Ghosts of Space Command
Captain Bartholomew Quasar and the intrepid crew of the Effervescent Magnitude return to Perihelion Science Fiction in a brand-spankin' new short story full of mystery and suspense. Here's how it opens:
Captain Bartholomew Quasar sat alone in the conference room of his gorgeous star cruiser, the Effervescent Magnitude. As it hurtled through the star-punctured void of deep space, he stared at the wallscreen, unable to believe he was seeing what he was seeing. Whom he was seeing.
"You should be dead," he managed after a solid minute of awkward silence.
"Good to see you too, Captain." Admiral Lehee smiled like a kindly old grandfather—older than old, if Quasar's calculations were correct. "You've been busy. Seems you've strayed a bit from your original mission of exploration and acquisition. Been playing hero among the stars lately, eh?"
"Why aren't you dead?" Quasar took a moment to clench his jaw and wait for the muscle to twitch.
I'm glad to have another Quasar tale greet the masses while the novel's serialization continues. If readers like a 3,000-word humorous space adventure, then it stands to reason they might also like an 80,000-word helping.