The Sados Winds of Change by D
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Sados Winds of Change By D. Scott Tumlinson Copyright © 2014 Darold Scott Tumlinson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This PDF-book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the express written permission from the author. ISBN: 9781468943412 Preface Although this book is Sci-Fi/Fantasy, it is also Christian in nature. Some will say that you cannot mix the two. But though all Sci-Fi/Fantasy books are based in fiction, it is still possible to apply the principles of a Godly life (i.e. what would you do in this situation or what would the Lord have you do?). Speculation based upon a foundation of morals, ethics and guidelines provided by the Word of God are of a never-ending value to us in this ever-changing world. Young readers need the platform from which they can base their decisions in life that will ultimately honor the Lord. Finding these values in the secular marketplace is highly unlikely. It is therefore, with great pleasure, I present to you book 1 of “The Sados”. - D. Scott Tumlinson Introduction Alarmed by the rapidly decaying sociological environment, an elite crew of scientists and astronauts take advantage of the newest technological breakthroughs and boldly set out to escape in an experimental spacecraft from planet Earth. The craft crashes on an alien planet and only one man and one woman survive. They begin a new race in the only environment hospitable, the Sados, a forest of immense trees, teaming with life. Over time, in spite of the inherent dangers of this planet, both from new life forms and the deserts surrounding the forest, the human population explodes. The Earth has become no more than ancient folklore with the indigenous faerie folk forming a new reality. But the faeries’ powers to drain life and the population explosion drive most humans from the forest into the harsh deserts to forge new towns, villages, kingdoms and political alliances extending far from the roots of the forest and the moral standards of their ancestors. Sre, an outcast from the human populace, seeks to understand the faeries in the only world he knows and thus, bridge the communication gap in order to bring in a new and lasting peace between the two races. But, he must first overcome the barriers of his longstanding social status. Help comes, but from the most unlikely sources and Sre discovers that sometimes, the best ways are the old ways. Prologue Screaming alarms and claxons blared all around them. Indicator lights flickered off and on sporadically. Emergency lighting, power and artificial gravity were still functional, though. Years of intricate corroboration and hardcore research had gone into today with top scientists and technical experts from around the world working feverishly. Every possible contingency and precaution had been forecast and planned for. This was not supposed to happen. “Talk to me commander, what are we doing?” Michael asked. Michael Stoarke, famous, eccentric, or just plain crazy billionaire had funded this scheme to reach out to the stars. Stoarke was one of those Type A personalities, now in his mid fifties. He knew a good idea when he saw one. And, he knew enough to keep it a secret until it was patented or ready to stun the world. This wasn’t just top secret. Not even the U.S. government knew of the research and development he had amassed to make his newest of dreams possible. By now, the launch site had been overrun with every available bloodsucking agent. By now, they would be combing through every shred of paperwork and every electronic file they could retrieve in efforts to discover how a spacecraft that could rocket out past the solar system within minutes had been designed, manufactured and launched without the knowledge of the U.S. government. America needed to know who was on this ship and what their intentions were. By now, heads were rolling in the C.I.A. By now, it was too late. “Somebody please shut those sirens off and get Laurie and Chris out of their cryo-beds,” Alan said, squinting his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. Alan Washington and Michael Stoarke had known each other since elementary school. Mike was a white boy and Alan was black. But, that didn’t stop them; they were the best of buddies, each one looking out for the best interests of the other. But for the sake of the crew, they kept their public appearances on a professional level. “Sir, we’re doing our best to find out what’s wrong, but as you can see, every time we start to get somewhere, the system crashes and reboots. We can’t take corrective actions until we find out what’s wrong”. Mike closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as the control station alarms abruptly cut off. “Alan look, we’ve been friends for how long, all our lives? I’m not trying to implicate anyone. I just want to get a bead on the situation. How far off course are we? What’s our heading? What will it take to recover? Shoot, shut… shut it all down if you have to. We can start from scratch; we’ve got time”. “Houston,” Melissa Anderson shouted, “we have a problem. Y’all better have a look at this… Now!” Mike and Alan unstrapped their chairs and wheeled them across the room to tether them again near Melissa’s station. The right section of her monitor was flashing red while the left side showed a slowly spinning globe and streaming, real-time data. Commander Alan Washington immediately assessed the situation and a hard lump began to form in his throat. He was beginning to feel weak. The moral fiber of every nation on earth had deteriorated to the point of disaster. They had seized the moment when a young prodigy had shown up on the doorstep of Stoarke Enterprises with revolutionary thinking on the ability to achieve light-speed, enabling mankind for the first time to maneuver outside the paradigms of conventional space travel. The breakthrough had come when a Canadian scientist, Michelle Gastinou had been playing around with Einstein’s theory of relativity E=MC2. Since the constant – the speed of light – was unchangeable and the amount of energy required for light-speed was unmanageably high and dangerous, the only other alternative was to change the mass of the object. Unfortunately, that was also impossible. But, the ability to hide an object’s true mass was not. This led to the invention of the world’s first and only M3, the mass masking module. This technology also eliminated the pesky problem of having to include inertial dampeners. Since for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, the minimal amount of energy required to achieve light-speed produced a kinetic energy of almost nil. As a perk, she had been richly rewarded and she had even been offered a seat on the first flight in exchange for her ideas. They were careful to keep the discovery hushed. If the government had known, all would have been confiscated and threats would have been made to squelch any potential media leaks. They interviewed top scientists with flawless DNA and off-the-chart I.Q.’s, not telling anyone but key personnel until the last possible moment of their plans to shed themselves of earth’s debauchery and start afresh on a pristine world. Destination: Gliese667Cc, a superterran exoplanet in the Scorpius sytem. It lay in the habitable zone, albeit a little on the warm side. Except for Stoarke and Washington, everyone aboard was a clone, even their wives. The bio-engineers could cull out the genetic imperfections, but not those pesky morals. Now, it would all be for nothing. “We’ve stopped too close to a large planet and our atmosphere is decaying… rapidly,” Melissa said, staring Stoarke in the eyes “and our only working engine is on the port side.” Her voice started to falter and she began to shake uncontrollably. “If we start that up, it will only bring us about to make matters worse. As if it could get any worse”. “What do you mean?” Mike asked. Melissa’s voice became solemn. “Sir,” she swallowed hard, “we’re at the point of no return. All we can do now is look for a soft spot and place the rest in the Lord’s hands”. As if to affirm her analysis, gravity suddenly increased and then retreated, hurtling crew members through the cabin, against the ceiling, the walls and each other. People with dreams, people with hopes. The ship lurched forward suddenly, skipping off the planet’s atmosphere. Soft tissue collided with metal, glass and arcing electric cables. Alan Washington lay cataleptic against the control panel, bleeding profusely. Michael Stoarke became pinned between the proverbial rock and the hard spot: an instrument panel which had come loose and slid across the room, breaking connections and power cables, and the nearest desk. He heard the sickening cracks as his ribs began to splinter one by one, crushing the air out of his lungs and filling them instead with his own blood. Copilot Peter Williams glanced briefly at Alan, then pulled himself into the captain’s seat and began to struggle furiously with the control stick.