Blog Tour Excerpt: Embassy (Recovery #1) by S. Alex Martin

Embassy by S. Alex Martin is a Young Adult Science Fiction of galaxies and the journey to find love.

“Arman Lance was supposed to travel the galaxy with his father, not watch him die. He was supposed to experience the adventures from his father’s stories, not isolate himself from the world. He was going to join the Embassy Program, fly across the galaxy, and find Ladia Purnell, a girl from another planet whom he loved years before.

Clinging to his fading hopes and dreams, Arman joins the Embassy Program to fulfill that last promise. If he can reach Ladia, he’ll never have to worry, never have to feel alone. But it doesn’t take long for his plan to fall apart when he’s confronted by his fellow Embassy recruit, Glacia Haverns, the ever-smiling adrenaline junkie who decides it’s her job to show Arman there’s more to life than chasing a desperate obsession.“

Published: 1 January 2014

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction

Pages: 330

Chapter Two

By S. Alex Martin

“7:58…7:59.

I stare at the time projected over the table and count each second in my head. 20, 21, 22. The clink- ing of Mother’s fork and knife stops. She’s finished eating, and is watching the time, too. Is she hoping for my recruitment? Or does she secretly want me to stay so she doesn’t have to lose me?

54, 55, 56. My eyes are dry, so I blink. In that split second, the time changes to eight o’clock. I was counting too slow.

And then my holotab lights up.

The mini projectors hidden along the edges of the device produce a display above the screen: Lieutenant Victoria Hofhen, Embassy Official.

“Answer,” I say in a low, choked voice. Mother is looking the other way. “Hello?”

“Hello, Mr. Lance,” says the voice of Lieutenant Hofhen, who seems much calmer than she did at the exam. “You’ll be pleased to know you passed the Embassy Placement Report, and were one of two people who received a perfect score. The Chancellor’s council has selected you to be one of Cornell’s Recruits. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure, Mr. Lance. Please meet me at Cornell’s docking terminals by eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”

“I will.”

“Have a good day, Mr. Lance.”

The line disconnects. Mother still isn’t looking at me. I’m leaving. I am actually leaving. Tomorrow morning I’m boarding a hovercraft to the Embassy and from there I can board an expedition to Belvun and be rid of this planet once and for all.

“I’m proud of you, Arman.”

Mother is looking at me, her eyes red and cheeks going flush.

“You’ve worked so hard for this,” she says, nodding quickly to hold back tears. “H—he’d be so proud.”

Mother stares at me for several silent seconds. I don’t know what to say, because ‘thank you’ and ‘I love you’ don’t seem like they’d be enough. I feel like I’m back in the hospital, after the crash, when I could only stare back at her, unable to move or speak because of the drugs that numbed my body to keep the pain at bay. Mother had squeezed my hand and run her fingers through my hair, afraid to look away from me and follow the doctors to where they were keeping Father’s body. I had wanted to say how sorry I was, and that I was alive, and that Father asked about her and the twins. I wanted to say so much, but was unable.

Now I don’t know what to say.

Mother’s eyes flick to my holotab. “Have the others been announced?”

I drag the device toward me and activate it. Using a stylus, I scroll to the Embassy’s news feed and find the Recruit selection. Cornell is the fifth city listed.

“Glacia Haverns”—she passed?—“Ellin Mistin, John Mistin”—interesting, brother and sister—“and Michael Rafting.”

The other three Recruits are Latecomers. Glacia and I are the youngest of the group.

“At least you’ll know someone,” Mother says, trying to sound cheerful.

“Knowing someone isn’t the same as being friends.”

I ran out of those years ago.”

“S. Alex Martin grew up fascinated with astronomy and reading Harry Potter. His books reflect his vision for the future of humanity in the way of space exploration. He hopes to help inspire that same love of the final frontier in another generation to do his part to help progress humanity a little further.

In the words of Stephen Hawking: “There should be no boundary to human endeavor.”“