Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of audiobooks, ebooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Lee Crystal's Short Story Collection 1 Version 2.0
    Lee Crystal's Short Story Collection 1 Version 2.0
    Lee Crystal's Short Story Collection 1 Version 2.0
    Ebook99 pages1 hour

    Lee Crystal's Short Story Collection 1 Version 2.0

    By Lee Crystal

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Which Came First:
    The Space Cruiser Carl Sagan is dispatched by the Science Counsel to test their latest theories. This however is not the typical scientific field trip. For this trip they needed a powerful military vessel to venture to the edge of the abyss, the black hole Cygnus X1.

    The Stick:
    An elderly American Indian recants an event that happened to him when he was a young boy.

    Beyond The Flat Line:
    A son makes an attempt to see his father. There has been bad blood between them for a long time. The son soon discovers that his father is dying and will soon know what's Beyond the Flat Line.

    Snow Ball T173:
    Three misfits are at the end of their rope. They have one last shot at success. A professor who's theory needs some proof in order to maintain his grant funds. Otherwise, his dreams of a great discovery will be lost. His crew is worse off than him. One is a drugged out lab assistant. The other is a dishonorably discharged military pilot.

    Secrets:
    A CIA Agent gets more than he expected from a debriefing of a former KGB agent in 1993. A strange tale emerges of a secret Soviet Space project and a flying saucer in 1969.

    Break:
    A man finds himself in a strange metallic circular room with no idea just how he got there. In the room is a metal chair placed before a large porthole. Outside is a magnificent view of the heavens. However, the man soon discovers there is something very odd staring back at him.

    How the Mighty Have Fallen:
    The survivors of a great space fleet must fend for themselves after a devastating battle. Even though they won, it has left them severely crippled.
    As they attempt to leave the area they hope to join up with other survivors, but fear they may be all that remain of a once great space armada.
    They know they could just as easily meet up with the enemy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLee Crystal
    Release dateJul 11, 2016
    ISBN9781310924477
    Lee Crystal's Short Story Collection 1 Version 2.0
    Read preview
    Author

    Lee Crystal

    Growing up, I was very poor and had little. In second grade, I was diagnosed with dyslexia. As I got older, I fell in love with Science Fiction. I read many of the great Sci-Fi writers of the time and even watched all I could on our old black-and-white TV. So, what did I want to do with my life? Be a Sci-fi writer and Artist. I've been creating Sci-Fi art since I was little and writing since high school. Needless to say, it took me a while to get my writing and art up to snuff. Plus, life does get in the way. Currently, I am putting out book 1 of my Pirates of Sol novels. Several of my short stories are available. I even have published a book with them all. My artwork, including the front cover of issue #120 of NOVUM, has also been published. http://sciencefiction.dk/udgivelser/novum/novum-nr-120.html. The publication of PROXIMA featured another of my works on its cover for issue #103. https://sciencefiction.dk/udgivelser/proxima/proxima-nr-103 If I am successful with my writing, I hope to set up a local cat shelter and name it after my late wife.

    Related to Lee Crystal's Short Story Collection 1 Version 2.0

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related categories

    Reviews for Lee Crystal's Short Story Collection 1 Version 2.0

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Lee Crystal's Short Story Collection 1 Version 2.0 - Lee Crystal

      Lee Crystal's Short Story Collection 1

      Version 2.0

      Which Came First

      The Stick

      Beyond The Flat Line

      Snow Ball T173

      Secrets

      Break

      How the Mighty Have Fallen

      By Lee Crystal

      Published By Lee Crystal at Smashwords

      Copyright 2010-2016 Lee Crystal

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Special Thanks to my late wife Sue who was the best thing in my life and has been very helpful with my writing.

      Special Note:

      The short story How the Mighty Have Fallen was inspired by the novel The War and the Meant Empire: Conquest of which I have been working on. (A sample of this novel, still in the works, is available on Smashwords.) This story is planned on becoming part of the follow up novel.

      Which Came First

      SPACE a vacuum, an almost empty nothingness. Only scant amounts of matter litter the immense void. It collects together into large swirls of gas and hangs in the inky darkness like great unsigned works of art. Some of these particles are destined to become stars. Those suns live for a time and then die. After their demise the raw elements are returned back to the universe, to begin the cycle of creation and destruction all over again.

      The large dull silver cone shaped star cruiser, Carl Sagan, moved silently through space. Halfway along its hull were a ring of bright glowing braking engines. They kept the ship in orbit a safe distance from the black hole, Cygnus X-1.

      Hot gases from a nearby sun were steadily streaming into the violent vortex. This massive gravity whirlpool was once this suns companion star in a binary system a long time ago. For millions of years it has been sapping the life out of its former partner. In some time, yet to come, it will have completely consumed it. Sending the matter to some other place in this or another universe, maybe even to another time.

      A small silver sphere emerged from the Carl Sagan. The globe’s small engines lit up and steered it towards the vortex. Suddenly it was grabbed with a furious jerk from the intense gravity of the Black Hole. With its small engines it was only able to offer some resistance, just enough to adjust its course as it fell inward. The sphere gained speed, merged with the hot swirling gases streaming off the nearby star bound for the same fate. Then it was gone.

      Configured in a circle at the center of the ships square, gray bridge were a set of consoles. These were most of the ships main control stations. Several other consoles were arranged along three of the four walls of the bridge. Facing the bow of the ship, taking up most of the forth wall, was a large view port. It angled down and outward at the floor due to the cone-shaped structure of the vessel. The only access doors, to the bridge, were placed in the center of the two side walls. Opposite the large view port was the Captain’s large console, centered at the back of the circle of control consoles. The entire room was bathed with a soft warm glow that emanated from the remaining unused wall space and ceiling. It was intended to mimic real sunlight inside the ship.

      Seated at the large control station was Captain Meria Karn. She was staring up at a three dimensional display which hovered above the center of the command consoles. It showed her all of the relevant tactical information about her ship and anything near it. This visual holographic simulation continued to indicate to her that the ship was near the edge of one of the most destructive spatial anomalies ever known.

      The glow from the hologram shined in her pale blue eyes and glinted off her silky platinum blond hair. As a middle-aged woman she still retained most of her soft youthful features. Even though her body was a bit plumper now, she still managed to maintain a pleasant feminine shape in her lime green command uniform.

      What is our status Carl? she asked while still gazing up at the holographic display.

      Braking drives are at fifteen percent, allowing us to maintain a stable orbit around the black hole, said a humble, serene voice from all around her.

      Meria was impressed with her ship’s unusual main computer. It seemed funny to her that whenever it was possible a ships computer voice and Artificial Intelligence, or AI, was modeled after its namesake. To simply name a vessel after a famous person was no longer enough. Now they had to give the ship’s main computer a matching persona. She was always told it was a fitting gesture and just another way of honoring the person the ship was named after.

      Meria was given the command of the Carl Sagan many years ago. It was one of the new mark-ten model space cruisers, fresh out of the Jupiter Station Shipyards. She was told by the engineers that her ship’s AI was a rather special case. They said it was a little more than ironic that this ship’s AI was based on a man who didn’t believe in an afterlife or reincarnation and yet, in a strange way, he was being reborn. Maybe not as a man, but as the master computer for a ship that would traverse through the stars. Something the ship’s namesake only did in what he called a ship of the imagination.

      Meria looked down to her left at an officer dressed in an olive green uniform, seated at the ship’s helm and navigation console. He was a young man who had moved up through the ranks rather quickly. There were rumors it had more to do with his handsome features and blond locks than any real flying skills. The Captain on the other hand knew different, he was a bright and talented officer that had a great knack for being a pilot.

      She asked him, Lieutenant Johnson what is your assessment?

      After he punched at his consoles holographic touch screen and glanced over the responses on another visual holographic screen, he replied, Confirmed Captain.

      Meria knew that the ship’s main computers did most of the work for her crew, but the electronic creature of their own making was still not completely trusted. She thought it was a little sad that even after all this time they still needed to keep a wary eye on this particular creation. The crew constantly trained and readied themselves to handle any problem in case the computer were to ever fail, or worse, turn against them.

      The Captain tapped a holographic button at her station and neutralized her view of the large computer-generated tactical hologram. The projection system was able to do this without interfering with the view of this display to other crew members around the ring of control consoles.

      She could now see directly out of the view port and witnessed the violent swirls of gas being drawn around and around in a disk. At the center was a ball of blackness, nothing could be seen beyond the event horizon. Neither light nor gravity can escape past this point.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 6