Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
The smile is a waste though. The first floor is empty. Nate isn’t in the kitchen or the living room. I peer out the window, expecting to see him with his axe in hand, but the shed is locked up and there’s not a single footprint in the snow leading away from the cottage.
Everything is quiet and still. There’s no sign of Nate. That’s when I turn to see the stack of white paper sitting on the edge of the kitchen table. Curious, I edge closer and lean over to look at it. Even upside down, I know immediately what it says.
A Cosmic Penance Summary
My jaw nearly comes unhinged.
It can’t be…
I dart around the table, pick up the first page, and start to leaf through it quickly. The stack is thicker than I first thought, at least fifteen pages of an in-depth outline. When did he do this?!
I look up toward his corner of the second story. Did he stay up all night? Is he up there now?
I need to know.
I leave the summary where it is and tiptoe up the stairs. Even in stealth mode, I’m not quiet enough for Cat. He saunters out of my room, meowing for more attention. I scoop him up off the ground to quiet him then I creep toward Nate’s bedroom door so I can press my ear against it.
Immediately I go rigid. My eyes widen at the crisp clicks and clacks of Nate’s keyboard. The staccato rhythm is exhilarating. His fingers are flying.
Oh my god.
I don’t know what to do. Cat doesn’t understand the implications of this. The fact that Nate and I have been working on an outline was a good sign that he might have been easing out of his long-endured writer’s block, but the summary downstairs coupled with this flurry of keys means something else entirely. I don’t want to jinx it, so I hurry away, back down the stairs.
I feed Cat and make myself a cup of coffee, and all the while, my gaze drifts continuously to that summary. I can barely resist the urge to rip it off the table and speed-read it, but I’m too excited. I want to savor every word.
I’m also admittedly a little worried. There’s a chance it’s all horrible, that Nate’s not on the other side of his writer’s block but instead fumbling his way through it, putting metaphorical pen to paper by any means necessary.
I chew on my bottom lip and tap, tap, tap my finger on the counter, willing the coffee pot to hurry it up. I hastily pour a mug’s worth, add a splash of cream, and then scramble to take my seat.
Cat leaps onto my lap as I swivel the packet of paper toward me with a racing heart.
This is Christmas morning.
This is Christmas morning and my birthday combined.
Still, I pause for a moment, unsure. I know Nate left this down here for me. I’m obviously allowed to read it, and yet as I turn the first page, it feels like I’m peering past a forbidden curtain, seeing what I shouldn’t. A trickle of excitement raises goose bumps down my arms the moment I see Captain Amelia Turner’s name.
Twelve astronauts hold the fate of Earth’s people in their hands. As the Cosmos crew, led by Captain Amelia Turner, descends to a promising exoplanet (Kepler-452b), they’re filled with hope and trepidation for this world that appears to be their long-sought salvation.
My eyes fly across the page, frantically reading. I lose myself in the summary. I turn pages, drink my coffee, pet Cat—all the while racing to see what Nate has decided to do with his crew.
For publishing purposes, summaries are usually a spoiler-ridden outline filled with tropes, character arcs, pivotal scenes, and plot breakdowns. Nate’s unfolds exactly as I expect it should. He highlights the crew’s hopeful new beginnings.
They establish a base on Kepler-452b and begin the complex process of terraforming and adapting—
Yes, yes, I know that! I skip ahead.
The planet’s unique ecology and mysterious, ancient ruins hint at the presence of a past civilization not so different from Earth’s.
We’ve discussed all of this! How the crew will unearth the history of an advanced alien species that once thrived on the planet, how these discoveries will shed light on the fate of the ancient race…
Nate continues on to detail the intercepted signals and the conflicting opinions of the crew about how to deal with this interstellar encounter, including the argument between Amelia and Julian, just like we discussed a few days ago.
Then, the strain of the mission begins to take a toll. Personal conflicts, doubts, and fears surface as they face the magnitude of their responsibility to humanity and the sacrifices they’ve made to get this far.
Toward the end, Nate goes into a lot of detail concerning the astronauts’ final choice: remain on Kepler-452b, knowing they may never see Earth again, or return to a dying planet in the hopes of saving what remains of their species.