workingthegalaxy's podcast (Science Fiction)

A listener contacted me because there seemed to be a plot gap between #20 and #21, and indeed, he was correct.

Here is the missing episode which tells how the Starship Hanno was faced with spending a very long time getting anywhere safely, until Commander Jose Aguire came up with his plan for navigating through a dangerous energy field.

This book is now available as a paperback on the Amazon website, and should be available for Kindle on 10/22/13. I hope you are enjoying the audio version, but I know many people will prefer reading rather than listening. The cover artwork design is by Starla Huchton. Editing was accomplished with the help of the South Bay Writer's group in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The plan to save the Arcturusians has begun as Aguire returns.

This is the end of the book Between Earth and Arcturus.

The Admirals of the Exploration Corps have a lot of power, but someone else has more.

Aguire claims the Starship Hanno as his own.

     Commander Aguire has come into his own. He is the master of the Hanno now, but he knows his limitations, so he turns to the one person he can trust to fill a vacuum.

Commander Aguire has joined the rebels in attacking the government of Earth, and the evil leaders are on the run.

The fight for freedom starts now. Our evil vice president has invited Commander Jose Aguire to the Capitol in order to use him as a spokesman to explain President Garane's death and cement Batastia's position as dictator. Admiral Higgs has already made his excape from the doomed regime and will reappear in the sequel novel, "Pioneers of Arcturus" where he is still trying to build his perfect empire.

The Earth is under attack by the renegade General Hebert. This episode takes place entirely in the Navy Command Center near West Point, the capital of Earth, and is seen from Admiral Higgs point of view.

The Starship Hanno has only been gone seven days, and General Hebert's rebel fleet entered the solar system just as the Hanno was departing for the Zone.

There are only a few episodes left in the Between Earth and Arcturus saga. The sequel is in the works and will have much more from the Native Arcturusian point of view as the monarchy and people of Arcturus start seeing more visitors from Earth.

Aguire and Poluka fight for control of the Starship Hanno, and the fate of all aboard. Sometimes violence is the only answer.

Who controls the starship determines what the crew will do about evil government of Earth that wants them dead, and how the issue of aliens of Arcturus will be resolved.

Captain Poluka's mind has gone beyond the breaking point and the crew is confused and divided.

In the next episode, we will return to the situation on Earth where General Hebert is waging war against the regime of Vincent Batastia.

The time has come for the officers and crew of the Starship Hanno to choose sides.

Commander Washington gives everyone something to think about at the debriefing meeting after leaving Arcturus.

Gentry and his family are especially concerned about what Washington thinks should be done about the Arcturusians, and he tells a small audience what he learned about his ancestors, the Erosians.

With nothing left to screw up more than he already has, Captain Poluka takes the Starship Hanno back to the mysterious Zone to see what the automated probes have learned.

Gentry Stokes and his Arcturusian wife and children go with the Hanno, but Commander Washington is uneasy about the existance of aliens and intends to investigate further.

Meanwhile, Captain Poluka has changed his mind about the direction of the conspiracy against the government of Earth and now wants to attack the defenses of Earth.

This sets the stage for a confrontation between Poluka and Aguire as the crew and officers begin to choose sides.

The fire on the pier ruins the kings plans for diplomatic relations with Earth.

Back on the Hanno, Elisa learns of Debra's latest lust interest, and Blossom Hill has a thing or two to say to her superior officers.

The royal chronicler, Eeja Burr, discovers the Grand Matriarch's plot to disrupt Elpastre's diplomatic efforts with the Earthmen.

Despite Eeja's daring attempt to stop the mischief, Captain Poluka still gets the blame. And a new character appears.

The alien delegation asks about Earth's primitives before returning to the planet with injured crewmen from the Starship Hanno. Meanwhile, Popa Utirka gets an unpleasant command from the Grand Matriarch instructing him to disrupt the king's diplomatic efforts with the Earthmen.

There are now two groups of aliens onboard the Starship Hanno: The official diplomats meeting with Captain Poluka, and the Arcturusian doctors who are charming the crew, each doing what they can to persuade the captain.

It will take something a bit more forceful to get results, and the force will come from an unlikely source.

The monarchy of Arcturus needs to deal with a diplomatic incident caused by Captain Poluka.

The Queen has a plan that will not only help the hundreds of wounded Earthmen, but also generate good will among the crew of the Starship Hanno.

This episode brings back Ivan Tershensky, who last appeared in the prequel story Starship Himilco. Our roguish Russian spaceman has been a busy boy in the last ten years.

Captain Poluka opposes Cliffs advice about the Old Rulers, and decides not to meet the king.

Doctor Jayne Payne forces Poluka to schedule a physical examination.

Captain Poluka is disturbed by the idea of Earthmen mating with natives of Arcturus-4. When he meets with the representative of the Grand Matriarch of the Old Rulers, Poluka is sympathetic to their views, and suspicious of his own officers.

A note to my Russian listeners: It is simply a coincidence of language that the alien lawyer's name sounds like it means something a bit nasty. Ivan Tershensky laughs about it all of the time.

You can find an episode guide for the podcast of the novel Between Earth and Arcturus on www.workingthegalaxy.com by clicking on Show Notes.

Please leave a review of the show on whatever site that you download from.

Commander Aguire confronts Captain Poluka about the pills known as zippies. Then Poluka meets with his brother Cliff and gets some startling news.

This scene takes place near the village of Arvod on the western shore of the inland sea, Vodita.

The King of Arcturus tells our explorers about the early history of his world.

Some of the crew from the missing Starship Himilco are found, including Cliff Poluka.

The king of Arcturus, Elpastre, gets to speak with the explorers from Earth before the Old Rulers know what is happening.

Commander Redbird arranges it so the meeting happens before Captain Poluka can get involved because Redbird doesn't trust his captain. 

G.J. and Lynda Stokes go to the planet and are finally reunited with Gentry.

Please leave a review of the show on whatever site that you download it from. You can find an episode guide on the website www.workingthegalaxy.com by clicking on "Show Notes". Feel free to leave a comment on the Home page.

See how things can get better for someone who got killed.

Captain Poluka finally meets up with Lynda's missing brother Gentry, and goes on a trip to meet the king and queen of the fourth planet of Arcturus.

Captain Poluka is intent on locating his missing people. Too bad he's exhausted and has psychological problems.

In this episode we finally catch up with Lynda's missing brother Gentry. It's also the first time we see the Hanno's complement of Army personnel in action. Unfortunately, their action has devastating results.

This will begin a turning point for Captain Paul Poluka, who has been screwing up since the mission began.

If you haven't listened to previous episodes, please visit www.workingthegalaxy.com to see an episode guide by clicking on Show Notes.

Captain Poluka and a team of soldiers go to the planet aboard the cruiser, El Toro. The shuttle teams of Aguire and Sheffield are missing, and possibly under attack.

Unplanned, and completely unprepared, Commander Aguire makes contact with aliens on Arcturus-4.

This episode was the last recorded in 2012, and first to be published as a podcast in 2013.

The entire book, Between Earth and Arcturus, should soon be available for READING.

If you get this show on iTunes, please leave a review, which will help me a lot. Thank you.

Our explorers find that the planet is not as friendly as they had hoped.

Aguire's team explores a forest while Shefield's shuttle takes a dip in the sea.

In the last episode, #34 Red to Blue, we saw commander Aguire six shuttles of the Starship Hanno ordered to enter the atmosphere of Arcturus-4 to investigate the mysterious barrier, and to get a better view of the planet surface.

Three shuttles aborted the mission because of the weather in the upper atmosphere.  Commander Donno’s shuttle is successfully circling the planet. Commander Sheffield’s shuttle lost contact with the Hanno as soon as they reached the barrier.

The Hanno saw that Commander Aguire’s shuttle reached the barrier and landed on it and found that it was like a the surface of a fluid surface. A moment later a wave in the surface appeared and overwhelmed the shuttle, which then lost contact with the Hanno.

In this episode, Commander Aguire's shuttle is damaged and must land on the planet. They see signs of life and decide to investigate.

A shuttle mission into the atmosphere of Arcturus-4 takes Commander Aguire to the mysterious barrier high above the planet's surface.

Lynda sees that something has gone wrong with Captain Poluka.

Commander Aguire uses the remote probes to study the planet, but Captain Poluka is in a rush to get down to the surface of Arcturus-4 to find his brother Cliff.

The crew of the Himilco disappeared ten years ago, but left letters to their loved ones in case someone came looking for them.

The Starship Hanno finally arrives at the Arcturus star system. They know aliens are here somewhere, but they can't quite find them. But there is no need to find the alien world because the Queen of Arcturus, Lapastra, finds the starship as soon as they arrive.

The King, Elpastre, has just received an unpleasant message from the Matriarch of the Old Rulers, who is the bitter enemy of the king and queen. Now, Elpastre must tell his wife, Lapastra, about the Matriarch's offensive offer.

Commander Aguire sees the message left with the alien spaceship by Captain Poluka's brother Cliff.

Chief Engineer Braun doesn't know if it is safe to show it to the captain because of the captain's erratic behavior.

This is the 30th episode of the novel "Between Earth and Arcturus". An episode guide can be found at www.workingthegalaxy.com by clicking on Show Notes.

Don't miss the prequel episodes where you can learn more about Captain Paul Poluka's missing brother Clifford, as well as Lynda's brother Gentry.

Lynda is getting comfortable being with humans now that she knows she is part alien.

The alien ship is aboard the Starship Hanno as scientists and engineers study artifacts from the vessel.

Captain Poluka shares a bottle with an old friend and reveals the pain he holds inside concerning his long lost brother.

Lynda Stokes now sees everything differently since learning the secret of why she has always been different from other women.

The officers of the Starship Hanno are finding their captain's behaviour suspicious as Poluka rushes to move on to Arcturus, bringing the alien ship with them.

Lynda's world is turned upside down when she finally learns the secret that her father kept from his children.

The explorers of the Starship Hanno recoup after a tragic loss, and consider what to do with the alien ship.

Lynda Stokes begins wondering if maybe her brother was right when he claimed that their grandfather was an alien.

Captain Poluka is falling into his old tricks of keeping secrets from his people.

Just as Lynda, Donno, and Elisa reach the alien spaceship, a disaster leaves them stranded, and Aguire must take the light-cruiser to rescue them.

The Hanno is seriously damaged, and Lynda's feelings finally awaken.

Donno, Lynda, and Elisa put on spacesuits and go to investigate and alien spaceship which appears to be damaged and abandoned.

Elisa is terrified of Lynda, who is prone to violent outbursts and has unusual strength.

It's time get into spacesuits and go outside to the alien ship.

It's a wreck drifting among asteroids the size of small planets in the most dangerous region of space.

This would be hazardous enough without sending two women who fear each other.

Another ship is in the Zone and Lynda finds the implications disturbing. A relic from the missing Starship Himilco is sighted.

Get a little insight to the legendary warrior's history.

Captain Poluka reveals things that have been haunting him when he comes to visit Hanson's quarters.

But it is Hanson's converstation with GJ Stokes that finally tells what has been kept secret from the world, and from Lynda Stokes.

You can read the Show Notes for each episode of Between Earth and Arcturus by visiting www.workingthegalaxy.com and feel free to leave a comment.

If you listen to the show on iTunes, please take a moment to leave a review, which will make it easier to find the show in the iTunes directory.

Thank you for listening.

Commander Aguire takes the Starship away from Earth before time runs out, and GJ Stokes's creation does the impossible. Unfortunately, it lands them in the same situation that killed every other ship that entered the Zone.

Lynda becomes obsessed with needing to know how Elisa can be so popular...way too obsessed.

The Starship Hanno is fleeing Earth before the New Federation can react to the death of Alexei Volk, and the conspirators try to keep the crew from suspecting that something is amiss.

Bart Hanson needs some answers about missing people, and has a persuasive way of asking.

Time runs out for the conspirators as the government's paranoia begins to  boil.

Commander Aguire sees the new ship for the first time and begins the onloading of supplies with the help of Lieutenents McGee and Swanson.  Aguire plans to use "smart machine" technology, which had been banned since the Corporate War 40 years ago because of how it had been used by the much feared robot soldiers of the past.

Aguire figures that this time it should be fine because it will only be to make trucks more efficient.

Join our explorers for a gala event at the commissioning of the Starship Hanno.

Commander Jose Aguire and his buddy Leroy Donno still have no idea that Vice President Batastia and Admiral Fisher expect the entire crew of the new ship will die because of design flaws, and have selected only people on their Black List as crew members.

Batastia has picked the date of the commissioning to coincide with the World Cup Football playoffs (in Leicester this year, which is, by the way, not far from where the author's ancestors came from) so that there will be very little news coverage, making it easier for the public to forget all about the doomed spacemen.

Lynda's has something in common with her brother Gentry...superhuman strength and a bad temper.

An unfortunate thing for a certain man.

Here we get a closer look at Lynda Stokes as she reveals some of her concerns and her feelings about her missing brother, who was featured in the two-part prequel Starship Himilco.

Lynda is young, but already committing her life to a rebellion, and is responsible for choosing a crew who will go along with the conspirator's plans. A wrong choice could leave them with a crew which might turn against them when they learn the truth.

Commander Aguie is allowed to train for working on the new starship, unaware that he is only there to be evaluated by Lynda Stokes to see if he might fit into the conspiracy.

This episode is actually three very short chapters.

The first follows Captain Paul Poluka as he takes Lynda Stokes to dinner in an attempt to change her mind about allowing Commander Aguire to serve aboard the Starship Hanno. Part of the problem is that their secret conspiracy depends on getting only people whom the evil government has blacklisted, but Lynda doesn't know who's on the blacklist.

The next chapter drops in on Admiral Higgs, who is finding unexpected troubles both with his protoge, Admiral Fisher, who has just murdered Julie, and with the vice president, who has just murdered thousands.

Finally, we get our first glimpse of the alien queen in the shortest chapter of the novel.

This is chapter 5 of the novel "Between Earth and Arcturus" by James Prescott.

Admiral Higgs takes Admiral Fisher to the capital of Earth, West Point, where we meet Vice President Batastia and the inner circle of evil men who now rule the known galaxy.

Admiral Higgs has taken Fisher under his wing to guide him up the through the ranks, but is beginning to realize that Fisher is a monster.

Elisa Santino was a top-notch deep space rescue officer before the coup. Now she's miserably enduring a desk job under Admiral Fisher in the Department of Design Review.

But she has a plan; she discovered that G.J. Stokes and Captain Poluka are going to great lengths to hide the true design of the Starship Hanno and, since Stokes is the richest man in the galaxy, she figures he will pay to keep his secrets from the New Federation.

She hacks into secret files and begins collecting information, while keeping it from being discovered by anyone else.

Though scheming to be a blackmailer, Elisa is not all bad, and tries to help a young intern stay out of trouble.

This is chapters 2 and 3 together of the novel Between Earth and Arcturus by James Prescott, which tell how Lynda Stokes objects to Paul wanting to bring Aguire into the rebellion, but finally agrees to to check him out in person and, possibly, allow him to join Captain Poluka on the new ship, which will put Aguire on the path to treason whether he likes it or not.

Aguire meets Captain Poluka at the McConnell Spaceport near New Wichata. There he runs into a policeman whom he knows, and learns that the New Federation is arresting people for protesting, people who are never seen again.

Aguire learns more about the new government and finds that he has a new path to follow, still unaware that he is being manipulated.

Here we meet José Aguire, an Exploration Corps commander whose career is in jeopardy after a new government seizes control of the Earth. Aguire’s old enemy has been promoted to Admiral after helping to overthrow the old Federation by betraying its leaders, and Aguire must find a way to keep the Admiral from getting control of his future.  Things are getting bad on Earth, and Aguire wants a ship of his own to command.

This is the first chapter of the book Between Earth and Arcturus.

For the prequel to the book, check the episode menu on the podcast link (it looks like a galaxy) to find earlier episodes.

Conspirators

21:12

Meet Clifford Poluka's younger brother, Paul, who appeared briefly in the episode 'Himilco part 1'. It's been ten years since the Starship Himilco disappeared along with Cliff and Gentry.

Paul is now a captain in the Exploration Corps, and is conspiring against the government with Gentry's father and sister.

Here we also meet Lynda Stokes, 22 year old daughter of GJ Stokes (Gentry Junior, father of Gentry Stokes III who was featured in Himilco), the head of Stokes Enterprises and the designer of the newest and best starship.

Lynda is a prodigy with great intelligence, but can't cook worth a damn. Her brother Gentry has been missing for ten years and she stubbornly refuses to believe that he could be lost forever.

This chapter was originally written to be the first chapter of the novel Between Earth and Arcturus, but didn't make it into the final draft.

The Starship Himilco is the first story James Prescott wrote about adventures of Earthmen travelling to Arcturus in the 28th century. This short story takes place ten years before the events in the novel Between Earth and Arcturus, and was intended to be the prequel to the novel, but didn’t make it into the final draft. I am presenting it here in two parts.

Episode 1
Himilco part 1

Gentry Stokes III was born in the year 2766 and is the son of the richest man in the galaxy. He is a young man troubled by superhuman strength which he must hide from the world and a belief that his grandfather was an alien. Unfortunately, scientific opinion has concluded that the probability of aliens in galaxy is zero, so Gentry’s obsession with his ancestry lands him in mental hospital until Clifford Poluka gives him the opportunity to prove the existence of aliens.
This troubled young man is also a mathematics prodigy who, at the age of 19 years, finds a way out of the mental hospital and onto the Starship Himilco for the first manned mission to Arcturus.

Episode 2
Himilco part 2

Gentry is making friends aboard the Starship Himilco during the long voyage to Arcturus. They must pass through the Zone, which no vessel has ever done before. When they find the Himilco cannot maintain a constant speed they discover the secret of the Zone that has been destroying every probe sent there, and a radio signal leads them to a damaged alien vessel.

The Starship Himilco is the first story James Prescott wrote about adventures of Earthmen travelling to Arcturus in the 28th century. This short story takes place ten years before the events in the novel Between Earth and Arcturus, and was intended to be the prequel to the novel, but didn’t make it into the final draft. I am presenting it here in two parts.

Episode 1
Himilco part 1

Gentry Stokes III was born in the year 2766 and is the son of the richest man in the galaxy. He is a young man troubled by superhuman strength which he must hide from the world and a belief that his grandfather was an alien. Unfortunately, scientific opinion has concluded that the probability of aliens in galaxy is zero, so Gentry’s obsession with his ancestry lands him in mental hospital until Clifford Poluka gives him the opportunity to prove the existence of aliens.
This troubled young man is also a mathematics prodigy who, at the age of 19 years, finds a way out of the mental hospital and onto the Starship Himilco for the first manned mission to Arcturus.

Episode 2
Himilco part 2

Gentry is making friends aboard the Starship Himilco during the long voyage to Arcturus. They must pass through the Zone, which no vessel has ever done before. When they find the Himilco cannot maintain a constant speed they discover the secret of the Zone that has been destroying every probe sent there, and a radio signal leads them to a damaged alien vessel.