Controller: Controller Trilogy, Book 1

by Stephen W Bennett

  Mike asked, “Wait, does Barb have both active? I didn’t know that. She’s the only one, isn’t she? I know Dan and Stacy have recessive Compel genes, but that makes Barb the only two-way psych. If I had an Immune gene active, Agent-X would never have gained control of me. I doubt Stiles could have done that to Dalia if she had the other gene. I want that other Immune gene version.”

  Brogan said, “Then we need to find out how Iran is inserting genes, and activating them. They’re multiple steps ahead of us. Israel claims Revolutionary Guard gene modded soldiers are in Jordan and Lebanon. They need Dan’s experience with transmitting Immunity on a loop to try to keep them from getting past border checks. We need the activation and gene insert technology too, which is the only reason the President is allowing me to reduce the number of agents in Washington, and send some to the Middle East.”

  Brogan looked worried. “He’s not the only one concerned about someone tampering with the minds of government leaders. Think of how many leaders besides our seeming trigger-happy President have control of nuclear weapons? It might be hard to tell whose idea it was to launch the missiles that start World War III.”

  *****************************

  About the Author:

  I was born in 1942, so I'm an autumn rather than a spring chicken. I live outside of Tampa, Florida with my fabulous wife Anita, and one remaining son sort-of at home, Montana. I have three older boys, Mark, Gary, and Anthony, all of whom have married and presented us with terrific grandchildren.

  My early reading interests were arguably all sci-fi related, from Doctor Doolittle, Captain Marvel, to Superman. I then transitioned to "real" science fiction on black and white TV, such as Captain Video and Flash Gordon. I read hundreds of books by the science fiction greats growing up, and thousands of fair to not so greats in dual novel paperbacks and magazines. I’ve had a lifelong love of science and science fiction.

  My education gravitated to science, starting out as a physics major and my depression era folks told me I'd never make a living as a theoretical physicist (probably right, and Cosmology wasn't a career field then), so I moved to Electronics Engineering. I did most of that in the aerospace field for MacDonnell Douglas Corp, in St. Louis, Mo. I worked on the F4 Phantom project, and briefly on Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), before the fickle fates of government finance forced contract cancellations. I devoted (meaning I was drafted into) two years' service for the US Army from 1965 to 1967. A great two years, and the Army caring not the least about my electronics background offered this draftee a job as an Air Traffic Controller. Cool!

  After discharge, I spent a short time back at MacDonnell Douglas before the contract reductions laid me off. I was hired by Emerson Electric (1968), working on the design of a neat heads-up fire control system for the Army's new Cheyenne Helicopter (to be a 270-knot hybrid fixed wing/rotorcraft). Never heard of it? The fickle fates of Army finance were why this time, plus Lockheed didn't keep the airframe part from crashing and burning at a crucial point in development.

  I taught Electronics for about eighteen months (near starvation wages after the high pay), and finally decided to try my hand at truly supporting my family again. I hired on with the Federal Aviation Administration as an Air Traffic Controller in 1970. Thanks, Army! In 1979, I changed jobs in the FAA to use my technical background to work on writing features for the software of the FAA's Terminal Automation Systems (for 28 years, with some controller time overlap). I spent exactly forty years (to the day) in federal service.

  Retired, I now work as a consultant/contractor for the FAA, supporting a software system I helped to create. In anticipation of more free time while retired (wrong!), I finally decided to try my hand at writing what I love to read for escapism, Science Fiction.

  Thanks for reading my books,

  Steve Bennett

  Published Books

  Koban (August 2012)

  Koban: The Mark of Koban (February 2013)

  Koban: The Rise of the Kobani (October 2013)

  Koban Universe 1 (March 2014)

  Koban: Shattered Worlds (November 2014)

  Koban: A Federation Forged in Fire (July 2015)

  Koban Universe 2 (January 2016)

  Koban: Conflict and Empire (August 2016)

  Koban: When Empires Collide (May 2017)

  Controller (December 2017)

  *****************************************

  The End

  Attention reader: This concludes our regularly scheduled broadcast. I hope you’ve enjoyed my story.