Sundays with Geo
By Geo Dell
Sundays with GeoMay 22, 2022
War at Home - Original Music
I wrote this song about war. It was a quick write, the words and feelings were right there. #OriginalMusic #SelfPenned #BMI
Star Dancer Episode 04
The trip through the solar system continues and Mike and Petra become closer...
#Adventure #StarTravel
Earth Date 2196-08-25 00:03:51
Moon Base fourteen
United Planet Technologies
Intra cruiser: Star Dancer
Mike ran down the lists as Petra pulled them up on her screens and checked them off: Flawless, he thought as he watched her.
“It looks good, Michael.”
“It is good, Petra... Take it out.” He picked up his mug of coffee, the first real coffee he had, had in a while. It sure beat synthetics. He felt the vibration as she threw the dock lock switches and expertly palmed the thrusters. Star Dancer did a slow, nearly perfect half turn and then Petra did a longer burn to put them into the ten mile safety limit before she could engage the hydrogen engines.
Mike watched Moon Base Fourteen fall slowly behind them on the main monitor and then continued watching as Petra went through the pre hydrogen drive check lists. He had done it so long by himself that he almost felt guilty sitting back and letting her take care of it. Nevertheless it felt good and he was looking forward to the company.
“Ten plus zero zero one,” Petra said.
“Kick 'em,” he told her.
She grinned at him and then reached forward and engaged the drives.
Mike sat back and watched the red mileage numerals begin to move faster and then he turned his attention to his own checks: Cargo, decks, company crews. A few minutes later he was done and he sat back and watched as Petra finished her calculations and sent them to his screen to check and approve. She began to program her side navigation console.
Moon Base Fourteen was gone. The moon itself was a distant smear of dull gray next to the big blue ball. Sometimes there were things to look at in space.
He sat back and relaxed into his chair and thumbed his Log-Link.
“Intra-Cruiser Star Dancer forty-five minutes and twenty-eight seconds out of Moon Base Fourteen. Present Michael Watson chief operating officer, Petra Stanovich navigation officer. We have at present twenty-eight Fed crew and transportees under Commander Bob Baylor, see contract FQHPX2879 for an individual manifest. In the advent of boarding protocols, be aware there are Fed inmates included in the manifest and deck sub-zero-two is in a state of lock-down for the voyage per Commander Baylor. See rule 2a, sub section twelve concerning any contact situation that may occur.
“Mars Prison Colony Twenty-Seven will be our first stop, a re-supply, see manifest 97715. Mars One tech drop, see Fed contract 771926f, our second stop. IO six, last drop, pre-fab building shipment under science contract 279916bx... Watson out.”
He picked up his mug and sipped at his coffee while Petra did her own log. He had a navigator for the next two years; after that maybe he would bite the bullet and spring for a Star Cruiser. He thought about it. He just might do it. Maybe it was time for a change. Maybe he could even run it by Petra and see how it sounded to another set of ears. Maybe it would even interest her.
It made him feel good; maybe he had simply fallen into a rut over the past seventeen months. He was surprised how good the bridge felt with someone else on it. He sipped at his coffee and watched the Earth grow smaller as they picked up speed...
#SpaceTravel #SciFi #StarDancer
Star Dancer Episode 03
Cruise with the crew of Star Dancer as they make their way through the galaxy... #SciFi #Space #Adventure
Earth Date 2096-08-25 16:52:58
Star Dancer
Michael
He got a good look at Petra as he flagged her through the air-locks: All fresh air; your basic space bug-Earth bug delousing unit. People had at one time believed that space was sterile. A few serious contaminations early in the century had stopped that. Of course the delousing process rendered you sterile. It was the same, male or female. The price you paid, so you banked your eggs or your sperm and didn't give it any more thought. Space travel, constant radioactive exposure, caused all sorts of birth defects. It only made sense.
She was tall, blue-black hair, high cheekbones: Russian. The hair had to be dyed, but it suited her face which was hard edged and a little angular. Something past pretty, but less than beautiful... Maybe, he decided.
He had read her information over twice as he had waited for transport. He had also picked up the lounge seven video feed, matching the description with what he saw so he better understood who he was looking at. He had initially gone by the name to conjure a description in his head. He had been far off to say the least.
He knew she was on thin ice: About a year left on her military benefits and she would be declared homeless; probably insolvent shortly after that. Her only choices were military services or a foot in the door somewhere. Mike had no doubt she would use the job as a stepping stone, but it would set up his operations with Star Dancer for the next two years and he needed the stability back.
Top ten percent of her classes: Short on military experience, only a two year plan. Fluent in twelve languages, double the average. She had no political advantages so she had no opportunities in the corporate world. She needed him it seemed as much as he needed her.
He buzzed her through the last lock. Flushed the air and then keyed his Com-Link.
“I've sent the El for you. It's a slow go traveling three hundred decks, but it's programmed to bring you to the bridge. I'll see you in about twenty minutes, Miss Stanovich.”
She turned her dark eyes to the camera. “Thank you.” ...
Star Dancer E02
This is the second Star Dancer episode. Star Dancer is based on the Book Star Dancer www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098WV18B5 Available only from Amazon in Kindle, Paperback and Hardcover...
Earth Date: 2196 – 08 -25 – 16:21:43
Moon Base 14: United Planet Technologies
Intra Flight Systems: Star Dancer
Michael Watson
Michael Watson, Mike to his friends purchased Star Dancer right after college and began intra system runs shortly after that. He could remember his great-grandfather, gone now for more than forty years, talking about what he had, had for opportunities right out of high school. That would be laughable now. Mike’s parents had, had his life mapped out from the age of two. Life Mapping was and is a serious thing, Mike didn’t know anyone that didn't have their lives mapped out now from birth or before.
School was not complete without college. You could not be licensed to work the counters of a Planet Burger unless you had two years of college. His own career had taken four years of Specialty College as well as geared trade school from the first grade on. When other first graders were learning about monetary systems and world level banking, he had been learning about Solar Wind Drives and Hydrogen Propulsion units.
The grades, one through twelve, start at age three and last on average seven years. Some fall behind, some spring ahead, but by ten years of age most are ready for focused education and he was no exception. He began his specialized training; four years, four more years of global military service after that with an option for six more which he had deferred and he was pretty sure he made his instructors very happy by doing so, and so at the old age of eighteen Mike had signed a twenty year funding commitment for Star Dancer. At the time he was sure he would never dig himself out of thirty million credits of debt, but for the last two years he had been watching credits build in his accounts.
Today he was docking at UPT on Moon Fourteen to pick up a four year re-supply for a prison colony at Mars Twenty-Seven: Some kind of Tech drop for Colony One; and two panel pre-fab labs for IO's base six.
Moon Base Fourteen is United Planet Technologies’ own base. There is not much else there; a small cafeteria, some lounges for through travelers, each progressively worse than the last: The best being Vic's, and Vic's was the only official bar, the other two were simply overlooked. That could happen at a base that was not really a base at all but a company town.
Mike had, had the tour before and short of taking on a small fed crew, and maybe a new navigator to replace the one he had been without for the last seventeen months he would be here only long enough to fuel, be unloaded and then reloaded: Once the ship was re-supplied he would be off; there would be no downtime in the next twenty-four hours.
Star Dancer E01
Star Dancer is a cargo carrier making scheduled runs through our solar system. Mars, moon base 1 and other established colonies and prison colonies in the solar system are her stops. Sometimes carrying cargo, sometimes prisoners. I will do a handful of episodes from this story to acquaint you with it. Check out the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098WV18B5 #StarTravel #SCIFI #SpaceSettlement
The Accident ( Part Two )
A late night drive home on a dark rural road, changes a young mans life forever... #Horror #TheAccident #DellSweet
The Accident ( Part one )
A late night drive changes a young man's life forever... #Accident #NightDrive
The Last Ride
This is a true story from my days driving taxi in a New York city #CabDriver #NonFiction #TaxiDeath #DeathinaTaxi
Private Investigations
This is from one of my short story collections. I hope you enjoy the story and I'll see you next Sunday, Geo. And, Happy Easter! #Podcast #Stories
Short Stories 1: Zombie Fall
Zombie Fall is a short story that I wrote for a magazine article. The on-line magazine folded before my publication date, and so it was not published. I turned it into a short story of its own instead, and this is me reading the short story version of it for you. #Zombie #Fiction #ShortStory #Horror