Saturday, December 2, 2017

A New Mystery - Snippet from EUROPA for #WeWriWa #SciFiRom


Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors. Meet writers in various genres and read 8-10 sentence snippets of their stories.

Sorry, I skipped last weekend, but I’ll continue the scene from my latest novel set on Jupiter’s moon, Europa.

Tag line: Daredevil scientist and scarred alien in perilous alliance

Blurb
Dr. Nikki Bell’s plan to discover intelligent life in the oceans of Europa hits a rocky start when her spaceship crashes on the icy surface. Seconds before she blacks out, she spies a man’s face in the water beneath the ice. When she wakes on the submarine Station, nobody believes her story. Convinced the mysterious stranger saved her life, Nikki searches for him while she explores the ocean and its alien inhabitants. 
Kiron Arqin Ramis chose exile as a Watcher on a remote outpost to redeem his family’s honor. He never expected to find an attractive Earther woman close to death. He violates the prime policy by rescuing her. Despite suffering the penalty, he strives to warn her about his hostile leaders.
Nikki’s unexpected meeting with Kiron triggers a chain of disasters in Europa’s perilous oceans. Can the daredevil scientist and scarred Watcher forge a new alliance despite their people’s antagonism?  
          Book 1 in a new SciFi series, Taxyon Space.

Nikki has descended to Bathos, a separate part of Galileo Station constructed on the seabed of the Europan ocean. She plans to live on Bathos while she explores the native marine life. Tech Albright, aka Big Al, is giving her a tour. He explains what her predecessor told him: “One time, maybe six or seven weeks ago, Sally claimed the sub’s monitors had picked up an object shooting across the edge of their range; something shaped like a hunch-backed man.”
I’ve edited the excerpt to fit. Please excuse my abuse of punctuation.

“I didn’t see anything about a man in her official reports,” Nikki frowned and tapped a rhythm on her wrist. Had Dr. Merrigold seen her rescuer, the red-haired man? She arched her eyebrows, “Did she investigate?” 
“Reckon she did; Sally went off in her sub and never came back; bloody disappeared!”
“Major Tarlick said they found the sub.” 
“Real tricky search; four searchers in two subs with a load of detectors surveyed a wide area around her logged destination. Search took seven days; ocean’s a big place.” Al swung his arms in a semicircle, indicating everything outside the Station, “Mountains and valleys on the seabed, deep pits and fissures, volcanic vents; a ton of critters swarming everywhere.”
Nikki nodded, “Are you suggesting she was attacked and eaten by a large carnivore?”
“Seems more likely than a frikking merman,” Al shrugged.

 Europa

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As always, I’ll be happy to reply to your comments.
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24 comments:

  1. Uh-oh! I wonder if Nikki will end up back where she was found to search for the missing woman. Nice snippet!

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    1. She will end up in the arms of her mysterious rescuer.

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  2. It's just so strange that they found the sub empty though. If there was a carnivore why would she has gotten out? Very mysterious.

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    1. She was studying the marine life and might have left the sub to examine something.

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  3. Although we know the merman exists, he seemed quite helpful and friendly. That means there's an even more dangerous mystery hiding somewhere.

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    1. There are many dangers in the oceans and Nikki encounters several of them.

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  4. Intriguing snippet, indeed. I wonder what / who else is out there.

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    1. An entire ecosystem including top predators as well as the "merman".

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  5. Sounds like there are a lot of possibilities, and none of them good!

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  6. I'm loving this backstory of the other woman's adventure! Great snippet, can't wait for more...

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  7. Love that last sentence. Great snippet and I'm enjoying the book although I've only read a couple of chapters so far, but I love the world you've created.

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    1. Thank you. The plot has several twists and the story continues in the next book.

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  8. Intriguing. What else could be out there?

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    1. Oh - a number of dangerous animals as well as the "merman"

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  9. Great last sentence. This story really intrigues me. Can't wait to read it.

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