by Dan Eaton
“I…. Thank you Sandy. I will enjoy this.”
Henry came over and shook my hand and said, “Happy Birthday, Bryce. It’s been a busy day and I’m glad I was able to make your party.” He then turned to my parents and said, “Hello Desmond. Hello Cheryl. It’s good to see you again.” With that, the two of them sat down to talk with my parents while Myra and I idly chatted.
Myra and I were still bantering back and forth about Sandy’s present ten minutes later when we heard an angry voice say, “No!”
We turned to look and my mom’s face had gone from smiling to frowning as she glared intently at Sandy.
Sandy was taken aback and said, “But, Cheryl—”
“No! Look Sandy, we love you and appreciate all you have done for our family. But some of that has come at a cost. Last year you offered us a wonderful opportunity for Bryce. Despite my misgivings, I agreed to it and … No. I’m sorry Sandy, and Henry, I mean no disrespect but no. No more adventures for Bryce. Just let him be a kid for a while longer.”
The End
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Thanks,
Dan Eaton
If you enjoyed this novel,
Please don’t miss
Coming Late Fall of 2018
Author’s Notes
First off, a big thank you to my Beta Readers:
Pete Foss
Carolynn Foss
Stephen Behnke
Joni Behnke
Al Estep
Bobbie Slattery
Julie OBlack
I also need to thank those that provided technical expertise where I was sadly lacking.
Thanks to Wency and Bret Becker for their insights into Chinese culture, emergency medicine, and how stress affects people. The book is much better for their help.
Thanks to Clinton Braganza for his help with the Hindi language. Ananyu Patel has a heritage and Clinton was instrumental in helping me find just the right Hindi words to express herself.
My wife and I lost a good friend while I was writing this book. The character, Brad Wetter, part of the Sunshine, Inc crew is a tribute to my friend.
I try really hard to keep the books grounded to solid science and reality. But as others have found, reality is a bear and when it came to a choice between sticking to reality or letting Sam die a cruel death I compromised. Even with the twenty years of space suit design advancements between now and when the story occurs, I have my doubts that Sandy could have got dressed in a pressure suit by himself quickly enough to have been in place to save Sam. Maybe some breakthrough will occur to let someone get quickly dressed in a pressure suit but it doesn’t seem likely. It didn’t seem right to kill off Sam so I’m giving myself the benefit of the doubt that maybe by then what Sandy did will be possible.
In the scene, Earth-Moon Lagrange point depot, Bryce asks about powering a habitat with a reactor and begins a discussion about He-3 fusion reactors versus a thorium fission reactor. Fusion reactors have been the golden ring just beyond humanity’s grasp for a long time now. I’d love to see that change but there are other possibilities. Thorium reactors, specifically, molten salt reactors, offer many of the advantages of a fusion reactor. Events like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster can’t happen with a molten salt reactor. While the design needs further development work and regulatory changes to make it a commercial reality, it does have one thing going for it that fusion reactors don’t at the moment. The United States successfully operated a molten salt reactor at Oak Ridge for four years back in the sixties.
Given the renewed interest in Thorium reactor technology, from all over the world, I think there’s an interesting question in what reactor technology will eventually rule. Once, I would have said fusion with absolute certainty but history is rife with examples of a “better” technology being shifted off to the sidelines by a well marketed “Good enough” technology.
About the Author
I was born and raised in Saint Louis. Other than the time I spent away while attending college I’ve always lived in the Saint Louis area. I count myself very fortunate that in addition to my wife Ruth and myself, all of my kids and grandkids still live nearby.
I grew up reading Clarke, Asimov, Norton, and Henderson and have always enjoyed hard science fiction versus fantasy although I read both.
I enjoyed working in the computer industry for many years until I was laid off. One day I was reading a book on my Kindle and came to the conclusion that it was a poor effort on the part of the author. He got paid for it and I thought I could do a better job so that’s when the first novel was born. I hope you enjoyed this latest novel.
Dan Eaton