Colin Weldon's Blog
January 3, 2018
Book Hippo Featured Author
I am now a featured author on BookHippo, Click on the badge to bring you to download a free copy of Hunting Nora Stone this week !!
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January 2, 2018
Hunting Nora Stone number #1 on Amazon FREE today
Hunting Nora Stone is FREE ALL WEEK and is currently trending #1 on Amazon top free SCI-FI so grab a copy while you can.
The post Hunting Nora Stone number #1 on Amazon FREE today appeared first on Colin Weldon.
September 30, 2017
Goodreads giveaway HUNTING NORA STONE
I have 5 signed copies of Hunting Nora Stone to giveaway with my goodreads competition
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Goodreads Book Giveaway
Hunting Nora Stone
by Colin Weldon
Giveaway ends October 10, 2017.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
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September 22, 2017
ALL NOVELS FREE ON KINDLE THIS WEEKEND
The Agathon: Book One
by Colin Weldon
Link: http://a.co/7uj3IgS
The Agathon: Reign of Arturo
by Colin Weldon
Link: http://a.co/6rVEJRk
The Agathon Book 3: Sword Of Stars
by Colin Weldon
Link: http://a.co/7MDSIeO
Hunting Nora Stone
by Colin Weldon
Link: http://a.co/57VecCF
The post ALL NOVELS FREE ON KINDLE THIS WEEKEND appeared first on Colin Weldon.
September 13, 2017
July 27, 2017
The Agathon Book 1- Chapter 2
Main Observatory
Gamma Event T plus ten minutes
John Barrington stared at the viewing chamber. The view had been taken out to encompass the debris field. He rested his hand on Carrie’s shoulder. Tyrell was hunched over a console, punching in various commands. Watching the ever-expanding flotsam of rock as it floated serenely outwards into the black of space, held a strange meditative quality to it. The orbiting arrays, satellites and space stations had been obliterated in the blast. The shockwave had carved a chunk out of the orbiting moon and it was left alone without its owner like a wounded and abandoned pet. Carrie had not spoken since her father had arrived at the observatory. She seemed unable to take her gaze from the viewing chamber.
“I don’t understand, Father, it was right there. I was watching it all night. It was so alive. Am I dreaming?” The commander lowered himself to meet her eye level and glanced back at the floating rock, still grasping at his own straws and in awe of the devastation.
“I don’t know, Dice,” he said, calling her by her childhood nickname. “Why don’t you go back to the habitat ring and try to get some sleep. Doctor Tyrell and I have a lot of work to do before the rest of the colony wakes up and finds out what has happened.”
Carrie was quick to respond, “I cannot, Father. I have to stay here with you. Please, I have to stay with you.”
He turned his gaze back to the viewing chamber. “Okay, Dice. I could use your help anyway. I need to talk to Tyrell for a moment. Do me a favour and contact Lieutenant Chavel on comms. Tell him to come to the observatory immediately, for a briefing. Don’t tell him what has happened here until we figure this thing out, okay? I also need you to get a hold of Doctors Meridian and McDonnell. Tell them all to get here quickly, but do it calmly, Dice.”
Carrie’s face blushed slightly at the mention of the lieutenant’s name. Her father knew that response well, but he did not have time to get into it with her.
“Yes, Father.” She paused. “I’ll get on it.” She stood from her perched observer chair, went to a nearby workstation and sat behind one of the computers. He watched her. John, I love you, save Carrie.
“John?” Tyrell’s voice said from behind him. “We should really think about where we are at. Take stock of the next steps. There are decisions to be made.”
The commander acknowledged the doctor with a small nod and made his way over to meet him at his workstation. He took a seat next to Tyrell, while keeping an ear tuned into his daughter’s voice as she tried to reach the others. He addressed Tyrell in his soft monotone.
“Talk to me, Tyrone, what the hell happened here tonight? Why wasn’t there any warning?” Tyrell closed his console down and addressed the commander directly.
“Commander, we were just attacked. It was unprovoked. There was no warning. The signal changed without provocation and without the slightest indication of any new or unusual cosmic events. We have been tracking this thing for over a hundred years and, for whatever reason, the species that created the signal and the structure on Phobos have unilaterally decided that today is the day to end our race. Other than the data collected from our array and the obvious change in the signal to a concentrated Gamma burst, I have no other information to give you at present. Right now we need to focus on one thing and that is to find out who, if anyone, has survived.”
Barrington looked back at his daughter and tried to compose his thoughts. “Jesus Christ,” he said to himself. “Okay, Doctor, continue to liaise with Tosh. I am going to try to raise Jerome Young and see what we can do from here. I need you get a visual on The Agathon, to see if there is any damage or effect from the Gamma pulse on any of the ship’s systems or personnel currently on the vessel, or on an EVA.”
He turned to one of the consoles and tapped in a few commands.
“Computer, initiate comms with Charly Boyett on The Agathon.”
Flight Officer Charly Boyett’s voice came over the comms, “This is Boyett.” Her strong tone sounded well beyond her thirty-one years and held an assuredness that Barrington took great comfort in.
“Charly, status report,” Barrington said.
“I’m currently on the flight deck, knee deep in fibre optic cable, sir. The number two plasmonic field generator just won’t play ball with us up here. It keeps generating random ion field formations around the secondary wave guide conduits. We have to nail it down or it could cause the FTL to cascade during our first flight, and we really don’t want that, sir. How’s everything down there?” The sounds of plasma torches could be heard in the background as she spoke.
“Charly, we have a situation down here.” He stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts. “Have you got the main sensors active yet on the flight deck?”
“No, sir, not yet. It’s a real mess up here at the moment to be honest,” she said.
“Okay, Charly, I need you brace yourself for this. The Earth has just exploded in space. It’s gone.” There was silence.
“Sir, can you repeat, please? It’s quite loud up here and it sounded like you just said the Earth had exploded.”
“Charly, that’s confirmed. I need you do a full systems and hull integrity check. Get the forward array up and running and link it up. Start monitoring. I need you focused, Lieutenant, there are going to be a lot of frightened people up there and down here when this breaks. I know what you left behind and I know what it took for you to come here, but find strength and use it.”
The commander’s voice was locked into the steady elevated rhythm of a trained leader and he made sure to leave no room for hesitation or doubt in his voice. In a catastrophic event, the mind needed direction to stop it from breaking down. Sometimes a strong voice was all it took.
There was silence on the comms then Charly’s voice piped up above the noise. “Silence on the deck, everybody shut up!” The ambient noise ceased immediately. Charly continued, “John, is this some sort of joke, a drill or something? Because if it is, it’s not that funny, sir.”
The commander couldn’t help but admire her candid nature. He had taken a shine to her early on when they had first met and allowed a certain level of informality among those under his command, up to a point. He found that it had strengthened loyalty. He took a moment and softened his voice.
“Charly, this is not a drill. Listen to me. All we know down here is that there was a change in the signal some time ago, which fired a Gamma ray burst into the Earth’s core. We’re picking up the pieces down here. I wish I could tell you more but I don’t have it right now. You are in command up there, I need you to listen and act. I’ll be in touch shortly but right now, we’re at Colonial Emergency level 1. Just keep your team in check and focus.”
There was a moment of pause and then a clear response.
“Yes, sir.” He could hear her voice beginning to tremble but closed off the comms.
“Barrington out.” The screen went blank and Barrington was left looking at a sombre reflection. He looked up and saw David Cheval standing in the doorway.
Carrie hadn’t mentioned anything to the young lieutenant on the comms, but she had made herself very clear that he was needed to be there quickly. Now standing in the doorway he acknowledged both the commander and Tyrell, who hadn’t noticed that he had arrived. He then glanced at Carrie and gave an involuntary smile. She had grown used to the wave of feeling that filled her mind when he was in close proximity. It was a feeling of attraction she encountered amongst most men, but it was particularly strong with this one. She reciprocated his gesture with a small wave and turned her attention back to her console. The magnitude of what had just occurred was too confusing to combine with the urges of a clearly passionate attraction from a young officer, even if he was a handsome one. Her obvious blush responses were not lost on Chavel, as he made his way over to her father.
She observed him as they shook hands and spoke. She began to sense the changes in the officer’s mind as the news was being broken. Grief and panic were old friends to Carrie and she didn’t need to sense emotions to recognise them but once her mind was open, it was hard to not to let them in from others. Chavel held himself with composure and strength, but inside his mind was in turmoil. The warm feelings she had sensed moments ago were gone. Shock released the floodgates of every feeling all at once and Carrie’s sensitivity to them was increasing on a daily basis. She had begun exercises in segmenting her thoughts from others, out of fear of having her own mind washed away in other people’s thoughts. It had become a terrifying thought that somehow her own consciousness could be washed away by thoughts of the other colonists. It was her father who had given her the idea.
“Build a home for your thoughts,” he had told her one night when she couldn’t sleep. “Somewhere they can be safe. Build a house in your mind with impregnable walls. It will be your own fortress. That is where you go when others flood your thoughts. Don’t open the door, Carrie. Not to anyone. Not to anyone!” The fortress she had constructed in her mind had begun as a steel cube structure a thousand feet high, with a door ten feet thick, only accessible via a thin rope bridge over a bottomless ravine a mile wide. It had been a rather extreme version of what her father had been talking about, but it served its purpose well. The rope bridge could be retracted at will, leaving enemy thoughts no chance of getting across. She had even added weapons to the exterior. Large plasma cannons, each with their own compartment, scattered themselves along the walls of the cube. She had even test-fired them one night. It had been a spectacular show of force, as they tore through the fabric of her mind with power and ferocity. She had found it empowering and had been impressed at her ability to create such a devastating show of force, albeit an imaginary one. The years had changed her fortress, as she grew surer of what it had represented. The steel cube had been replaced with an ancient Earth castle, complete with moat and drawbridge.
Her father and Chavel were deep in conversation. The lieutenant’s attention was focused on one of the screens, as her father gave instructions. She turned her attention back to her task.
“Open comm to Doctor Meridian, please.” She spoke to the computer which responded in kind.
“One moment, please.” There was a long pause, then a sleepy female voice answered.
“Yeah… go ahead, hello?”
“Doctor Meridian, this is Carrie. I apologise if I woke you.” A yawn.
“Not at all, kiddo, how are you. What’s up? You discover the meaning of life yet?” Carrie smiled. She was very fond of the doctor and she of her.
“Not yet, Chase. I think that just got a little harder, to be honest. Are you able to come to the observatory, please? Something has happened. My father and Doctor Tyrell are already here and it is important that you come right away.”
Meridian didn’t hesitate in her response. “Of course, I’ll be there shortly. Let me just get dressed, sweetie. See you in a mo. Meridian out.”
Carrie stood and walked over to the stations where her father and Chavel were talking. An air of urgency was beginning to fill the room. The kind that follows an accident or emergency, where the fight or flight responses kick in. Her senses were heightened as she approached the trio. She knew what the two officers were thinking, but Tyrell was different. She paused for a moment as their eyes briefly met. While his expression was one of sincere acknowledgement, she still couldn’t read him. All she saw was a void behind his eyes and something else. Something dark.
“You okay, Dice? Did you get hold of the others?”
“Yes, Father, they’re on their way now.” She turned to Chavel.
“Hello, Lieutenant,” she said, nodding to Chavel.
He gave her a warm smile.
“Hello, Carrie. You doing okay?” he said.
“I don’t really know what to do, to be honest,” she replied looking back at the viewing chamber.
“I know what you mean,” he said.
There was a moment of silence between the two. Carrie felt a warm feeling from Chavel. A comforting attraction from the lieutenant.
There was a chime behind them and a motion activated door slid open. Doctor Meridian entered with a smile and a slightly dishevelled look. She approached the group near the console that the commander was seated at and placed a hand on Carrie’s shoulder.
“Morning, boys and girls, what’s all the hubbub about? The world better be coming to an end because I was in the middle of a beautiful dream.”
Main Observatory
Gamma Event T plus two hours twelve minutes
While the others were huddled discussing the evening’s events, Tyrell had returned to his personal lab to the rear of the observatory and had been trying to raise Tosh on comms. The signal was blocking transmissions from the base on Phobos, so he had given up for the time being and was busy looking at the expanding debris field on one of the viewing chamber feed displays. The flotsam of rock, ice and molecular dust formations was beautiful. It had been so fluid, like an expanding cloud of bubbles in a deep ocean. Each handful of the once dense and richly developed planet now drifted outwards in a perfect sphere, bound for the great unknown. There was no discernible outline of any of the once vast cities or technology. The heat of the explosion had seemingly vaporised all evidence of any human existence on the surface.
I wonder what it felt like, he thought, gently stroking the side of his face. He tried to imagine what the melding of flesh, bone and rock in a nanosecond would have felt like. Finally becoming one with the creator. All energies combined into a cataclysmic fusion of life and matter. You lucky little insects. I wonder what you know!
The sensors were busy targeting various debris formations and trying to catalogue and count the larger chunks of planetary fragments. Tyrell was tracking several of the larger fragments and had begun a grid search for vessels in the area that may have been disabled, but that could have possibly survived the explosion. He looked over at the large cylindrical holding tank in the corner of his lab. A sample of The Black sat quietly inside. The tank had a variety of tubes and cables spouting out of its top and bottom. Tyrell tended to keep his lab several degrees cooler than the main colonial habitat ring. The Black reacted more positively to it and he had gotten used to the cold, after spending so much time with it. His own analysis of the deadly alien substance had not been particularly fruitful. He knew it liquefied organic material on contact. And that occasionally it would alter its shape in the tank for no reason and then return to a gelatinous state. He had lost count of the amount of small rodents he had placed in the tank for experiments.
“It is this world’s cockroach,” he had told an unimpressed Barrington. He knew Barrington just wanted it destroyed, but he had held him off to try and learn what he could about it. He turned his attention back to the display.
The orbiting space station had been completely obliterated but there were several Jycorp ships scheduled for cargo and personnel runs to and from the moons of Mars and the colony itself. If their outer shields had been able to protect against the ionising radiation, there could still be survivors. Although less concerned with this area of the event than the reason for the change in the signal, Tyrell thought it would be prudent to at least examine this possibility. He entered a new algorithm into the search parameters, to detect energy signatures emitted from spacefaring craft, and let it run. He instructed the computer to begin filtering out background radiation, to try and lock onto signals being sent from both Phobos and any other ships in the vicinity. The computer began to process the data while Tyrell turned his attention to the expanding mass of rock.
“Computer, what is the status of the signal?” Tyrell said, while making his observations.
“Signal has reverted to previously established patterns, Doctor,” came the familiar female voice.
“They hit us hard and went to sleep?” he said out loud.
“Please repeat request,” the computer said.
“Never mind,” he said. Then something occurred to him. “Computer, can you scan the debris field and begin a trajectory plot for the debris fragments? Then begin a collision threat analysis.”
“Of course, Doctor, beginning now,” she said calmly.
“Doctor, I have found something which falls into the parameters, as outlined by your request. Could you please direct your attention to coordinates indicated on the screen?” He tapped some commands into the panel.
“Can you give me a visual?” he asked
“Of course, Doctor, one moment.” The screen lit up. An enormous black shadow filled the visual, almost completely blocking out the surrounding star field. At first Tyrell thought there had been a malfunction in the display, until he adjusted the visual contrast manually. The unmistakable contours of rock and ice formed on the screen. The surface of the rock was molten and had begun to glow with an eerie electric crimson. The surrounding edges left a trail of ice and companion debris fragments.
“Computer, size and course of object?” he asked.
“Object is approximately 1100 miles in diameter and is on a direct course for impact with planet Mars.”
Tyrell looked at the continent of rock, as it appeared motionless. A strange fear began to embrace him. It was a curious sensation. An odd urgency began to take hold. Perhaps the insects had not been so lucky after all. He glanced over at the sample of The Black and stood from his chair. He took a breath and made his way out of the lab and back towards the others. He caught the eye of Barrington, who immediately knew something was wrong. Walking over to the group, he called to Carrie.
“Carrie, I need you to input a new set of coordinates into the viewing chamber.” Carrie frowned with curiosity, but obeyed Tyrell’s request. She made her way over to the chamber and took her seat. As she tapped in the information sent to her control panel from Tyrell’s station, the viewing chamber came to life. The enormous piece of rock floated casually in the glass cube.
“What am I looking at, Tyrone?” Barrington said. There was silence in the group. Tyrell sighed.
“The apocalypse, John.”
The post The Agathon Book 1- Chapter 2 appeared first on Colin Weldon.
July 26, 2017
The Agathon Book 3 is nearly here
The new cover for the last in The Agathon series is here. The end of the adventure is nearly here. Coming Soon !
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October 22, 2016
The Agathon wins a Brag Medallion
I’ll be honest. When writing my first novel I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. None. If you had of asked me about character voice development three years ago I would have looked at you like a deer in headlights. The funny thing about writing anything is the sudden appearance of characters that in of themselves are supposed to be fully-fledged human beings that just pop into existence because you need them to tell a story. I am thirty six years old and I am very much still trying to figure myself out so how the hell was I supposed to figure out the nuances of a sixty something year old scientist living on Mars, let alone the inner workings of my twenty something female lead protagonist, but there you are, looking at a blank page about to pop a person into existence in the hopes that that person will seem not only real but have their own hopes and fears and strengths and weaknesses. Hemingway said that “The first draft of anything is shit” and boy was he right so don’t be discouraged if your first read through makes you want to close that laptop and take up botany. Writing a novel is one of the toughest decisions a writer can make and finishing one to a standard that you yourself are happy to put out into one of the most hyper critical markets in the world takes not only courage, but a leap of faith in yourself that comes from a belief someone, somewhere might enjoy reading your tale. To begin any story you need a protagonist. You can’t tell a story without one. I do not by any means believe that I have found the right formula. My plethora of rejection letters from publishers will testify to that. I continue to knock on doors and send out manuscripts in the hopes of finding that ever-elusive deal but I keep trying and will continue to try because as any writer knows we don’t do it because we want to we do it because we simply have to. I love writing. I love writing characters and trying to tell stories that hopefully some will find entertaining and engaging enough to spend the $0.99 on kindle to give them a go.
Anyway, I digress. Characters! You need them. They are the lifeblood of a story. Here’s how I do it. Take my advice with a pinch of salt as every writer has his or her own little techniques for character voice. A brilliant little program that I am sure you are all very much aware of is a thing called Scrivener. In that program there is a section dedicated to characters. It’s a blank page that lists the most important aspects of beginning to think about how your characters think and who they are. Start with the easy bits first. What is your characters name? This is the fun part. Scrivener actually has a really cool name generator feature that you can spend hours on picking their names. I never change a characters name one they have had some page time, as it feels weird to do so. As their mannerism and habits become the norm in the story, they actually start to form their very own skin and personalities, sometimes all by themselves. Spend time on motivation. That’s a really important one. What does your character want? What the obstacles both internal and external preventing that character from getting what they want. The internal obstacles are the juicy bit of a character’s mind that tortures them. Memory, trauma, broken hearts, torture, bullying, failure, disappointment, regret, mental illness and all that sort of stuff. For example the lead protagonist in The Agathon, Carrie, is haunted by the death of her mother at the very start of the novel. She is also having a physical internal battle as her body is mutating for some reason and she has not told anyone about it. She is becoming telepathic and manifesting powers. Internal obstacles are anything that the character is fighting within themselves while trying to lead a normal life. External obstacles are anything preventing a character from achieving an objective. For example being stuck on a planet with a broken spaceship while the planet slowly breaks apart. A lot of character voice comes from the own authors “what if” questions that they ask themselves when they put a character in a particular situation. For example: what if your character, who you know is a psychopath and suffers from a loose temper, finds their partner in bed with another person? The voice of the character would react in a very unique way only appropriate to that characters motivations and internal obstacles. After practice, you actually begin to hear the voices of your characters in your own head as they make decisions and choices when they speak to each other. I often wonder if authors don’t develop multiple personality disorders over the years. You really start to believe that these people actually exist. At the moment, I am working on the third Agathon book and it’s like coming home after being on holidays and meeting old friends for a drink. They become such an integral part of your life for so long that they seem to exist in a sort of perpetual writer’s universe where fictional people live out their existence. The Imaginarium. That’s what I call it. After the ‘Imaginarium of Doctor Pernassus.’ A characters voice is built on the initial building blocks of what their purpose in your novel is going to be.
Writing dialogue in a characters voice is important. Think about accent, inflection, little quips and slang words that character might use. An Irish person will use very different words than an American for certain things. Such a ‘Craic’. If I was in the US and I asked someone where the best Craic was I would probably be arrested but in Ireland that phrase is used to indicate something which is fun or entertaining, not the class A drug. Some characters might swear more and some may be more reserved. Try listening to people in every day situations and try picking up some of the differences. I use a lot of family referenced in my books. Some of the best character voices can be seen from close family and friends because you have had the most exposure over the years to the dysfunctional way families tend to interact. Don’t be afraid to experiment and above all else have fun with it. Character voice can be the most entertaining part of writing a book and watching them develop is, in my experience, one of the most rewarding things about writing.
-Colin Weldon
The post The Agathon wins a Brag Medallion appeared first on Colin Weldon.
June 2, 2016
DEEP CORE – PART 3
PART 3
Rob looked at Katherine and smiled.
“Your bedside manner still needs a little finesse Doc,” he said to her moving up to her desk.
Katherine ignored his comment and looked at Jonah.
“You look a little green,” she said getting up from her seat.
Jonah coughed suddenly.
“It’s nothing, I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” Jonah said looking at Rob.
Katherine walked over to Jonah and put her hand on his chin.
“Look up,” she said flashing a small light in his eyes, “and left.”
Jonah complied reluctantly.
“We hit something hard down there and got some blowback from the bore hole, it got kinda hairy there for a minute but young Jonah here came springing to the rescue,” Rob said taking a seat.
“Is that right? Open your mouth,” said Katherine
Jonah muttered something, which made no sense.
“Ok close it, I’m going to take some blood,” she said taking a hypo out of her jacket and pressing it against Jonah’s neck. The vile filled up and she removed the device.
“This will take a second have a seat Jonah,” she said.
She looked at Rob.
“So, you broke another rig then yeah? Stalland is goanna have your head.”
“Your concern is touching,” Rob said.
Katherine shrugged.
“I’m just saying, you keep breaking things,” she said.
Rob could feel his frustration beginning to build. She knew just how to goad him. He was not entirely sure why she always seemed to be pissed at him. It could possibly have to do with him going over her head and destroying one of her reclamation labs while running a weapons test a few months earlier. It had to be done. There was nowhere on the base with a secure enough containment area where he could test the fusion grenades without blowing them all out of existence. She was still convinced that there was some way they could all communicate with the aliens on the surface. Typical egghead thinking. The exact type of reasoning that would get them all killed.
“Yeah, well if my breaking things keeps us all alive, than that’s the way it’s gonna be Doc, you need me for anything else or can I hit the road?” Rob said tired of her attitude.
Katherine sighed and put the hypo up to his neck.
“Let me take some blood while you’re agitated and make sure you haven’t inhaled anything toxic. Wouldn’t want to lose you cowboy,” she said half smiling.
Rob let her take the sample and turned to leave.
“Eh, shouldn’t I go with you?” asked Jonah.
“Stay here kid, when the Doc clears you, I’ll meet you at core analysis and we’ll check out those readings,” he turned to Katherine, “give me call if you find out I’m dying.”
Katherine mock saluted him. He turned and exited the medical bay and made his way along the corridor back the elevator. He punched in the code for level one and let the doors close.
“Fuck sake,” he whispered to himself.
Thirty seconds later, the doors opened, and Rob stepped off into the main Deep Core control centre. He gripped his hands into a fist and took a breath. This was not going to be pretty. He rarely came to the control centre since they had all been trapped down here. It had become a grim place. The room itself was circular with several rows of computer consoles manned by Deep Core personnel at all times. Large screens were placed high above the room showing various camera feeds from both above ground and deep within the mine itself. It was the cameras showing the activity above the ground that drew most of the attention these days. Rob made it a point not to look up. He had seen the creatures far too often and was not really in the mood to see what they were doing today. He looked up at the second level to where Max Stalland’s office was and sighed. He moved around the perimeter of the control room over to a metal staircase and began to ascend. He looked down and caught the eye of James Wright, and atmospheric environmental specialist who basically lived in the control room. He was a quirky man. Thin, lean, and at six foot three, one of the tallest members of Deep Core. He was a timid man who tended to keep very much to himself. He quickly glanced at Rob and then turned his attention back to his monitor. Rob smiled; it was like school kids watching someone being sent to the principal’s office. He reached the top of the staircase and walked over to the double glass sliding door that led into Stalland’s office. He looked up at the camera that was pointing directly at him and tipped his forehead with his finger. The glass doors slid open and Rob moved inside. There, sitting behind a glass desk, with his potbelly showing profusely through a white shirt that was clearly straining to contain its contents, was Max Stalland. Rob stood at the doorway and waited for instructions. Stalland leaned back in his mesh recliner chair, which towered over his short torso. He always wore a scowl on his large rounded face and seemed to be in a constant state of perspiration. He calmly looked at Rob and raised hands up placing his index fingers together so that they came to a point.
“Sit down Mr. Kirkland,” he said in a raspy voice.
Rob hated it when he called him Mr. Kirkland. He had to restrain himself on more that one occasion from punching his lights out the little condescending prick. Rob took a breath and walked calmly across the carpeted floor to his desk. He swivelled the metal office chair around and took a seat. Stalland looked at him.
“It was my understanding, Mr. Kirkland, that you were instructed not to drill in that location for more then six hours without performing a full core analyses,” Stalland said still holding his fingers to his mouth.
“Your understanding would be correct, Max,” Rob replied purposely breaking with last name protocol bullshit.
“Then you’ve cost us another rig on purpose then?” Stalland replied glaring at him.
“No, the rig hit something and got jammed. It happens when you drill,” replied Rob.
“I see,” Stalland replied, “I obviously know nothing about off world drilling, please enlighten me with your all knowing wisdom about how it works, I wish to educate my ignorant self,” Stalland replied.
Rob felt his pulse quicken and wondered how to get out of this office before he resorted to strangling the little shit.
The post DEEP CORE – PART 3 appeared first on Colin Weldon.
May 24, 2016
DEEP CORE – PART 2
A few minutes later, the elevator came to an abrupt halt. It shook ominously and made a creaking sound that Rob never liked when he was getting off the thing. He had asked Dino to check it on several occasions and he was sure that it was safe, but something always bothered him about the sound. He opened the gate and let Jonah out before stepping off himself into the main crew area of hanger bay eight. The first thing he always noticed when coming out of the main mining area was the smell. The filtered O2 had a different smell to it than the main drilling platforms. It was sweeter somehow, the same odour as the surface of the planet. It was the first thing he had noticed when they had landed a year earlier. The eggheads had said something about a highly charged ionosphere being the cause, although fuck knew what that meant. The hanger bay was alive with activity. Someone was working on a terrain buggy, welding what looked like an upper support to the engine cowling. He could not tell who it was because they were wearing a face mask but by the size of them, it was either Leonard Foster or James Gallico. They were both tall and lanky and both were trying to get that damn buggy to work correctly. He figured it was Foster with the way he was handling the welder. Gallico was a little clumsy with it and had nearly burnt his hands off the previous week while trying to get a sensor array unhooked from one of the upper pylons from the main habitat ring. They began walking across the deck when Rob saw Dino coming towards them. At only five foot nine, he was much smaller than Rob but what he lacked in height he made up for in muscle. His nickname was The Tank and with arms the size of small tree trunks, it was well earned. He was a workhorse and took no crap from anybody. He had thick black hair and large round face. He was a tough New Yorker and knew every inch of the base. He was the only one that Rob had really known before the trip to the planet. They had worked tough jobs together on some of the most unforgiving terrain that man had explored from the cold depths of the moon, to Mars to the highly enriched platinum asteroids in the Kuiper belt. He marched towards the pair with a scowl on his face. Rob turned to Jonah.
“Whatever you do don’t piss him off today Kid, that’s the third drill bit we’ve lost inside of a week,” Rob said looking back at Dino as he walked up to him.
“Seriously?” Dino said with arms wide, “you’re kidding me right? Tell me this is a joke?”
Rob shrugged his shoulders and put his hands in the air.
“Take it easy Tank, this wasn’t my fault, not this time anyway,” Rob said.
“And who’s fault was it?” Dino said looking at Jonah.
“Don’t take it out on the kid either, he save my ass down there. We’d probably both be dead if he hadn’t reacted so quickly and cut the power lines,” Rob said.
Dino rolled his eyes in the back of his head and turned around.
“That’s great kid thanks a bunch. Now we not only have to retrieve ANOTHER downed drill shaft but replace an entire power unit. Stalland is going to have a field day with this,” Dino said.
Jonah coughed suddenly from behind Rob.
“Look Dino, we can talk about it after we’ve seen the doc alright? Don’t worry about the bit; I’ll get it back. The important thing is we’re not dead, your concern is touching by the way, and that power generator was fucked. We both know it so no harm no foul,” Rob said slapping Dino on the shoulder.
Dino frowned and glared at Rob.
“I swear to God, sometimes I could just punch you, you know that?” Dino said.
Rob smiled knowing that while Dino was stocky and did have a hell of a right hook, in an actual brawl they both knew he didn’t really stand a chance, not that he didn’t try, mind you. There was a fearless spirit in Dino that Rob admired.
“You could try my friend,” he said punching him on the arm and walking past him.
“What did you hit anyway?” Dino said shouting after him.
“Probably an Iron Ferrite plate, too soon to be sure, I’ll check the readings when the smoke has cleared,” replied Rob walking towards the rear of the platform and entering another elevator.
“It just one disaster after another on this goddam planet,” Dino shouted at him as the doors to the elevators closed, “Foster, get your ass away from that buggy and get moving on the O2 storage tanks on deck five, Jesus Christ!” he said moving over to Foster.
“I knew it was Foster,” Rob said to himself smiling as the doors sealed shut.
“He seems a little pissed,” said Jonah.
Rob looked at him.
“You think he’s pissed? Wait till Stalland has his turn, I’m giving you a pass on this one kid you’re gonna be in sick bay when the heat comes down from the top,” Rob said.
“Don’t worry about me Rob I can stand my own ground,” Jonah said.
“Sure you can kid, but not today,” Rob said.
“But…” Jonah started to say.
“But nothing, you’ll do what I tell you to do until I’m replaced or dead, you got me?” Rob said frowning at him.
“Got you,” replied Jonah.
The lift sped quickly upwards five levels before coming to an abrupt stop. The doors opened onto a long hallway with blue running lights embedded into the walls. Rob led the way as they got out. They reached the med lab and Rob stopped at the door, taking a breath. There was only one other thing on this base that made him nervous and it was behind this door. He activated it and the pair stepped inside. Doctor Katherine Turnham looked up from her desk and pushed her long brown hair back behind her ears. She folded her arms and raised one of her eyebrows. Even from this distance, Rob could see how striking her green eyes were. His heart quickened and he puled back his lips into a sealed smile tipping his index finger off his forehead in a casual salute. She did not look impressed.
“Well then, what the fuck have you two done now?” she said leaning back in her chair.
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