Since we’re about a month away from the 101st anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking, on April 14th, I decided to keep going with excerpts from WRECK until then but after that I’m switching off to something else, ok? I’m REALLY appreciating all the comments and feedback! I’ve played with the punctuation a bit to make this eight sentences. This excerpt comes after the part where they’ve returned to the planet, allowed the pregnant woman and her entire party to debark and are now hurtling through the atmosphere, trying to make the rendezvous with the Nebula Dream before she leaves orbit:
There was a tug at his sleeve as he attempted to raise the now warm and watery drink to his lips.
“Sir, she forgot her pretty knife,” the boy said respectfully, offering the weapon to him, holding it by the lavishly gemmed hilt, stained blade pointed at the deck.
In vain Nick checked the aisle for a cabin attendant. They’d all gone into their private cubicle for a moment – probably gossiping about the events which just transpired. He reached for the dagger, wrapping it in a napkin. “Thank you – extremely observant – I’ll see it gets back to her, okay?”
Sinking further into his lush chair, he closed his eyes for a long minute. Well, okay, Jameson, now the trip will be boring. Hope you enjoyed the only excitement there’s going to be for the next ten days.
So our Nick is clearly not psychic, LOL.
The story:
Traveling unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he’ll gamble at the casino, take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.
All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self destruction.
But can Nick conquer the demons from his past that tell him he’ll fail these innocent people just as he failed to save his Special Forces team? Will he outpace his own doubts to win this vital race against time?
I love and appreciate your comments and feedback! Go here to find all the other Weekend Writing Warriors and read a variety of terrific excerpts…
WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, a 2013 SFR Galaxy Award winner, is available for kindle, as an audio book or a paperback at Amazon. The audio sample is here.
I think that might be wishful thinking on Nick’s part! This is a nice quiet moment. I like the little bits of information about Nick’s surroundings that you drop in.
Love his calm demeanor, closing his eyes even. Calm before the storm. Cool moment.
I suspect he’s wrong about being bored. Love it!
I finished Nebula Dream in two days. I could have done it quicker if i didn’t have to go to work the next day and could stay up late. Super read. I reviewed you on Goodreads.
Thank you VERY much! so glad you enjoyed the book!
The poor guy. He really has earned a few days of peace. Great snippet!
And he gets about two days before everything goes really bad LOL!
Love the visual of the blade!! Awesome 8, as usual!! What oh what will happen next??
Don’t think boredom is in his immediate future 😀
Yes, it’s about to get a whole lot more interesting. Nice snippet, Veronica!
I have a feeling things aren’t going to be boring. Nice setup. I want to know what happens next.
I wonder what part that little jeweled knife will play?
Very curious about the jeweled blade. And, of course, what’s coming Nick’s way after this calm. Ten days, huh. Great snippet.
Great 8 ~ I’m loving this story (and I tweeted). =)
It’s never a good sign when the crew has disappeared. Bad mojo’s afoot!
Ooo! Really cool! Love the premise of an outer-space Titanic 🙂 Great 8!
Obviously! I think he’s going to get more adventure than he can stand. 🙂 Loved this 8!
Wow, I don’t read a lot of science fiction but that sounds like a great set-up for a story. I’m intrigued. I like the detail in the snippet, too!
Very well written 8. I tweeted.
How could he be bored? The crew being gone is gotta be upsetting. Great job and enjoyed this very much.:-)
If only it could remain boring. Poor Nick.
But then he’d really never get to know Mara and that would be sad…there’s a silver lining to everything LOL.
“Hope you enjoyed the only excitement there’s going to be for the next ten days.” Not likely! 🙂 Nice passage.
Love this sort of reverse-psychology foreshadowing! Totally hooked, great 8. 🙂
LOL, that’s definitely ‘famous last words’!
He should know it won’t be boring. Hasn’t he been reading the previous snippets? 😉 Enjoyed these eight as always.
Your comment totally cracked me up – “hasn’t he been reading the previous snippets?” – LOVED it. You rock!
“Hope you enjoyed the only excitement there’s going to be for the next ten days.”–haha. Famous last words! Terrific snippet!
I really appreciate all the comments and I’m glad no one seems to mind having WRECK around for the immediate future, till the Titanic anniversary anyway. Thank you!
When is anything boring for Nick? Yes, he deserves a little downtime. LOL!
Good point, Nick’s life is never boring!
Nice foreshadowing. Even if Nick thinks things have calmed down, I can tell that’s wishful thinking on his part. Great 8! Looking forward to more.
I’m really liking this story, and they haven’t even reached the ship yet!
Nick is sooo very wrong, bless him. I can’t believe it’s almost 101 years since the Titanic. Goodness technology has changed in such a short period of time. Imagine where we’ll be in another 100.
Love your characterization 🙂
An abandoned ship and Nick is left holding the knife. Good work gal!
I remember the hysterical woman from a previous 8, but the knife has me intrigued. And of course things aren’t going to go smoothly, are they? 🙂
It was actually her knife – she stabbed Nick at one point…hard to get the entire novel into weekly 8 sentences – sorry!
That’s the deceptive calm before the storm. Things must be about to get crazy again.
Excellent snippet! Yeppers, Nick was lacking in that estimation! 🙂
Ok, now I thought surely the pregnant lady did not get off, but I was wrong. Hmm…something’s still up though.
I believe he has counted his chickens before they’ve hatched, lol. Great snippet, Veronica. 🙂
Great snippet! Intriguing!
Fantastic snippet. I love that his boredom comes through in every move. Wonderful details.
I can’t wait to see just how wrong he is, LOL!