Blue Skies (Atopia Chronicles)

By Matthew Mather

First novella in the #1 best-selling Atopia Chronicles series! Olympia is a high-powered New York advertising executive with perhaps the chance of a lifetime when she lands the biggest account of her life - the new Cognix synthetic reality promotion. The stress, however, is killing her, and she desperately needs relief from the distraction of everything and everyone around her. All of the Atopia stories are 'sidequels' that begin at the same moment, running side by side in time, so that you can start by reading any of them and then read the others in any order you choose to slowly reveal the mystery and terrifying danger that connects them all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Matthew Mather
• Release date: Oct 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9780991677108

Matthew Mather

After earning a degree in electrical engineering, Matthew Mather started his professional career at the McGill Center for Intelligent Machines. He went on to found one of the world's first tactile-feedback companies, which became the world leader in its field, as well as creating an award-winning brain-training video game. In between, he's worked on a variety of start-ups, from computational nanotechnology, electronic health records, and weather prediction systems to genomics and social-intelligence research. In 2009, the original inspiration for his technology career—reading the great masters of science fiction—set him on a new path. The result was the bestselling Atopia series, including The Atopia Chronicles, The Dystopia Chronicles, and The Utopia Chronicles. He is also the author of the Nomad novels, Nomad and Sanctuary, as well as Darknet and CyberStorm, the latter soon to be a major motion picture from 20th Century Fox. He divides his time between Montreal, Canada, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Book preview

Blue Skies

The First Atopia Novella

by Matthew Mather

Smashwords Edition

Published by PhutureNews Publishing

Copyright © 2012 by Matthew Mather

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

ISBN# 978-0-9916771-0-8

All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Foreword by the author:

This is the first of six novellas and books in #1 best-selling series the The Atopia Chronicles which can be now bought as one collection.

FOLLOW ME ON

www.facebook.com/author.matthew.mather

www.matthewmather.com

—Matthew Mather

~ Blue Skies ~

Chapter 1

Identity: Olympia Onassis

NO! NO! YOUR other left! I yelled, gesturing toward the pack of cigarettes I wanted.

My anger was still peaking after the screaming fight I’d had with Alex in the street outside. We’d just broken up, and this time for the last time.

It wasn’t helping that I hadn’t slept properly in weeks.

The clerk behind the counter stared at me and began speaking in some foreign chatter. How on Earth they let so many people that didn’t speak a word of English through Passport Control stunned me. Even with languages going extinct faster than frogs, I’d read that the City still had over a thousand spoken throughout its many boroughs.

What a mess.

Now he shrugged as if to ask what to do next. The impatience of the people in line behind me almost overcame my need for a nicotine fix.

Almost, but not quite.

Wait a minute! I scowled while I searched around in my purse for my mobile.

Squeamish of implants, I still used an old-fashioned earbud, but showing people that I had one made me feel self-conscious. Popping it into my ear, I repeated myself.

The Camel Lights! I yelled over the counter, jabbing my finger at the display case.

Whatever language he was speaking was instantly translated. Like I said, lady, those aren’t Camels. The package looks the same, but you’ll have to go across the street to find those.

He pointed hopefully out the door.

I was annoyed he couldn’t speak to me in our official language. Why did I have to bow to his deficiencies? Why couldn’t he service me properly? I made a mental note to leave a scathing review of this pharmacy in my social cloud. The store's owners would regret this.

Whatever, that’s fine, whatever those are.

He shrugged while reaching into the display, then handed them over. I pushed my way back through the crowd toward the entrance.

Getting cigarettes was a regulated activity that required a pharmacist to personally verify my nano-cleaning certification. This aggravated me. I banged open the door to the street as I stormed out, startling some incoming customers and opening the cigarettes as I went.

Smoking was a bad habit I’d picked up from my mother. I hadn’t spoken to her in years, but then she’d barely ever shown any interest in me. She was a difficult woman, always judging, and had driven my father away to some Luddite commune back in Montana with the rest of his family. I hadn’t been able to reach him in almost as long as I hadn't spoken to my mother, and it wasn’t something I was going to forgive her for anytime soon.

I stopped just outside the door of the pharmacy to light up, taking a deep drag and feeling some sense of relaxation seep into my body.

Midtown blazed away before me in an orgy of