This week marked my fourth wedding anniversary. I married my husband on St. Patrick’s Day in 2018, which happened to be a Saturday that year. We had already moved in together a few years earlier, so the day itself did not change anything about our relationship. It was, however, a fantastic reason to throw a party with friends and family together.
Our dragon cake toppers and a couple of the dice!
In keeping with our personalities, the event was super nerdy. Our guest gifts were d10s with our initials and d20-shaped coasters. We topped our cake with two dragons in the colors we wore, and instead of a photo booth, we hired a caricature artist for the evening.
Our caricature was placed on the welcome table. Artist: Zach Bagley
Hidden Series Progress
I currently estimate myself behind on editing Hidden Sanctuary by about a week. This is based on my schedule of trying to release the paperback simultaneously with the ebook. The paperback versions require more up-front work with formatting and test prints. While the ebook schedule is well on-track, the paperback might be out a week or two later. I would rather push the release out than rush the editing process. This is a primary reason only the ebook is available for preorder.
My beta readers should receive it in early- to mid-April and then my editor in June. I’m starting to line up their time for those slots, pinning the schedule down as I progress through the alpha feedback. Once I post this blog, working through those revisions and edits will be the remainder of my day.
This week I sent the rough sketch and description of the cover to my artist for the series. He is doing research, and I hope to share the cover reveal with my newsletter subscribers early in the April newsletter (so don’t forget to sign up!). The rest of the world will see it sometime after, as I update it on Amazon and social media.
For today’s final note, I’m celebrating Hidden Memoryreceiving the tenth rating on Amazon! Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a rating or review. Your support means so much to me.
If you have not yet purchased the first book in the series, you can find it in digital and paperback formats on Amazon. For those who have already read Hidden Memory, you can still go into your orders in your account to leave a review. I hope everyone enjoys these characters and this world as much as I do!
Welcome back to my sci-fi short story! If this is your first time visiting, I recommend starting with part 1. You can find all of these posts on the Dream Journal page.
The story continues…
My search for corresponding time stamps in the system logs came up empty. Not only “empty,” but telling in the absence of ANY findings. The problem I now faced was that I had no idea what the missing data might be telling me.
When looking for a simultaneous trigger for the light turning on and the door unlocking, there were zero corresponding occurrences. In the sixty seconds before and after, no one from my unit, on any floor, in any section, passed by a sensor.
“If no initiating signal was sent, then why was one received?” I asked myself as I headed back to the malfunctioning-light room.
My heart kicked up a notch as I entered the hall in which I first saw the light and mysteriously cracked door. This time, I saw no light, and the door remained locked until I reached the appropriate distance to trigger the automation.
Despite the perfect system response, the click of the lock made me jump. I muttered under my breath about fools and movies.
Taking a bolstering breath, I stepped into the room with my toolkit and got to work dismantling the two problem areas, starting with the door lock. I tested circuits and traced connections back to the motion sensors. I was hoping—and not hoping—to find a faulty piece somewhere along the line.
Finding it would provide an answer, a specific issue to explore further. Unfortunately, with the breadth of the documented problems, faulty hardware would mean a quality issue of disastrous proportions. The entire ship would be deemed unsafe, and the initial flight would be delayed until a complete retrofit could be executed, perhaps even indefinitely.
As much as I wanted to find the cause of the glitches, I didn’t want it to be a pervasive hardware issue. This ship, this mission, was the foundation upon which my dreams were built. I grew up watching the idea become a reality. Without Inspiration, I’m not sure what I would be doing with my life now.
I traced the lines, hoping as I did so I would find nothing.
The door came back clean, then the light. Sitting in the center of dismantled panels and electrical parts, I breathed a sigh of relief before realizing I found myself back at square one. My head tilted back, knocking against the wall.
I made a mess and still found nothing!
“Bitsa,” came a voice over the coms, “Isis here. Flash asked me to set up the watch-bot you requested.”
When I explained my theories to Flash, I asked if he could arrange for a programmed bot to watch for any additional instances of “incoming calls without a corresponding “outgoing call.”
“Hey, Isis,” I said. “Thanks for setting that up. Would you let me know if you get any hits?”
“Yeah,” she said, drawing out the word, “that’s why I’m calling. Your bot just pinged.”
I bolted upright. “What’s going on?”
“You caught a big one. Every docking-bay door just received orders to seal and lock.”
“All of them?” I asked, sitting forward to grab hold of my datapad and see for myself.
“Every single one,” Isis verified. “I’ve confirmed no orders were issued to the bay doors.”
“Can you countermand the orders?” After a brief pause, her voice came back on sounding concerned, “Negative. Controls are locked to the core. Bitsa, I’m bringing in Flash and Tryss.”
As Isis brought our leaders up to speed, I dug into the orders received by the doors. They were simultaneous and all contained the same order code.
I felt light-headed when the details on the code came through, the blood draining until my face felt numb. Before I could say anything, Isis cut through again.
“We have a second ping on the watch-bot,” she said. “Inertial dampeners are initiating centralized gravity.”
I dropped the datapad, levered myself up, and took off running.
“All hands, “Tryss said over a universal comm channel, “brace for gravity shift.”
“Tryss,” I shouted as I ran, “you need to get to central command! Now!”
“On my way,” she replied, then followed it with, “Bitsa, explain.”
“The orders have a common command code this time, “I said, not yet winded. “It’s for the sequence to initiate the interstellar drive!”
Tryss swore, using words of which my mother would not approve, but I understood the sentiment.
“HUD shows me fifteen minutes out from central command,” Tryss reported, then I heard her mutter, “Why is this ship so big?”
“Isis said reversal commands unresponsive,” I noted.
“I heard,” she said before addressing another member of our unit. “Carnival, you’re our drive expert. How long do I have?”
“Not long enough,” came Carnival’s voice, full of resignation. “Once confirmed, the whole sequence takes ten minutes, and we’re already almost three into it.”
“How did this get initiated in the first place?” asked Flash.
I took a corner too fast and bounced painfully off the wall, stumbling back into a sprint. Get to the stairs, ten floors, then another half mile, through a coded door, across the room to a control console to enter the code. In seven minutes?
One of us could probably cover the distance flat out, but stairs and doors would slow us. We still needed to try. Tryss could give someone the code if they made it.
“It shouldn’t be possible,” Carnival answered Flash. “Initiating the sequence has the same restrictions as shutting it down. I’m looking at the footage, and there is no one there to enter a command code.” A pause, “Interstellar core is powering up.”
“Interstellar core is powering up.”
“Block Head here,” another member cheeked in. “Ground Control cannot override. They are working to reestablish control.”
“I’m trying to hack it from here too,” Flash called out. “No luck yet.”
“Seven minutes out,” Tryss said. I looked at my HUD, impressed to note she had made up close to three minutes. Checking my estimate, I said, “Bitsa here, two minutes away.”
My breathing became labored, I had a stitch in my side, and my shoulder throbbed, but I kept running. One more long hall to the door.
“Sixty seconds to drive initialization,” Carnival called.
No, I thought, breaking out of the stairs into the final stretch.
“Forty-five seconds.”
I hit the door, punching in my code.
“Twenty-seconds.”
The door didn’t open. “It is not taking my code!”
“Fifteen seconds,” Carnival said at the same time Try ss called out, “Forty-five, eighty-two!”
My vision tunneled and my hands wanted to shake as I entered her code. The keypad light blinked off, then back on.
“Ten seconds.”
“Red,” I said. “It’s still locked.”
“Five.”
“Four.”
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One…”
Vertigo. I felt it in my head and gut as the drive kicked in, but there was no additional g-force like a shuttle take-off.
Tryss arrived, sweating and out of breath, and tried multiple codes in the door with no results. It was not until the twelve-minute ride ended that the lock disengaged and allowed us into central command.
“Let’s find out where we are,” she said with more calm than I could muster, striding to a consol and initializing the hologram display.
At first, it showed only the ship. Tryss zoomed out.
Artist: Aurian Millan (age 11)
An enormous nebula, darkness radiating with blue and purple, served as the backdrop for an alien solar system. A red gas giant swirled with storm clouds, while its blue partner appeared to flow like an ocean. Two of the planets had rings. One of these had multiple sets of rings orbiting the planet on perpendicular planes.
It was all so foreign. I had no idea where we were. Light-headed, a little in shock, I slid down the nearest wall, staring into space.
The End (for now).
This is the point where I woke up. Much of the detail presented in these stories has been me embellishing the dream fragments into a more cohesive story, but I have a rough idea of where I might take Tryss and team in the future.
As there has been limited interaction with these posts, I’m probably going to put additional installments on hold for the moment. If you have enjoyed them as they have been released, or you find them randomly in the future and want more, feel free to drop me a comment to let me know.
Our regular monthly D&D session for March happened this week, and my players took some highly entertaining actions. I’m running Dungeon of the Mad Mage with six players. Each month, we get together for a short evening session after work, targeting a minimum of four players.
(Warning: The following will include mild descriptions of RPG violence.)
Setting the Stage
In a recent session, the party faced some rough encounters leaving them low on resources and considering a long rest to recover. Unfortunately, as they lay down to sleep, none of them were tired…at all. It would be many hours before they could settle enough. After an hour’s recuperation time, they instead returned to level 1 to send a message to their associates in Waterdeep requesting supplies.
Once negotiations with the Fampires for a tentative support alliance are complete, their new hallway base established for the donkeys, and the message sent, the group sets out to explore more of the first level. Their goal is to eliminate Xanathar’s Guild’s (XG) influence from the early levels of Undermountain. They have a strong suspicion more XG outposts remain up here on level one.
Thinking the mirrored hall safe, they elect to take the direct route to the west, where a few hallways remain un-scouted. As Urg and Valorik pass between one pair of mirrors, replicas flow out and attack the group. Before all of the duplicates disappear, one latches onto Rose, draining her of strength before she eliminates it. Urg breaks the mirrors, smashing them to pieces, hoping the act will eliminate the threat for good.
An XG Infestation
Crouched in front of the door to the final unexplored area to the west, Ashe listens intently to the indistinguishable sounds coming from the other side.
Are those voices? he wonders.
The group prepares. They open the door.
Javelin and arrows fly out! Most ping off Valorik’s armor, but a couple find their mark, drawing blood.
Melee fighters charge forward. Others linger behind, using the doorway for cover, but leaving their monk to get mobbed. She eventually goes down—knocked unconscious from a morningstar to the head—but not before most of the enemy falls.
Using more of their quickly dwindling resources, the group patches everyone up before slogging to the east.
Secrets
Another hall opens up into a room where two bugbears stand watch. Seeing the party, they bolt down a curving hallway, but not before receiving slices from thrown axes across the back before they are out of sight. Rather than pursuing the bugbears into a possible ambush, Ashe points out a hidden door to the north. They enter cautiously, hoping XG doesn’t know about this area.
Careful exploration reveals an entire hidden section of additional rooms. Behind one door is a howling sound, as the blowing of a gale. Hudson sends in his trusty feline familiar to scope out the noise.
Archimedes: Hudson’s familiar in animal form.
Archimedes paws forward silently, but the wind grows into a billowing scream of rage. The last image he sends to Hudson before being dispelled back into his realm is a tornado barreling down the hall with what appears to be a distorted face in the wall of wind.
The door rattles as the elemental pounds against it, but the latch and hinges hold. As the party debates facing the air elemental now—despite limited health and healing—or exploring another section of the secret rooms, one of the two lanterns sputters, then dies. Standing in the dark hall, huddled around the dim light of their remaining lantern, the party reconsiders their options.
Crazy Ideas
Valorik has little interest in continuing to walk around when their last remaining source of light could go out at any moment. Based on scientifically tapping on the can and swishing it around a bit, Hudson thinks there is probably a couple of hours of oil left.
“We’ll be fine for a while,” he assures Valorik. “Besides, Urg can always guide us in the dark.”
Not at all comforted, Valorik begrudgingly agrees to check out the other rooms. They find giant rats, seemingly uninterested in the group, and leave them alone. There are also a few statues with a handful of tiny gems missed by previous adventurers. Once again, Valorik campaigns for a strategic retreat back to their new base, but Ashe has an idea.
“Guys!” he calls out. “I have an idea!”
Valorik groans.
Rose raises a skeptical eyebrow.
Hudson tilts his head in curiosity.
Urg grins in anticipation.
“You all hide around the corner there,” he points, “while I open the elemental door to get its attention. Then I run south, bringing the air elemental straight to the XG camp that’s there!”
“The door seems warded,” Hudson comments, scratching his chin. “I think I can take care of that, though.”
“Presumably,” Valorik emphasizes. “The XG camp might be there. We don’t know what is on the other side of that door.”
Ashe waves him off. “I will run until I find them.”
Rose puts her face in her hands, slowly shaking her head. Eventually, she shrugs at their antics. “Sure,” she says. “Why not? Let’s give it a go.”
Urg bounces with glee as Valorik throws up his hands, groaning, “You are all insane.”
They get in position, and the light fades from around Ashe, who doesn’t seem to notice in his state of adrenaline-fueled anticipation, as they depart. It is not until he runs blindly into the door with the air elemental on his heels that he recognizes there is no light and finally remembers his charm of darkvision.
The elemental gets one good slam in on Ashe in the moment of confusion, but the rogue shakes it off and runs out into another room, past goblins and bugbears, searching for any path leading west. A javelin flies past his head as he runs, but the group behind is soon distracted. A berserk air elemental wreaks destruction, and goblins scream while violently blown about.
“Okay,” Valorik says as they regroup. “Now can we go rest?”
Four people exchange glances around him, then Urg looks him straight in the eye, grinning once more.
One of my goals for 2022 was to do at least one book signing this year. Whether that was the Rennaisance Faire for which I applied, a local convention I somehow managed to get into, or partnering with a local bookstore for a spot for a couple of hours, I was going to make something happen. I thought it would take most of the year to reach this point. With a little luck and a lot of initiative, my first ever book signing event happened yesterday evening.
Preparation
Much of my preparation was researching what other authors’ booths have looked like and finding the stories they have shared about what works well and advice for other authors (like me!). I also had to adapt to my budget, which is minimal at the moment. Here are some of the key items along with some of my takeaways:
Books: The general information I found was 50-100 of each book for one (day) event.
This was a smaller event, and I am still unknown. I brought 50 and did not come close to selling out.
Signage: Big, eyecatching, genre-specific.
I got an 11×17 foam board of an image I created using my cover art and review quotes. It worked well for the space given to me.
I might add a cloth banner to go on the table cloth and hang down in front.
I will add a picture of me to the foam board when I upgrade to a larger version. Many people were surprised I was the author…which surprised me, so lesson learned.
Giveaways: have some, and have something that includes your author info on it.
Fairy wings are my logo, so I had butterfly stickers for the kids and some simple bookmarks with a cover image on one side and my logo and info on the back with a QR code for my ebook link.
The wax seals were also a draw. I sold those 2 for $1 and gave one for free with each book sale. They are more supply- and labor-intensive, so I decided not to give them away for free.
Booth buddy/transportation: recommend having a booth buddy and hand cart if possible.
Books are heavy, so are tables and chairs and all the other stuff you will bring. I borrowed my dad’s collapsable hand cart.
My husband came with me as my buddy. He is better with people than I am, so he helped me get started with the whole “interaction” thing. He also covered for breaks and completed purchases while I signed the books.
My niece also came as my cashier. Taking notes on my sales and helping make change. She stuck out the entire four hours too!
Check out this cute frog my niece made for me!
Meeker Street Nerd Party
The event itself is still pretty new and growing. I think it started with only one or two businesses on Meeker Street in Kent, WA doing a “nerd party” for their patrons who love fantasy, sci-fi, retro, comics, and other great nerdy things. It has grown to include most businesses on the street with special guests, exhibits, and events. There was cosplay, legos, trivia, artists, authors, and a couple of power rangers (actresses) doing autographs and photos!
While my niece was with me at my table, my nephew checked it out and enjoyed himself. It had pretty good traffic for most of the evening, and people had fun dressing up and participating, as well as patronizing the various businesses. I hope I can attend again and build a partnership with the bookstore.
Execution
Now you are asking, “If you didn’t get close to selling out, how did you do?”
“Pretty good, I think,” is my answer.
My guess and target for sales were two, so my bar was relatively low for this first event. I exceeded my target by a fair percentage, selling two in about seventy minutes, with my best hour coming in the middle. I appreciate all the support for local artists from the people stopping by my booth and others!
I practiced my stump speech the two days leading up to the event, so I only stumbled over it a little instead of constantly and stayed out in front of my table nearly the entire time. I consider that a victory in itself with my people-nerves.
Me with wings on and holding some of the little cakes from the participating bakery. Thanks for sharing them with me, family!
The experience and learnings were also invaluable. I’ve done it once; next time won’t be so scary. I also know what I need to work on:
Push for sales more. It is not “pushy” to tell them that I’m offering to sign any books they purchase at the event. That is, in fact, a great way to let them know they are talking to the author.
Push the newsletter sign-up. I forgot to do this too often, and those contacts are important. I need to offer this to every person who seems even remotely interested.
Put my card/bookmark in each book I sell. I started doing this later in the day. It is a great way to get my website and other such info into the hands of people who will hopefully be enjoying my book soon and might consider following me at a later date.
My Favorite Part
It happened early into the evening with my first sale of the day. A young lady with her family stopped to talk with me, and my book was in her genre. She was interested in the book and got so excited to find out I was the author and would sign it for her. I ended up suggesting we get a picture together because this enthusiasm means so much to me. I wanted the picture as much as they did, if not more. I’m never sure about preferences for me using names; I will call her “B” here.
Welcome back to my sci-fi short! If this is your first time visiting, I recommend starting with part 1. You can find all of these posts collected on the Dream Journal page.
The story continues…
I spent hours in front of the terminal sifting through data pulled on both the light and door glitch and the gravity shift. The initial conclusions Flash relayed held up under deeper scrutiny: all systems reported normal operations. Everything came back clean when reviewing the programming, and it was the same story with the interfaces. All systems appeared fine and responsive.
“I’ve run through the life-support logs for this section for the last month,” Magic said, breaking our companionable silence. “There are no recorded anomalies.”
“That’s encouraging.”
“I would find it more encouraging if we knew what caused the other issues,” he said, tilting his head for emphasis before stretching his arms out and back.
I was feeling the strain of too long at a comp screen myself, but the sling prevented me from executing a similar move.
I huffed out a laugh, “You and me both.”
“What about you? You got anything?”
“Maybe,” I said, twitching my nose in consideration. “Come take a look at this. It might help me to talk through it out loud.”
As Magic settled in behind me to look over my shoulder, I tried to organize my thoughts. Some things were not lining up, and I wasn’t sure which version of events to believe.
“This is the log from the automated lighting,” I said, pointing to a few lines of the data records. “You can see here how the light receives a signal to turn on from the motion detection system, here.” I flipped through to another wall of data. “Same here for the door. Aaaand here for the gravity shift from the docking bay terminal.”
“But no one was in those locations to initiate the signals from our team,” he said. “Do we have a stow-away intruder?”
“See,” I said, pointing a stylus in his direction, “I had the same thought along with wondering about aliens.”
Magic snorted as I continued.
“Until…” I pulled up yet another dataset. “I looked at the records for the systems where the signals originated and cross-referenced the timestamps.”
“And?” he asked as I paused dramatically.
“No input received, “I said with a smug grin. “No signal sent.”
He shook his head and peered at me sideways. “What do you mean? You just said those were the sources of the signals.”
“Yes, The signals were received and recorded with all relevant data, including source, but there is no record of the signals being sent. We have incoming calls with no corresponding outgoing calls.”
“Huh,” he said, leaning back in thought.
“Exactly,” I agreed with the sentiment. This was basic operating stuff. Send, receive. On, off. We both frowned at the comp screen, thinking.
“So, what are you looking for now?” Magic finally asked.
I sighed and bit my lip before swiveling around to face him.
“I have two current theories,” I began, holding up a finger. “One, an unknown entity or entities is aboard and has messed with the systems or data to cover their tracks. I need Flash to look into that one. The skill needed for a hack so nuanced is beyond me.”
Adding a second finger, I continued, “Second theory, there is something like an electrical short connecting in ‘TBD’ ways triggering signals. Somehow, those ‘TBD’ ways are mimicking what would be sent by the alleged source systems.”
Magic gave me a teasing grin. “It sounds like you’ve narrowed it down to either aliens or robots.”
I blinked, momentarily distracted by the smile, and felt a blush blooming on my cheeks.
He is so yummy.
Pushing that unnecessary thought aside, I cleared my throat and responded as though I was not imitating a cooked lobster. “Har-har. while aliens remain a possibility, I’m putting it far down the list. I also think an intruder is a less likely alternative. There is little reason for someone to hide their presence in the area where I found the light on.”
“That leaves you with ‘TBD’ option,” he said, making the air quotes.
“Yes,” I said with concern. “And the ‘TBD’ is unlikely to be easily determined because of how the signals are recorded. We need to manually track down the source, which fits the definition of needle-in-a-haystack. It means we need to find an electrical short in a robot the size of a small moon.”
“So, what’s your plan?”
I took and released a deep breath. “First, I’m turning Flash onto theory one. He can figure out who is checking the programming for manipulation. I will hunt for the short, beginning with a thrilling search through timestamps!”
“You have fun with that,” Magic slapped the back of my chair. “I have plenty of life-support system records of my own to review.”
I smiled and shook my head as I called Flash to report my findings. Then, I started a run on all system activity with the same timestamp of that first anomaly.
Tiffany Shearn 
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