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Pan's Legacy |
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Pan's Legacy - Available at Extasy Books Pandora has tried to live down her family's legacy, but when it becomes horribly real she has one choice, embrace her heritage or die. Pirates, pixies and swordfights, meet the newest Pan. One of the Terran Volunteers, Pandora Smythe has gotten a surprising welcome to space. Taken from her home world she is tossed into a survival situation on an alien planet and forced to fight for life as best she can. When her captors believe she is ready, she is taken to another world and becomes a pit fighter. Granted the chance to meet her captors, surprised is a mild word for her reaction as K'ptain Huek and T'nk Biel confront her to let her know that the tales her grandfather told of an eternal fairy and evil captain were not his imagination. Pandora has something that they want...and she has no idea what it is. Excerpt: Pandora
Smythe stood outside the recruitment centre and fidgeted. Out of
long-standing habit, she grabbed her necklace and rubbed it for advice.
The gemstone warmed slightly and she considered it a good sign. “Go on, Pan. They can only say no.
It isn’t like they will insult your shoes or anything.” Heloise
Vandermeyer was a fantastic cheerleader. She even meant it. Straightening her shoulders, Pandora
went through the doors and smiled at the attendant. “Hello.” The man was alien, but he had the
steady features that she would look for in public-relations personnel.
“Hello. You are here to fill out an application?” “I am.” Pandora took the
clipboard he extended. “Will you provide a blood sample
for analysis?” She thought about it. In for a
penny, in for a pound. “Sure. Where would you like me to go?” “Oh, right here will be fine.”
Efficiently, he picked up a device, inserted a clean needle from a
sealed package and pricked her finger. “Press your finger onto the
pad, please.” Pan took a look at the pad and
pressed the drop of blood onto the plate in the centre. A light turned
green and she drew her hand back. She took the wipe that the attendant
offered and smiled as the small wound sealed itself. “Thanks.” “Now, if you fill out the form, we
will be able to enter you into Volunteer selection.” He smiled, tucked
her blood test away and waited for the next Terran to stumble through
the doors. Pandora kept a smile on her face as
she filled in the form. She was unremarkable and she knew it. When the
question came up about her ancestry, she gritted her teeth. It
physically hurt her to write in Peter Pan but her gemstone was
blazing so hot that she had no choice. It would probably discount her right
of the bat, but she had tried. It was always in her to try even if she
failed. Usually, failure was the result, but she couldn’t stop
herself. The urge to try new things rode her and the necklace heated if
she tried to back out. The necklace was her only true link
to her grandfather. The infamous Peter Pan. He had skipped her siblings,
her mother and aunts had, also, not been entitled to wear the stone on
his death. Only Pandora, the child that he forced his name on was good
enough to wear the Star of Lesser Fey. The irony was that once she had put
it on, it wouldn’t come off and she had really tried. Even bolt
cutters would not slice it off her neck. Her only consolation was that
people outside the family didn’t really see it. They could look but
not focus on it. Smiling at the attendant again, she
handed the questionnaire back to him and nodded a goodbye. “Wait. A representative will want
to speak to you before you go.” He was a little worried until she
returned to a seat in the waiting room. It was not a busy day and the
representative that she was to see came out of the back to escort her
into an interview room. “Well, we have not had a chance to
look over your questionnaire, but there was one point we needed
clarification on.” He was small, silver and had large black eyes. “What is that?” “Are you truly the granddaughter
of the man known as Peter Pan?” “I am.” “Well your blood sample indicates
that you are, but I just wanted to make sure.” The small creature
stood and shook her hand. “Thank you for coming in. You will be
hearing from us shortly.” Bemused and not a little confused,
she left the offices and returned to her home. Her answering machine was
flashing and it was Heloise. “So, wasn’t it a good waste of time? I
just loved looking at the attendants. I wonder what their planet is
like?” A second message caught her by
surprise. “Pandora Smythe, my name is Representative Nalo and I wish
to be the first to congratulate you on your acceptance into the
Volunteer program. You will be launching in ten days. You can bring five
kilograms of personal items so pack carefully. An information pack with
your travel documents will arrive in the morning. Welcome to the
project.” Pandora stood looking at the
answering machine in consternation. It
was that easy? Wait. What am I saying? I don’t want to go into space!
It had been Heloise’s idea for her to sign up. The rumours had been
circling that the more normal you were, the better your chances. Pan
shrugged and gave in to the urge to call her mother. “Hiya, Mom. Do you have a
minute?” “Sure, sweetie. What do you
need?” “Um. I did something today and I
don’t know how to feel about it.” “What was it?” “I signed up for the Volunteer
project. I was accepted.” “What?” Her mother’s shriek
burned through the phone lines. “Why would you do that?” Because my necklace told me to
was probably not the best answer. “I was nagged into signing up and
now I have one of the spots. It doesn’t feel wrong if that is what you
think.” “What I think…what were you
thinking? Wait a minute. I am getting your father on the other line.” What followed was a conversation
that would ring through her mind for the following nine days. Her family
nagged her into a meeting and they decided on an intervention. They
needn’t have worried. She was going to show up at the designated spot
and decline. Normally, she would have given them plenty of warning, but
no one returned her calls and the centre that she signed up at was
closed, the full complement of Volunteers had been filled. She didn’t spend her last days
laughing and partying with friends, she spent it going in to work and
keeping her head down. She was a clerk in the finance department of a
large, faceless corporation, no one needed to know that the day she had
booked off was not simply to wave goodbye to a friend or a member of her
community. Representative Nalo was short, but
he was easy to spot. His ever-so-alien guards stood next to him,
bracketing him in muscle. Pandora’s documents got her
through security and she rushed up to speak with the Representative. “Representative Nalo. I am sorry
to have to say this, but I can’t leave Earth. I have friends, family.
I signed up on a lark—I never expected to be accepted.” “Come with me, Pandora. We will
have this conversation out of the public eye.” He held his diminutive
hand out and she followed where he led. The off-world muscle followed
them closely. When he stopped in a short corridor,
he turned to look up at her. “Now, what seems to be the difficulty?” “I have tried to get in touch with
you for the last week, but you never returned my calls and the
recruitment centre closed. I never intended to leave my friends and
family. I was nagged into it by my friend Heloise.” “That is unfortunate. It would
have been easier if you had been willing to board the shuttle.” That drew a frown to her face. She
couldn’t understand what he had said, but the large hand that wrapped
around her waist and pulled her back against a massive body held her
still as a sharp pain hit her in the neck. She felt her body lifted and
then everything went dark. * * * * Representative
Nalo shook and shifted forms. A few changes and she was back in her
comfortable natural state. T’nk If she died. So much the better.
Pan's Legacy - A Terran Times Novella from Extasy Books
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