L.E. Doggett's Blog, page 23
March 26, 2016
Easter- Good Friday. What is it?
A little late here with this here on my blog but the basic ideas here are still good.
I want to say that as Good Friday this is a very special day for Christians. Christmas is a most celebration of God's love and God being with us, sending Jesus as a gift for everyone individually but what we observe today is what Christmas is all about. Jesus came not only to do good things, to teach good things but to die after living a perfect life. This death is God's sign of His love for us all-individually. For while we were yet sinners, separated from Him, God showed His great love by sending His son to die for us. The perfect for the unperfect so we would have a way to God. Jesus is that bridge from sin-all have fallen short of the Glory of God-there is none righteous-For our righteousness is as filthy rags-to the perfect, holy, God. Now our sins are cast as far away from the East is from the West. Not just covered but done away with. We can have right standing with God and become an adopt child of God. It matters not what we have done, not done or what was done to us, because of Jesus' death. He knowingly went through hell on earth, death and real Hell to buy us back. Therefore He is our Redeemer.
All that so we can have right standing with the God who Loves Us. He promised us Joy unspeakable, peace that goes beyond understanding, and Hope when there is none. He is God, He raised Jesus from the dead He is Hope. For a changed life, for forgiveness, for healing of issues and habits and hurts. And more.
All that is what Good Friday means to Christians.
here are a couple of songs that help to show this.
One sing here to help show this.
A last bit here on what Good Friday means
No rituals can save us or wipe away our sin or give us right standing with God. His Mercy and Grace alone does that. We just have to believe and receive it. It's easy for us, Jesus already did the hard part. Because He had to, we can't do it on our own. All have sinned and come short of the glory God. And I repeat-our righteousness is as filthy rags compared to God.
Another song to help show it
And God's Love For us Because of who He is
I want to say that as Good Friday this is a very special day for Christians. Christmas is a most celebration of God's love and God being with us, sending Jesus as a gift for everyone individually but what we observe today is what Christmas is all about. Jesus came not only to do good things, to teach good things but to die after living a perfect life. This death is God's sign of His love for us all-individually. For while we were yet sinners, separated from Him, God showed His great love by sending His son to die for us. The perfect for the unperfect so we would have a way to God. Jesus is that bridge from sin-all have fallen short of the Glory of God-there is none righteous-For our righteousness is as filthy rags-to the perfect, holy, God. Now our sins are cast as far away from the East is from the West. Not just covered but done away with. We can have right standing with God and become an adopt child of God. It matters not what we have done, not done or what was done to us, because of Jesus' death. He knowingly went through hell on earth, death and real Hell to buy us back. Therefore He is our Redeemer.
All that so we can have right standing with the God who Loves Us. He promised us Joy unspeakable, peace that goes beyond understanding, and Hope when there is none. He is God, He raised Jesus from the dead He is Hope. For a changed life, for forgiveness, for healing of issues and habits and hurts. And more.
All that is what Good Friday means to Christians.
here are a couple of songs that help to show this.
One sing here to help show this.
A last bit here on what Good Friday means
No rituals can save us or wipe away our sin or give us right standing with God. His Mercy and Grace alone does that. We just have to believe and receive it. It's easy for us, Jesus already did the hard part. Because He had to, we can't do it on our own. All have sinned and come short of the glory God. And I repeat-our righteousness is as filthy rags compared to God.
Another song to help show it
And God's Love For us Because of who He is
March 21, 2016
Learning Curve update
Okay, spelled checked five out of ten chapters. Have two people who said they would read it and review it. One for the cover. Have a cover, even though still need a blurb. Evidently I blew the first one badly even though I tried to use blurbs I have seen on series covers, as a model
March 19, 2016
Short story serial Science Fiction part three
March 19
This week I am doing part three of Roller Coaster Ride. A Science Fiction thriller as in will they escape or not. As I mentioned in earlier post I am revising this old story as I go, I believe this week's segment is the best so far in regards to the writing. I got myself to spend some extra time on it plus it didn't need quite as much work as the previous segments. Both of which are on my blog here on Goodreads
For those who may not have seen the first two parts two friends in a small runabout are on the run from a gang of pirates. Jonathan was delivering two very important cargos when the two sets of pirates came up them. Mantiee who was along for the ride happened to be piloting. He ran for a huge debris field from a space battle only a few days before this. So far he hasn't been able to lose the chasers. And they found out that some of the weapons in the debris field are still hot.
This is the longest segment at 2,500 and a few words. And obviously there will be four parts to this story after all.
So:
Jonathan pressed a button projected in front of him. Raised a hand and made a motion as if he twisted a dial.
He said, “Got it with the tractor beam.”
Mantiee said a little loud, “Tractor beam? It’s already coming our way on its own.”
“Just head toward those others and when I say dive fast.”
Mantiee steered the little craft toward the group of bubbles and as he did the bubbles moved closer to them.
He started to say something but Jonathan beat him to it, “I know. Its what I expected, just keep going.”
Mantiee looked at his friend like he was mad but kept going.
Seconds later Jonathan said, “Dive!”
Mantiee immediately pressed a double switch and a second one nearby. The ship’s nose dipped down suddenly. As it did Jonathan manipulated the controls for the tractor beam. As the ship dived the bubble kept going controlled by the tractor beam. It ran smack into a piece of debris drifting nearby. The piece happened to by in front of the group headed their way. As the bubble popped it released the explosive force inside it. The explosion broke up the piece of debris and sent pieces of it flying in three directions. One of those directions was toward the oncoming bubbles. Some of those popped when hit by slivers. Those not hit were sent flying every way. Most ended up hitting something and popping.
Mantiee said, “So you did know what you were doing. Man, if just one of those things had hit us, at the very least, it would have taken out our shields leaving us naked and it probably would have damaged other systems.”
He leveled off then dived under a small something or another floating right in front of them. As they came from underneath it he steered the ship up. Up further then the point he had started the dive from. Next he leveled off for a count of ten then sank for a few seconds. He steered in between two huge ship fragments that Jonathan pointed to. As they came out from in-between the two pieces they almost ran into a spinner coming to investigate the explosions. Mantiee let Jonathan fire three asteroid clearers and one set from both of the small double grasser turrets. These produced a beam only 6 cm wide. There was a turret located under each wing very close to where the wing met the fuselage.
The crew of the other ship most have been just as surprise as they were since it took them a couple of seconds to react. When they did the first weapon they fired was the gamma plasma cannons. On this modal of this spinner there were eight sets. The barrels stuck out of slight bulges in the base.
A part of Mantiee’s mid insisted on telling him that instead of being full turrets these were slots that allowed the barrels to go up and down only. They could fire almost straight up, straight down and any where in between.
Three sets were in the right position to fire at him and his friend. Six streams of plasma shot out from the bottom of the spinner toward the little craft. Just the fact that they were streams of plasma straight from the drives would have been bad enough but these had been charged with gamma radiation. That made them stronger without increasing their power needs much. Two sets hit the ship as Mantiee frantically tried to turn the runabout faster than it should. His fingers punched at the control images hard enough for him to feel the power of the projection field. That was not a good thing.
Even though Mantiee and Jonathan wore safety straps both were almost shaken out of their seats when the beams hit them. As the runabout finished the turn another stream impacted their shields. Something sparked in the back. Mantiee hoped it was nothing important, but he smelled burnt fiber optics.
The spinner had been turning in the opposite direction the runabout had taken but it took them only seconds to reverse the direction. Too soon they were ready to fire again. His sensor showed him that it had been hit by at least two of the grasser shots as well as two of the rockets Jonathan had fired. No damage. They can’t get lucky all the time.
Jonathan told Mantiee to pivot the ship when he said now.
Mantiee just nodded since he was trying to run from the spinner and at the same time keep from bumping into the side of the very large fragment they were zipping by. It was a long piece and had protrusions sticking out every now and then. Jonathan was continually firing the grassers managing to hit the spinner a number of times. It still caught up with them and pulled along side.
Jonathan said, “Now!”
Mantiee pivoted the runabout toward the attacking ship right where a depression appeared. It must be for docking or repairs Mantiee thought. The suddenness of the move surprised the other ship. Jonathan hit it with two rounds from the blasters. All eight energy balls hit. He next fired the grassers once more and as he did their foe shot back with its GP cannons and two of the mini-missiles they liked to carry. This time two streams hit quickly followed by one mini-missile. The impact of the combined strike sent the runabout spinning away. The view window spun around, Mantiee had to close his eyes or his last meal would come up. Bile had already.
The shields fluctuated just as Mantiee managed to get the runabout’s course straighten out. A sudden grinding metal against metal sound made him “yip”. Jonathan cursed which made Mantiee want to stare at him for a half second. Before he could decide what they had run into a kind of crunching noise happened. The forward movement of the ship stopped abruptly. Mantiee was jerked into the seat belts, then back into his seat. His head felt like it hit something hard dissipate the seat padding.
A buzz sounded loud. Oh oh that was the structural integrity alarm. A readout warned, “starboard wing was in danger of separating from the main hull”
Mantiee shut the drives down even as Jonathan said to, just as another readout showed that the drives were overheating. He waved his hand in front of him to bring the sensor images closer.
The spinner drifted away. From the damage the sensors showed The first set of ion bolstered blaster shots accompanied by four grasser beams had brought down its shields. The next set had hit the bare metal of the ship. One of those punched though a patch. Air came out. Another one must have landed on one of their turrets. It did not damaged it much but the ion charge had disrupted its electronics so it could not fire. One grasser turret had been aimed just right so its two beams dug into the base of the attacking ship. One of those found a drive unit burning a pencil thin hole though it. That might be why the ship was now drifting. Its helmsman had had to shut down the other two drives, Mantiee thought, because they had started to push the ship out of control.
A sigh, then he sat back, Mantiee said, “I think we are stuck.”
Jonathan said, “Yes, I figured that.”
Mantiee said, “What is the chance of that happening though? Its got to be huge.”
“Whatever it is, we did it. We can celebrate later. Try reverse.”
“I have already, but I can try again as I wiggle the runabout.”
He did, then tried again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his partner startle. He bent forward and adjusted controls.
Without turning Jonathan said, “Stop the drives now! Turn them off.”
His warning had such a urgent tone that Mantiee immediately obeyed.
He asked, “You see something?”
Jonathan said, “Take a look out the side view window.”
Mantiee did and as he saw, what his partner had seen on his sensors, he paled. Three of the energy globes they had had trouble with were floating by. They were quite a distance from them but evidently could still come their way.
Jonathan explained that he had notice them on his sensor screen. They had come around the corner of the piece they were stuck to. It seemed like something was pulling them. There was more then just the three Mantiee had seen.
They sat there for a two and a half minutes.
Mantiee spoke up, “They still there?”
“Yes. One might be out of reach but the others are still drifting by as slow as bubbles in a slow breeze.”
“If they stay around for much longer I am going to have to use the head.”
“Well, it looks like we will be here a while and the head is working so go ahead.”
Mantiee unstrapped himself and was just standing when Jonathan spoke.
He said, “Turn everything off now,” he started flipping every power switch in reach. He had used that urgent tone again so Mantiee dropped back down in his seat and started turning off every power control.
Jonathan said, “I mean every thing. The lights and environmental controls also.”
Mantiee looked at him funny but he touched the power controls images, one by one. When he was done he turned to Jonathan.
He asked, “What more bubbles?”
Jonathan just pointed out the view window again. This time Mantiee saw a more deadly sight then the energy globes. It was the shark coasting on by. It was small looking because of the distance but he knew it was deadly. They would not be able to bring down its shields as easy as they had the spinners. Its design was typical for sharks: two narrow triangles set base to base. The second one was much shorter and slanted downward a little. Two nacelles rested near the sides underneath the rear triangle. These were where the drives were located and if it was the same as the other sharks Mantiee had seen the forward end of each tube like nacelle had four blaster barrels sticking out of it. Two were the largest size for that style of blaster and two were the size under that. He shook his head, they probably won’t be ion charged but there were big enough to cause big problems for the little runabout even so.
Along each side of the front triangle were three larger double laser turrets. They would be at 25 cms. It also would have two turrets with more of the full size blasters. The aft had four gamma plasma cannon emplacements and two more lasers. These would be twice the size as the ones the spinners used. The side lasers and the GPCs were in slots so the barrels could elevate up and down but not sideways.
Mantiee spoke, “Oh oh. But they will be able to detect us. Our life signs will show up easily around here.”
“I am betting that they will be looking for drives and other energy signatures not life signs. If they detect our batteries they will hopefully think they are back up batteries still functioning in this wreckage. There probably are some still providing power to busted systems.” Jonathan answered.
“Sooner or later they will figure we are running silent and
check for life signs.”
“True but by then we will have to think of something and I think I know what.”
Mantiee looked where Jonathan was looking and said, “Uh huh, we are not going to surround ourselves with those energy bubbles. Way too dangerous.”
“I have another idea but that one has merit maybe we should do it instead.”
“No, no. Forget I thought of it. Your idea is better.”
“You don’t even know what it is.”
“Its got to be better then that because it would be safer.”
Jonathan smiled and said, “It is actually but you should have seen the look on your face when you thought the only reason we were going to do it was because you thought it up. Now we are going to have to time this right. We need to pre start the power source and aim the grasser turrets.”
“Aim the turrets? One can only shot at the piece we are stuck on.”
“I know but we may be able to use that one to weaken where our wing is stuck.”
They busied themselves for a while. The searching ship had moved on but it would be back. The spinner still seemed to be drifting. If they had completely blown that drive it might drift until someone came to help or the helmsman decided to control the spinner’s thrust with only two drives. He might be able to do it with both at half power. That would get them out of here and to one of their partners. The crew of the shark must not care if they survive or not or so Mantiee hoped.
Jonathan not only aimed the turrets were he wanted them but he used the tractor beam to move some of the free floating globes. Powered only by batteries the tractor beam was on low power but the globes were easy to move. He managed to arrange five of them before the shark came back. This time it was closer.
Mantiee said, “Why do I have a certain base line popping into my head at the moment?”
He watched Jonathan glance at him before he said, “Ok power up. Time for us to leave.”
Mantiee touched the controls for the power supply and seconds later started the drives. The shark turned suddenly and made a bee line for them. Jonathan used the tractor beam to give the cluster of deadly bubbles a push. He had moved five but five more had joined them which meant ten moved toward the shark.
He said, “Its drives were more powerful then the runabout’s so I think they would zero in on it instead of us especially with the push I just gave them.”
As he spoke Mantiee noticed that he adjusted the firing controls with a wave of his fingers. Finally he fired the grasser on the side of the fragment they were stuck to. He reached to the image and slowly rotated his hand which moved the turret as the two pencil thin beams cut though the armor of the ship fragment way too slow for Mantiee. Suddenly the computer chirped, Mantiee looked then squeaked out his friend’s name loudly. Sweat formed on his forehead and under his arms again. They were clammy enough already. He could smell his own sweat, Jonathan’s and burnt components with the environmental controls still off.
Jonathan turned and looked out the side view port. He must have seen what Mantiee and the computer had seen: a bubble coming straight at them. Mantiee was glad he had used the head after all for that one was close and moving in fast for a slow bubble. Mantiee took a second to think that some gum would be good for his last taste.
end segment
This week I am doing part three of Roller Coaster Ride. A Science Fiction thriller as in will they escape or not. As I mentioned in earlier post I am revising this old story as I go, I believe this week's segment is the best so far in regards to the writing. I got myself to spend some extra time on it plus it didn't need quite as much work as the previous segments. Both of which are on my blog here on Goodreads
For those who may not have seen the first two parts two friends in a small runabout are on the run from a gang of pirates. Jonathan was delivering two very important cargos when the two sets of pirates came up them. Mantiee who was along for the ride happened to be piloting. He ran for a huge debris field from a space battle only a few days before this. So far he hasn't been able to lose the chasers. And they found out that some of the weapons in the debris field are still hot.
This is the longest segment at 2,500 and a few words. And obviously there will be four parts to this story after all.
So:
Jonathan pressed a button projected in front of him. Raised a hand and made a motion as if he twisted a dial.
He said, “Got it with the tractor beam.”
Mantiee said a little loud, “Tractor beam? It’s already coming our way on its own.”
“Just head toward those others and when I say dive fast.”
Mantiee steered the little craft toward the group of bubbles and as he did the bubbles moved closer to them.
He started to say something but Jonathan beat him to it, “I know. Its what I expected, just keep going.”
Mantiee looked at his friend like he was mad but kept going.
Seconds later Jonathan said, “Dive!”
Mantiee immediately pressed a double switch and a second one nearby. The ship’s nose dipped down suddenly. As it did Jonathan manipulated the controls for the tractor beam. As the ship dived the bubble kept going controlled by the tractor beam. It ran smack into a piece of debris drifting nearby. The piece happened to by in front of the group headed their way. As the bubble popped it released the explosive force inside it. The explosion broke up the piece of debris and sent pieces of it flying in three directions. One of those directions was toward the oncoming bubbles. Some of those popped when hit by slivers. Those not hit were sent flying every way. Most ended up hitting something and popping.
Mantiee said, “So you did know what you were doing. Man, if just one of those things had hit us, at the very least, it would have taken out our shields leaving us naked and it probably would have damaged other systems.”
He leveled off then dived under a small something or another floating right in front of them. As they came from underneath it he steered the ship up. Up further then the point he had started the dive from. Next he leveled off for a count of ten then sank for a few seconds. He steered in between two huge ship fragments that Jonathan pointed to. As they came out from in-between the two pieces they almost ran into a spinner coming to investigate the explosions. Mantiee let Jonathan fire three asteroid clearers and one set from both of the small double grasser turrets. These produced a beam only 6 cm wide. There was a turret located under each wing very close to where the wing met the fuselage.
The crew of the other ship most have been just as surprise as they were since it took them a couple of seconds to react. When they did the first weapon they fired was the gamma plasma cannons. On this modal of this spinner there were eight sets. The barrels stuck out of slight bulges in the base.
A part of Mantiee’s mid insisted on telling him that instead of being full turrets these were slots that allowed the barrels to go up and down only. They could fire almost straight up, straight down and any where in between.
Three sets were in the right position to fire at him and his friend. Six streams of plasma shot out from the bottom of the spinner toward the little craft. Just the fact that they were streams of plasma straight from the drives would have been bad enough but these had been charged with gamma radiation. That made them stronger without increasing their power needs much. Two sets hit the ship as Mantiee frantically tried to turn the runabout faster than it should. His fingers punched at the control images hard enough for him to feel the power of the projection field. That was not a good thing.
Even though Mantiee and Jonathan wore safety straps both were almost shaken out of their seats when the beams hit them. As the runabout finished the turn another stream impacted their shields. Something sparked in the back. Mantiee hoped it was nothing important, but he smelled burnt fiber optics.
The spinner had been turning in the opposite direction the runabout had taken but it took them only seconds to reverse the direction. Too soon they were ready to fire again. His sensor showed him that it had been hit by at least two of the grasser shots as well as two of the rockets Jonathan had fired. No damage. They can’t get lucky all the time.
Jonathan told Mantiee to pivot the ship when he said now.
Mantiee just nodded since he was trying to run from the spinner and at the same time keep from bumping into the side of the very large fragment they were zipping by. It was a long piece and had protrusions sticking out every now and then. Jonathan was continually firing the grassers managing to hit the spinner a number of times. It still caught up with them and pulled along side.
Jonathan said, “Now!”
Mantiee pivoted the runabout toward the attacking ship right where a depression appeared. It must be for docking or repairs Mantiee thought. The suddenness of the move surprised the other ship. Jonathan hit it with two rounds from the blasters. All eight energy balls hit. He next fired the grassers once more and as he did their foe shot back with its GP cannons and two of the mini-missiles they liked to carry. This time two streams hit quickly followed by one mini-missile. The impact of the combined strike sent the runabout spinning away. The view window spun around, Mantiee had to close his eyes or his last meal would come up. Bile had already.
The shields fluctuated just as Mantiee managed to get the runabout’s course straighten out. A sudden grinding metal against metal sound made him “yip”. Jonathan cursed which made Mantiee want to stare at him for a half second. Before he could decide what they had run into a kind of crunching noise happened. The forward movement of the ship stopped abruptly. Mantiee was jerked into the seat belts, then back into his seat. His head felt like it hit something hard dissipate the seat padding.
A buzz sounded loud. Oh oh that was the structural integrity alarm. A readout warned, “starboard wing was in danger of separating from the main hull”
Mantiee shut the drives down even as Jonathan said to, just as another readout showed that the drives were overheating. He waved his hand in front of him to bring the sensor images closer.
The spinner drifted away. From the damage the sensors showed The first set of ion bolstered blaster shots accompanied by four grasser beams had brought down its shields. The next set had hit the bare metal of the ship. One of those punched though a patch. Air came out. Another one must have landed on one of their turrets. It did not damaged it much but the ion charge had disrupted its electronics so it could not fire. One grasser turret had been aimed just right so its two beams dug into the base of the attacking ship. One of those found a drive unit burning a pencil thin hole though it. That might be why the ship was now drifting. Its helmsman had had to shut down the other two drives, Mantiee thought, because they had started to push the ship out of control.
A sigh, then he sat back, Mantiee said, “I think we are stuck.”
Jonathan said, “Yes, I figured that.”
Mantiee said, “What is the chance of that happening though? Its got to be huge.”
“Whatever it is, we did it. We can celebrate later. Try reverse.”
“I have already, but I can try again as I wiggle the runabout.”
He did, then tried again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his partner startle. He bent forward and adjusted controls.
Without turning Jonathan said, “Stop the drives now! Turn them off.”
His warning had such a urgent tone that Mantiee immediately obeyed.
He asked, “You see something?”
Jonathan said, “Take a look out the side view window.”
Mantiee did and as he saw, what his partner had seen on his sensors, he paled. Three of the energy globes they had had trouble with were floating by. They were quite a distance from them but evidently could still come their way.
Jonathan explained that he had notice them on his sensor screen. They had come around the corner of the piece they were stuck to. It seemed like something was pulling them. There was more then just the three Mantiee had seen.
They sat there for a two and a half minutes.
Mantiee spoke up, “They still there?”
“Yes. One might be out of reach but the others are still drifting by as slow as bubbles in a slow breeze.”
“If they stay around for much longer I am going to have to use the head.”
“Well, it looks like we will be here a while and the head is working so go ahead.”
Mantiee unstrapped himself and was just standing when Jonathan spoke.
He said, “Turn everything off now,” he started flipping every power switch in reach. He had used that urgent tone again so Mantiee dropped back down in his seat and started turning off every power control.
Jonathan said, “I mean every thing. The lights and environmental controls also.”
Mantiee looked at him funny but he touched the power controls images, one by one. When he was done he turned to Jonathan.
He asked, “What more bubbles?”
Jonathan just pointed out the view window again. This time Mantiee saw a more deadly sight then the energy globes. It was the shark coasting on by. It was small looking because of the distance but he knew it was deadly. They would not be able to bring down its shields as easy as they had the spinners. Its design was typical for sharks: two narrow triangles set base to base. The second one was much shorter and slanted downward a little. Two nacelles rested near the sides underneath the rear triangle. These were where the drives were located and if it was the same as the other sharks Mantiee had seen the forward end of each tube like nacelle had four blaster barrels sticking out of it. Two were the largest size for that style of blaster and two were the size under that. He shook his head, they probably won’t be ion charged but there were big enough to cause big problems for the little runabout even so.
Along each side of the front triangle were three larger double laser turrets. They would be at 25 cms. It also would have two turrets with more of the full size blasters. The aft had four gamma plasma cannon emplacements and two more lasers. These would be twice the size as the ones the spinners used. The side lasers and the GPCs were in slots so the barrels could elevate up and down but not sideways.
Mantiee spoke, “Oh oh. But they will be able to detect us. Our life signs will show up easily around here.”
“I am betting that they will be looking for drives and other energy signatures not life signs. If they detect our batteries they will hopefully think they are back up batteries still functioning in this wreckage. There probably are some still providing power to busted systems.” Jonathan answered.
“Sooner or later they will figure we are running silent and
check for life signs.”
“True but by then we will have to think of something and I think I know what.”
Mantiee looked where Jonathan was looking and said, “Uh huh, we are not going to surround ourselves with those energy bubbles. Way too dangerous.”
“I have another idea but that one has merit maybe we should do it instead.”
“No, no. Forget I thought of it. Your idea is better.”
“You don’t even know what it is.”
“Its got to be better then that because it would be safer.”
Jonathan smiled and said, “It is actually but you should have seen the look on your face when you thought the only reason we were going to do it was because you thought it up. Now we are going to have to time this right. We need to pre start the power source and aim the grasser turrets.”
“Aim the turrets? One can only shot at the piece we are stuck on.”
“I know but we may be able to use that one to weaken where our wing is stuck.”
They busied themselves for a while. The searching ship had moved on but it would be back. The spinner still seemed to be drifting. If they had completely blown that drive it might drift until someone came to help or the helmsman decided to control the spinner’s thrust with only two drives. He might be able to do it with both at half power. That would get them out of here and to one of their partners. The crew of the shark must not care if they survive or not or so Mantiee hoped.
Jonathan not only aimed the turrets were he wanted them but he used the tractor beam to move some of the free floating globes. Powered only by batteries the tractor beam was on low power but the globes were easy to move. He managed to arrange five of them before the shark came back. This time it was closer.
Mantiee said, “Why do I have a certain base line popping into my head at the moment?”
He watched Jonathan glance at him before he said, “Ok power up. Time for us to leave.”
Mantiee touched the controls for the power supply and seconds later started the drives. The shark turned suddenly and made a bee line for them. Jonathan used the tractor beam to give the cluster of deadly bubbles a push. He had moved five but five more had joined them which meant ten moved toward the shark.
He said, “Its drives were more powerful then the runabout’s so I think they would zero in on it instead of us especially with the push I just gave them.”
As he spoke Mantiee noticed that he adjusted the firing controls with a wave of his fingers. Finally he fired the grasser on the side of the fragment they were stuck to. He reached to the image and slowly rotated his hand which moved the turret as the two pencil thin beams cut though the armor of the ship fragment way too slow for Mantiee. Suddenly the computer chirped, Mantiee looked then squeaked out his friend’s name loudly. Sweat formed on his forehead and under his arms again. They were clammy enough already. He could smell his own sweat, Jonathan’s and burnt components with the environmental controls still off.
Jonathan turned and looked out the side view port. He must have seen what Mantiee and the computer had seen: a bubble coming straight at them. Mantiee was glad he had used the head after all for that one was close and moving in fast for a slow bubble. Mantiee took a second to think that some gum would be good for his last taste.
end segment
Short story serial: Science Fiction tale part three
March 19
This week I am doing part three of Roller Coaster Ride. A Science Fiction thriller as in will they escape or not. As I mentioned in earlier post I am revising this old story as I go, I believe this week's segment is the best so far in regards to the writing. I got myself to spend some extra time on it plus it didn't need quite as much work as the previous segments.
For those who may not have seen the first two parts two friends in a small runabout are on the run from a gang of pirates. Jonathan was delivering two very important cargos when the two sets of pirates came up them. Mantiee who was along for the ride happened to be piloting. He ran for a huge debris field from a space battle only a few days before this. So far he hasn't been able to lose the chasers. And they found out that some of the weapons in the debris field are still hot.
This is the longest segment at 2,500 and a few words. And obviously there will be four parts to this story after all.
So:
Jonathan pressed a button projected in front of him. Raised a hand and made a motion as if he twisted a dial.
He said, “Got it with the tractor beam.”
Mantiee said a little loud, “Tractor beam? It’s already coming our way on its own.”
“Just head toward those others and when I say dive fast.”
Mantiee steered the little craft toward the group of bubbles and as he did the bubbles moved closer to them.
He started to say something but Jonathan beat him to it, “I know. Its what I expected, just keep going.”
Mantiee looked at his friend like he was mad but kept going.
Seconds later Jonathan said, “Dive!”
Mantiee immediately pressed a double switch and a second one nearby. The ship’s nose dipped down suddenly. As it did Jonathan manipulated the controls for the tractor beam. As the ship dived the bubble kept going controlled by the tractor beam. It ran smack into a piece of debris drifting nearby. The piece happened to by in front of the group headed their way. As the bubble popped it released the explosive force inside it. The explosion broke up the piece of debris and sent pieces of it flying in three directions. One of those directions was toward the oncoming bubbles. Some of those popped when hit by slivers. Those not hit were sent flying every way. Most ended up hitting something and popping.
Mantiee said, “So you did know what you were doing. Man, if just one of those things had hit us, at the very least, it would have taken out our shields leaving us naked and it probably would have damaged other systems.”
He leveled off then dived under a small something or another floating right in front of them. As they came from underneath it he steered the ship up. Up further then the point he had started the dive from. Next he leveled off for a count of ten then sank for a few seconds. He steered in between two huge ship fragments that Jonathan pointed to. As they came out from in-between the two pieces they almost ran into a spinner coming to investigate the explosions. Mantiee let Jonathan fire three asteroid clearers and one set from both of the small double grasser turrets. These produced a beam only 6 cm wide. There was a turret located under each wing very close to where the wing met the fuselage.
The crew of the other ship most have been just as surprise as they were since it took them a couple of seconds to react. When they did the first weapon they fired was the gamma plasma cannons. On this modal of this spinner there were eight sets. The barrels stuck out of slight bulges in the base.
A part of Mantiee’s mid insisted on telling him that instead of being full turrets these were slots that allowed the barrels to go up and down only. They could fire almost straight up, straight down and any where in between.
Three sets were in the right position to fire at him and his friend. Six streams of plasma shot out from the bottom of the spinner toward the little craft. Just the fact that they were streams of plasma straight from the drives would have been bad enough but these had been charged with gamma radiation. That made them stronger without increasing their power needs much. Two sets hit the ship as Mantiee frantically tried to turn the runabout faster than it should. His fingers punched at the control images hard enough for him to feel the power of the projection field. That was not a good thing.
Even though Mantiee and Jonathan wore safety straps both were almost shaken out of their seats when the beams hit them. As the runabout finished the turn another stream impacted their shields. Something sparked in the back. Mantiee hoped it was nothing important, but he smelled burnt fiber optics.
The spinner had been turning in the opposite direction the runabout had taken but it took them only seconds to reverse the direction. Too soon they were ready to fire again. His sensor showed him that it had been hit by at least two of the grasser shots as well as two of the rockets Jonathan had fired. No damage. They can’t get lucky all the time.
Jonathan told Mantiee to pivot the ship when he said now.
Mantiee just nodded since he was trying to run from the spinner and at the same time keep from bumping into the side of the very large fragment they were zipping by. It was a long piece and had protrusions sticking out every now and then. Jonathan was continually firing the grassers managing to hit the spinner a number of times. It still caught up with them and pulled along side.
Jonathan said, “Now!”
Mantiee pivoted the runabout toward the attacking ship right where a depression appeared. It must be for docking or repairs Mantiee thought. The suddenness of the move surprised the other ship. Jonathan hit it with two rounds from the blasters. All eight energy balls hit. He next fired the grassers once more and as he did their foe shot back with its GP cannons and two of the mini-missiles they liked to carry. This time two streams hit quickly followed by one mini-missile. The impact of the combined strike sent the runabout spinning away. The view window spun around, Mantiee had to close his eyes or his last meal would come up. Bile had already.
The shields fluctuated just as Mantiee managed to get the runabout’s course straighten out. A sudden grinding metal against metal sound made him “yip”. Jonathan cursed which made Mantiee want to stare at him for a half second. Before he could decide what they had run into a kind of crunching noise happened. The forward movement of the ship stopped abruptly. Mantiee was jerked into the seat belts, then back into his seat. His head felt like it hit something hard dissipate the seat padding.
A buzz sounded loud. Oh oh that was the structural integrity alarm. A readout warned, “starboard wing was in danger of separating from the main hull”
Mantiee shut the drives down even as Jonathan said to, just as another readout showed that the drives were overheating. He waved his hand in front of him to bring the sensor images closer.
The spinner drifted away. From the damage the sensors showed The first set of ion bolstered blaster shots accompanied by four grasser beams had brought down its shields. The next set had hit the bare metal of the ship. One of those punched though a patch. Air came out. Another one must have landed on one of their turrets. It did not damaged it much but the ion charge had disrupted its electronics so it could not fire. One grasser turret had been aimed just right so its two beams dug into the base of the attacking ship. One of those found a drive unit burning a pencil thin hole though it. That might be why the ship was now drifting. Its helmsman had had to shut down the other two drives, Mantiee thought, because they had started to push the ship out of control.
A sigh, then he sat back, Mantiee said, “I think we are stuck.”
Jonathan said, “Yes, I figured that.”
Mantiee said, “What is the chance of that happening though? Its got to be huge.”
“Whatever it is, we did it. We can celebrate later. Try reverse.”
“I have already, but I can try again as I wiggle the runabout.”
He did, then tried again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his partner startle. He bent forward and adjusted controls.
Without turning Jonathan said, “Stop the drives now! Turn them off.”
His warning had such a urgent tone that Mantiee immediately obeyed.
He asked, “You see something?”
Jonathan said, “Take a look out the side view window.”
Mantiee did and as he saw, what his partner had seen on his sensors, he paled. Three of the energy globes they had had trouble with were floating by. They were quite a distance from them but evidently could still come their way.
Jonathan explained that he had notice them on his sensor screen. They had come around the corner of the piece they were stuck to. It seemed like something was pulling them. There was more then just the three Mantiee had seen.
They sat there for a two and a half minutes.
Mantiee spoke up, “They still there?”
“Yes. One might be out of reach but the others are still drifting by as slow as bubbles in a slow breeze.”
“If they stay around for much longer I am going to have to use the head.”
“Well, it looks like we will be here a while and the head is working so go ahead.”
Mantiee unstrapped himself and was just standing when Jonathan spoke.
He said, “Turn everything off now,” he started flipping every power switch in reach. He had used that urgent tone again so Mantiee dropped back down in his seat and started turning off every power control.
Jonathan said, “I mean every thing. The lights and environmental controls also.”
Mantiee looked at him funny but he touched the power controls images, one by one. When he was done he turned to Jonathan.
He asked, “What more bubbles?”
Jonathan just pointed out the view window again. This time Mantiee saw a more deadly sight then the energy globes. It was the shark coasting on by. It was small looking because of the distance but he knew it was deadly. They would not be able to bring down its shields as easy as they had the spinners. Its design was typical for sharks: two narrow triangles set base to base. The second one was much shorter and slanted downward a little. Two nacelles rested near the sides underneath the rear triangle. These were where the drives were located and if it was the same as the other sharks Mantiee had seen the forward end of each tube like nacelle had four blaster barrels sticking out of it. Two were the largest size for that style of blaster and two were the size under that. He shook his head, they probably won’t be ion charged but there were big enough to cause big problems for the little runabout even so.
Along each side of the front triangle were three larger double laser turrets. They would be at 25 cms. It also would have two turrets with more of the full size blasters. The aft had four gamma plasma cannon emplacements and two more lasers. These would be twice the size as the ones the spinners used. The side lasers and the GPCs were in slots so the barrels could elevate up and down but not sideways.
Mantiee spoke, “Oh oh. But they will be able to detect us. Our life signs will show up easily around here.”
“I am betting that they will be looking for drives and other energy signatures not life signs. If they detect our batteries they will hopefully think they are back up batteries still functioning in this wreckage. There probably are some still providing power to busted systems.” Jonathan answered.
“Sooner or later they will figure we are running silent and
check for life signs.”
“True but by then we will have to think of something and I think I know what.”
Mantiee looked where Jonathan was looking and said, “Uh huh, we are not going to surround ourselves with those energy bubbles. Way too dangerous.”
“I have another idea but that one has merit maybe we should do it instead.”
“No, no. Forget I thought of it. Your idea is better.”
“You don’t even know what it is.”
“Its got to be better then that because it would be safer.”
Jonathan smiled and said, “It is actually but you should have seen the look on your face when you thought the only reason we were going to do it was because you thought it up. Now we are going to have to time this right. We need to pre start the power source and aim the grasser turrets.”
“Aim the turrets? One can only shot at the piece we are stuck on.”
“I know but we may be able to use that one to weaken where our wing is stuck.”
They busied themselves for a while. The searching ship had moved on but it would be back. The spinner still seemed to be drifting. If they had completely blown that drive it might drift until someone came to help or the helmsman decided to control the spinner’s thrust with only two drives. He might be able to do it with both at half power. That would get them out of here and to one of their partners. The crew of the shark must not care if they survive or not or so Mantiee hoped.
Jonathan not only aimed the turrets were he wanted them but he used the tractor beam to move some of the free floating globes. Powered only by batteries the tractor beam was on low power but the globes were easy to move. He managed to arrange five of them before the shark came back. This time it was closer.
Mantiee said, “Why do I have a certain base line popping into my head at the moment?”
He watched Jonathan glance at him before he said, “Ok power up. Time for us to leave.”
Mantiee touched the controls for the power supply and seconds later started the drives. The shark turned suddenly and made a bee line for them. Jonathan used the tractor beam to give the cluster of deadly bubbles a push. He had moved five but five more had joined them which meant ten moved toward the shark.
He said, “Its drives were more powerful then the runabout’s so I think they would zero in on it instead of us especially with the push I just gave them.”
As he spoke Mantiee noticed that he adjusted the firing controls with a wave of his fingers. Finally he fired the grasser on the side of the fragment they were stuck to. He reached to the image and slowly rotated his hand which moved the turret as the two pencil thin beams cut though the armor of the ship fragment way too slow for Mantiee. Suddenly the computer chirped, Mantiee looked then squeaked out his friend’s name loudly. Sweat formed on his forehead and under his arms again. They were clammy enough already. He could smell his own sweat, Jonathan’s and burnt components with the environmental controls still off.
Jonathan turned and looked out the side view port. He must have seen what Mantiee and the computer had seen: a bubble coming straight at them. Mantiee was glad he had used the head after all for that one was close and moving in fast for a slow bubble. Mantiee took a second to think that some gum would be good for his last taste.
End segment
March 13, 2016
Thank you friends and followers
This is another post to say that I appreciate all of the new friends and one new follower I have.
There may have been ten new friends since my last Thank you. Even one that was a surprise. And I am glad for the older followers and friends too.
Now for a few more book sells. :)
There may have been ten new friends since my last Thank you. Even one that was a surprise. And I am glad for the older followers and friends too.
Now for a few more book sells. :)
More on Learning Curve X2
I didn't want to take up too much space with my last post so here is post two:
The book is finished and the new cover is almost finished. I still need to come up with a blurb for it.
I just started a final spell check and light grammar check before sending it off to the person who is going to edit it for me. I finished the first chapter but not the second quiet yet. (rolls eyes) I needed to go back over the opening to the second chapter. I added stuff I hope will take the reader deep into my story as well as making make more sense.
The book is finished and the new cover is almost finished. I still need to come up with a blurb for it.
I just started a final spell check and light grammar check before sending it off to the person who is going to edit it for me. I finished the first chapter but not the second quiet yet. (rolls eyes) I needed to go back over the opening to the second chapter. I added stuff I hope will take the reader deep into my story as well as making make more sense.
My Next Learning Curve X2
I think I may have mentioned that I am in writing the second book in my Vibrations series. The first one is "Above My Pay Grade X2"
This action packed series about NA the young mage with desire to help those in need, an ability to manipulate matter and energy and enough emotional issues to have her own day time TV show for at least a month.
She has a special Geas to coax her along, an inner self to encourage or kick her in the rear as needed, and various friends
Not many know her adventures with a griffin, old fashion zombies, a Trick with a mind of its own, and other events, ending in a hairy battle with a more powerful mage and her own self. (Hint , hint)
Book two "Learning Curve X2" has her fighting a mating pair of Ghouls, constructing a sword that won't go away, a unicorn, a bridge Troll that had somehow been called away from its bridge and other mythos. Meanwhile she keeps an eye on Crazy Billy, finds two new friends and helpers, helps a woman with two abusers and it's raining way too much for Boulder Col.
This action packed series about NA the young mage with desire to help those in need, an ability to manipulate matter and energy and enough emotional issues to have her own day time TV show for at least a month.
She has a special Geas to coax her along, an inner self to encourage or kick her in the rear as needed, and various friends
Not many know her adventures with a griffin, old fashion zombies, a Trick with a mind of its own, and other events, ending in a hairy battle with a more powerful mage and her own self. (Hint , hint)
Book two "Learning Curve X2" has her fighting a mating pair of Ghouls, constructing a sword that won't go away, a unicorn, a bridge Troll that had somehow been called away from its bridge and other mythos. Meanwhile she keeps an eye on Crazy Billy, finds two new friends and helpers, helps a woman with two abusers and it's raining way too much for Boulder Col.
March 12, 2016
Second part of my serial
Short story serial I am placing on my blog
2,257 words this time. More excitement. More action in this one.
http://musingsofle.blogspot.com/2016/...
2,257 words this time. More excitement. More action in this one.
http://musingsofle.blogspot.com/2016/...
Short Story serial: Science Fiction tale Part Two
Last week I posted part one of this adventure on my blog and so here is part two
It's an old story and I have revised-revising each part just before I post it. It needed a lot of work. That including deleting a lot of stuff and rewriting sections and sentences and moving sentences.
This part is 2,257 words
Still not as I hoped it would be but it is a lot more readable than it was.
So anyway here is Part Two:
They zipped past ship and hull pieces, which had been cut out by lasers and other concentrated energy beams, that were larger than Jonathan’s main freighter. They could see that smaller ships involved had been involved in the battle also. Over there was a smaller red and green scout size ship that had smacked bow first into a large chunk of something. The whole unit drifted faster than the other pieces and spun. The something had been a ship before its power plant blew. Now only its bow remained with twisted and jagged edges on one end. The bow was still two and a half times bigger then the scout. The scout had a series of holes in it all the same size, probably blasted into it after the crash. Mantee mumbled something about the pilots over there were good, for their still followed them. Along the way Jonathan said they needed a few seconds in the clear so they could change places. Mantee knew that would be difficult in this small cockpit. The chaser were too close: it would leave them without a pilot for too long. He shook his head, wiped sweat off of his forehead, wished for some gum to keep his dry mouth refreshed. The Sansiburg frizzy gum would be good for that. When he dipped the Ant sideways-to him-he thought he smelled something burning. He realized it must be his imagination when he flew them past a ship engulfed inflames, its life support had to be still functioning. He must have seen it through the corner of his eye or on the sensor screen. Mantiee zagged back and forth to escape from their pursuers. Jonathan made suggestions: go through a hole where a hanger door had been turn around in the hanger bay then back the way they came. It took longer for him to thread his way through the hanger because of what might have been assault shuttles still in their cradles, two hung loose on tethers. They were hard to see in the dark cavern. Which meant they were stealth shuttles. Once back outside Jonathan said, “And you wonder why I don’t want to get on that vital roller coaster you have been trying to get me on. If we survive this that roller coaster would be tame.” Mantiee said, “If we don’t survive this your wife will kill me.” Jonathan just stared at his friend with an incredulous look on his face. They continued on their course for another minute or so. They zoomed over a shattered vessel then dipped suddenly going though what had been a flight deck on a carrier of some type. Jonathan took a closer look at his display and said, “I was right there is a shark back there. As well as at least three spinners.” Mantiee asked, “What’s a shark doing so far this far north on the galactic compass? Aren’t they mainly used by the Tech Terrorists?” “As you said mainly used by them. Some of the groups that raid in our sector have gotten hold of a few,” Jonathan said, then added, “Just before we past out of these fragments head up.” Mantiee said, “But that is not a clear way. It is though a tight debris field.” “Just do it. Even our shields can block those pieces...Now!” Mantiee hands flew over the controls and the little runabout suddenly peeled off headed upward and to one side. It quickly went though the opening and into the mini debris field. Jonathan adjusted the power settings. Small and tiny pieces of what had been military ships with thousands of beings on board hit the shields ricocheting away or were pushed out of the way when hit by the shields. Jonathan made some minute adjustments to three controls, said, “That will increase the strength of the shields for a little while. That should take care of the smaller pieces. You will still need to miss the larger pieces however,” pointing forward. Mantiee saw that they were headed straight at a rather larger piece of twisted metal. It looked like space armor that had been hit by a solar tornado of Epsilon Tenny. “I’ve never seen a piece of hull that twisted before. Obviously it had been part of another larger piece once but what that larger piece had been I can’t tell in the two or three-seconds we have.” He said, “Epp,” and fingers flying over the controls. The runabout curved to one side just missing the piece. He thought he could reach put of the top of the Ant and snag one of a tiny wedge. He thought it had been military green but a color that could be freeze dried blood decorated the inside of it. Then they were out of the closely packed small wreckage. Jonathan instructed him to continue along the hull they were now above, then down its other side. Mantiee did as instructed and as they reached the bottom Jonathan said to go under its stern then up the other side. Mantiee did that and as they came up on the other side they saw a spinner right in front of them. A spinner, even though shaped pretty much like a top, did not spin as their name implies. They are small only about four times the size of the runabout and very maneuverable. “Damn,” Mantee said! At the same moment he heard a second one. “Those things can pivot back and forth very fast. Most are armed with two sizes of lasers as well as small gamma plasma cannons. It may have been outfitted with mini-missiles.” The one now in front of them had been last in line of the ships chasing them. They had come at it from the rear and Mantee could see the large double hatch. This would be where the pirates would load the goods they capture. The ship looked matte black with white lines that suggested speed. Mantee, however also saw that this one had two larger lasers, one on each side. His head jerked up to look at the two small double lasers on the rear of the upper tapered section. It probably had two in the front also. Mantee had noticed that Jonathan had already activated the targeting computer back when they chase started. When he cleared the edge of the wrecked ship targeting brackets appeared on the view window. The second a bracket touched the spinner, even before the spinner was within the target circle he fired the blasters. If the energy streaks were slow enough to be seen, one would see glowing yellow globes with what looked like electrical arcs shooting around on their outside surfaces. These blaster bolts were charged with an ion charge which gave them an extra twenty-one percent more oomph as they impacted. The ion charge would also interact with a shield, weakening it. Mantee hook his head those blasters barely have been even noticed by one of the warships they were weaving around. At least these guys were in smaller ships. Three shots hit the spinner’s shields while the fourth one went on by to impact the side of the wreck they were speeding by. Even as they hit Jonathan pressed the blasters again. He could see small arcs of the ion charges spreading out in small circles as the target’s shields absorbed the force of the blaster hits. Jonathan must have seen the same thing Mantee noticed; the rear guns on the other ship start tracking toward them, for he quickly hit the button to launch an asteroid clearer then fired the laser and grassers. The clearers were small rockets tipped with explosive charges. They were to clear any asteroids in the path of a small craft like the runabout. Some used them, as Jonathan was about to, as weapons. All four streams of deadly light from their weapons hit the target. The rocket hit the other ship, in the same area the second set of blaster energy had hit. The light beams hit. A section of the spinner’s shields glowed then “popped” as it went down. As weak as they were the lasers and grassers still cut into the target’s hull. Jonathan most have hit something important, Mantiee thought, for seconds later something in an upper section blew out. A small explosion but it looked like something important for the spinner went spun away to starboard. “So,“ Mantee said, “they can spin after all.” As he had been firing the last round Jonathan had ordered Mantiee to dive under the spinner and the wrecked ship. Mantiee did as instructed and as the runabout came out on the other side his friend had him go up the side of the hulk and though the mini debris field again. This time they came out, what to their orientation, was the top of the whole field and leveled off. Of course it wasn’t a flat top but there was a definite place were the wreckage ended. They zipped along side two or three ships that had been cut into pieces. Glancing at the sensors Jonathan noticed, that even though the other two spinners had turned back to check out the battle scene, the shark was arrowing toward them. Mantiee asked, “What do those guys want anyway?”
Jonathan said, “I don’t know but I think they want to take us and not kill us. They could have blasted us by now if that's all they wanted.” “So they want to capture us or our cargo.” “I would think so.” “Again I say what do those guys want?” “It could be the peace plans for the Herche accords we are carrying or it could be that Jewel we have back there.” “Yes, but no one is supposed to know we have either.” “You know how secrets can slip though the cracks.” “Of course I do but these were kept very top secret.” Jonathan just shrugged and said, “Evidently someone discovered something: a spy among them or someone was offered enough money to buy him or her.” Seconds later Jonathan spoke up again, “Go though that opening over there I see something we can use.” Mantiee nodded and sharply curved to port. He went down though an opening, in the side of a battleship, that had been cratered by a rather large blast. He steered the runabout around the splintered decking and titled it sideways. An opening appeared and he next threaded the runabout though an open hatch and down a very large passageway. Green stripes decorated the bulkheads along with what could be orange blood sprayed here and there. Of course it could also some form of sign the alien crew would know. After a few seconds opened into a landing bay. They zoomed though the bay and between partially opened bay doors. Both caught glimpses of runabouts, something that may have been a fighter and floating alien bodies. Once out the doors Mantiee saw what Jonathan was talking about. There were a dozen or so floating balls of energy. They looked pretty much like huge soap bubbles of the type children create with toys, however when these popped a sizable explosion followed. The explosion was somehow storied in the bubble and was released when the bubble broke. They were used primarily by an alien race called the Zoonus. All of the Zoonu warcraft most of which were flat looking had what looked like scoops sticking out from under the bow of the ship. These were its main weapons even though they also had lasers as well as massers and grassers. The energy balls would shot out from the end of the scoop. Sometimes an egg shaped missile they liked to use would join the bubbles. The missiles had a drive on them and some ability to avoid antimissile fire. The globes however had no drives nor ability to change directions. They just shot out of the tubes and drifted toward their target. They moved pretty fast however for they looked more like a bunch of soap bubbles floating out of a child’s bubble pipe. The bubbles were all the same size even though the missiles came in two sizes. Some of the bigger Zoonu ships were also armed with smaller tubes on their sides usually toward the back. Mantiee calmed a bit for the bubbles had no way to change direction many would miss if the target ship moved. Which was why there were usually energy globes floating around after a battle involving the Zoonus, sometimes a lot of them. There seemed to be a lot less then usual at this site. Once out of the bay they headed toward one group of the globes. On the way Mantee had to dodge various pieces of large debris. Half way though them though Mantiee saw something on his pilot screen. He asked, “When did you turn on the tractor beam?” Jonathan who had seen the same thing said, “I didn’t turn it on, I thought you did.” Mantiee swallowed hard as his mouth became dry, said, “If you did not and I did not turn it on then how come that Zoonus bubble is following us?” “I don’t know. Those things don’t have drives so they can’t move by themselves. If it was a tractor beam my sensors would detect it.” “Don’t tell me tell that thing behind us. It is getting closer.” “Try speeding up.”
A few seconds later, sweating dripping off of his forehead Mantiee said, “I did and it's still getting closer.”
End Two
March 10, 2016
They changed things
Hey things look a little different and act a little differently. Not so bad so far though
