Turn of the Pipes (A Redpoint One Romance) (25 page)

Other Titles From J.A.
Marlow

Mop Jockeys and Fighter
Pilots
: The war killed any emotion in
Captain Carme Batista but Felix the janitor refuses to believe it,
but will a brutal battle reveal she's more alive inside than she
thought?

Curse of the Second Date:
Abandon all hope with the second date… Jack
desperately wants the second date with the woman of his dreams to
go as well as the first. Instead, an unbelievable cascade of
disasters threaten to torpedo the blossoming romance. Attempting to
turn the night around, he escorts Millie to her door… to find his
next obstacle in the form of her waiting cat.

Are We There Yet?:
The more things change, the more they stay the
same. The Larson family head out in their space-RV on a vacation
trip to Venus when the mini-disasters start piling up, soon leading
to an age-old refrain… "Are we there yet?"

SAMPLE -
ONCE UPON A PET SHOW (A REDPOINT ONE ROMANCE)

Does love stand a chance among
alien pets and intrigues?

Vallory Schist does not care about
winning a prize at Redpoint One's annual Exotic Pet show. She must
quickly find her rare Etrucian Daubpups a new habitat, and an
attraction to Damien cannot get in the way.

Failing life-support systems at
both the show and station keep engineer Damien Lysander busier than
ever. Then he encounters Vallory and her heat-sensitive daubpups...
and the fireworks when they are together.

Add into the mix the nosy Naughty
Knitter's Club, interfering repair bots, a series of pet-nappings,
and daubpups who will not stay in their cages...

How can love not bloom?

Available now!

***

Eight, nine, ten… wait…

Oh no. Only ten.

Vallory Schist recounted the
rounded sleeping forms of the Etrucian daubpups in the clear
solid-sided cage. Each a different mix of colors, each with their
thick banded tail wrapped around their bodies, their feet and nose
tucked in.

She frantically started a visual
search of the area, hoping the eleventh hadn't strayed too far.
Could it be back on the passenger spaceliner, or lost somewhere on
the docks of Redpoint One? She looked helplessly across the busy
docks. Robots and small transports running along invisible lanes
above their heads, with others moving more slowly along lanes
marked on the floor with bright glowing-yellow lines.

People, families, freight,
transports, and robots everywhere. Hundreds of them, and this was
only the one dock. Other docks just as busy lay nearby across
several levels. How would she find a lost daubpup in all of
this?

"We'll have a transporter here
soon," the black-haired deck-hand who had helped her off-load the
big clear-sided cage said. He looked down at the large watch on his
wrist. "They were delayed getting another cage down to the pet
show."

"Understandable, considering it
starts tomorrow," Vallory said, not really thinking about her
words. They didn't matter. The delay meant she had a little more
time to find her stray daubpup. It must be in the cage during
customs check-in. How would she explain it to the show officials or
judges when it showing up later?

Or if it showed up. If the ship
left with her daubpup on it, who knew if she would ever track it
down. She even knew which one it was. Penny, named after her
copper-colored fur, had been notoriously antsy lately, to the point
the other daubpups growled at her. No wonder the rest of them slept
so hard. The trouble-maker wasn't with the group.

A long thick pink and
copper-colored banded tail flicked out from behind one of the
beat-up suitcases sitting on a nearby hovering luggage-sled. The
tip of it twitched as it traveled across. It turned, going in the
other direction, the fine fur flowing with the switch in direction.
Penny, on one of her exploration forays.

Once certain that the deck-hand was
busy with his wrist communicator, Vallory stepped to the side and
reached past the suitcases. Her hands met with soft baby-fine fur.
She lifted the squirming daubpup out from behind even as Penny
attempted to twist out of her hands in order to continue her
exploring. Big slanted eyes narrowed as one of her fingered paws
caught against Vallory's shirt.

"Be good. Today is an important
day," Vallory whispered to Penny as she stepped back to the cage.
She didn't know if the daubpups could understand anything she said.
Most likely no more than a dog or a cat, in any case, but she still
talked to them. Sometimes they appeared to understand
her.

Like now. Penny stopped twisting
and turning to crane her head back towards her to sniff at her with
a petite front nose at the end of a short snout. Vallory knew that
look. She was being tolerated.

So long as that toleration meant
Penny stayed in the cage at least through the end of Redpoint One's
Annual Exotic Pet Show. Until she could talk to a few people
attending in hopes of finding out what she needed.

No, finding what the daubpups
needed.

Vallory cracked open the cage door,
a rush of cooler air coming out. Good. The cage environmental
systems were working well. With Penny inside, she closed the door
and straightened just as the deck-hand looked up.

"Roy is almost here. Have
everything?" he asked.

"Yes, everything is here," Vallory
said, clasping her hands behind her back.

Inside the cage, all the daubpups
woke up en-mass, all looking back at her. Then they moved to the
edges of the cage to watch the dock activity. Of the people and
small hovering sleds and vehicles moving back and forth.

Maybe she should have covered the
cage. If they found something interesting they might all decide to
escape like Penny just did. Vallory's stomach roiled at that
thought. A worry she'd carried with her for the entire flight to
Redpoint One.

Please. Just a little longer. A few
days, she silently pleaded with the daubpups.

***

"Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint
One Romance)" is available at online retailers
everywhere.

SAMPLE - THE
CHILDREN OF JAD OMNIBUS

It all started with an ordinary day
and ended with her life changed forever...

Finding remnants of an ancient
crashed ship in a forest of the planet Jad may save Elvy Akuma's
father's job at the Jad Cultural Center, but it could also restart
the war between Human and Chion. Through the threat of pirates,
Chion Warriors, treasure hunters and more, Elvy and her friends
Tiver and Pelik must rely on each other to protect themselves, the
heritage of Jad, and peace itself.

All while finding a piece of
history that history forgot.

This Omnibus collects together the
four Children of Jad novelettes at a bargain price, completing the
entire story arc in one volume. The collection includes: Glint of a
Suncatcher, Glint of a Ring, Glint of an Artifact, Glint of a
Tower.

Available now!

***

Elvy craned her head up. Her heart
gave an interrupted beat when she recognized the unsmiling face.
She froze.

Warrior Ipek. The same Chion
Warrior she'd challenged in the Jad Council only a couple months
before.

They were alone in the middle of
the forest. As well as she knew the forest, he would know it
better, so no point in running. Would he do anything to her? To
have his revenge at her defiance?

He moved an arm towards her, and
she automatically flinched.

"Are you hurt, child?" he
asked.

Her eyes went wide, not expecting
the question. Nor the extended hand with the palm up as if to help
her up. She gulped, pulling her knees under her. He reached down to
grab her by the upper arm, helping her get to her feet.

She stood in front of him, staring
at him, mute. Her mind was still running, still repeating the same
words. They tumbled out of her mouth, "We need help."

"You are referring to the pirates
who have attacked the archeological site?" he asked as his hand
fell away from her arm.

She nodded, her teeth starting to
chatter. Her lungs and chest felt hot, but the rest of her felt
cold from the cold rain. "My father got most into the storage
building. He activated the forcefield, but they can't stay in there
forever. What if they have bigger weapons?"

She stopped, Warrior Ipek's words
finally filtering through. "Pirates?"

Warrior Ipek gazed off into the
trees, narrowing his eyes. As if he were looking through the
barrier of green and could see the dig site. "We observed their
landing. A small ship, coming in low over the forest. We doubt Jad
Approach Control saw them."

Her heart starting to calm, she
rubbed the mud off her arms. "They were right behind me. Can you
help? I mean, do you want to?"

His attention abruptly returned to
her, and he demanded curtly, "What do you mean by such a
question?"

Great, she'd done it now. She
tugged at the ring on her thumb. "I mean the council meeting. I
know you are angry at me."

"I am," he said, but his arms
relaxed. He stepped to the side and guided her down the faint trail
behind him. "But I am a Chion Warrior. My thoughts on the matter
are of no consequence at this time. We have kept our promise. The
Warriors will protect the site."

***

The "Children of Jad Omnibus" is
available at online retailers everywhere.

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PUBLISHING

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Ebook ISBN:
978-1-937042-21-9

Published exclusively by: Star
Catcher Publishing

Copyright 2012
J.A.
Marlow.
All Rights
Reserved.

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copyright 2012 by J.A. Marlow. All rights reserved.

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