Aloha – A quick note on Sea of Salt, the sequel to Salt of the Earth. I’m moving forward at about a chapter a week and anticipate having final draft completed by the end of the year. I’ll share another excerpt in the next few days. Meanwhile, “Project Lilliput” is moving to Audible. I have a great narrator (he did the entire Orion’s Spur series) and he is about a third of the way through the book. I’m hoping to have this available on Audible by the end of the summer so its time to refresh with excerpts from the book for fans and readers. The book is available on Amazon both in e-book and paperback. So lets begin at the beginning.
Chapter 1 Cloud Dragons
Eric Brice was a firstling. He was not unique. All 27 members of his class were firstlings. They were the first born after the Transition and provided evidence that the planet-wide initiative had worked.
Eric often wondered what his mother had thought. Had she been afraid? Did she think she would die? He realized that his mother must have been the bravest person in the world. Correction, all the mothers of his generation must have been the bravest people on the planet. Trying to imagine the fear they must have endured for nine months terrorized him even now at seventeen years of age.
“Beautiful, isn’t it,” a voice startled him.
“Huh?” Eric turned to see the smiling face of his friend Kviiiy as she slid in facing him on the padded bench seating.
“I just noticed that you were looking out the window, and assumed you were taking in the rolling hills of Iowa,” Kviiiy responded smiling. “Or were you just meditating again?”
Kviiiy was the same age as Eric and had been his best friend since they were both six years old. She was a bit shorter than Eric and had recently filled out with a solid, curvy build. She had red curly hair that she was always fighting, and a face full of freckles. When they were eight, she asked Eric to count the freckles on her face, but he lost count at a hundred.
Turning back to the window, Eric replied reflectively, “Yes it is pretty, a lot nicer than the brown weeds of home.”
The bullet train they were riding sank back to the surface after zipping across a bridge spanning the North Skunk River.
“Haven’t we crossed this river already?” Kviiiy asked, leaning across Eric to get a closer look.
“You smell good today,” Eric grinned. “Making another play for Tony?”
“He’ll come around,” Kviiiy smiled knowingly.
“To your question,” Eric spoke as he turned back to the window, “we’ve crossed the North Skunk River three times and will cross it once more according to the maps. It writhes back and forth like a snake. The train line is moving southwest, so we intersect it four times before we cross into Illinois.”
Kviiiy plunked down beside Eric. She was dressed in a denim shirt and jeans, and wore a white headband holding back her rebellious red hair. “How fast are we going now?”
Eric scowled. “200 miles per hour with the mag-lev system. You know all this; don’t play dumb with me. What gives?”
“I’m bored,” Kviiiy replied.
“So Tony blew you off?” Eric grinned.
“No… yes… sort of.” Kviiiy sulked. “Chanel is all over him.”
“Okay, how about a game of cards?” Eric exhaled slowly. He reached under his seat to pull a deck from his backpack when the lights inside the car flashed to warn that the train was slowing down. Even so, he toppled over onto Kviiiy as the train quickly decelerated. As he recovered, he noticed her blue eyes staring into his. “Sorry.” he blushed as he stood back up.
Eric was stocky but tall compared to his peers. His ink black hair contrasted his pale face, which exacerbated the scarlet color that rose when he blushed. He preferred slacks to jeans and wore a blue, button-down collared shirt, which was his signature look. “I wonder why we’re stopping. We’re still in Iowa. We shouldn’t get to Springfield Central for another hour.”
As the train came to a rest, the lights flashed again, and a neutral computer voice came over the PA ordering everyone to stay in their seats.
Eric and Kviiiy joined their classmates, ignoring the announcement, crowding around the windows trying to figure out what was going on. It was a lightly wooded area with green rolling hills. The area immediately surrounding the train was thick with some sort of thorny wild berry plants. The fruit on the bushes had formed but was still green.
“I’m going outside to see what the problem is.” A voice that Eric recognized as belonging to Anthony Dennett rose above the din. Tony was the class president. He was also captain of the junior class basketball team.
“I’m going with you,” came another voice.
Female. Chanel Savage obviously, Eric thought.
Kviiiy moved to stand, but Eric dragged her back into her seat. “This is neither the time nor place to be wandering outside,” he whispered.
“But…” Kviiiy began.
“No buts.” Eric cut her off. “We wait and see.”
Several minutes passed before the chatter of classmates resumed when Tony returned. Standing at the doorway he announced, “Looks like a broken tree limb blocking the track. They’re unloading the lasers to cut it away.”
“Come on out,” Chanel called. It’s a beautiful day out here, just a bit muggy.”
The call to enjoy a sunny day in Iowa was too much for Eric’s classmates, as they rose from their seats and started to disembark. “Don’t you want to go outside?” Kviiiy asked as she got out of her seat.
“I’m thinking about it,” Eric stalled. “It would be interesting to watch the lasers at work.” He had a sudden urge to scratch at the scars on his back. “I think I’ll stay here,” he replied indecisively.
“Come on.” Kviiiy encouraged. “I’ll protect you.”
“Even Tony can’t protect us.” Eric growled. Nonetheless, he rose to follow Kviiiy.
Just as they reached the doorway to the train he heard screams and backed away from the door; a too familiar screech followed.
As students shoved to get back to the safety of the train, Eric heard someone outside yell, “Cloud Dragons.”
“Great!” Eric exhaled. The engineers weren’t dumb enough to remove all the defensive lasers were they? He wondered.
One screech was followed by another and another. Eric finally got up the nerve to approach a window. Three, four… no five. I don’t recognize this variety.
Kviiiy joined him, “Looks like kites,” she stood mouth agape.