Saturday, March 23, 2019

Enemies lurk everywhere - Snippet from TRAPPED 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. Find a new author and sample their work. Enjoy!

I’m continuing my new story, Trapped on Vkani, book 3 in my series Atrapako on Eden. The settings are two remote planets: Eden, a terraformed planet with a colony of humans; and Vkani, an inhospitable planet with scaled human(oid) aliens. You can read about the planets and their inhabitants in my Blog Post HERE.

Maya and her team had planned to explore the ruins of an ancient civilization in the radioactive Deadlands. But when a sandstorm buried their shuttle under a thick layer of sand, they had to dig to the surface to call for help. Maya was pulled out of the sand by a blue scaled alien with curved claws. Jack, who had led the way out, is lying on the ground near a massive Red Atrapako.  
I’ve skipped a few lines in which the Blue binds May’s wrists and orders the Red to pull her other teammates out of the sand dune. 

     Clambering awkwardly onto her feet, Maya stumbled over to where Jack lay. She stared at his motionless body in disbelief; his neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, and behind the goggles, his eyes were wide and blank. Choking back a cry of horror, she knelt and attempted to remove his glove to check for a pulse. With her wrists bound together, her clumsy efforts failed; obscured by the mask, tears streamed down her cheeks and she sobbed. 
     Someone tapped her shoulder; she swung round in alarm.
     In a chilly tone, the Blue said, “Only a fool would attack a Red.”
     Her grief slid into rage; jumping to her feet, she balled her fists and spat an accusation, “You killed him!”
     “Enemies lurk everywhere.” After this dispassionate excuse, the Blue’s gaze flicked up and down her body, lingering on her face, “Was he your Blue?” 

Another misunderstanding?  

 Trapped

Marooned on a desolate planet, joining forces with the enemy is their only hope.
     Maya Pandita spent years preparing for an expedition to the Deadlands. But her dreams of unearthing ancient artifacts are shattered when her shuttle is buried by a violent sandstorm, and her team is abducted by the scaled inhabitants of the planet. Maya and her companions must try to outwit their blue captor and call for help before they die in the toxic atmosphere.
     Sa Vittaran has a problem in his claws. Along with treasures from the ruins, he has retrieved three smooth-skinned foreigners. They will die if he leaves them in the desert. He cannot leave them to die in the desert. Yet the puny creatures have little value as workers, except perhaps for the impudent woman who claims to be their leader. Her knowledge of the ancient script will be an asset if she can survive the long trek to his house. 
     An attack by marauders forces Maya and the Blue leader into a wary alliance. They must work together to thwart the bandits and reunite their company. Can Maya convince Sa Vittaran to help her team? If she fails, they are doomed to a short unpleasant life on the desolate, war-torn planet.

Now released! 

The first books in this series are:
SciFi Romance. Feisty scientist solves puzzle of scaly aliens. (Still 99c until March 31)

 Atrapako


As always, I’ll be happy to reply to your comments.  
Please return to www.wewriwa.com to sample the works of the other writers.

Find a catalog of my published stories HERE.
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19 comments:

  1. Being on such an alien planet can be dangerous and lead to many misunderstandings. I hope they are able to communicate better with each other so no one else loses their life. Great snippet!

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    1. Yes. They are lucky she speaks his language well and has learned about their culture.

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  2. She needs to decipher the aliens' color codes quickly!

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    1. Maya knows their color code - the Blue is the leader and the Red is a laborer or warrior, although Jack might not have remembered when he climbed up.
      She and Jack are wearing green-colored suits, however, the Blue realizes they are different - hence his question.

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  3. Way to much opportunity for fatal misunderstandings here. Nicely set up!

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    1. Thanks! Yes, their misunderstandings will continue until the final chapter.

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  4. Oh dear, a rough moment for her, but a very well done excerpt. I hope the new release is doing really well!

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  5. Good job making me feel her anguish. Now she's alone. That has to be scary. Best wishes on this new release.

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    1. Thank you. In fact, the other two members of her team have been pulled out of the sand. They're alive, although restrained.

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  6. That's intriguing! I'm not sure I understand the meaning of "Blue" on this world. :-)

    Nice world building!

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    1. Their culture has color-coded classes. Blue scales indicate a member of the dominant class. Greens are technologists, Reds are laborers and warriors. Everyone else is Yellow. Maya knows the Blue is in charge, but he is confused by the human system.

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  7. Not a nice situation for her to be in. Lot's of "colour" confusion.

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    1. Exactly! The color classes are a key feature of this series.

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  8. So are reds the females and blues the males? Interesting development.

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    1. No. They not differentiated by sex. Blues are leaders, Reds are laborers and soldiers.

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  9. Ah, but she's not an expendable 'red shirt'! Such wonderful development of their differences.

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    1. Thank you. I'm glad you understood.
      In fact, he doesn't treat his Reds as expendable, although some Blues do.

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  10. Was he her blue? Huh... What an interesting question. I wonder what Blue means by that. I wonder what the colors mean to these aliens. Interesting snippet!

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    1. I've given the information in next week's post. Their society is color-coded. Blues (blue scales) are leaders, Greens have technical skills, Reds are laborers and soldiers. Everyone else is Yellow.

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