Drone Academy , livre ebook

THE MISSIONS Cover Title Page THE SWARM TEAM OPERATION RUNAWAY Chapter 1: Behind the Pink Door Chapter 2: Hobey Hall's Great Escape Chapter 3: All Before Coffee Chapter 4: The Quiet Noise Chapter 5: The Fort in the Woods Chapter 6: Waking the Beast Chapter 7: To Find the Fire Chapter 8: The Blue Thing Chapter 9: Giving Chase Chapter 10: The Empty Feeling Chapter 11: The Sunny Place Chapter 12: No More Breath Chapter 13: Steps Forward OPERATION STARGAZER Chapter 14: The Man in the Dark Car Chapter 15: Snack, Interrupted Chapter 16: Whirs and Clicks Chapter 17: Under the Bed Chapter 18: Out of the Doghouse Chapter 19: Crashing Down Chapter 20: The First Meeting Chapter 21: Caught in the Act Chapter 22: Taking the Shot Chapter 23: Hide and Seek Chapter 24: The End of the Waiting Period Chapter 25: Notes from the Ride-Along OPERATION FOXHUNT Chapter 26: Fox in Box Chapter 27: Fox in Talks Chapter 28: Fox and Hawks Chapter 29: Fox and Locks Chapter 30: Fox on Walks Chapter 31: Fox and Clocks Chapter 32: Fox and Crocks Chapter 33: Fox Down Blocks Chapter 34: Fox and Jocks Chapter 35: Fox Who Stalks Chapter 36: Fox Hits Rocks Chapter 37: Fox in Stocks OPERATION COPYCAT Chapter 38: The Fall of Eileen Wu Chapter 39: Everyone was Yelling Chapter 40: Moving Targets Chapter 41: The Turn of a Key Chapter 42: Zero to Seventy Chapter 43: Just Enough Self-Reflection Chapter 44: Air Traffic Control Chapter 45: Following the Trail Chapter 46: Catching Up with Andrew Chapter 47: The Highway is for Flying Chapter 48: The Boy in the Ditch Chapter 49: There's No Such Thing as Alone About the Author Copyright Back Cover

Landmarks Cover Table of Contents Start of Content
List of Pages cover 1 3 4 5 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 61 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 115 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 169 171 174 176 177 178 179 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 2 back cover


THE SWARM TEAM

Zor_elle
Name: Zora Michaels
Age: 16
Ethnicity: African-American
Home base: Rural Indiana, USA
Interests: As far as her classmates know, fashion, trends and the coolest clothes and accessories; in reality, science, computers, comic books and SWARM; all things pink
Drone: The Beast - the largest drone on the SWARM team; more than a metre wide with four industrial grey helicopter blades and a black, crane-like camera; camouflage colours help it to blend into its surroundings

HowTo
Name: Howard To
Age: 16
Ethnicity: Vietnamese-American
Home base: Los Angeles, California, USA
Interests: Science fiction, comic books and all things fantasy - everything from films starring trolls and elves to role-playing games featuring wizards and warlocks
Drone: Redbird - the sleekest and flashiest of all the SWARM drones; a slick, red hot rod with four black helicopter blades, shiny red paint, red and yellow painted flames on the sides and a small black camera in the centre

ParkourSisters
Name: Parker Reading
Age: 16
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Home base: New York, New York, USA
Interests: Athletics, specifically wrestling and martial arts; computer hacking - and using her computer skills for the good of SWARM
Drone: Hacker - a small grey drone, almost insect-like in appearance; Hacker has red and green lights and six helicopter blades; the most technologically advanced drone in SWARM’s arsenal

saiguy
Name: Sai Patel
Age: 15
Ethnicity: Indian-American
Home base: Savannah, Georgia, USA
Interests: SWARM logo design; a founding member of SWARM
Drone: Solo - the smallest of the SWARM drones; bright white with four blades; a guard bar around the drone’s exterior protects those blades while a harness in the centre carries Sai’s smartphone

OPERATION RUNAWAY



CHAPTER 1
BEHIND THE PINK DOOR
“So you heard why Jessica can’t go, right?” Gabby said from behind the wheel of her tiny red Toyota as she rolled through a stop sign on Second Avenue.
Zora Michaels glanced over at her friend, studying Gabby’s long, dark hair and pretty features. Up until that point, Zora hadn’t really been listening. She’d been distracted, looking out the window, watching the familiar front gardens pass by. But hearing Hannah’s name snapped her back to reality.
“No,” Zora said. “Why?”
“She said she’s - and I’m quoting here - ‘got to spend the day studying for the PSAT.’ Can you believe that? How is that more fun than cheerleading try-outs?”
“Well, getting ready for college is pretty impor-”
“I know, right?” Gabby interrupted. “I mean, we have the rest of our lives to be all studious and serious. Live it up while you can, you know?”
Zora didn’t respond. Cheerleading was far from her favourite topic - not that she could tell her friend that. Gabby would never understand. Instead, Zora went back to looking out the window.
Gabby turned her car onto Pine Street. Zora was almost home.
“You at least have a good excuse,” Gabby said.
“Yep,” said Zora. “Can’t miss my dentist appointment. Plus I told Mom last week I’d go shopping with her.”
“Ugh, you’re so lucky. My mom’s idea of shopping is raiding my sister’s wardrobe. Everything in there is like five years out of style.”
Gabby pulled up in front of Zora’s house and flipped down the visor above her head as soon as the car stopped. She pushed her fringe out of her eyes and checked her lipstick in the mirror. It seemed to meet her approval, but just barely.
“Well, have fun at the try-outs.” Zora smiled, trying to look genuine, and pushed her door open. She straightened up and brushed her curly black hair off her shoulder, then flung her bag over her shoulder.
“It’d be more fun if you were there,” said Gabby, thumping the visor back in place.
“Wouldn’t everything?” Zora replied. She smiled again before turning to walk away.
“You wish!” Gabby called. She pulled away from the kerb with an accidental lurch, as if having trouble with the clutch. Interestingly enough, her car was an automatic.
Zora shook her head as she pushed her key into the front door’s lock. Another day, another invite to something she didn’t care about. She had better things to do than stand on the sidelines at games she had no real interest in, shouting encouragement for athletic feats she wasn’t all that impressed by.
The situation did present an interesting challenge, though. Now Zora had to come up with a week’s worth of excuses to miss out on cheerleading try-outs. That was the only way to get out of the coming season.
The door creaked open, and Zora stepped inside and out of her black boots. As she walked up the stairs, she felt the plush white carpet on her toes, even through the material of her knee-high socks. At the top of the stairs she saw the familiar kitten poster plastered on her pink bedroom door. The little cat was still hanging from its branch. So determined. An inspiration, really.
Inside, a familiar world of pink waited for her. Pink walls. Pink bed sheets. Even a pink beanbag chair. She closed the door behind her. Then, as quietly as possible, she turned the lock and rushed over to her laptop - pink, of course - to power it up.
As her computer booted up, Zora placed her pink headset over one ear, pulling the mic in front of her chin.
“Launch,” she whispered. With that, she let out a low, relieved breath. The show was over. She could finally be herself. She was home.
Zora glanced out the window, past the reflective foil flower sticker and the toy cat with suction cup paws. She had a perfect view of the attached garage. As she watched, the octagon window sprang open, thanks to her custom automated smart hinges. Then the machine reared its ugly head - the Beast.
The drone was hefty, earning its name from appearance alone. It was bigger than the ones piloted by her friends, probably twice the size of its nearest competitor. With four grey, industrial-looking blades, a camouflage-painted hull and a black crane camera, the Beast looked like a futuristic sci-fi prop brought to life.
The Beast was everything Zora hid from the world. The Beast was her better half.
“Where you been, Zor_elle?” a voice in Zora’s ear asked. It was Howard To, a fellow SWARM member and probably Zora’s closest friend in the whole group.
“School,” she answered.
“Eh. I think it’s overrated,” Howard said. “Patch me in?”
“Get your own drone,” Zora said.
“Ah, come on! You know I’m replacing the camera on mine. He won’t be up and running until next week.”
“You’re such a scrounger,” Zora said. “Hold on.”
Her fingers skimmed over her keyboard with lightning-fast speed. The screen on her laptop jumped from page to page, finally pausing when a password box popped up, front and centre.
Zora typed in Zor_elle for the name. In the password box, she typed a series of thirteen seemingly random letters and numbers, a mixed batch of upper and lowercase. She knew better than to use a word or a common phrase for her passcode and memorized a new sequence every week to keep hackers at bay.
A website opened on Zora’s screen. The words Drone Academy were written across the top of the page, made to lo