Cataclysm:
Survival in a Barren World
by
Robert F. Lundrigan
Genre:
SciFi Fantasy
The
story is told from two points of view. The Clark family finds
themselves seemingly alone on a barren planet while an alien named
Pzx is in charge of the fleet looking for a home. She is under orders
but would prefer to communicate with other beings. This is a tale of
the struggles of both of them as they seek to survive in a barren
world.
The
end of the three hundred year journey is at hand and the flagship
passes silently into the outer reaches of Earth’s solar system. As
programmed, the artificial brain is automatically activated when the
craft passes through Pluto’s magnetic influence, causing the
temperature and atmosphere of the cryonic chamber to change. At the
same instant, a signal is transmitted to the other space vessels and
soon the entire armada slows to sub warp speed and deploys to
establish a parking orbit around Mars, the planet nearest to its
ultimate destination.
Slowly
Pzx opens her eye and it takes her but a moment to realize what
seemed like no more than a good night’s sleep has in fact, spanned
three centuries. She stretches her stiff tentacles and breathes as
deeply as she possibly can to clear her lungs of the stale air, while
she looks carefully at the bank of instruments overhead to be certain
that all is in working order. Satisfying herself that all is as it
should be she projects the thought command that lifts the lid of the
vacuum chamber that has been her world for three hundred years, and
slithers to the deck where she anchors her base appendage to the
foot-beam. She rubs her eye and seeing her reflection in the chamber
lid, decides that she looks terrible - just as she does every morning
until she’s had time to adjust her
plasma
casing from rest to activity mode. It’s extremely cold in the
cryonic chamber but the twisting and turning exercises she must go
through to make her face cause her to forget the chill. When she’s
satisfied that she looks presentable enough for what she needs to do,
she slides slowly to the next capsule and extreme apprehension takes
over as she peers through the transparent lid at the still form of
Hrnk. She engages the activator switch and watches fondly, and the
apprehension is replaced by something else as he goes through his
waking process. He
opens
his eye and when he recognizes Pzx his thought projections tell her
that all is well with him. Pzx doesn’t open the cover until she is
certain that all of Hrnk’s vital signs are normal. At the precise
moment the cover is unlatched Hrnk’s reproductive organ begins
glowing with that unmistakable signal that is characteristic of all
male members of the Drmbkian race, a race dominated by females, a
race where the male’s only functions are reproduction and
companionship. Although there is an almost overwhelming desire within
her to climb into the chamber with Hrnk, Pzx closes the lid
reluctantly and tears herself away from her mate.
She
has so much to do and so many duties to fulfill. Her first duty is
that of activating the cryonic capsules of the ninety nine other
ships in the fleet so that they can can get on with the business that
has brought them to this new world, the world which they have chosen
to be their home, New Drmbk.
Robert
F. Lundrigan is a certified member of APICS and former Manager of
Materials at General Electric. A native of Massachusetts, he
graduated from Lowell Institute in Mechanical Engineering and later
attended technical and creative writing workshops at Harvard. He has
helped several companies as a consultant to improve profits by using
the theory of constraints, with great success. Bob has written
numerous articles for professional journals, this is his second
novel.
My
granddaughter, Amy, was pregnant with her second child in 2011 when
her doctor told her that the baby needed to be aborted because its
heart didn't develop properly and was only half a heart. Her own
heart was broken but she was determined so she went to a
specialist at Boston Children's Hospital, a place where miracles are
performed every day. It was a long hard pregnancy with less than one
percent probability of survival, but Amy was determined. When
the proper time arrived the surgeon took the baby by ceasarian
section and within the first hour of its birth performed a life
saving open heart surgery on the tiny heart, followed by two more
open heart surgeries before little Sammy was two. He never ate solid
food until he was three, but was fed through a plastic tube directly
into his stomach. It's a miracle beyond imagination, but little Sammy
is a happy, healthy little guy with a smile for everybody he meets.
To know him is to love him. I am donating all proceeds I receive for
Cataclysm to "It's My Heart, New England", a charity to
help the children and families of CHD in non medical ways. On June
24th of
this year there will be a family walk and picnic at Endicott Park in
Danvers Massachusetts. For details go
to walk.itsmyheartnewengland.org.
Sammy
will be here and so will I. Here's a picture of Sammy sitting
amongst a former years picnic tshirt:
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Congrats on the tour and I appreciate the excerpt and the great giveaway as well. Love the tours, I get to find books and share with my sisters and now my twin daughters who all love to read. We have found some amazing books for everyone. So, thank you!
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