Acceleration

I will be uploading Exodus: Empires at War: Book 8: Soldiers to Amazon before I go to bed tonight, which means it should be available worldwide sometime before the sun rises Eastern Time. I also approved the audiobook of Exodus: Empires at War: Book 3: Rising Storm, which should be available over Amazon and Audible in the next three or four days. As mentioned in the last post, Exodus 8 will have a combination of ground and space warfare. In fact, it’s almost a fifty-fifty split for the types of action. Samuel Baggett and Cornelius Walborski will again be the main POV characters for the ground action, with the addition of some new characters, while Bryce Suttler and Admiral Len Lenkowski will have roles in space, though other characters will also share the spotlight. I am already at work on Exodus 9: Second Front and have done about fifteen thousand words on Exodus: Machine War; Book 2: Bolthole. I also have the covers in hand for those books. This weekend I will format Exodus 8 for paperback, and it should be available through Amazon and the Createspace store by next week. I don’t sell that many paperbacks, but still do them as a courtesy to fans who prefer that kind of reading experience, or for the infrequent times I do book signings. So here’s an excerpt of the space action, showing that not everything always goes to plan.

One of the missiles that had made it through the close in defensive fire was kicked over by the blast particles and went spinning out of control. Three made it through intact, their sensors scanning for the targets they had been set to look for. Two located the same target, while the third couldn’t find what it was looking for and instead locked onto the largest vessel in the area, an eight million ton assault ship.

The lone missile that homed in on the attack ship almost made it through untouched. The assault ship, the Kharkov, picked up the missile at the last moment. The ship was not equipped for ship to ship offensive operations, but the defensive suite was comparable to that of a heavy cruiser. Short range lasers fired, while the missile juked and swerved, its jamming systems coming up to full power. Close in weapons took over, sending a wave of explosive shells toward the missile. One shell hit the missile body, shredding it, and the warhead followed suit. The weapon detonated five kilometers off the bow of the ship, sending its blast of radiation into that part of the vessel.

The ship shuddered from the breech of its lightly armored hull, and one of the forward hangars blew open, throwing orbit to atmospheric craft out into space, destroying a quarter of the ship’s complement of support craft. Kharkov limped on, trying to get into position to support the people on the surface while streaming atmosphere from multiple hull breaches.

The last two missiles came in on the same target, one of the stealth/attack ships with an attached gate. The ship was almost helpless, unable to bring its own defensive weapons to bear due to the portal being in the way. A battleship was in the process of transiting the gate, the fifteen million ton Queen Elizabeth III. Half of the ship was through, but it was still in no position to defend itself or the gate. Still, the forwardmost laser ring was able to get in a pair of shots. One hit a missile square on the nose from a hundred kilometer range, detonating the missile at a distance from which the radiation load was minimal. The second missile was hit by the stern, causing it to go into a tumble that caused it to detonate a kilometer from the gate.

The battleship would have handled that close a blast with little problem except for some surface damage. The gate itself was much more fragile, and the frame couldn’t handle that heat. Two hundred meters of the outer portion of one frame side boiled away into vapor, destroying the connection that kept the magnetic field operating that held the wormhole open. The wormhole collapsed, shearing through the section of the ship that was still transiting the hole as if it didn’t exist. The forward end of the ship separated from the hole and flew out into space at two kilometers a second. One of the missile magazines had been cut in two, and a warhead breached containment a moment later, causing a gigaton class explosion that ripped through that part of the ship. Thirty more warheads went off in sympathetic detonation, a brilliant flare that blinded every visual sensor for thousands of kilometers around. The safety systems had engaged a microsecond before, sending more warheads out into space sealed in protective cases, their emergency com systems blaring for a pickup by a friendly ship.

The forward section of the Queen Elizabeth III disappeared in a cloud of fast expanding vapor, taking what was left of the gate portal framework and the stealth/attack ship Grampus with it. Fortunately for that area of space, there were not many particles left above the size of a molecule, so all the other vessels in the area were able to weather the blast.

The stern fared no better, and it was much worse on the whole for the surrounding area than that of the front. The wormhole pinch that severed the vessel in half cut through the front section of engineering, where the matter antimatter reactors were housed. Two of the containment vessels were ruptured at the front end, releasing their antiprotons into the region. The forty gigaton blast ripped the rear half of the battleship apart, and the other containment capsules ruptured in the blast, adding their antimatter to the fury, boosting the forty gigaton blast up to three hundred gigatons. Warheads breached containment microseconds later, adding almost two hundred more gigatons to the small star that birthed in the middle of the gathered force that had been waiting for transit.

Later analysis would show how fortunate it was that the rear, antimatter rich section of the ship exploded in that system almost a thousand light years away. If it had gone off thirty thousand kilometers from the inhabited planet, the radiation wave could have killed a hundred million of the humans on that world. As it was, it caused heavy damage to dozens of the nearer vessels, moderate damage to scores more, and lighter hull scaring to hundreds of more. Four thousand crew, beside the five thousand four hundred who had been aboard the battleship, died in the blast, while tens of thousands more were injured.

The worst of it was the destruction of the gate, which should have been allowing all of the ships in this gathering to transit into the battle zone. Now they were separated from the battle area by a thousand light years, with no way to get there in any conceivable time frame that would be helpful to the ship fighting for their lives over New Moscow.

When the forward part of the ship detonated Seastag was sitting two hundred kilometers away. Seastag was far enough from the blast zone that there was little in the way of physical effect, just a slight shake that lasted for less than a second. She was hit by heat and radiation, and warning klaxons went off on the bridge.

“We’re losing magnetic containment on the gate,” called out the Assistant Engineer, his voice panicking. “That radiation wave has disrupted the superconductors.”

“What can you do about it?” asked Suttler, hoping there was something, or the force would have lost half of their gates in minutes.

“I can get a crew out and route new superconductor cable through it. It will take some time, but I think we can save the gate.”

“Odds of the gate collapsing before you fix it?” asked the Commodore as he watched a light cruiser come through the gate, one of the specialized missile defense ships they had been waiting for.

“I really can’t give you better than a good guess,” said the Assistant Engineer, who was in charge of this task while the Chief Engineer handled the engines that were providing power to the gate. “But I would say eighty percent.”

What Dreams May Come:

Posted by dougdandridge on May 25, 2014

Posted in: 2001, Acceleration, eBooks, Fantasy, Fusion, Future Prediciton, Future Warfare, History, Kindle, Military, Nanotechnology, Near Future, Nuclear Weapons, Robots, science Fiction, self publishing, Space Program, Tropes, Writing. Tagged: dreams, Hohmann Transfer Orbits, Mars, Mars Colony, Orbit Xplorer, Subconscious, Torchships. 2 Comments

So, yesterday was a really cool day of writing from many aspects, none of them involving actually putting words on the hard drive. I finally got Orbit Xplorer to work on Hohman Transfer Orbits, which are minimum thrust orbits that allow a spaceship to transfer from one planet to another. Playing around with the velocities I was able to do a transfer from Earth to Mars in 74 days, and a return in the same. Any faster and the ship just flew off to nowhere. This involved velocities much higher than we can generate today, with greater delta Vs, but, as the book I was working these out for was to be set in 2250, or thereabouts, I would hope we could do better than today. Anyway, looking up the possible transfer dates from another website, I noted that this would make possible one transfer to Earth from Mars, followed by about a twenty day layover, then a 74 day trip to Mars from the Earth, followed by about a two hundred day layover in Mars orbit before the whole thing could be repeated. Now I had some information to develop some plot from, an example of the science actually driving part of the story. This fit in perfect with what I wanted to happen to the power (Earth) that had the space navy. They would still have torchships (fusion drive vessels that can go from A to B at one gee constant thrust) but the cargo and troop carriers depended on these set in stone schedules.

Then I went to bed, and the truly weird part occurred. I still had some problems with the storyline in one area. I was still suffering from the effects of a cold, and I went in and out of sleep last night, and worked the problem while I dreamed, coming up with characters, setting, the flow of a chapter, and how that chapter would impact on later portions of the book. I woke this morning with all of that in my memory. Now I have a good portion of the storyline worked out, without having to actually do anything. I used to joke that I could write in my sleep, and it turns out that I really can. An example of the subconscious coming to the aid of the conscious.

Exodus 1 will be free from 04/25-04/29/2014. Also, Exodus: Empires of War: Book 6: The Day of Battle, will be released on 04/27/2014. And now, the extended blurb for 1:

The Exodus series has to date sold over 58,000 copies, and has over 550 worldwide reviews on Amazon, with a 4.4 star average rating. Books three through five have made it to number one in Military Science Fiction and Space Opera on Amazon UK, and has hit the top ten in those categories in the US, book 3 actually hitting number two in both categories. Book 6 is coming out on April 27^th, and in celebration I am giving away book 1 from April 25^th through 29^th.

Humankind was forced to flee when the mighty Ca’cadasan Empire, which had been in the business of conquest for thousands of years, came calling on one of humanity’s new interstellar colonies. The humans killed a Ca’cadasan warrior after surrender, the heir of the Emperor, and sealed the fate of humanity. The six Exodus ships were launched in an attempt to get some of the human species to safety. Each contained fifty thousand colonists in cryostasis, along with a sampling of human creativity and the genetic heritage of several worlds, as well as the sum total knowledge of the species. One ship was known to escape, while four were destroyed. No one knew what happened to number five, with the possible exception of it crew. Exodus III, the known survivor, voyages a thousand years and ten thousand light years, to find a new home in the Perseus arm. A new colony is started in the Supersystem, a cluster of eight stars in orbit around a black hole. Over the next thousand years the human species wars with the many alien species of the region, growing in power and technology as they expand to become the preeminent power in the region. The pride of the Empire is the Fleet, an organization that has never lost a war.

On the thousand year anniversary of the New Terran Empire, most are thinking of the yearlong celebration that would take place among the ten thousand occupied planets of the polity. The Emperor has other things on his mind, as his prophetic dreams are telling him that the old enemy is coming. Soon, unknown ships of a vaguely familiar design are seen scouting Imperial Space. The Emperor is on a crusade to expand the military, but meets stiff resistance from Parliament, and alien powers that see the buildup as a sign of future human agression. And the century long engineering project, the Donut, an enormous circular station in orbit around the black hole, is coming online, producing the first wormholes that will eventually link the Empire.

Sean Ogden Lee Romanov, the third son of the Emperor, is a serving naval officer on a battleship, with no aspirations to sit on the throne. Extremely intelligent, the young man is at best a mediocre officer, but is determined to make the Fleet his career. But a tidal wave is coming over the horizon that will change everything. Dreams will be shattered, lives lost, and billions displaced as the consummate Empire builders come calling. And soon war will erupt like the Perseus arm has never before seen, as mighty amateur fights the consummate professionals of the Fleet, in a battle of extermination that neither can afford to lose.

So if you haven’t read this series, get in at the bottom with book 1 at http://www.amazon.com/Exodus-Empires-Book-Doug-Dandridge-ebook/dp/B009TZSBJO

As stated in my last post, a very big weekend is coming up for the Exodus: Empires at War series. For those who have not read the series, there are currently five books out, and they have sold over 58,000 copies between them. Not in the range of David Weber, but pretty damned good for something I have had to self promote. There are over 550 reviews worldwide, mostly on Amazon US and UK, and an overall rating of 4.4 stars. They have been compared to Weber, Ringo and others, and I have developed a very loyal fan base that includes physicists, mathematicians, ex and current military, and even an astronaut, as well as science fiction fans old and young. I am very proud of the series. Could it be better? Most definitely. One improvement could be the covers, and I have gone ahead and made that improvement on book one.

On April 25th through 29th Exodus: Empires at War: Book 1, will be available for free download on Amazon. I made up a new cover for the book, something I think is more colorful and attractive. For those who haven’t read this series, this is the chance to get in on the ground floor for free.

On April 27th the 6th book of the series, The Day of Battle, will be released. I will be uploading the book to Amazon on the evening of the 26th, and it will probably be available by 2 or 3 AM eastern time. I couldn’t imagine this before it happened, but there were some fans who actually stayed up late to snag the book as soon as they could. Unlike the last volume, this novel will follow the main storyline. It will be the most action packed book of the series though. Some people liked the ground action, so there is plenty of ground action, including a tank battle and several spaceship and station boarding battles. And most said they wanted more space battles. I think there are over a dozen, from several page shorts to a massive action at the climax. I think it is the best book of the series. Of course, I don’t get to make that determination. That’s for the fans. I can only hope that the people who read this book like it as much as its predecessors. And now for an excerpt:

“They’re heading this way, sir,” said Lieutenant SG Lasardo, the Tactical Officer of the destroyer, and a man who von Rittersdorf had handpicked for the position. “No surprise there.”

“Nope,” replied the Captain, looking at the tactical display that showed the overwhelming force coming toward him. “No surprise.”

And why the hell did I have to tell the Commodore that this was a good idea. His was the only hyper VII capable ship in the escort, and the only ship likely to get away if they ran. The three hyper VI destroyers might make it, while the VI light cruiser wouldn’t have much of a chance. He was in charge by dint of being a squadron commander, though the rest of his squadron was with the Commodore. That, and the fact that his ship was equipped with a wormhole com. I wish I had some of the other stuff he Commodore’s ship has, he thought, knowing that such would not be wasted on a mere destroyer.

“Get me the Commodore on the com,” he told his Com Officer. It’s about time to make sure everyone is on the same page.

* * *

The Commodore stared at the holo, watching the movement of every ship in hyper V. Her own command was superimposed on that holo, sitting in normal space, coasting at point two c to the point of entry, while the timer ticked down. Everything was set into motion. Her force was tracking the enemy both through their hyperdrive emissions as received in normal space, and the tracking information of von Rittersdorf’s vessel coming through the wormhole. She had unprecedented tracking capabilities, and hopefully weapons that were beyond the wildest dreams of the Cacas, especially in a knife fight like she was developing.

“All stations report readiness status green,” said the Com Officer, looking back at the Commodore.

Mei looked over at the com station, noting the holo of an officer above the board, the Com Officer on one of the battle stations sitting over a thousand light years away, orbiting the Supersystem black hole.

“The stations are reporting that they have fifty missiles in each tube,” said the Com Officer. “They’ll be up to max velocity in one point three minutes.”

“What about the PBs?” asked Mei.

The Com Officer went to her board for a moment, then looked back. “All particle beams are fully up and ready.”

“Let the force know we will go on the mark. Philippi and Dauphin will follow our lead. Targets are designated as…” The Commodore pointed to the target icons on the holo and assigned them to her vessels. “We jump in forty-three seconds.”

The Commodore stared at the holo, watching as the icons of her force, eleven battle cruisers, four heavy cruisers and fourteen destroyers, closed to superimposition with the enemy force.

“Jumping, now,” called out the Navigation Officer, looking over at the Helmsman.

The lights on the bridge dimmed for a moment as all available power was transferred to the hyperdrive projectors without tapping into the battery backups. With the transfer came the nausea, for most only a second or so. And then the stars of space were replaced by the red backdrop of hyperspace splattered with the tiny black dots of the distant gravity wells that were stars.

The tactical holo updated with real time information in less than a second. Before the next second ticked off every ship had opened fire, well before the enemy could react.

* * *

“The enemy ships are opening fire,” called out the Tactical Officer, as hundreds of red icons appeared on the tactical holo.

“How are they getting so many missiles into space?” asked the Task Force Commander.

“Their commercial vessels are also sending missiles our way,” said the Tactical Officer. “From their velocity I would guess they don’t have acceleration tubes. I don’t think they will be much of a threat.”

The Task Force Leader sat back in his chair and grinned. The enemy was getting desperate. But desperation would not save them.

“We have translations,” yelled out the Sensor Officer.

“Where,” yelled the Task Force Leader, coming out of his seat.

“Right on top of us,” yelled the officer, as the icons of enemy vessels appeared on the tactical plot.

Something flared impossibly bright on one of the viewers, which stepped down the intensity in an instant. Two of the icons on the tactical were blinking, one of his battleships, and a scout ship of the enemy. The biggest problem with the icons was they were right on top of each other. Which meant an enemy scout ship had translated right into the path of a battleship, if not directly inside of it.

A side viewer showed the debris of a twenty-five million ton battleship fading from hyper in a series of catastrophic translations. Not that it mattered to any of the crew of that ship, who were most decidedly dead. And then the flagship shook from the hits of an impossibly powerful particle beam, while damage klaxons went off and the lights dimmed again.

* * *

Mei Lei grimaced as the enemy force appeared on the viewer. Not just because they outmassed her force. She was very close to the enemy task force, a lot closer than most captains would be comfortable with. Something flared on the screen, and she grimaced again as she watched one of her destroyers come out of hyper halfway inside an enemy battleship. Both ships fell apart from the combined forces of objects trying to occupy the same space at the same time, and the difference in velocities and vectors that tore at them.

In the cold calculations of war of attrition, she should have been happy with that result, trading two hundred tons of warship and two hundred and fifty lives for twenty-five million tons and many thousands of the enemy. But all she could think about were the brave men and women of that ship who hadn’t even had time to realize they were doomed.

“Firing,” yelled out the Tactical Officer, and the ship bucked as she fired all weapons at the nearest enemy vessel, a battleship.

All of the vessels in her force opened up with lasers and particle beams, tossing missiles at the same time, giving the enemy some extra targets to deal with. All but three of the ships were equipped with standard weapons loadouts for their classes. Jean de Arc and her two sisters had the normal loadout, with the exception of the two wormhole weapons’ ports each carried.

The three battle cruisers each let loose with a pair of massive particle weapons, the pairs of beams all striking a different battleship. The enemy ships were moving at point three five c, while the human vessels were moving at an almost parallel vector to the Cacas at point two c. The beams were from accelerators much larger than the battle cruisers would have been capable of carrying without dispensing with most of their other weapons. Those accelerators were actually over a thousand light years away, on purpose built battle stations in orbit around the Supersystem central black hole. Each accelerator massed over four million tons, half the mass of the ships they were feeding. Protons, or in this case, antiprotons, were accelerated up to point nine nine nine nine c, and fed through the wormhole to the projectors of the battle cruisers.

A ton a second of ultrafast particles fired from the two projectors on each ship, while the battle cruisers engaged their grabbers at full power to compensate for the recoil. All three eight point five million ton ships actually lost forward velocity in the classic action-reaction formula.

Jean de Arc’s twin particle beams ripped into the side of one of the battleships, antimatter exploding as it powered into the material of the hull. The enemy ships hadn’t deployed cold plasma fields, and their electromag fields were not at full strength. Huge pieces of hull blew off into space and translated away, while the beam dug deeper into the vessel. There were seven seconds of firing time for each beam, which was about what the opening distance and the time the material of the beam could exist in hyperspace would allow anyway.

Smaller explosions sparked on the surface of many more enemy ships, and Mei knew that more deadly interior explosions were also rocking those vessels. All of the warships carried quantum teleportation devices, and were taking their best shot at sending more of the deadly substance into the enemy vessels. The loss of weapons fire and targeting of many of those vessels showed that the strategy was working.

Two battle cruisers and a heavy cruiser were gushing atmosphere, and one of the battle cruisers blew up in a flash and disappeared. Several destroyers were also taking a pounding while they continued to take the nearest enemy ships under fire. Enemy missiles were closing at relatively slow velocity, most to be taken out by defensive fire, though several got through to blast gigatons of explosive power into the hulls of light vessels. The defensive fire of the Ca’cadasan ships was proving too much for the human missiles, which, with a few exceptions, were being blown out of space.

At seven seconds the particle beam fired died, and the Commodore sweated for the thirty seconds it took to move the wormhole at the other end to access the next weapons system. Two savaged enemy battleships continued on, one so badly damaged that it was not able to alter its vector of velocity. And one ship flashed into catastrophic translation, gone.

“First missile due in twelve seconds,” stated the Com Officer, as the Tactical Officer gave a thumbs up to the Commodore, indicated that the hole had been mated at the other end.

“Light them up, Tac,” ordered the Commodore. The officer smiled back, looked back to his board, and started sending firing solutions to the first missiles to come through.

As stated in the last post, I wrote Refuge: Doppleganger trying to stick to the follow a few characters format, unlike the original Refuge novels. And again it was rejected, with comments about how I was just rehashing the same old stuff that had been done before. Look, I had steam trains, steam pistols, and airborne infantry, as well as squadrons of dragons. I think I could almost pass it off as a steampunk, novel, maybe. It was anything but rehashing the same old stuff. But I came out of that experience knowing that the only way I was going to get this idea across was to go back to the beginning. So I came up with the idea of telling the story of how humans came from our world to this one. And since Kurt was an immortal character, there from the beginning, he would be the main character of the novel. Of course, I ended up putting in a lot of characters, again churning out a Harry Turtledove kind of book. In 2009 I started on the worldbuilding for Exodus, and in 2010, while working for the State of Florida full time, I completed a two hundred thousand word novel each in the Exodus and Refuge Universes. I also wrote Daemon, Afterlife, and We Are Death Come For You that year. The last three novels were to be for submission to agents and publishers, but Exodus and Refuge were written to either be self published, or sold after I had been traditionally published. I knew at two hundred thousand words both were too long for first novels. When I went the self publishing route in 2012 I decided that both books would be published independently, but still felt they were both too long. The solution? Split them into two novels each, which required putting in a section at the end the first installments of both novels to make up a climatic end. This caused some people to think that the first installments, especially Exodus, were merely extended introductions, and there might be some truth to that assertion.

I put out both Exodus and Refuge out in 2012. Late summer for Refuge, fall for Exodus. I thought Exodus was a good story, one that reminded me of the old time space opera I loved, but with the technical detail I wished they had. I hoped it might do well, but didn’t really expect much of it. Refuge though. Refuge was the book I had been developing for over a decade. It was, in my opinion, the more imaginative of the two. I thought it was more of a risk, since it crossed genres, with elements of fantasy and military techno thriller. I was sure it was going to be the series that would allow me to become a full time writer. It sold well enough, and people snapped the first book up when I offered it was a freebee. And then Exodus took off, much to my surprise, before I could even do a promotion. Since those first two books of each series I have put out three more Exodus books, and only one new Refuge. I thought maybe people who liked one would like the other, since I love all the fantastic genres, science fiction, fantasy, even horror. Turns out that some people love scifi and can’t stand fantasy. I have one fan who loves Refuge, thinks its one of the greatest series ever, but hates Exodus, which she calls techno geek.

I still have hopes for Refuge, that eventually enough people will read it and love it. Right now Exodus is still my bread and butter. Exodus has sold 55,000+ copies over five volumes, while Reufge had sold just over 10,000+ in four volumes. This year I will try and put out three more Exodus books, and one from Refuge. I feel that I have an obligation to at least conclude the first part of that series for the people who read it. I really hate it when authors give up on a series that I love, just because not enough other people do. I know in the economics of the business that is the proper thing to do. It is not what I will do. Refuge will get at least five books before I put it to rest, not including Doppleganger. Then I will put the series to rest for a time, always hoping to revisit it.

In other news, Exodus 6 is written and through the first revision. I am planning on releasing the novel on April 27th, two days after I put book 1, with a new cover, on promotion for five free days. Anyone who has not read Exodus, this is your chance to get the first book for free. And two days later the series will grow to six, which means a lot of reading ahead.

I released Exodus: Empires at War: Book 5: Ranger on December 27^th, 2013. Since that time it has sold over 2,400 copies, mostly ebooks, but some paperbacks as well. Currently it is ranked number 1 in three categories across the pond on Amazon.UK, Books: Space Opera and Kindle: Space Opera and Military Scifi. It’s ranked number 7 in Books: Space Opera and Military Scifi, and Kindle: Space Opera onAmazon.US, down from a number 5 rank in all those categories a week ago. It is averaging 4.5 stars at Amazon US, with 16 five star reviews, 2 four star, a three and a pair of twos. One of the twos admitted to skimming much of the book, so I really discount his opinion as far as how much attention I should give to his points. In the UK the book has six reviews, with five 5 stars and a 4. I have also received emails, Facebook posts and blog replies that let me know that people are really liking the book. Book 5 was somewhat of a departure from the previous books, concentrating on ground warfare, with one of the minor characters of the other books now the star, and the majors pushed into a distant supporting role. I was told by some readers even before the book came out that they wouldn’t like it because it didn’t feature space action. Some of my reviews said they loved the book despite the focus on land warfare, while others, mostly from ground pounders old and new, loved the setting.

When I started the Exodus series it was intended to be Military Science Fiction, covering all aspects of a future war on a grand scale. It was labeled Space Opera by readers who marked it as such on Amazon. No problem, since that is a very popular sub-genre. But I did not want to be pigeonholed into only writing about spaceships. There is so much more to scifi that things blowing up in space, though I tend to include a lot of that in most of my books as well. There are the planets, big complicated things with their own evolutionary path and history, leading to some strange and interesting life forms. There are aliens, who shouldn’t always act just like humans, nor look like people with prosthetic devices on their faces. There are politics, and intrigue, and technology. Aw, the technology. Several years ago on a site specializing in helping science fiction and fantasy writers I posed a question about wormholes, asking the members what uses they could think of for them besides transport of people and things. The answers I got really surprised me. Mostly no ideas, just responses of ‘what else would they be needed for.’ I have come up with many uses for wormholes in my novels, and have some more on the horizon. They are a central tech in my books, and central techs in societies are normally developed in way that even surprised the inventors.

The first four books stuck with the main storyline, as convoluted as it was. I decided that one of the characters needed a story, so I wrote it. One of the great things about being self-published is I have total control of the series. I will continue to write side stories in the future. I already have the ideas, and I think they add something to the overall saga. But I have a thought, just to keep everything straight, I would start doing the side stories under a different title, like Exodus: Tales of the Empire, to cover excursions into other areas of the war, short stories, and historical events (in that Universe). I will still concentrate on the main storyline, but will also put out one or two books a year in the side line. That way, people who only want to follow the main storyline can do so by buying the Empires at War books, while those interested in the larger scope of the Universe can also pick up the Tales of the Empire line. And thanks to all of you who keep buying any of my books. You make it all worthwhile.

First off, lets ‘s start out with the proposition that this is about Space Warfare in Space Opera and Military Science Fiction. Not everything is going to obey every law of physics as we know it now. It is assumed that methods of generating enormous amounts of power and getting rid of excess heat will be found. And that processes that generate huge amounts of waste heat will become much more efficient over time. And example could be the laser. Modern lasers generate large amounts of waste heat, one thing that makes laser pistols impractical at this time. if 99.9% of the energy could be put into the beam this would no longer be a problem. And if we don’t solve those problems in the future? Then none of this stuff will happen, but it still makes entertaining reading today.

So, what about weapons in space combat? Almost anything goes if it’s well thought out. That said, there are some fallacies perpetrated in books and movies (mostly movies). As said earlier, I grew up watching Star Trek. In the original Trek the weapons carried by the Enterprise were not only really powerful, they were also fast. As in faster than light. Starships battled at hyperlight velocities and shot with weapons that didn’t miss. If you want to use such weapons then the model still works. You need something other than a normal light beam though, because those only travel at the speed of light, which, while it’s still fast, has its limitations. Let’s look at this from a historical perspective. Watch some movies about battles between ships in World War 2. They’re moving while firing. The ships turn this way and that, vary their speed, anything so they won’t be hit. If a torpedo is coming in they point the ship at the weapon and hope it misses the reduced target. The reason for this is they are dealing with unguided weapons that take time to get from gun to target. Study some of the weapons profiles and you will find guns firing at targets on high arcs that take a half minute or more to reach the target. Said target is trying to avoid being hit, and has time to do so. Most times the shooter will try to bring rounds in to bracket the target, hoping for a hit or two.

Now let’s bring this out to space. One ship fires a particle beam traveling at point nine five light. The other ship is probably going to see it coming on its sensors and tyry to move out of the way, but do they have enough time? At really close range, no, they don’t have enough time to do anything about it. From particle beam to ship in a fraction of a second is not enough reaction time. Same with rail guns firing high kinetic energy projectiles. Even worse with light beams, because you can’t even see them until they hit. You can try random maneuvers to make them miss, but unless you can move your entire enormous ship a half kilometer of more in less than a second this really isn’t going to accomplish much more than a hit to another part of the ship than what was aimed for. Now let’s move the action out to a light minute, eighteen million kilometers. You still can’t see that light beam coming, though you can maneuver at random, making your ship harder to hit, since they are actually firing at the ship they saw a minute ago. The particle beam can be seen a little sooner, about three seconds before it hits, but again, the ship could be maneuvering randomly. The rail gun projectile might be seen a half minute or more before it hits. None of these weapons can be guided onto a target that moves after the shot, with the possible exception of the rail gun projectile if it happens to have some kind of terminal guidance and propulsion system. Firing at random location might generate a hit, but enough?

Now move the ships out to a light hour from each other and you have a problem an order of magnitude greater. The chance of a hit is just about nonexistent. Add to this the spread of the beam weapons, which go from points of ravening energy to spots kilometers in diameter. This may generate more chances for a hit, but the damage will be attenuated at best. As Larry Niven pointed out in his Known Space series, shine a spread beam on a target long enough and you will heat it up. Enough? And with the ship trying to get out of the beam? So at long ranges beam weapons are not really a viable weapon. This goes for plasma weapons, shotgun blasts of ball bearings, you name it.

These leave guided weapons, whether called missiles, torpedoes or whatever. At first these don’t seem like viable weapons either. Play Star Fleet Academy, in which some of the ships have missiles, and you can see how useless fragile slow moving guided projectiles can be. Beam weapons take them out with one shot. Give a beam weapon thirty seconds and they can take out thirty weapons. Again, Weber got this right. His missiles are large, robust weapons that use advance jamming technology to hide their true position, while using the gravity fields generated by his propulsion tech to protect themselves. They are fired in waves because not all will make it through. And he uses a bomb pumped x-ray laser (or possibly gamma ray) at the end to achieve the hit to the ships protected by the same gravitation field.

I decided to use this model, with variations, for my naval combat in Exodus. Missiles are fired at long range and build up acceleration to relativistic velocities. They can correct their targeting on the way, while juking, bobbing and basically jamming the hell out of enemy sensors, making them essentially unhittable by long range beam weapons. As they get closer, into engagement range by the weapons of the vessel they are attacking they drop decoys travelling at the same velocity, and maybe employ their own beam and projectile weapons to knock out counter missiles. Now in my novels I make the direct hit the optimal attack. If you do the math you will see why. A hundred ton missile traveling at point nine five light will generate enough kinetic energy to make a gigaton warhead seem redundant. A hit would be catastrophic. So why even include that gigaton antimatter warhead? Because if a missile misses it flies off into space, unable to turn around and reacquire. So the next best thing is a hocking big explosion as close to the ship as possible.

Once you decide on your basic weaponry comes the fun part, figuring out the tactics of naval engagement. I figure that the best attack profile with missiles was at the longest range possible, allowing the missiles to build up to the greatest possible velocity before impact. Also, the faster they are going the harder they are to hit with defensive weaponry. Missiles fired at close range, unless we’re talking extreme close range, will be fairly easy to take out, and this would be the realm of the beam weapons. Missiles fired at a closing enemy would have the advantage of the closing speed, up to the limits of relativity. Firing at a receding enemy would be more of a problem, as the missiles must get up to and past the speed of the enemy, and would be easier to target with a reduced closing speed. Also the speed of the firing warship must be taken into account. Firing missiles the same direction the ship is traveling is good, as the missiles already have the velocity of the shooting vessel in their favor. Firing missiles behind the ship is bad, as the weapons must first decelerate to change directions. But sometimes a bad choice is the only one. In my books I also go into the other advantages and disadvantages of taking different shots, including the use of the hyperspace I have formulated for interstellar travel. I won’t go into those here.

The last thing I want to touch on is stealth, used so often in military scifi and space opera. Everyone has seen the cloaking devices on Star Trek. The enemy ship disappears from sight, with no way of being found, except a slight visual distortion. I really have never understood how the Enterprise computers couldn’t look for that distortion and find the ship. Now this technology seems completely possible even in the near future, with light bending fields that I really don’t understand. And other techniques can be used to absorb active sensors like radar. But what about the heat? Big ships using big engines and big weapons produce a lot of heat. Even if ways are found to offload that heat that are much more efficient than today, that heat still radiates out and can be seen. The engines could be throttled down to almost nothing, same with the weapons. But there would still be heat, unless a way in found to offload it into some kind of heat sink. Not impossible, and you just have to find a way to make it work in your story, something I have already done, with limitations.

That all I have on this topic for now, not that it’s all I have thought of on the subject. I guess if you want to see how I handle space combat in its entirety you’re going to have to read my books. I don’t claim to be the ultimate thinker in this area. I just come up with ideas that seem to work in my Universe. To me, the most important part of all of it is consistency. If it works one way it should always work that way, unless you can introduce other elements that change the equation.

I released Exodus: Empires at War: Book 4: The Long Fall on Saturday, October 12, 2013. I had a general idea that the book would do well, since everything that has come before has done so. Book 3: The Rising Storm actually reached number 2 in Books Space Opera on Amazon in June of this year. It plateaued out at about 6,500 books, and I think part of the problem was the price, since it got over a hundred and twenty reviews worldwide for a 4.6 star average. I priced the book at $5.49, mostly because the book was double the length of either of the $2.99 precursors. I have heard that some people will not pay over $5 for an ebook, no matter the author. I have decided since then to put out standard sized novels, from 120 to 150K words, so I can keep them below that $5 mark. And Book 3 is now $2.99 for the month of October, to let people who wouldn’t pay $5.49 a chance to catch up on the series before moving on to Book 4. It will go up slightly at the end of the month.

So, how did Book 4 do in its first week? Very well, thank you. Over seven hundred and fifty sales and loans, the great majority sales, in the first seven days. Highest ranking of #6 in Books Military Science Fiction and #12 in Kindle Space Opera, with some fluctuation around those points. Today, the start of the second week, has been about the same. For an Indie with the no corporate marketing behind him that is great.

Right now I am working on two books at the same time. Exodus: Empires at War: Book 5: Ranger should be ready by early to mid December, while Refuge: Book 4: Kurt’s Quest should be out by early January. I know my Exodus fans will wonder why I am still working on Refuge, which is not doing near as well as Exodus. Obligation. I put Books 1 through 3 out there in that series with an implied contract to the fans, and there are over two thousand to that series, some of whom don’t read Exodus, that the series would continue to a logical ending point. That point is book 5. That doesn’t mean I will kill the Refuge series. Maybe a break for awhile, then some marketing to see if I can increase readership of that series. I also plan to put out the third book in The Deep Dark Well trilogy, which also has several thousand fans. I already have the first draft finished of the second trilogy, something I completed in 2012 just because I loved the idea behind that book. There is a connection between Exodus and TDDW, one that many of my fans may not realize, and maybe one that will become more apparent as I reach the end of the Exodus series. And when will that series end. Not anytime soon if I can help it. I have a lot of ideas in the Exodus series, and many subplots to develop. It may go on for years. And I am appreciative at the sales it is making.

And now, presented for your enjoyment, the second installment of a short story featuring the origin of one of my central characters in Exodus: Empires at War. I will present this story in three parts. Anyone interested in reading the story in its entirety can go to my website, Imagination Unlimited, or directly to the story page at Exodus Shorts. The story can be downloaded in Word, PDF or Kindle format. Or you can see all of my books at my Amazon Book Page.

Refuge: Book 3: The Legions is currently out on Amazon. If you like Exodus, you will probably like Refuge. If you don’t like either one, you probably shouldn’t be reading my work. And now, the first installment of What’s Eating You. Exodus: Book 4 will be out in the next week or so.

What’s Eating You.

Lucille wondered what kept these people performing a job that obviously terrified them. She asked one of the scientists one day after they had opened a portal to an antimatter universe that had destroyed the probe in spectacular fashion. Fortunately the recon robot was millions of kilometers into the strange space, having catalogued that all the laws were not exactly the same as in our Universe, but close enough where our form of life could exist. Until the probe touched down on a comet and obliterated itself while blasting the iceball apart. The human exploration team had been called back post haste.

“It’s the contract,” said Dr. Joseph Jakarta, the leader of that last exploration team.

“You could break the contract, couldn’t you?” asked Yu, having trouble remembering what her own contract had actually said. “It’s a free society, after all, and they can’t force you to work a job you find disagreeable.”

Some of the other members of the team laughed when she said that.

“Yeah, the pay’s great,” said Dr. Jakarta. “But they bank most of it for us, payable when our contractual period is over.”

“Well, yes,” said Lucille, remembering how that had seemed very attractive when she had signed on. She was paid six times what she would have expected from an academic job. Her room and board was paid for, and she was given ten percent of her pay for personal expenses. The rest would make a tidy sum when she moved on. Now her face dropped as she heard the small print she had ignored when she signed her contract.

“If you don’t fulfill the terms they take away everything you have banked,” said Jakarta. He looked around at the other nine members of his team, who all nodded vigorously, or cursed the administration. “That’s not all,” continued Jakarta. “They can make sure that you have a hard time getting another position.”

“How can they have that much power?” asked Yu, feeling horrified.

“This is a Priority Imperial Project,” said Jakarta, emphasizing each word. “And the Imperial Science Council controls a lot of the funding the Universities and research tanks receive. Add to that the influence of the military, and anyone who would hire someone who reneged on their contract risks losing all of their funding.”

“That still shouldn’t make it impossible to get a job,” protested Lucille.

“Not impossible, if you’re good enough,” agreed Jakarta with grudging acceptance. “There are some willing to buck the system. But for most, why take the risk? Not when there are so many other scientists and technicians out there who can fill the slot on a team.”

“And you know what’s funny?” asked one of the techs, her flat eyes staring straight ahead. “We still lose half our techs and scientists before their term is up.”

“But, why? I know the work is dangerous. But so are a lot of other high paying jobs.”

“You haven’t been here all that long,” said Jakarta after taking a swallow of his beer. “Sure, there are other jobs statistically as dangerous. But you don’t have to look the wrongness of other space in the face. That wears on any sentient being after a while.”

“You’ll see,” said the woman who had talked before. “It will get inside your brain too, Dr. Yu. And then you will know one thing, that you don’t want to be here.”

* * *

“Open the portal,” ordered Rodrigue.

Lucille did the last second check and sent her acknowledgement over the link. She glanced at her people, seeing the anxiety on their faces. Everyone was thinking about what had happened to the other portal crew just a few days before.

That Universe had looked promising. The robotic probe had gone across and continued to operate within all parameters. Even the biologicals had seemed to handle the new space with no problem. So the human exploration team had gone across, and things still looked good, for about fifteen minutes. That was when the humans had started acting, bizarre was the only word for it. Word salad on the transmissions. The exploration vessel sent into nonsensical gyrations. And finally a murder. The ship had been recalled on autopilot, something the team seemed completely unaware of. They were isolated, and molecular probes had shown that their actual central nervous system tissue had been changed. It was not known if they would recover, or if they would have to go through complete neural restructuring by nanotech, which would basically make them different people.

So this exploration team has gone through mind upload, so their brains can be restructured if necessary, thought Lucille, shuddering at the thought of losing herself the way the members of that other team had.

Then she had no time for thoughts of past disasters, as the black holes moved apart and the space between them ripped open.

The first indication that something was wrong was the thick yellow gas that jetted from the hole. The second indication were the life forms that followed. They were like nothing that anyone had ever seen. Scans immediately showed that they were not made up of any kind of biological matter ever encountered. Instead, they scanned as some kind of metallic construct, though definitely not robots.

“We opened on a planet,” said Rodrigue, staring into the holo.

“How often does that happen?” asked an alarmed Lucille, watching as animals the size of small dinosaurs flew around the chamber in their native atmosphere.

“This is the seventh time, which is well above what would be expected by random chance,” said the other scientist. “Possibly something to do with the gravitational pull of large bodies.”

Lucille shuddered at that thought, wondering when they would open a portal into a star, or a black hole. And knowing the result would be the end of this world the project was based on, along with all the personnel and their families.

The weapons deployed in the huge chamber went into action, firing lasers and particle beams at the fast flying animals. Hits were scored. Many hits. All to no effect to the creatures, who were soon tearing into equipment, ingesting it. Lasers simply hit them and were absorbed, while particle beams bounced away.

“Close the portal,” yelled Rodrigue, a trace of panic in his voice as creatures smacked into the gateway arms.

“What good will that do?” asked one of the techs.

“Just do it,” yelled the senior scientist.

The black holes came back together and the portal closed. One of the creatures flew into one of the black holes and disappeared in a flash, while hard radiation flooded the chamber. There was no effect on the animals, but half the sensors in the chamber burned out.

“Set resonances to this frequency,” yelled Rodrigue.

Lucille looked over the frequency, cross referencing it to a Universe that had already been explored in the preliminary sense. That should work, she thought, seeing that it was a null Universe, a natural vacuum of the most empty sort.

“Open it,” yelled the chief scientist, and Lucille started the process of opening the portal, something normally not tried so soon after one had already been opened.

The huge arms that controlled the black holes creaked and stuttered as they moved apart from the over strain, and Yu was sure they would collapse, and drop the holes through the floor and into the planet. They held, and the holes ripped open space again. This time the pull was from the other side, and the misty atmosphere was first sucked from the room, followed by the animals that no longer had air to flap through. The creatures twisted and turned as they floated away from the opening, starting to become more insubstantial with each moment, until they were gone.

“Close it,” yelled Rodrigue, and the ring of black holes came back together, closing off the human Universe from the other.

“What happened to them?’ asked Lucille, trying to keep the scream that wanted to erupt from her mouth under control.

“Matter as we know it can’t exist there,” answered the other scientist. “We found that out when we sent a probe into it.”

Rodrigue stood up from his chair and looked around the control room. “Good job, people. Way to keep your heads. Everyone except the senior scientific staff can leave. We will try again in two days, so everyone relax.”

“How the hell can we relax?” said one of the techs as he got up from his seat.

“I’m going to pray,” said another tech, a grimace on her face. “Don’t really see how it will help, or hurt.”

I wish I could just get a drink, thought Lucille, wishing she didn’t have to sit and discuss what had just happened. But there was no help for it. She was a trapped audience to this discussion of a nightmare.

* * *

The chapel was set up for a Christian service, of any and all of the denominations of that religion. There were other chapels on the base for the other major religious groups, Moslem, Judaism, Hinduism, all the isms there were. Lucille had been raised Reformed Catholic, the dominant religion of the Empire. When she had turned to science she had not had time for the church, and her faith had lapsed. Her father, the eminent scientist and Buddhist, didn’t really push her to stay with the church. It was her mother’s wish, the good Reformed Catholic from Norje, who made sure her daughter was raised to observe the ceremonies and strictures of that denomination.

Are you really there, God? thought the physicist, kneeling in front of the altar and looking at the image of a man hanging from a cross. An image from a world that had been totally destroyed by the aliens that had sent humankind fleeing across the Galaxy. And if you are, do you only exist in our reality? What about these other realities we are opening? What happens to us if we die in one of those realities? Do we still find our way to you?

All disturbing questions, even to one who was more Agnostic than anything. Would death in another dimension mean obliteration of the soul, if there was such a thing? Were the natural laws of the other dimensions such that a soul was not possible? Lucille shook her head at the last. Her rational mind told her there was no such thing as a soul, while her religious upbringing told her there was. And what about the strictures against clones, who all tended to be psychopaths? Those with a religious bent said it was because they were unnatural creatures, not possessed of a soul. Those who did not believe in the supernatural said it was because? Well, they really didn’t have much of an answer.

Whatever it is, I’m stuck here. At least until my contract is over. She had been on the project for two months, which gave her twenty two months to survive. Lucille was still shaking her head when she got up from before the altar and walked away, her head still swirling with questions, but no definite answers.

* * *

The portal to Universe number five hundred fifteen opened easily. It opened on vacuum, it opened on space that seemed to obey the natural laws of the human Universe. Lucille counted it off as her fifty-seventh portal. The probe went through, and seemed to function perfectly. The readings coming back from the biologicals indicated that they were functioning perfectly as well.

“Something’s wrong with this place,” said one of the techs, about the same time that Lucille started getting a feel for the place on her link into the instruments.

This place is old, she thought, looking at the star map the probe was beginning to develop. The opening was in a Galaxy that was being absorbed by another Galaxy, which itself was in the process of colliding with yet another. What stars still existed were all of the red dwarf variety, and the sleet of radiation showed that this was a Universe of black holes and neutron stars, swallowing up all the matter that came their way.

“It’s a Universe in its last days,” she said, looking back at Rodrigue. “In another billion years it will have shrunk to a point.”

“We don’t need a billion years, if it comes to that,” said the senior scientist. “If we need someplace to run, this may have to be it. Send in the exploration team.”

The team went through the portal with no problems. All readings came back normal, all communications rational. Everything checked out, and Lucille knew they would be looking at this Universe for at least two weeks, maybe longer. The relief in the control chamber was palpable as everyone realized they would not be opening another gate during that time.

The Universe turned out to be one in the last stages of its life, as Lucille had surmised. The only living stars were red dwarfs. Trials showed that it had a hyperspace array similar to the human Universe. The place could support human life for however many thousands of years it took to find another home. There was still no reason to think it would come to that. But humankind had not gotten along in the Cosmos by being trusting. It had learned that paranoia was a healthy state in an unhealthy Universe.

* * *

Universe five hundred and forty-nine opened just as easily as most before it. But the blast of hard radiation that came through the opening and fried the portal room chamber sensors told them from the start that something was different.

“Electromag field to maximum,” yelled Rodrigue. The field covered the wall of the portal chamber, and was always kept at half strength when the hole was opened, allowing all the instruments to look through it with minimum interference. Now it was strengthened to its maximum power, stronger than that of an Imperial battleship. All charged particles were stopped by the multilayered field, while the uncharged ones were absorbed by the liquid insulation layer built for that purpose.

“Residual radiation is at a minimum,” called out the tech who was monitoring those systems.

“Send through the probe,” ordered Rodrigue. “We might as well get a look at whatever hell we opened.”

The probe went through and started to transmit. It was immediately apparent that the robot was not going to function very long, not with the radiation sleeting through its destroyer class electromag screen. But they did get some information back, enough to tell them what they were dealing with.

“It’s only a couple of thousand years since this Universe went through a Big Bang,” said Yu, looking over the data through the link that allowed her to get a comprehensive overview. “It will be hundreds of thousands of years, maybe millions, before we can live in that space. Billions before there are planets we can claim for terraforming.”

“So it’s another dead end,” said Rodrigue, glaring at the holo as if it was a personal affront.

“The probe is dying,” said Lucille, looking back at her boss. “Should we close it?”

“This Universe is of great scientific significance,” said one of the other scientists. “We can gain a lot of knowledge about how our own Universe formed from this place, if nothing else.”

Rodrigue sat and thought for a moment, while the data from the chamber sensors faded over time from the radiation overload. “Send through another probe. We’ve got thirteen more. We’ll keep sending them through one at a time until we’re out. Then we can requisition more from administration for the next opening.”

And so it went through the day, as they looked at a Universe that was still in its infancy. From all indications it would become one such as theirs. Some put forth the proposition that it actually was theirs, just in a different time. That maybe the dying Universe was also theirs, at a later time.

That’s one of the problems here, thought Lucille as she was monitoring probe number thirteen, the next to the last. We really don’t know what we’re dealing with. We’re making it up as we go along.

At least it was a good day at the Other Universe Project, as no one was killed or injured, and new information was gathered at the cost of fourteen robotic probes.

And now, presented again for your enjoyment, the fourth and final installment of a short story featuring the origin of one of my central characters in Exodus: Empires at War. I will present this story in four parts. Anyone interested in reading the story in its entirety can go to my website, Imagination Unlimited, or directly to the story page at Exodus Shorts. The story can be downloaded in Word, PDF or Kindle format. Or you can see all of my books at my Amazon Book Page. I will be putting out another serial short in the next couple of weeks.

Refuge: Book 3: The Legions is currently out on Amazon. If you like Exodus, you will probably like Refuge. If you don’t like either one, you probably shouldn’t be reading my work. And now, the final installment of A New Life.

This day they were hunting bigger game, the twelve ton Hexa-Buffalo, the beasts that were one of the reasons the King Tigers grew so big. A lot of people thought herbivores were the gentler animals, spending their days as they did cropping grass or watching for predators. Cornelius knew better. He had hunted these beasts before, and if given his choice he would rather have gone after the tigers any day. Again he carried a military grade particle beam rifle, an emergency weapon for the possibility that one of the noble born asses might botch his shot.

“You be careful out there,” his father had told him before the party split up, his father with the other men who would approach from downwind, using their scent to move the herd in the direction of the shooters.

“You too,” said Cornelius, giving his dad a hug. He was the last family that the young man had, or at least the last genetic relation that actually knew who he was.

Humphrey was on this hunt, still wanting that big trophy head to mount in a study, so he could lie to his friends about how brave he was. There were two other nobles, including the Duke himself. Cornelius knew that the Duke was a skilled hunter who could be depended on to stand his ground and make a good shot. Still, he wished the Marine Captain was taking the place of either Humphrey or the other noble, a young man whose frightened eyes tried to look everywhere at once.

“There they are,” whispered the Duke, coming up beside Cornelius. He nodded back, having already spotted the herd, including a magnificent bull, as large as any that the young man had ever seen.

“Who takes the first shot, my Lord?” asked Cornelius, watching as the herd began to move their way with a lowing sound.

“Let Baronet Kroger have it,” said the Duke, motioning at Humphrey, who was looking wide eyed at the large animals, sweat pouring down his face.

“Yes, my Lord.” Cornelius made his way over to the Baronet, then motioned for the man to squat down while he went to a knee. “That big bull is yours, my Lord. Make sure your weapon is set to maximum accel, and only fire when I tell you.”

“I know what I am doing,” said the fat man. “Don’t tell your betters what they must do.”

“Again, my Lord. Only fire when I tell you to. Those are the Duke’s orders, not mine. If you have a problem with them I will ask him to come over and tell you himself.”

“Insolent swine,” whispered the man, trying to look fierce as he turned his eyes on Cornelius, and only managing to look scared.

“Here he comes,” whispered Cornelius, looking over his own scope at the big male. He’s fifteen tons if he’s a kilo, he thought. Too good a trophy for this bastard. And I don’t want him too close, in case this son of a bitch doesn’t bring him down. “Fire,” he said to the Baronet. Nothing happened, and he saw the big bull tearing at the grass with all six hooves, then start trotting their way. “Fire, damn you,” yelled Cornelius, taking his eye off his scope and glaring over at the noble.

Humphrey pulled the trigger, and Cornelius knew something was wrong by the way the rifle recoiled. It was a high end hunting rifle, and had grabber units built into it to take up some of the recoil, but still should have pushed the man back more than it did. The man fired again, and the rifle again barely bucked.

“What the hell did you do?” yelled Cornelius, pulling the rifle hard out of the man’s hands. He looked in disbelief at the velocity setting, which was the minimum the rifle was able to send a shot down range.

Another round cracked by at high velocity, and Cornelius looked up and out to see a cow by the bull go down to her knees, while the bull and the rest of the herd turned tail and took off at a run. More shots, and some other beasts were hit, none hard enough to bring down. Cornelius brought up his weapon and tried to get a shot at the bull who was leading the herd toward his father. But there was too much dust, too many other darting forms. He took a shot and killed a smaller bull, but only a kill of the dominant male could stop them from the charge.

“Goddammit,” he yelled, jumping up and running after the herd, fearing the worst. The herd charged to the wood line and in, taking cover, all but the dominant bull, which was stomping and ramming his horns into something on the ground.

“Good God, no,” yelled Cornelius, seeing his father’s rifle on the ground near the bloody mess that in no way resembled a human being. He brought his rifle up and shot the bull, a narrow beam that burned a hole through the hindquarters and out the chest, dropping the beast. He stumbled up to look down on the bloody meat, splintered bones, and torn rags that had been his father, tears rolling down his cheeks. The other men in the beating party gathered around, looks of disbelief on their faces. The elder Walborski had been a fixture of the hunts for decades, and to be taken in such a manner was beyond comprehension.

The Duke and the other men came up a minute later. The Duke looked like he was about to cry as well. But Baronet Kroger only had eyes for the big bull. “My trophy,” said the man, all smiles. “He will look fine mounted on my study wall.”

Cornelius turned, grief becoming rage in a second. He walked over to the man and slammed his fist into the fat face, knocking the Baronet to the ground. “This was your fault,” he screamed at the man. “If you had checked your rifle and made sure that it was set right, this bull would have been killed. But you didn’t have the brains for that, you stupid son of a bitch. I’m going to…”

Cornelius stepped forward, then brought his other leg coming for a kick. Two of the beaters grabbed his arms and held him back, while the Baronet held his hands over his face, trying to protect himself.

“Calm down son,” said the Duke, putting a hand on Cornelius’ shoulder. “This is a tragedy, but it will do you no good to get violent.”

“I will have you thrown in jail,” yelled the Baronet, pushing himself up to a sitting position. “You assaulted me, and I will see that you serve time in a labor camp.”

Cornelius pulled at the men holding his arms, but they were strong and would not give him an inch.

“Go home, Cornelius,” said the Duke, patting him on the shoulder. “I will make sure that your father’s remains are brought in for cremation.”

“I want him arrested, now,” yelled Kroger, getting to his feet.

“Don’t worry about jail,” said the Duke. “You’ve been through enough.”

Cornelius nodded and walked away, still steaming inside with a murderous rage. Someday I’ll see that son of a whore by himself, and he’ll die. Even as he thought that he knew it would never happen. Men like Kroger, the privileged, were always protected. The best he could hope for was to be stunned by security and taken to jail.

* * *

“You no longer work here,” said the shift leader as Walborski tried to go to his station.

“What do you mean?” asked Cornelius in shock. He had taken a couple of shifts off to attend his father’s funeral, then set his dad’s affairs in order. But that was all according to company policy, and had been approved ahead of time.

“I’m not really sure what happened, Walborski,” said the shift leader. “It came down from management that you were no longer to be allowed on the line. I guess that means you were terminated.”

“Terminated?” said Walborski, still in shocked disbelief.

“I am really sorry, Walborski,” said the foreman, shaking his head. “It’s not up to me, and. I guess I shouldn’t say anymore.” The foreman turned away, still shaking his head.

He’s worried that he might lose his job, thought Cornelius as he turned away. And I really can’t blame him. This isn’t a free society. We’re only free to cut our own throats with our actions.

Later he tried to get in touch with the Duke, but was turned away. Calls to the employment services did no better, and he soon found that he was not employable on this planet. And then all the money in his and his father’s accounts disappeared, and he knew that the enemy he had made on that hunt was getting him, and he had no way to get back at the Noble bastard.

* * *

“What’s wrong?” asked Cornelius as he came in the door of the apartment and saw Katlyn sitting on the couch, crying, the big cat in her lap. He had been fruitlessly searching for a job, taking public transport now that the aircar was gone. And the answer had been the same at every venue. He had the skills that robotics factories were looking for, but he had a black mark on his record.

“The apartment manager informed me that we have to move out by the end of the week,” said his wife, tears rolling down her face. “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know. It looks like I’m sunk on this world. All I have to look forward to is a life on the dole.”

He thought for a moment and looked at his wife. “I’ll give you a divorce if you want. So you can find, you know, someone with some prospects.”

Katlyn stood up and put her arms around him. “I don’t want someone with prospects. I want you.”

“Then I don’t think we can stay here,” he said, looking into her eyes. “I wouldn’t be satisfied just existing.”

“And where would we go?”

“To the frontier,” he said, a smile crossing his face. “To the land of opportunity. What say we give it a try. How would you like to become a Marquise?”

“I’ll go anywhere you do,” she said, sitting back down and stroking the cat. “As long as we can find Big Tom here a good home before we go.”

* * *

The freighter didn’t look like much, even to someone who had never been in space before. It was a hyper V tramp, thought to be good enough to haul prospective colonists to sector transshipment points, where they could be loaded up on other ships to get to their final destinations.

Cornelius could tell that Katlyn was terrified as she looked at the cryo chamber that was to be her resting place for the next four and a half months. It would be transferred to another ship with her in it.

“I’ll hold your hand while they put you under,” he said, holding her. “And I’ll be there when they wake you. Look, it’s got to be better than spending a third of a year sitting in cramped quarters for the voyage out.”

“It’s OK,” she said, in a voice that told him it was anything but. “Help me into the thing.”

That looks like a coffin, he thought, as he helped her to step into it. Medical staff started to attach sensors and push tubes into her veins, while he stood over her holding her hand. Before he knew it she was unconscious.

“We find it better to put them under as soon as possible,” said one of the techs, while another pumped nanites into her body. Cornelius knew they would scour her cells of ice crystals before she came out of cryo, and repair any damage caused by freezing. Then the lid was lowered and sealed, and his wife was quick frozen while he looked on with some anxiety.

“Look,” said the tech who had been talking to him. “This is old, tried and true tech. The founders used it for a thousand years to come into this space, without a loss. Well, maybe closer to five hundred years ship time with dilation. But the point is that it works, and works well. And we’ve improved it in the last thousand years. So your wife and you will awake in a new system.”

“You been out to the frontier?” asked Cornelius as he climbed into his chamber, sitting next to Katlyn’s.

“A dozen times,” said the tech. “I really prefer it to the core worlds. Tens more years of this and I plan to start a new life out there as well.”

“A new life,” said Cornelius as the needles were inserted into his arms. Then the world faded and he knew no more.

“What happened?” he asked a different tech as his eyes opened. “What went wrong?”

“Nothing,” said the tech. “You’re going to be a little disoriented for a bit. But you’re here, at your destination. We’re about ready to wake your wife.”

Cornelius sat up in his cryo box and tried to get out. “Take it easy,” said the tech, putting his hand on Cornelius’ chest.

“I promised my wife I would be there when she came to,” said Cornelius, pushing the hand away and climbing out of the box. He staggered over to the next box and looked down on his wife, still undergoing the process of reawakening. He stood over her till her eyes fluttered, then opened. She saw him and focused, a smile touching her lips.

“We made it, honey,” he said, gasping her hand.

The flight to the surface was bumpy, in an old shuttle that had seen better days. They walked out onto a tarmac that was relatively unscared. A flock of flying creatures, not birds, flew overhead, and they looked up, then started walking to the terminal.

“We made it,” said Cornelius, squeezing Katlyn’s hand. “We made it.”

“To our new life,” she said, looking into his eyes. “And a family. As soon as we can I want to start a family.”

“I can do that,” said Cornelius with a laugh. “It will definitely be my pleasure.”

The End

Doug BrotherofCats Dandridge

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer's Site

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