Flesh & Wires

It’s summer on the Connecticut shore, sometime in the not-too-distant future. The invaders have been and gone, taking most of civilization with them. All that remain are scattered groups of women survivors, their skin speckled silver with alien implants. Most of them are too broken to do more than just survive in the encroaching wilderness. A strong few use the power coursing through their alien wires to flourish, to rebuild. In the community of Saugutuck the women have slowly created an oasis of civilization. The only thing missing is any kind of certainty about their future. Will they live, will they die, will they ever bear children? Some of them care. Others not so much. Some of them still miss the men. Others not so much. Lo is one of those others.

Although she likes to think she’s happy leading her remarkable community of women survivors, in truth Lo is twitchy and bored after thirty years doing nothing except safeguard them from danger. She needs a new challenge. And she certainly gets one when two men in a spaceship fly into town — bearing news of more like them on the way. Lo responds by firing up her weapons systems. Her own security crew have to stop her. Perhaps it's time to quit shooting uninvited guests on sight. Perhaps the women of Saugatuck might welcome an influx of men who can potentially give them children. Suddenly Lo finds herself facing both rebellion within and trouble without — and that's before the big metal boxes begin falling from the sky.