Rio

by on April 12, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Christian and Rio were famous network detectives when The War came upon us all. They had a weekly program, with several seasons already on the streams, where Christian and his beautiful assistant investigated computer-related crimes all over the Solar System. They had the whole film noir motif down real good, and Christian and Rio were household names everywhere that mattered. Rio was just a personal assistant back then. An AI. But she had her own network pages, calendars, and you could even purchase an official Rio personal assistant for your own use. I actually had her installed in my car’s computer, and used to put on dark shades and pretend we were off to some secret meeting as I put the pedal to the metal. You could almost say I knew Rio before she became a real person. But that wouldn’t really be true, because the real Rio blows the old Rio away in every way that matters.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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Flying United – May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

by on April 11, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I try to stay away from modern politics here. Try and fail more than I’d like. The reason is that I like to tell stories in a universe where we did enough right that people like to live in it.

But days like today make me shake my head. Seriously. At what moment did the people at United finally wake up and think “this might not have been a good idea?” Has it happened yet? Do they realize that they actually did something wrong, or do they still think of this as “re-accommodating” passengers?

Let me be clear here. Having a paying passenger beaten bloody and dragged unconscious off the plane is not “re-accommodating” the passenger. And it blows my mind that a sentence like that actually needs to be written down.

So it was Sunday. Everybody wanted to go home to their families or to their work. So nobody wanted to give up their seats. Even when offered 800 bucks. Fine. I understand that. 800 bucks doesn’t go as far as it used to. So what do you do? You keep upping the offer until somebody DOES accept it, or you decide that it makes more sense to get your four employees to their destination a different way.

Busting out the Police State tactics and breaking heads doesn’t make you any friends. It really doesn’t. If anyone involved in this still has a job when the fallout clears, I hope they remember that. And if they still have a job, and I hope every potential customer of United remembers that fact as well.

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Forge of War

by on April 10, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

“The Shang are painting us with sensor sweeps,” Betty reported and glanced towards one of the displays where it showed a complex diagram of colors. “We’re scattering and jamming below detection levels. But I think they’re getting suspicious.”

“Prepare to break and attack on my order,” Charles transmitted as they continued to close the range. “Use old weapons packages only. Let us keep our full capabilities to ourselves for now.”

“Roger that,” Jack returned with an approving smile.

“Approaching detection levels,” Betty reported as the sensor display began to flash. “I can’t keep them in the dark much longer.”

“Break in three,” Charles ordered.

Jack tightened his hands on the controls and ran his hands over a display.

“Two.”

A T&J song about bad guys biting the dust began to play.

“One.”

Power flowed from capacitors, flooding defensive and offensive systems with enough power to light up small cities.

“Break! Break! Break!” Charles ordered and the world exploded in time to the screaming of a steel-stringed guitar.

Deflection grids came alive and fire control systems locked onto their targets. Gravitic cannons reached out and twisted the very fabric of gravity between the Shang formation and the incoming Cowboys. Deflection grids collapsed and armor buckled as focused gravity tore the plates apart. Laser turrets pulsed into unshielded flanks, vaporizing armor and weapons alike…

 

Forge of War is the first novel I published, and is available as one of many rewards in An Atlas to Time, Space, and Bonfires. There’s a kickstarter for it right now in case you’re interested in seeing a couple dozen stories by different authors. And this one, of course.

An Atlas to Time, Space, and Bonfires Kickstarter

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The Gemini Affair

by on April 9, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

“The smart tactical move would be to run while we can,” Jasmine said.

Jack nodded. It would be the smart move. Avengers were hypercapable and his cargo wasn’t important enough to die for. But he still had one question, and he aimed a hard look at the freighter that had fired on them. “Not without knowing what’s in those cargo pods.”

“Yeah…I know,” Betty said and let out a long sigh.

“Betty?” Jack asked as he saw her deflate.

“They’re hauling people, Jack,” she reported.

“Frak,” Jack swore and lowered his head. “Let me guess. This isn’t an official prison transport?”

“Not considering the people I’m seeing.”

“Who you got in there?”

Betty shrugged. “Major media personalities from all over the sector. I’m seeing movie stars, musicians, politicians, and more. They’re from too many systems to have all been arrested.”

“So…not official.”

“No. But, Jack…these are really famous people. You’ve met some of them.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Jack frowned and rubbed his jaw for several seconds as he looked back to the two approaching ships. “If they were missing, we would have heard it on the news, right?”

“There’s no way this many missing celebrities wouldn’t be major news.”

“So this ship and these people shouldn’t be here,” Jack said and sighed.

“No, Jack. They shouldn’t.” Betty aimed a sad look at him. “I’m sorry, but we don’t know enough to make sense of this.”

“And you know how much I hate a mystery,” Jack muttered.

“So we aren’t going to make the smart tactical move, are we?” Jasmine asked in a resigned tone.

“Nope.”

“Got it,” Jasmine said and made a show of a pre-combat stretch. “So how are we going to handle this? Shoot first, or talk first?”

 

The Gemini Affair is a short story written for An Atlas to Time, Space, and Bonfires. There’s a kickstarter for it right now in case you’re interested in seeing a couple dozen stories by different authors. And this one, of course.

An Atlas to Time, Space, and Bonfires Kickstarter

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Jay

by on April 8, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Jay Lovato returned home after The War, and though he enjoys his retirement from extra-solar activities, he continues to command his Bull Fleet with distinction. He and his people remain in Earth Space, where they fly the flag for everyone to see. When many of our other Cowboys are flying all over this arm of the galaxy in a perennial pursuit to find whatever they are missing, he shows the people of Earth that the Cowboys are always there. Always ready to act when an emergency occurs. Always trustworthy protectors of mankind. He guarantees that we are not forgotten by the world most of us left a century ago. That is an immensely valuable service to us all. Especially when there are those who would see us erased from history. Jay is an impressive bulwark against their efforts to vanquish us from all memory.

High res version available for free on Patreon

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