Rix Universe

Earth is in decline, and the wealthy have fled it, leaving only the destitute citizens behind. And aliens. Gemma McKinley works at a prison cleaning goop off the floors and serving food to inmates. When she is reassigned to the alien ward, Gemma is nervous. Aliens are dangerous and ruthless. They bite. But there is one that isn’t like them. Simon is damaged, starved, and wasting away in complete isolation. Touched by his loneliness, Gemma starts nursing him back to health, dismissing rumors that he’s high-risk, ignoring the advice to let him croak.

After a dismal upbringing on decaying, alien-infested Earth, Emmaline "Cricket" Beatty now lives a charmed life on humanity's new and improved home planet Meeus. The constant vulnerability of the before has given way to the ironclad security of the present. Everything is pretty, organized, predictable. There are no flaws in this new world. When the hospital where Cricket works hosts an intergalactic symposium, she is called upon to translate for the alien guests. She is intrigued to see that a secretive Rix nation has sent a delegate.