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Dawn Hyperdrive and the Golden Cufflinks of Doom
Dawn Hyperdrive and the Golden Cufflinks of Doom
Dawn Hyperdrive and the Golden Cufflinks of Doom
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Dawn Hyperdrive and the Golden Cufflinks of Doom

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On Christmas break from his new school on board the Universe Protection Agency star ship Hero, Kevin Dearman discovers that something big has been stalking his family. So when his little sister Mikayla disappears, Kevin is determined to find her, and he's not the only one. Jenna Dearman and her new friend Bianca comb Rexette, where the commoners and royals fight a costly civil war, to find Mikayla. Will the rescuers find Mikayla in time? Will they even survive the search?

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 25, 2013
ISBN9781301698363
Dawn Hyperdrive and the Golden Cufflinks of Doom
Author

Sharilyn Grayson

Sharilyn Grayson was born in Cocoa Beach, right around the corner from the Kennedy Space Center, and she used to love watching shuttle launches from her grandparents’ back yard. Now she lives with her loud and interesting family in Franklin, TN in an old farmhouse surrounded by a lot of soybeans. She is a wife, mom, writer, and editor who loves outer space, good stories, and hot tea, and who wishes that superheroes were real. Dawn Hyperdrive and the Galactic Handbag of Death is her first book, but definitely not her last.

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    Dawn Hyperdrive and the Golden Cufflinks of Doom - Sharilyn Grayson

    Dawn Hyperdrive and the Golden Cufflinks of Doom

    by Sharilyn Grayson

    Dawn Hyperdrive and the Golden Cufflinks of Doom

    Smashwords Edition

    Copyright 2013 by Sharilyn Grayson

    Illustrations by Don Bowers

    Cover art by Drew Macarthur

    Author photograph by Michael Tyler

    License Note

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    For Morgan, Molly, Helen, Justus, Ian, and Elijah –

    The first to ask for seconds

    Table of Contents

    Chapter One: Christmas Break from the Academy of Misdirection

    Chapter Two: The Dearmans Make New Friends

    Chapter Three: Sleepovers

    Chapter Four: In Which Everyone Is Unpleasantly Surprised

    Chapter Five: Unauthorized Excursions

    Chapter Six: I Spy with My Little Eye

    Chapter Seven: Several Attempted Rescues

    Chapter Eight: A Good Fight Is One You Survive

    Chapter Nine: Home Isn’t Always Where Your Heart Is

    Acknowledgements

    About the Author

    Chapter One: Christmas Break from the Academy of Misdirection

    Kevin twisted the yoke of the transport to hover over the dark side of the moon and turned back to Bede Fellowes, his fellow cadet and new best friend. I’ve flown this transport through three galaxies without an accident, and you’re seriously going to stick by the rules and make me hand it off to you here?

    Bede grinned, showing his sharp teeth and narrowing the cat-like eyes in his blue face. Rules are rules, Dearman. Earth isn’t a part of the ICP; my hands are tied. And even if they weren’t, I’d want you to get your butt out of the pilot’s seat. You fly like a granny.

    Kevin tussled briefly and good-naturedly with Bede on his way to the co-pilot’s seat, and then he twisted around to look at Mogo Ling, Tilde Carlsdottir, and Dana Anderson, three of his fellow cadets from Earth. I can go last; I’m not in a hurry. Besides, I want to see where you guys live.

    Nosy, Anderson said loftily, barely looking up from the tablet computer in her lap. It was a kind Kevin had only seen in space: thin and transparent as a pane of glass without any visible wires or batteries anywhere.

    I’m not nosy, Kevin disagreed. I’m just curious. I’ve never been to Shanghai or Kraddsele or Pensacola. Come on, Anderson – at least let’s drop you off first so we can go to the beach before we go home where it’s cold.

    No, Anderson said. You go first, then me, then Tilde, and then Mogo. Then Bede can take the transport back until leave is over. We’re not rearranging everything just because you’re curious.

    Come on, Bede – just do the trip in reverse, Kevin said. It’s the same fuel and time. What’s the difference?

    For me, we have to set down in the middle of a major city. Uncloaking will be tricky with so many eyes around. It will be easier if only Bede and I are on board, Mogo said in Chinese that Kevin heard as English through his earbud translator and communicator. Sorry. Shanghai is awesome. I wish you could see it.

    And Bede has to drop me in a remote area of Sweden with few other cars. We have to make sure the only creatures we scare are the deer, not some poor hunters who are going to report a UFO sighting. Once Earth joins the ICP, we’ll have transports flying all over and transport ray pads so that we can beam down. You can see where I live then, Tilde promised through the translator.

    Anderson didn’t need a translator. There is no way you are seeing my house. Forget it. Make your parents take you to Disney; that’s as close to Pensacola as anyone needs to get.

    Kevin sank back into the co-pilot’s seat, irritated both at Anderson and at the secrecy that was part of his life until Earth joined the Intergalactic Confederation of Planets. Being a cadet at the Academy sector of the Universe Protection Agency, the ICP’s police force, had its perks. Living in outer space and having aliens for friends and classmates was great. Using advanced technology and taking police procedure classes in addition to general academics was amazing. But living a double life wore him down.

    He couldn’t tell any of his old friends or even his parents where he really was or what he was doing. He had to watch every word he said and suppress his excitement about his life in space. Only two people from home really knew where he was – maybe three.

    The two people who knew the truth were his sisters, Jenna and Mikayla, who had been in space with him last summer, when Commander Dawn Hyperdrive had taken the three Dearman siblings along on her mission to defeat Mrs. Scales and her handbag of deathly dragon fire. The UPA had caught Mrs. Scales at Rexette, her home planet, and Kevin had watched a brave fairy sacrifice herself to destroy Mrs. Scales in dragon form. It was a long story – one that started with the third person Kevin suspected might know about where he was.

    Mrs. Spears, his elderly neighbor, had introduced Commander Hyperdrive as her niece, and she had also called Kevin Cadet Dearman. Mrs. Spears definitely knew something; Kevin just wasn’t sure exactly what. But Kevin didn’t expect to see Mrs. Spears over his Christmas break, because his family had moved.

    Where’s a good place to uncloak close to your new house? Bede asked.

    There’s a Mansfield’s grocery store a little over a mile away in a strip mall, Kevin said. I’ll enter coordinates.

    Kevin briefly tapped the touch screen control panel and then looked out the window. As Bede left the shelter of the moon, Kevin could see the green and brown outlines of the southeast US emerging rapidly from the familiar inverted pyramid of North America. Traveling in a cloaked transport at such high speeds still felt unsettling to him, though it no longer made him sick.

    Glittering rivers and matte grey highways quickly slithered into place as the transport aimed at the small town of Jefferson, where Kevin lived. The transport flew over the large suburb where Kevin’s old house was and just missed the Confederate soldier memorial in the large roundabout downtown before it landed between two large, smelly dumpsters behind the Mansfield’s grocery store where Kevin’s mom had begun working after the move.

    Bede waited until his sensors showed no life signs or approaching cars before he entered the commands to disguise and then uncloak the transport. Hidden by the dumpsters, the winged transport plane shimmered into view as a red sedan, which drove slowly to the front of the shopping center.

    Only a moment afterwards, an expensive-looking white hatchback shimmered into view between the same two dumpsters and followed the red sedan. When Bede turned right down the country road toward Kevin’s house, the white hatchback followed. It stayed behind the red sedan until Bede turned right again down the quarter-mile-long gravel drive that led to the old farmhouse where Kevin’s family lived now. As the red sedan sped forward in a cloud of dust, the white hatchback passed slowly and then turned right at the T intersection just past Kevin’s mailbox. Even more slowly, it disappeared from view behind a stand of trees.

    It’s a shame your friends couldn’t stay for dinner, Erin Dearman said a few hours later as she passed a basket of homemade biscuits to Kevin. I would have liked to meet them.

    Kevin stifled a smile as he imagined his mother meeting Bede Fellowes or Snick, who had been part of Kevin’s mission team last summer and who looked like a huge insect. They really had to get going, Mom. The other cadets that rode with us live pretty far away.

    Maybe they’ll be able to stay when they pick you up, Erin suggested hopefully.

    Kevin stuffed a biscuit into his mouth and muttered something indecipherable. His mom had made his favorite meal for his first night at home: fried chicken, biscuits, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes. Though there was also a salad on the table, Kevin ignored it, and his mom didn’t press the issue.

    So tell us about school, Paul Dearman said. We want to hear all about what it’s like there.

    Stupid, freaking mouse! Jenna yelled suddenly, shooting up from her seat and throwing her spoon into a corner of the kitchen.

    Jenna! Erin scolded. There’s no need to throw things.

    Sorry, Mom, Jenna said meekly. It just scared me running across the floor.

    Mice are part of life here in the country, Paul shrugged. We won’t see so many when we get a cat.

    Can we get one for Christmas? Mikayla begged. Can it be just my cat and not Jenna’s?

    As Kevin’s parents patiently explained that any cat they got would have to be a family cat that earned its keep, Kevin caught Jenna’s eye and nodded to the corner where Jenna’s spoon had landed. He raised his eyebrows as if to ask: Was there really a mouse?

    Jenna shrugged and flashed him a smirk that she hid quickly. Whether or not there had been a mouse, she had interrupted Dad on purpose to give Kevin a rest from answering questions until the two of them could figure out some answers together. Jenna had a great imagination, part of which came from the incredible number of books she had read, and she would be able to help him concoct a cover school based on the real one aboard the UPA Hero.

    But the thought of needing to create a story to tell his parents made Kevin a little sad again. He wished he could see Dad’s eyes light up when he heard the incredible police stories Kevin’s alien teachers had told him. He wanted to see Mom’s curiosity about alien cultures and literature.

    One of Kevin’s favorite Academy teachers was Bede’s uncle, Lieutenant Alfred Fellowes, who served on the bridge of the Hero when he wasn’t teaching. When Bede went home on leave, his parents knew all about the Academy. While Bede was at school, he had family close by. Bede’s life was whole and relatively simple. Kevin envied him.

    Paul absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke, and Kevin caught his dad’s eye. Is your back really bad? Kevin asked.

    Paul put his hand down and leaned back in his chair. It’ll be better in the morning. I just got home a few hours before you did.

    With a movie! Mikayla added, showing a little of her old spunk. "It’s Under Manhattan – the one on all of the commercials."

    I haven’t seen commercials in a while, Kay, Kevin told her.

    Don’t call me Kay, Mikayla retorted, a shadow crossing her face. Guiltily, Kevin recalled briefly seeing Mikayla in an adult body after Mrs. Scales enchanted her. Mikayla had never been the same after the enchantment lifted and returned her to her child’s body.

    Where were you this time? Kevin asked Dad.

    I went to northern Virginia and back. One of these days, I want to go to Washington DC as a tourist. I saw all the buildings out the window, but I want to wander around in there. Dad waved his hand vaguely in front of him as if he could conjure a working model right on the kitchen table.

    You want to go to the FBI headquarters, Kevin guessed. Maybe you could work there someday.

    They don’t take injured, broken-down old Marines in the FBI, Dad said ruefully. They want young guys who could chase somebody down. I can’t even get on the Jefferson force with my back like this.

    They would be lucky to have you on the Jefferson force, Mom said loyally. I don’t know the last time I saw a city policeman running anyone down anyway.

    I think it’s a great idea to go to Washington on vacation, Jenna said. Mom and I could go to the Library of Congress, and the rest of you could pick us up in a week or so.

    Kevin and Dad laughed. Then Kevin said, You should work somewhere you can be around books all the time, Mom. Wouldn’t it be great if you could start teaching again or working in a library?

    Mom smiled gently at him and shook her head. I want to send you kids to college before I go back. I can’t spend the tuition on getting certified as a teacher again or training for another career right now. But a trip to Washington does sound fun – especially the Library of Congress. Her eyes twinkled at Jenna.

    Dad sighed. "We’ll have to save up, but it would be good for you kids to see the place – see all that history. You want to talk about someday, Kev? You could work in DC someday, maybe at the FBI. You’re starting off the right way, with military school. I know you could chase somebody down."

    Kevin smiled at his dad, wishing again that he could tell him about learning how to pilot a transport and being able to fly it almost all the way home. But he couldn’t. Suddenly he needed to get away from the table, to leave behind all of the secrets he couldn’t tell.

    I’m stuffed, Mom. Can I take a walk around the house? I didn’t get time to explore before I left in August.

    Not by yourself, Mom worried. Take Jenna with you.

    Yeah, Jenna’s going to be a lot of help in a fight with a psychopath kidnapper, Kevin joked.

    I think I’d do okay against a psychopath kidnapper, Jenna answered archly, and Kevin remembered how she had figured out the identity of Mrs. Scales, a psychopath kidnapper.

    Keep it up about the psychopath kidnapper, and nobody’s going anywhere without Dad and a shotgun, Mom said.

    Kidding, kidding, Kevin said, raising his hands in surrender. I want to talk to Jenna anyway.

    "Take my cell phone with you, and be back in an hour. Your dad wants to watch Under Manhattan with you," Mom said, retrieving her phone from her purse and handing it to Jenna.

    An hour? Kevin said, surprised.

    It’s eight hundred acres, Jenna reminded him, taking her coat from a peg in the wall and putting it on. We won’t get through more than a section.

    Can I go, too? Mikayla begged, clasping her hands in front of her.

    It’s dark, sweet love, and I don’t want you so far away when it’s dark, Mom told her. Kevin and Jenna will take you on a walk in the morning, when it’s light.

    Mikayla sat back and crossed her arms, looking threateningly at her older siblings. I know what you want to talk about. I know what you’re saying.

    Kevin froze, and he could feel Jenna growing very still beside him. Mikayla did know what they were going to talk about, and she had no reason to keep any secrets. She could blow everything, if Mom and Dad believed her.

    You sure do, Mikayla, he heard himself saying. We’ll come and talk to you about it, too, as soon as we finish the movie. I promise. I’ll tell you all about school.

    That promise is more than I got, Mikayla, Dad said. Sit here in the kitchen and talk to me while your mom and I wash dishes. I want to hear all about this week in first grade. Didn’t you have a Christmas party today?

    Mikayla looked thunderously back at Kevin until he nodded at her, silently repeating his promise and willing her to accept it. Then she huffed, grabbed her plate, and followed Mom to the kitchen sink.

    As he left the kitchen, Kevin looked back at his parents. His dad, bearded and strong and dark brown, and his mom, pale and blue-eyed and tired, stood at the sink with Mikayla, curly-haired and caramel colored, between them. He wanted so badly for them to have a better life. But that better life didn’t exist on this planet.

    Jenna’s boots crunched the dry, frosty grass underfoot. She reached a hand through the underbrush beside her in the belt of trees lining the creek, and she snapped a pinecone off a low-hanging branch. She sniffed the sharp scent of the broken end and rolled the spikes between her gloved hands as she spoke.

    All you have to remember is to talk about people’s personalities instead of how they look. Then you can talk about anyone, even Bede. It’s supposed to be an international school, right? So if someone’s name sounds weird, just say you can’t remember where they’re from. I bet that’s true half the time anyway. How many planets are inhabited?

    I don’t know – tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands. Not all of them belong to the ICP. Some of them are too primitive, like Earth. Some of them belong to other alliances, ones that aren’t friendly to the ICP. But even when you’re talking just about the planets in the ICP – I couldn’t name them all. I can’t even name all of the countries in the UN, and I’ve lived on Earth all my life, Kevin sighed. I feel so behind.

    So you wish you’d paid more attention in school? Jenna asked smugly.

    No, Kevin said. I wish I’d grown up out there.

    As Jenna and Kevin walked in comfortable silence, Jenna stared up at the cold, glittering stars, so many more than she could remember ever seeing before she moved to the country. Now that she had been away from home once, she did want to go away again. I wish we could go there together, all of us, Jenna said. Mom and Dad should know why Mikayla is so upset. They should know where you really are.

    Kevin sighed. "I know. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to keep the secret when I signed up. But it is hard – especially when I’m around Mom and Dad."

    You really want to tell them, Jenna said sympathetically.

    Yes, but that’s not all, Kevin told her rapidly. "Medicine is so much more advanced out there. Do you realize that the doctors on board the Hero could heal Dad completely from his old war wound? He could be well. He could be a police officer. If he knew about space, he could be a UPA agent. He wouldn’t have to drive trucks anymore."

    I didn’t know, Jenna said. The thought of Dad completely well and able to do the work he wanted to do made something warm and soothing bubble inside Jenna’s chest.

    And Mom – she could do something awesome on a ship or at an alien library. The UPA doesn’t rely on stupid degrees from minor planets. They test your abilities and put you where you belong. Mom could do something that makes her happy, something she’s good at doing.

    Beside her, Kevin picked up a stick and threw it towards the creek. It hit another tree instead of the water and fell with a muffled thud on the leaf loam.

    Jenna winced as that warm feeling inside drained away. Nothing could change for her parents right now. I wish we could tell them. I wish it could be like you say.

    Kevin kicked a dirt clod at the edge of a furrow. Yeah, well, if I do, I’ll be asked to leave the Academy, and I’ll lose any chance I have of seeing anything off planet again, let alone helping Mom and Dad. So I just have to stay quiet and watch them work hard and stay poor – and miss what’s really going on with Mikayla. Sometimes aliens suck.

    Jenna privately agreed. As Kevin sank into gloomy silence beside her, she saw her dad the way he had looked in old pictures from his time in the Marines and his wedding to Mom: clean-shaven, confident, and happy. She imagined her Mom sitting in Commander Hyperdrive’s ready room last summer, talking about stories Jenna had never heard and understanding what Mrs. Scales was much sooner than Jenna had. She imagined her parents with no worries about money, no stress about rent or bills, and no despair about a great vacation idea just because there was no way to pay for it in the foreseeable future.

    Still, not having a lot was easier here at the new house. The people in the farmhouses on this road were far from rich. They nursed along really old cars and shopped where Jenna’s family did and considered going out for burgers and fries at Outta Dodge to be a treat. But most of them were older people whose children were grown. And she had to admit: there were some things about her old neighborhood she did miss.

    Her old school was one. Elementary school there lasted until sixth grade, and everyone entered junior high together in seventh. Here, elementary school lasted until fifth grade, and middle school lasted from sixth to eighth. Her classmates had already chosen best friends and gravitated into cliques last year in sixth grade, leaving Jenna new and alone this year in seventh.

    The other thing she missed was her old best friend, Marley. Though they had tried to stay in touch at first, Jenna didn’t have a computer at home, and she and Marley were both awkward on the phone. Besides that, planning time to go to each other’s houses was next to impossible considering Mom’s work in the afternoons and Marley’s new schedule as a cheerleader. Marley’s birthday had come and gone in November without an invitation to a party. Jenna had gotten one every year since both girls were five. Either Marley hadn’t had a party, or she hadn’t invited Jenna to it.

    So thoughts of leaving everything behind and starting again in outer space didn’t distress Jenna like they might have before last summer. Living on a UPA spaceship couldn’t be much worse than going to Jefferson Middle with no friends.

    How far have we gone? Kevin asked suddenly. It’s really creepy out here. Anything could be in the trees.

    He turned around, and so did she, though she hesitated at a sound in the line of trees. It’s just a squirrel or a coyote or a bird or something. She decided not to mention it to Kevin.

    They couldn’t see the lights of the house from the low ground by the creek, just the general orange-y glow of the streetlights in downtown Jefferson. But Jenna knew to follow that glow uphill.

    She nudged Kevin’s sleeve and pointed the right way. It’s not far. We’ve kind of been walking in a half circle.

    What time is it?

    Jenna pushed a button on the cell phone. We have about fifteen minutes before Mom expects us.

    I guess we should head back. I won’t really be able to see much until it’s light anyway, Kevin shrugged.

    Okay, Jenna agreed flatly. For a few minutes, she heard nothing but crunchy footsteps and breathing.

    Are you all right? Kevin asked.

    Jenna saw him glance sideways at her and frowned. Of course I am.

    Because it looks like you’re crying, he added.

    It’s cold and windy out, she said. Your eyes are probably tearing up, too. She looked defiantly over at him. His eyes were dry.

    I shouldn’t have talked to you about Mom and Dad like that, he sighed. Now I’ve just made you upset, too.

    You didn’t. I’m fine. She wiped her cheeks with her gloved hands.

    He looked up at the stars. You still best friends with Marley? Kevin asked.

    I don’t know – maybe, Jenna answered evasively.

    Is that why you’re upset?

    I’m upset right now because you’re being so nosy! Jenna snapped.

    Kevin walked beside her in silence a few steps. That’s the second time today someone’s called me nosy.

    Maybe you should take a hint.

    Maybe, Kevin said, sticking his hands into his pockets. He didn’t say anything else.

    Jenna fought herself. She had been pointlessly mean, on purpose, but she didn’t want to apologize. Finally the story tumbled out of her, along with a few more tears as she described her lonely school and awkward, sporadic calls to Marley.

    Kevin let her talk without interrupting until she was finished. Then he glanced to the side again. No one else at your school is new?

    Jenna sighed. "There’s one girl in my class that’s new, too, but she doesn’t talk to anyone. She

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