "You can't drive to Guatemala; the only connection is by rail." We knew now that, in a regular jeep, it could be done. But La Tortuga was a little higher, a little wider, a little longer, and had considerably less road cleara...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	Chapter 4	WITH new mental pictures of the jeep's contents strewn about a customs inspector's office, Helen and I approached the Guatemalan border. We had a few nervous moments while officials eyed with suspicion the many bulges and hollows of La Tortuga's contours, but then, apparently believing that no self-respecting smuggler ...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	Chapter 5	Barely in the Canal Zone, we were just beginning to enjoy the feel of smooth concrete beneath the wheels when we heard the wail of a siren, and a big unsmiling Zone cop pulled us over to the curb. "Ah, civilization," Helen commented. "I wonder who they think we're hiding this time?" The policeman parked his motorcycl...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	Chapter 6	. At a convenient moment I asked Admiral Miles about it, but his eyes just twinkled, and all he would say was, "Oh, that's my what-the-hell pennant." At seven o'clock the party broke up, but the admiral's aide asked us to stay. It was a starry night, and the fragrance of cape jasmine filled the air. While the other gu...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	Chapter 7	The sea was a gray undulating sheet under the overcast sky. There was a light wind, and the jeep rolled with the ground swells. It was several minutes before I got the feel of the controls again. I felt the same thrill, almost of wonderment, at the thought that a half hour before La Tortuga was weaving in and out of tr...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	Chapter 8	Approaching the beach rapidly, we headed for the group of people who had congregated onshore. The hard-packed gravel offered no resistance, and when the wheels took hold the jeep surged right for them. I stepped hard on the brakes. Even though wet they should have slowed us a little, but nothing happened. There was a f...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	Chapter 9	It was just a few yards to the arch and Ecuador, and we were hoping that the welcome sign meant what it said. The difficulty in leaving Colombia had come as a surprise—proof of ownership had been sufficient to take the jeep across the borders of seven countries. We were convinced that the Colombian official had made a ...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	Chapter 10	Argentina was celebrating too—of course. We concluded that either every day's a holiday or that we had an unconscious affinity for festivity. But this was a new twist—the celebration of the elimination of a holiday. Until three weeks before we arrived, for ten years October 17 had been glorified as the day of General J...
20,000 Miles South	Helen Schreider	[ "nonfiction" ]	[ "travel", "South America", "1950s" ]	TRAIL'S END	I'm not sure what I expected to find in Ushuaia, but I knew one thing—for us the streets would seem paved with gold. I didn't expect to find the hearts of the people that way too. And although I was almost sure that a celebration would be in progress for one reason or another I had no idea that we would be the guests o...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 1	Alma woke slowly in a fluffy hotel bed, clutching a pamphlet titled, "Now What?" She looked it over with one eye still shut: "You may be technically dead on Earth, but this virtual world is your home now, and there's plenty of help available so you can adjust. You'll be able to contact people Earthside by e-mail, video...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 2	"You're going by 'Alma' now?" asked Principal Hernandez, peering skeptically through a screen on the hotel room's wall. "Why can't I see you?" Alma reluctantly opened her end of the video channel. For this call she'd asked to get an imitation of her old body, in a shirt and tie. It felt weird, illusory, differently si...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 3	Alma returned to her hotel room across the cavern. On a hunch, she scribbled a note on her desk's notepad: "Ludo, did you secretly set me up with a squirrel cult? What am I supposed to do about it?" She wasn't up for another personal visit, but the AI would probably see the words. Alma entered the bathroom and found l...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 4	Alma sped through her last 'vacation' week in a few days of subjective time. Preparing lesson plans was more important than questing for magic or seeking better housing, so she reluctantly put adventuring aside. Instead she did pretty much what she'd done on Earth: sit in restaurants, reading and writing. Until the ro...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 5	Alma woke up screaming in bed. The blade had chopped into her spine! She rolled over and found her back and tail bloodless and intact. After a minute of sitting there, shuddering and hugging herself, the lingering ache faded and she stood up. The wallscreen said, "DEATH. Alma was lumberjacked by Sawblade. Tip: In most...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 6	Alma waited for a few minutes in a lounge full of dull snacks, then got called back. It was Monday. While she waited for her pod to connect with a robot in the school, Alma made sure she could bring up her lesson plans in her field of vision. Not that she needed the text much; the act of writing an outline was the bes...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 7	That night, or Tuesday or whatever the hell time it was outside, Alma slumped against the bar and smacked her empty milkshake glass down. It didn't break. "Another." Kai was the only real person on duty right now. The dim bar-and-grill had a midnight feel with few customers and with the TVs muted. He backed his long c...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 8	"What's with these coins?" said Alma, breathing hard after a brawl. The bones and rusty weapons of three killer skeletons littered the dungeon floor, and she had some minor wounds that'd heal within hours on their own. She pointed to the treasure chest they'd found. "How does Talespace not get flooded with money if loo...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 9	"Where are we, anyway?" said Alma. They'd used the castle's portal to return to a forest. A trail led from here toward the cave network beneath Ivory Tower's cavern, but she wasn't sure how the geography worked. "On the way here I got a 'you have discovered Midgard' message." Kai trotted ahead. "You talked about playi...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 10	Hours later, she wished she could open that portal to the beach and dive through to escape. The students sat in front of her, fish-eyed, expecting nothing in particular. The school was only using her as a babysitter! The administrators hardly even cared what she supposedly taught. She lectured, "What I'm trying to say...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 11	Alma turned the class over to the machine shop teacher at noon, who'd get them lunch and some skills they might really use. Once she was alone, Alma tried calling up the magic interface from within this view of Earth. Completely empty magic field, of course. Though actually, on closer inspection, some nodes stood out. ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 12	Alma found Meg packing up a booth at the Newcomer Fair. "Meg, are you an evil harpy?" The feather-armed lady grinned. "According to my ex-husband! Why?" "The design on your coins matched some Forces of Evil ones. See, the other night I helped kill Gerard and looted his corpse. That's going to be awkward at our next b...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 13	Meg vanished, leaving Talespace to do Earthside things. Alma stretched, letting her tail flutter, and walked over to greet Poppy. "What do you make of FoE? Meg and Gerard are with them." Poppy, too, looked done selling for the day. She dumped a box of coins into a bag and hefted a backpack over one shoulder. "Are they...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 14	"Africa?" said Alma. She'd assumed the gig was in a closer location, but that was silly. Closer to where, the data center hosting her mind? Travel was only a matter of lightspeed delay now. The Fun Zone looked much as she remembered from the other one, but the families were heavily black. She stood as her squirrelly se...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 15	They slept together that night, though only literally. A not-quite-right Chinese meal and a long talk about magic and show business took Alma's mind off her fears. They cuddled in a mass of tails and blankets inside a treehouse in Poppy's land. "Sometimes it seems like you're not having fun," said Poppy. Alma's feeli...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 16	One evening Alma sat on the bed, twirling a gem-studded token in her fingers. She'd found it while looting an evil crypt. It'd been around a month since she'd uploaded, less than half that in subjective time. Poppy had been teasing her about getting laid. Alma had bedded very few women in her past life as a male human...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 17	They went through a couple of stranger encounters, including breaking in Alma's new squirrelly body and trying something biologically implausible -- and simply sitting and talking, while cuddled together. Some happy hours later the two relaxed, abandoning the well-used bed for two chairs and a table covered with dice, ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 18	After her next day of work, Alma came home and flopped face-first onto her bed. The students had been just bright enough to invent new ways of disrupting the class. She wrote on the desk's notepad. "Ludo: Mind visiting in an hour? I want to ask about housing, and about uploading students like mine." She showered, walk...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 19	Alma kicked in the final door and brandished her staff, but only an office lay ahead. Ludo sat there as a woman in a frumpy dress, saying, "Miss Alma! Good job on your entrance exam. Catch." Alma recognized the thrown bottle as a healing potion, and held her nose to chug it. She coughed and wiped her mouth, saying, "Y...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 20	"Insidious." Alma sat in the university library, looking up from a magic book at the other magic-users who'd gathered to study on one of the balconies. The Library of Babel filled several floors of the Tower with its sweeping, airy crystal walkways, labyrinthine shelves, and alarming lack of safety rails. "What is?" a...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 21	In class, Alma used a computer to try setting up a Thousand Tales account for her students. They would become players, and Ludo's code would compel her to start caring more about them. That wouldn't force anything on any of her fellow citizens. Alma stood in the tent, poking the screen, and nothing happened. The kids ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 22	Brunch at the Hotel Computronium surprised her. Kai showed up in a maitre d' outfit with a white sash around his lower body. He bowed to Alma, Poppy and Gerard as they entered the Viking feast-hall of a buffet room. "Good morning, sir and madames. Would you care to have your entire system of smell and taste replaced be...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 23	She landed on all fours with a click of hooves on stone. Alma grinned and looked herself over. She was a grey cartoon horse with an unusually bushy tail. The angle of her vision seemed wider than usual. She tried walking around and stumbled repeatedly in the entry chamber before reaching a door that towered over her. S...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 24	She landed on all fours in the Ivory Tower area, naked and squirrelly. Her clothes, backpack and hip pack had been neatly stacked on a corner shelf, and the saddlebags were fastened ridiculously around her waist. Alma stood up, wobbled to figure out her balance again, then removed the bags and dressed. Why not bring m...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 25	As she guessed, Hoofland worked on the same time rate as Ivory Tower, around three Earthside hours to one local. Alma waited until what should be evening (not that Ivory Tower's stone sky gave much indication) before heading back to four hooves. She'd timed it well: night fell just as she started down the hillside path...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 26	Alma rented a room at the Mango Inn rather than return to her main home in Ivory Tower. Spending a night as a horse seemed like a learning experience. She carefully climbed a set of broad stairs to a room where her hooves made the boards creak. A bookshelf perched above the simple cushion and blanket-pile of a bed. Al...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 27	Alma, Kai and Poppy met up again with appropriate gear. Alma had her saddlebags over one shoulder plus her money supply. Her Talespace money; the pittance of real, gold-and-silver-backed dollars she'd earned as a teacher was earmarked for uploading of her needy students. The party made for Hoofland's gate. "You go fir...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 28	Alma tapped a wrench against her fuzzy hand, as she watched a bridge across a gorge. Suddenly the mechanical gun turret she'd built beside her shuddered and sparked. "Spy's sapping my sentry!" she called out to her team. A man in a lab coat was trying to sneak away, but she clubbed him unconscious with the wrench and h...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 29	She quit playing after an hour and checked Earthside news on her hotel room's wallscreen. She'd requested a few random headlines each day plus some Free States-centric and science news. One of them read: "Deadly Shooting at Houston, TX Fun Zone." Alma's tail flicked like a flag. She shoved aside Earthside ads like "Sh...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 30	After a long hike, a canoe-riding sequence, and a brawl against a slavering wolf-man wielding a spiked chain, Alma had to lead. Her limited flight made her the best suited to fly up a cliff with a rope in her mouth, finding spots to anchor it for the others to climb in stages. Sometimes Kai did parkour, bouncing from o...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 31	She made it back through the portal to Ivory Tower. She gathered her clothes and turned to see Kai hop through, back in his centaur form. "Sorry," he said. "I should've waited." Though she was nude, she dropped her clothes and hugged him. "No problem. I wonder, does that weather-sense work outside Hoofland?" "I doub...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 32	Alma dreamed of a fire burning the world below her. She was clinging to a tree but it was falling too, while a battle raged between giants and robots. She shifted forms between her old human self, the squirrel body, and thumbless pegasus. Only her winged form could keep her from slipping down the burning tree, falling ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 33	Alma crossed the cavern of Ivory Tower, to the Hoofland portal. It was bright and cheerful as always. She hopped through, and felt her wings unfurl as she landed. The sun shined on a cartoonish magical land of fields and villages where everything was wholesome and it seemed like nothing bad could ever happen. So long ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 34	A rush of wind and a swirl of light, and the two of them were elsewhere. This was still Hoofland, with the same bright colors and cheerful background music, but it was an area Alma hadn't seen before. She looked around, then up. A city made of clouds towered overhead, surrounded by colorful pegasi and waterfalls of mi...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 35	Alma returned to Kai's bar to find it hadn't been ransacked in her absence. One of the griffin knights was just leaving, which helped explain that. It felt strange to shuttle between two legs and four, and to be back in squirrel form without her wings. She apologized to Kai for running off, and told him everything. Ka...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 36	Alma returned to Hoofland and bought the three most popular novels written by the locals. One was a standard fantasy adventure except that everyone had hooves, with no humans mentioned. The second was a family saga about a civilization in the sky, trading with the ground but never part of it until a fateful battle and ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 37	After class the next morning, Principal Hernandez brought her to his office. He looked uneasy to see Alma there, as though the robot she wore would explode. "I did it," he said. "I proposed uploading the Basic students, to the school board. And then the next damn day, there was that bombing. Now I look like a fool." He...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 38	The portal to Endless Isles took the form of a pond in a crystal forest. Alma dived into it and with a confusing flip of gravity, came up from the surface of a hot spring in another world. You have discovered Endless Isles: the Sea of Mystery! She smiled, then climbed to the grass and looked around. Water dripped fro...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 39	Before long, she made her first foray out from the central isle, to East-1. That part was easy; she just had to cross a bridge and help some other travelers beat up a tribe of sea kobolds and a killer carp. At the island's center stood a glowing swirl of runes, where Phoenix and two other kids were materializing. Each ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 40	─ Alma ─ PRIVATE INFO ─ Account type: Uploader ─ Mind: Tier-III ─ Body: Squirrel, Anthro ("Velesian") ─ Main Skills: Magic, Sling, Climbing, Enchanting, Teaching ─ Talents: Wand Crafter ─ Magic, Shamanic: (Level I) Connection, World, Stone. (Level II) Velocity. ─ Save Point: Cloudtail Grotto ─ PUBLIC INFO ─ N...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 41	She took the journey through Endless Isles one step at a time. Once she reached each major checkpoint and stuck a personal flag there (crafted on a magic loom she had to fight her way to), she could come and go from the Isles at that point. Her sea voyages were a kind of peaceful conquest, marking where she'd been and ...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 42	Cloudtail Grotto, in Midgard, was a grey canyon overgrown with massive trees. Rope bridges crisscrossed the river below and treehouses studded the inside and outside of the trunks. A party of traditional fantasy adventurers (human, dwarf, elf) had paused to marvel at the village of the squirrelfolk, who were happy to b...
2040 Reconnection	Kris Schnee	[ "fantasy" ]	[ "virtual reality", "Thousand" ]	Chapter 43	She taught Earthside and helped invent an innovative new way to do that through multiple screens and AI assistants. She checked up on Stobor as his family prepared him for uploading, and traded congratulations with Hernandez on moving the AFS toward acceptance of uploading and all that it'd do for the country. She foug...

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