Droppers

Year 998 P.E. (Post Earth)The Earth is dead.Or is it?Searchers have spent centuries looking in vain for signs of recovery on the Earth below, and for hospitable planets out amongst the stars.Day in, day out, analysing the endless streams of images that Oversight brings them, looking for the tell-tale green of life.Until one day, eighteen-year-old Miya sees something else. Something that shouldn't exist on the dead planet below. Something she isn't supposed to see.Running for her life, Miya flees the Ark to the inhospitable planet below. But inhospitable doesn't necessarily mean dead. There's life. She had seen the signs. Unless the picture was a fake, then she'll be dead soon enough. James Jacob (J J) Mathews grew up with his nose stuck in books. A voracious reader in his youth, he devoured all of the science fiction and fantasy books he could find at the local library. J.R.R. Tolkein, Isaac Asimov, Ben Bova, Larry Niven, Voltaire and Greg Bear were some of his early influences, with many other authors added to his bookshelf as time went on. Broadening out to read more genres as an adult, J J has always held a special place for fantasy and sci-fi.J J is married and lives in Hamilton, New Zealand with his wife and three boys, and writes in his spare time. Year 998 P.E. (Post Earth)A thousand years have passed since we destroyed the Earth.The last vestiges of humanity survive in thirteen Arks orbiting the dead planet, hoping it will someday recover and be able to support life once more. Searchers keep a constant watch for signs of life – on the dead Earth below, and out amongst the stars, searching for a new home for humanity. Until then, Mars Base is our last, best hope of survival for the species and a new planetary home.Miya spends her weekends working in sanitation, turning valves and keeping things flowing where they should. The rest of her time is spent in school and with friends, until she turns eighteen. Then she, along with thousands of other young women and men of the same age, will face Selection. After that, there will be no more choices. In the blink of an eye, Oversight will tell her what her job for life will be. She will also find out who she will have as a husband, tasked to produce a child in their first year of marriage, and exactly one more after that.Miya fears for what the future might hold. Nobody gets to choose once they're eighteen … or do they?