by RJ Johnson
"Money is about the last thing I care about at this moment. I've got something far greater to fight for. So you listen to me, and you listen good you son-of-a-bitch. If you ever use Emeline as leverage against me again," Meade got up from his chair and leaned over the desk, "you'll be sipping your scotch through your asshole ‘cause I'll shove your head so far up..."
Palmetto shook his head. "I thought you better than idle threats Mr. Meade."
"This is no idle threat Palmetto." Meade let the threat hang there for a moment. "I've seen what life is like for Consortium citizens and if you think I'm gonna let that happen here on Mars, you are sorely mistaken. You go ahead with that immigration program if you like, but, there will be no debt load. No price for people who want to immigrate here for a better life. They deserve a chance at happiness, just as much as you or I do. Do you understand? Every man who steps foot on Martian soil is to be a freeman."
"But there is a price one must pay to get to Mars." Palmetto protested, "It's not as if the voyage is cheap."
"Understand this Palmetto." Meade turned and began walking out of the office. "You may think your little alliances here on Mars have kept you safe and untouchable, but there is nothing, and I mean nothing that is going to stop me until you are dethroned as Ambassador. These people who live on Mars are now under my protection, and they will lead a free life by the time I'm done."
Palmetto snorted, and then began laughing heartily. "You pathetic little worm. You really believe you can stop me? The Coalition? Because of you, it's likely we'll overtake the Consortium within a few years and unite Humanity under our umbrella. It's best you just enjoy your credits and live the rest of your life out on an orbital city somewhere."
Meade stopped and smiled. He turned and stared at Palmetto until the Ambassador became uncomfortable. "There is little else in life that will give me great pleasure than to see your bloated corpse gasping for air. Revolution is coming my friend. You'd best prepare yourself for a fight, cause you're about to get the biggest one of your life. Fair warning."
Meade closed the office door, leaving Palmetto spluttering searching for words behind.
He exited the Federal Building and got onto the Aerocycle that was waiting for him. Emeline's face lit up when she saw him.
"Everything good?" She asked meaning her debts and credits.
"Everything's perfect." He responded smiling at her. He wasn't going to tell her, he wasn't talking about money. Just this one time, he was gonna keep that one for himself.
Kansas Grayborn pulled up next to them on his Aerocycle. He was flying the Martian independence flag, a large yellow half circle on the left, and four stars, the fourth bigger than the rest. It was a flag he usually reserved for special occasions. He grinned at Meade who nodded at the imposing man seated on the Aerocycle beside him.
"You ready?" Kansas asked him.
"I am, but I don't think they are." Meade replied jerking his thumb back towards the Federal building.
Kansas chuckled. "Well, let's hope not."
Meade grinned and thumbed down the throttle as his Aerocycle took off, heading towards Emeline's bar for a celebratory drink, Kansas revved up his Aerocycle and followed Emeline and Meade into the sunset. As they took off, Meade allowed himself to glance back and his chest swelled with pride. He saw hundreds of men, women and children all on their Aerocycles following them, and all of them were flying the Martian independence flag.
Hi and thanks for making it through Rosetta! Jim Meade and the gang will be back fighting for the independence of Mars in my next book from the Jim Meade: Martian P.I. series. If you enjoyed the novel and would like to help encourage me to write more, please consider leaving me a review on Amazon.com or on Goodreads.com! Indie authors such as myself live and die by the amount of four and five star reviews we receive, so help me make the next adventures error free (help me make some sales so I can pay for an editor!) and leave a review. It’s stuff like that, that keeps me writing. Here’s an easy link to get you to the respective sites.
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I was first introduced to space and science fiction back in 1986 when Halley’s Comet swung through our cosmic neighborhood and I was able to view it through my neighbor’s telescope. I was fascinated by what might happen if we eventually started mining asteroids and comets for raw materials.
I researched this book as carefully as possible. Everything you read from the technology ranges from technologically feasible, to fanciful sci-fi imagination plot driven devices. I’ll leave you to decide which is which. All mistakes are mine.
I love science and astronomy and I truly believe the key to our future lies in the exploration of space. We are dreamers here on Earth and if science-fiction helps move projects like the James Webb space telescope, or the massive undertaking of mining a real life asteroid like James Cameron and his billionaire friends have set out to do. Check out NASA’s JPL webpage for a listing of their current projects and see what you can do to help increase NASA’s budget. These are the folks who got us to the moon on a computer that had less power than the smartphone in your pocket. Imagine what they could do today with real funding.
Starry-eyed dreaming aside, I’ve also got another book I think you might be interested in. It’s the first book I wrote for the Kindle named “The Twelve Stones.” Here’s the description in case you need to be convinced:
Twenty two years ago, Alex McCray found the first of the Twelve Stones, a set of powerful artifacts left for Humanity to find and use to save Earth from certain destruction.
Returning to his hometown of Onyx, California, Alex reunites with his father who returns the stone Alex found so many years ago. Their reunion is cut short however after Alex's father is murdered by billionaire industrialist Rupert Kline, a madman who will stop at nothing to collect all twelve stones for himself.
Driven by revenge, Alex McCray vows to bring his father's killer to justice and keep the remaining Twelve Stones out of Kline's hands.
A thrilling tale that mixes romance, cutting edge science, and oh yeah, the fate of human civilization.
Buy The Twelve Stones here!
Thank you so much for supporting the independent author (especially since that independent author is me)! I love hearing from you, my readers and what you thought of the story. Feel free to drop me a line anytime at [email protected] or on my twitter @rickerkioz. E-mails from you are what keep me writing!
That’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed Rosetta as much as I enjoyed writing it.
All the best,
R.J. Johnson
(was here)
May 15th, 2012