A Character in the Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Universe of Lost Messages’ Speaks Out by Janet Stilson

Hey. My name’s Cheeta Lucida LaVera. You’ll find me inside a new book by Janet Stilson called Universe of Lost Messages. She asked me to explain a few things.

First off, you should know that I’m 17, and I’ve seen some pretty bad stuff. I was homeless on the streets of New York for a while. But I met a senator, Miles Morelli, who saved me. I became his assistant, and we had a lot of fun building this robot together in our spare time. Miles was going to help me pay for college and study robotics. That’s what I love. It just about killed me when they reported that he died in a car accident.

Just after that, I was thrown into a metaverse—a virtual space called the Universe of Lost Messages. Instead of planets and stars, it’s filled with millions of bubbles. Inside each one is a message. None of them reached the people that were supposed to get them. Crazy, right?

I was floating around there, really confused when I came across a message from the Senator that blew me away. He never died! Before he disappeared, Miles had investigated this secret political organization called The Fist and was going to blow their cover. So they put him in a private prison, along with some other people.

Two of the prisoners, Tristan and Izzie, have these superpowers of persuasion. The Fist wanted to use them to screw with people’s heads all over the world. Those Fist people want to rule the whole planet.

Some messages in that Universe gave me clues about where that frickin’ prison might be. But I couldn’t find it alone. Had to team up with some other people—like Izzie and Tristan’s families—which is a real head trip, let me tell you.

Going through the Universe was like a tornado at times; it was crazy scary. But even though we were all desperate and determined to find the prison, some good things happened—really tight friendships and love, plus the occasional laugh.

Hope you’ll check it out!