Competing in Novelmint Selects · Issue No. 3
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The Living Part
Sci-Fi· Complete
Cecilia “Cici” Johannsen is an analyst, not a soldier.
Her job is to study the pieces of an ancient technology no one understands and find the connections everyone else missed. Then the sky fills with impossible machines, civilization begins to collapse, and the creatures hunting through her research facility start taking people alive.
Cornered and out of options, Cici climbs into one of the artifacts.
It keeps her alive.
Barely.
The suit does not speak her language. It does not explain what it is doing. It breaks into her nervous system, rebuilds her injuries, adapts her body to what nearly killed her, and begins issuing commands she cannot understand.
So Cici does what she has always done.
She watches. She tests. She takes notes.
And piece by piece, she begins to realize the truth: the suit is not a single artifact. It is one part of a much larger system.
And now that system has an operator.
Meet the cast
Get to know the characters of this book — who they are and where they're from.
Cici Johanssen
A civilian analyst with a gift for spotting patterns everyone else misses. Forced into an ancient adaptive combat system during the invasion, she becomes its unexpected operator.
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TX-4471-CE | SAAR
An ancient adaptive interface suit built from warm mustard-colored hexagonal material. It bonds to Cici, stabilizes and repairs her body, adapts against repeated damage, and connects her to the larger combat system. Saar communicates only through an alien language and sensory cues, forcing Cici to learn how it works from the inside.
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Jules
Cici’s closest friend and fellow analyst. Funny, irreverent, and emotionally grounding, she represents the ordinary life Cici is trying not to lose.
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Remy Wetherson
A retired Army colonel attached to the relic project as a consultant. Calm, observant, and difficult to read, he appears to know more about the artifacts than he ever says.
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Kevin Pruitt
The textile specialist assigned to the yellow interface suit. Capable but narrowly focused, Kevin initially dismisses Cici’s broader theory about the relics.
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Marcus Hale
Facility security officer. Practical, armed, and accustomed to procedures that work, Marcus becomes one of the first people trying to keep the survivors moving.
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Benny Ortiz
A facilities specialist who knows the building’s hidden routes, mechanical systems, and doors. His practical knowledge and enormous ring of keys become unexpectedly important.
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Dr. Hollis
Senior authority over the relic program. Intelligent and institutional, he represents the compartmentalized system that studied each artifact separately and missed the larger whole.
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