I'm very sorry to say this is not an actual chapter. I know many readers don't look at the author's notes, so I'll keep this short. My wife was in a rollover car accident and is recovering from a very severe injury. This has disrupted my already-disrupted writing schedule.
Here's the longer version.
Those of you who have looked at the notes will know I've been dealing with severe heart issues since basically posting the first chapter. That's gotten better on new medication, and I hope to get back to regular chapters soon.
But more importantly right now, four days after the last chapter was posted, my wife, the lovely and talented Mrs. Ninja, was in a car accident. Actually, it was a full on wreck. The vehicle rolled multiple times and was thoroughly smashed. She had to be cut out of the vehicle and was rushed to a trauma center with a broken back. Thankfully, she is not paralyzed, but one of her vertebrae was completely shattered. There are updates on this on the Discord, which has been a wonderful distraction and outlet for me these past several weeks. If you're not already part of the Discord, I've added a link to the story page. It's a very good group.
Writing during all of this has been difficult, and frankly not a very high priority for me. I spent most of two weeks sleeping in a chair next to my wife's hospital bed, and dealing with things so my wife doesn't have to. She's having bad panic attacks due to what happened.
For those concerned, she's recovering well. She's walking again and has even been authorized to lift things that weigh more than five pounds (2 kilos for the non-US readers). The physical therapist wouldn't touch her until he saw new x-rays of her back, and the surgeon did such a good job piecing her back together that even the expert in spinal injuries couldn't find the breaks, just the fusing hardware keeping it together. She's got top-notch care.
Also, she was the only one in the vehicle, and the only person injured at all. Our three boys were with their grandparents at the time. I was out of town. It was weeks before I saw the wreck at the salvage yard. I nearly broke down seeing what my wife survived. I came very close to losing her.
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One of the Discord members asked me to consider putting up this update in place of a chapter to let more people know the reason for the delay. After thinking about it for several days, I came to the conclusion that he's right. I think I'll get the chapter done in the next few days, but something else might come up. I have to do a lot of medical and medical-related stuff on Monday anyway, so who knows how that will go.
But I want to emphasize something. THIS STORY IS NOT BEING ABANDONED. I had no idea this story would resonate with so many of you and there is no way I'm going to walk away. Instead, I'm going to say I'll post the next chapter when I have two chapters ready, so I can give everyone a firm date on an update for the first time in months.
You might be thinking that at my current pace I'll just take twice as long for an update. However, I think that as this chapter is the one I was working on during the accident and recovery, I need a change of pace. So I'll be working on the next Earth chapter (Chapter 22) before coming back to finish the fight aboard the Curious Observer (Chapter 21). I guarantee that not a single one of you is more frustrated about my lack of progress than I am; according to my original plan, I should have just posted Chapter 66, have a minimum of ten chapters on Patreon, and be gearing up to start a second fiction, with the story hopefully sitting at around 600 or so on Best Rated but settling for something north of 1000.
Looking back on this, I have to be amused that I fell short on everything except for how much you have all loved this story, as it is currently #69 on Best Rated sitewide and #13 in Best Rated Sci-Fi. I seriously thought that breaking the top 300 would be something I would only achieve after a minimum of a year. Thank you for that support. It really means a lot to me and Mrs. Ninja.
I'll post progress on the Discord. If you're wondering if the Discord is the right place for you, consider that the people there have already been pooling their resources to piece together clues I've dropped across multiple chapters, which has led to some very interesting discussions about history and science. Some of them have even been remarkably correct guesses, and I'll let people know which ones were correct once I get there in the story.
I'll also respond in the comments as best I can, though if you're asking questions about the accident please read through the comments first to see if I've already answered. It's not a subject I enjoy talking about, as you might imagine, and I'd rather not belabor it.
Thank you for your patience. You're the best audience I could have hoped for.