Kindle Edition
Download from Smashwords (eBook)
Amazon
The Website of Alex Drinkwater, Jr.
Smashwords
Amazon
Category:
Science Fiction
Publisher: Self
ISBN-10: B01KTU6YIM
Type: Fiction
Pages: 311
Copyright: August 21, 2016
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
An explosion on the space station killing dozens of people, an evil cult determined to end space travel, and a beautiful but dangerous woman - all this awaited Colonel Roman Castello of the United States Space Force when he woke up that day. Little did he know of the adventure waiting for him -- and whether or not he would survive it!
The whole thing started when a bomb was detonated on the space station by someone willing to give his life for his cause, taking dozens of lives with him. As a result, Colonel Roman Costello of the United States Space Force (USSF) had to go up to the station and find out who did this . . . and why. What he didn’t know that day that this was the beginning of an adventure that would bring him halfway around the world in pursuit of an elusive enemy determined to eliminate all forms of space travel by whatever means necessary. Another thing he didn’t know that day was that he was about to get involved with a very beautiful -- and very dangerous -- woman.
Excerpt
The commander of the huge space station studied the displays in front of him, broadcast from external cameras that covered every bit of his current home, orbiting the earth. “Everything seems to be copasetic, Jim,” Fred Shapiro said into the mike, “I would say the security is . . . wait . . . holy shit!” A blinding flash on one screen interrupted his pronouncement. In an instant, he realized what had happened. “Looks like Module Five! Gotta seal that sunovabitch now!” He hollered to his partner, “Jim get those people into Module Four!” He paused. “If anyone’s left after decompression.” He spoke more to himself than to anyone else.
Jim Sullivan grabbed a suit and headed down the passageway. “I’ll stay on the Com. See if you can hold off ‘till you hear from me.”
“Go for it.” Shapiro’s hands hovered over the buttons that would seal off sections of the station. Two minutes later he heard Sullivan’s voice on the Com.
“Fred?”
“Yeah. What’s happenin’?”
“I’m in Three. We sealed it from here.” He sounded subdued.
“But what about - - aw, hell.” Shapiro understood. There was nothing left of Modules Four and Five. Or the people in them. He sighed. “How many?”
“Um, I’d say fifty or sixty, at least. Obviously we haven’t taken a head count yet.”
Shapiro closed his eyes. Fifty or sixty people, perhaps more. Gone. Just like that. He knew who was responsible, he just knew. Bastards! Then he remembered. Modules Four and Five belonged to the Chinese who had recently come on board.
Shapiro sighed. “Jim?”
“Yes?”
“Is the Emergency Team there?”
“Of course.”
“Come on back, let them handle it. We got other problems. Big problems.”
“I know. On my way.”
A few moments Sullivan was back in the Command Module of the United Space Exploration Platform or “USEP” the successor to the International Space Station that had been destroyed a few years before. He studied the craggy, worn face of his colleague. “It was them, wasn’t it?”
Shapiro grunted. “Of course it’s them.”
“You think it was Megalor?” He referred to a descendant of C-4, the much-heralded (and much feared) “plastic explosive” of the past. Easily handled in the vacuum of space, placed against the outer wall of a space vehicle, it was quite effective. It didn’t take much for a sudden release of air. Just like a balloon. Pop! End of story. And of lives. It was what everyone assumed was used against USEP’s predecessor a couple of decades back.
A shrug. “Probably.”
Sullivan lowered his gaze. In a soft voice he said “Damned Solarites.”
“All good things come from the sun, don’t you know that?”
Sullivan sat in the seat next to his boss. The view from the great curved window in front was fantastic. They were over the Pacific and had just cleared the coast of China. He gazed out for a minute and gulped. “Man, Beijing’s gonna be pissed.”
His boss stared at him. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Gotta be. Those were their modules. Might have been some others in there, of course, but the majority of the casualties must have been our latest ‘guests.’”
“Damn. I was afraid of that. The president busted his ass convincing them it was safe up here.”
“I know. I guess we’ll be expecting a visit from Castello.”
Shapiro nodded. He’s the best. He’s nabbed, what, a dozen of those pricks so far?”
“Yeah, at least. God knows how many he’s capped.”
“Jim, between you and me, he should have capped them all. The hell with putting them in jail.”
“That’s no lie. All they do in jail is learn how to be bigger and better assholes.”
A chime came from the console in front of Shapiro. “Yes?”
“Casualty reports, sir” said a woman’s voice from the speaker overhead.
Hell. “Okay, Lieutenant, how many and who?”
“Sixty-two, Sir. Mostly Chinese.”
Shapiro winced. “Crap.” He closed his eyes for a minute. “Anybody get out?”
“Two. They had just entered Module Three. They are the only people left from the Chinese delegation. There are two Americans and one Russian missing as well. I guess they were visiting.”
Shapiro didn’t ask if there were any bodies. Whatever was left was mixed in the debris in space left behind by the orbiting USEP. Shapiro glanced down at all the blinking lights on the board in front of him. “I guess Downstairs wants to know what happened. Catch you later, Lieutenant.” He touched a button. “Let’s see, who’s first?” At his command, a small plasma screen silently slid up into view, a list of demanding interlocutors blinking at him. He selected one. Northcom - North American Command. “Yes, General Fielder, Shapiro here.”
An angry face greeted him on the screen. “What the fuck happened up there?”
“Somebody lit up Modules Four and Five. They’re gone.”
“Four and five? The Chinese modules?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And?”
“Sixty-two missing as of five minutes ago. Mostly Chinese.”
“Shit!”
“Yes sir, that’s what I said.”
|
