Word Up...
Bob Boyd
'Playing God' stands at 57,400 words, and while my pace has slowed a bit in the last few days (these things come and go), I expect 'Playing God' to be finished by mid-September. We've all heard that before, haven't we?
No matter. Perhaps it's time for a little taste of what's in store. Here is the text of the back cover material:
I really like where the story line is going, and these are some of my strongest characters yet. Practice really does make perfect, it seems.
Til next,
Andy Bunch
That's awesome, man. I have been distracted by the little one. I look forward to writing again. Hopefully soon.
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Contessa Timmerman
Amber Cook
Bob Boyd
Dan stared at the monitor in disbelief, then turned his attention to the main display. Up close, the lines around the Omega Time Line were furiously splitting and resplitting at random.
"Shit," he muttered. "This is something entirely new." He studied the master display for a long time, watching the seemingly random splits. "It looks like the cascade is turning into temporal chaos," he said at last.
"How bad is it?"
He turned and gave her a look of near panic. "It's bad. This is something we never anticipated."
"But what about the time line you were working on? Is that affected too?"
Dan hesitated for several minutes as he pondered that. "I'm not sure. The only thing I can think of is this time line serves as a base, and we reach out to other time lines. If this line shifts...the lock is broken. The coordinates get messed up."
"Can you fix it?"
"I don't see how. The changes are coming so rapidly I can't lock onto any time line long enough to do a complete analysis." He studied the master display for several minutes as more lines split and split again. Most of them were red, many black. None were blue or less. It took them a moment to notice that some lines simply ended. "God...time lines terminating?" Dan sounded scared. "They simply stop? How can that happen?"
"That...sounds bad," she mumbled in dismay.
"I'll say! We may have wrecked the fabric of reality itself!"
"So the earth may be destroyed altogether?"
He gave her a frightened look. "This could unravel the entire universe!"
Brenda bit back her panic reaction. Dan had enough on his mind right then, and didn't need her getting hysterical. She forced herself to be as calm as she could, which wasn't very calm. "So what do we do now?" she asked as she fought to keep herself under control.
"Well, we can't just stand here wringing our hands." Dan returned to his command seat. "George, initiate the analysis you mentioned a moment ago."
"Analysis under way. Estimated completion time twenty-two hours, fifteen minutes."
Dan paused in surprise. "Why the change?"
"The cascade's progression complicates the analysis. There is a real possibility that the rate of growth will preclude finding a solution altogether."
"God," he mumbled. "Twenty-two hours...with that much computing power..."
She didn't need to ask; she could imagine how incredibly complex those calculations would have to be if their system was pushed to its limit. "It's hopeless, isn't it?"
He ignored her for some time, watching the cryptic numbers on his monitor with ashen features. "We've lost control," he said at last. "The time stream is so fouled up I can't manipulate it any more."
Ron Hepner
Bob Boyd
They headed down a side street toward the store, passing people laden with with bags and shopping carts of personal possessions. Passers-by steered clear of them with hostile, fearful looks. Some were armed with guns or clubs, and one had a machete. There was an ugly undertone of panic in the air; they could smell it.
The next cross street was choked and moving at a crawl at best, with the grocery store beckoning on the far side. Getting across would take luck and nerve. Brenda eyed the packed double stream of cars with misgivings. "I don't see how we're gonna get through all that."
"Not through; over. You try ducking between cars and you're likely to get killed." Dan made an up-and-over gesture. "When they stall, we cross on the hoods."
"Wonderful."
The traffic ground to a halt again, engines revving, horns blaring. "Alright, now!" Dan clambered up on the rear hood of a sedan, then helped her up. "Keep moving!" Brenda's gaze met the driver in the car behind them; she gave him a distracted wave before they jumped across to a roof in the inside lane. They almost lost their balance as the car surged ahead under them, ramming the next car in line. The traffic going the other way ground to a halt just in time, and they jumped across onto the roof of a van while the driver of the second car screamed obscenities at them in spittle-spewing rage.
"You all right?" Dan asked.
"Yes!"
The traffic started inching ahead, so they jumped across to the roof of a pickup truck, then into its bed, then over the side to the sidewalk as it pulled away.
"Crazy sonsabitches!" Dan bellyached as they recovered their composure on the other side.
Ron Hepner
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Amber Cook
Ron Hepner
Go, Bob. That all sounds very exciting.
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