Target Practice

**Target Practice** is the first book in the Cleopatra in Space series.

## Summary

When Cleopatra finds a mysterious tablet that zaps her to the far, REALLY far future, she learns of an ancient prophecy that says she is destined to save the galaxy from the tyrannical rule of the evil Xaius Octavian.

She enrolls in Yasiro Academy, a high-tech school with classes like algebra, biology, and alien languages (which Cleo could do without), and combat training (which is more Cleo's style). With help from her teacher Khensu, Cleo learns what it takes to be a great leader, while trying to figure out how she's going to get her homework done, make friends, avoid detention, and everything else that comes with being the future queen of the universe!

## Plot

Cleopatra Philopator VII is a princess in ancient Egypt. Fed up with her life and expectations of who she should be, Cleo escapes her mentor Bakari in order to have fun with her friend Gozi.

They accidentally discover a tomb that has been buried for thousands of years, and upon entering they find all sorts of strange objects including a sword and a tablet with an ancient prophecy on it. The prophecy tells of a hero who will "collapse the abyss".

When Cleo touches the tablet, however, it begins to glow and she is transported instantly to an unfamiliar time and place - thousands of years in the future, on the planet Mayet in the Nile Galaxy. She meets a talking cat named Khensu who introduces her to the new setting.

Khepra, also a cat, tells Cleo about Octavian, a ruthless leader who destroyed all electronic records of history in an event known as the Blight. During the recovery of information after this incident, a prophecy was discovered that Cleo would be the one to save the galaxy. She also reveals that they have no way to send Cleo back to her own time.

Khensu suggests that Cleo go to school while on Mayet in order to acclimate. There she meets an excited girl named Akila, who eventually becomes one of her closest friends. Akila in turn introduces Cleo to Brian, a technological genius.

Cleo attends multiple boring classes before attending Target Practice, a class she aces despite never having had practice with a ray gun, which impresses Akila. Cleo starts to realize how much she misses her home.

For skipping classes, Cleopatra ends up in detention, where she meets a classmate named Zaid. Meanwhile, Khensu discusses Cleo's role in the prophecy with Khepra, and requests that she be allowed to train in combat more extensively, but Khepra is skeptical of her abilities. Akila surprises Cleo with a birthday party, and Brian gifts her with a speeder bike.

Cleopatra is sent on a mission to the planet Tawris, despite Khensu's reluctance to accompany her, in order to test her ability. Her mission is to retrieve a data key in a locked box from a local tribe living there. She retrieves the box successfully, although she ends up hanging by a vine over a ravine, but Khensu rescues her. They arrive at a large set of locked doors, which the key Cleo retrieved unlocks, and they enter the building.

Khensu and Cleo end up in a large room, which holds a sword in its center guarded by a forcefield. Cleo recognizes the sword and recklessly grabs it, setting off an alarm and releasing an army of robots. She successfully takes down most of these guards using the sword, impressing Khensu, and they leave the planet.

An angry Khensu storms in on the Council and asks why the mission they had sent Cleo on was so dangerous. They explain that the wanted to make sure that she was, in fact, the destined savior of the galaxy.

Cleo, meanwhile, sits and contemplates her time at the Academy so far, and is joined by Pharaoh Yosira, who asks what she thought of her first semester at Yasiro Academy. Cleo responds, "I think I'm going to like it here."