“We’ve got all your luggage right here, Sam,” Rhoda told me, pointing to the floater that was stacked with suitcases and bags.

  I nodded and turned to Cora. She was already late for rehearsals, but she’d insisted on seeing me to the Nashville Transfer Station where I’d catch an airship to Denver with my friends.

  Cora pulled me to her, whispering against my ear. “Let’s just leave the line open, eh? Not say goodbye? Just, ‘I’ll talk to you later?’”

  I nodded, “Later,” then turned to go, glancing over my shoulder at the woman I wanted to call ‘girlfriend,’ and maybe more someday. What was I even doing going off and leaving her?

  I turned around, grabbed the back of Cora’s neck, and closed my mouth over hers. She melted against me, holding on with all she was.

  The kiss said, “You’re mine. You better not forget it,” and I pulled back, grinning. Cora’s face mirrored mine, and I knew it was gonna be okay.

  I nodded, “Later.”

  “I’ll message you as soon as I get out of rehearsals.”

  I touched my lips to hers one last time and jogged to catch up to Rhoda, blending into the crowd, and leaving Nashville behind.

  Once we were settled on the airship, I pulled out my pad and sent a heart to Cora. Just so she’d know I was thinking of her. And not a second later, I got an alert. Bong!

  Incoming video call from Bitsy Joon. I tapped “Accept.”

  “Ms. Joon, I’m on an airship, is it alright if I put you on hold so I can see if a conference room is available?”

  “Sure, Samantha, no problem.”

  I tapped “Hold,” then opened the airship schematics. Fantastic, there were three available rooms on the second level, so I reserved one and headed up the steps. Once I was inside and the noise of the ship’s occupants was on the other side of the door, I pulled up my documents and refreshed my memory of what I’d wanted to talk to the Known Cosmos Earth Press’s President about. Then I re-opened the video.

  I smiled at the striking woman on my screen. Bitsy Joon was brown-skinned with curly dark hair, and lovely in an exotic way. Mature, but younger than HC, probably. Soft lines around her brown eyes, but no streaks of grey in her hair.

  “Thanks for waiting, Ms. Joon. I’m so glad you’ve called.”

  “Please, call me ‘Bitsy;’ everyone does.”

  “Well, in that case, you can call me ’Sam’ so we’re even.”

  “I’m so glad you weren’t sleeping or something, Sam. I thought it was probably daylight hours if you’re in America, but you can never be sure with the Galactic time difference,” Bitsy wondered.

  I rubbed a cheek with my hand. “Wow, I hadn’t thought of that, Bitsy. That’s a lot to keep track of. It’s hard enough just managing the time zones on Earth—“

  “Yeah, we’ve gotten used to it, so not a big deal. You’re flying now? I hope doing something fun?”

  I laughed at the screen, shaking my head. “Ha! Actually, it’s a crazy story. Well, one I’m writing down in a book I’d love to tell you about. So, I’ll just go ahead and pitch it. Your company published the Red Phoenix graphics, and when I was a kid, I loved them. A few weeks ago, I met HC Merrin on Discord, but I knew nothing about that app."

  "Things went sideways, and the people I thought were my friends started attacking me. I found out things HC and I had written were being repeated all over Discord. And Bitsy, it’s not just that app. It’s Purple Road too. They’re faking Reviews. Pirating out-of-print books—“

  “WHAT?!” she interrupted, her face stormy.

  “It’s insane, Bitsy. HC has reported it to the Guilds, and supposedly they’re researching it, but now he’s not getting information other than it’s probably more than Discord and is beyond Milky Way."

  Bitsy was rubbing her forehead with fingertips, brows furrowed. “What a fucking nightmare,” she mumbled. “Are you okay, Sam? This sounds terribly dramatic for such a young woman.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t okay, but I am now. A friend and I flew to Miami to find out if the real HC Merrin was the man DM-ing me, and it was! So, I’ve met my hero, and we’re bonding over this disaster. Even better, he introduced me to a woman who’d been reading my book Moons Dancing, and when we met, she recognized me from her dreams,” I finished.

  Bitsy’s face looked triumphant, and she beamed at me, eyes glittering. “Yes! Oh, Samantha Mooneyhan, I knew it. Knew it! There’s so much coming together. You have no idea. No idea at all. We simply must talk more. There’s so much you need to know. But considering everything you’re telling me, I don’t think we can take it for granted that tech is a reasonable way to exchange information.”

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  “I know this sounds drastic, but well, I’m looking at you,” her eyes roamed my face, from my eyes to my hair, and all around, “and you look similar to someone who I’ve never met but consider like a great-aunt. Those green eyes and the dark, wavy hair. Then your pen name is unbelievably fortuitous. I need to show you some things. Important things. Books my family has treasured for generations. Will you come to Andromeda? If finances are an issue, the Press has means—“

  “Wait, go to Andromeda? Another galaxy?” my eyes bugged outta my face. “I mean, I’ve rarely left Wyoming, Bitsy. I— I’ve felt weird just going across the country to another time zone.”

  “So you’ve never been off sphere before?” she questioned, brows raised.

  I laughed, “Off sphere? Are you joking?” My face fell flat. Should I tell her the truth about how my parents died? Maybe not yet. “There are a variety of reasons that I’ll say ‘No’ to that question, and the thought of getting on a starliner is utterly overwhelming, but—“

  “If it weren’t of the utmost importance, then I wouldn’t ever ask it of you, Sam. Maybe it’s time for HC Merrin to be brought in on this too. His dreams, the Red Phoenix, none of this is a coincidence. And you’ve met a girlfriend who’s been dreaming about you like in our cartoons, right?”

  I nodded. “I watched ‘Dream With Me Now,’ and the story is similar to what happened with me and Cora."

  Bitsy continued, “I don’t want to say more, but all of these streams are flowing in the same direction, coalescing. Time is moving pieces into place, and I can’t push you, but I am not above begging, Sam. Please, please consider coming to Shurwinn. It’s a long journey from Earth, so I know I’m asking a lot. But there’s a very special building you need to see. God, I wish I could tell you, but I don’t want to in case—“

  “I understand, Bitsy,” I interrupted. "I’m not saying ‘no.’ I just need a moment to let that sink in. A cross-galactic trip on a starliner will take more than a week, right? To Shurwinn, you said? That’s the planet with the amazing chocolate, isn’t it?”

  She smiled, “That’s always the first thing people think of. You’ll be able to research more about my mother’s home sphere, and I bet HC Merrin can tell you about it too. Did he tell you about my dad?”

  “Your dad?” I questioned, face contorted in confusion.

  Bitsy’s laugh was a rich, melodious sound. “Years ago, my dad called HC Merrin and used his own, real name, not the pen name Sibsil Creed. He claimed it was an accident, but you never know with my dad. He loves to toy with people, and he’s an expert at games, so I’ve always thought he had more going on with HC Merrin than he let on."

  She paused, catching her breath as I pondered this new information about my friend. There seemed to be layers here that I had never considered.

  "And now that we’re having this conversation. . . . I mean, Sam, I had no idea that you knew HC Merrin! The 9 Galaxies are enormous, teeming with people too numerous to count, and here you are talking about a man my family’s had dealings with for decades. The likelihood of this—”

  “Yeah, HC and his wife are on this airship going with me to Wyoming right now.”

  “Sands below, this is not a coincidence, Samantha.”

  “I don’t believe in coincidence, Bitsy, so I think I’m gonna say, ‘Yes.’ I’ll come to Shurwinn, and I’ll invite some people to go with me. I don’t wanna do this alone, and I'm pretty sure the woman who’s been dreaming of me will wanna come too. You’ll have to wait though, because she’s got a concert this weekend, and I’m definitely gonna make sure she performs as a headliner in the show of a lifetime before I whisk her off to spheres unknown.”

  Bitsy laughed that rich sound again, “Perfect. A couple of weeks then. No problem. I can wait. Now, you said you’re writing?”

  “Discordant,” I nodded. “I’ve got twenty chapters already, and will be banging out as many as I can this week.”

  “I don’t care if they’re only a rough draft; can I please read them, Sam? Will you send me what you’ve got?”

  I shifted in my chair, sitting back. “Absolutely. HC’s been beta-reading for me, so they’re in pretty good shape. I was hoping to share them with you, but I had no idea there was all of this other stuff going on in the background, so I’ll send them straight away. And Bitsy? I’d love your honest feedback.”

  She nodded agreeably. “You’ll have it, Sam. Pure, unadulterated truth. I don’t mince words; you’ll get the real deal from me. But there’s a lot of chess pieces on this board, and I don’t want you or me to simply be pawns. The more we both know, the better we can strategize for what is to come.”

  The tone in her voice had changed, and I wasn’t sure I liked it. “This is all sounding ominous.”

  Bitsy continued with a serious look on her face. “We'll talk more when you get here. Send me your files, and I’ll give you some basic travel instructions. Shurwinn is a pain in the ass because it’s an isolationist sphere. You’ll have to apply for a Visitor’s Permit, which is like a visa on Earth. So, get started on that straight away. You can stay in the rentals my family owns, and that will make it easier. I’ll send you everything you need to know. Do you have any other questions right now?”

  I held back a snort. “A million! But, they’ll have to wait, won’t they? I’m massively overwhelmed, so I’m just gonna back up, make some concrete travel plans, then think about the next thing I’m writing for Discordant. How does that sound?”

  “Perfect,” Bitsy agreed. "I look forward to reading your manuscript. And Sam? If you need anything. Any questions. Help with the travel, please let me know. This is one of the most exciting things that’s ever happened to the Press, and to me personally, so just know that I’m thrilled to meet you and can’t wait to see what comes next.”

  “I certainly wasn’t planning for ‘next’ to be ‘go to Andromeda Galaxy,’ but god, if that’s what it takes to figure all of this out, I’m throwing my lot in with the Known Cosmos Earth Press, Bitsy,” I answered, and found that it was true, even though I was uncertain about who I was throwing in with.

  She beamed again, “Perfect. I’m gonna call HC Merrin and invite him too. Bring whoever you’d like. I wish I could send someone to pick you up, but in this case, I think public starliners will be faster.”

  “Okay. I’ll figure all of that out, so send me the basic info, and I’ll let you know once I’ve got an itinerary. Thank you so much, Bitsy. This is incredible, and insane, and I’m really, really excited,” I finished.

  “Me too, Sam. I’m so glad you picked up, and I can’t wait to read Discordant, so send it straight away.”

  “Sending it now. Bye, Bitsy.”

  “Good bye, Sam. Sunshine greet you on every shore.”

  I tapped the video off, and sat there staring at my pad in disbelief.

  Andromeda.

  I was going to go to another galaxy. To Shurwinn, home of the best chocolate in the Known Cosmos.

  What were the chances?