Snippet 4 : Starship

 A snippet from my fall release, Starship. The first book in a new series called Space Sisters.

  “How hard is it to deploy the solar sails?”
  “Well, the system says I can only deploy five due to our fuel situation. After  couple days of particle accumulation, I can deploy more. After that the accumulation is exponential. We could be in good shape for travel to mine the asteroid in five days. Ship days. One  twenty units.”
  “How long will it take?”
  “I can type the command for five in no time at all. The sails will unfurl on their own. It is not a difficult operation.”
  “Alright, then do it.”
  Esme tapped on her com. “Watch, they will be up high on the viewer, out of the shadow of the asteroid.”
  They watched, Gia’s chair seemed to know what she wanted and leaned back so she didn’t get a crick in her neck. Kind of scary.
  Five metal object flew across the screen and slowed to a stop. Lights blinked across them. Slowly, long arms came out, unfolding to some length. They began to split from the top. Between the two bars was a shiny fabric.
  “Those look like flutters!” Shamus yelled from above.
  The solar collectors did look like the lilting insects that hovered around flowers back home.
  “They are already collecting!” Esme squealed.
  “Wonderful.” Gia took a deep breath. “I feel like we have taken a big step here. Well, more than one big step. We decided this is our ship. And we started fueling! I’d like to rename the ship, something that is meaningful to us. We can think about that.” The others were agreeable. The ship’s name they had found, Nalvar, had no meaning for them. “I don’t know about you all, but I am exhausted. How about we meet for a late breakfast and check out engineering tomorrow? We’ll explore the sections of the ship that are functional, and then return to our studies.”
  “I figured out some stuff on the security console,” Martina said. “Most of the ship does not have life support due to low energy levels. All of Engineering has life support. The Bridge level, which we are on, the level right below us with the transportation ovals, and two levels above us, Bridge Secure Quarters, and Administration have life support. Probably offices? Where we are staying on the transport level are the guest quarters, near Security.”
  “How many levels does the ship have?” Esme asked.
  “Fifty-seven,” Martine replied after a moment, eyes huge.
  “Well, I feel completely overwhelmed now.” Gia sunk back in her chair. “Time for bed. “If we want to move to the Bridge quarters we can do that tomorrow, also.”
  All the others looked as stunned as she felt.