Release date: July 19, 2018
Subgenre: Metaphysical, YA Science Fiction
About Two Moons - Memories from a World with One:
A boy remembers the woman he was.
She was a brilliant scientist on a different planet, living a life of misery.
Jay Shipman is now a good student in a small town under a sky with two moons. Jay, his family, his friends, and everyone on his planet are much like us. Actually, at one time they were us—each has vivid memories of their first life back on Earth.
Memories from a previous life can be enlightening and empowering. They can be the foundation of a successful second life. They can help develop the world.
For Jay, though, memories from the woman he was on Earth are downright dangerous.
Grab yourself a second life!
She was a brilliant scientist on a different planet, living a life of misery.
Jay Shipman is now a good student in a small town under a sky with two moons. Jay, his family, his friends, and everyone on his planet are much like us. Actually, at one time they were us—each has vivid memories of their first life back on Earth.
Memories from a previous life can be enlightening and empowering. They can be the foundation of a successful second life. They can help develop the world.
For Jay, though, memories from the woman he was on Earth are downright dangerous.
Grab yourself a second life!
Excerpt:
The
senior scientist stood and acknowledged the somber people sitting around the
enormous conference table this evening. At the head were three government ministers
in elegant uniforms, while the rest were downcast, lab-coated scientists from a
variety of disciplines. The senior scientist cleared her throat and began.
“I
am honored to report that my department continues to make great progress for
the people. The biological deployment system we have been developing is well on
its way to completion. We are close to having the means to initiate an outbreak
from a single radio-controlled device while leaving no trace behind. Since it
is still possible for a subject to remain mobile long enough to transfer the
agent beyond the kill radius, I have directed my laboratories to focus on
innovations that will ensure death occurs much more quickly and certainly.”
A
buzzing phone caused the medal-bedecked chairman to scowl, then he glanced down
and noticed it was his own. He halted the senior scientist and ordered a
recess. Everyone rose from their chairs, the government ministers filed out,
and the scientists moved as far from the hated conference table as the armed
guards would allow. The senior scientist, still trembling from delivering her
interrupted report, walked from one scientist to the other, speaking briefly of
the consuming problems each faced in their own discipline. Nano-scale
electronic triggering. Evaporating container materials. Airflow. Respiration.
Infection. Contagion.
She
hardly registered anything they said because her thoughts were on neither the
meeting nor the project, but on her own life—and even more on the lives of her
abusive husband and her only remaining joy, her beautiful daughter. Despite her
report to the generals, she knew the prospects for this project were bleak,
likely impossible. Still, the weapon was crucial to the Supreme Leader’s plans.
Failure would be considered treason for a woman who had risen too fast and too
far. No doubt the executioner’s reach would extend even to family.
The
senior scientist separated herself from the others and walked to massive doors
that opened onto a terrace overlooking the capital city far below. Yes, there
was only one way to avoid failure. Only one way to save her daughter. She
opened the doors and stepped out, even as a guard shouted for her to halt. As
she leaped from the terrace railing, the last thing on Earth that caught her
attention was the beautiful full moon rising in the eastern sky.
* * *
Jay Shipman woke screaming,
sitting up in bed trembling.
Within seconds, his mother turned
on the light. “Are you OK?”
OK? He was just glad he hadn’t wet
the bed. “Yeah, but I never had a nightmare like that before. I was terrified
that this big project would fail, and when it did, the government would wipe
out my family. I could see only one way to save them: I had to kill myself
first. So I jumped off the building. I don’t remember falling, just seeing a
huge moon as I went over the edge.”
“Oh, honey,” Jay’s mom said. “I’m
so sorry you’re having memories like these. When I was your age, I remembered
experiencing every detail of killing and being killed. I’d wake up and cry for
hours.”
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About R.E. Johnston:
RE Johnston has degrees in physics and management. He spent his
first career writing software, making things, and travelling to
out-of-the-way places. Now he’s off on a second career—writing
speculative fiction for young adults.
He lives in Texas with his wife, Valerie. His daughter and son-in-law are out and about doing scientific stuff.
He lives in Texas with his wife, Valerie. His daughter and son-in-law are out and about doing scientific stuff.
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