Transformation Protocol (Joe Ballen, Book 3) by David M. Kelly

Release date: June 4, 2019

Subgenre: Science fiction thriller, Space colonisation

About Transformation Protocol:

 

With his life crumbling around him, Joe Ballen is close to going out in a blaze, fueled by cheap alcohol and self-hatred. But when something “out there” starts destroying spaceships and stations, the only JumpShip available to investigate is the Shokasta—locked away by Joe in an attempt to get justice for his family. But when an old friend offers him the chance to return to space in the hunt for a missing ship, it proves more complicated than either of them imagined. With all sides of the political spectrum looking to grab a piece of the newly explored star systems, Joe soon realizes that some people will go to any lengths to get what they want, and are willing to sacrifice anyone in the process. And when Joe’s past catches up with him in a way he couldn’t have seen coming, he must battle enemies new and old as well as his own inner demons. The Joe Ballen series is a near future, sci-fi noir thriller series, featuring a smart-mouthed space engineer, engaging characters, cynical humor, and plausible science.

...Copyright (C) David M. Kelly. Read more at http://davidmkelly.net/my-books/transformation-protocol/ .

Change can be deadly!

With his life crumbling around him, Joe Ballen is close to going out in a blaze, fueled by cheap alcohol and self-hatred. But when something “out there” starts destroying spaceships and stations, the only JumpShip available to investigate is the Shokasta—locked away by Joe in an attempt to get justice for his family.

But when an old friend offers him the chance to return to space in the hunt for a missing ship, it proves more complicated than either of them imagined. With all sides of the political spectrum looking to grab a piece of the newly explored star systems, Joe soon realizes that some people will go to any lengths to get what they want, and are willing to sacrifice anyone in the process.

And when Joe’s past catches up with him in a way he couldn’t have seen coming, he must battle enemies new and old as well as his own inner demons.

The Joe Ballen series is a near future, sci-fi noir thriller series, featuring a smart-mouthed space engineer, engaging characters, cynical humor, and plausible science.

With his life crumbling around him, Joe Ballen is close to going out in a blaze, fueled by cheap alcohol and self-hatred. But when something “out there” starts destroying spaceships and stations, the only JumpShip available to investigate is the Shokasta—locked away by Joe in an attempt to get justice for his family. But when an old friend offers him the chance to return to space in the hunt for a missing ship, it proves more complicated than either of them imagined. With all sides of the political spectrum looking to grab a piece of the newly explored star systems, Joe soon realizes that some people will go to any lengths to get what they want, and are willing to sacrifice anyone in the process. And when Joe’s past catches up with him in a way he couldn’t have seen coming, he must battle enemies new and old as well as his own inner demons. The Joe Ballen series is a near future, sci-fi noir thriller series, featuring a smart-mouthed space engineer, engaging characters, cynical humor, and plausible science.

...Copyright (C) David M. Kelly. Read more at http://davidmkelly.net/my-books/transformation-protocol/ .

With his life crumbling around him, Joe Ballen is close to going out in a blaze, fueled by cheap alcohol and self-hatred. But when something “out there” starts destroying spaceships and stations, the only JumpShip available to investigate is the Shokasta—locked away by Joe in an attempt to get justice for his family. But when an old friend offers him the chance to return to space in the hunt for a missing ship, it proves more complicated than either of them imagined. With all sides of the political spectrum looking to grab a piece of the newly explored star systems, Joe soon realizes that some people will go to any lengths to get what they want, and are willing to sacrifice anyone in the process. And when Joe’s past catches up with him in a way he couldn’t have seen coming, he must battle enemies new and old as well as his own inner demons. The Joe Ballen series is a near future, sci-fi noir thriller series, featuring a smart-mouthed space engineer, engaging characters, cynical humor, and plausible science.

...Copyright (C) David M. Kelly. Read more at http://davidmkelly.net/my-books/transformation-protocol/ .

 

Excerpt:

 

Chapter One

On a bad day, I hate everyone. On a good day, I only hate myself. Today was somewhere in between.

We get sold an idea when we're young. Call it a group indoctrination or maybe propaganda to keep the masses quiet. I'm sure you've heard it—perhaps you even believe it. The idea that things get better. With time, even the biggest tragedies and screw-ups are replaced with happier, more positive experiences and memories.

That's bullshit. Nothing but a contemptuous lie that seeps inside you like venom, and the worst of it is that you want it to be true. We all want it to be true because if it isn't, then what the hell's the point of existing? For a while I'd almost believed it too. Things had been looking up. I had a wife, possibly a family. Then it all fell apart in an instant, leaving an emptiness that gnawed at me from the inside—a blanket of shadow that hated the light.

"Help! Help! The sky is falling!"

Hardrock Harry was stuck again. He'd dug a tunnel fifty meters deeper into the asteroid than he'd previously managed, which made it his best run so far. Despite that, it was well short of the performance levels needed to pass the field trials. As usual, he'd failed while executing a turn, the trickiest part of the operation but one his design specs said he should have been capable of.

"Sorry, Joe." Harry's soft voice had a doleful quality that wasn't part of his general programming. "My progress rate is 0.00 meters per second, my cutters are bound up, and I've switched off to prevent overheating."

I pulled out my flask, poured a cup of strong whiskey-laced coffee, and swallowed a mouthful. "Don't worry, Harry. You'll get it next time. Can you back out?"

There was a short delay, which gave the impression that Harry was thinking about it, but in reality, that was simply the time it took for my message to reach him. Harry was operating inside the KG-643 asteroid test site, while I was in an office in the bustling new-tech area of Carney, Baltimore.

I was running the gang through a testing program that was supposed to prove the value of autonomous mining and construction robots, designed to construct a habitat from suitable asteroids without supervision. The trials weren't going well.

"Harry's in the way again, the dumbass. I can't set the RokFrac unless he moves."

The new voice was sharper with a heavy New York accent. Blasting Bob was another member of the team. He was designed to follow behind Harry, planting rock-splitting charges in the holes drilled by Harry. The debris would then be collected by several Muckout Mikes, units that shipped the rocks to the processing station where they would get crushed and treated to form the basis of an airtight astrocrete used to line the tunnels.

The drilling and charges had to be precise. If not, the explosions could trap the robots, possibly damaging them but certainly ending their ability to work on their own. The project had ambitious goals, which so far seemed about as remote as Proxima Centauri, where the robots were destined to operate under field trials in a few months.

I checked Harry's remote cameras. Bob floated a few meters behind him, his arms twitching as if impatient to get on with his work.

"Keep your powder dry, Bobby," I muttered. "You'll get your chance to blow something up soon." 

Chapter One On a bad day, I hate everyone. On a good day, I only hate myself. Today was somewhere in between. We get sold an idea when we’re young. Call it a group indoctrination or maybe propaganda to keep the masses quiet. I’m sure you’ve heard it—perhaps you even believe it. The idea that things get better. With time, even the biggest tragedies and screw-ups are replaced with happier, more positive experiences and memories. That’s bullshit. Nothing but a contemptuous lie that seeps inside you like venom, and the worst of it is that you want it to be true. We all want it to be true because if it isn’t, then what the hell’s the point of existing? For a while I’d almost believed it too. Things had been looking up. I had a wife, possibly a family. Then it all fell apart in an instant, leaving an emptiness that gnawed at me from the inside—a blanket of shadow that hated the light. “Help! Help! The sky is falling!” Hardrock Harry was stuck again. He’d dug a tunnel fifty meters deeper into the asteroid than he’d previously managed, which made it his best run so far. Despite that, it was well short of the performance levels needed to pass the field trials. As usual, he’d failed while executing a turn, the trickiest part of the operation but one his design specs said he should have been capable of. “Sorry, Joe.” Harry’s soft voice had a doleful quality that wasn’t part of his general programming. “My progress rate is 0.00 meters per second, my cutters are bound up, and I’ve switched off to prevent overheating.” I pulled out my flask, poured a cup of strong whiskey-laced coffee, and swallowed a mouthful. “Don’t worry, Harry. You’ll get it next time. Can you back out?” There was a short delay, which gave the impression that Harry was thinking about it, but in reality, that was simply the time it took for my message to reach him. Harry was operating inside the KG-643 asteroid test site, while I was in an office in the bustling new-tech area of Carney, Baltimore. I was running the gang through a testing program that was supposed to prove the value of autonomous mining and construction robots, designed to construct a habitat from suitable asteroids without supervision. The trials weren’t going well. “Harry’s in the way again, the dumbass. I can’t set the RokFrac unless he moves.” The new voice was sharper with a heavy New York accent. Blasting Bob was another member of the team. He was designed to follow behind Harry, planting rock-splitting charges in the holes drilled by Harry. The debris would then be collected by several Muckout Mikes, units that shipped the rocks to the processing station where they would get crushed and treated to form the basis of an airtight astrocrete used to line the tunnels. The drilling and charges had to be precise. If not, the explosions could trap the robots, possibly damaging them but certainly ending their ability to work on their own. The project had ambitious goals, which so far seemed about as remote as Proxima Centauri, where the robots were destined to operate under field trials in a few months. I checked Harry’s remote cameras. Bob floated a few meters behind him, his arms twitching as if impatient to get on with his work. “Keep your powder dry, Bobby,” I muttered. “You’ll get your chance to blow something up soon.”

...Copyright (C) David M. Kelly. Read more at http://davidmkelly.net/my-books/transformation-protocol

 

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About David M. Kelly:

David M. Kelly writes intelligent, action-packed science fiction. He is the author of the Joe Ballen sci-fi thriller series and the short story collection Dead Reckoning And Other Stories. He has been published in Canadian SF magazine Neo-opsis.

David’s interest in science and technology began early. At the age of six his parents allowed him to stay up late into the night to watch the television broadcast of Neil Armstrong stepping on to the surface of the moon. From that day he was hooked on everything related to science and space.

An avid reader, he worked his way through the contents of the mobile library that visited his street, progressing through YA titles (or ‘juveniles’ as they were known back then) on to the classics of Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Harry Harrison.

David worked for many years in project management and software development. Along the way his interests have included IPSC combat (target) pistol shooting, crew chief on a drag racing team, and several years as bass player/vocalist in a heavy rock band. He also managed to fit in some real work in manual jobs from digging ditches and work on production lines to loading trucks in a haulage company.

Originally from the wild and woolly region of Yorkshire, England, David emigrated to Canada in 2005 and settled in Northern Ontario with his patient and supportive wife, Hilary. Foot surgery in 2014 temporarily curtailed many of his favourite activities – hiking, camping, piloting his own personal starfighter (otherwise known as a Corvette ZR-1). But on the plus side, it meant a transition from the world of IT into life as a full-time writer—an opportunity he grasped enthusiastically.

David is passionate about science, especially astronomy and physics, and is a rabid science news follower. Never short of an opinion, David writes about science and technology on his blog davidmkelly.net. He has supported various charity projects such as the Smithsonian’s Reboot The Suit and the Lowell Observatory Pluto Telescope Restoration. He also contributes to citizen science projects such as SETI@home.

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