“In summation, we’ve done everything necessary to secure our position here and to set us up for prosecuting our mission, and I believe it’s time to move forward with our quest for information. Are there any questions?”
He watched as the people in the room looked nervously at each other, but—unlike every meeting he ever did back home for the Terran Federation—no hands went up.
The Weebers had plenty of questions, but most revolved around one key concept—“What do we do if you don’t return? Or if you do return and leave again for good?” The Terrans tried to avoid talking about being from a different time, but President Rife and a few of his staff were aware of it, although the general population was not. The Terrans leaving for good, whether now or in the future, was at the top of their minds as they broke with tradition and the Mineral Cartel.
Calvin didn’t have any answers for them. Externally they were stronger than any of their neighbors, even though the Terrans weren’t leaving them the replicator plans for any of the ships from their time period. They should be fine for at least the near term with Weeber’s Own and their frigates, unless a number of the cartels massed their forces to the point where Weeber’s Own shot off all its jumping missiles. Even then, it was still more than a match for a number of its local counterparts.
Internally, the Ssselipsssiss children were making great strides in pacifying the populace, although they routinely complained about not being able to kill the dissidents. Instead, anyone identified as a malcontent—beyond a certain level of proof—was sentenced to a new colony that had been set up in the Jinn Universe, in a Botany Bay-esque sort of system. The planet had been completely uninhabited, so the colony had been placed far enough from the mine that interaction between the two was impossible for the foreseeable future.
Calvin could see a myriad of ways for the penal colony arrangement to go wrong, but the Weebers were strongly opposed to jailing the dissidents for their inability to break their old mindsets and to outright killing them, and he really couldn’t disagree with them. He shrugged internally. At least the Weebers weren’t calling the penal colony Botany Bay.
There also didn’t appear to be any long-term health risks to staying in the alternate universe for long periods like there were back home. Similarly, Trixie hadn’t experienced any health problems staying in their universe. Calvin didn’t know why that was, but it seemed to work out well for everyone. That, at least, was something in their favor.
Most of the Terrans in the audience only had one question—they wanted to know if they’d ever be able to go home again. They knew he couldn’t answer that question, though, so they didn’t ask it. Acquiring the technology they needed was irrelevant—the issue of whether they found it or not was moot if they couldn’t take it back. Similarly, they couldn’t jump forward in time to a new era to see if the technology existed in that time; they were trapped where—and when—they were until the scientists could figure out a way to move them in a forward direction through time.
Until they could figure it out, they would do what the military always did—they would continue making progress on the issues they had control over and would prepare for future follow-on missions. There were plenty of possibilities in the here-and-now to plan for.
After a long pause, the CO nodded. “Thanks, Calvin; that was a great presentation.” His eyes swept the room in front of him and he nodded again. “All right, everyone, you’ve got your tasking and you know what you need to do. We’ll depart for Trrgos in the morning, so make sure you’re ready to go. One way or another, we’re going to get this done.”
* * * * *
Epilogue
CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf, Margath System
“I hope you have some good news,” the CO said later that night, “or at least something important; I’m supposed to make an appearance at the going-away party President Rife is throwing for us.” He’d been about to board a shuttle to the planet when Calvin and Lieutenant Bradford had stopped him and asked him for a few minutes. The shuttle—including its load of party-goers—was being held in the shuttle bay while they talked, much to the consternation, the CO knew, of said party-goers.
“Yes, sir, as a matter of fact, I do,” Lieutenant Bradford said. “We think we’ve figured out how to go forward in time.”
“Well, that’s something worth staying to talk about,” the CO said with a smile and obvious enthusiasm. “Certainly, we’re going to need that ability, or everything we’ve done so far—and will do on this trip—will be for naught. How did you figure it out?”
“That’s the funny part,” Bradford said. “We’ve taken a number of missiles apart to try to figure out how they worked, and we always came up with nothing. We don’t know how they work—we don’t even know why they work—we just know they do. So yesterday, we were sitting there in the shuttle bay, beating our heads together, not making any progress, and one of the corporals from Lieutenant Commander Hobbs’ team—Viebey, I think his name was—walked by and said, ‘Why don’t you just connect the wires to the opposite inputs?’”
“And that’s all it took?” the CO asked. “Why didn’t one of your big-brained scientists figure that out?”
“Well, the idea had been mentioned, but we’d dismissed it as being too dumb to work.”
“What made this time different?”
A blush crept over Bradford’s face. “Sir, I’m not sure how much stock you put in Axlyptrix’s predictions…” His voice trickled off, and his blush intensified.
“I think Trixie did a good job getting us here,” the CO said. “Everything she’s done has seemed to work. I don’t know how she does it, but she seems to get things right.” He smiled suddenly. “Was she involved? She was, wasn’t she? And that’s why you’re blushing—because clairvoyance isn’t scientific enough for you.”
“Yes, sir, that’s pretty much it. When Corporal Viebey said we should just change out the wires, Trixie was nearby—I mean, she takes up most of the bay, so she’s always nearby, if you know what I mean—and she said, ‘Yes, that tastes right.’ And then some of our guys, since they like Trixie—I mean, she’s always there, so they’ve become attached to her—decided to give it a further look and put some additional thought into it…and the bottom line, sir, is we think Trixie is right—we think it’s going to work.”
Captain Sheppard looked at the overhead. “Solomon, have you been listening?”
“Yes, sir, I have.”
“What’s your take on this?”
“I am not encumbered by Lieutenant Bradford’s preconceived notions that something must be ‘scientific’ in order to be possible. My creators endowed me with the ability to make observations and extrapolate from the data, without the necessity of having hard proof. Miss Axlyptrix and the rest of her race have been accurate in determining the answers to a number of questions.”
“So you think this idea is worth investigating?”
“As I noted, I make observations and extrapolate from the data. To date, I have not observed any better ideas from anyone on Lieutenant Bradford’s team. As this is the only possible method of returning to our time period that anyone has come up with, I believe it bears additional testing.”
The CO turned back to Bradford. “And you have a method of figuring this out?”
“Yes, sir, we do. All it’ll take is just a little time with one of the Viper pilots and a little power…”
“But the bottom line is you think we can go home again.”
“Yes, sir, when the mission is finished, I’m confident we’ll be able to go home again.”
# # # # #
About Chris Kennedy
A Webster Award winner and three-time Dragon Award finalist, Chris Kennedy is a Science Fiction/Fantasy/Young Adult author, speaker, and small-press publisher who has written over 25 books and published more than 100 others. Chris’ stories include the “Occupied Seattle” military fiction duology, “The Theogony” and “Codex Regius” science fiction trilogies, stor
ies in the “Four Horsemen” and “In Revolution Born” universes and the “War for Dominance” fantasy trilogy. Get his free book, “Shattered Crucible,” at his website, https://chriskennedypublishing.com.
Called “fantastic” and “a great speaker,” he has coached hundreds of beginning authors and budding novelists on how to self-publish their stories at a variety of conferences, conventions and writing guild presentations. He is the author of the award-winning #1 bestseller, “Self-Publishing for Profit: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Into the Stores,” as well as the leadership training book, “Leadership from the Darkside.”
Chris lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with his wife, and is the holder of a doctorate in educational leadership and master’s degrees in both business and public administration. Follow Chris on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ckpublishing/.
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Titles by Chris Kennedy
Red Tide: The Chinese Invasion of Seattle – Available Now
Occupied Seattle – Available Now
Janissaries: Book One of The Theogony – Available Now
When the Gods Aren’t Gods: Book Two of The Theogony – Available Now
Terra Stands Alone: Book Three of The Theogony – Available Now
Can’t Look Back: Book One of the War for Dominance – Available Now
The Search for Gram: Book One of the Codex Regius – Available Now
Beyond the Shroud of the Universe: Book Two of the Codex Regius – Available Now
The Dark Star War: Book Three of the Codex Regius – Available Now
Self-Publishing for Profit – Available Now
Leadership from the Darkside – Available Now
Asbaran Solutions – Available Now
The Golden Horde – Available Now
Alpha Contracts – Available Now
A Fistful of Credits – Available Now
For a Few Credits More – Available Now
The Good, The Bad, And The Merc – Available Now
A Fiery Sunset – Available now
* * * * *
Connect with Chris Kennedy Online
Website: http://chriskennedypublishing.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chriskennedypublishing.biz
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Chris-Kennedy/e/B00E4MIJA8/
Instagram: chris.kennedy12
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The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of the Revelations Cycle:
Cartwright’s Cavaliers
___________________
Mark Wandrey
Available Now from Seventh Seal Press
eBook, Paperback, and Audio
Excerpt from “Cartwright’s Cavaliers:”
The last two operational tanks were trapped on their chosen path. Faced with destroyed vehicles front and back, they cut sideways to the edge of the dry river bed they’d been moving along and found several large boulders to maneuver around that allowed them to present a hull-down defensive position. Their troopers rallied on that position. It was starting to look like they’d dig in when Phoenix 1 screamed over and strafed them with dual streams of railgun rounds. A split second later, Phoenix 2 followed on a parallel path. Jim was just cheering the air attack when he saw it. The sixth damned tank, and it was a heavy.
“I got that last tank,” Jim said over the command net.
“Observe and stand by,” Murdock said.
“We’ll have these in hand shortly,” Buddha agreed, his transmission interspersed with the thudding of his CASPer firing its magnet accelerator. “We can be there in a few minutes.”
Jim examined his battlespace. The tank was massive. It had to be one of the fusion-powered beasts he’d read about. Which meant shields and energy weapons. It was heading down the same gap the APC had taken, so it was heading toward Second Squad, and fast.
“Shit,” he said.
“Jim,” Hargrave said, “we’re in position. What are you doing?”
“Leading,” Jim said as he jumped out from the rock wall.
* * * * *
Get “Cartwright’s Cavaliers” now at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MRZKM95/.
Find out more about Mark Wandrey and “Cartwright’s Cavaliers” at: http://chriskennedypublishing.com/imprints-authors/mark-wandrey/.
# # # # #
The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of the Salvage Title Trilogy:
Salvage Title
___________________
Kevin Steverson
Now Available from Theogony Books
eBook, Paperback, and Audio
Excerpt from “Salvage Title:”
A steady beeping brought Harmon back to the present. Clip’s program had succeeded in unlocking the container. “Right on!” Clip exclaimed. He was always using expressions hundreds or more years out of style. “Let’s see what we have; I hope this one isn’t empty, too.” Last month they’d come across a smaller vault, but it had been empty.
Harmon stepped up and wedged his hands into the small opening the door had made when it disengaged the locks. There wasn’t enough power in the small cells Clip used to open it any further. He put his weight into it, and the door opened enough for them to get inside. Before they went in, Harmon placed a piece of pipe in the doorway so it couldn’t close and lock on them, baking them alive before anyone realized they were missing.
Daylight shone in through the doorway, and they both froze in place; the weapons vault was full. In it were two racks of rifles, stacked on top of each other. One held twenty magnetic kinetic rifles, and the other held some type of laser rifle. There was a rack of pistols of various types. There were three cases of flechette grenades and one of thermite. There were cases of ammunition and power clips for the rifles and pistols, and all the weapons looked to be in good shape, even if they were of a strange design and clearly not made in this system. Harmon couldn’t tell what system they had been made in, but he could tell what they were.
There were three upright containers on one side and three more against the back wall that looked like lockers. Five of the containers were not locked, so Clip opened them. The first three each held two sets of light battle armor that looked like it was designed for a humanoid race with four arms. The helmets looked like the ones Harmon had worn at the academy, but they were a little long in the face. The next container held a heavy battle suit—one that could be sealed against vacuum. It was also designed for a being with four arms. All the armor showed signs of wear, with scuffed helmets. The fifth container held shelves with three sizes of power cells on them. The largest power cells—four of them—were big enough to run a mech.
Harmon tried to force the handle open on the last container, thinking it may have gotten stuck over time, but it was locked and all he did was hurt his hand. The vault seemed like it had been closed for years.
Clip laughed and said, “That won’t work. It’s not age or metal fatigue keeping the door closed. Look at this stuff. It may be old, but it has been sealed in for years. It’s all in great shape.”
“Well, work some of your tech magic then, ‘Puter Boy,” Harmon said, shaking out his hand.
Clip pulled out a small laser pen and went to work on the container. It took another ten minutes, but finally he was through to the locking mechanism. It didn’t take long after that to get it open.
Inside, there were two items—an eight-inch cube on a shelf that looked like a hard drive or a computer and the large power cell it was connected to. Harmon reached for it, but Clip grabbed his arm.
“Don’t! Let me check it before you move it. It’s hooked up to that power cell for a reason. I want to know why.”
Harmon shrugged. “Okay, but I don’t see any lights; it has probably been dead for years.”
Clip took a sensor reader out of his kit, one of the many tools he had improved. He checked the cell and t
he device. There was a faint amount of power running to it that barely registered on his screen. There were several ports on the back along with the slot where the power cell was hooked in. He checked to make sure the connections were tight, he then carried the two devices to the hovercraft.
Clip then called Rinto’s personal comm from the communicator in the hovercraft. When Rinto answered, Clip looked at Harmon and winked. “Hey boss, we found some stuff worth a hovercraft full of credit…probably two. Can we have it?” he asked.
* * * * *
Get “Salvage Title” now at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H8Q3HBV.
Find out more about Kevin Steverson and “Salvage Title” at: https://chriskennedypublishing.com/imprints-authors/kevin-steverson/.
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The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of The Fallen World:
This Fallen World
___________________
Christopher Woods
A Gulf in Time Page 28
