Welcome to Galactic Axia
The Horicon Experience
The Horicon Experience is the second book of our 20-book series. It picks up almost immediately after Escape to Destiny, but with a whole new twist of events. In this adventure, we follow Delmar Eagleman and Stan Shane to their advanced training at the Mica Computer Institute where they encounter a very ancient and mysterious entity.
Along with Delmar and Stan, you will meet George Citti, the captain of a deep space patroler as he embarks on an emergency mission to save an endangered civilization on a hostile planet. The question is, will he be able to save them?
Jim Laughter and Victor J. Bretthauer are master storytellers. Their first book, Escape to Destiny, is one of those rare books that made me take pause and actually think about the message. It captured my attention and held it until the last page. The Horicon Experience, the second episode of the Galactic Axia series, will carry you to new places throughout the galaxy, and thrill you with mystery and danger. I can hardly wait for the next exciting adventure. Job well done, gentlemen!
Gloria Teague
author, Saturday Night Cocoa Fudge
and Beyond the Surgeon's Touch
Jim and Victor have done it again! The Horicon Experience sets off across the galaxy and never stops, introducing a whole host of new characters that inspire, intrigue, and sometimes mystify the imagination. As Jake Sender says in the book, "Hold on to your hat!"
Bob Avey
author, Twisted Perception
and Beneath a Buried House
We hope you enjoy the following excerpt from
The Horicon Experience.
The debriefing officer looked up from the written report at Captain George Citti seated across the desk from him. "Okay, I've read your official report, Captain Citti,” he began as he leaned back in his chair. "Now tell me what you didn't say."
"As you know, sir, I've been assigned to watch a certain closed planet for the last several months,” George Citti began, considering several factors. "I've mostly been observing their technological development, and I'll admit they surprised me."
"How so?” asked the officer.
"Well, sir, much of the planet has advanced industrial capability," George answered. "Some of it is limited and spotty. But it’s a planet of nations, some more advanced than others. In the advanced nations, their rate of development is much faster than the norm. They developed laser technology and atomic power at almost the same time. As you know, these technologies are usually developed a generation apart.” The debriefing officer leaned back in his chair and nodded.
“By the end of the third month,” George continued, “I started recording their preliminary efforts at deep-space electrical transmissions. But they weren’t using radio telegraphy as one would expect. Instead, they developed a tight-beam transmission system decades ahead of the normal planetary growth curve. Early interconnecting power grids of enormous power appeared, and shortly after that, broadcasts of cosmic amplitude modulation reached into space. I was fascinated by their leaps in technology." Trooper Citti paused to gather his thoughts.
"But you would still say that they were quite a ways from even primitive space exploration and travel?” the officer questioned.
"Yes, sir," replied George. "As a whole, sir. At least the travel part. However, taking into consideration their faster rate of technical development, it becomes hard to say.”
"Now, what are your gut feelings about what happened yesterday?” the officer asked. “And is it showing up consistently?”
“Here’s the thing, sir,” George answered. “It’s not a planet-wide progression as you’d expect. The progress is centered in one location as if they were being aided in their technological advancement.”
“That is interesting,” the officer agreed.
“Yes sir,” George said. “There are still whole continents on that planet that haven’t even discovered elementary locomotion yet. There are tribal areas where people still live in caves and pitched huts.” George paused. “And here we have a central area that will have space-age technology very soon? Something isn’t right, sir. We may have to check this out a little closer.”
“I agree,” said the officer. “We’re going to have to get a lot closer. Possibly send in teams on the ground. Anything else?”
"Early yesterday morning I recorded a directed tight-beam power transmission in the wavelengths the Axia uses, and that we know has been reverse engineered by the Red-tails," answered Citti. "Then late in the evening, I was hit with an extremely powerful signal of a similar nature. Almost immediately, some sort of attraction ray started pulling my ship from its stationary orbit. However, it was weak enough for me to overcome with my drive."
"So you think it was focused on your ship?” the officer asked incredulously.
"Most definitely," replied George. "As I was pulling free, I recorded a third signal that was on par with our older detector and levitation ray systems."
"But that development would be several hundred years too advanced for that planet!" the officer exclaimed.
"I know," agreed Citti. "And from the brief readings I got, it has a range of nearly a quarter million miles."
"Then it's best we stay clear for the time being," the officer decided. "They apparently know we're out here, and now we have to figure out how to contain them until their social development catches up."
"On an aside, sir, I think there might be a bigger problem," George said.
"What?” asked the debriefing officer suspiciously?
"I think that since they are active in those frequencies," he added, "cosmic weaponry won't be far behind, and if they should happen to use that attraction ray incorrectly, I mean aim it at a surface target instead of into space, it could be serious for them.”
“How so?” asked the officer.
“It could destroy their planet, sir," George answered.
The debriefing officer pushed up from his chair and walked around his desk to face George Citti? “Destroy the planet?” he asked.
“Yes sir,” George answered. “Several of the nation/states on that planet have developed nuclear weapons.” The debriefing officer nodded. “Consider this,” George continued. “What if instead of Axia technology, they’ve somehow gotten hold of a piece of Red-tail equipment?”
“Red-tail equipment? What kind of Red-tail equipment?” the officer asked.
“Well sir, we know the Red-tails use a technology that distorts space and creates the transit tubes they use to invade our galaxy, correct?” George asked.
“Yes. So?
”Suppose a Red-tail scout craft crashed on that planet and the natives were able to retrieve it. They might have also been able to activate the equipment, not knowing its true purpose. They might just think it’s a communications array of some kind, which would answer the question of how they’ve developed the tight-beam signal so quickly,” George answered.
“I follow you,” the officer replied.
“Well sir,” George continued, “the Red-tail transit tube isn’t a natural phenomenon. It’s a distortion of space itself. They create their transit tube by tearing the very fabric of space which causes space to fold in on itself, allowing them to traverse incredible expanses of space in hours instead of years.”
“So?” asked the officer.
George could see that the debriefing officer wasn’t understanding what he was saying. “Consider this,” George continued. “In order to fold space, and then tear the very fabric of the universe would take incredible power. Wouldn’t you agree, sir?”
“I would,” he answered.
“Then what do you think would happen if that technology were inadvertently unleashed on a surface area containing a fifty-megaton nuclear device?” George asked.
“I don’t know,” the officer confessed. “I assume it would trigger the device.”
“Much worse,” Trooper Citti answered. “It would cause the atomic power of the nuclear device to fold in on itself, tearing the sub-atomic particles into thousands of other sub-atomic particles.”
Captain Citti stood and crossed the room to the officer’s coffee pot. “May I?” he asked, indicated the steaming percolator.
“Help yourself,” the officer answered. He looked George up and down, not quite sure how to take this obviously intelligent flyer. “You’re not telling me something, Citti. What is it?”
“Sir,” George answered. “If this is really the technology I think it is, and it would increase the destructive power of a fifty-megaton bomb a hundred-fold, what do you think the destructive capacity would be if it were used against a device with multiple warheads, or even worse, against a military facility with a hundred nuclear devices with multiple warheads?”
“Unseen One, help us,” the debriefing officer muttered.
“Exactly,” George answered. “Given the war-like nature of these people, I guarantee you they’re going to use it. They’ve already discovered the tight-beam capacity of the device, which is only the focal point of the technology. And even though they only think it’s a communications device, if they focus it on a ground-forces facility with a nuclear device, it could start a chain reaction that could destroy their whole planet, possibly their entire solar system.”
The debriefing officer mulled over the implications for a minute. The development of cosmic weapons was always dangerous with underdeveloped planets. And Citti was right. A few had destroyed their own planets and others besides. Such advancements, coupled with a high degree of civility in the social institutions of a planet, usually marked the opening of relations with the Axia. But given the violent nature of the people on this planet, it was likely the Axia would have to intervene to try to save them from their own excesses and to protect their galactic neighbors as well.
Taking George’s report, he sealed it in a courier envelope and handed it to Trooper Citti. "As soon as your ship is repaired, I want you to take this directly to the Observation Department on Shalimar and tell them everything you told me,” he said as he rose.
"Yes, sir," replied George. He set his coffee cup on the corner of the officer’s desk, saluted, then left the office and returned to the repair bay to check the progress on his ship. The debriefing officer looked at his copy of the report. This could be one of the darkest events in galactic history, he thought as he flipped through the pages again.
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