Activation (The Stars That Bind Us Book 3)

By Asali Wilson

Caught in a fusion reactor explosion, Moira is paralyzed from the waist down. But her memories are also not the same. Is she who she thinks she is?
Moira Pearce is an artist and sculptor. Covert operations involving keycards, ear mics, and contact lens cameras are definitely out of her wheelhouse. But when her sister needs help, she doesn't hesitate.
Angie works on highly sensitive projects at Innovate Corp, military-grade technology. When she collapses at her desk, it's time to move on. When she collapses at her desk, it's time to move.
Still sick, Angie sends Moira to her office to retrieve some classified documents. It's time to find a new job. But when a fusion reactor explodes with Moira in the lab, her life changes forever.
Moira wakes up days later in a hospital to find that she is paralyzed from the waist down and that some aspects of her life are not quite as she remembers them. Is she even who she thinks she is?
Can Moira discover the truth before it's too late for Angie and her? Will she ever recover from her injuries?
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Asali Wilson
• Release date: Sep 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005460594

Asali Wilson

Asali Wilson writes fiction centered in the contemporary, surrounded by fantasy and the paranormal. Fueled by long nights and whirlwind days, we have this story to devour. "Somehow, in the sleep-deprived haze that is being a working mother, I found the time to write my first book."As a child, Asali voraciously read crime and sci-fi literature, inspired by the likes of JRR Tolkien, Arthur C. Clark, and Terry Brooks. "Through the years, I have escaped in the wonder of the written word; reading helped me to cope with the challenges of life and dream big dreams."Asali lives with her family in Oslo, Norway. When not writing, you can find her dabbling in film, and investing, and, of course, investigating the newest advances in AI.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Breathe.

I was desperately trying to, but my airway appeared to have narrowed to the size of a pinhead, causing my lungs to collapse as they struggled to suck in the air I needed to stay conscious. Seeing as we hadn’t even stepped into Dex electronics store, this was not a good start to Angie’s proposed tantalum reaction experiment.

You know we don’t have to go in today. Standing beside me at the entrance to the store, Angie’s low voice was calming. If you’re not ready, we can come back later or try out a smaller store. There’s a phone shop not far from here which might have enough devices in it to stir up a reaction.

I squeezed her hand to show I appreciated her concern before shaking my head. We didn’t really have time for a slow build up to the inevitable. I was still waiting for the hospital to confirm my surgery date but, based on what I had been told on Friday, we had less than a week before the lenses would be taken out.

I can do this, I finally managed to find my words.

Before we got there, I had spent some time researching the store’s layout on the internet. Just as Angie has described to me, Dex was spread across three storeys and rammed full of equipment. Once you stepped into the brightly lit entrance area, arguably the most popular sales section, a wide selection of high spec phones were displayed in orderly rows, all securely wired back to glass tables. Further back were an equally impressive range of tablets and laptops, with the storeys above filled with hundreds of other fancy devices I would probably never think I needed. Not counting whatever stock they had in the storeroom at the back, the store undoubtedly had an abundance of tantalum waiting to be accessed.

We made our way towards the centre of the large open plan space, stopping only when Angie reckoned we were suitably surrounded by the devices. It was mid-morning on a Monday and the store was reasonably quiet. Angie had called in sick, assuring me she had finally set up her computer to let her work remotely from home if needed. I couldn’t help thinking we wouldn’t have been in this predicament at all if she’d thought to do that a long time ago.

Feel anything? See anything? she whispered when we’d stood there for barely ten seconds.

It doesn’t work like that, I informed her. I think the lenses have to acclimatise or something. It always seems to take some time before anything happens.

Angie nodded and picked up a phone so we wouldn’t stick out too much just standing there. To be honest, with the amount of equipment in the store, I thought the reaction might have been quicker than other times. It still took a few minutes before the lights kicked into action. The flickering started right above us, with the suspended track lights dimming slowly and spreading across the store.

Do you see this? I asked Angie, knowing what her answer would be.

It’s happening?

As if on cue, the white lights all swapped to a yellow-orange hue and stayed that shade. I was about to inform Angie of what I could see when something at the back of the store began to flash. From that distance, I had to guess it was a tablet. Its silver case had turned the same shade of yellow as the lights and it was glowing with what appeared to be a steady pulse. Seconds after, out of the corner of my eye, I saw another device light up, a phone this time. And then another.

Okay, this is different, I muttered under my breath.

How so? Angie leaned in closer.

The lights are going bonkers, but this is the first time devices are coming alive without Bay in the room.

Angie pulled out her tablet and started to take notes. Dammit, I should have brought the headset. It might have been able to record what you’re seeing directly.

I barely heard what she said because I’d turned to look at her and the closest electronic object to us, Angie’s tablet, was now not only glowing, but was floating a few inches above her hands. I knew this was all part of the illusion because Angie was still typing away into thin air, but the lenses were quite happy to defy all logic.

What? What is it? Given that I was full on staring at her, Angie had stopped writing down