Lane Carter was a cargo bay drone pilot scraping by and spending all his...rather her time in the Virtual Reality game created by the Zenith Company. He was a playtester on their first serious fantasy setting on the neural link head set and now steps into playtesting their new full body pods and Vala their account became something more and more.

Command track, private bunks for each of us and it’s literally us walking in through this archway and we see not cots but like these crafted cubicles that are open with no roof to them but like a four foot privacy wall and there are other cadets there hanging out.
Well hanging out or waiting.
There’s more people watching, even coming over to watch as we’re getting assigned and taking our bunks by the numbers.
I hear them say hushedly. “The Apollo.”
And I can feel eyes on me.
Not just us but on me.
And people whispering. “It’s her.”
Oh dammit.
People know who I am?

Misplaced anger, miscommunication. Bad combination.

Autumn’s story had started a chain reaction. Pretty soon everyone in the room was taking turns talking about what had led them into becoming the women they now were. Not everyone spoke about it, so far two women had declined, but most of them did. And as they did, Natalie’s suspicions were slowly but surely confirmed. They had all been men in a past life, and each had varying levels of remembrance of it.

When they returned, Jada was a cyclopean llama-taur and Steph was an octopus-taur. She was riding on Jada’s back, having apparently gotten tuckered out on the way back — she was surprisingly fast on her tentacles, but they’d tired after walking a third of the way across campus.

Chapter 1

It was lunchtime Friday, and I was having a ploughman’s lunch at the Fountains Coffee Shop and Restaurant. It was my favourite eating place, just a few steps along Wormgate from my office. It hadn’t been a busy week, something I didn’t mind. I really didn’t have to work too hard to earn enough to live on, my police pension helping a lot.

Slave to Beauty
A vignette from some images found
By Maryanne Peters

I was brought up in a beautiful home. My mother called herself “A Slave to Beauty” as if that could explain everything that she did to me – or perhaps excuse it. It was like saying that she had no choice, but surely that was mine.

When Matt said That's the protocol, it reminded me of something my grandfather told me
about his time in the Army: "The most important thing you can learn in the Army
is that there's a right way, a wrong way, and the Army way."

"How do you know which way is the Army way?" I asked him.

"It's in the manual," he replied.

The Show Place Arena, Prince George's County, Maryland:
“This song is for all you cowgirls out there.” Angela gives Cassady a head nod.

Her daddy gave her first pony
Then told her to ride
She climbed high in that saddle
Feel I don't know how many times
He taught her a lesson that she learned
Maybe a little too well
Cowgirls don't cry

Jo faces up to the future and comes clean to her employers. How it will all turn out is still unclear.

Stepping into combat class, I saw that everyone was lined up by the protection medals. Ameth was crouched on the table watching everyone like a hawk. Getting in line behind Naomi, I asked, “What's going on?”

“No idea,” she said. “I just got in line with everyone else.”

We moved quickly and soon enough it was our turn. “Sign your names for a medal,” the cat girl said.