It isn't Dace's fault she leaves chaos everywhere she goes. She didn't know Belliff, the company who hired her to courier sensitive materials, is a front for the Targon Crime Syndicate. Now Targon is after her for stealing their shipment of smuggled goods. The Patrol is chasing her for piracy, smuggling, and disruption of trade on a dozen different planets. But that's nothing. Her copilot, Jerimon, has an entire sentient species chasing him for stealing their god, the Eggstone. The two of them set off on a desperate chase to get the Eggstone back to avert war with the Sessimoniss while evading the Patrol and the Targon Syndicate. But the Eggstone isn't just any rock. The Patrol isn't chasing her for the reasons she thinks. And Targon's days are numbered.
Genre: FICTION / Science Fiction / Space OperaI do okay with book sales. I'm working to build up my sales again after taking two years off from writing.
Boots clomped on the deck. I stood, leaving the locker hanging open, my clothes strewn over the floor. Jerimon waited in the doorway to the cockpit, his face pale. I stood between him and the airlock. I turned slowly.
Five non-humans edged into the ship. The shortest one stood seven feet and a bit. They were reptilian, their skin gray-green and lightly scaled. Crests of spines rose erect across their heads and down the back of their necks. Their yellow eyes narrowed in the white lights of the cabin. They had no visible ears, their noses were almost psychic.
The one in front raised an elongated, bony hand and pointed. It wore a garishly bright scarlet tunic; the others wore black with a weird emblem worked in gold on the left shoulder. "Where is it? What have you done with it, human?"
Jerimon swallowed hard, clinging to the doorframe as if it were a lifeline. It was obvious he knew what these creatures wanted. I was going to beat the information out of him as soon as I got rid of them.
I turned on the leader, planting my hands on my hips. The creature loomed, the spines of its crest almost brushing the ceiling. I refused to let it intimidate me. "What do you want on this ship? You are in violation of all free trade regulations."
"Silence!" The leader dismissed me, raising his slit-pupiled glare to Jerimon. "Where is the Eggstone?"
"I don't know." Jerimon's voice cracked with strain.
"Perhaps this will sharpen your memory." The creature's hand shot forward, bony claws digging into my shoulder. It pulled me close, forcing my face into its tunic. I struggled but the lizard-creature was too strong. It smelled odd, a weird mix of sharp plant and musty animal. The claws twitched once, digging furrows through my shoulder.
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French
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Already translated.
Translated by Louise Chaumont
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Juan C. Tello C.
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