Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Dwarves in Space 4 - Homeache

*trumpet blare*

Thirty four days and 101K words later I finished the fourth full length novel for the Dwarves in Space series (6th overall).

To celebrate here's a quick excerpt including the sort of newest addiction to the ship, a female orc named Zail.

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Variel didn’t look up from the crate as she waved her PALM over the scan port. Numbers in a holographic blue flashed before her. “Of course Ferra knows, I’m not stupid.”

“I ain’t afraid of her,” Zail said as she flexed her bicep and kissed it.

Variel rolled her eyes at the orc, “Sure, just keep telling yourself that.” Zail laughed and flexed her other arm before bringing both together in a shattering slap. Neither Taliesin nor Variel flinched from the display though for a brief moment her eyes met his and she smirked.

But it dropped in a blink and she returned to her paperwork. After a heartbeat, she sighed, “Shit, Zail. This damn thing says there’s supposed to be seven crates, not six.”

“Nu uh, that’s impossible. That dock was clear. I checked like…” Zail paused and held up her fingers, touching each tip, “three times.”

“An orc’s assurance that she looked really really hard doesn’t change the official paperwork.”

“Let me guess, you want me to head all the way back there and find this missing case.”

Variel gestured to a data stream poring off the crate, “Or you could stay here and deal with this while I pick up a blue box. Actually,” she pushed Zail back and moved to step towards the exit.

“Nah, nah, nah,” the orc interrupted, “I’ll do it. It’s what you pay me for. Oh, wait!” Zail clomped up the stairs now groaning from her borderline anger and weight.

“And don’t forget to look for an Exo-Gen sticker!” Variel called out to the retreating orc.

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