Asking for Trouble

Description

The heartwarming and adventure-filled sequel to Trouble in the Stars, in which Trouble, an adorable but dangerous shape-shifter must travel the galaxy on a rescue mission with their best friend Electra and a troublesome baby shapeshifter. Perfect for fans of Greg van Eekhout and Geoff Rodkey.

After the adventure and havoc of escaping the evil General Smag, Trouble is happy to finally be settling in to their new home with their best friend, Electra, and the misfit crew of the Hindsight. Maybe danger is finally behind them. But Trouble has a situation to deal with: training the rescued baby shapeshifter and helping it figure out who–and what–they are. But trying to be a good big sibling to a proto-being isn’t the only challenge facing Trouble.

Trouble’s best friend, Electra, was taken from her home as a baby and was raised at a military academy, where she was trained to become a loyal StarLeague cadet. Now Electra is determined to rescue the other cadets so they can have normal childhoods instead of becoming lethal weapons, like her. Her plan? To infiltrate the academy as a senior student and then engineer an escape by the entire student body.

Trouble knows they must help Electra carry out her plan. But when Electra goes missing, Trouble, determined to rescue the rescuer, goes undercover at the academy, even if it’s not as easy as you’d think for a shapeshifter to pretend to be a military cadet. Especially when Trouble finds that the baby shapeshifter has come along.

Now Trouble must do whatever it takes to save Electra and the other cadets–and figure out a strange mystery coming from the deep dark edges of space. Because something’s coming…”[A] highly engaging sequel that offers just as much humor and heart as its predecessor…This series continues to be a pitch-perfect space thriller ideal for sci-fi lovers, Star Wars fans and reluctant readers.”–School Library Journal

“Lovers of astronomy will be delighted by the way Prineas has warped space-time to create her interstellar antagonist…the story sails along with more than enough humor and heart…A bright, beautiful second installment.”–Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Trouble in the Stars:
“Trouble in the Stars is a delight from first page to last, Sarah Prineas tells Trouble’s voyage of self-discovery and search for family with dry humor, whimsy, and moments of heart-tugging poignancy. I enjoyed every minute.”—Greg van Eekhout, author of Voyage of the Dogs
 
“Prineas’s exciting and masterful adventure affirms a profound truth: that just like Trouble themself, real homes and families can take many shapes.”—Jenn Reese, author of A Game of Fox & Squirrels

“I loved this book! Trouble in the Stars is a deftly plotted page-turner with an exceptional protagonist. Trouble’s journey from loneliness and fear to acceptance and agency is rendered with warmth and nuance, making a vast, exciting galaxy feel as cozy as home. Highly recommended.”—Rae Carson, author of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
 
“A space chase that would feel right at home in the world of Star Wars. Unexpectedly out of this world.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A humorous science fiction adventure that is perfect for Star Wars fans . . . A great choice for middle grade collections and for readers looking for humorous, action-packed science fiction. ” —School Library JournalSarah Prineas is the author of the Magic Thief series, the Winterling trilogy, Ash & Bramble, Rose & Thorn, and Heart of the Land from the Spirit Animals series. She lives in rural Iowa with her husband, two kids, and two cats. You can visit Sarah online at sarah-prineas.com.“We,” Captain Astra announces, “have just encountered something interesting.”
I know my captain. When she says interesting, it doesn’t mean what you think it does.
We’re in the mess-room of the spaceship Hindsight. The mess-room is the bright, colorful place where the crew gets together to eat, and also to socialize, and for important meet- ings, which is what this is.
At the head of the long table is the captain, who’s leaning back in her chair with both hands behind her head. She has light brown skin, curly white-gray hair, and brown eyes with wrinkles at the corners. Right now her wrinkles are crinkled because she’s smiling widely at the rest of us. “Very interest- ing,” she repeats.
Next to her is Electra Zox, my best friend. As usual, she is tense, her hands clenched, her green skin a little pale, and her tintacles are dark gray. Tintacles are kind of like hair, but more tentacly, and they change color depending on how she’s feeling. Dark gray means that she’s suspicious.
Then comes Telly, our vegetarian cargo master, who is grinning around his tusks. “What’re you planning?” he asks Captain Astra.
“Oh, you’re going to love it,” she answers. Then she nods at one of the Shkkka, who is standing in the doorway. The Shkkka are three insectoids who are one person, and they are our ship’s engineer. “Is the ship ready to go?” the captain asks her. “Because we need to move.”
The Shkkka twitches her antennae, which means yes.
There’s one person missing from the crew, and that’s Amby, the tall blue humanoid who was our navigator. They returned to their home planet to be with their other family.
Instead of Amby, we have a new navigator. He’s a human- oid. He says that his name is impossible for us to pronounce; we call him Fred.
Then comes me. One of two shapeshifters in the entire galaxy. I’m curled in Amby’s old nest chair in my human boy shape: pale skin, brown hair, brown eyes. Protein bar wrap- pers are scattered around me. I am listening to the captain while keeping an eye on the thing sitting on a plate in the middle of the table.
It looks like a delicious donut sprinkled with powdered sugar.
The donut isn’t doing anything. It’s just sitting there.
At the head of the table, the captain gives a nod toward Reetha, the big green-scaled lizardian who is in charge of our communications and security. “You want to tell them about the interesting thing?” the captain asks. “Or should I?”
Reetha, who doesn’t talk much, and also doesn’t blink— lizardians don’t have eyelids to blink with—just stares back at the captain with her golden, slit-pupilled eyes.
The captain leans forward. “I’ll tell them.” She rubs her hands together and makes a low laughing sound that is almost a cackle. Heh-heh-heh. “Reetha picked up a signal from the edge of the galaxy.”
“Deep. Dark,” Reetha corrects.
Captain Astra shrugs. “The edge of the Deep Dark, but not actually outside our galaxy.” She looks around at all of us. “Reetha detected a strange blip on the sensors. We think it might be a certain lost ship . . .”
Everybody looks blankly back at her.
“A ship packed with supplies,” she hints. “Lost, drifting around the galaxy, big news about twelve years ago . . .”
“No.” Telly’s eyes widen. “Not the Skeleton?”
“Hah!” the captain says, and bangs the table with her hand. “Yes. The Skeleton.”
I must look blanker than everybody else, because the cap- tain grins at me. “Never heard of the Skeleton, Trouble?”
“Nope,” I tell her, and take a bite of protein bar.
“Twelve years ago,” she explains, “the Skeleton was a cargo ship stuffed with valuable supplies on its way from a station near the galactic center to a newly settled planet on the Outer Rim. And then—” She makes a wavy motion with her hands; I think it’s supposed to be spooky. “And then, it disappeared, like a ghost, never to be heard from again.”
“Until now,” I say.CA