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Hi Everyone. It has been a quiet week. Mr Wonderful worked some freelance, we cleaned the pool, though it is full of leaves again. We had some great weather, but rain has moved in. We are supposed to have some severe weather in the next day or two, but that is normal for this time of year. Time to hunker down, binge on Below Deck and watch some of The Players Tournament, that is having lots of weather too.
I got the idea and the motivation to start doing Tackling The TBR from All The Book Blog Names Are Taken.
It has helped me to keep track of my reading shelf as far as current
events and I also started doing a post for Books From The Backlog,
from Carole’s Random Life in Books,
to tidy up my shelves. I feel better about my out of control TBR and
have even knocked off a couple of those old ones that had been
hanging around for years.
COME ON….JOIN IN.
Previous Total: 2158
Currently Reading
Books Read
Future Tense by Michaelbrent Collings is linked to Goodreads. Expected publication date 3.23.22. It is a collection of short stories and a novella, showcasing the beginning of the Stranger series, which is fantastic.f I will read anything Michaelbrent writes!
Three
years after the Spring Strangler case rocked the historic Western
Maryland city nestled at the foot of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains,
life has returned to normal for Detective Ben Winters and his partner,
Tommy Mason. With a new chief now leading the department and the city
slowly crawling out of its economic distress, everything seems to be
moving in the right direction.
Until
one sweltering summer day, a killer begins targeting police officers.
Ben and Tommy find themselves once again leading an investigation the
likes of which Parker City has never seen. The detectives quickly come
to realize that until the shooter is found, everyone wearing a badge is
in danger. To complicate matters even further, when a recently unearthed
skeleton mysteriously connects to the string of police homicides, Ben
and Tommy begin to think their current case may be tied to events twenty
years earlier.
But how could a skeleton buried two decades ago hold the key to solving their current case?
Book Details:
Genre: Mystery Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: February 15, 2022 Number of Pages: 288 ISBN: 978-1-68512-069-6 Series:Parker City Mysteries, #2 || Each book is a stand alone novel. Purchase Links:Amazon | Goodreads
Read an excerpt:
Tall and athletic, Tommy Mason always reminded Ben of Tom Selleck’s Magnum P.I. character from television. Tommy always had that whole ruggedly handsome thing going for him. Mixed with a little bit of a “bad boy” vibe and he drove the women wild.
Next to Ben’s clean-cut, buttoned-down appearance, their pairing caused many to do a doubletake. At first glance, they appeared to be complete opposites. But as one got to know them, they were very much alike. Each brought out the best in the other and at the end of the day, it was all about getting the job done. Sure, each had his own style, but that’s what made them such a formidable team.
Tommy’s apparent willingness to skirt the rules was always offset by Ben’s ability to find ways to use the rules to their benefit. Just as Ben’s refusal to play the internal politics game allowed Tommy to use his charm to keep too many feathers from getting ruffled amongst the powers-that-be. They each knew the other’s strengths and weaknesses and how to adapt them to their own, which is why they’d been so impressive in getting the PCPD’s Detective Squad off the ground.
“What are you doing here?” Ben asked, more than a little surprised to see his partner.
“Shirley from Dispatch called me. She thought I’d be interested,” Tommy explained. “And before you say anything about what I’m wearing, I just want to remind you, it is our day off, so I didn’t think I needed to get dressed up to come to a potential crime scene. Especially when we don’t actually know this is a crime scene yet.”
He was referring to the fact he had on a T-shirt and comfortable pair of jeans, as opposed to the full suit and tie Ben was wearing.
“Besides, now you don’t have to worry about getting your fancy suit muddy. I have no problems getting down there in the dirt,” Tommy smiled, pointing at the fresh mud stains on his knees. With that, he knelt back down to take another look at the exposed skeletal remains under the floorboards.
“So, tell me. What do we have?” Ben asked, crouching next to Tommy so he could get a better look.
“You can see there’s a pretty big cavity here under this part of the floor,” Tommy pointed out. “It’s got to be a good ten by ten area where the ground has been eaten away, even though it’s not too deep, less than a foot in some places. It’s definitely because of water…there’s a lot of mud down there. As the earth under the floor eroded, it uncovered the skeleton. Partway, at least. Of course, no one could see what was happening under here until our friend Mr. Haggarty had the unfortunate experience of stepping on a board that was rotted through and it snapped, sending him falling through the floor. You can see where he landed in the mud.
“And right there,” Tommy pointed, “you see the skull and top portion of the skeleton sticking out of the ground.”
“You came face-to-face with that thing, man?” Tommy looked over at the construction worker who was leaning against the wall. “Not a good way to start the day.”
“Yeah. You’re telling me,” Haggarty answered.
Turning back to the skeleton, Tommy said, “I’m no expert, but that hole in the skull right there…see it, it looks like it could be a GSW from a pretty heavy caliber gun.”
Leaning down and twisting his head so he could try and get a better look at the skull, Ben saw the hole and wondered if his partner was right. Finding a skeleton buried under the floor was one thing. Finding a skeleton buried under the floor with a bullet hole in its skull was something else. It took everything to a different level.
Standing and stretching their legs, Tommy said, “When Shirley first called me, I thought this was going to have been some kind of prank. Some kids snuck into the site on a dare and left a skeleton for the crew to find.”
“You thought kids somehow buried a skeleton under this building in the hopes someone would fall through the floor and find it?” Ben asked, raising an eyebrow. “Not to mention having to figure out how to bury the thing under the floor?”
“In my defense,” Tommy started, raising a finger and shaking it at his partner, “I didn’t know the skeleton was buried under the warehouse. I just knew they’d found a skeleton at the warehouse.”
The first thing that needed to happen was to get the skeleton out of the ground. That would be up to the crime scene techs. Even though he could easily reach in and pull the skull out to get a better look, Ben didn’t want to disturb anything more than it already had been when Lance Haggarty crashed through the floor. Thankfully, he hadn’t actually landed on the skull itself.
“So much for our day off,” Ben said, looking at his watch, wondering where the crime scene guys were.
***
Excerpt from Vice & Virtue by Justin M. Kiska. Copyright 2022 by Justin M. Kiska. Reproduced with permission from Justin M. Kiska. All rights reserved.
Author Bio:
When not sitting in his library devising new and clever ways to kill people (for his mysteries), Justin can usually be found at The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, outside of Washington, DC, where he is one of the owners and producers. In addition to writing the Parker City Mysteries Series, he is also the mastermind behind Marquee Mysteries, a series of interactive mystery events he has been writing and producing for over fifteen years. Justin and his wife, Jessica, live along Lake Linganore outside of Frederick, Maryland.
Hippie Wagon Homicide (Twister Sisters Mysteries) Cozy Mystery 1st in Series Setting – Small farming/tourist town in the Missouri Ozarks Wings of Ink Publications, LLC (February 1, 2022) Hardcover : 474 pages ISBN-13 : 979-8408091980 Paperback : 626 pages ISBN-13 : 979-8795278049 Digital Print length : 476 pages ASIN : B09K4ZPZ93
Cordelia Davis lives with no regrets,
despite her life changing drastically a half century ago when a tornado
altered the destiny of the little Ozark town of Willow Lane. The town
grew back stronger and more beautiful, and Cordelia, her sister, Pamela,
and her best friend, Wanda, built a life to treasure.
As Willow Lane honors the memory of
those lost and celebrates all that has been achieved, tragedy refuses to
remain in the past. News of murder rocks the pastoral countryside when
Cordelia discovers a body on her farm, beneath her beloved willow tree.
And while the police make an immediate arrest, Cordelia finds herself
untangling a web of lies and long-ago secrets.
With suspects in every nook of her cozy
town—and an old flame knocking on her door—it will take all Cordelia’s
tenacity to face the past and to weather the mysteries of Willow Lane.
About Mildred Abbott
Preoccupied with everything found in
cozy mysteries: Puppies, Books, Cozy Mountain Towns, and Baked
Goods. Although not obsessed with murder, however. At least not in real
life (No contract killing here). But since childhood, starting with
Nancy Drew, trying to figure out who-dun-it has played a formative role
in everyday life. Author of the Cozy Corgi series and the Twister
Sister series.
First off, I would like to thank Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Girl In Ice by Erica Ferencik. It blew me away. I loved everything about it, from the title, to the cover, to the story inside.
The Girl In Ice was thawed out by the research team studying climate change on an island off the coast of Greenland. The Arctic Circle…I can’t imagine being there at any time, let alone when danger lurks. Where will it come from? I figured it out pretty quick, but I could not be certain. Didn’t matter anyway. The writing kept me glued to the pages.
Valerie ‘Val’ Chesterfield was already somewhat acquainted with the research being carried out. Her brother, Andy, had been a part of it…until he was found outside, frozen. Well, that makes me very suspicious. When the Girl In Ice was found and no one could understand her, Val, being a linguist who specialized in Nordic languages, was called in to help. She didn’t believe the story about her brother, so now she can find out for herself what really happened.
The Girl In Ice is desperately trying to communicate with them.
I love when an author can include things that interest me, like climate change. It makes the story more believable, except for the girl in the ice coming to life. I don’t think I can believe that could happen, but hey, there are those that believe in cryogenics, so…….
I watched Val grow, change, develop into an strong, independent, loyal person that has yet to find her place in the world, but happy to be in it.
The world building was so realistically created that I almost believed I could feel the cold, hear the snow squeaking under my feet, and it made me wonder…about what research Erica Ferencik did. Her detailed descriptions allowed her to paint so vividly with words an environment so harsh, otherworldly…and I was lost in it.
A sense of danger arose early and hung on every page. I had a feeling about some things that come to pass, but Erica Ferencik supplied plenty of book surprises to keep me on my toes. I ignored everything around me, except coffee and restroom breaks. I read hundreds of books a year, so that is not any easy thing to do.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Girl In Ice by Erica Ferencik.
5 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
From the author of The River at Night and Into the Jungle comes
a harrowing new thriller set in the unforgiving landscape of the Arctic
Circle, as a brilliant linguist struggling to understand the apparent
suicide of her twin brother ventures hundreds of miles north to try to
communicate with a young girl who has thawed from the ice alive.
Valerie
“Val” Chesterfield is a linguist trained in the most esoteric of
disciplines: dead Nordic languages. Despite her successful career, she
leads a sheltered life and languishes in the shadow of her twin brother
Andy, an accomplished climate scientist stationed on a remote island off
Greenland’s barren coast. But Andy is gone: a victim of suicide, having
willfully ventured unprotected into 50 degree below zero weather. Val
is inconsolable—and disbelieving. She suspects foul play.
When Wyatt,
Andy’s fellow researcher in the Arctic, discovers a scientific
impossibility—a young girl frozen in the ice who thaws out alive,
speaking a language no one understands—Val is his first call. Will she
travel to the frozen North and meet this girl, try to comprehend what
she is so passionately trying to communicate? Under the auspices of
helping Wyatt interpret the girl’s speech, Val musters every ounce of
her courage and journeys to the Artic to solve the mystery of her
brother’s death.
The moment she steps off the plane, her fear
threatens to overwhelm her. The landscape is fierce, and Wyatt,
brilliant but difficult, is an enigma. But the girl is special, and
Val’s connection with her is profound. Only something is terribly wrong;
the child is sick, maybe dying, and the key to saving her lies in
discovering the truth about Wyatt’s research. Can his data be trusted?
And does it have anything to do with how and why Val’s brother died?
With time running out, Val embarks on an incredible frozen odyssey—led
by the unlikeliest of guides—to rescue the new family she has found in
the most unexpected of places.
ABOUT ERICA FERENCIK
Oprah chose Erica Ferencik’s debut novel, The River at Night as a #1 Pick, calling the book “the page-turning novel you’ve been waiting for, a heart-pounding debut.” Entertainment Weekly named it a “Must Read,” and calls the novel “harrowing…a visceral, white knuckle rush.” Miramax has recently optioned the novel for a film. Her new novel, Into the Jungle, one woman’s terrifying journey of survival in the Bolivian Amazon, will be released on May 28, 2019. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, calling it: “[A] ferocious fever dream of a thriller…Ferencik delivers an alternately terrifying and exhilarating tale.” Her work has appeared in Salon and The Boston Globe, as well as on National Public Radio.
The colors on the cover for The Gingerbread Curse by April Marcom sure caught my eye and made me curious…and Run, run as fast as you can. The moment you stop, you’re a dead man…what the hell is that all about? LOL
All her life, Falon’s
grandfather told her the age-old tale of ‘The Gingerbread Man’. Even as a
teenager, she’d fallen asleep to his favorite bedtime story, a special
tradition she knew she’d never outgrow. However, when he makes a dying
wish, asking her to visit a secret underground world of magic to rescue the
best friend he left behind fifty years ago, the tale begins to come to life.
Setting out with her
self-obsessed cousin and a cure for the magicked man with skin like
gingerbread, she finds herself tangled within an adventure nothing like the
story her grandfather always told.
Once having found the
long lost man of her grandfather’s youth, her only hope of ever returning home,
or even surviving his world, lies in the talons of a deadly hybrid she scarcely
trusts. Together they must face the animals taken from the children’s tale and
magicked into monsters, a man who can move mountains who is bent on killing
them all, and a labyrinth rumored to have never allowed a survivor.
AUTHOR GUEST POST
I am usually attracted to a book, first and foremost, by its cover. So, whenever I get the chance to have an author share firsthand their thoughts, and here is what April Marcom had to say:
Topic: Discuss
your cover — how it came to be, what it represents, what you love or
don’t love about it, etc. Anything you’d like to share about it.
It’s been so many years, it’s hard to remember
exactly what ideas or descriptions I sent to 5 Prince Publishing in the book
cover request form. I’m sure I described the magical underground world and the
poisonous, deadly maze Falon has to travel through for most of the story. But
the cover came out great. It’s an underground image with Falon running toward
the gold pool of immortality, taken from a scene early in the story. I love the
‘catch phrase’ of sorts printed across the top of the cover: “Run, run as
fast as you can. The moment you stop, you’re a dead man.” My favorite part
has got to be the beautiful gold lettering of the book’s title, though. 5
Prince Publishing always makes amazing book covers! They capture the story in
one shot beautifully.
A thrill shot through me as I approached the spectacular
tree. Something wonderful was about to happen, or something I might very well
regret for the rest of my life. Either way, I was simply too hungry, and there
was too much time ahead of me with no food, to have a choice in eating it or
not…
I stared at all the tear drops. None stood out especially.
The ones closer to the trunk of the tree were the biggest. My appetite was
pushing me in their direction. I followed one of the branches inward, wondering
if a larger crystal meant a stronger ability. No amount of time trying to
decide which one would make any difference. And part of me was terribly excited
to discover which of Sierra’s ‘gifts’ I was about to inherit.
The leaves twinkled and sparkled against one another. I
reached out for the largest one in sight, wondering if it might give me
fearlessness or musical ability or wisdom beyond my years, but stopped at the
last moment when I noticed the one hanging just above it. Frost-like patterns
etched over the higher crystal created a perfect calligraphy F. It was as if my
name was written on it. This was the one.
I reached out with both hands and cupped them around the
leaf, catching nearly every purple petal. They had a chill to them, and felt
damp as if they’d been painted with fresh morning dew. The rest liquefied, one
by one, as they hit the ground.
Cautiously, I ate one petal. The sweet burst that erupted
like grape juice inside my mouth was so delightful, I ate the rest without
restraint.
AUTHOR Bio and Links
April
Marcom works as a Pre-K teacher’s assistant, but her true passion is writing.
When she’s not teaching or creating stories, she’s enjoying the country life
with her car-obsessed husband and three fabulous children. She also enjoys
rainy days, traveling, and her very rowdy dogs. April grew up a southern bell
in Mississippi, but is now a proud Oklahoman.
Book Title: The Mirabal Sisters: From Caterpillars to Butterflies by Raynelda A. Calderon Category: Children’s Non-Fiction (Ages 8-12) Genre: Children’s Book Publisher: Cayena Press, Inc., 48 pages Release date:March 2022 Content Rating: G. Suitable for all readers.
MY REVIEW
The Mirabel Sisters is a wonderfully illustrated look into a moment in time in the Dominican Republic during the rule of the dictator, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Because of these sisters, November 25th was declared International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in their honor.
Kudos to these brave ladies, and those that supported them. I am happy to share their story and the courage they showed. The book and illustrations work together to tell their inspirational story.
The sisters were just people, people who loved to read, paint, worked in the family store, and, even though the youngest, Dede, was not killed, she was left to raise the children and tell their story. They are the true definition of heroes, which I feel is bandied around all too easily nowadays.
Recommended age group: Grades 4 – 6, Ages 8 – 12. The MIrabel Sisters would be a great addition to any library.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Mirabel Sisters by Raynelda A Calderon.
5 Stars
Book Description:
Born in a small town in the Dominican Republic, the Mirabal sisters lived at a time when the country was under the merciless rule of a dictatorship. Their deaths on November 25, 1960 (at ages 36, 34, and 25), have received international coverage. In their honor, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is observed annually on November 25.
Raynelda A. Calderón, a Dominican native who lives in Queens, NY, is a children’s book author who has worked in public libraries for more than 15 years. She holds a doctorate in leadership in higher education, and she has taught Information Literacy at various colleges, most recently at Bronx Community College. As a librarian, working with children inspires Raynelda to write about the accomplishments of Hispanic women in history. She hopes to inspire young readers to follow their passions and never take no for an answer. Raynelda is the creator of the first Hispanic Heritage wall calendar that honors the accomplishments of Hispanic Americans in the United States. She lives with an untamed Shih Tzu, Toby, and a much attached Chihuahua, Maya. She spends her free time thinking (and drafting) about books to write, or painting, crocheting, or crying over abused dogs.
Join Us For This Tour From: February 21 to March 11 Book Details:
Book Title: Nova’s Blade: A Young Adult Dystopian Cyberpunk by Will Scifi Category: YA Fiction (Ages 13-17), 346 pages Genre: YA Fiction (Ages 13-17) Publisher: Will Scifi Publication Date: February 1st 2022. Content Rating: PG-13 + M: So there are no curse words or sex scenes in the book. There is violence
such as people getting stabbed, limbs cut off, head cut off. There is a mention of an abortion in it, no depiction of it. No suicides’, but talks about it as well.
Book Description:
THIRTY-TWO WOMEN. ONE ARENA. A BATTLE TO THE DEATH.
After a long war, corporations have replaced countries. Sports are fought to the death. The most popular game is Last Valkyrie, a live tournament where women kill each other for marriage into a powerful family.
For Nova, living in poverty with her mother and sister is a harsh reality
that she cannot escape. But when she is kidnapped and forced to fight on the show, her world changes. If she refuses to fight, the bomb in her head goes off. Now winning means her freedom.
With death lurking at every moment, Nova has no idea if her next fight will be her last. But one thing she knows for certain: only one is making it out alive.
Perfect for fans of Hunger Games, The Selection, and The Princess Trials. You won’t want to put down this exciting page-turner!
Will Scifi is a pen name for an author from California. He loves reading and
writing mainly science fiction that touches on themes surrounding American culture. He draws inspiration from the over 500 movies he has watched in the last 5 years, books, tv shows, and real life. When he is not writing, he can be found in the gym or watching movies at home or in the theaters. He thanks all of his fans for their support and highly encourages anyone who has read his work to always leave a review.
The cover for The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman makes it easy to see why someone could go missing and never be found. I’d like to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read and review The Cold Vanish.
I saw the title and cover, then read the blurb, and my interest was peaked. I had to know what Jon Billman had to say in this true story of the missing across the country.
To tell the story, Jon Billman did walk in Jacob Gray’s footsteps, to a point.
The Schrödinger’s cat experiment…I had never heard the entire experiment, but the fact that it is neither, dead or alive, or both, dead and alive, until you open the box. I imagine it is the same with a missing person. I cannot imagine how the not knowing could mess with someone’s mind.
I do believe some of the problem is with those who are doing the investigating. The process has come a long way, but I think investigators can still get stuck on one person, zeroing in on them, making the suspect fit the evidence. Not only has technology aided the investigators, the investigators have become more sophisticated.
Unfortunately, there are still those who are out to make a name for themselves, to get elected to office. or just inept and unqualified for the job at hand. And the wilderness…such a large area where bodies could be easily hidden, make findng them like a needle in a haystack.
Cold Vanish…here one minute, gone the next. Aliens? Bigfoot? The Supernatural?
The book was written like a TV episode, hopping from one case to another, coming back again and again. It was confusing at times, but I do like that so many missings were shared.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman.
3 Stars
GOODREADS BLURB
For readers of Jon
Krakauer and Douglas Preston, the critically acclaimed author and
journalist Jon Billman’s fascinating, in-depth look at people who vanish
in the wilderness without a trace and those eccentric, determined
characters who try to find them.
These are the stories that defy
conventional logic. The proverbial vanished without a trace incidences,
which happen a lot more (and a lot closer to your backyard) than almost
anyone thinks. These are the missing whose situations are the hardest on
loved ones left behind. The cases that are an embarrassment for park
superintendents, rangers and law enforcement charged with Search &
Rescue. The ones that baffle the volunteers who comb the mountains,
woods and badlands. The stories that should give you pause every time
you venture outdoors. Through Jacob Gray’s disappearance in Olympic
National Park, and his father Randy Gray who left his life to search for
him, we will learn about what happens when someone goes missing.
Braided around the core will be the stories of the characters who fill
the vacuum created by a vanished human being. We’ll meet eccentric
bloodhound-handler Duff and R.C., his flagship purebred, who began
trailing with the family dog after his brother vanished in the San
Gabriel Mountains. And there’s Michael Neiger North America’s foremost
backcountry Search & Rescue expert and self-described “bushman”
obsessed with missing persons. And top researcher of persons missing on
public wildlands Ex-San Jose, California detective David Paulides who is
also one of the world’s foremost Bigfoot researchers.
It’s a
tricky thing to write about missing persons because the story is the
absence of someone. A void. The person at the heart of the story is
thinner than a smoke ring, invisible as someone else’s memory. The bones
you dig up are most often metaphorical. While much of the book will
embrace memory and faulty memory — history — The Cold Vanish is at its core a story of now and tomorrow. Someone will vanish in the wild tomorrow. These are the people who will go looking.
ABOUT JON BILLMAN (from Grand Central Publishing)
Jon Billman is a former wildland firefighter and high school teacher. He holds an MFA in Fiction from Eastern Washington University. He’s the author of the story collection When We Were Wolves (Random House, 1999). Billman is a regular contributor to Outside and his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, and Zoetrope: All-Story. He teaches fiction and journalism at Northern Michigan University in the Upper Peninsula, where he lives with his family in a log cabin along the Chocolay River.
Dallas Gordon’s miners
keep disappearing. Back on Earth, general Zhang Aiguo has seized control of the
Chinese military and declared himself emperor.
His forces have secretly dispatched to the Red Planet to plunder
EPSILON’s hard-won treasure.
Time is running out.
Can Dallas Gordon and the Prospector team find Zhang’s hidden bases before they
are all killed?
EXCERPT
Dallas heard nothing except the faint susurration of the
wind against the outer dome wall.
Full panic washed across him. He quickly strode back into
the common room. Luis, Allie, Nels and Ruth had just entered from the airlock.
They and all four Chinese were taken aback at Dallas’s bleached countenance.
“What is it, Flash?” Luis cocked his head.
Dallas stopped when he reached the group. He fought to
maintain his composure.
“Everyone’s gone. The base is empty. I found Robbie back in
the Greenhouse, in the same condition as we found Number Two out at Site 7.”
Commander Chan spoke up. “Perhaps your people are outside
working?”
“I don’t know what
would require them all to EVA at once. They were tasked with preparing for your
arrival,” replied Dallas. He walked over to the communication console. “Maybe
you’re right. Let me see if I can raise them.”
Then Dallas froze.
“Allie, come look at this.”
She stepped up beside him.
“The computer is off,” she observed. She quickly inspected
the Bose-Einstein condensate quantum communicator unit beside the computer. The
refrigeration unit, required in order to maintain the near zero-degree kelvin
temperature of the Bose-Einstein condensate, was working. “But the Q-comm unit
seems to be fine.”
She quickly pressed the computer power button to boot it up.
Nothing happened.
“I guess this explains why comms are down.”
Dallas prepared to set his helmet back on.
“Luis, Commander Chan, please come with me.”
The two men put their helmets on and followed Dallas back into
the airlock. He decompressed the airlock and stepped outside. He walked a few
paces toward the lead ore hauler and stopped. Luis and Chan stopped on either
side of him.
Dallas pointed to the ground between them and the hauler.
“Luis, what do you see on the ground here?”
Not fully comprehending, Luis paused to collect his
thoughts.
“Well, I see your boot prints, my boot prints, and Allie’s
boot prints leading from the hauler to the airlock. We didn’t EVA until you
were inside. See over there?” Luis pointed back toward the airlock hatch. “You
can see our prints where we waited for it to decompress so we could enter.”
Several sets of overlapping prints confirmed Luis’s account.
Dallas drew his attention back to the ground between their
location and the hauler.
“Yes, I see all that. But what else do you see?”
Luis was confused. “I don’t understand what else you want me
to see, Flash. There’s nothing else but sand.”
“Exactly. There’s nothing else. Where are the hundreds of
boot prints that we’ve made on our hundreds of individual EVAs? Where are the
RBI tracks that they made traveling between the base and the reactor array, or
the landing/launch area?”
Luis felt the hair on the nape of his neck raise. “There
aren’t any! They’ve all been wiped clean!”
Dallas finished Luis’s thought. “Just like what happened to
Dave’s boot prints back at Site 7. Let’s get back inside. You and Allie get
that PC up and running. We’ve got to report this to SaMMCon.”
Turning to Chan, he said, “I don’t know what’s going on
here, but I need to show you how we tapped into the MGPS communication band to
coordinate with SaMMCon after we crash-landed. Right now, it’s the only link we
have back to Earth. It may be the only way you and I can communicate if
something like this has happened to your base, too. We may have to rely on each
other if we can’t get any help from Earth.”
Chan signaled to Dallas to switch to helmet-to-helmet communication. “Commander Gordon, there’s something we need to discuss after we return inside your base.” Chan’s voice was nearly a whisper, concern etched across his narrowed eyes.
AUTHOR Bio and Links
In his first
life, Brian worked as a contractor and civil engineer in bustling Seattle.
Desiring a change, he and his wife traded big city life for the outdoor
adventures of Central Oregon. His writing draws deeply on his lifelong loves of
science/technology and adventure sports. His EPSILON Sci-Fi Thriller series now
boasts two novels: Red Dragon and Crimson Lucre.
