The Rough Draft is Finally Finished!
Last night, I had the pleasure of typing the two most satisfying words a writers arsenal… “THE END”. It’s my first draft, and there’s a lot of work ahead, but I feel like I’ve reached the top of Mt. Everest. It’s downhill from here.
The Basics
Ella Rosa and the Draconian Conspiracy is the second book int he Ella Rosa series, a satirical space opera about an Earth woman who gets caught up in an intergalactic conflict after she rescues two strange women from a dangerous-looking man. The Draconian Conspiracy is set a year after the events of Song of the Seirenes, and focuses on the emotional fallout of the events of the first book.
If you’re curious, here’s a small sample of Chapter One for your reading pleasure. 🙂
A Small Sample, Just for You…
CHAPTER ONE
Our Hero, Ella Rosa
The Universe is still weird…
That is to say, it’s still filled to the hilt with gloriously strange places, people and things. There is Nakusula, the “singing moon,” whose deep caverns produce a gentle sonata when the methane winds blow just right. There are the liquid-mercurial asteroids of the Klaane system, ripped asunder and reconstituted in a dance of gravitational tug of war between two gas giants. There are the ruins of Serpo, the poisoned city, whispering stories of great civilizations long forgotten.
Then there are humans, still considered the most dramatic species in the Universe. In the 364 days since the Great Blackout and the return of the Diachron, the Universe has begun to heal. Many held private concerns that the growing mental health and stability of the human race might lead to boring- or otherwise uninspired- entertainment. It didn’t. In spite of the renewed health and vitality of Earth’s ecosystem- and in the face of the eradication of war, poverty and high-fructose corn syrup- human beings to wreak havoc on themselves and one another, and transform these experiences into damned good drama. In the absence of oil companies, car dealerships and fast food chains, the number one export of Earth and its associated colonies is its finely-produced media. Whether it’s otherwise sane people competing to see who can eat the most live invertebrates for an all-expense paid trip to Patronis, Martian Survivor, or award-winning historical dramas like The Tears of Corxon, human-made entertainment continues to sweep intergalactic ratings.
At the forefront of humanity stands Ella Rosa, the most famous human being in the cosmos. Thanks to the YouNiverse videos which caught her and the crew of the Eonic Raptor in the act of saving the world- or, rather, worlds- she is considered a hero, celebrity, role-model and the de-facto spokeswoman for planet Earth. While she is still the tough, mechanically-inclined, bronytail wearing lesbiana with the killer glare, she is no longer able to live the quiet, simple life she used to. Ella has traded her Airstream trailer for one of the 3D-printed homes that have become the gold standard on planet Earth since the Great Resettlement. Her home is stocked with a long list of free Patronis appliances and gadgets the marketing department hopes Ella will be seen using. She has graciously donated her tiny Airstream to the Ella Rosa Experience in New Aberdeen, now one of the most visited museums on planet Earth. Oh, and if you mention the museum to her, you might find yourself on the receiving end of a glare with a subtle eye roll to boot. Ella hates that kind of attention.
At present, Ella is busy preparing for the Cyclical ComiCongressional Closing Address… a rare honor reserved only for the most highly regarded individuals in the known Universe. As the first human to address the ComiCongress- and on the eve of an exciting new Earth holiday commemorating healing and renewal- the Known Universe is eagerly awaiting her words. There is absilutely no doubt that Ella Rosa is hard at work fine-tuning the important words she will be sharing with the Cosmos mere hours from now…
– Excerpt from “The Unauthorized Biography of Ella Rosa”
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“Hey! Pendejo!” Ella yelled across the dark metallic hallway, “Throw me a clip! I’m almost out!”
“Do I want to know what that word means?” Noowt asked, reaching into a leg compartment on its metallic humanoid suit for a full cartridge. When it found the clip, Noowt tossed it across the gang plank into her waiting hand.
“No,” Ella said, slamming the clip into the 9mm pistol with dramatic flair, “Don’t look it up.”
“Are you excited about the ComiCongress Address? It’s a huge honor…”
“Noowt… I need to focus on this right now?”
“Sure.”
Overhead, the lights flickered on and off. In the flicker the fluorescents, Ella saw lights floating in the darkness at the end of the pipe-strewn service hallway. Several sets of glowing red eyes. Through the rising techno music that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, she heard the arrhythmic sound of feet shuffling and sliding against the metal floor grating.
“Zombots!” Ella yelled over the din, “A lot of them!”
Noowt sighed.
“Yes. I have several eyes,” it groaned, “Look, try and make our remaining ammo last this time. It’s all I have…”
Before the words had even left its electronic voice box, Ella stepped into the open, firing round after round into the reanimated cranial circuitry of the zombots. The cybernetic undead fell to the ground in rapid succession, fountains of sparks spraying out of their heads.
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!
No more bullets. The mindless zombies kept coming, those in the rear stumbling through the rusted shells of the fallen.
“Ella!” Noowt admonished, “This is supposed to be about strategy, not brute force!”
A bright white light filled the hallway as Ella pulled her plasma dagger from the scabbard that hung from her belt.
“I have a strategy,” she said, “Kill them all.”
The poorly refurbished robots continued to pour into the hallway from some unseen adjacent room, their mismatched limbs clanking against the floor. They were the Patrobotics factory rejects; reanimated by the dark radiation of a passing comet and hell-bent on the destruction of all biological life.
An array of plasma daggers appeared in the hands of the zombots in a cacophony of sizzling white light.
The game was on.
Ella ran at the zombots, dagger raised overhead. In seconds, sword met sword in a flash of light and fury. Ella spun the sword out of the first zombot’s hand, decapitating the machine on the upswing. She sliced the dagger arm off the next zombot, cutting it in half with a lateral swipe. The next, she split in half with a downward swipe of the dagger. Zombot after zombot fell under Ella’s expert swordswomanship, falling to the floors and stammering headlessly into the walls of the hallway. In the end, the air was hot and filled with the smell of molten metal and hot ozone.
She took a moment to catch her breath. From her new vantage point, she could see into the room where the zombots had come from. In it’s center, surrounded by a maze of dusty metal packing crates, was the glowing McGuffin. It levitated with a subtle hum, spinning slowly and emitting a soft light. A handful of zombots stumbled aimlessly around the room, bumping into the walls and one another. A few of the machines noticed the biological creature standing in their midst, and began to lumber in her direction. Her plasma dagger fizzled out, its energy depleted.
“I’ve got them,” Noowt said from behind her. It raised its gun, and a flurry of carefully placed shots sent the remaining zombots to the grating. One of them exploded in a cloud of sparks.
Noowt stepped into Ella’s peripheral. She could see its artificial face looking her direction.
“You’re good with that dagger,” it said, “Where’d you learn to do that?”
“My dad always loved Zorro,” she said through ragged breaths, “I had a fencing coach…”
“It shows.”
The two friends stepped into the room, approaching the McGuffin.
“You take the honor,” Noowt said, “You earned it.”
Ella nodded, reaching her hand into the glowing bubble of light where the McGuffin rotated with a soft hum in midair. Before she could grasp the object, Squatch’s gigantic head appeared before her, blocking her prize. The sight made Ella and Noowt startle and take a few steps back.
“Hey there Ella. Noowt,” the face said in the Grumscudder’s charactistically deep voice.
“What is it?” Ella growled.
“Um, I jus’ had t’tell ya yer’mom’s on the line…”
“I can’t talk now. I’m busy.”
“Yeah, but, uh, thing is… I can’t tell’er that…”
“Why not?”
“Cuz… uh… she scares me…
“C’mon Ella,” Noowt urged, “Let’s get this prize and get out of here. I’ve got to get back to the bridge anyway.”
“Fine,” she said, stepping forward and reaching into Squatch’s holographic face, feeling around for the McGuffin. She grumbled idly to herself, “I don’t even have time to play a game…”
As soon as Ella grasped the object in her hands, an achievement theme filled the room around them. The words “Level Complete” appeared in the air.
“Ella, can y’do that again?” Squatch asked sheepishly.
“Why?”
“Felt real good…”
Ella snorted.
“Cochino!”
S. VIOLA 