Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Tuesday Teasers & Tuesday Intros First Chapter. 10/30





Teaser Tuesday Is a Weekly bookish Meme, Hosted by MitzB of Should Be Reading. 

Anyone can play along.  Just do the following:


 Grab your current read Open to a random page Share 2 (Two) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

   Be Careful, No Spoilers Please (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don’t want to ruing the book for others)    Share title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their tbr list if they like your teaser!Please leave me a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog) Thanks! 



I am almost done with this great book, then will start Tundra 37 the next one in the New Dawn series. Watch for the book tour for these soon.

Teaser 1:

After one last look at the steaming wreckage, she secured the clasps on her pack and took the first steps forward. Her boots sank into the ground as if lead lined the soles. Trudging  through  the sand was cumbersome compared to bouncing along the metal walkways of the New Dawn in light gravity. She felt like a toddler again, flailing her arms as she learned how to balance and stand. Although the increase in gravity and uneven terrain made her body work harder, the stretching of her muscles felt good and oddly natural, as if she’d missed a certain pleasure all her life.Drunk on freedom, she trekked on. A brutal wind hit her face, sending sand particles in her eyes and mouth. Aries coughed and spit on the ground. Her tongue stuck in her mouth like sandpaper.

Teaser 2:

Turning away, he collected his belongings and prepared for the hike home. He’d slid halfway down the dune when a familiar sound sailed on the wind. He froze in mid-step, the sand collapsing around his high boots. Not much fazed him these days, but this call stirred emotions he’d long buried. It was a sound he hadn't heard in years: a human scream.“Damn it to hell.” He had no choice. Humans were damned scarce in the universe, unable to live on most planets. 

I hope you liked those teasers. I got hooked into this book really fast, very interesting, and exciting. Written well too.






Tuesday Intros, First Chapter, First Paragraph

First Chapter First Paragraph - Tuesday Intros Hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea

Every Tuesday I will participate in the Tuesday Intro First Chapter-First Paragraph Intros.
These are books we decided to read based on the first paragraph or so. Then find another “Teaser” in the book somewhere to catch our interest. Leave me a comment with link to your post, and if your a new follower be sure to let me know. I want to be sure to follow back.




Got a good one, I put the Prologue of Gravity, and its good, it will give you a taste. The last few paragraphs are intense, but you would not know what was up without reading the first part. So here it is.



Prologue
Year: 2133

The T-screen  in our family room crackles just before  President Cartier fills the screen. I wonder  briefly if Lawrence is watching him, too, like the rest of America, or if he was given an advance showing. After  all, the president is his grandfather. I remember the first time I met President Cartier. He was less gray then, less wrinkled. He was joking that Lawrence was too mature for a six- year-old  and asked  me to take  him under  my wing, teach  him how to be young.
Now four  years  later,  staring  into  the T-screen  on one  of the biggest nights of my life, I wish I had some of Lawrence’s maturity. I wish I weren’t so…afraid.
President Cartier smiles widely into the camera  and begins his talk. It’s prerecorded—the same talk given every year to each new group of ten-year-olds. I’m told they used to show the video in class on the first day of school, but so many children left crying that they felt doing it at home was better. I’m not so sure. Right

now, it’s eight o’clock in the evening, which means  I have only four hours until they come—four hours to prepare.
“Ladies  and  gentlemen of our  beloved  nation,” President Cartier begins. “Today  marks  the  first day of your  journey  to adulthood. It is not  to be taken  lightly. But  rest  assured,  your parents and  older  siblings sitting  with you have  endured this same talk. Time has not changed  our process, which, in the very least, should bring you comfort.”
He  smiles again, this time  in that  condescending way that adults do. It’s supposed to reassure us. It doesn’t.
“Parents, please hand over your child’s Taking patch.” Daddy holds out the tiny silver case to me, the silver catching
the light from the composite crystal chandelier above  us. I try to steady my hands as I sit it in my lap, my legs jumping ever so slightly.
“Now, boys and girls, please listen carefully to these instructions, as they will not be repeated.”
The  screen  dims  and  an  image  appears of America just before the fall. A voice-over blasts from the T-screen, explaining all the things I already  know. Power led to the most destructive war in our history—World War IV. The screen  cuts to the full scope of the nuclear war, showing city after city, at first beautiful and strong, and then the bomb hits and there  is nothing  left but rubble  and  smoke  and  sadness.  Our  world, decimated and  no longer able to thrive.
I lower  my eyes  from  the  screen,  hoping  Daddy  doesn’t notice. The commander doesn’t appreciate weakness, even in his daughter, but it saddens  me to think  how far we fell. I lift my

head again and focus back on the screen, anxiously awaiting the important part—the part where the Ancients attacked.
I watch as the screen changes  to the alien crafts arriving in our skies, watch as more  and more  appear until they look like large flocks of birds. There  are too many to count. Too many to defend  against. We now know that  they are older  than  us as a species,  much  older.  Thousands of years  older  than  the  first known existence  of man, though  I’ve often wondered how they know. Did one of them tell us? Is it a guess? Regardless, that is how we now know them as the Ancients. What they were called before, I’m not sure. Though I can imagine the people of the time thought of something more appropriately frightening than alien. “Please  pay  attention, Ari,”  Mom  says, motioning to  the
screen.
I clear my throat and nod. I didn’t realize  I was staring  at my patch  case, hard  in my hand. It’s small. Maybe eight inches long  and  four  wide. And  inside…inside  rests  the  single most frightening thing any of us has ever held. Our patch.
The screen  cuts again to the signing of the Treaty  of 2090. The five leaders  of Earth with the Ancient leader, though  there was no Ancient present that  day, or at least not visible to us. I know little to nothing about what they actually are or what they looked like prior to our agreement. I know only what the current Ancient leader looks like and he looks human, though  most say they aren’t really like us. It’s an illusion. Some say they’re made of water. Some say plant. Others say they are no form at all, existing yet not—at least not in the way we do. I’m not sure. Still, there is an empty chair present at the table, as though the Ancient leader sits there, bored, waiting for the meeting to adjourn.

The  screen  zooms  in on  the  treaty,  to  the  six signatures that  agree to our new role. From that  moment on, we were no longer just human beings—we were hosts. We provide them with antibodies through the Taking so they can survive life on Earth, which is the only reason we’re alive. Had their bodies responded to Earth as they had hoped, we would all be gone. Genocide of the  human  species. Instead, they  needed us—and  we needed them. Our  planet  was destroyed, and they alone  possessed  the ability to terraform Earth back to health.  Could  we have done it on our own? Yes, but not before  millions died of dehydration or starvation. We needed an answer quickly. They needed a new planet. And  so the treaty  was signed and we agreed  to follow their rules.
President Cartier returns, another fake  smile  on  his face. “You  now understand our history  and the importance of what you are about to embark upon. Please remove your patches from their cases and let us go through the proper Taking protocol for this evening.”
I slip my hand  over  my patch  case and  pop  the  lid open, exposing  the tiny silver patch  inside. It’s as light as composite silk, as smooth  as water. Two large oval pieces connected by a thin one-inch  piece  of cloth that  goes over the bridge  of your nose.  I lift the  patch  into  my hand  and  hear  a nearly  silent buzzing from it, as though it’s alive—though I know that must be whatever Chemist  technology is within it that  allows the patch to immobilize us.
I run  my thumb  easily over  the  fabric. It doesn’t  look  or feel so scary. Then  President Cartier instructs  us to put on our

patches and I feel my body turn to stone. My eyes widen as they lift to the T-screen.
“Go on, dear,” Mom says from beside me. She pats my knee easily and smiles brightly. “It’s okay.”
“I thought we did it at night?” I say, my voice small.
“We do. This is just a test. It allows you to feel the sensation with us around you. That way you are less afraid. Let me help.” She takes the patch from my hand and starts for my face.
“Wait,” I say, fighting to keep my voice steady. “What’s going to happen? What will I see? How will I get it back off? What if I can’t—”
“It’s okay,” she says again. Then she leans closer to me and I feel my breath catch. I don’t want to do this. Please don’t make me do this.
And  then  the  smooth  cloth  slides  over  my eyes, blinding me. I relax for only a moment, then  the patch  suctions around my eyes as though  laced into the bone, and I feel it against  my temple, pressing, digging in. I want to pull it away. I scream out for Mom to help me and hear  her  say over  and over  that  it’s okay, everything’s okay.
Briefly, I hear  President Cartier’s  voice in the background. He explains the Taking, how our bodies don’t feel the Ancients receiving our antibodies. How our daily supplements guarantee we have plenty. How our assigned Ancient will come into our room  at  midnight  and  how  the  Ancient will Take  for  thirty minutes  before  returning to Loge, their  planet. The patch  then deactivates, he says. I wonder why he’s saying all of this so quickly and then I know.
As though  someone turned off the sound, I can no longer

hear. I strain to find a sound in the silence, but there  is nothing. And then I can no longer feel or smell. My lungs burn and for a moment I’m sure I’m being suffocated. I try to move my arms, to reach for Mom, but they won’t budge. I try to scream out but no words come. Panic sears my mind, and then one by one my senses return. I feel Mom’s hand  gripping  mine  hard,  hear  President Cartier’s voice in the background, but still I can’t see or move.
I know I should be listening. I know I should try to remember what to do and how and when. But all I can think about  is how in four hours I will have to do this all by myself, in the darkness of my room,  waiting, blind  and  immobilized…as one  of them comes for me.
If I could scream…I would.





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