QK Agent Round 7: #HackTheVoid, YA Sci-Fi

Title: GHOSTS OF THE VOID

Entry Nickname: #HackTheVoid

Word Count: 99K

Genre: YA Science Fiction - #OwnVoices Latinx


Query

In 3023, millions of minds have been unknowingly trapped in a virtual reality world known as the Void. As these individuals can’t be disconnected without dying, their bodies have been placed in cryosleep by the U.S. Government. Only a few hackers can enter the Void and come back. Fewer are savvy enough to make a profit by doing odd-jobs inside for those interested in exploiting the virtual past.

18-year-old Suzanna Jimenéz, the fierce and loyal leader of the most notorious hacker crew—the Ghosts of the Void—is one of these. She lost the last of her family when her sister was kidnapped. After years of searching, Suzanna is convinced her sister’s dead, and escapes the real world by spending most of her life inside the virtual one.

Then Suzanna receives evidence her sister’s alive from a government official and her teenage bodyguard, Akari Nakamura. All they want in return for the information on her whereabouts is for Suzanna to accomplish the impossible: find the creator of the Void in order to finally shut it down. A man who has successfully evaded the government for centuries.

Now, Suzanna must decide if finding her sister is worth risking the lives of her crew; if she is really willing to kidnap the daughter of the Void’s creator to get the job done; and if her crew is good enough to hack it through the virtual world before getting wiped out by its security system.

GHOSTS OF THE VOID is a sci-fi YA complete at 99k words, and part of a duology. It has multiple (mostly #OwnVoices Latinx) points of view. And will appeal to readers of Want, Warcross, and Otherworld.


First Page

Akari Nakamura stared at the blinking backup lights above the cafeteria exit, signaling a Code Black. Someone cut the electricity, killing the security system inside of California’s State Capitol building. She threw her granola bar aside and dashed out the door, then followed the winding corridors to the office of Representative Edna Rodgers. Once in, she pushed the heavy door into the wall until it closed, and darted next to her boss, who’d remained seated calmly at her desk, waiting for Akari with her customary stoic face.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you,” Akari said. She took hold of the state-of-the-art Cobra stunner on her utility belt, her slender fingers finding their usual place of comfort. The familiar coolness of the steel in her hand instantly cleared her thoughts.

Stay focused, Akari, focus, she told herself, then let out a slow exhale and fixated on the closed door, its useless electric lock.

The back-up lights cast the carpet, ceiling, furniture, and their faces in an eerie red glow. As if blood coated the room. Was it a sign of what was to come? Akari was determined to make sure it wouldn’t be her own blood spilled today. Or the representative’s.

The door banged into the wall as someone forced it open, letting in the shrill noise of the alarms blaring through the hallways of the building.

A young man strolled in. Akari’s breath caught in her throat.