Excerpt from the new book release by Victoria Buck.
Life underground mystified the man who used to own the world.
Chase leaned against a white partition in the bunker constructed under an
abandoned museum. Getting here had consumed his thoughts. Even his dreams.
He scanned the sixty-foot-wide room that used to be nothing
more than a cavernous hole. Computers and holographic displays filled the space
now, along with a group of people all intent on giving God credit for
this techno-cave. Odd.
Maybe there was a higher power behind it. Something
had pressed Chase, caused him to give up everything. Urged him to seek refuge
in this strange world.
Or maybe it was just his coding, since he’d gotten blown
apart and reassembled—turned into a transhuman.
Whether Providence or programming, he’d made it. Now he’d do
what he came to do: connect these people with others like them around the
world. Protect them. Keep them a step ahead of government forces bearing down
on them. But somebody had better tell him what all this was about. Why the
believers held to their faith. His other reason for coming—to find the truth.
But here? Was every branch of the Underground Church
literally underground?
The
middle of the busy command center housed ten computer stations, three to four
feet apart. Old-fashioned bulbs hung from the white drop ceiling. In the
thirty-eight hours since his arrival, he’d become acquainted with the massive
network of information and communication programs. The exoself—the computer
built into his very being—now seemed at one with the systems Mel had
constructed. No wonder, she’d designed him too. At least in part.
She
lifted her deep brown eyes and gave him a reassuring smile, then she motioned
toward the door to his right. He returned the smile and nodded. Almost time for
the meeting.
Melody Reese—the third reason he didn’t stop looking until he
found this place. He watched her move across the room. Maybe seeing her again
had been at the forefront of his reasoning.
*~*~*~*
Victoria Buck is a Central Florida native. Wake the Dead is her
debut novel. Killswitch is the follow-up to book one. Transfusion releases soon
to finish the trilogy about the world's first transhuman. Victoria clings to
the gospel, serves in the local church, relishes time spent writing, and
curiously contemplates the future.
