QUERY PITCH:
Twelve-year-old
wimp and self-designated videogame pro Kreith Briggs’s birthday is off
to a great, but scary start: a wild
safari with his Uncle Tonas through the most treacherous jungle in the whole universe. The tour’s real fun, if
not a bit creepy, until Kreith discovers he and his uncle have been set up.
The jungle’s
got seven of the ten most exotic—and most lethal—animal species in the
universe, including the super-sneaky electrocat and the giant land squid. But Wilmur Banx, the host of the tour, holds
an old, even more lethal grudge against Uncle Tonas and the other twenty-four
safari guests. That’s why he strands
each pair of victims in separate places in the jungle with zero protection from
the universe's fiercest beasts.
Kreith and
Uncle Tonas head toward an old research facility where they can call for help
and get off the planet alive. Only Kreith gets separated from his uncle and
now he’s got no plan at all. Armed with
a trusty new guidebook and his knack for all things techno-nerdy, his and his uncle’s survival—not to mention
the lives of any remaining safari guests—rests squarely on his puny shoulders.
FIRST 250 Words:
My
heart rate doubles as Uncle Tonas hands me what I’ve been waiting for all day. Heck, all year—a
present about the size of my fist. He
always gets me the coolest gifts, like that fluorescent slug from planet Zambor
last year for my eleventh birthday.
I rip the wrapping paper off the
present without removing the bow, lift the lid off the cardboard box, and peer inside. A small electronic chip rests on the bottom.
“What’s—?” I ask.
“It’s a book,” Uncle Tonas says, eyes wide in
his huge, muscular face. “Go on,
download it.” He leans forward with
those monstrous shoulders of his, a cigar between his pointer and middle finger. The total opposite of me. Sure, I’m only twelve years old, but my
overly large black sweatshirt and baggy jeans hide the fact I’m as skinny as
Uncle Tonas’s pinky finger.
“Uh…okay.”
A book? That’s what he got me—a book?
I try not to show my disappointment as I pick up the tiny chip and
insert it into my Multipurpose Bracelet, my parents and Uncle Tonas looking on
from the couch. I should really try to
be grateful. It’s the thought that
counts, after all.
“Would
you like to download the book The Top 200
Most Treacherous Creatures in the Universe?” the MB asks in a voice as
gruff as Uncle Tonas’s. I set the MB’s
voice to that because it sounds like his and he’s the man, though I’m starting
to doubt that after this sorry
present…
