Star Mist
Page 14
What they were going to try to do was in essence take the pressure of empty space away by opening not just one, but thousands of holes in it all at once. Just as firefighters did to a burning structure under pressure. They opened many outlets instead of just one.
The scientists a few years back had determined exactly what strange gravitational force was holding empty space together like a bubble, allowing a ship to enter and leave, yet holding the space together.
And once they had determined that force, they knew how to puncture the force to not so much let empty space out, but to let regular space and time flood in.
The entire bubble should, the scientists had told West, just vanish as if it had never existed.
West could only hope.
“Report status,” West said to all the ships around the bubble ready to send a hundred probes each to open up holes.
A moment later Korgan looked up at him and nodded. “All eighty ships report green, Chairman.”
West nodded, staring at the big screen in front of him showing nothing but empty space.
“Mission go,” West said.
West knew that once he said that, a computer program from Rescue One would launch all probes at the exact same moment from all ships.
West had been told that the probes would have a small charge when they hit the membrane, so it would look like eight thousand tiny lights flashing at the same time in a sphere shape in open space.
“Five seconds,” Korgan said.
Intense, heavy silence filled the bridge of the ship.
West had no doubt not one word was being said anywhere in the large fleet of ships surrounding the empty space bubble.
West could not for a second take his gaze away from the massive screen in front of him.
Suddenly, there was a white flash of light from what looked like the surface of a sphere.
Then a moment later, the massive mother ship Dreaming Large appeared.
Cheering erupted around the bridge.
West just stood there grinning, staring at the screen, knowing that finally, after sixteen years, he would finally get to see his wife’s face again. And maybe a little later actually hug her and kiss her.
After a moment, Korgan, a smile almost splitting his face, turned to West. “I have the two chairmen of the Dreaming Large asking just what the hell is going on.”
West just smiled right back at Korgan. “Tell them to contact Chairman Ray and let him explain.”
Then, for seemingly the first time in sixteen years, he went and sat down in his chairman’s chair.
And then on a private channel he said to Rescue One, “Please contact my wife on Dreaming Large and put her through to my personal screen here.”
“I will be glad to, Chairman,” Rescue One said.
“Thank you,” he said.
And then, for the first time in sixteen years, he took a deep breath and relaxed.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA Today bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith published far more than a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds of short stories across many genres.
At the moment he produces novels in several major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the Old West, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, a superhero series starring Poker Boy, and a mystery series featuring the retired detectives of the Cold Poker Gang.
His monthly magazine, Smith’s Monthly, which consists of only his own fiction, premiered in October 2013 and offers readers more than 70,000 words per issue, including a new and original novel every month.
During his career, Dean also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, he wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.
He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of almost a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown.
Dean also worked as a fiction editor off and on, starting at Pulphouse Publishing, then at VB Tech Journal, then Pocket Books, and now at WMG Publishing, where he and Kristine Kathryn Rusch serve as series editors for the acclaimed Fiction River anthology series.
For more information about Dean’s books and ongoing projects, please visit his website at www.deanwesleysmith.com and sign up for his newsletter.
Look for These Other Titles from Dean Wesley Smith
Seeders Universe:
Against Time
Sector Justice
Morning Song
The High Edge
Star Mist
Star Rain
Thunder Mountain Series:
Thunder Mountain
Monumental Summit
Avalanche Creek
The Edwards Mansion
Lake Roosevelt
Warm Springs
Melody Ridge
Grapevine Springs
Earth Protection League:
Life of a Dream
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Copyright Information
Star Mist
Copyright © 2016 by Dean Wesley Smith
Published in a different form in Smith’s Monthly #25, October, 2015
Published by WMG Publishing
Cover and Layout copyright © 2016 by WMG Publishing
Cover design by Allyson Longueira/WMG Publishing
Cover art copyright © Philcold/Dreamstime
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Table of Contents
Dedication
SECTION ONE
PROLOGUE
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SECTION TWO
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
SECTION THREE
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
SECTION FOUR
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-FOUR
THIRTY-FIVE
THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SEVEN
THIRTY-EIGHT
THIRTY-NINE
Star Rain sample
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About the Author
Look for These Other Titles from
Dean Wesley Smith
Copyright Information