The Continuum
By
Wendy Nikel
170
pages
Science Fiction and Time Travel
Blurb:
Elise Morley is an expert on the past
who's about to get a crash course in the future.
For years, Elise has been donning corsets,
sneaking into castles, and lying through her teeth to enforce the Place in Time
Travel Agency's ten essential rules of time travel. Someone has to ensure that
travel to the past isn't abused, and most days she welcomes the challenge of
tracking down and retrieving clients who have run into trouble on their
historical vacations.
But when a dangerous secret organization kidnaps her and coerces her into jumping to the future on a high-stakes assignment, she's got more to worry about than just the timespace
continuum. For the first time ever, she's
the one out-of-date, out of place, and quickly running out of time.
“Nikel is a solid writer with
vivid description, an imaginative future, and a command of accurate historical
speech.”
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Excerpt:
“The spinning slows.
Suddenly, everything stops.
My legs flail, searching for
solid ground, until I plunge abruptly into dank, smelly water. I gasp, and my
mouth fills with brine. I'm being dragged in one direction, but instinct pulls
me the opposite way. I kick against my heavy skirts and break the surface. For
one dizzying moment I'm utterly confused. The concrete slabs of the nearby
docks sharpen my fuzzy memory.
1912.
Southampton.
The Titanic.
I Extracted while on the
gangplank—a gangplank that doesn't exist in 2012. This is exactly why our
travelers are encouraged to use pre-approved Extraction locations. The Wormhole
dumps travelers at the same place they've left from, which can make for some
awkward (or dangerous) entrances.
Across the way, Marie does a
frantic doggie-paddle towards the steel rungs leading up to the dock. With
labored strokes, I swim after her, clutching the sphere in one hand. When I
reach her, she's still clinging to the bottom rung, too exhausted to climb to
safety.
"Hang on." I slip my
Wormhole Device into my handbag and pull my dripping body up to the dock. Water
streams out around me, forming a dark puddle on the concrete. The evening sun,
balancing on the very edge of the horizon, casts an eerie glow on the water.
"Okay. Come on up—"
My encouragement is drowned out
by the sound of retching. Lovely.
I clench my jaw to stop my teeth
from rattling and focus on retaining my professionalism—not easy, considering
the mucked-up circumstances.
Finally, Marie starts up the
ladder, ascending tentatively, with gasping breaths. When she's close enough to
grab my forearms, I pull her up with much grunting and tugging. Her eyes widen
as she takes in the industrial warehouses, giant cranes, and sprawling parking
lots that seem to have appeared instantaneously.
"What have you done?"
Her voice rises in pitch with each word.”
Author
Bio:
Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author with a degree in elementary education,
a fondness for road trips, and a terrible habit of forgetting where she's left
her cup of tea. Her short fiction has been published by Fantastic
Stories of the Imagination, Daily Science Fiction, Nature:
Futures, and various other anthologies and e-zines.
For more info,
visit wendynikel.com or subscribe to her newsletter here!
Social
Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wendynikel/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WendyNikel
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