Two days left until the release date for Permanent Damage. Ten stories. A teaser every day for each story to whet your appetite, give you a hint of the plot and the feel of them.

In a time when a machine can predict your death with 100% accuracy, a woman looks for something else to be certain about . . . .

A SUDDEN LOSS OF CABIN PRESSURE

Jemma looked at it over her glasses. A Machine-of-Death card that read “PLANE CRASH” in big block letters. Rebecca had signed and dated the other side. To Derek. Falling for you.

“Someday, Jemma, I’m going to fall right out of the sky.”

“You don’t know that,” Jemma said. “It might mean a plane falls on you, or — ”

“Don’t start,” she said. “Point is, you know what Derek’s says? EARTHQUAKE.” She took the card back and slid it back into the box, closed the lid. “And I cannot, cannot for the life of me, see any possible way those two deaths could be connected.”

Jemma frowned. “Okay — and?”

“And, that means when I die, he’s not there. I fall right out of the sky, Jemma, and I do it alone.” She wasn’t looking up at her. “I don’t want to be alone when that happens. And I can’t get it out of my head, and I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life with a man who’s not going to be there for me when I need him the most.”

Jemma slid her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. “What — you think the whole point of a relationship is to have someone next to you when you die?”

“Well — yeah.” Rebecca looked up helplessly. “Can you think of a better reason?”

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“Permanent Damage” — Available Monday!

“A Sudden Loss Of Cabin Pressure” is based on the MACHINE OF DEATH concept created by Ryan North. The concept is used with permission.

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