by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Nexus Nine. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, or skip ahead to the next chapter.
The deck they’d come to was wide and open, as large around as several city blocks and two stories high, with arching windows around the perimeter and even more windows worked into the floors, all looking out at the stars or the planet Avia below.
An expansive stretch of lacy white clouds shrouded the turquoise and jade crescent of the world currently in daylight. The wholesome brightness of the planet in its gemstone shades of green, blue, and pearly white only made the esplanade itself look shabbier. Outside the windows was natural wonder, large enough to spend lifetimes exploring; inside was a cramped, dingy space. Scorch marks seared across the window frames and marred some of the windows. Rubble was strewn about, including broken pieces of the esplanade itself — stairwells and walkways that should have provided a second level, wrought of some dark metal, had twisted and crashed to the floor. Continue reading “Nexus Nine – Chapter 2: The Esplanade”
