Sunday Snippet: To V or Not to V (a V-World novella)

Winter blast islingering for at least another week. Our low is supposed to minus eight on Tuesday.And I'll probably have to go out when it's that low. I can't wait.

Lighter than normalwork week, but I had come copy editing on my plate. Finished one project and startedanother one. I also have some new stuff floating in the wings and willhopefully start that soon.

Had an okay week ofviewing and made it through the full slate of shows. I'll be starting a new onethis week and I'm pretty sure I have the show picked out.

Finished up theseries run of Mr. and Mrs. Murder. I quite enjoyed this show. SometimesI got annoyed at the antics but mostly loved the interactions between the characters.

Caught anotherepisode of London Kills and loved the twisty turns in the episode. I'mloving the vibe between the characters and I'm happy to see Billie become afull detective constable. Looking forward to the next episode.

Loved the Christmasepisode of Death in Paradise. The beginning of season eleven is off to agreat start. Really cool to see Dwayne again.

Enjoyed another episodeof Beyond Paradise. My favorite actor showed up and I'm very excited tosee what happens. Still not sure about the mom. Can't quite figure out if she'sgoing to be an anvil between Humphrey and Martha or supportive.

Watched another episodeof Elementary and quite enjoyed. I'm not really sure about Joan's newlove interest. I actually think he's a bit annoying.

Caught anotherepisode of Batman Beyond and loved it. I remembered this one andpossibly caught an easter egg related to Batman: The Animated Series andthe Gray Ghost character. Fun times!

Enjoyed the lastepisode of the eighth season of Classic Rugrats. I'll be starting thefinal season this week. Very much looking forward to picking back up with newepisodes once my rewatch is complete.

That's pretty muchit for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from To V or Not to V,a V-World novella.

Here's theminiblurb:

Mallory Biden and Surge Tempest work side by side topolice crimes in V-World, a virtual reality recreation area where anyone canlive out their wildest fantasy. But when Surge goes rogue to track down an oldnemesis and enters the Void Zone, a dangerous, untraceable place hehelped create, Mallory will risk getting trapped inside to pull him out.

And a sneaky peek…

Mallory entered Rick'sworkspace and sat on the chaise recliner. Her leg bobbed up and down withnervous tension while she waited for her brother to finish his computations. Rick rose from hisseat, grabbed a pair of V-Goggles and handed them to Mallory. She swung her legs upand settled back in the recliner. "Okay. You're sure you can trackme?" The goggles dangled from her finger, and she spun them around acouple of times. Rick turned toward her."Yes, Mal. I'm sure." He fiddled with the second set-up, matching itto the one he had monitoring Surge's movements. "I'm not gonna letanything happen to you." He focused back on the screen in front of him."You are my fave sibling, youknow." Mallory snorted."I'm your only sibling, you idiot. But I'll take the compliment." Shepushed out a nervous breath. She trusted Rick, sibling jokes aside. He wouldn'tlet her get trapped or stuck in the grid with no way out. In short, he wouldn'tlet her down. He never had. Lifting the goggles,she adjusted them to fit her head. "You'll drop me in, right? No matterwhere Surge is or what he's doing?" Her anger had settled into a cold ballin the middle of her stomach. It actually helped. Enabled her to be as calm asshe could be about the situation.V-World and some of thethings that went on there made her queasy. The work took her to the lessdesirable places, the sex rooms, the shoot 'em galleries, the speed zones,where seasoned participants often took advantage of newbies who didn't know theropes. But she got to nab those abusers.The VZ, almostimpossible to police, had a lawless atmosphere. The speed zones in the VZthrived on high speed, adrenaline charging chase and pursuits. The shootinggalleries didn't get progressively harder. Participants dropped in bothsections and if they got pegged … game over. The hackers couldn't enter theranges again and they had to find a new form of fun. The sex rooms in V-Worldhad a racy, raunchy vibe. The VZ went ten steps further, adding a darklytwisted depravity to the acts available.She'd grown up aroundviolence and mayhem, they tended to not faze her. And she had a bit of a kinkyside, but most of what transpired in the VZ made her want to heave. The outerfringes she could handle, they inclined toward the deeper sections of V-World.The rest of the zone, though, like virtual reality hopped up on syntho, thelatest highly addictive narcotic. Insanity ruled the streams in the VZ. Rick cleared his throat,and Mallory snapped her attention back where it should be. He glanced in herdirection. "Mal. I know how important this is to you." Thisbeing Surge. "I'll slide you into whatever scenario he's got going on.First as an observer—you'll have a thirty second window before you canactualize—after that, you decide when to go hot." Mallory frowned."Why the delay?" Rick shook his head."Jesus, Mal. This isn't like V-World where we can see what's going on oncewe have the trace. If Surge is in the middle of a fire fight, you could getkilled. Literally." He stopped short, took a breath and continued. "Idon't mind covering your ass while you're in the zone, but I'll be damned ifI'm taking over on a permanent basis." Mallory didn't sayanything. She couldn't have if she tried. He'd hit on the topic she didn't wantto think about. Rick would pick up the slack if anything happened to her, buthe'd be hard pressed to hold everyone together the way she did. Her brother likedlurking in the background. Liked just being there to cheer, egg, and urgeeveryone else on, to save the day with a slick program or to pick up the piecesand put her back together when she occasionally shattered under the strain ofbeing the HBIC of their covert little group that monitored and played oversightfor the sprawling virtual scene. If she got lost orcouldn't make it out, he'd do his best to step up and lead even though theyboth knew it would never be enough. Giving him a curt nod,she sat back, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Okay. Hook me upand send me in." She heard the keystroke—thelast thing she'd hear of the real world until Rick pulled her out or she leftof her own accord—and opened her eyes. The blue-green-red of the gogglesreflected off her irises, and she was in. Oh. My.

This series is somuch fun to write. I'm very excited to see where it goes with Surge andMallory.

 

That's it for thisweek. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye