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    A Rock of Offense
    A Rock of Offense
    A Rock of Offense
    Ebook22 pages21 minutes

    A Rock of Offense

    By Ken Beers

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    About this ebook

    A short story about an asteroid miner and his Artificial Intelligence companion returning an asteroid to Earth, only to find that there is a large problem. They are going to pulverize the moon.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKen Beers
    Release dateApr 5, 2014
    ISBN9781310765155
    A Rock of Offense
    Author

    Ken Beers

    Ken has been writing since 1982, when he attended the University of Florida. He has been a used car salesman, reteaked yachts in Ocean Reef, and has been an air traffic controller most of his adult life. He is a father of five and husband of one.

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      Book preview

      A Rock of Offense - Ken Beers

      A ROCK OF OFFENSE

      Ken Beers

      Copyright 2014 by Ken Beers

      Smashwords Edition

      The Earth is doomed…

      the man who caused it is the only one who knows…

      and he’s the only one who can stop it.

      My name is Bill Franks, and I’ve been riding this asteroid for nearly a year now. I live inside a dome the size of a big bedroom on the trailing side. This is the last thing I’ll ever write, but there’s no big hurry for me to get the story down.

      I go outside sometimes and walk on the surface of the asteroid. I have to wear a suit for that, because there’s no atmosphere, just a few heavy gasses that managed to come along for the ride. There’s no reason to go outside the dome, except for repairs. Space is boring, after that initial shock of seeing more stars than you ever imagined existed. I can spend only so much time sitting around looking at pretty things. But then again, statements like that caused Delia to leave me.

      The Agency gave me a CSP – Computer-Simulated Personality – for interaction. His nickname is Cecil. He’s a speaker fitted flush against a panel. They said he would keep me from going crazy. I don’t think that plan is working.

      Cecil, how are you doing? Holding up alright? I was talking aloud into the room, vigorously rubbing the last moisture from my hair with a towel. I try to keep a morning routine as part of my sanity regimen. Cecil's presence helps differentiate between when I think something and when I speak aloud. Responsiveness is one of the best things about him.

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