The Multiverses of Liza O'Connor: Scavenger Falters @Liza0Connor

Liza creates more sayings for her characters.

You feel like your catcher lost wind (you failed)

There’s got to be enough wind for the both of us (there is no reason why either of us should fail)

I’ve got the wind at my back. (this is going to be easy.)

What a blow out! (what a disaster!)

Wind is a big thing in the future. The Americas (what’s left of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada) have stationary circular hurricane level winds that cover most of the country. To protect our country and cities, scientists created methods of flying the high circular winds. Those who risked their lives, learning to fly the winds were called SkyRyders.

Windcatchers are complex parachutes. In its simplistic form, it’s large catcher hangs slightly above but in front of the flyer as it pulls the SkyRyder in the same direction as the wind blows. Thus, most flyers only feel a faint breeze behind them when flying with the wind.

There are also three to five narrow sturdy fabric panels that control lift, descent, and enable cross wind tracking by creating various angles of wind diversion, rather like rudders in water.

These are critical for control. They are also the most likely to blow out. If a panel blows, it almost always results in the death of the Ryder.

A great many men died while learning to fly these windcatchers in the years after the Terror Wars ended. Once the catcher was deemed reliable enough, they stopped altering its shape. Naturally, new expressions began to appear in the SkyRyders language as they expressed themselves with what they knew best: Flying.

Scavenger Falters

Liza O’Connor

Alisha Kane, the Corps’ best flyer, is promoted to colonel, in charge of teaching the Corp’s SkyRyders her extraordinary flying maneuvers. The man she loves, Logan, continues to place the Corps first and insists they both remain focused on their work. For Alisha, this means ferreting out the best flyers in a Corps that has systematically forced great flyers into mediocrity. Logan focuses on learning Alisha’s flying techniques so that he can become the hero the East Coast desperately needs. The result includes fractured ribs and broken hearts, but through it all they never relinquish their love of the Corps.

EXCERPT

(Alisha’s reactions when Colonel Logan steals her wind).

“Thanks for helping me escape, Jack, but I really need to be alone now.”

“No, you most certainly do not.” He opened the door and guided her inside.

“Jack, please. You’ve been very kind to me, but I just need to sort some things out.” She went to her bed and lay down facing the wall.

A second later, she felt the edge of the bed dip as Jack sat down beside her. His hand gently stroked her arm.

“I know what you’re feeling.”

“No, you don’t,” she said, struggling not to cry.

“I do too.”

Angry that he wouldn’t leave her alone, she rolled over and glared at him. “Then tell me what I’m feeling!”

“You’re feeling like your catcher just lost its wind and dropped you on the ground. And what makes it worse is the person who stole your wind is someone you really like. So you’re ashamed of your resentment; you know it’s not fair; you only wish good things for your friend, but you don’t understand why their success has to cause you such pain. Surely, there’s got to be enough wind for both of you.”

Having her thoughts so clearly put into words brought the tears she had been so diligently fighting. “You do know what I’m feeling,” she admitted and quickly rolled over toward the wall so he wouldn’t see her cry.

She felt the weight on the bed shift, and suddenly he lay beside her, holding her as she cried away her misery. Having his arms around her reminded her of how the colonel use to hold her and thinking of Colonel Logan’s kindness only made her cry harder.

“I’m a horrible person,” she sobbed.

“No, you’re a wonderful person.”

“No, I’m horrible. Colonel Logan risked everything so I could have my moment of glory, and the first day he gets some well-deserved recognition, I react like the spoiled selfish little debutante I was raised to be.”

SALES LINKS

The SkyRyder’s Series, Book 2

Scavenger Falters

AMAZON

Or go wide with

D2D

About the Author

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.

OTHER BOOKS BY LIZA O’CONNOR

SCIENCE FICTION

The Multiverse Series

Sci-Fi Soap Opera with humor, romance, and science

The Gods of Probabilities

Surviving Outbound

Surviving Terranue

Surviving Sojourn

Artificial Intelligence Series

Sci-Fi/Romance

Public Secrets

Birth of Adam