Lieutenant Henry Gallant
by H. Peter Alesso
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The author will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter.
BLURB:
In an era of genetic engineering, Lieutenant Henry Gallant is the
only Natural (non-genetically enhanced) officer left in the fleet. Many of his
superiors, including rival Anton
Neumann, have expressed concern he is not up
to the challenge. However, his unique mental abilities have proven essential to
the defense of the United Planets in its fight against the Titan invaders.
Serving on the first FTL prototype, the Intrepid, on its maiden
voyage to Tau Ceti, Gallant finds a lost colony on the planet Elysium. Cyrus
Wolfe and his son, manipulate planet politics against the democratic opposition
led by James Hepburn and his granddaughter Alaina. Wolfe has allied himself
with an ancient Artificial Intelligence which had lain dormant on the planet
for millennia, but is now willing to protect the colonists against the Titans.
With Alaina’s help, Gallant discovers the ancient AI has a
sinister ulterior motive and he matches his unique and exceptional mind against
the complexity of machine intelligence to escape the ultimate trap and prevent
the extermination of humanity.
In Lieutenant Henry Gallant, one man pits the naked human mind
against the perspicacity of machine intelligence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When we first meet Lieutenant Henry Gallant he is wounded but still fighting after the surprise attack on his ship. I felt like I was dropped into the middle of a book with that start but the next scene was days before the attack and everything fell in place. In spite of the exciting start the book is actually rather low key. Gallant is assigned to the unexpected human colony. His job is to get the supplies and help to repair the ship. There is the chance of a romance with Alaina Hepburn but duty comes first for both. There are some twists in the plot. The Ancient AI is not what it seems. Some people in the colony do not want the ship to get back to Earth. Gallant has to deal with sabotage on the planet and a Captain who is hard to work with. This is book #2 in the series but works well as a stand-alone.
Excerpt
Gallant ran—gasping for breath, heart pounding; the
echo of his footsteps reverberated behind him.
He hoped to reach the bridge, but hope is a fragile
thing.
Peering over his shoulder into the dark, he tripped
on a protruding jagged beam, one of the ship’s many battle scars. As he crashed
to the deck, the final glow of emergency lights sputtered out leaving only the
pitch black of power failure—his failure.
He lay still and listened to the ship’s cries of
pain; the incessant wheezing of atmosphere bleeding from the many tiny hull
fissures, the repetitious groaning of metal from straining structures, and the
crackling of electrical wires sparking against panels.
Thoughts flashed past him.
How long will the oxygen last?
He was reluctant to guess.
Where are they?
The clamor of dogged footsteps drew closer even as
he rasped for another breath.
Trembling from exhaustion, he clawed at the
bulkhead to pull himself up. His hemorrhaging leg made even standing brutally
painful.
Nevertheless, he ran.
The bulkhead panels and compartment hatches were
indistinguishable in the dimness. Vague phantoms lurked nearby even while his
eyes adjusted to whatever glowing plasma blast embers flickered from the hull.
As he twisted around a corner, he crashed his
shoulder into a bulkhead. The impact knocked him back and spun him around.
Reaching out with a bloody hand, he grasped the hatch handle leading into the
Operation’s compartment. Going through the hatch, he pulled it shut behind him.
He started to run, then awkwardly fought his own
momentum and stopped.
Stupid! Stupid!
Going back to the hatch, he hit the security
locking mechanism.
It wouldn’t stop a plasma blast, but it might slow
them down, he thought. At least this compartment is airtight.
Finally able to take a deep breath, he tried to
clear his head of bombarding sensations. He should’ve been in battle armor, but
he’d stayed too long in engineering trying to maintain power while the hull had
been breached and the ship boarded.
Now his uniform was scorched, revealing the plasma
burns of seared flesh from his left shoulder down across his back to his right
thigh. He had no idea where the rest of the crew was; many were probably dead.
His comm pin was mute and the ship’s AI wasn’t responding. He had only a
handgun, but, so far, he didn’t think they were tracking him specifically,
merely penetrating into the ship to gain control.
Gallant tried to run once more, but his legs were
unwilling. Leaning against the bulkhead, like a dead weight, he slid slowly
down to the deck.
Unable to go farther, he sat dripping blood and
trembling as the potent grip of shock grabbed hold. The harrowing pain of his
burnt flesh, swept over him.
Hope and fear alike abandoned him, leaving only an
undeniable truth; without immediate medical treatment, he wouldn’t survive.
I’m done.
Closing his eyes, he fought against the pain and
the black vertigo of despair. He took a deep breath and called upon the last of
his inner resolve and resilience . . .
No! I won’t give up.
Exhaling and opening his eyes, he caught sight of a
nearly invisible luminescent glow of a Red Cross symbol, offering him a glimmer
of hope. He stretched his arm toward the cabinet.
“Argh.”
He heard a cry of agony and only belatedly realized
it had escaped his own lips as he strained to pull away twisted metal from the
door to a medical cabinet. Reaching inside, he grabbed a damaged medi-pack.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
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
computer 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.
You
can visit his Web site at: http://www.hpeteralesso.com/Default.aspx
Author
Social Media:
Author
Web site at: http://www.hpeteralesso.com/Default.aspx
Goodreads
Address: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/413852.H_Peter_Alesso
YouTube
trailer for Henry Gallant Saga: SciFi Book Trailer: Midshipman Henry Gallant
Facebook
for Henry Gallant Saga: https://www.facebook.com/MidshipmanHenryGallantInSpace
Author
Blog Address: http://cosmologysymmetrybreaking.blogspot.com/
Amazon
link for Volume 1 of the Henry Gallant Saga:
http://www.amazon.com/Midshipman-Henry-Gallant-Space-Volume/dp/1482640325/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Volume
2: http://www.amazon.com/Lieutenant-Henry-Gallant-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B00MOLJ4Y6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1407955491&sr=1-1
Book Reviews for Volume 1:
Past
Reviews of the first volume: Midshipman Henry Galant @2013
"The
author has created a wonderful piece of work with his first novel in the Henry
Gallant Saga. Between Henry Gallant beginning his new life on the United
Planets' battle cruiser Repulse and trying to save the world the author has
came up with it all. Henry Gallant is an admirable character with many
wonderful features such as courage, intelligence, humility, kindness and
special powers. ... the odds stacked against him pretty high. But maybe through
it all, Kelsey will see the remarkable things about him." Ashley Patts,
Teenage Rush teenagerush.blogspot.com
"This
story moves along at a swift pace, with interesting character development and
plot surprises. The characters are complete and engaging. This could develop
into a good series." Rae
"Its
style and flavor reminded me of The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell." -
JJH
"Space
Opera at its finest. Rousing read, introverted young man against impossible
odds, a girl to win or lose, an enemy or is he? Way too much fun...can't wait
for the next one." - vrzepka
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