“But after that is stable?” Benny asked, leaning forward.
Ray smiled. “We hope you and Gina in a few years will recruit the other four.”
“We can do that,” Benny said. “And then what?”
“If we could see into the future,” Tacita said, “we would.”
“But we can’t,” Ray said smiling.
Benny nodded. He knew that, for the moment, Ray and Tacita didn’t want to talk about any possible plans. And that honestly made sense to Benny. He and Gina needed to concentrate on saving lives.
And finding a new way for people on his Earth to live going forward.
Benny stood and Gina did as well, slightly ahead of Ray and Tacita.
“It’s time we get started,” Benny said.
“I agree,” Ray said.
Ray reached over and took Tacita’s hand and an instant later they were back in Chairman Carson’s office.
Carson jumped to his feet and bowed slightly to all of them.
“I’m glad you have joined us,” Ray said to Benny. “Good luck in this coming battle.”
“Yes,” Tacita said. “Best success.”
And with that they were both gone.
Benny glanced at the startled face of Chairman Carson. “Thank you, Chairman, for the use of your office.”
“Yes, thank you,” Gina said.
“Any time,” Carson said.
“Shall we go to work?” Benny asked Gina.
“Let’s do it,” she said, giving him that smile he was coming to love more than anything.
A moment later, side-by-side, they were bent over a screen in her apartment office, their shoulders touching as they studied the green dots and the notes Gina had made about each person.
Even though Benny now understood the vast expanse of human worlds out there in the stars, even though this was his first day as a Seeder, his only focus was on his home city, his home planet, and saving as many people as he could as quickly as he could.
There would be time later to really think about what had happened. And what he had agreed to.
The larger Seeders Universe would take time for him to understand. But many people out there in his home city amid all the death didn’t have time.
So he was focused.
And he knew that the woman of his dreams beside him felt exactly the same way.
They needed to quickly find survivors.
And then together rescue them.
After all, saving human life, human cultures, was what Seeders did.
He was now a Seeder. And that felt exactly right.
PIPE DREAMS
Belief in yourself runs strong
through creations…
conceptions…
ideas…
All encased in gold.
“Fools gold,” they say, laughing
and snickering.
“No chance.”
“No Way.”
“Never Work.”
And you argue, “But, maybe…”
or “What if?”
Seeing goals
possibilities,
maybe even a future.
“That’s crazy,” they say,
closed minds closing down
in disgust.
“It’s never been done.”
“It sure won’t work.”
And so it goes…
The dreams, the beliefs dim
flicker and fade
with each opposing sentence,
now contained neatly in lists of things
you must think about before…
Your dreams and beliefs,
pushed and shoved by ridicule,
smashed by laughter,
are finally filed by a coward
in a drawer labeled dreams.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith published more than a hundred novels in thirty years and hundreds and hundreds of short stories across many genres.
He wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, they wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.
He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown.
He now writes his own original fiction under just the one name, Dean Wesley Smith. In addition to his upcoming novel releases, his monthly magazine called Smith’s Monthly premiered October 1, 2013, filled entirely with his original novels and stories.
Dean also worked as an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books. He now plays a role as an executive editor for the original anthology series Fiction River.
For more information go to www.deanwesleysmith.com, www.smithsmonthly.com or www.fictionriver.com.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: Stories Go On and On
Dried Up: A Poker Boy Story
One
Two
Three
Well, Maybe Not
One
Two
Three
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
The Life and Times of Buffalo Jimmy: Chapters 31-33
PART THIRTY-ONE
PART THIRTY-TWO
PART THIRTY-THREE
Cucumber Party: A Buckey the Space Pirate Story
Patience
The Adventures of Hawk: Chapters 31-33
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Marriage in Six Floors
FIRST FLOOR
SECOND FLOOR
THIRD FLOOR
FOURTH FLOOR
FIFTH FLOOR
SIXTH FLOOR
The Case of the Intrusive Furniture: A Pilgrim Hugh Incident
One
Two
Three
Four
The High Edge: A Seeders Universe Novel
The Disaster
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
The Rescue
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
The First Steps
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Forming a Team
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Pipe Dreams
Smith's Monthly
About the Author
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