a bit from the book
Still working on 7Red. As a teaser, here’s a bit from near the beginning, and a picture of my main POV character, Gemma!
Gemma
art by Tanya Hayward
Gemma sat cross-legged on the floor of the cabin she shared with Qati, the rig haloing her face and pressing against her forehead, data flowing in soap-bubble films and elegant looping lines between the thin filaments of the rig’s arms. Her hair made a tightly curled cap under the filament arms. She adjusted arms, patched in new chips and power transits, removed bits and pieces she didn’t need.
The way her hands moved was fascinating; they darted here and there, as if moving all on their own. She wore the sleeve that had given her so much trouble at first on her right arm, a gauntlet on her left, a band wrapped around her middle with more links pressed against her spine.
(Fuck Kemat anyway. Qati was half-sure she’d done that on purpose—it was Kemat’s habit to test new acquaintances as she would a wall, to find out what they were made out of.)
Gemma parted the rig arms over her temple and slipped a new chip into an empty spot. The grin that lit her face then was so open and so brilliant that Qati’s stomach flipped over a little. And what am I doing, anyway? She’s a colleague, not a client.
“You look happy,” she said to Gemma.
She looked up at Qati, and the arms between her eyes and Qati’s face moved out of the way so she could see her. The rig looked like a sea anemone unfurling to show her face. “I am.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a real smile on your face before. It’s nice. Are you going to be ready to go? Wheels down in two hours.”
“Mmmm.” Gemma cocked her head, her fingers searching through one of the containers before her. “Nintey-two percent probability that I will be. Are you all right?”
Qati started, then blinked. Her stomach did that thing again, and she told it to stop being stupid. “Why do you ask?”
