Blog Tour : Lieutenant Henry Gallant by H. Peter Alesso

Title: Lieutenant Henry Gallant

Author: H. Peter Alesso

Series: Henry Gallant Saga #2

Pages: 246

Date Published: August 12, 2014

Publisher: Video Software Lab

Format: Kindle

Genre: Sci-Fi

Source: Goddess Fish Blog Tours

Synopsis:

In an era of genetic engineering, Lieutenant Henry Gallant is the only Natural (non-genetically enhanced) officer left in the fleet. In spite of his superiors’ concerns that he is not up to the challenge, 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 human colony on the planet Elysium. Elysium’s leader, Cyrus 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.

Gallant allies himself with Alaina Hepburn, the leader of the democratic opposition. With Alaina’s help, he discovers that the ancient AI has a sinister ulterior motive and he must match his exceptional mind against the complexity of machine intelligence to escape the ultimate trap and prevent the extermination of humanity. 

~Try an Excerpt!~

The cold midnight black of space was indifferent to the warp distortion of the United Planets’ Intrepid on its maiden voyage to Tau Ceti. Exotic dark matter fueled the ship’s warp drive to create a space-time distortion bubble around the ship. Even while exceeding the speed of light, everything within the bubble appeared normal, including the perception of time.

One of Earth’s nearest cosmic neighbors, Tau Ceti is a yellow dwarf star at about 11.5 light-years distance. The star’s brilliant radiance beckoned the Intrepid deeper into its gravity-well, while the ship’s forward view port allowed the bridge crew to witness its inner fusion turmoil, converting over six hundred million tons of hydrogen to helium each second.

Officer of the Deck, Lieutenant Henry Gallant, stood at the center of the Intrepid’s bridge. Tall and athletically built, he seemed perfectly at ease as the focus of attention. His symmetrical facial features and square jaw made him appear forthright and earnest. His steely gray eyes might have deemed him overly intense, but in a curious way; a single careless curl of brown hair drifting across his forehead hinted at a youthful exuberance which combined with his good-natured smile left a reassuring impression.

In stark contrast to the vast emptiness outside the ship, inside the Intrepid, the dozen members of the bridge crew were crowded into a circular hi-tech equipment-packed bridge with three inner concentric circles. The innermost circle was around the command chair with its virtual support screens. It was normally occupied by the commanding officer, but the OOD was currently sitting there. The next circle was the command and control, and weapons stations, while the outermost ring consisted of sensor, navigation, and communication consoles.

One hundred and eighty degrees of the bridge’s circumference was occupied by a front wall displaying a high resolution view screen showing the star system ahead of them.

From their demeanor and casual posture, the team gave the air of routine—nothing remarkable going on here. Yet there remained eagerness in the faces of the men nearest Gallant, causing him to savor the moment before issuing the next series of orders. The crew was so well coached on the ship’s evolutions they could predict his exact words.

That was Gallant’s perception as he stood at attention, careful to display a neutral facial expression while anticipating the coming maneuver.

He turned his attention on the youngest member of the team—the twenty-year-old helmsman—only one year younger than Gallant.

“We’ve reached the system threshold, sir,” reported the helmsman, as if prodding the OOD to end the FTL flight. Within the star system they would be limited to sublight drive to avoid passing through a consequential field of matter; a planet, a large asteroid, or even worse, the star itself, which would bring their voyage to a swift and fatal conclusion.

“Very well, prepare to exit warp,” said Gallant. On the ship-wide communication system, he announced, “All stations, standby to collapse warp bubble. Standby to collapse warp bubble.”

Turning to Chief Howard, he said, “Chief of the Watch, sound three blasts of the drive alarm.”

Chief Howard complied and the racket the alarm made ensured the whole crew knew what event was about to transpire.

“Helm, collapse warp bubble,” ordered Gallant, ostensibly monitoring the virtual screens surrounding him, but in actuality, his attention was keenly focused on the actions of the helmsman, cautiously checking every movement to ensure exact performance—waiting, watching.

“Aye, aye, sir,” responded Second Class Petty Officer William Craig. Short and wiry, with a ruddy complexion, he was young for a second class PO, but his outstanding performance and Chief Howard’s recommendation had spurred his advancement. Using a methodical touch on the controls, he listened to the AI’s prompting and made subtle adjustments. He watched as the three dimensional image projected on a virtual screen showed the warp bubble as it writhed and gyrated in response to his manipulations.

The Intrepid dropped smoothly out of warp. The subtle changes to the surrounding space-time fabric were inconspicuous to the crew; nevertheless Gallant detected a subtle difference to the ship’s rhythmic vibrations beneath his feet.

 ~Meet H.Peter !~ 

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.
The author will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter, and a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn host between this tour and the Review Tour, here.

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