My Book Hook today is excerpted from Free Fall: Escape from Xanadu, my recently released FF scifi romance novella. A book set in space seemed particularly appropriate, given the recent launch of the Artemis Moon mission.
Also, this book is currently on sale at all outlets for only 99 cents (compared to the normal price of $3.99). Grab your discounted copy while you can – the price goes up on Monday the 13th.
Blurb
Welcome to Xanadu. For its elite customers, a space-based paradise of pleasure. For the slaves who work there, hell orbiting Earth.
Innocent and inexperienced, Mariel Linderman sells herself to Xanadu to rescue her farming family from starvation. Streetwise Rain Delgado accepts assignment as a Pleasure Rep in lieu of a prison sentence for murder. In a world that strictly prohibits same-sex relations, the passion that flares between them brings terrible risks. Their unexpected heart-and-soul connection turns their already precarious existence into a clandestine struggle for survival.
The Hook
“Pick up the pace now, Mariel! You’re in the home stretch! Just five more minutes!”
The perky artificial voice annoys her, but she can’t turn it off. The stationary bike with its fancy VR visuals reads her vital signs from her wristband in real time, supposedly adapting the instructions and resistance to provide a personalized workout. Most of the time it works okay, though a glitch last week had her racing at peak speed up a thirty degree slope during what should have been her cool down.
Mariel doesn’t really mind the scheduled exercise regimen required of all Pleasure Reps—she knows how low gravity affects muscle mass and bone density—but she’d rather not pass out from oxygen deprivation.
Still, like everyone in her generation, Mariel is used to the buggy tech created by AI. A small price to pay for our lightning progress, according to Enbro.
The billionaire genius, de facto ruler of America and much of the Third World, appears now on the eye-level holographic screen to deliver his daily ten-minute broadcast. The exercise machine overrides the soundtrack, but based on the captions the briefing is his usual combination of lecture, sermon and advertisement. He mingles news about technological breakthroughs with pleas for people to be patient with all the shortages. The background shows images of smiling inhabitants from Sirenum colony. The Mars bounty today is up to two and a half million.
The bike slows to a stop. Mariel perches on the seat, breathing heavily. “Don’t forget to hydrate,” the nagging digital coach concludes, before Enbro’s smooth, persuasive voice replaces it in her ears.
He’s winding up his pitch. “We’re entering a new era for humanity,” he asserts, gazing directly into the camera with disarming earnestness. “We’ve conquered the moon and Mars. The Cronus mission lifts off next January. After Saturn—well, nothing is going to keep us from the stars.” There’s a dramatic pause. “I hope you’ll join me on this adventure.”
The display winks out of existence. Mariel sighs, dismounts from the bike and exits the gym’s equipment room, peeling off her clothing as she goes. She doesn’t need to be at The Secret Garden until 1500 today. There should be enough time to back to the dorm and take a nap before starting work. She sleeps whenever she can now, a temporary escape from her life.
If she can sleep, maybe she’ll dream of Rain.
On the other hand, maybe…
She pulls open the cleaning chute but pauses before tossing in her sweat-soaked garments. Steel hinges connect the door to the inner wall of the chute. Trying to act casual, she runs her fingertip over the one on the left. Her heart leaps when she detects a scrap of paper wedged into the mechanism. Interposing her body between the chute and the video camera mounted near the ceiling, she extracts and palms the fragment, then deposits her bra and shorts into the aperture. Naked, she heads for the shower room, toes open a stall and closes the translucent door behind her. Only then does she dare unfold the scrap.
The writing is precise and tiny, barely readable. “Lunch? 1300 Level 6 Caf”
Sudden yearning swamps her. It has been less than two days since she last saw Rain, but it feels like weeks. She holds the paper under the lukewarm spray until it dissolves into pulp and swirls down the drain.
Find all the buy links at https://www.lisabetsarai.com/freefallbook.html
Be sure to visit the other authors participating in today’s Book Hooks hop!
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