Exiled to the Stars
Page 58
They’d just celebrated the fifth anniversary of the launching of the first Long-Range Explorer cars last month. The cars returned every six months to change crews and bring in artifacts. But it had been five years, now. Ten crew changes. It was getting harder and harder to maintain her enthusiasm. But she was Doctor Susan Renko, and she was doing Vlad’s work.
So, despite the fact that she longed to retire, to putter around her lab, and to putter among her memories, every day she got dressed in her immaculate shipsuit and spotless white lab coat, and went to her office at the headquarters of the Alien Technology Research Department.
And every day, she spent the day hunched over an enhancer, reviewing the images from the Long-Range Explorers in a desperate bid to find Vlad’s Rosetta stone.
Susan straightened, realizing that her back was aching terribly. She stretched, grimacing. She was nearing 100, now. Even with the symbiont, there was a growing litany of aches and pains. She stood, stretched her legs, and then turned to Rita.
Rita was an assistant, one of four the Council had provided her when the Explorer reports began coming in. None of them were scientists. In fact, they were all simple clerks. But she had carefully trained them, and she was confident that they knew what she was seeking.
Rita was her best, and wouldn’t waste her time on some scratches over a door, or a few squiggles on a wall. So she walked over briskly. Suddenly she saw Rita’s eyes go wide, and her jaw drop. The girl jumped up. “Doctor Susan!” she exclaimed, almost shouting. “I think this is it!”
Susan quickened her pace. Could it be? This crew had only been out a month. But they never covered territory covered before. Maybe…
Rita backed away from her station, ushering Susan into her chair. Susan bent over the enhancer. That looked like some sort of alphabet! Or perhaps a list of numbers. Yes! This could be it! She shuflled back through the Explorer’s images.
“Explorer three,” she called, “Do you read?”
The face that appeared on the communicator was as excited as she was certain hers was. Still, the eyes widened when they recognized her. “Doctor Renko!” the Explorer exclaimed.
Susan nodded. “Tell me about it.” She struggled to keep her voice steady.
“Well,” the Explorer began. “It was a fairly small cave, kind of isolated from the last ones we’d checked. The ground floor has a bunch of small, tub-looking things. They look like bathtubs with drains. But when we went up a floor, we started seeing real small cubical things. But the main thing was there were marks on the walls. That’s when we started getting excited. I’ve sent the pictures, of course.
“The building is six stories tall, and as we went up, we kept seeing more and more stuff on the walls. Then, on the fourth floor, we started finding these little octagonal pieces of, well, they look like paper. And all of them had markings. Then, at the bottom of the ramp to the fifth floor, we saw this on the wall.”
“This” was squiggles. But to human eyes, the squiggles looked like lines of writing. “It’s an ordered list!” Susan exclaimed.
“Yar, Mistress,” the man continued, “but it ain’t all. Look at what we found on the sixth floor!”
Susan stared. “Forget about your schedule,” she said excitedly. “Fill your car with everything you find that looks interesting, and make sure you can find the place again. Then take pictures of everything that won’t fit in the car, and get back here as quickly as you can!”
The man straightened. “Yes, Doctor Renko. We should be back in about a week.”
But Susan wasn’t listening. She was staring at something she recognized as a periodic table of the elements. And Susan Renko smiled.
The End
Thank you for buying my book. If you liked it, and ever have a spare moment, it would be a great help if you could post a review of it on Amazon and/or Goodreads.com and let other potential readers know why you liked it. It’s not necessary to write a lengthy, formal review. Even just a few short comments would be helpful. Here’s a link to the review form for my book:
http://www.Amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/write-a-review.html?asin=B00HQ7ZBNQ
http://www.goodreads.com
If you enjoyed this book,
be sure to discover these other fine e-book titles by William Zellmann at Amazon.com or Amazon.com UK
Death Ship Quest
Kas Preslin, a disgraced captain in the Fleet of the declining Empire, is sent to recover an Empire Battle Cruiser, a massive warship bristling with weapons that disappeared a century ago. It is drifting in an uncharted system under a plague beacon. But other governments are also searching for her. If one of them gets to her first and salvages her, it could touch off an interstellar war that could destroy the Empire and throw man-settled space into chaos. Kas must take a refitted freighter with a cargo of crewmembers for the Battle Cruiser in cold sleep on an undercover mission to recover the ship, cure the plague that killed her crew, fight his way across the galaxy, battle hostile politicians, and return her to the Empire before another system locates her and interstellar war ravages the galaxy.
Get it at Amazon.com US: – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053UO7H4
Get it at Amazon.com UK: – http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0053UO7H4
The Emperor's Conspiracy
A space war adventure for those who enjoy space opera! So far, only a few people realize that the Empire is in decline. One of them is the Emperor, and another is Sander Cord, the Emperor's closest (and maybe only) friend. The Emperor has appointed Cord Viceroy of the Rim Sector, whose dynamism and remoteness gives it a chance of surviving the fall. After twelve years, the Emperor is about to grant the Rim Sector almost complete independence.
But first, they must defeat a corrupt Admiral with a powerful battle group and plans of his own to seize the Rim. Cord recruits Val Kedron, a trader captain with military experience, to organize and command a force to oppose Jonas.
Val and his people must use ingenuity, imagination, and even a sentient ship to counter the admiral's massive firepower advantage and salvage the Emperor's plan to preserve human civilization.
Get it at Amazon.com US: - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005E8L5QG
Get it at Amazon.com UK: - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005E8L5QG
The Rim Rebels
For the space opera lover! 75 years ago an academic was banished to the very rim of known space for predicting the fall of the Empire. Now, the decline is becoming noticeable, and warned by the predictions, some on the rim are planning for the Fall and plotting to rule man-settled space afterward. The crew of the Free Trader Bonny Lass is trapped between the terrorists' plots and the machinations of a top-level secret agent. Now they must transport a multi-million-credit letter of credit halfway across man-settled space while running a gauntlet of pirates, and then return to the rim to risk their lives and their ship, or face certain death. Eventually, they will have to depend on the agent to save their lives while preventing a violent civil war. Along the way, the Captain finds love, and a crewman finds hidden depths in himself. Adventure on the rim of known space!
Get it at Amazon.com US: - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008DMUPFM
Get it at Amazon.com UK: - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008DMUPFM
Man's Hope
The time is the present/near future. Frank Weatherly built a small custom computer company into the dominant force in the field of business computers, but his board of directors forced him out, and despite his billions, he is a lonely widower in bitter seclusion. David Tarrant is a grounded US Air Force Astronaut desperate to get back into space. David tracks Frank down and proposes an idea to get man, and himself, on a new, aggressive drive back into space. They must find or build a spacecraft capable of a three-year mission. Then, the crew must ride a comet through perihelion and outward to the Asteroid Belt. There, they plan to not only board an asteroid, but to bring it back to Earth! It will cost Frank his entire fortune, and even his reputation, and David must risk his life to give man a boost to the stars!
Definitely "hard" science fiction! You'll wonder if it could really be done!
Get it at Amazon.com US: - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008C7OM0C
Get it at Amazon.com UK: - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008C7OM0C
The Privateer
More Space Opera from William Zellmann! John Smith was a crusading attorney whose crusade ended in a rigged trial and slavery in the mines – a death sentence. The slaves stole an ore carrier and escaped, and desperation and hatred drove them to piracy. John was a hugely successful pirate, until forced to confront the horrors committed by his men. He grabbed a ship and a bag of gems, and ran away. Pursued by his former colleagues, but determined to regain his self-respect, he fled across man-settled space. Along the way, he learns that his ship is much more than a simple yacht, deals with a stowaway girl, almost accidentally buys an orbital scrap yard, finds himself responsible for a beautiful young woman, fights off a pirate attack, makes a friend, and learns that his refuge has been invaded by another planet. John, now Cale, and his friends plan to use derelicts from his scrap yard to free his sanctuary planet. But can a bunch of resurrected hulks really defeat a planetary fleet? And just what IS a Privateer, anyway?
Get it at Amazon.com US: - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007K6SVX0
Get it at Amazon.com UK: - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/BOO7K6SVX0
Privateer 2: An Honest Living
In The Privateer, John Smith fled the life of a pirate, fled from his former associates, became Cale Rankin, bought a junkyard, met a beautiful woman and fell in love, and met a friend who helped them win a war and save a planet. Now he, his new wife, and some friends are taking on a planet that's been unexplored for centuries.
They've formed Colonies, Inc., and they specialize in finding homes for people desperate to flee uncertain futures. Their first customers are from Santiago, the planet they just defeated in the Junkyard War. Can these peaceful farmers find paradise on a planet that destroyed its own civilization 500 years ago? And if they do, there's still the renegade Santiagan general and his 300 crack troops! This time the action is planet-bound, with medieval warlords, murderous savages, and equally murderous special operations forces with state of the art weapons! It's not as easy as Cale thinks to make AN HONEST LIVING!
Get it at Amazon.com US: - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C8JKPIS
Get it at Amazon.com UK: - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C8JKPIS
And watch for more exciting space adventure from William Zellmann coming soon! Visit Williamzellmann.com for the latest on upcoming releases!
About the Author …
I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where I achieved nothing notable. I joined the U. S. Navy, and for the next twenty years was largely successful in tricking the Navy into thinking that I wasn't really a lazy slob. During this time, I met and married a wonderful woman. We had a beautiful daughter together.
After retiring from the Navy, I attended the University of Arkansas. I received a BSBA in Human Resources Management, to my utter surprise (and that of some of my professors!)
My wife passed away in 2008, and I had the incredible luck to meet another amazing woman. We married in December 2010. I seem to be attracted to low-paying government jobs, and upon graduation, I became employed by the State of Arkansas as an Employment Interviewer and Employment Services Supervisor. There, I completed another 20-year career. Since then my life has been devoted to writing and convincing my new wife she didn't really marry a lazy bum.
I retired in March of 2011, and we retired to the Philippines. Yep, I actually Ran Off To An Exotic South Seas Island With A Beautiful Native Girl! How many people actually get to live a cliché?