by Nathaniel Koszer
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GENRE: Sci-Fi biotech
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BLURB:
After decades of hiding, she meets Naren, another superpowered survivor who has infiltrated the ranks of the military. Together, they form a plan to unite with other surviving LO-ECs, claim vengeance against the forces who murdered their families, and ultimately stoke a worldwide rebellion against the government that wanted them dead.
The entirety of 26th-century Earth’s armed forces stand in their way: Soldiers equipped with terrifying weaponry, armies with electromagnetic cannons, merciless bloodthirsty androids, and Spidre, the World Leader with unnatural abilities of his own. The world brought Sera and the other LO-ECs pain and loss, and they’re determined to return it in kind.
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EXCERPT
In the basement of a skyscraper hundreds of stories high, a constant shaking and groaning accompanied the cacophony of breaking glass and falling bricks from the street above. A man and a woman had spent the night here, fearing those sounds meant their building was on the verge of collapse. Finally, the sun rose and the sounds gave way to stillness. The death of the noises gave life to new fears, in that now the man and woman had to take action.
“Are there any sort of supplies on the cycles?” the man asked. He was bleary-eyed, his face was flush, and even the simple task of standing up seemed to be a struggle.
“I doubt it,” the woman replied, her expression as beleaguered as his. “And you’re sure there was nothing in these boxes?” she continued, glancing around the small storage room.
The man shook his head. “Just lots of cleaning supplies. And we can’t risk going back upstairs,” he replied. “I can’t even hear the big one lumbering around, that has to mean they’re searching another building. We need to move now. We’ll worry about supplies after we get out of New Orleans, and after it feels safe.”
The woman nodded and walked over to one smaller pile of boxes. She pulled them away and the room lit up in an orange glow. The boxes had been covering a young girl, no more than six years old, whose skin had trails of orange light swirling across her arms, legs, and face.
“We need to
leave, sweetie. We’re going to find our cycles in the garage, Ok?”
The little girl nodded.
“Do you remember that woman? Alison?” she asked the girl. “Do you remember where she and her friends live?”
The little girl nodded slowly, while the man’s face furrowed with scepticism.
“If anything happens to us, you go straight to her. Do you understand?”
“She can’t go to them!” the man exclaimed in an elevated whisper. “They’re a bunch of fanatics!”
“They are, but they will keep her safe!” the woman responded
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Latency virtual book tour
About a
year ago, a journey down the YouTube rabbit hole led me to a channel called
Green Mountain Metal Detecting. As the name would suggest, the channel follows
the adventures of a metal detectorist named Brad as he explores the Green Mountains
in Vermont. Brad’s calming voice and gorgeous B-role footage made the videos
very soothing, but at the same time it was very exciting when he found
something unique or historical. Little did I know, watching that calm but interesting
video one year ago, that it would lead me to one of the craziest days of my
life.
I found a
metal detector on sale at half price about a month ago, and jumped at the
chance to finally get into the hobby myself without making my wallet suffer. I
got my metal detecting permit from NYC’s Parks Department, and started
exploring the parks around my neighborhood. I found some interesting the
things, the coolest of which is the mercury dime pictured below. It was minted
in 1939. Back then dimes were made of 90% silver, so this dime is now worth
almost $3!
Today for this blog post, I thought
I’d go out to a new area and take you through the journey as I found things. I
thought that at best, I could end the post with another silver coin and that
would be epic. Let’s just say my expectations were shattered.
I had heard that there were ruins
of an old house in one part of the park, so I detected as I made my way there.
It was on that first leg of the walk that I found these:
On the left is a paint scraper, and
on the right is, according to Google, the tines of a rotary cultivator (the
spiky parts spin). Having never seen a rotary cultivator in my life I thought
it was a cool find, but it’s apparently modern, probably dropped by the Parks
Department at some point recently.
The next find was much closer to
the old house, and much older, but not particularly interesting:
At last I finally made it to the
house! Or at least what’s left of it:
My first find at the house was the
least exciting yet, a very muddy piece of unidentifiable iron (the black thing
is the plastic trowel I use to dig):
I detected right next to the wall
and got another hit! This one was, yellow…and buried under too much other stuff
to actually pull out of the ground.
I climbed up above the ruins, to a
spot that looked like would have been just outside the house when it was still
standing, I immediately got a hit, but what is it?
From the pom-pom on top I
eventually realized I was looking at a winter hat, one that had been decomposing
for quite a while. I moved the hat away, thinking the metal object was buried
somewhere under it, but was shocked when it was the hat itself that was making
the detector go off! I picked up the hat by the pom-pom and this came tumbling
out (Warning – the next photo is of a firearm):
(Warning – the next photo is of a firearm):
(Warning – the next photo is of a firearm):
I am not a gun owner, and it is
historically very difficult to legally own a handgun in New York City, so
needless to say I was floored when this thing was sitting at my feet. After a
few “Holy shit holy shit holy shit” in a row, I did what I’m pretty sure anyone
else in my situation would do; I looked to see if anyone else was around (there
wasn’t), thought about keeping the gun, then realized that was a stupid fucking
idea and called the police. If it was wrapped in a winter hat and hidden behind
an old wall, it was done intentionally, and whoever put it there probably
didn’t use it with good intentions.
The police came and confirmed that
it was a Glock something (I didn’t catch the number they said), and that it was
reported stolen in another precinct in 2017! My half-price metal detector broke
open a seven-freaking-year-old cold case! Here is a photo of the cop as he ID’d
the gun, which you can see still sitting upside down near his feet.
Given the nature of the revelation
(if a gun was stolen and then hidden, it was almost certainly involved in a
violent crime in between), the police asked me to come to the precinct to give
a statement to their detectives, and I obliged. I took my very first ride in
the back of a police car and then waited for a few minutes while staring at
this lovely view:
Eventually I was brought upstairs to talk with the detective, and that conversation lasted all of about ninety seconds because I’m literally just a novice metal detectorist who stumbled on a find many in the hobby will never experience in their whole lives. I did wind up getting a cool souvenir out of the ordeal though, an NYPD Detective Squad business card:
So that’s how a mild-mannered
youtuber I watched one year ago led to an absolutely bonkers day today. In case
you are wondering, I do still plan to continue metal detecting, I’ll just stay
away from deteriorating winter hats for a while.
Check out Green Mountain Metal
Detecting (at your own risk) at this link: https://www.youtube.com/@GMMD
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
https://bsky.app/profile/natejklol.bsky.social
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Nathaniel Koszer will award a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.
6 Comments
Thank you so much for hosting today.
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcomed.
DeleteThis sounds like a good book. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading this. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you Michael.
DeleteSounds interesting.
ReplyDelete