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    Virtual Victory
    Virtual Victory
    Virtual Victory
    Ebook33 pages28 minutes

    Virtual Victory

    By Mark T. Skarstedt

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A free short story about semivirtual flight on another world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMark T. Skarstedt
    Release dateJul 19, 2012
    ISBN9781476274867
    Virtual Victory
    Author

    Mark T. Skarstedt

    Mark T. Skarstedt spent his childhood and undergraduate years in California. After graduation from UCLA with a B.Sc. in chemistry, he joined the army as an infantry lieutenant, and while serving as a platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division in Viet Nam, was twice decorated for valor, once by the U.S. Army, and once by the South Vietnamese government (which insisted on using the word 'gallantry' rather than 'valor' in its citation). He also received the purple heart, having unfortunately been trapped by a booby-trap, which would seem to make him a booby. Sorry about that. Upon returning home, he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry (cellular and molecular biology) and, as an unrepentant Viet Nam veteran and fan of the hard-fighting South Vietnamese people, was probably the most unpopular graduate student in the Western Hemisphere. He followed up with a pair of two-year post-doctoral fellowships, one at Imperial College in London (H.G. Wells's old alma mater), and one at the State University of New York in Brooklyn. He then took up a research career in the medical diagnostics industry, managing to develop some products and bring his paper trail in the scientific literature up to 23 patents and publications. In his sparse spare time he worked on honing skills in a lifelong love: the crafting of hard science fiction. Mark and his gorgeous wife Decia, married now for some 43 years, have brought up three magnificent boys, all of whom have established independent households with children of their own. He now teaches college chemistry, an occasional class in securities licensing, and continues to pound away at science fiction. He will soon have more of his books and stories available on Smashwords.

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      Book preview

      Virtual Victory - Mark T. Skarstedt

      Virtual Victory

      By Mark T. Skarstedt

      Copyright 2007 Mark T. Skarstedt

      Smashwords Edition

      Thank you for downloading the free estory. If you enjoyed it, by all means encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where both you and they can find other works by this author Your support is greatly appreciated.

      Virtual Victory

      1. The Briefing

      Good flying weather, said Krimby.

      Lovely, I acknowledged. Maundel grunted.

      We were admiring the Gonwollod Forest, predawn, from the edge of Grand Mesa. Krimby on my left, his bald head and clipped mustache barely visible, warmed his hands round a mug of chocolate as he gazed rapt. Maundel, lanky and graying, drooped on my right, gazing likewise. Hundreds of feet below us, the tops of the huge drengle-trees of the Gonwollod formed a gloomy carpet to the east and southeast. To the southeast and south stretched the grasslands, over which we would be fighting today. The stars in an indigo sky were beginning to fade as Blaylock extruded his red-gold crown over the Wing-Hills some miles off. Blue Squadron's fifteen combat pilots, chatting in groups of three or four, were waiting for Snapey to blow the summons-whistle.

      Krimby spoke again. Bret. Do you still want to fly Spitfires?

      More than ever, I said. I'd love to activate a squadron, with you two at Face and Hub Vees.

      Krimby nodded. We're certainly game. Did you know there's a new volume out? Old Earth Fighter Aircraft. The author's a clandestine agent on Old Earth: knows what he's talking about. The volume covers a number of their wars. Bindrell’s actually has a few copies.

      I've seen them, I said. I didn't add that I had been asked to stop thumbing the book and buy it.

      Then you know there are structural layouts for several models of the Spitfire. He spread his hands. If we went in together, we could commission a Design.

      It's an interesting idea, I said, but . . .

      But my wife hated this hobby of mine already and hated the expense. And the whistle sounded at that moment anyway. Krimby tossed the rest of his chocolate over the cliff, and we broke for the Briefing Tent, scarves flapping.

      Snapey, our chubby Base Commander, was waiting by

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