Crash Course #1 (Project: Terra, Band 1) - Hardcover

Walker, Landry Q.

 
9780515157918: Crash Course #1 (Project: Terra, Band 1)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0515157910 ISBN 13: 9780515157918
Verlag: Penguin Workshop, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

Guardians of the Galaxy meets Minecraft in this hilarious new sci-fi series. 

TERRAFORMING 101 - An introduction to the sciences and technologies of extraterrestrial world-building. Open to first year students. 

Elara Adele Vaughn has everything it takes to become a top planetary designer: skills, talent, and a one-way ticket to the Seven Systems School of Terraforming Sciences and Arts. But for all her excitement, life at her new school is a lot tougher--and stranger--than she ever thought possible. Her roommate, Clare, is a mute, intergalactic sponge. A field trip almost ended in the belly of a monster. And no one at her new school knows what it's like to grow up on a planet so far away it's called "Nowhere." But if the galaxy's greatest terraformers made it through their first year, then so can Elara.

Based on the real science behind terraforming, this action-packed story mixes world-building adventures with side-splitting humor, plus a dash of deep-space madness.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Landry Q. Walker has been making stories happen for over twenty years. His work includes Star Wars novellas, a New York Times bestselling collaboration with Dean Koontz called House of Odd, the beloved comic book series Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade for DC Comics, the novella Frozen: The Phantoms of Arendelle for Disney, and the celebrated superhero epic Danger Club. With his frequent collaborator Eric Jones he also created the comic book Little Gloomy, which now airs internationally as the animated TV show, Scary Larry.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Elara Adele Vaughn sat in the empty shuttle station.

The large gray-and-white terminal was deserted, but the young girl wasn’t alone. She stared into the holographic projection of her little brother, Danny.

“It’s not like it’s super far,” Elara said, “and you get to come visit during break. That’s just a few months away.”

The shimmering blue, transparent image of Danny didn’t look convinced. He was three years younger than Elara— having just turned nine—and small for his age. Danny was obviously upset, but he shrugged and half smiled anyway. “I guess,” he said. “Maybe you’ll change your mind. Maybe you’ll transfer.”

Elara felt herself frown. She didn’t want to fight. Not right now. Not with her little brother. But she knew where Danny was hearing this from—her parents.

“You’re so good at farming,” Danny pushed. “And mom and dad say the Affiliation needs farmers. They say you could get a grant—”

“The Affiliation needs terraformers, too,” Elara said, gently cutting her brother off. “More than anything. If we don’t expand our borders and colonize more worlds, where will we farm?”

For as long as Elara could remember, she wanted to become a terraformer. Specifically, she wanted to be a bioengineer and learn to create new life-forms on new worlds. That wasn’t something Elara could achieve on her home world—Vega Antilles V, a remote farming community on the fringes of Sector 17.  A planet so far away it was usually called “Nowhere.” It also wasn’t something she could do by attending the Academy of Agriculture, which was where all her older brothers and sisters went. It was probably where Danny would go too, when he was older.

“I guess you have to go then,” Danny said sadly. “You can’t blame me for not liking it, though.”
Elara felt her smile return. It was true. How mad could she get at her little brother for missing her?

“Well, I’ll come and visit. I promise you that. And the Seven Systems School of Terraforming has a break the same week you do, and you’ll come visit me then. Right?”

“The name of the school is ‘STS,’” Danny said. “No one says it like that except you.”

“It’s a very important school!” Elara said in mock offense. “The Seven Systems School is the leading educator of terraformers!”

Danny rolled his eyes. “You sound like one of their ads. ‘The Seven Systems School of Terraforming Sciences and Arts: Create your own world!’”

Elara stuck her tongue out in response.

Danny waved his hands dramatically, the hologram sparkling more as it animated the motion. “Your journey begins . . . NOW!”

“Well, it is a good slogan,” Elara responded, standing up from her bench and grabbing her heavy backpack. “And it happens to be true. Literally. My train just got here.”

“Oh. Okay . . . ,” Danny said. It was clear he wasn’t ready to end the conversation. Neither was Elara. But interplanetary communications were limited and costly. Projecting them during hypertravel was virtually impossible. Time was ticking . . .

Suddenly Elara felt overwhelmed. Her heart raced, and she felt her brow furrow. Leaving was more difficult than she had expected. Her family had dropped her off hours ago and said their goodbyes. Her brothers. Her sisters. Her mom and her dad. Maybe they didn’t entirely understand why Elara was leaving, but they still supported her decision. They all stood at the platform and hugged her one by one. They were a large family. A poor family by most standards. But they were loving and hardworking and happy. And they were hers. And now . . .

“Hey,” Danny said, sensing his sister’s mood shift. “Hey. It’s okay. You’re right . . . it’s just a few months until you have Visitors Day. I’ll be there to see you. Mom and Dad already booked the trip for me.”

Elara smiled, her hand reaching out to touch the blue light of Danny’s holographic projection.

“I’ll miss you,” Elara said, her eyes rimmed with tears. “Lots. Every day. And I will write you all the time. I promise.”

“Double promise?” Danny asked.

“Always. Forever and ever.”

Danny smiled again, and the connection was cut off. And for the first time in her entire young life, Elara really was alone.
 
 




The doors of the shuttle train hissed open, belching tiny clouds of bluish gas down the length of the transport. Elara stood for a moment, steeling herself as the vehicle hummed. Taking a deep breath, the future student of the Seven Systems School of Terraforming Sciences and Arts stepped aboard the small shuttle, and the doors closed behind her.

Inside, the shuttle was empty and quiet. Elara made her way to an open seat. She buckled in and steadied herself for what turned out to be a surprisingly smooth takeoff.

The space vehicle was controlled by computer, and so for the first hour of her long journey, Elara was completely alone. Rows of empty seats stretched out around her. This wasn’t too surprising. Not many people came and went from Sector 17. Not enough habitable planets existed that far out from the Core of the Affiliated Worlds.

Elara tapped absently at the communications control pad at her seat. Inactive. No long-range or short-range communications would be possible.

It was weird: Life on the farm could be so quiet. Vega Antilles V was a large planet with a tiny population. But quiet on a living world versus quiet in the middle of space . . . that was different.

It was peaceful.

Elara looked at her own faint reflection in the plexiglass window, shaking her mop of thick purple hair as she did. Her image was surrounded by the gently swirling colors of deep hyperspace, which she found soothing.

And then it was abruptly over.

Elara felt the gravitational pull of a planet, her stomach lurching like she was on a carnival ride. The shuttle was descending onto another world. An entire ecosystem, completely new and unfamiliar. Elara felt her fingers tighten around the end of her seat’s armrest in excitement. She had never been off Vega Antilles V before. Sure, she had seen travel holograms and experienced other biospheres that way. But Elara knew it wouldn’t be the same as actually being on another planet.

Elara rose from her seat and made her way to the shuttle doors. Punching up the manifest on the data pad, she took note of the planet name—Thui Prime, only recently discovered and designated a mining world by the Affiliation. It was an exportation hub for fuel and gases. That made sense, Elara thought. They were still too deep in the outer rim for the wealthier worlds. Industrial and agricultural planets were most common this far out.

“A brand-new planet . . . ,” Elara whispered to herself as she stared out the window. Everything she had left behind . . . Nothing would take that sting away. Not completely. But this was the reward. No one in her family had ever set foot on another planet. Not in four generations, since back when her great-great-grandparents Pannel and Samantha Vaughn had accepted placement on Vega Antilles V in the space-colonization program. No one had seen a point in leaving.
As the shuttle landed on Thui Prime’s station platform, Elara could see the bright green of the tall, thin trees just outside the...

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Verlag
Penguin Workshop
Erscheinungsdatum
2017
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0515157910
ISBN 13 
9780515157918
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Zeichner
Zoo Keith
Anzahl der Seiten
224
Kontakt zum Hersteller
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