deadly enemy – Blue Shelf Bookstore

I was so pleased with the medal.

starman — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 20:57:55 +0000

Unlike their enemies, the Deltans are a benevolent race who know and appreciate the concept of honor. Which is another reason I was so pleased with the medal. When honorable men and women present you with an award, it’s well worth keeping. As I said, it’s nice to have something worth fighting for.

Which is why I couldn’t turn Belen down when she asked me for help.

The mountain winds howled like a drunken banshee and plunked high-powered snow bullet into the windshield. The heat evaporated the snow, only to have a second volley slam the plastic glass. I looked out the window and wondered why Belen desired a mountain home. An ice mountain home.

Eternally young

starman — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 07:57:24 +0000

Eternally young. And eternally waiting for the next battle. Because I’m Genrich, I age very slowly. When I look at my face, my mind tells me I should look older — and wiser for that matter. I guess I might look twenty-five, maybe twenty-seven, but I have lived more years than that.

I have chosen this profession, so I can’t complain. I chose it because, thanks to a combination of genetics and other skills, I am good at it. Of course it always helps to have a cause worth fighting for. In this age of nanobites and memory drugs, what often matters most are not high-tech skills but rather, as the poet said, the small, often unremembered, acts of kindness.

But I’ve never liked using the memory drugs

starman — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 10:56:54 +0000

But I’ve never liked using the memory drugs to erase the knowledge of battle wounds. Civilians use memory wipes to cast bad memories into oblivion, and so are able to forget a bad childhood or traumatic events. Not soldiers. You learn hard lessons in battle, and you should remember, not forget them. A few soldiers use the drugs, but I never have.

But the nanos, as marvelously high-tech as they are, are nature’s liars. I look at my body in the mirror and see no scars, no rough, ragged redness on the pale skin. Nothing to show the wounds I have received. But my mind remembers them. It’s incongruous to view the skin and know it should show the ravages of battle. Some soldiers have a though emotional time with that.

The medical nanos jump into action

starman — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 07:55:54 +0000

“There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at without result” Winston Churchill once said.

There is great truth in that statement, especially when considering the alternative. Flesh and blood cannot stand up to a speeding, burning piece of lead. Nor can it survive a laser frying muscle and bone with the precision of a surgical scalpel. Of course, today we have the advantage over soldiers of the past. The medical nanos jump into action, repairing blood vessels, rebuilding organs and creating new flesh to plug the bullet holes. You’re as good as new if the wound is not too serious. However, when half your body is blown away, there’s little even the nanos can do.