The Race Across the Desert: Tales of the Chai Makhani Trio, #10

By Kate Macleod

The Chai Makhani Trio stole a shuttle, but without pilots to fly it, they remain trapped.

But they have a prisoner now: Koltn Ward. His mission lies opposed to theirs. But Alextra has the power to compel him. Only none of them know where the rebellion hides now.

Best guess? Somewhere in the Desert of the Burning Sands. Infinite dunes await their anxious search. But the name? Not an exaggeration.

The trio must summon up all their strength to face this latest challenge. And they must do it with the help of their bitterest foe.

"The Race Across the Desert" is the tenth episode in the ongoing monthly science fiction adventure serial TALES OF THE CHAI MAKHANI TRIO.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ratatoskr Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781958606100

Kate Macleod

Dr. Kate MacLeod is an innovative inclusive educator, researcher, and author. She began her career as a high school special education teacher in New York City and now works as faculty in the college of education at the University of Maine Farmington and as an education consultant with Inclusive Schooling. She has spent 15 years studying inclusive practices and supporting school leaders and educators to feel prepared and inspired to include all learners.

Book preview

The Race Across the Desert

THE RACE ACROSS THE DESERT

TALES OF THE CHAI MAKHANI TRIO: EPISODE 10

KATE MACLEOD

Ratatoskr Press

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CONTENTS

The Race Across the Desert

To Be Continued…

Sci-Fi Serial Podcast!

Tales of the Chai Makhani Trio

Complete Series: The Travels of Scout Shannon

New Series: The Ritchie and Fitz Sci-Fi Murder Mysteries

Also from Kate MacLeod

Also from Ratatoskr Press

Free eBook!

About the Author

Also by Kate MacLeod

THE RACE ACROSS THE DESERT

The tertiary flight deck on the Commonwealth flagship was large enough to contain a hundred shuttles. That was room enough for them all to be docked away from the active take-off and landing area. And the space was as tall as it was wide. When Elyot had first gotten a glimpse of it out of the panel in the wall he and his friends had emerged from, the entire space had felt inconceivably immense.

Now, it felt far too small. The smoke and heat from the explosion of just one shuttle filled the air, too dense to avoid. Elyot's lungs burned from the heat of the air, and he needed the oxygen to keep moving. His eyes stung and watered from the smoke, so intensely he could barely see the world around him. It was all a patchwork of distorted, watery images through the tears in his eyes.

But worst of all was the smell, burning electricity and melting metal and plastic, clinging foully to the inside of his mouth. There was no getting away from it.

Then hands were reaching out to him, to pull him and the limping Laera he was half-carrying up the ramp and into the belly of an intact shuttle. He stumbled at the top of the ramp, not able to see where the floor leveled off. Then the ramp closed up behind him, and everything was blessed silence. No cacophony of alarms, shouting voices, and the roar of the fire.

That lasted for a second, then the ventilation system inside