“Filly and I are gonna be on that starliner. Whatever is going on, I’m not missing it. Mike can just deal with it; I don’t think he should get to pout if I wanna take my son on a business trip for Wyoming Wild.”

  HC and I had ushered Rhoda and Paddy into a conference room aboard the airship to Cheyenne and got them caught up on the goings on, and Rhoda was 100% on board with the plan to go to Shurwinn and meet Bitsy Joon.

  “HC do you understand enough about Shurwinn’s visitation rules to work on reservations?” I asked.

  “Let me handle that,” Paddy waved. “I’ve got it. Bitsy already sent their rental unit details, so we can book accomodations then work on the Permits. Once I figure out the starliner itinerary, the rest will be easy to fill in. But Sam, first you need to talk to Cora. Find out what she wants to do.”

  “Oh, I’m positive she’s gonna be as enthusiastic as Rhoda, and it won’t surprise me at all if Nanna wants to come too, so we can make a whole family trip of it.”

  Paddy nodded. “Good, then you talk to your grandmother and Cora tonight, send me the time frame of when you wanna leave, and I can put together a schedule. I won’t purchase anything until we’ve all agreed.”

  “That’s amazing Paddy. And what’re the two of you gonna do in Wyoming?” I asked, curious about HC and Paddy’s plans.

  “It looks like we’ll be shopping. I don’t wanna go back to Miami before we go to Andromeda. So, we’re gonna fly to Jackson tonight, buy what we need, then take in Yellowstone and the Tetons before we go to Colorado on Friday.”

  “Oh my gosh, you’re gonna love it,” Rhoda crooned. “Perfect time of year to take in all the beauty before it gets truly cold. So, we’ll meet up with you on Friday for the concert?”

  “I’m planning on taking the hover train to Denver on Thursday so I can see Cora before her show. So, between now and then, I’m gonna write as much of Discordant as I can. HC, expect chapters. The rest of you, well, what’re we going to do? Keep researching the Discord drama?” I asked.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “I say we enjoy life for a few days and let the politicians fight over the tech shenanigans. I’ve lit as many fires as I can at the Art Guild, and they’re listening. It doesn’t sound like the artists are going to take this lying down, but I can’t get much more than that out of them."

  "I’ll pop into Discord here and there, but mostly, I wanna enjoy Wyoming with Paddy. Eat good food. Do some shopping. Wrestle a bear; the usual,” HC said, waggling his brows.

  I laughed at him. “You do that, HC. And try not to get eaten. Or stomped by a moose.”

  Bong! New message preview from Cora.

  Cora: ??

  I smiled at the pad. She’d gotten my heart from earlier. Good. I wanted her to know I was thinking about her.

  Sam: So much to tell you! Can’t wait to talk tonight. ?????

  No reply. She was probably back at rehearsals. We landed in Cheyenne, Rhoda and I said goodbye to Paddy and HC, and I headed for my apartment. When I crossed the threshold, it was like I’d walked into a world I’d forgotten had existed.

  Nanna had kept my plants alive, and they greeted me in the dim light of dusk. I walked through the center of the main room, taking it in, wondering at the last time I’d been in the place.

  Terrified. Having panic attacks. Thinking Discord was trying to tear my world apart. And now I had a family at my side and a probably girlfriend. And a publishing company with a curious 100-year history reading my Discordant manuscript and connecting me to a world of dreamers who made the impossible come true.

  Was my little apartment truly home? I wasn’t sure anymore, but it smelled familiar and comforting, and I smiled thinking about eating dinner on the sofa. I opened my pad and put in a delivery order for cajun chicken Alfredo, and when I was done I had a new message from the President of Known Cosmos Earth Press.

  Bitsy: I binged all twenty chapters. Send me everything. We will publish it, Sam. Don’t stop writing until it’s done.

  Holy fuuuuuuuuck. I took a screenshot and forwarded it to HC, standing there in my living room in shock. Then I sent it to Nanna and videoed her to bring her up to speed on everything I’d learned about Andromeda Galaxy and the isolationist sphere Shurwinn.

  She was bowled over, of course, and just as I’d anticipated, she was eager to go to Andromeda too. So we’d have six adults and one three-year-old boy all going to Shurwinn to see where this crazy path was leading us.

  Now all I had to do was finish writing a book in a few days. Wouldn’t be the first time I’d written forty-thousand words that fast. Easy peasy.

  Right?