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Synopsis
Tuck is switching dorms. He’s had enough of his roommate’s odd hours, strange behavior, and teasing from his football teammates, who think there’s something more between them. He’s just put the last pad into his duffel bag when the campus goes on lockdown and the police swarm in.
They say that Tuck’s roommate, Sam, is a wanted man, but Tuck knows better. Sam is no criminal; he won’t even let Tuck kill spiders. Tuck takes a risk and helps Sam escape from the clutches of the authorities, and together they try to make it off the campus. As they try to evade the search parties, it becomes clear that they’re after something more than Sam; a secret project Sam’s been working on that has billion-dollar implications.
Tuck’s not sure what’s going on. He’s not sure what the truth is or who to trust. He’s not sure they’re going to make it out of this. And as the night wears on, he’s not sure how he really feels about Sam anymore. Sam is always sure about Tuck, though, and Tuck isn’t going to let him down.
Excerpt
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do with having faith. Our ancestors ventured into the uncharted wilderness,
armed only with pointed sticks and confidence that they could fight off
anything with pointed teeth. Generations later, someone made a gamble that if a
plant grew where it fell, then it should grow where it was planted and be just
as edible, thus giving birth to agriculture. The age of exploration dawned when
the first mariners set sail for the horizon, fairly certain it wasn’t a waterfall.
As history progressed, people attempted more daring and complex endeavors,
fueled by the belief that they would, at the very least, survive. Knowledge may
be the substance of progress, but faith is the duct tape.
species, progressed because of our faith in each other. Our ancestors hunted in
packs to bring down larger prey, trusting that the guy they were hunting with
wouldn’t kill them so they didn’t have to share. Legal systems were constructed
on the premise that enough people would obey the law that sorting out the
remainder wouldn’t be a problem. Civilization is built on the basic philosophy
that people will be good to each other, people will help each other, and people
won’t kill each other when it suits their interests, not usually at any rate.
Wars have been started because one side believed they could win. The different
religions of the world have been in an ongoing disagreement about who’s going
to heaven and why; sometimes these disagreements have escalated to the point
where they found out the hard way. People have murdered, pillaged, and swindled
when they thought they could get away with it. Careless hearts have fallen in
love with uncaring people.
good just as easily as it lends itself to bad.
city, the power of faith was being abused to its breaking point as a group of
UFO researchers was convening on the rooftop of a warehouse. On the spacious
tar flats high above the city, with a few of the more ambitious stars already
visible in the failing light of dusk, men and women set up a complex array of
antennae and computers. The less technically minded among them set up a craft
services table featuring on-theme menu items like Cattle-Mutilation-Sloppy-Joes
and Little-Green-Men-Guacamole.
belief that if they set up their mobile receiving station at just the right
time and listened carefully, they would win the electrodynamic lottery and hear
a broadcast from an alien world. Tonight, their faith was rewarded by a brief
jolt of excitement, followed by a slow stab of inevitable disappointment.
the monitor, where the interface displayed a wildly jiggling radio wave. “This
is it! We’re receiving a signal!” He reached over to a different machine and
flipped some switches with well-practiced speed.
pressing is face up against the screen to make absolutely sure he wasn’t
missing anything. “Oh, lordy! This is incredible!”
exasperation.
she asked, trying to get a view of the graph from around Calvin’s head.
month,” she said. “When you spent four hours recording a Finnish talk show.”
followed a UFO with your car.”
before you realized it was a crack in your windshield,” she finished.
older, bulky man pulled gently but firmly on the tuft of hair on Calvin’s
temple, prying his face away from the monitor.
second before a look of disappointment settled on his grizzled face.
asked, a faint note of hope in her voice.
finally. “I saw it before, when I was in the Air Force.”
Britain.”
finished. “They broadcast noise over various bandwidths and try to block
transmissions.”
eyeing the monitor suspiciously.
something up!” declared Calvin.
from using cell phones in his store,” said Moe. “But keep recording,” he added,
before walking away. “This night won’t be a total loss if we can document a
felony.”
occurs near them. This story is about faith. The faith one man had in another,
what that faith led him to do, and how that faith changed the person it was
bestowed upon.
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Meet the Author
Archie Hellshire is an author with aspirations of being able to write. He was born in the Caribbean where he developed a love of nature, the metric system, and high temperatures. In school, lacking any athletic or social ability, he became a very bookish person, indulging in the works of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, JK Rowling, and Charles Dodgson. Despite being well read, he struggled with dyslexia and would forever remain horrible at spelling. The advent of Spell Checker reignited his dreams of becoming an author.
Archie grew up in a family and culture that was not tolerant of homosexuals, and he spent his entire young life in the closet, retreating into his books and a rich fantasy life. In the theater of his mind, the romances he read could be edited to be male couples. He dreamed of one day writing his own stories and living his own happy ending. You can connect with Archie on Twitter.
