Quantum Entanglements

Leandra Richards receives the call to save the human race, or at least the human genome. She’s not an astronaut, she’s a genetic engineer—one of the best in her field, and one of the youngest. She’s prepared to risk the dangers of life in space, supporting the terra farming mission—humanity’s last chance for survival. At least she is until she finds out Harlan Johnson will be on the same ship.

Harlan may be the only zoo archeologist under thirty-five, but he’s a lying jerk. Leandra has personal experience as proof. Very personal.

Before she can make arrangements to move to another team, the launch day moves up and she has to choose to give up on humanity or board a ship with her sworn enemy—an enemy who may not be above sabotaging her lab even with everything at stake. Keeping an eye on Harlan isn’t exactly a hardship, but keeping her heart in check could prove impossible.

Quantum Entanglement Tropes

Enemies to lovers, second chance romance, space colonization, romantic suspense

An Excerpt

2123 AD

Spaceport, New Mexico, USA

All hands, mandatory meeting.

Something was wrong. Leandra Richards wiped her perspiring palms on her black slacks as her trainer’s words beat a warning in her gut. On stage, five of the Nostradamus Outerspace Advancement of Humanity—NOAH—project coordinators conferred with whispered intensity. Nothing could be more important than continuing the training for their upcoming mission and the physical demands of life in space. The other scientists, including the women from her training team, filed into the auditorium. From the way they chatted with each other and relaxed into the navy-blue padded seating, they were clueless. Didn’t they understand the significance of an urgent, unscheduled meeting?

None of them came to sit with Leandra, but they’d only been together for a matter of weeks. Her focus was on learning everything for the mission, where it should be. Everything that could save her life once she was hurtling through space in an unknown galaxy. Besides, making friends wasn’t her best skill. She could worry about making friends after the teams were assigned in a few months. If there still was a mission.

The head of the mission went to the microphone. “I’m sure you’re wondering why we’ve called you all here.” She paused, allowing the chatter to go silent. “There’s been…a change.” The other leaders didn’t react at all. Their blank faces ratcheted up Leandra’s internal warning bells from chiming to clanging. “We’ve organized the final teams. The launches are scheduled to begin in the morning.”

What?

No.

Her breath froze in her lungs as her heart raced.

The chatter of her fellow trainees started up again in hushed staccato tones.

Of all the possible reasons for the unscheduled meeting, premature launching hadn’t even been on her list.

Leaving so early was impossible. Leandra had volunteered for NOAH because it was a research mission. A vision for the future should Earth be unable to recover from the “good intentions” of long-dead experts. Research implied no modifications to the plan. No surprises. No emergencies.

She still had months of critical life-saving training before she would be prepared to leave the planet and everything she’d ever known. Her instructor had promised her more time to practice donning her survival suit. Leandra shot her shaking hand into the air.

“Yes, Dr. Richards?” The fatigue in the woman’s voice was noticeable, but she wasn’t the one getting on a rocket. Leandra was.

“Based on the fact that we were already following a severely compressed training course, there is no possible way we can be prepared to launch tomorrow.” Leandra clasped her hands, raising her chin. They couldn’t. Astronauts trained for years, and Leandra and the others had months, except they didn’t. Everyone in the room must’ve been questioning the deviation from their plan, even if she was the only one brave enough to voice it.

The former astronaut who ran mission safety stepped up beside the director. “You’ve received the critical information and physical training for the mission. The remaining weeks would have been drills primarily and almost no new information provided.”

“Almost?” Leandra blurted out. Almost wasn’t none.