Sneak Peek—Stories from The Expanding Universe Anthology #4: ‘Duty’ by Bill Patterson

There are 20 short stories in the latest volume of Craig Martelle’s The Expanding Universe anthologies. Today, with his permission, we are taking a sneak peek at the start of Bill Patterson’s story, ‘Duty’. Here’s how it begins:

----------------------------------------------------------------

The greatest problem with doing one’s duty sometimes it deciding exactly where one’s duty lies.

Lieutenant James Benison leaned back in his command chair, surveying the crew of his small corvette.  It wasn't his first command, but a runabout just doesn't count.  Not when your corvette mounts enough weaponry to equal all the bombs released from both sides of World War II.  Sometimes, James marveled that the Grand Fleet of Earth would allow someone of his age to command a vessel capable of such destruction, but the constant war losses had the Fleet really dipping into its reserves recently.

"Lieutenant, we have a contact at three twenty-one, range ninety-two AU.  Emission lines match known Slorg engine patterns."

"Give me a plot, tactical."  The monitor screen at the front of the control room showed a glowing red dot in a moving three-dimensional space.

"Do you want it in the Tank, sir?" asked the navigator, hands poised over the controls.

"Do it."  The red spot blossomed in the holographic space occupied by various glowing dots representing known objects within one hundred astronomical units of their position in the outer Solar System.  Earth was a small, blue dot near the bottom of the tank, while Lieutenant Benison was more worried about things within ten AUs of his position.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Would you like to read more? 

TheExpanding Universe #4 is now available on Amazon. You can also find Volume 1, The Expanding Universe: An Exploration of Science Fiction Genre, Volume 2, The Expanding Universe: Exploring the Science Fiction Genre, and Volume 3, The Expanding Universe 3: Space Opera, Military SciFi, Space Adventure, & Alien Contact! on Amazon in paperback.