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| Bruce Rolff |
Brief Outline: From The Earth is a series of ten novellas and a short novel which follows the adventures of the extended Jackson family as they lead humanity off world and to the nearest stars.
Timespan: Near future through the next three hundred years.
Setting: From the Earth to the Centauri system.
Science & Tech: Worldwide pandemics and rapid vaccine development, Battle Stars and robots, dangerous AI avatars, huge tower complexes, asteroid mining, helium-3 mining, AI nannies, civilizational break up, giant laser-driven solar sails, fusion ships, space habitats.
From The Earth #1 contains the following novellas:
Whatsoever You Do: A Novella
Amir Atakan held the rank of Ustegaman in the Turkish military, equivalent to a First Lieutenant in the US Air Force. He had been in his battle suit now for two days without relief. The attacks from the air and the supply difficulties had finally caught up with the Turkish forces.
Amir had watched in disbelief as the Poles had deliberately destroyed their power system. He could understand such actions from a military strategy point of view. But such deliberate destruction not only affected military combatants but also the civilian population. The Poles were willing to endanger the lives of their families, their wives and children. Would he have the nerve to do such a thing if Turkey were threatened? He didn't know. One part of him admired the Poles dedication, the civilized part of him was repulsed.
But he had more immediate worries. His battery pack was getting dangerously low. Without that power, he would be stuck in this field without defenses. He had called for a backup supply, but they were certainly taking their time.
Then he saw movement at the edge of the field. He saw the Polish soldiers emerge from the woods. But he relaxed when he saw they weren't carrying anything other than their assault rifles. The battle suit could easily handle those weapons, thought Amir.
He went to work.
As usual, the Poles were dropping with ease. The suit could take on more than two dozen targets at a time and coordinate the return fire. With Amir focusing on the battle, he didn't notice the soft alarm as the battle suit begin to shut down. The bullets slamming the suit's bulletproof sheathing began to sound like a hard rain as the suit went silent.
Then the Poles stopped firing as they noticed the battle suit had stopped. Amir was feverishly working to extricate himself from the suit when he saw one of the Poles stand up and walk toward him. In the suit, he stood nearly six feet above the head of the approaching Pole. Amir could see the young man's face. He saw him detach a grenade from the grenade belt which he wore across his shoulder like a sling. Amir was transfixed as the young man pulled the pin from the grenade and gently laid it at the suit's feet. He then slowly backpedaled, all the while staring fiercely into Amir's eyes. Then Amir saw another Polish soldier approaching reaching for a grenade, then Amir saw the first young man and the approaching soldier hit the ground, then Amir felt the concussive force of the explosion at his feet and saw the field disappear in smoke and flying debris, and that was the last he saw.
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