Journey Back To Threa
Cindy Cowles
Author Bio
Cindy Cowles was born in Louisiana. She has driven trucks over the road, sold tickets for a traveling carnival and even drove a dump truck to gather corn from a corn field, before settling in Oklahoma where she drove a dump truck for a construction company. Now she lives in North Louisiana again, and she spends time with her grandson when she’s not writing. She shares a home with her boyfriend, two grown kids, her grandchild, and several cats.
Description
For two thousand years, there has been a spaceship hidden on the dark side of the moon. Very few know of its existence, and only one has known its location. That one was High Councilwoman and Captain Estelle Morgan, Lacy’s grandmother and one of the original survivors from the planet Threa. When Lacy’s grandmother chooses not to Rebirth again and passes away, Lacy inherits the house, a tantalizing letter about humanity’s true origins and…a FTL spaceship called Pegasus I. Forced to flee when her home is invaded by a group called the Chosen, and her life and the lives of her three closest friends are threatened, Lacy brings her friends aboard an atmospheric hopper – a small transport meant to shuttle explorers from Pegasus I to a planet’s surface and back – and escapes just in time. Now she’s taking them on the trip of a lifetime, going on a Journey Back To Threa.
Book excerpt
The wall opposite the control panel opened and they stumbled out into the cavernous space as if they had suddenly merged into a single entity with four heads and eight legs, and weren’t sure of the most efficient way to get from point A to point B. They weaved to and fro for several long seconds, a comical mishmash of heads and arms and legs, until Lacy planted her feet on the concrete and just stared off into the distance, mesmerized.
“Wha-” Drew stepped back and spun around, looking in all directions. Seeing no intruders and smelling only the merest whiff of mildew and bug spray, he relaxed his stance a bit, “They didn’t beat us down here.”
“No,”
“Then what were you looking – oh.” He stared, “Wow.”
“Yeah, wow,” Her eyes traced over the sleek lines of the triangular shaped craft crouched in the middle of the cavernous space like a prehistoric bird of prey. Every speck of available light seemed to dance across its dark surface in a hypnotic show of rainbows and shadows, even though the only source of illumination was a flickering yellow safety light at each end of the room.
“How do you get in it?” Drew whispered, creeping closer. As if it had heard his words, a fearsome hiss of air came from the belly of the ship and made him jump. He sucked in a quick breath, fists up in preparation for whatever lurking monster might detach itself and swoop down to defend the vessel from intruders.
Maria shrieked and dropped to her knees with her arms over her head, praying the rosary under her breath and Trina assumed a graceful karate stance in front of her. Prepared for the worst, they watched, wide eyed, as a hatch opened underneath the mysterious craft and a set of steps extended to the floor. An glow from the top of the hatch invited them to explore the mysteries inside the ship.
“Could be a trap,” Maria informed them, “It seems really similar to most scary movies I’ve seen. The bad guys chase you toward a dark room. There’s a welcoming light in the distance, but if you approach -”
“This is my grandma’s atmospheric hopper, Maria. It’s the safest place we could be right now,” Lacy shook her head at her friends and ran up the steps, disappearing inside. She was halfway across the small ship when Drew stepped inside, and was standing at the controls when the other two girls followed. She pushed a button and the doorway closed with a hiss, sealing them all inside. The incongruous flowery scent of a cheap pine tree air freshener assaulted their noses, out of place in the sterile, overly bare space. A stripe of light ran along the walls, midway up and emitted a soft glow that allowed them to see the two cushioned chairs positioned before the controls, a row of six seats behind that and bench seats encircling the walls. Counting the squares behind the six seats, where it was obvious that more seats could pop up if needed, they estimated that a group of sixty would have been able to travel together in the well thought out confines of the hopper.
Studying the control panel, Lacy pushed a couple of buttons and the small vessel hummed to life. A recorded voice advised them to take their seats and prepare for takeoff. Lacy strapped herself into the captain’s chair and urged the others to do the same.
Author Website
http://www.musingsofamadmind.com