Author: H. Peter Alesso
Publisher: Video Software Lab
Pages: 350
Genre: Science Fiction
Book Description:
Henry Gallant thought Alaina loved him, but now she’s found someone else. A tidal wave of loss and grief has left him miserable, despondent, and lethargic.
Despite his emotional travails, he is ordered on a dangerous mission to an invading aliens’ home world in the Gliese-581 star system. There he uses a neural interface to penetrate their communication network and steal a high ranking alien’s identity. Through this artifice, he learns about their history and society, and discovers a way to hinder and possibly defeat them.
A side-effect of linking into this network—which was created to service autistic savants—is that Gallant’s mind is stimulated and enhanced to the point that he begins to experience superintelligence abilities.
Upon returning from his mission, there is concern that Gallant might pose an even more serious threat than the aliens. While he struggles to fend off those who doubt his loyalty, he fights to win back Alaina.
This is the fourth book of The Henry Gallant Saga and can be read as a standalone story.
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Excerpt
Alaina told him to leave.
Gallant thought they were in love, but now she’s found someone else.
He’s racked his brain—sifting through the wreckage of their relationship—trying to piece together what went wrong.
A tidal wave of loss and grief has swept over him, leaving him undecided about what to do next, or how to move forward—which is ironic because he’s always prided himself on his ability to reach difficult decisions during a crisis. Is this a crisis? Maybe it’s worse because his brain is numb and won’t process facts or ideas—it just kept replaying the breakup over and over again.
***
TWO MONTHS EARLIER . . .
The Warrior was Henry Gallant’s first command. It was the culmination of everything he’d worked for since entering the academy. Her rocket-shaped hull was over a hundred meters long, equipped with stealth technology, an antimatter sub-light engine, and a dark matter FTL drive.
The ship was on course for Elysium, a warm-water planet with oceans coving ninety per cent of its surface and dotted with numerous islands supporting abundant life including birds, mammals, reptiles, and a multitude of plant life. Home to a displaced United Planets’ colony, it was the second of five planets orbiting Tau Ceti, a mustard-yellow dwarf star about 11.5 light-years from Earth.
Sitting in the command chair, Gallant noticed that the bridge was unusually quiet despite the background hum of machinery and the chatter of the bridge crew. There were no alarms, or sirens, or exclamations of concern, all of which was a good thing, but in his heighten state of anticipation he was left with an eerie sense of emptiness.
He could barely contain his excitement at the prospect of seeing Alaina for the first time in nearly a year. His mind was alive with memories—many of which included Alaina’s alluring figure—quickening his pulse. There was nothing auspicious or dramatic about the images—it was just their sheer untimeliness and incongruity that was troubling.
Standing up abruptly, he shook my head to cast off my distracting torpor.
All eyes on the bridge turned toward him.
Chagrinned, he drew a breath and sat back down.
Gallant thought they were in love, but now she’s found someone else.
He’s racked his brain—sifting through the wreckage of their relationship—trying to piece together what went wrong.
A tidal wave of loss and grief has swept over him, leaving him undecided about what to do next, or how to move forward—which is ironic because he’s always prided himself on his ability to reach difficult decisions during a crisis. Is this a crisis? Maybe it’s worse because his brain is numb and won’t process facts or ideas—it just kept replaying the breakup over and over again.
***
TWO MONTHS EARLIER . . .
The Warrior was Henry Gallant’s first command. It was the culmination of everything he’d worked for since entering the academy. Her rocket-shaped hull was over a hundred meters long, equipped with stealth technology, an antimatter sub-light engine, and a dark matter FTL drive.
The ship was on course for Elysium, a warm-water planet with oceans coving ninety per cent of its surface and dotted with numerous islands supporting abundant life including birds, mammals, reptiles, and a multitude of plant life. Home to a displaced United Planets’ colony, it was the second of five planets orbiting Tau Ceti, a mustard-yellow dwarf star about 11.5 light-years from Earth.
Sitting in the command chair, Gallant noticed that the bridge was unusually quiet despite the background hum of machinery and the chatter of the bridge crew. There were no alarms, or sirens, or exclamations of concern, all of which was a good thing, but in his heighten state of anticipation he was left with an eerie sense of emptiness.
He could barely contain his excitement at the prospect of seeing Alaina for the first time in nearly a year. His mind was alive with memories—many of which included Alaina’s alluring figure—quickening his pulse. There was nothing auspicious or dramatic about the images—it was just their sheer untimeliness and incongruity that was troubling.
Standing up abruptly, he shook my head to cast off my distracting torpor.
All eyes on the bridge turned toward him.
Chagrinned, he drew a breath and sat back down.
About the Author
As a scientist and author specializing in technology innovation, H. Peter Alesso has over twenty years research experience at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). As Engineering Group Leader at LLNL he led a team of scientists and engineers in innovative applications across a wide range of supercomputers, workstations, and networks. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a B.S. and served in the U.S. Navy on nuclear submarines before completing an M.S. and an advanced Engineering Degree at M.I.T. He has published several software titles and numerous scientific journal and conference articles, and he is the author/co-author of seven books.
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