Sorry about the delay; medical emergencies in the household distracted me yesterday. Chapter 20. "You have to eat something, Tav." Tavana jumped slightly at the unexpected voice. He was sitting on the steps of the lander's ladder, looking up at a comet whose slowly-fading tail covered thirty degrees of the now-dark sky. "Not hungry." "Bullcrap," Xander said, and held out a plate. He was about to refuse again when his nose caught the scent. "A Buckley? Merde, Xander, we were supposed to be saving those for special [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Planet: Chapter 19
July 4, 2016 By 1 Comment
The Sergeant was down... ----- Chapter 19. Xander sensed the information dump hit, stream through him and into his omni, even as he saw the Sergeant slump down and felt as though the bottom was dropping out of his world as it did. No. This can't happen. The other three boys were staring at him and the unconscious Sergeant, eyes wide, tears trickling down Francisco's terrified face. His own terror was clawing at his mind, the thought of facing a world filled with things like that monster without Sergeant Campbell looming [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 18
July 1, 2016 By 1 Comment
Well, the Sergeant wasn't having a good day all of a sudden... ------ Chapter 18. It wasn't a conscious decision, but a reflexive action, almost as instinctive as the not-quite-dead-enough creature's strike. Campbell had seen Tavana move forward, his leg lift, and he knew exactly what Tavana was going to do – and having seen this scenario on half a dozen worlds, knew how it might go wrong. But that was the conscious thought, and it lagged far behind the reaction, which was to shout a warning and lunge, as fast as he [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 17
June 29, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Work's never done on a frontier world... ----- Chapter 17. Tavana sagged back into the shelter's narrow bed and let out an explosive sigh. He hurt in places he didn't remember he had. The temporary shelter was made of the lightest, strongest materials available. But it was also designed to house up to ten people, which meant that even with the lightest, strongest materials it was very heavy, very bulky, and unfortunately required some manual work to unpack and set up. The automated anchors had failed; they were meant for [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 16
June 27, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Time to make a camp! ----- Chapter 16. "This," Campbell said, "Is a JD-CAT Model 450 Universal Excavator." The boys were all watching attentively, even Francisco. Heavy machinery still held a fascination for most children, and these – thank goodness – were no exception. He walked around the big machine and smacked the wide, thick bar that was held up by the manipulator frame. "Excavator is just part of what the 450 can do, though. This is a fully controllable advanced SMA – Shape Memory Alloy – universal blade [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 15
June 24, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Time to step out and take a look... ------ Chapter 15. "No, Maddox, Tav, no one but me and the Sergeant gets armed." "But Xaaaaaander –" "No but Xander, Maddox. You don't even know how to handle a gun yet, and I don't think that Tav or Francisco do either." The other boys glared at him and Campbell, but finally the glares turned to pouts. "Well… okay. You're right." "Good listening, kids," Campbell said. "Guns are not toys. We've got several from the cargo, so if and when I think you boys are ready, all [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 14
June 22, 2016 By 2 Comments
They had just landed.... but were they safe yet? ----- Chapter 14. Tavana let out a whoop and for a few moments everyone was cheering except for the Sergeant, who was just grinning from ear to ear and leaning back in his seat with obvious relief. Finally the noise died down and the Sergeant stood up. "Whoo. Feels real funny standing now, but also seems my medical nanos didn't let me get too weak. Still, everybody be a little careful moving around 'til you get used to walking again." He looked around the [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 13
June 20, 2016 By Leave a Comment
They'd found a planet... ----- Chapter 13. "Listen up, people. We are about to attempt a landing on a planet no one has ever landed on before. That means we're going in cold, no survey, no beacons, nothing. With the way we lost most of our instruments, we can't even do much of a once-over from orbit, basically just get a glimpse of the land that's not cloud-covered and pick the best-looking landing spots." The huge curve of Emerald cut across the forward port, softened by the presence of atmosphere, white and green and [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 12
June 17, 2016 By 1 Comment
They had one more roll of the dice to throw... ------ Chapter 12 Tavana gazed at the brilliant disc of the star – filtered, of course – that was the center of their hopes. "Program concluded, Sergeant. We made it; I think we must be, um, what, something like a hundred eighty million kilometers from the star right now. What now?" "Now we have to look for a planet we can land on," Campbell said easily. Tavana knew he was putting up a front, mostly for Maddox and Francisco. There was no guarantee of a [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 11
June 15, 2016 By Leave a Comment
It's when you're sleeping that questions occur... ----- Chapter 11. "Sergeant?" Xander whispered. He saw the eyes snap open, look around, registering where the Sergeant was, the person speaking to him, the fact that everything else seemed normal, in the time it took a normal person to blink. He's always ready for everything. "Sorry to wake you, sir," he said. Campbell sat up slowly. "I figure you must have something you want to say that the others shouldn't hear. If I agree with you, then there's no [ Continue reading... ]
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