Sparkling Death
"Great story, part comedy, part scifi, and part kinky,
LOL."
- Chris
"Thanks for the great rollercoaster ride Mark. Vance
reminded me a lot of Han Solo - great characters. Looking forward to seeing them
developed even further in your next book."
- Richard Robinson
Status: Complete and available as free Audio-Book download from Podiobooks.com
Mankind has conquered the stars, spreading out to populate the galaxy.
Despite technological advancements the human desire for greed and profit at the
expense of others still remains. What is the secret on Altruis 4? It is a secret
that keeps its people in virtual slavery, a secret that millions will die for.
Vance Slater and his team careen from the shark-infested depths of Ligos to the
pleasure palaces of Nuvo and into the limitless depths of space in an effort to
find an answer. As the Confederation descends into war only Vance has a chance
of stopping the hostilities, but he will have to act fast for closing in is an
unstoppable foe that controls the power of absolute zero.
Featuring a fast-paced action-packed story with just a bit of sexiness,
Sparkling Death will take you on a roller-coaster ride through the technology
and adventure of tomorrow.
Excerpt:
Joan’s control of the space stations defenses were causing the
distraction they hoped for. The station was in complete chaos. Ships hovered in
holding patterns while their captains argued loudly with station personnel. A
few tried to dock despite the warnings and Joan burned off several non-essential
antennas convincing them to abandon their approaches. The ships were simple
orbital landers and did not contain deep space drives, their only other option
was to land on the planets surface again, but with the bomb about to destroy it
nobody was taking that option. They stayed where they were and waited
impatiently.
The station technicians punched controls and frantically
tried to gain a sense of what was happening and gain some measure of control.
The stations commander was now purple in the face from screaming at his staff.
“Pull the plug on the dammed thing,” he roared, “we will do
everything by hand if we have to.”
“Sir, have you tried the master override?” a tech asked.
“Of course I have, you idiot!” he yelled, “The dammed
computer keeps saying I am an imposter and it won’t listen to me. I want it
turned off. Disconnected. Ripped out of its socket and ejected into space, is
that clear!”
“Yes sir, but the only way is down in computer central
control.”
“Then get a team down there and melt it into slag if you have
to but I want control of my station back!”
Joan, Tiffani and John heard the exchange over the com unit. “Time
to put plan ‘B’ into effect,” Tiffani told Joan.
In security headquarters, the chief of station security
wondered what was going on. He could tell the station was operating strangely,
people were rushing frantically down the corridors and nobody seemed to know
why. His calls to central control had not been answered. A light on the com unit
flashed, it was not a light that flashed very often. A direct connection between
the station computer and the security office was a rare event.
“Security station personnel,” came the flat metallic voice of
Joan mimicking the station’s computer, “this is a code-red lockdown. Computer
override code A-11-1A. The station has been infiltrated by attacking personnel
who have disguised themselves as base personnel. Secure all class 1 areas of the
ship and prevent movement of all base personnel pending positive
identification.”
“Message received and understood,” the chief’s face grew
worried, no wonder everyone is panicking, nobody knows who is real and who
isn’t. His mission was clear, lock everything down and prevent an overrun of the
station by foreigners dressed as ships personnel. He flashed the red signal to
his team.
In the small hospital wing, the chief medical officer
wondered what was going on. Military personnel and technicians were running back
and forth and the station seemed to be in the grip of a panic. His increasingly
urgent queries to central control had been ignored.
At last the com unit flashed on his console. With a grateful
sigh he mashed the button, “what is it, what has been happening?”
“All medical personnel,” came the stations flat computer
voice, “This is a class 1 quarantine emergency. Infection patterns indicate
personnel from the surface carried an unknown airborne contagion into the
station. Approximately twenty eight percent of the station population is now
infected. Early symptoms indicate infected individuals suffer from delusions
which quickly turn violent.”
The chief medical officer when confronted with a medical
emergency of such magnitude did not stop to ask how the computer could know all
of the data, his instincts and training took over.
“Prepare all of the medical staff,” he shouted into his mike,
“with airborne contagion suits. Warn them that the patients suffer from
delusions and may become violent, anyone who acts strangely or who seems to
believe anything unusual should be tranquilized. Send medical personnel to each
key area of the station and interview everyone passing through. We will try and
stop this thing before it gets any further.”
Tiffani sat back in satisfaction as the com unit vibrated
with the intensity of all the overlapping yelling, questions, conflicting orders
and commands going on simultaneously. John had spent his time at the panel for
the control room doors and finally grunted with success. When he keyed a short
code into the panel the heavy blast door slid into place, protecting them from
any spying eyes.
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