L.E. Doggett's Blog, page 22

Reasoning behind the events of what we call Easter

I had one post explaining Good Friday and Easter-Resurrection Day-and this one is a message from my pastor on why of Good Friday and what we now call Easter,

 An Easter message, but it is worth a listen to any day. It breaks down each phrase in John 3:16 to explain the Reasoning behind the events of the day most now call Easter.

Bill Chaney uses humor, down to earth illustrations and logic to show what it all means. He is clear in his explanations and examples which is why I say it's worth listening to.

And you can download a sermon outline PDF that you can fill out and keep. 
The link to the podcast is here.
Happy listening 

Getting closer to Learning CurveX2 Vibration World Two

Not sure if I have mentioned this here recently but I am doing a second book to Above My Pay GradeX2  Now most of those who would see this probably haven't read Above but Learning CurveX2 is close to being out.

Coming in two to four months.
The spell check is done-with a bit of a grammar check, the cover has been chosen, hopefully the blurb is done. 

If the blurb is ready to go, I will have the cover artist place it on the cover with the title and I can start using it.

Now I am waiting for the person who said they would edit it for me to contact me. I sent her an E-mail. She had been having computer problems a few weeks ago but it sounded like those may have been fixed. But if not or if something else happened this may take awhile.

Oh, this time around I may pay someone to do the E-book formatting. See if I can get a discount if they do three books. Two earlier ones are having problems.



 For those who don't know Above My Pay GradeX2 is an exciting Urban fantasy book with griffin, ghosts, murderers, an angry mage bent on revenge and more. A fun read for readers and an action packed adventure for the main character NA and her friends. 

A short word about the name of the series "Vibration World":
 Tiny vibrations make up the very smallest building blocks of all matter according to the String Theory. Mages are people who, at various levels of ability, can manipulate these vibrations. NA is one of them. 

Learning CurveX2 update

The spell check is done-with a bit of a grammar check, the cover has been chosen, hopefully the blurb is done.

If the blurb is ready to go I will have the cover artist place it on the cover with the title and I can start using it.

Now I am waiting for the editor to contact me. I sent her an E-mail. She had been having computer problems a few weeks ago but it sounded like those may have been fixed. But if not or if something else happened this may take awhile.

Oh this time around I may pay someone to do the E-book formatting. See if I can get a discount if they do three books. Two earlier ones are having problems,

Teddy Bear In Space Part one

Yeah, as the title implies this one is about a Teddy Bear.

I wrote it some five to eight years ago to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Teddy Bear. I just dusted it off and revised it some and it will be in two parts. This segment is 2,300 words. It gave me a chance to practice some of what I have learned about keeping the reader deep in the story. Still working on that. I hope my books show I am learning that. 
Maybe I could say. I had one and yes I have no memory of what happened to it. According to my memory I had it then I didn't. But  a lot of us know this special friend.


Teddy Bear In Space

By L. E. Doggett


This story was originally written for the 100th anniversary of the Teddy Bear.


It felt good to be hugged, even though she squeezed me a little hard. I didn't mind; for the warmth of the body pressed against mine was fulfilling and it has been a while since I had been squeezed like that. I had been made for all kinds of hugs, and my body had been designed to be squeezed even harder.
While I enjoyed the touch of her body, part of me was sad. She was growing up, and would not need me very much longer. She had hugged me so many times my body fur had smooth spots, even as tough as I was. I had comforted her, and I had kept her from being scared of the dark, as she slept. I don't need sleep, so I could always be there if she woke up from a bad dream. I could still feel the wet spots were she had cried streams of tears on me. I didn't mind the tears, the hard squeezes, or even worse abuse, because it was my job to comfort her. It would all end soon though And that I did mind.

Eleven year old Brittany sat on her bed and hugged her teddy bear. The room the bed was in had light yellow paint on the walls, with a standard single bed and a small yellow dresser. There were posters of various cartoon characters on the wall, including a mouse wearing red overalls. There were two posters that still shone with the brightness of being new. One of a popular pop singer on stage, the other showed a teen male movie star riding a horse among a group of riderless horses.
She sniffed, smelled the fake fur and sweat soaked of the teddy bear. At times the odor was so strong this close, that she thought she could taste it.
Brittany glanced around: the dresser had two music boxes on it as well as a flat mirror standing above it. There was a set of book shelves in one corner with favorite childhood books, including Dr Seuss and books about her favorite animated movies. There was a world map book and newer youth oriented adventure novels. In a new spot was two sports books, both looking well read. One dealt with how to play better soccer, and the other was how to improve her softball game.
She spoke, "I'm sorry for not hugging you more, but I have been busy with school and sports and my friends..."
Just then her dad walked in to her bedroom, he looked at the girl marveling at the ruddy glint of her shoulder length hair as well as her large eyes, so very much like her mother's. He thought that even though tall she was still a little chubby, but that would change with her new sport activities. The bear she was holding was mostly black with a large white stripe down its back and front - he remembered how he had kidded her, when she first had gotten the bear, by saying that she should call him "Skunk”. She had refused. He watched her hug the teddy whose fur had a tendency to blend in with her dark skin and thought that even though she was growing fast she obviously was still his little girl in so many ways. He thought, for the thousandth time, that her dark skin was as attractive on her as it was on her mother, whom she had obviously gotten it from. As he looked at her, he was again reminded that she would not only be outgrowing her mother, but him also.
He spoke, "We’ve gotten approval to take you on our business trip.”
She looked up suddenly, in surprise, put down her teddy bear and jumped up. She smiled and clapped her hands twice.
"Goody, I didn't want to stay here while you, and mother were gone for months.”
"We don't want to be separated from you for that long, either,” he said with a smile, "But you will have to pack carefully: you will have only so much weight you can take and only so much room. Your cabin on board the space ship will be smaller then your bedroom. You won't be able to take your dresser and even though the trip may take a year, you can take only some books, half of your clothes and a couple of your posters.”
"But I need to take Teddy.”
"I thought you would say that. Since we can take only so much weight, something else will have to stay.”
She glanced at her dresser, ran her hand over the smooth faded paint, and said, "Maybe I can leave one of my music boxes.”
"You may not be able to take both anyway.”
"I wish I could take my dresser, I like it.”
"There would not be enough room in your cabin for the dresser, a bed and you. You won't need it anyway since as I said you can only take half of your clothes.”
"I understand, Daddy, I was just wishing.”
"I wish, I could take some more stuff too, but at least I can take my favorite thing.”
She looked up, smiled and asked, "Me?”
"Yes, you're my favorite thing in the whole world.”
"You've said that my whole life.”
"It's been true your whole life. Now though I need to go
make more arraignments. You have two weeks to decide what to take, and what stays behind to wait for you.”
After a quick hug he left the room. She went back to hugging her teddy bear.
She said, "I will take you even if I had to leave all my other possessions behind. I haven't spent time with you for days, but leaving you behind for over a year would be too long.”

"It feels good to be hugged again. I am glad she is taking me along. It wouldn't be enjoyable to just to sit on her bed, leaning against her pillows for that long. I have been doing that for the past few days. I was not designed to be a decoration, or a knick knack, and more importantly when she will need me wherever she's going.”

The two weeks past quickly-too quickly for at the end of
them, Brittany still hadn't completely decided on what stuff to take and what to leave. She had decided on some of her clothes and other possessions, but not all of them. She had to make the decision now, and she did, as she packed.
Two days later hers, and her parents’ suitcases where loaded onto a shuttle. On the way to the ship, she could smell the burnt fuel in the air. It wasn’t good, but it would be only for a few seconds, she thought.
A minute later, Brittany, holding Teddy, and her parents boarded, and found their seats. The seats were made of something almost like leather, very soft yet firm so when they would be pressed backwards into the seats by the huge acceleration later.
The passengers could carry small hand luggage which was secured, but they also could carry hand items, such as small purses, cameras-and teddy bears. The family had to wait a few minutes while every one else was seated and strapped in. In the cabin she could smell various colognes and perfumes, she thought about putting her nose in Teddy to help block the other odors. He would probably like that.
Once settled they are would have their choice of a snack: baked seaweed, Kale chips, sweet potato chips, crackers and cheese, a chocolate-granola bar. She thought her mom would choose for her but sometimes she allowed Brittany to decide.
Once all the passengers were secure, Brittany felt the vibrations which meant the pilot had started the engines. She looked out her window at the two beta-turbine engines, under the wing, on her side start to glow red. Her dad had explained that the beta-turbine engines were for take off and the first part of the flight, which would be much like the flight of a passenger jet. Two minutes after take off, after reaching the right height, the shuttle pilot would engage the big gravity-breaking engines. These three engines with their huge exhaust ports, sat in the rear of the craft.
As he dad helped her with her seat belt he asked, “Are you nervous Brittany?”
Brittany said, “A little. I know what the first part of the flight will be like since I’ve flown before, but this is the first time I’ve been off the earth.”
“I know how you feel,” her mother said, “I’m a little nervous too.”
“It will be like a regular flight, its just that we will go higher.”
“I know,” her mother and Brittany said at the same time.
Brittany still felt some nervousness, which was one reason she had insisted that she carry her teddy bear (a second, just as important reason was to make sure he didn’t get lost!). She knew she was going to be seated by a window which was ok with her. She wanted to look out as they broke into orbit, but she wanted her bear to hold onto in case she got scared. She had seen recordings of shuttles going into orbit but this would be real.
The take off and the flight into orbit went well. The first part was what she had experienced on regular flights; she didn’t even need to held Teddy for that part. However the sudden acceleration, as the big engines fired, was rougher then her dad had suggested. It felt like she was being pressed very hard for a few seconds. She hoped Teddy’s insides would stay there. Once done she was fine and enjoyed the rest of the trip.
Brittany tried to look out the window but it had darkened which made it hard to make out exactly when they crossed into space. At least though they had her favorite soda: she liked the fact that it had been “born” the same year she had been and that it had carbonated bits in it instead of the whole thing being carbonated.
Once in orbit, it took the shuttle almost half an hour to reach the ship they would be traveling on. The Starduster was a large tube shaped vessel, with blisters of various sizes along its sides. Some of the blisters were transparent and were either observation loungers, or restaurants. There was one bar, with a dance floor, she had had heard about. She doubted she would allowed in to see the dance floor though.
The shuttle was too small for artificial gravity, so most of the passengers stayed buckled though out the flight. Some
moved about to see better, or to use the bathroom (which did have a small amount of artificial gravity to make things easier for those not used to null-gravity facilities). Once they were within sight of the liner, it took them another ten minutes to move in close enough to dock.
As the shuttle reached a certain distance from the larger ship it stopped and two tubes glided out from the passenger
ship to it-to Brittany they looked like two giant snakes slithering toward the orbital. One connected to a special airlock in the belly of the shuttle. The, second smaller, one connected to the top of the craft just behind the pilot compartment. After one of the stewards made sure the connection was sure, he opened the airlock. The passengers started to float up to the opening one at a time. When it came to Brittany's turn, she made sure she carefully grasped Teddy to make sure she didn't drop him. This part of the trip made her even more nervous, There was nothing between her and space besides the thing, flexible tube. It looked too thin for this.

She had been holding me tightly though most of the launch and now she hugged me even tighter. I liked that. I comforted her and made sure she was brave during the flight, and now this hug felt good. During the trip I faced the same window she had looked out, but the view didn't interest me much. I was doing the job I was made for, and that is what counted.

Once in the tube, Brittany found steps she could climb up on until the tube leveled off and she could walk normally-as normal as one could without gravity. Held holds had been built into the sides of the tube for passengers to hold onto as they pulled themselves along. Her parents had coached her on how to “walk” in the tube, and had her practice during the two weeks she had been deciding on what to take.
The tube smelled of cleaner and plastic metal as well as people. She found it easier then expected since the tube had been designed for passengers who had very little experience in zero G. Some of the more experienced passengers zipped through it while others stumbled along. One let go too soon and ended up floating to the top, which was only about two feet above their head. An employee of the ship zipped over and helped the gentleman back down. After she boarded the larger ship she found the gravity gradually increased as she went though a special airlock. She easily found her parents, her dad gave her carry on bag (he had carried it since he had more experience going though the boarding tube). After telling her how good a job she had done they found their cabins. As expected hers was right next to theirs, and it had a door that lead to theirs.

end

Teddy Bear In Space part 1

Yeah, as the title implies this one is about a Teddy Bear.

I wrote some five to eight years ago to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Teddy Bear.

I revised it some and it will be in two parts this one is 2,300 words. Gave me a chance to practice some of what I have learned about keeping the reader deep in the story. Still working on that.


Teddy Bear In Space

By L. E. Doggett


This story was originally written for the 100th anniversary of the Teddy Bear.


It felt good to be hugged, even though she squeezed me a little hard. I didn't mind; for the warmth of the body pressed against mine was fulfilling and it has been a while since I had been squeezed like that. I had been made for all kinds of hugs, and my body had been designed to be squeezed even harder.
While I enjoyed the touch of her body, part of me was sad. She was growing up, and would not need me very much longer. She had hugged me so many times my body fur had smooth spots, even as tough as I was. I had comforted her, and I had kept her from being scared of the dark, as she slept. I don't need sleep, so I could always be there if she woke up from a bad dream. I could still feel the wet spots were she had cried streams of tears on me. I didn't mind the tears, the hard squeezes, or even worse abuse, because it was my job to comfort her. It would all end soon though And that I did mind.

Eleven year old Brittany sat on her bed and hugged her teddy bear. The room the bed was in had light yellow paint on the walls, with a standard single bed and a small yellow dresser. There were posters of various cartoon characters on the wall, including a mouse wearing red overalls. There were two posters that still shone with the brightness of being new. One of a popular pop singer on stage, the other showed a teen male movie star riding a horse among a group of riderless horses.
She sniffed, smelled the fake fur and sweat soaked of the teddy bear. At times the odor was so strong this close, that she thought she could taste it.
Brittany glanced around: the dresser had two music boxes on it as well as a flat mirror standing above it. There was a set of book shelves in one corner with favorite childhood books, including Dr Seuss and books about her favorite animated movies. There was a world map book and newer youth oriented adventure novels. In a new spot was two sports books, both looking well read. One dealt with how to play better soccer, and the other was how to improve her softball game.
She spoke, "I'm sorry for not hugging you more, but I have been busy with school and sports and my friends..."
Just then her dad walked in to her bedroom, he looked at the girl marveling at the ruddy glint of her shoulder length hair as well as her large eyes, so very much like her mother's. He thought that even though tall she was still a little chubby, but that would change with her new sport activities. The bear she was holding was mostly black with a large white stripe down its back and front - he remembered how he had kidded her, when she first had gotten the bear, by saying that she should call him "Skunk”. She had refused. He watched her hug the teddy whose fur had a tendency to blend in with her dark skin and thought that even though she was growing fast she obviously was still his little girl in so many ways. He thought, for the thousandth time, that her dark skin was as attractive on her as it was on her mother, whom she had obviously gotten it from. As he looked at her, he was again reminded that she would not only be outgrowing her mother, but him also.
He spoke, "We’ve gotten approval to take you on our business trip.”
She looked up suddenly, in surprise, put down her teddy bear and jumped up. She smiled and clapped her hands twice.
"Goody, I didn't want to stay here while you, and mother were gone for months.”
"We don't want to be separated from you for that long, either,” he said with a smile, "But you will have to pack carefully: you will have only so much weight you can take and only so much room. Your cabin on board the space ship will be smaller then your bedroom. You won't be able to take your dresser and even though the trip may take a year, you can take only some books, half of your clothes and a couple of your posters.”
"But I need to take Teddy.”
"I thought you would say that. Since we can take only so much weight, something else will have to stay.”
She glanced at her dresser, ran her hand over the smooth faded paint, and said, "Maybe I can leave one of my music boxes.”
"You may not be able to take both anyway.”
"I wish I could take my dresser, I like it.”
"There would not be enough room in your cabin for the dresser, a bed and you. You won't need it anyway since as I said you can only take half of your clothes.”
"I understand, Daddy, I was just wishing.”
"I wish, I could take some more stuff too, but at least I can take my favorite thing.”
She looked up, smiled and asked, "Me?”
"Yes, you're my favorite thing in the whole world.”
"You've said that my whole life.”
"It's been true your whole life. Now though I need to go
make more arraignments. You have two weeks to decide what to take, and what stays behind to wait for you.”
After a quick hug he left the room. She went back to hugging her teddy bear.
She said, "I will take you even if I had to leave all my other possessions behind. I haven't spent time with you for days, but leaving you behind for over a year would be too long.”

"It feels good to be hugged again. I am glad she is taking me along. It wouldn't be enjoyable to just to sit on her bed, leaning against her pillows for that long. I have been doing that for the past few days. I was not designed to be a decoration, or a knick knack, and more importantly when she will need me wherever she's going.”

The two weeks past quickly-too quickly for at the end of
them, Brittany still hadn't completely decided on what stuff to take and what to leave. She had decided on some of her clothes and other possessions, but not all of them. She had to make the decision now, and she did, as she packed.
Two days later hers, and her parents’ suitcases where loaded onto a shuttle. On the way to the ship, she could smell the burnt fuel in the air. It wasn’t good, but it would be only for a few seconds, she thought.
A minute later, Brittany, holding Teddy, and her parents boarded, and found their seats. The seats were made of something almost like leather, very soft yet firm so when they would be pressed backwards into the seats by the huge acceleration later.
The passengers could carry small hand luggage which was secured, but they also could carry hand items, such as small purses, cameras-and teddy bears. The family had to wait a few minutes while every one else was seated and strapped in. In the cabin she could smell various colognes and perfumes, she thought about putting her nose in Teddy to help block the other odors. He would probably like that.
Once settled they are would have their choice of a snack: baked seaweed, Kale chips, sweet potato chips, crackers and cheese, a chocolate-granola bar. She thought her mom would choose for her but sometimes she allowed Brittany to decide.
Once all the passengers were secure, Brittany felt the vibrations which meant the pilot had started the engines. She looked out her window at the two beta-turbine engines, under the wing, on her side start to glow red. Her dad had explained that the beta-turbine engines were for take off and the first part of the flight, which would be much like the flight of a passenger jet. Two minutes after take off, after reaching the right height, the shuttle pilot would engage the big gravity-breaking engines. These three engines with their huge exhaust ports, sat in the rear of the craft.
As he dad helped her with her seat belt he asked, “Are you nervous Brittany?”
Brittany said, “A little. I know what the first part of the flight will be like since I’ve flown before, but this is the first time I’ve been off the earth.”
“I know how you feel,” her mother said, “I’m a little nervous too.”
“It will be like a regular flight, its just that we will go higher.”
“I know,” her mother and Brittany said at the same time.
Brittany still felt some nervousness, which was one reason she had insisted that she carry her teddy bear (a second, just as important reason was to make sure he didn’t get lost!). She knew she was going to be seated by a window which was ok with her. She wanted to look out as they broke into orbit, but she wanted her bear to hold onto in case she got scared. She had seen recordings of shuttles going into orbit but this would be real.
The take off and the flight into orbit went well. The first part was what she had experienced on regular flights; she didn’t even need to held Teddy for that part. However the sudden acceleration, as the big engines fired, was rougher then her dad had suggested. It felt like she was being pressed very hard for a few seconds. She hoped Teddy’s insides would stay there. Once done she was fine and enjoyed the rest of the trip.
Brittany tried to look out the window but it had darkened which made it hard to make out exactly when they crossed into space. At least though they had her favorite soda: she liked the fact that it had been “born” the same year she had been and that it had carbonated bits in it instead of the whole thing being carbonated.
Once in orbit, it took the shuttle almost half an hour to reach the ship they would be traveling on. The Starduster was a large tube shaped vessel, with blisters of various sizes along its sides. Some of the blisters were transparent and were either observation loungers, or restaurants. There was one bar, with a dance floor, she had had heard about. She doubted she would allowed in to see the dance floor though.
The shuttle was too small for artificial gravity, so most of the passengers stayed buckled though out the flight. Some
moved about to see better, or to use the bathroom (which did have a small amount of artificial gravity to make things easier for those not used to null-gravity facilities). Once they were within sight of the liner, it took them another ten minutes to move in close enough to dock.
As the shuttle reached a certain distance from the larger ship it stopped and two tubes glided out from the passenger
ship to it-to Brittany they looked like two giant snakes slithering toward the orbital. One connected to a special airlock in the belly of the shuttle. The, second smaller, one connected to the top of the craft just behind the pilot compartment. After one of the stewards made sure the connection was sure, he opened the airlock. The passengers started to float up to the opening one at a time. When it came to Brittany's turn, she made sure she carefully grasped Teddy to make sure she didn't drop him. This part of the trip made her even more nervous, There was nothing between her and space besides the thing, flexible tube. It looked too thin for this.

She had been holding me tightly though most of the launch and now she hugged me even tighter. I liked that. I comforted her and made sure she was brave during the flight, and now this hug felt good. During the trip I faced the same window she had looked out, but the view didn't interest me much. I was doing the job I was made for, and that is what counted.

Once in the tube, Brittany found steps she could climb up on until the tube leveled off and she could walk normally-as normal as one could without gravity. Held holds had been built into the sides of the tube for passengers to hold onto as they pulled themselves along. Her parents had coached her on how to “walk” in the tube, and had her practice during the two weeks she had been deciding on what to take.
The tube smelled of cleaner and plastic metal as well as people. She found it easier then expected since the tube had been designed for passengers who had very little experience in zero G. Some of the more experienced passengers zipped through it while others stumbled along. One let go too soon and ended up floating to the top, which was only about two feet above their head. An employee of the ship zipped over and helped the gentleman back down. After she boarded the larger ship she found the gravity gradually increased as she went though a special airlock. She easily found her parents, her dad gave her carry on bag (he had carried it since he had more experience going though the boarding tube). After telling her how good a job she had done they found their cabins. As expected hers was right next to theirs, and it had a door that lead to theirs.

end

Blurbs

working on the blurb for Learning Curve.

I am up to the third version: shorter with less plot points. Just the basics of what the story is about.


Been working on two other novels too.

I want to revise and add to my NANO novel of '15 but still working on too many other things. No on else has looked at it but I think it's my best so far even at somewhere around 52,000 words.

But I better get that blurb right. I need it for the cover of learning curve. The cover is ready it just needs that blurb for the back of the paper version. And I can start using it for the pre publishing ads.

More on Learning CurveX2

I have spell checked two more chapters. Added a couple of small scenes with cookies.

Tried a second blurb

I was told the first one sounded too much like a TV spot for a movie.

Second one may have too much in it, even though basically maybe okay.

Another update on Learning Curve

I had to go back to Above My Pay GradeX2 to find the name of a person. Couldn't find my list of names for that first novel. (Rolls eyes)

Anyway probably a good thing I did. In Above I had NA the hero, eating coolies every now an then. But nothing along those lines in Learning, Yikes. So now I am putting in cookies.

Short story serial: Science Fiction Tale Last

Not many people here are reading this but here is part four-the last segment of Roller Coaster Ride.


Fun stuff for readers.


Okay, March 26

2,751 words. Next week might be another story revised like this one was. I have two or four others I would like to share. But I also have excerpts from a new book or two. Did they escape? Get blasted or their cargo taken? And what were those pirates after?

Great readers' fun. :)


No way to move the Ant out of the way, Mantiee felt useless and almost dead. A movement, he glanced at Jonathan. He motioned with his hands above his control panel. Mantiee couldn’t see the image he was adjusting-a recording of his last will and testament going out with a last love letter to his wife?
No, a slight noise from outside on the hull. Jonathan must have quickly adjusted the other turret and triggered a very short shot. Two beams short term beams shot out. Both hit the bubble, it popped and the explosion inside triggered. Jonathan fired another shot at another bubble with the same result. Next he grabbed the tractor beam controls and used its beam to grab another bubble on its way to them. He brought it closer then up and over them. It hit the wall right above them exploding.
As pieces of armor rained down on them Mantiee first let out a breath-told his heart to calm and said, ”What are you doing?”
“I am trying to use them to knock us loose.”
“By careful man those things are powerful.”
“I am. I want to make it home. It wouldn’t be good if my wife killed you because we didn’t make it back.”
Mantiee looked at him and just said, “Good.”
Jonathan asked, “What happened to the shark?”
After a quick check Mantiee said, “Two of the bubbles in that group you sent their way hit them. They blasted two others before they pivoted around and took off around the corner with the left overs and two new ones chasing them.”
“Good, now rock this baby and lets get loose before any more show up.”
Mantiee said, “Sounds good to me,“ pressed his hands into the image before him. The Ant began to rock up and down.
The drives started to over heat after a few second so he cut back.
Jonathan said, “Try reversing course but keep it as level as you can and slow at first.”
After a thirty-second cool down he did just that. He tried that is. He slowly brought up the drives to half power but no movement.
Jonathan said, “Try again. Line us up at the same angle we came in on. Go slow again and keep it level.”
Mantiee said, “I’m trying to.”
After another try and failure he angled the ship slightly and tried once more. The cockpit was becoming warm or so it seemed to him. Maybe the environmental controls had been damaged. No time to check. With the drives back on it had all the power it needed.
Despite his thoughts he kept a rock steady hand on the controls. This time with a screech of metal the runabout moved backwards. Mantiee managed to back it up while keeping his eye on the level readout on his control panel. It usually didn’t matter that much if he kept the little ship on a completely level course or not but now he was sweating as he kept barely touching four different touch points.
He shook his head, hoped the head’s controls stayed up. He needed to pee again and he would need a long hot shower when this was done. Not to mention an extra hot wash for the clothes he wore.
He watched the level. A green line on top of a red one showed the Ant’s relationship to the crack it had gotten jammed in. When a tiny bit of red showed he gave the 3-D image the tiniest of touches. Finally the runabout’s wing arrived in the wider part of the crack, probably the section it had slipped into while he had been paying attention to something else. He stared at that crack for a long moment. Space armor didn’t split like that. Dent maybe but not that. He wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of whatever weapon did that. Not even that shark could handle it.
He noticed Jonathan get up. His turn to use the head? Getting a snake? No time to think on it, he wiped sweat from his eyes.
Five-seconds more and he stopped the backward movement of the Ant. He let loose a breath and breathed in deep three times. A moment later he slid the craft sideways until the wing was all the way out. He sighed, wanted to faint.
His friend clipped him on the shoulder and said, “Very good, that's almost as good as I could have done. Now lets get out of here.”
That almost startled Mantiee for he hadn’t noticed that Jonathan had come back. Something tapped the front of his right shoulder. He reached up and felt cold. What? A bottle? He looked at the container he now held. Frizzy water: cold. It contained electrolytes and other good stuff. It tasted just a bit like limes. Before he knew he had moved his other hand he had the top twisted off and drank a third of it. Ohhh that was good.
Jonathan said, “Lets go.”
Mantiee nodded raised the Ant above the large piece they had been stuck in. Just as they cleared the wreckage Mantiee saw something ahead, stared-his lips narrowed, then suddenly he sent the ship down nose first.
Jonathan said, “What? More bubbles?”
 “No, a missile orienting on us,” came the tense answer.
“A missile? One of those round globe shape ones? I haven’t seen one of those.”
“No, a long straight human type.”
“What? How would one of those survive? If it was launched it would go for some target even if it couldn’t find its main target.”
“I don’t know,” Mantiee said as he steered the craft up followed by a very short hop over a round fat huge canister piece of debris. He dropped down then zipped under a patrol ship with a shuttle design. It was listing to one side so they could see a series of holes blasted along it side. Five, all of which were the same size and the same distance apart. Each hole was just a bit wider then the runabout. He drove the ship up and up way past the patrol craft.
He dived the runabout again and said, “Maybe that missile was knocked out of its tube before it could be launched but after it had been armed. Whatever it’s coming closer fast and I cannot shake it.”
Jonathan said, “Up again and when I say now go back the way we came,“ as he fired the grassers at the missile.
He fired two sets of double short duration beams every couple of seconds. They all missed. It was one smart missile. The missile either moved up and down to avoid the shots or ignored them as they missed on their own. Many hit pieces of debris, sometimes with spectacular results. Mantiee directed the runabout along the underside of a big ship, probably a cruiser, then up as Jonathan had said. Instead of going straight up he steered them on a curving course going to port as well as up.
Finally his partner said now and he flipped the ship over on its back and zoomed back the way they had come. Seconds later the missile crested the piece the had just come over and followed them. Jonathan watched his sensors and directed Mantiee to go to port then starboard. They went though the top potion of that debris field made up of many small pieces of many different ships. Tiny bits sparkled on the Ant’s shields. The missile, however, avoided every piece. Three bubbles started after it but the runabout and missile were going too fast. It would catch them before they would catch it.
Finally Jonathan said to go over this upcoming fragment then down. Mantiee did that with the missile in hot pursuit and closing fast. He thought this ship looked familiar but thought it must be a second one. Seconds later though he saw he had been right. It was the ship with that long crack in it for there flew the second spinner they had fought. It now had its drives going. Jonathan said to aim straight at them. When he glanced at his sensor screen he added something about emergency power.
Mantiee said, “That would use the power for the air and heat.”
Jonathan said, “It will but if we don’t do something we won’t be needing the environmental circuits.”
Mantiee frowned, nodded, switched to emergency power. Jonathan meanwhile had been adjusting his controls so he added power from the rear shields, the grassers and comm to the drives. This amount of power could burn out the drives real fast but they would only need it for a few seconds. He fired the front weapons at the spinner as suddenly their craft acted like it had been kicked and doubled its speed. They zoomed toward the other ship aiming at its center. The ship reacted and fired at it but the shots that hit were absorbed by the shields. Jonathan kept up his firing and soon Mantiee executed a very fast zig to port going around the round ship. It continued to fire. Probably its gunner thought they had been on a suicide run therefore was slow on the uptake that they were no longer in front of it. The Ant continued on along the side of the spinner, then Mantiee zagged back to the center Jonathan said to cut emergency speed as he quickly reestablished the rear shields. Seconds later there was an explosion on the other side of the spinner. The blast easily overwhelmed what was left of that ship’s shields then began to eat into the ship itself. It vaporized much of the front of the spinner while sending small pieces tumbling away. Some of the pieces went flying after the runabout impacting on its rear shields. None were large and none did any damage.
Mantiee said, “Whew, scratch one missile and one pirate.”
Jonathan said, “That missile’s computer most have been damaged. Since it targeted on us I was hoping it would also consider the spinner an appropriate target.”
“It did and good thing it did. That thing was fast but as you said earlier lets get out of here.”
 “Sounds good to me. Go up I think I know of a way out.”
“Good but what about the shark?”
“I saw some explosions on the sensors in the same direction
it ran. Hopefully it has been taken care of, but we will keep a
sharp eye out for it.”
Mantiee nodded and followed Jonathan’s directions and soon they were skimming along the top of the manmade debris field. After just a minute Jonathan told him to go higher, to pivot the runabout in a certain direction and to slow. Mantiee did that and soon they were watching three ships headed away from the field. One had the unmistakable shape of the shark. On the side they could see it had two holes in it. One was about midships on the shark and the other was back toward the stern. That one was significantly bigger then the other and had very jagged edges. The small warship was leaking air from that hole. It was not traveling at full speed either. The two other ships were spinners. One was untouched as far as they could see but the other one had smaller holes toward the front and a gash along one side. It was the one they had originally hit which had gone spinning away. By the looks of it had hit something probably a jagged piece of some blasted ship. It might have been leaking air also but it was too far away to tell for sure.
Mantiee made the runabout execute a smart looking about face and before it zoomed away at its top speed. Six hours later they were at the outpost and had unloaded their cargo. The outpost was a small station near an area of space not populated or even traveled though much. Miners and other such worked in the area. Just the perfect location to delivery cargo no one should know about. Hopefully there were no pirates there.
The two important items were now in the appropriate hands. Jonathan had warned about the pirates and were told they would watch for them.
They both now walked back to their landing bay with money and credit chips in their pockets. Stores and cafes brought people from all around the station but it wasn’t wall to wall people yet. The smells made Mantiee remember that he hadn’t eaten for a while. They stopped for three different types of meat on a stick and cold water. They had changed and bathed already so Mantiee, and anyone else, only smelled the food. He had placed the bottle in a pocket and it froze his thigh but he could take it for the walk back to the Ant.
After a few bites Mantiee said, “I think I know how those bubbles were able to move.”
He watched Jonathan raise his eyebrows and say, “Oh?”
“Yes, as you discovered they oriented on our drives. I believe that the Zoonu now include something in the make up of the bubbles so that they would be attracted to a certain radiation. The type drives produced. Much like a magnate is attracted to metal.”
Jonathan started to say something but Mantiee raised his hand and said, “Yes, I know steel is attracted to it but if you were to let a small magnate loose and brought a heavy piece of metal to it the magnate would move not the metal. Same thing with those new bubbles.”
“So the faster you go running away the faster they would move after you?”
Mantiee nodded and Jonathan continued, “And the bigger the drive unit the more they would be attracted to you.”
Mantiee nodded and said, “Makes sense to me.”
Jonathan said, “Hmmm, and do you know which cargo the pirates were after?”
 “I think so,” came the response, “They probably were after something we didn’t have.”
“Oh?” came Jonathan’s surprised response.
“Yes, just before we left the Beta dram station some of the people we had drinks with were hauling a Thrumer treasure chest.”
“One never knows for sure what is in those chests but the Techno terrorists like them.”
“Exactly, back when they were terrorists before they became the guardians of that double system, they had some good finds with a couple of treasure chests. Now they go after each one they can.”
Jonathan said, “That would explain what they were doing
around these parts. They most have caught wind of the find,” he
shook his head then continued, “All of that destruction and lose of lives for something we didn’t even have.”
They walked further and two minutes later Mantiee spoke again.
He said, “Hey, if you want to increase the speed on that runabout of yours I know where you can get a couple of Jaguar drives.”
“Those things are expensive and hard to come by. They would be fast though.”
“I know where you can get some for free. I know someone who knows where a jaguar crashed. Its on a planet that is difficult to get to. All he wants is the star navigation computer and some info in its main terminal. I saw a picture of it. At least two of the auxiliary drives survived the crash. They should be about the right size for your little ship.”
“He would be willing to give those up?”
 “He doesn’t have much money so they would be your payment.”
 “I would have to rework the power converter and maybe put in a better power source but those drives could also up the shield power and…”
Mantiee smiled because he knew his friend and knew he would go for it. He also smiled for he had learned that he was a better pilot than he had thought, with a little help from Jonathan he had saved their butts. That made this trip worth it but he would still keep his share.
He continued, “After we go home to pick up your freighter of course. We can back track though that battle field, I still want that power converter cylinder. Your tractor beam should be able to handle it.”
 They went on arguing about the dangers and benefits of going back into that armed debris field, all the way back to their runabout.
THE END

Short story serial-Science Fiction tale Fourth and last segment

 March 26 

Last segment of the Roller Coaster Ride. 2,751 words. Next week might be another story revised like this one was. I have two or four others I would like to share. But I also have excerpts from a new book or two.  


To this story:
Did they escape? Get blasted or their cargo taken? And what were those pirates after?

Great readers' fun.  :)


No way to move the Ant out of the way, Mantiee felt useless and almost dead. A movement, he glanced at Jonathan. He motioned with his hands above his control panel. Mantiee couldn’t see the image he was adjusting-a recording of his last will and testament going out with a last love letter to his wife? 
    No, a slight noise from outside on the hull. Jonathan must have quickly adjusted the other turret and triggered a very short shot. Two beams short term beams shot out. Both hit the bubble, it popped and the explosion inside triggered. Jonathan fired another shot at another bubble with the same result. Next he grabbed the tractor beam controls and used its beam to grab another bubble on its way to them. He brought it closer then up and over them. It hit the wall right above them exploding. 
      As pieces of armor rained down on them Mantiee first let out a breath-told his heart to calm and said, ”What are you doing?”
      “I am trying to use them to knock us loose.”
      “By careful man those things are powerful.”
      “I am. I want to make it home. It wouldn’t be good if my wife killed you because we didn’t make it back.”
      Mantiee looked at him and just said, “Good.”
      Jonathan asked, “What happened to the shark?”
     After a quick check Mantiee said, “Two of the bubbles in that group you sent their way hit them. They blasted two others before they pivoted around and took off around the corner with the left overs and two new ones chasing them.”
     “Good, now rock this baby and lets get loose before any more show up.”
     Mantiee said, “Sounds good to me,“ pressed his hands into the image before him. The Ant began to rock up and down. 
     The drives started to over heat after a few second so he cut back.
     Jonathan said, “Try reversing course but keep it as level as you can and slow at first.”
     After a thirty-second cool down he did just that. He tried that is. He slowly brought up the drives to half power but no movement. 
     Jonathan said, “Try again. Line us up at the same angle we came in on. Go slow again and keep it level.”
     Mantiee said, “I’m trying to.”
     After another try and failure he angled the ship slightly and tried once more. The cockpit was becoming warm or so it seemed to him. Maybe the environmental controls had been damaged. No time to check. With the drives back on it had all the power it needed.
    Despite his thoughts he kept a rock steady hand on the controls. This time with a screech of metal the runabout moved backwards. Mantiee managed to back it up while keeping his eye on the level readout on his control panel. It usually didn’t matter that much if he kept the little ship on a completely level course or not but now he was sweating as he kept barely touching four different touch points. 
    He shook his head, hoped the head’s controls stayed up. He needed to pee again and he would need a long hot shower when this was done. Not to mention an extra hot wash for the clothes he wore.
    He watched the level. A green line on top of a red one showed the Ant’s relationship to the crack it had gotten jammed in. When a tiny bit of red showed he gave the 3-D image the tiniest of touches. Finally the runabout’s wing arrived in the wider part of the crack, probably the section it had slipped into while he had been paying attention to something else. He stared at that crack for a long moment. Space armor didn’t split like that. Dent maybe but not that. He wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of whatever weapon did that. Not even that shark could handle it.
    He noticed Jonathan get up. His turn to use the head? Getting a snake? No time to think on it, he wiped sweat from his eyes.
    Five-seconds more and he stopped the backward movement of the Ant. He let loose a breath and breathed in deep three times. A moment later he slid the craft sideways until the wing was all the way out. He sighed, wanted to faint. 
    His friend clipped him on the shoulder and said, “Very good, that's almost as good as I could have done. Now lets get out of here.”
    That almost startled Mantiee for he hadn’t noticed that Jonathan had come back. Something tapped the front of his right shoulder. He reached up and felt cold. What? A bottle? He looked at the container he now held. Frizzy water: cold. It contained electrolytes and other good stuff. It tasted just a bit like limes. Before he knew he had moved his other hand he had the top twisted off and drank a third of it. Ohhh that was good.
   Jonathan said, “Lets go.”
     Mantiee nodded raised the Ant above the large piece they had been stuck in. Just as they cleared the wreckage Mantiee saw something ahead, stared-his lips narrowed, then suddenly he sent the ship down nose first.
     Jonathan said, “What? More bubbles?”
    “No, a missile orienting on us,” came the tense answer.
    “A missile? One of those round globe shape ones? I haven’t seen one of those.”
    “No, a long straight human type.”
    “What? How would one of those survive? If it was launched it would go for some target even if it couldn’t find its main target.”
     “I don’t know,” Mantiee said as he steered the craft up followed by a very short hop over a round fat huge canister piece of debris. He dropped down then zipped under a patrol ship with a shuttle design. It was listing to one side so they could see a series of holes blasted along it side. Five, all of which were the same size and the same distance apart. Each hole was just a bit wider then the runabout. He drove the ship up and up way past the patrol craft. 
     He dived the runabout again and said, “Maybe that missile was knocked out of its tube before it could be launched but after it had been armed. Whatever it’s coming closer fast and I cannot shake it.”
     Jonathan said, “Up again and when I say now go back the way we came,“ as he fired the grassers at the missile.
     He fired two sets of double short duration beams every couple of seconds. They all missed. It was one smart missile. The missile either moved up and down to avoid the shots or ignored them as they missed on their own. Many hit pieces of debris, sometimes with spectacular results. Mantiee directed the runabout along the underside of a big ship, probably a cruiser, then up as Jonathan had said. Instead of going straight up he steered them on a curving course going to port as well as up. 
     Finally his partner said now and he flipped the ship over on its back and zoomed back the way they had come. Seconds later the missile crested the piece the had just come over and followed them. Jonathan watched his sensors and directed Mantiee to go to port then starboard. They went though the top potion of that debris field made up of many small pieces of many different ships. Tiny bits sparkled on the Ant’s shields. The missile, however, avoided every piece. Three bubbles started after it but the runabout and missile were going too fast. It would catch them before they would catch it. 
     Finally Jonathan said to go over this upcoming fragment then down. Mantiee did that with the missile in hot pursuit and closing fast. He thought this ship looked familiar but thought it must be a second one. Seconds later though he saw he had been right. It was the ship with that long crack in it for there flew the second spinner they had fought. It now had its drives going. Jonathan said to aim straight at them. When he glanced at his sensor screen he added something about emergency power. 
    Mantiee said, “That would use the power for the air and heat.” 
    Jonathan said, “It will but if we don’t do something we won’t be needing the environmental circuits.”
     Mantiee frowned, nodded, switched to emergency power. Jonathan meanwhile had been adjusting his controls so he added power from the rear shields, the grassers and comm to the drives. This amount of power could burn out the drives real fast but they would only need it for a few seconds. He fired the front weapons at the spinner as suddenly their craft acted like it had been kicked and doubled its speed. They zoomed toward the other ship aiming at its center. The ship reacted and fired at it but the shots that hit were absorbed by the shields. Jonathan kept up his firing and soon Mantiee executed a very fast zig to port going around the round ship. It continued to fire. Probably its gunner thought they had been on a suicide run therefore was slow on the uptake that they were no longer in front of it. The Ant continued on along the side of the spinner, then Mantiee zagged back to the center Jonathan said to cut emergency speed as he quickly reestablished the rear shields. Seconds later there was an explosion on the other side of the spinner. The blast easily overwhelmed what was left of that ship’s shields then began to eat into the ship itself. It vaporized much of the front of the spinner while sending small pieces tumbling away. Some of the pieces went flying after the runabout impacting on its rear shields. None were large and none did any damage.
     Mantiee said, “Whew, scratch one missile and one pirate.”
     Jonathan said, “That missile’s computer most have been damaged. Since it targeted on us I was hoping it would also consider the spinner an appropriate target.”
     “It did and good thing it did. That thing was fast but as you said earlier lets get out of here.”
     “Sounds good to me. Go up I think I know of a way out.”
     “Good but what about the shark?”
     “I saw some explosions on the sensors in the same direction 
it ran. Hopefully it has been taken care of, but we will keep a 
sharp eye out for it.”
     Mantiee nodded and followed Jonathan’s directions and soon they were skimming along the top of the manmade debris field. After just a minute Jonathan told him to go higher, to pivot the runabout in a certain direction and to slow. Mantiee did that and soon they were watching three ships headed away from the field. One had the unmistakable shape of the shark. On the side they could see it had two holes in it. One was about midships on the shark and the other was back toward the stern. That one was significantly bigger then the other and had very jagged edges. The small warship was leaking air from that hole. It was not traveling at full speed either. The two other ships were spinners. One was untouched as far as they could see but the other one had smaller holes toward the front and a gash along one side. It was the one they had originally hit which had gone spinning away. By the looks of it had hit something probably a jagged piece of some blasted ship. It might have been leaking air also but it was too far away to tell for sure.
     Mantiee made the runabout execute a smart looking about face and before it zoomed away at its top speed. Six hours later they were at the outpost and had unloaded their cargo. The outpost was a small station near an area of space not populated or even traveled though much. Miners and other such worked in the area. Just the perfect location to delivery cargo no one should know about. Hopefully there were no pirates there. 
   The two important items were now in the appropriate hands. Jonathan had warned about the pirates and were told they would watch for them.
   They both now walked back to their landing bay with money and credit chips in their pockets. Stores and cafes brought people from all around the station but it wasn’t wall to wall people yet. The smells made Mantiee remember that he hadn’t eaten for a while. They stopped for three different types of meat on a stick and cold water. They had changed and bathed already so Mantiee, and anyone else, only smelled the food. He had placed the bottle in a pocket and it froze his thigh but he could take it for the walk back to the Ant.   
     After a few bites Mantiee said, “I think I know how those bubbles were able to move.”
     He watched Jonathan raise his eyebrows and say, “Oh?”
     “Yes, as you discovered they oriented on our drives. I believe that the Zoonu now include something in the make up of the bubbles so that they would be attracted to a certain radiation. The type drives produced. Much like a magnate is attracted to metal.”
     Jonathan started to say something but Mantiee raised his hand and said, “Yes, I know steel is attracted to it but if you were to let a small magnate loose and brought a heavy piece of metal to it the magnate would move not the metal. Same thing with those new bubbles.”
     “So the faster you go running away the faster they would move after you?”
     Mantiee nodded and Jonathan continued, “And the bigger the drive unit the more they would be attracted to you.”
     Mantiee nodded and said, “Makes sense to me.”
     Jonathan said, “Hmmm, and do you know which cargo the pirates were after?”
     “I think so,” came the response, “They probably were after something we didn’t have.”
     “Oh?” came Jonathan’s surprised response.
     “Yes, just before we left the Beta dram station some of the people we had drinks with were hauling a Thrumer treasure chest.”
     “One never knows for sure what is in those chests but the Techno terrorists like them.”
     “Exactly, back when they were terrorists before they became the guardians of that double system, they had some good finds with a couple of treasure chests. Now they go after each one they can.”
     Jonathan said, “That would explain what they were doing 
around these parts. They most have caught wind of the find,” he 
shook his head then continued, “All of that destruction and lose of lives for something we didn’t even have.”
      They walked further and two minutes later Mantiee spoke again.
     He said, “Hey, if you want to increase the speed on that runabout of yours I know where you can get a couple of Jaguar drives.”
     “Those things are expensive and hard to come by. They would be fast though.”
     “I know where you can get some for free. I know someone who knows where a jaguar crashed. Its on a planet that is difficult to get to. All he wants is the star navigation computer and some info in its main terminal. I saw a picture of it. At least two of the auxiliary drives survived the crash. They should be about the right size for your little ship.”
     “He would be willing to give those up?”
     “He doesn’t have much money so they would be your payment.”
     “I would have to rework the power converter and maybe put in a better power source but those drives could also up the shield power and…”
     Mantiee smiled because he knew his friend and knew he would go for it. He also smiled for he had learned that he was a better pilot than he had thought, with a little help from Jonathan he had saved their butts. That made this trip worth it but he would still keep his share.  
     He continued, “After we go home to pick up your freighter of course. We can back track though that battle field, I still want that power converter cylinder. Your tractor beam should be able to handle it.”
     They went on arguing about the dangers and benefits of going back into that armed debris field, all the way back to their runabout.
  THE END