Sumerians: The Reception

After her worst day ever, Vayen reports back to her boss and finds out that not only has she lost her job, but for her own good, her father is banishing her from Earth.

Okay, so maybe banish is too strong of a word. After all, the year is 3641, and Earth is dying, thanks to the sun’s escalating heat and a fading atmosphere. Those who remain survive in glass hulls and owe everything they have to the administrations that govern them—that is, if the government doesn’t fall prey to the deadly attacks of an enemy nation first. In general, Earth is a dangerous place, and Vayen’s Dad is trying to do his fatherly duty by give her a better life. Unfortunately, his plan involves her leaving the planet—for good—by way of the Sumeria, a ship destined for another galaxy.

Still, he never asked Vayen what she wanted. He decided for her, and now she must attend the Birthright Reception, the most sacred coming-of-age ceremony in East Point for the last 200 years—and she is terrified. Of course, her father couldn’t have known that East Point’s most wanted criminal, Minix, would attack the ceremony and kidnap her, and she feels betrayed when it appears her mother may have had something to do with it. When Minix poses a puzzle that only Vayen can solve, she steals an alien weapon from him, turning the mad criminal against her and making her mother his captive.

Armed with a weapon that could mean the destruction or salvation of her nation and becoming more fully aware of the dark workings of the world she lives in, Vayen finds herself yearning for the day the Sumeria will leave. Called to a destiny beyond Earth, she must first free her mother and save East Point, and in the end, Vayen must decide if she is willing to do all that only she can do to take control of her destiny.