One Man Band

By John K Berntson

Short Story: Holly Heart is an entertainer, arriving on Habitat Liberty for a one-week gig at a nightclub in the orbiting police state. While she is all smiles on the outside, inside she is a girl with a mission. The only question is, can she stay away from the mayor's goons long enough to get it done?

• Language: English
• Publisher: John K Berntson
• Release date: Apr 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301145096

John K Berntson

John K Berntson is an old computer geek who thinks he can write.To this too-familiar tale, he does bring some extras, however. He has professional background in software, defense, telecommunications, financial markets, fuel distribution, and lodging. Currently residing in the land of his birth, Long Island, New York, he has lived in twelve states.He has many disparate interests, but chief among these is the freedom movement and the Libertarian Party, where he was once a mover and shaker.He is married with two adult stepsons, two dogs, a former dog, a former cat, and a feral cat. To those keeping track, the turtle has gone to live with other turtles in an earthly turtle paradise.To see his slowly running commentary, aka blog, please go to:http://vanguardobserver.wordpress.com/

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ONE MAN BAND

John K Berntson

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

One Man Band

Copyright 2012 John K Berntson

Smashwords Edition

Cover Image courtesy of NASA

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The habitat wheeled slowly in high orbit.  Five hundred feet across and a mile long, the cylinder was home to over two hundred thousand people.  As I watched on the cabin monitor, Habitat-L slowly swung around until I was looking at it end-on. I could see straight through the hollow center core to another ship exiting at the far end.

Of course, it was not the habitat that was moving; it stayed on its orbit and rotation as it had for twenty years.  It was the shuttle, within which I was a passenger, that moved to match orbits so it could drift into the port.  As I watched, we matched rotation with the habitat and started forward.

I glanced around the cabin.  The other passengers were mostly habitat personnel returning from vacations, but I picked out a few salesmen and tourists amongst them.  I hoped again that MacCabe had reserved me a hotel room; they were scarce and I did not want to sleep backstage - it can really put a girl in an awkward position.

The shuttle was now inside the core, coasting in slowly at about ten feet per second - that is not fast, less than ten miles per hour - eventually coming to a stop relative to the habitat.  A little later we felt the cradle attach the the underside of the shuttle.  The cradle first started and then cushioned our descent and we felt our weight slowly increase as the ship was pulled flush with the inside of the habitat’s core.

A few minutes later, the bottom hatch opened and a rather steep stairway, almost a ladder, poked