Welcome to another Sunday
with Weekend
Writing Warriors. Meet writers in various genres and
read 8-10 sentence snippets of their stories.
I’m posting
snippets from my WIP set on Jupiter’s moon, Europa.
Current Tag line: What alien creatures lurk under the ice
crust of Europa?
Here are the next few lines of Chapter one. Dr. Nikki Bell
is traveling to Europa to study the alien life in the ocean. Alarms rang on her
spaceship and she has raced to the lifepod. Nobody else is there.
It’s not a final version and any suggestions will be
especially appreciated.
You can read my last snippet here: https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2017/09/breached-hull-snippet-for-wewriwa-scifi.html
I’ve altered punctuation to fit.
A groan from Roy, and negative
shakes of the head from the other two confirmed her suspicions: they were the
only ones to reach this lifepod.
Clamping down her fears, Nikki
took charge. She pointed at Alita, “Get Roy a pain killer and find a bandage
for his arm; he’ll need help with his suit.”
“What about Karl? Can’t we wait?”
Alita whispered.
She silenced Alita’s faint
objections, “Karl is probably in a lifepod in the next section. We’ll meet him
on Europa.” Once they launched from the ship, their target was obvious. They
were close to their destination and the lifepod had enough fuel to reach
Europa.
“Does anyone know what happened
to the ferry?” Petris asked.
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
second meeting with Kiron triggers a chain of disasters in Europa’s perilous
oceans. Can they overcome deadly aquatic predators and their people’s
antagonism to forge a new alliance?
Book 1 in a
new series – I’m still debating the name.
My promotion starts on Monday
FREE 25-26: Grand
Master’s Cat: Short Prequel to the Grand Master’s Trilogy
When Grand Master
Griffin investigates a wrecked spacecraft, his efforts to rescue the survivors
lead to feline disruptions of his plans.
As always, I’ll be happy to reply to your comments.
I'm really enjoying these snippets, I have a feeling she might not be quite as confident as she makes out about Karl's safety though.
ReplyDeleteShe wants to calm Alita. Not everybody will survive.
DeleteThat last might be a good question. If the ferry was attacked, they're at risk in the life pod.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea. This is a regular ferry trip and they don't expect an attack.
DeleteSo many questions, and they won't know the answers until they get to Europa. Very intriguing! :)
ReplyDeleteIf then! Europa will open new questions.
DeleteThe urgency of their need to flee in the life pod comes through clearly!
ReplyDeleteGreat - thanks!
DeleteCan't wait to read this, seems like a classic high stakes scifi adventure! Enjoyed the snippet...
ReplyDeleteIt's drama at every turn. I'm just smoothing out a couple of chapters near the end.
DeleteFrom the tagline, this seems like the kind of SF story that, if it were made into a movie, would be a horror flick. One little suggestion: could she spare a fleeting thought for her lost crew members? I know there isn't time for a big memoriam, but even a little care for them (at some point, if not here) might make her more sympathetic.
ReplyDeleteShe does a little later during the flight to Europa. Also, Alita accuses her of not caring about people, and we learn why she damps her emotions.
DeleteSome people react to disaster by cracking jokes.
It's rough when you've got to get to your destination, but you don't have your full crew or any backup.
ReplyDeleteThe lifepod can make it. They'll see the damage to the ship shortly.
DeleteUh oh. I wonder what happened to the ferry too.
ReplyDeleteThey'll find out in a few lines.
DeleteHopefully Karl is where he's supposed to be!
ReplyDeleteNot everyone will survive. This story has several deaths in accidents, and a murder.
DeleteThis is so interesting, as all your books are, Aurora! I'm in the middle of reading the rest of the Grand Master's series. Working my way through until I read your other books as well. Europa sounds exciting to say the least.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Yes, Europa is very exciting.
DeleteThe tension! Great snippet!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I aim to tease.
Delete