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Wendy E Gamble
a rough-cut book bubble about
Shoot for Earth: MedSci Missions 3
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author Insight
Spying or Just Scouting?
You travel to an exciting new place and start exploring. Or are you spying? It’s all in the frame of mind . A lot of us love to travel on vacation. See new things, experience different cultures. When you take a walk down a street in a foreign country to check out the local architecture and landscaping, are you spying or exploring? What does a local think of you noting their mannerisms and manner of dress as they garden or shop? When Columbus set forth to discover new lands, he was exploring. Or was he exploiting? In this excerpt, Captain Walsh is following orders to explore for the purpose of saving Earth from an alien disease. From the point of view of the on-board Ambassador, and those under his command, reading alien correspondence and discovering how to gain cooperation is all good. The Tasla who have been modified by the disease have a different perspective. They feel the disease makes their species stronger – and so it might. But in the minds of humans, it makes them ruthless and nasty. Hence, the feeling of being justified in spying on them. Or are they just scouting for options? Enjoy this tiny excerpt from the trilogy finale that opens a universe of further adventures. (Click “View Profile” or my website to see my science fiction books available now.)
Book Excerpt
Shoot for Earth: MedSci Missions 3
First Officer Heather McTavish looked up as Chiron’s Hygiea cruiser, Peleus, powered away on its way to the Taslamin planet.
“I have a scout receiver picking up a transmission from the Tasla to the Taslamin. I’m flagging it as priority for Panther.”
“You mean you have a spy receiver. Good job.”
“That’s another name for it, I suppose. Sufra set it up for me.”
“Ah. Good for her, too. Put Panther on the central holo when he’s translated.”
“Aye, sir,” Heather said.
Twenty minutes later, Panther appeared in clear 3d on the bridge’s holographic display, with his office scratchboard in the background. “Ok, your message translates basically to, ‘We’re coming, you mutated minis! We were shocked to find you’re communing with strangers from a distant solar system. We’re going to make sure you don’t give them any of our DNA’.”
Walsh cursed. “That’s exactly what we need – another confrontation with the Tasla. Sit-rep?”
Heather nodded. “The Tasla off-shoots on the planet were miniaturised by the infectious DNA. They just kept shrinking, extremely rapidly, in an evolutionary sense. No one knows how they stopped it before disappearing entirely. Hopefully the Min know. It might give us a hint about how we can make the infectious DNA stop mutating humans.”
“I hope we have a chance to ask them,” the Captain muttered quietly. He turned to his second officer.
“Jack,” Walsh said in his normal command voice, “take us to the opposite side of the planet from the expected trajectory of the incoming vessels.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Jack said promptly.
“Sir,” Jack said fifteen minutes later, “we’re not going to make it in time. They’ll be within firing range of us before we can distance ourselves.”
Walsh winced. “How many?”
“A good dozen, I’d say. We can’t defend against them.”
“Do we have an hour to prep the QDD?”
Jack checked. “We do, barely.”
Walsh knew the decision had to be made now or never. He slapped the com controller. “S6, get Roed down to engineering ASAP to prep for Quantum Displacement.”
“Right away, sir,” Gamma One answered.
Walsh stewed. A QD near a planet was the last thing he wanted to do. Except be blown up by aliens.
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