Mars, Ho! Chapter Zero

Journal mcgrew's Journal: Mars, Ho! Chapter Zero 2

Journal by mcgrew on Wednesday June 11, 2014 @01:55PM

Several chapters ago I decided to see if I could do what James Patterson did (badly IMO) in that one book of his I read, mixing first and third person. A few months ago I figured out how to do it with this book, and wrote a new chapter one that goes before the posted chapter one.

I was on a roll yesterday, adding 3000 words, some scattered through the entire existing book but most at the end, past where we are now.

I wasn't going to post chapter zero, but if I don't, then chapter 22 will make no sense. Chapter 22 is a continuation of "chapter zero", the third person chapter before chapter one. Here it is. I hope to have chapter 22 posted in a few days.

"Come in, Bob. Did you bring Knolls' report?"
"Yes sir, here it is."
"Did you read it?"
"Yes, sir, I did. It's interesting. Knolls could be a writer if his grammar wasn't so atrocious, it was actually a good read. These reports are usually pretty dry."
"Well, he's just a ship's captain. It's not like he's been to college or anything. How detailed is the report?"
"Heh, too detailed in places. I didn't really need to hear about his bowel movements."
"How much did he leave out?"
"Nothing important. At least I don't think he left anything important out."
"It says he saved her life? Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir. He apparently kept a cool head, kept his wits about him and did everything right. It looks like he saved Kelly's ship and cargo as well."
"Yes, I read the investigation report. Sabotage to Kelly's ship during the Mars overhaul so they could get his ship and ores. One of the workers was arrested, he'd been paid a huge sum of cash to do it. It wasn't hard to catch him, they just looked at spending patterns to find who was living beyond their means. He confessed, we need to figure out how to prevent that from happening again."
"yes sir, we're on it already. If Mark Johnson can't solve it, it's insoluble.
"It had better not be. What were damages to cargo?"
"One specimen was severely injured but recovered before reaching the port on Mars. A few of the specimens got into physical altercations but there was no real damage to them. Not nearly as bad as we'd anticipated.
"Other damages?"
"One of the ship's two fusion reactors was ruined, as well as three of its ion drives. The other fusion generator was damaged but easily repaired. One battery incinerated. Minimal damage considering the dangerous cargo it was carrying and the problems Knolls encountered. May I ask, sir, why you allowed her on board with such a dangerous cargo?"
"No, Bob, you may not, but I will say she's going to do whatever the hell she wants no matter what I think. I'm just glad it turned out the way it did."
"Sorry, sir. Anyway, I hope you read that report. It answers a lot of questions the investigators didn't."
"Don't worry. I will, you can be sure of it. Afternoon open? Want to shoot nine holes?"
"Of course. But please, sir, read the report first."
"Don't worry, I've been looking forward to it, especially considering... get the hell out of here, Bob. Let me read this thing. I'll see you on the golf course."

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