BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER — snippet 113
BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER – snippet 113:
Mahrys withdrew with his normal quiet efficiency, and Dragoner settled his professional diplomat's expression into place as he found himself alone with his visitor.
June 23, 2008
SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS — snippet 23
SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 23:
"One thing I have been meaning to ask you," said Kretz, watching Howard laboriously shovel animal feces into a simple one-wheeled barrow with two handles. "Why do you do everything yourselves? A machine could do this in seconds. I have seen your repair machines…"
June 22, 2008
Storm From The Shadows – Snippet 01
Storm From The Shadows – Snippet 01
STORM FROM THE SHADOWS by David Weber
Chapter One
"Talk to me, John!"
Rear Admiral Michelle Henke's husky contralto came sharp and crisp as the information on her repeater tactical display shifted catastrophically.
"It's still coming in from the Flag, Ma'am," Commander Oliver Manfredi, Battlecruiser Squadron Eighty-One's golden-haired chief of staff, replied for the squadron's operations officer, Lieutenant Commander John Stackpole. Manfredi was standing behind Stackpole, watching the ops section's more detailed displays, and he had considerably more attention to spare for updates at the moment than Stackpole did. "I'm not sure, but it looks –"
June 20, 2008
SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS — snippet 22
SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 22:
Chapter 11
Re Habitat 37.
Date: 2120-11-4 Time: 15:31 NMT
From: Chief Scientist S. Guthrie (Environment Construction)
To: Chief Construction (Spacefitting) Officer M. Kabongo
Re: repair and maintenance robots.
Mike K, you're a cantankerous and ornery pain in the butt. Look, the Brethren are archaic agriculturalists. These guys actually kill pigs and chickens to eat. That's had the animal welfare groups on Earth in ferment and it’s got the Brethren claiming they're victims of religious persecution. The habitat environment is set up on the lowest degree of mechanization we can contrive. They've even got synthetic soils instead of stable granule growing mediums. They're planning on growing trees! The microdrop set-up is supposed to be manually serviceable, which as you know from A23 the others aren't. These guys plan to cart dung and fertilize their soils. It's primitive but it might just outlast those JB232 units you're fussing about. Where the hell is this lot going to get the knowhow to repair a JayBee? Our modeling analyses show that complex and varied agricultural units have a degree of plasticity and biofeedback that more mono-focus ones don't have. There will still be micro-monitoring and macro-consumables replacement while they're in Deep Space. They're way under carrying-capacity and as long as they restrict their population growth, they'll be probably be better off than some of the other habitats.
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BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER — snippet 112
BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER – snippet 112:
.XV.
Charisian Embassy,
City of Siddar,
Republic of Siddar
Sir Rayjhis Dragoner tried hard to feel grateful for his posting as he gazed pensively out the window.
June 18, 2008
SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS — snippet 21
SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 21:
Chapter 10
The Great Leader's grasp of science is not good. The laser sequence has been analyzed and decoded. We've started a retransmission of the signals from Oort 1 until the entire stockpile has been dismantled. We've got the scientists and commissars that remained behind pouring out of rat-holes and eager to show us where the nukes are hidden, ever since they were sure that he was on the Slowtrain.
SysGov Internal security report, declassified 3/12/2300
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BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER — snippet 111
BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER – snippet 111:
"Very well, Master Gahrmyn!" Mahkneel shouted through his leather speaking trumpet.
June 16, 2008
SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS — snippet 20
SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 20:
Nothing he'd managed to say thus far had the same effect. Male Miran are very observational about postural cues. It was how they survived the moodiness of those undergoing changeover. Several of the aliens visibly relaxed.
BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER — snippet 110
BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER – snippet 110:
"Sail ho!"
Hauwyrd Mahkneel looked up sharply at the lookout's announcement.
June 13, 2008
SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS — snippet 19
SLOW TRAIN TO ARCTURUS – snippet 19:
Chapter 9
"To the primitive who spent six months hollowing out a log, the clinker-built longship was an advance so great as to be beyond comprehension. It carried so much more, and was so much more seaworthy—and measured per person involved and transported by it, cost less. Then the calked planks of a medieval carrack carried a vast load, unthinkable to earlier sailors. Its untreated timbers meant a short few years use out of 150 year-old oak timbers. It took skilled craftsmen in the best ship-yard in Europe eight months to build… and by 1570 AD there were ships of 400 ton capacity. To those sailors, a supertanker would have been an unimaginable vessel—carrying 250 000 tons. Yet, per ton carried over time, the supertanker was far cheaper than the carrack. The space habitat of the future will be far bigger still… and far cheaper per ton carried, with an infinitely longer depreciation. Stretch your minds, and start leaving everything you have learned about engineering behind. This isn't the just mechanical engineering of heavy machinery… it's that, metallurgy, architecture and trajectory computation, all in one big, new package."
Prof. Marcus T. Chede. Inaugural lecture on assuming the Chair of Space Science, University of Wisconsin.
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