Some characters from the first draft of Jack Commer #6, Commer of the Rebellion, now in progress. The text is taken from the rough draft, about two hundred pages so far, and is obviously open to revision.

Jack Commer, Supreme Commander, United System Space Force, 2076

We had the most amazing talk this afternoon! Lying there naked in the sun! About me finally being able to quit! Could I really do it? Am I really ready? Didn’t I tell her I was? Then I get this goddamn call and she runs off to Venus and she’s pissed off?

Amav Frankston-Commer, Jack’s Wife, Planetary Engineer

“It’s so stupid!” Amav snarled. “So goddamn stupid! He just faked his way through all that counseling! Nodding and smiling to everyone, telling everybody what they wanted to hear–and now this! Damn him to hell! I’m not gonna figure this one out for Jack! I just refuse!”

Jonathan James Commer, Jack and Amav’s Son and Former Emperor of Alpha Centauri

Before this day, if anyone on SolNet had paid attention to Jack Commer’s son, it was to ruefully muse about how Jonathan James had emerged non compos mentis from his stunt in Alpha Centauri, what an egomaniacal fool he’d been to try to become Emperor, and it served him right to have his brains burned out, and weren’t his father’s brains also burned out by this time and shouldn’t he get lost along with his son and scheming wife and sycophantic kid brother Joe as well? But now there appeared to be at least a hundred Jonathan James Commer fan clubs, all urging him, the Typhoon II, and its “jolly mad crew” on to glory. “The Rebellion is Now! The Rebellion is Us!” clamored one particularly effective post by Salla Hurtif, a young female SolNet commentator Pat had always had the hots for.

Jackie Vespertine, Professor of Exobiology at the University of Mars

“Now that’s one solid female! Or at least I thought she was! Could she really have gone off the deep end like that? I gotta tell ya, Laurie, honestly, like a man says to a woman he really respects and admires, I really have had the hots for Jackie for years now! I mean, what a chassis! Even Suzette lookin’ like a damn teenager can’t hold a candle to her! Face it, Jackie Vespertine is, like, perfection! She always has been! Her rejuvenation was, like, classic! Didn’t take away from that classy sexiness of hers, like you know, man to woman now, just being honest, you know! I mean, she’s never given me the time of day but I think she knows I’d be after her if I could. Man, oh man!”

Patrick James, President of SolGrid, Inc.

Wait! I see the hack! Just align it with the probability of–yeah! And Feedback Stasis would do that! Okay! So IF SDCloak > 0 THEN Comm:Merge;// {CALL VectorAlign, ELSE FeedbackStatis} :** CALL L-SpacialLoop}. THAT’S what I was missing! Okay! Test.

Suzette Borman, Lee Borman’s Wife and Jonathan James’ Lover

“Well, she can’t touch me and she knows it! I have all my forty-two years of experience with men, repackaged with all my adolescent hormones just–just raging, Mr. Patster! You know, I can’t help but tell you that maybe something could have happened between you and me, dear, it’s just that–I can’t! I belong to JJC! Then again, who knows what might happen on this trip?”

“Who knows what might happen?” Suzette repeated. “To all of us?” She pulled his hands off her chest but held them for a few seconds before letting them drop. “Jonathan James said I would be his Empress! Can you match that, dear Mr. Patster, with all your fourteen-year-old sex urges?”

Robot Laurie 283

“Well, when the Ywritt brought my John back to me, and I was so scrambled, and powered down, and so depressed, well, I realized I have a lot to answer for! I really messed up last year, and I realize I’ve got to atone! And so I’ve sworn to wear a 283 sweatshirt for the rest of my existence! That may sound strange, but actually, I have an endless supply of 283 sweatshirts in a hundred colors! A lot of ‘em are low cut, because I know John likes ‘em that way, but really, I figure everybody needs to know that it’s me, just a poor simple HAVOTT robot, not the real Laurie! I don’t want anyone to ever confuse us again!”

Z’B, Emperor of the Martians

“WE ARE DONE WITH STAR DRIVE? THIS IS A CRAPPY SHIP WITH BAD STAR DRIVE!” came into Pat’s mind along with horrifyingly detailed mathematical proofs of the amount of suffering a Martian central nervous system could take before exploding.

Major Carla Posttner, Head of USSF Detention Services

“I knew you two had the whole USSF hierarchy in your pocket,” Posttner hissed. “Sir. And I knew you’d once again circumvent Detention Services protocols in the handling of your own son. I do note that you have failed to obtain Form 303, ‘Warrant for Fugitive Arrest,’ from DS and that apparently you’re not intending to arrest Jonathan James Commer as a common criminal. Therefore, jurisdiction would devolve upon the Court of the City of Marsport, and in my liaison capacity as Councilwoman for the Fourth District–”

copyright 2014 by Michael D. Smith

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