Celebrate, YA Sci-Fi fans! Proxy, e-novella to the upcoming and highly anticipated Young Adult Sci-Fi Thriller Avalon by Mindee Arnett, releases today! Before you dash off to purchase a copy (if you haven't already, of course), see below for all the info on the book, read an excerpt, and enter for a chance to win an ARC of Avalon itself (which I am currently reading and highly recommend). Check it out!
Title: Proxy
THE BOOK
Title: Proxy
Author: Mindee Arnett
Publisher: HarperTeen Impulse
Find It On: Goodreads
Summary:
If you need something stolen from any star system in the Confederation, you need look no further than the Shades. Jeth Seagrave and his band of teenage mercenaries have been making a name for themselves for being able to steal anything—and for disappearing before anyone is the wiser. Their latest job, a jewel heist on Grakkus, should be no different. But when Jeth's boss replaces a key member of his crew just before takeoff, and Jeth discovers a betrayal within his own ranks, he begins to suspect that not everyone is going to be coming back from his job alive.
Proxy is an action-packed introduction to a world like nothing readers have seen before, and it sets a spark to the powder keg that will explode in Mindee Arnett's sci-fi thriller Avalon.
THE EXCERPT
The thrill of the job never
got old. Jeth Seagrave lived for it. For the way the anticipation sent
electricity pulsing through his veins, making his blood burn hotter, his heart
beat harder, and sharpening his senses until he felt like something more than
human. A superhero from one of the ancient myths of First Earth, perhaps.
You’re no hero. The
automatic thought skidded through his mind, barely registering. No, he wasn’t.
He was a thief. One of the best.
And that was all that
mattered. Never mind that he was only sixteen. Never mind that most of his crew
was even younger. Together they were an unstoppable force, a gang of teenage
thieves their adult marks never saw coming. The thrill pulsed harder inside
him, and with an effort he focused on the nav monitor in front of him. They
would be entering the patrolled zone around the planet Grakkus soon.
To his left, Celeste piloted
the Debonair forward, her hands steady on the control column. Jeth would’ve
preferred to pilot this job—he would prefer to pilot every job—but he and
Celeste took turns. All of the members of the Malleus Shades held specific
roles that played to their strengths. Celeste’s forte was counterintelligence,
particularly the art of distracting marks. Jeth’s was strategy, and he
typically took point on every job. But when it came to piloting, he and Celeste
were equally matched.
Jeth drew a breath, still
struggling to focus. He couldn’t help it. The upcoming job was the most
challenging, complicated one they’d taken on yet. The target was located in a
vault at the top of a tower only accessible through the emperor of Grakkus’s
personal bedchambers—not some insignificant politician or petty crime lord, but
an emperor. Pulling it off would be like flying a spaceship through a solar
storm without getting fried. A grin threatened to break on his face. The job
was going to be fun, and with a payout well worth the risk.
At last the nav computer
flashed an indicator that they were heading into the patrolled zone.
Celeste glanced at him, her
dark eyes narrowing. Straight black hair hung in a blunt cut down to her
shoulders. “Are you going to turn on the stealth drive or what?”
“I’m thinking about it.” A
part of him didn’t want to. The so-called stealth drive was brand new and
untested, at least by the Shades. If it didn’t work, things were going to get a
whole lot more interesting real quick. And if it did work, well, then things weren’t
going to get interesting. He couldn’t decide which he preferred.
In the end, Celeste made the
decision for him, reaching over to a switch on a sleek new section of the
control panel. Jeth sighed. It was the right thing to do, of course, and there
would be plenty of risks to be had once they landed.
Or it might not work properly,
he thought, examining the nav monitor once more. Best not to blindly trust some
newfangled technology. Within minutes he spotted a blimp on the monitor, a
patrol to their starboard. The ship was far off, but within range to scan them.
“What should I do?” A hint
of panic colored Celeste’s voice. They had never before flown so boldly through
a patrolled area.
“Hold course,” Jeth said,
not taking his eyes off the blimp. So far the patrol ship hadn’t given any sign
that it had spotted them.
“You sure you’re right?”
“Aren’t I always?”
Celeste snorted. “Do you
want an honest answer?”
“Nope. I prefer my own
version of the truth.”
“Right.” Celeste tightened
her grip on the controls. According to the instructions they’d received from
their employer, who owned the Debonair, the stealth drive worked best when the
ship maintained a constant speed and course. Any sharp turns or drastic
acceleration or deceleration could turn up on a system scanning for thruster
signatures, stealth drive or no.
Maybe it was for the best
that Celeste was piloting, Jeth realized. He would’ve been tempted to test the
theory of what constituted “drastic.”
They passed out of range of
the patrol a few minutes later, and Jeth sat back in the copilot’s chair,
folding his arms across his chest as he tried to ignore his disappointment.
They flew within range of three more patrols but moved past them without
incident, finally breaching Grakkus’s atmosphere.
Once through, Celeste headed
for their rendezvous point, an isolated forested area a few hundred kilometers
outside of the capital city. Beyond the bridge’s main windows, the first rays
of sunlight were breasting the horizon, heralded by a swath of purple, pink,
and vermillion.
At last Celeste set the Debonair
down on a large stretch of tall grass the color of seaweed. She powered off the
engines and turned on the auxiliary, which would keep the shipboard systems
running, including the stealth drive. It wasn’t likely that anyone would spot
them out here—the place was well off the main thoroughfares, not to mention how
inhospitable the swamp surrounding them was—but Jeth decided not to point that
out.
Celeste stood and stretched,
the movement languid as if she were part cat. The dark, fitted clothing she
wore aided the illusion. “So, what now?”
Jeth checked his watch,
which he’d synced to Grakkus time. “I say breakfast or lunch, whichever works,
and then a couple hours’ R and R. The setup man’s not due to arrive until
fourteen hundred.” They’d had to get here early to avoid being detected during
landing. The stealth drive hid them from sight, but it couldn’t disguise the
sound of the engines or the wind raised by the thrusters.
“Think I’m going to shower
again, before—” Celeste broke off as a voice echoed over the ship’s comm
system.
“Um, Boss? We sorta have a
situation. You might want to get down to the common room.”
Jeth blinked, all his
disappointment from their unadventurous journey vanishing in the space of a
single breath. It wasn’t often that Will Shady sounded nervous.
Wondering if maybe the ship
was on fire, Jeth turned and headed off the bridge with Celeste quick on his
heels. They arrived in the common room on the deck below moments later. Jeth
stopped in the doorway, surveying the scene. There wasn’t a fire. There wasn’t
anything amiss at all, as far as he could tell. Shady was sitting on one of the
sofas, his attention focused on the 3D projection from his portable gaming
system, a wave of bloodthirsty robots coming at him, each one falling to his
simulated gunfire. The comm unit he’d used to radio the bridge sat discarded on
the sofa beside him, in danger of being swallowed by a cushion.
Jeth approached him. “What
are you doing?”
“Practicing,” Shady said,
not looking up. The scowl on his face as he let off a triple blast, drilling a
robot right between its bulbous black eyes, made his features look distinctly
leonine, the appearance aided by his shaggy mane of blond hair. Shady’s
assigned role in the Malleus Shades was ordnance officer.
Jeth put his hands on his
hips. “We’re not going to be shooting anybody on this job. And please tell me
this wasn’t the thing I needed to see.”
Shady shook his head. “Nope.
It’s in that storage locker.” He pointed to the row of lockers along the wall
across from them. “The one in the middle.”
Jeth arched an eyebrow. He
considered pressing Shady for more, but knew there wasn’t much point. All the
crew dealt with prejob nerves in different ways, and once engrossed in his
ritual video game, it was hard to get Shady to concern himself with anything else.
Jeth crossed the floor to
the locker in question, wondering where the Debonair had been last. Their
employer used the ship for lots of different jobs, and it was possible it had
been parked planetside somewhere a wild animal could’ve gotten in. An image of
something furry and clawed and with teeth the size of fingers flashed through
Jeth’s mind. He wasn’t wearing a gun, and he briefly considered getting one
before finding out what had Shady so nervous, but then he shrugged and pulled
the door open.
There was something alive in
there all right, but it wasn’t a wild animal. Even still, it took Jeth several
moments to come to grip with what it was. Who it was.
Ready to get the rest of the novella? After that excerpt, of course you are! Purchase your copy here!
THE AUTHOR
No comments:
Post a Comment