In2Minds

By Theresa Snyder and David Stevens

Home World will be burned to a cinder in 170 years when their sun goes supernovae. The time to act is now!
Commander Tait volunteers for a one-way mission to terra-form a new world for his people. With only his on board computer to keep him company, he sets out on the adventure of a lifetime.
But, lives can be cut short. Accidents can happen... even in space.
How can one lone man, on a faraway planet, survive, when he is buried alive?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Theresa Snyder
• Release date: Nov 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310143168

Theresa Snyder

Theresa Snyder is a multi-genre writer with an internationally read blog. Theresa grew up on a diet of B&W Scifi films like Forbidden Planet and The Day the Earth Stood Still. She is a voracious reader and her character driven writing is influenced by the early works of Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Anne McCaffery and L. Ron Hubbard. She loves to travel, but makes her home in Oregon where her elder father and she share a home and the maintenance of the resident cat, wild birds, squirrels, garden and an occasional dragon house guest.

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In2Minds

David Stevens

&

Theresa Snyder

Copyright © 2014 Theresa Snyder

All rights reserved.

Distributed by Smashwords

Ebook Formatting by Ebook Launch

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to each and every person that has driven forward the cause of deep space exploration, from Asimov to N.A.S.A.

&

Beyond

CONTENTS

BOOKS BY DAVID STEVENS

BOOKS BY THERESA SNYDER

1 Arrival

2 First Sighting

3 Mission Day #1

4 Pod #2

5 Pod Delivery #3

6 Remaining Oxygen

7 Red Alert!

8 Status?

9 Unavailable?

10 MAI

11 Repair

12 Survival

13 Download

14 Home World

15 Centaur Five B

16 Splash Down

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

BOOKS BY DAVID STEVENS

Available on Smashwords

Fantasy

Foundation of a King’s Legend

Scifi

A Trainspotter’s Guide to Other Earths

Paranormal

Vampire Retirement

The Vampire War Commences, Vol. 1

The Elders Eradication, Vol. 2

Romance with a Twist

For (4) Women

Transgressions

DavidStevensBooks.Blogspot.com

BOOKS BY THERESA SNYDER

Fantasy

(The Farloft Chronicles)

James & the Dragon

Kingdom of the Last Dragons

Dragon Deception

Three & a Half Dragons

Dragon Memories, Dreams & Reflection

Scifi

(The Star Traveler Series)

The Helavite War

The Heirs of Henu

Old Friends/New Enemies

The Malefactors

Cataclysm

A Mear Sleight of Hand

Paranormal

(The Twin Cities Series)

Shifting in The Realms

Shifting Agony & Ecstasy

Non-fiction Memoirs

We 3.

TheresaSnyderAuthor.com

1 Arrival

Commander Tait it is time for you to awaken… Commander?

I hear the voice, but at first cannot remember where I am. Years have passed while I slept. As the sleeping pod I am confined to rotates 90 degrees to bring me to an upright standing position I struggle to breathe. The technician that programmed the pod had the sense to tilt the head slightly forward so when I do finally manage to open my eyes and find the room spinning, I puke out the green slime the medics pumped into me at my feet but not on them. There is an oily taste to it that fouls my mouth. A small Bot thoughtfully provided scoots forward on its rollers from a previously concealed cupboard and starts vacuuming up my mess. I puke again, expelling the last of the glutinous gel that helped to preserve me on this long trip into deep space. It lands right atop the little mechanoid. He, for I have decided that he looks like a male somehow, continues to clean and in addition, two long squeegee appendages extend from his sides which he maneuvers over his top to wipe the excrement from his lid like a crab would its shell.

Commander Tait, I have reviewed your vital signs and you are functioning at 90%, the computer advises me.

I feel a warm gentle mist start to flow over my body from the jets in the bed of the sleeping platform at my back. I hang there in the restraints watching the green slime being slowly washed off of me and onto the floor. By my feet the bot dutifully continues to mop up my mess. I marvel at even this tiny bit of technology. On the Home World we are not allowed to have any form of artificial intelligence, no mechanoid, no robots, no constructs. They are all forbidden. It was only when I arrived at the launching platform in space above our Home World that I discovered I would be a one man crew among a ship of AIs and lesser Bots.

The computer has removed the needles, it has also cleared away my body’s waste pipes, disposing of them into orbit, something I am glad was inserted after I was asleep. The jettisoning of the tubes in a way tickles my sense of humor, which I can tell you brings a smile to my face. I can’t help but imagine the first contact man makes with this new planet, his soon to be new Home World, is a tube full of excrement.

As the waters warm even further and begin to clear in the puddle at my feet I think back to the moment I entered the sleep pod and shake my head in wonder at the technologies that have kept me alive.

*****

I pressed down and twisted the restraints on my seat harness. They fell apart, freeing my body to the effects of zero gravity. I floated from the seat having pushed gently against its arms. I unintentionally turned a complete somersault in the process of reaching the first of twin hatches. Turning and then opening the hatch without gravity was an interesting experience. The lock handle is hard to turn without a point of leverage, but eventually I succeeded. The hatch opened to reveal a passageway just long enough to contain my body. Pulling forwards, I entered and the hatch closed behind me. The locking mechanism clunked into place. I had more leverage to open the second hatch because of the narrow confines of the tunnel. It opened easily revealing a small, but superbly designed room, where my expensive sleep pod awaited me.

Scooting out of the tunnel I catapulted my body forward. Moving too fast I collided with the far steel wall. Finally, I managed to grasp one of the handles thoughtfully fitted into the walls, specifically placed to aid my ability to maneuver myself around the room.

The sleeping pod resembled a slightly crushed can, higher at one end than the other. Perspex covered the top half, which I knew would open at a touch on the green lit button. I pressed it and the top lifted clear of the base revealing white material padding, which had been pre-molded to my body shape. I stripped out of my suit and hung it in the cabinet provided at the head of the sleep pod. I caressed my name stitched on to the right breast of the suit, ‘Commander Tait.’ When I awake, I will be the one man on which the future of all mankind is dependent on.

Grasping the handles fitted to the now raised top, I glided my gravity free body down into the recess. My feet slipped into grooved shapes, spreading to about ten inches. My butt slotted down neatly into its molded cavity, closely followed by my back then my shoulders and finally my head. I fitted perfectly as I nestled into the molding.

Above me the capsule lid began to slowly close, clicking into place, sealing me inside for the long trip ahead. Four locks activated, each snapping into place, then tightened, firmly closing the lid, creating a mild feeling of claustrophobia in my thoughts. I concentrated on banishing the un-helpful emotion. I lay still looking up through the clear material of the lid, successfully fitted neatly in my traveling coffin. Knowing what is going to happen next, I was not looking forward to this essential experience.

When the needles arrive, there will be no real pain, just a feeling of pressure against your body. So the Techs told me.

Restraining bands automatically circled my chest, arms and upper thighs. Link tubes started to press against me, adding to the oddness of my situation. Biometric sensors came on line, one at a time as connections were made. Eventually the board glowed green before me. I was secured, monitored and prepared for the next stage, which was the needle placement. The Techs lied to me. There was pain, as the twin needles slipped into my now restrained arms. Cold filled my flesh as the chemicals were pumped into my veins. Slowly the green lights blurred and slipped out of focus briefly, then they returned, only to coalesce into a single blinding light. Finally there was nothing. I was under, asleep, totally controlled by the ship’s computer, a passenger entombed