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NaNoWriMo: Day 4

I’m pretty groggy tonight (so hopefully I’ll sleep well–no espresso after 6:30 PM!) – and I managed to confuse myself on which backup file I was using, so hopefully I got my numbers all straightened out!  It’s hard enough keeping one story straight, let alone two.

Wonderful breakthroughs today.  The scene that was giving me fits in Victor was finally resolved.  Whew, intense, emotional, and totally worth the slower grind the last few days.  Over 2K for Victor, and then I switched to Deathright and discovered some really cool things there, too.  For one thing, Captain Zang’s theme song is now My Immortal by Evanescence.  Love that song, but I’ve never had the *perfect* character for it–until now.

Great day but my wrists are killing me.  I even managed to get a walk in with the monsters tonight!

Today: 3,925

Deathright: 10,098

Victor: 36,499

NaNoWriMo total: 12,186

Snippet:  Continuing the section in Deathright:

At last, they reached Wheel A of the docking stations.  Two other circular stations hovered above, high in the atmosphere and connected by a steel and glass tube of elevators and plazas.  Large enough to moor a deep-space vessel, Wheel C was reserved for the Imperial shipments from Britannia.  Wheel B was less grand but more heavily populated, harboring countless vessels from all over the galaxy.  To encourage trade, a large shopping mall awaited just off the docking ports where one could buy the latest technological wonder or sell a “specimen” to research.

To avoid the wretched sight of caged and chained peoples from all over the galaxy who would soon be parted from their DNA, he’d docked less than an hour ago in Wheel A.  With the General’s offices—and hundreds of armed mechs—mere moments away, most ships avoided A despite its easier access.  He’d planned to stay only long enough to pick up his next orders, but Lady Araknae must have been waiting for him.

Why me, he wondered, recalling her taste fluttering on the back of his tongue.  Her desperation had been as real as her fear and mistrust. 

A white-haired man in a formal MIGS uniform bearing a single golden star on his shoulders waited outside the Skog with a traveling trunk and a small silver box.

Lady Araknae hugged the man, who whispered in her ear—but not low enough to escape Zang’s acute hearing.  “Are you sure, Daughter?”

“Yes,” she replied, squeezing him.  “We won’t get another chance.”

The man straightened and turned his narrowed gaze on Zang.  “Can we trust him?”

“We must,” she said simply. 

Zang whistled and Grubber stuck his head out of the hold.  “Take this cargo to my suite.”  Lady Araknae bristled, until he smiled in a frightful display of sharpened fangs.  “We have yet to discuss the price, my lady.”

Grubber reached for the shiny box first, but Lady Araknae scooped it up.  “Father?”

“The funds were transferred to the MIGS office as soon as you notified me where to bring your trunks,” the man replied.  “You hold the indenture for the Skog in the palm of your hand.”

And my very life.  Zang watched their farewell silently.  Her father wept openly as though he never expected to see his daughter again.

“Where are you going?” 

“It’s better if you don’t know.  We must leave now, Father, before someone notices the disruption in that particular examination room.  Destroy every single trace of our research.”

“It’s already done.”

As he led the way onto his ship, however, Zang couldn’t help but wonder exactly what was hidden in that silver box gripped so protectively in Lady Araknae’s arms. 

 

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