New Release Sample: HERE THERE WERE DRAGONS

 From Ye Olde Dragon Books

“What exactly is a nascent Gate alert?” she said, after discarding several responses that would have impugned Jasper's experience and intelligence.

Taggert slowly raised his hand. “It’s experimental. Something we cobbled together after a really long Brain Blast tournament,” he said with a shrug. “We’re getting some spatial anomaly readings up here, Jasper. I've been doing a search backward, and it appears to have started maybe four days ago, but the changes haven't been strong enough to register or trigger any warnings until now. The flux shifted, progressing a dozen degrees in an hour, when it was taking two days for each degree until now. Something is developing out in space, with Draxonis between it and the Chute.”

“How come the teams down on the planet haven’t noticed it or alerted us to it?” Genys said.

 “That’s easy,” Jasper said, after only a few seconds of silence.

Meanwhile, Taggert consulted his station and Genys listened for any emergencies or problems coming from the rest of the ship. She silently thanked Enlo for the efficiency of her crew, so they didn’t need her to deal with trouble right now.

“They’re looking down, focusing on the planet. They’re not watching over their heads, and they aren’t expecting anything. Kind of stupid, if you think about it,” he added, his voice softening.

Taggert grinned and one eyebrow cocked upward so high it would have vanished into his hair, if he had any.

“And we noticed it because?” she prompted.

“We’re constantly looking,” Taggert said.

“Why a nascent Gate?” she had to know. “Nobody knows what a nascent Gate would look or sound like or the energies it would give off. We don’t know what an actual, functioning Gate sounds or looks or feels or tastes like.” She had to fight to keep her voice down at the end of that statement.

“Stories,” Jasper said with a chuckle. “We set up our criteria based on all the legends of Gates and all the theorizing over the years. Even if it isn’t a Gate, and even if the Gatekeepers aren’t about to burst out and tell us it’s about time we showed up … something is happening out there.”

“Oh, joy…” Genys whispered.