Book picks similar to
The Derelict Duty: A Space Adventure by James Haddock
science-fiction
sci-fi
loaned
spacetravel
Earth Force
Shemer Kuznits - 2019
On the second day, a cryptic message, ‘Infusion commencing’, appeared in the corner of everyone’s eyes. On the third day, the sick were healed and the crippled walked again. On the fourth day, celebration and joy spread across the globe. And on the fifth day, the warping began… There was no warning. A mist descended from the sky, disabling all technology and causing a weird message to appear at the corner of everyone’s eye. The situation grew even worse as animals and people started to warp, transforming into terrible monsters that prey on the livings. Within months, human civilization had crumbled. Unable to fight the seemingly-indestructible beasts, the survivors are reduced to cowering in reinforced shelters. Waiting for the end to come. Helpless. All seemed lost until a few brave souls discovered the secret of their new reality: the Tec and how to use it to level up. Together they represent humanity’s last best hope for salvation. But they first must find the answers to the mystery of their new existence. Their journey will require them to quickly adapt to alien technology, operate strange spaceships, and even befriend an extra-terrestrial merchant with an Inferiority Complex.
Entanglement
Gerald M. Kilby - 2018
It’s an excruciatingly dull mission, yet it keeps him far away from his debts and the agencies that are chasing him down. But his fortunes change, along with the other four crew, when they discover a derelict spaceship in orbit around a binary asteroid. Scott’s share of the salvage bounty would be enough to clear his name and start a new life. All they have to do is retrieve an item of cargo and return it to Ceres. It should be simple. However, the cargo happens to be an experimental quantum device lost while en route to Europa, and ownership of this technology could fundamentally change the balance of power within the solar system. Now that word is out of its discovery, the Hermes finds itself being hunted down by those who want to take possession of this device, including the very people Scott has spent so much time and effort hiding from. And there's not a damn thing he can do about it. But Scott is getting pretty tired of running away. If he wants any hope of a new life, then he’s going to have to stand up and fight for it, even if that means endangering himself and his crew. Yet, after a lifetime of running and hiding, Scott’s not sure if he has what it takes—maybe he really is just one of life’s perpetual losers. Then again, there is a deep river of rage welling up inside him, born out of a lifetime of countless accumulated injustices, each one inching him ever closer to the edge—and this could be the one that finally makes him snap. About Entanglement: The story is set a few centuries into the future where humanity has colonized most of the inner solar system. The asteroid belt (The Belt) is now a hive of mining activity and ships ply the trade routes to Earth and Mars. The technology depicted is, for the most part, what I consider to be technically plausible, although I do stretch it a little with quantum entanglement. That said, you won’t need a calculator or a slide-rule to enjoy the story.
Trinity Unleashed
Rodney W. Hartman - 2017
When the Intergalactic Empire has a tough mission, they send in a wizard scout. When they have an impossible mission, they send in Wizard Scout Trinity Delgado. The planet Cavos is on the verge of civil war. Only an outmanned, outgunned force of Empire peacekeepers prevent an outbreak of bloodshed on a global scale. When the peacekeepers’ commander requests an armored regiment as reinforcements, the Imperial High Command sends him Wizard Scout Trinity instead. With only a fresh out of the university grad student and a half-crazy old pilot as allies, Trinity has to find the source of Cavos’s troubles before the Empire becomes part of a disaster far greater than a mere local civil war. Caught between the peacekeepers’ resentful commander and suspicious local government officials, Trinity and her battle computer, Jennifer, have their work cut out for them. Together they must weave their way through one mystery after another leaving a trail of bloody bodies along the way until they find the answer. That is, if they can remain alive long enough to find it.
The Game
Terry Schott - 2012
The best players are celebrities, adored and worshiped by countless fans. Zack is a superstar among players.His final play may change the world, forever...
Rendezvous with Rama
Arthur C. Clarke - 1973
It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at an inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits — just behind a Raman airlock door.
To Honor You Call Us
H. Paul Honsinger - 2012
In 2315, the wily Max Robichaux is given command of the USS Cumberland, a destroyer with state-of-the-art capabilities but a combat record so bad, she’s known as the “Cumberland Gap.”Capt. Robichaux’s first mission: to take his warship to the Free Corridor, where the Krag have secretly been buying strategic materials, and to seize or destroy any ships carrying enemy cargo. Far from the fleet and under enforced radio silence, Max relies only on his determination and guile…and the support and friendship of his chief medical officer, the brilliant Dr. Sahin.Because even as he deals with the ship’s onboard problems and the stress of carrying out her risky assignment, Max and the doctor discover that the Cumberland and her misfit crew are all that stands in the way of a deadly Krag attack that threatens to end the war—and humanity—once and for all.A far-future story in the tradition of “ships of wood, men of iron” novels, To Honor You Call Us and the Man of War series combines the adventure of exploration, the excitement of war, and the dangers of the unknown through the eyes of a ship and her crew.
Uglies
Scott Westerfeld - 2005
In just a few weeks she'll have the operation that will turn her from a repellent ugly into a stunning pretty. And as a pretty, she'll be catapulted into a high-tech paradise where her only job is to have fun.But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to become a pretty. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world—and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally's choice will change her world forever....