The Missing Planets - The Cairns
of Sainctuarie
by Hawk MacKinney
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
From the
uncharted reaches between galaxies, attacks of extraordinary weaponry come
against Terato and the Myr worlds of the Murians. Terminus Terato’s expanded
link-portals and converter power modules are virtually useless. Power loss,
defenses, communications and travel are totally disrupted. High Chamberlain
Korvo’s unexpected return to Terminus on a mission for His Imperial Majesty leaves
him stranded on Terato. Attacks grow more massive, more unpredictable; spread
across the worlds of the League, as an isolated Terminus struggles among the
shattered rubble and whispering remains of an ancient Polity of star-walkers.
Family
and friends are lost, empires and civilizations in disarray, Terminus and
Planet Terato almost defenseless. Desperate for answers, their worlds being overwhelmed by this
remorseless aggressor, Eklam and Korvo reach across unexplored space in a
despairing gamble and the last reserves of converter star-substrate, seeking
one insignificant star system of gas giants and rocky inner planets for
possible relics of the elusive Lantaraan Polity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
“... eastern
radials unstable... strengthening vortices opposing orbital realignment...”
Parn’s head throbbed as his thoughts forced the
converter toward more output. The power graph flattening with the unremitting
decline as the quantum particles of the shell alloys began to disassociate.
Output had reached max and was slowly dropping.
The sound of crashes and roars still louder—Ek knew
Terminus couldn’t stand much more. “Once antimatter reaches the hub, the
self-destruct will trigger.”
Screens blinked unresponsive. Drok shouted above
the bedlam, “The Downday hasn’t attained minimum horizon-clearance. Targeting
beams holding on standby. Unless the moon clears the horizon, the beams could
refract; bounce off into space; never engage the receptors.” Converters
shrieked like a wounded Teratoan swamp crawler. “Showing orbital
irregularities... orbital constants vacillating,” eyes glued to the inputs.
Puzzled at the unexpected readings coming from a source near the a’Qoc hamlet.
“Receiving quick output bursts from the altar,” his tunic dusted with more
debris, rivulets of sweat-puddled the dust-furrows of his face.
Ek said, “What type of altar outputs?”
Drok said, “Plasma components—unfamiliar readings.”
“The hub will lose power once the antimatter
penetrates those last banks of converter,” Ek said. “Before we lose hub power I
want you to go to the sublevel vaults housing the encode archives. Should a
power failure warning be announced while you are there, backup power will last
long enough. Be sure you are some distance away from the archive vaults before
backup power is exhausted.” Reached a small odd-shaped crystal to Drok, “Use
this to deactivate any security scrims, and duplicate the protocol crystals. No
matter what you have to do, keep those crystals safe. If Terato survives and a
Murian survey team returns, they’ll know what to do with those crystals. Those
duplicates might be the only records to survive; their information could be
vital for Myraa City—if Myraa City survives.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Hawk
began writing mysteries for his school newspaper. His works of
fiction, historical love stories, science fiction and mystery-thrillers are not
genre-centered, but plot-character driven, and reflect his southwest upbringing
in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel
nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War
Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award, details the family bloodlines of his
serial protagonist in the Craige Ingram Mystery Series. Vault of Secrets, the first book in the Ingram series, was followed
by Nymrod Resurrection, Blood and Gold, and The Lady of Corpsewood Manor. All have received national
attention. Walking the Pet is Hawk’s latest release in the Ingram series. The
first book in another mystery-thriller series is scheduled for release in 2015.
The Bleikovat Event, the first volume in The Cairns of Sainctuarie science
fiction series, was released in 2012. Its sequel, The Missing Planets, has just been released.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit the other blogs on the tour for additional chances to win:
May 25: The Reading Addict
May 26: Reviews by Crystal
May 26: Coffee Books and Art
May 27: Queen of All She Reads
May 28: Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews
May 29: Unabridged Andra's
June 1: fuonlyknew
June 2: Fantasy Pages
June 3: Rogues Angels
June 4: Lilac Reviews
June 5: Mixed Book Bag
1 comment:
JC Jones/Mixed Book Bag - Thank U for hosting The Missing Planets International Book Tour, Vol-II in The Cairns of Saintuaries series with its mix of genre(s) and characters. It is much appreciated. For readers following my Sci-Fi titles, Vol-III is in the edit/galley proof stage with Vol-IV in the Saintuarie series to follow.
Hawk MacKinney
www.hawkmackinney.net
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