The Red Chamber: The Red Chamber, #1

By Nicholas McAuliff

Long-hauler Rick Dickson wasn't built for the corporate life, but for the life of the long road. Now, the road is up on high, in the vastness of space. The space trucker has one objective: plant a beacon on a moving asteroid.

Self-monitoring AI has allowed the free market to enter space, and the market is ripe for asteroid mining. But the theocracy, the ruling class of desolate earth, has their sights set on more than metals and elements. With the ruin of his past on earth behind him, Rick tries to ignore the vastness of empty space around him for the sake of a decade's worth of wages. All that had to be endured was time. Six years of sleep, six years of emptiness. Rick Dickson was no stranger to emptiness.

Yet the last expedition in this quadrant warned that something disturbed that emptiness – a report that the theocracy vehemently denies.

 

There is something in the stars. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicholas McAuliff
• Release date: Jun 16, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227097958

Nicholas McAuliff

Nicholas McAuliff is the author of the Heracles series. The author lives in the heart of the rockies and he enjoys prospecting and fishing and gardening whenever there is a lull in his work. 

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Nicholas McAuliff

The Red Chamber by Nicholas McAuliff

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This is a work of fiction. References to historical events, real people or places are used in a fictitious manner. Other names, characters, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author, except in the case of quotations embodied in reviews.

Books by Nicholas McAuliff

Heracles: the Return (Book 1 of the Heracles series)

Heracles: the Ambrosia of Crete (Book 2 of the Heracles series)

Sea of Two Suns

The Topaz

The Blue God

Lights of the Universe

1

He walked in and took off his hat and held it there in front of his chest, scrunching it, squeezing it.

Gentlemen, was all he said.

The two auto mechanics looked up from their table. One was brawny and burly, the other sinewy. Both had jet black hair, like old-world Italians and they had been speaking Italian when the man walked in. They looked at him, this man with hat in hand, and behind a little blonde boy stood by. The mechanics looked like they didn't understand what they were seeing.

The man with hat in hand hadn't even knocked.

The burly mechanic looked down at his submarine. Specifically, a ham and red onion and provolone from the shop which was adjacent to the garage. The onions were spilling out onto the butcher paper. Outside, the boy noticed the sign which said Classic Hoagies Delizioso. It touched the sign of the auto shop on which the lettering was worn and illegible.

From that back garage, a drill spun, a ratchet turned. Somebody sighed and the ratchet turned again more rapidly. The burly mechanic looked toward the sounds. A blue sedan with a crumpled fender was being lowered onto a lift.

Who are you? the mechanic asked without averting his eyes from the garage.

The sound of an air hose.

God damnit, came a voice from the back.

Gentlemen, the man with hat in hand repeated.

That’s the second time you’ve said that, barked the sinewy mechanic. He had a horseshoe of hair and narrow eyes.

My name is Rix Dickson, said the man with hat in hand.

Rick?

Rix. With an x, sir.

The two mechanics looked at one another.

Well what do you want? asked the burly one.

I know by rights my car belongs to you. I know it was auctioned.

They looked at each other once more.

Which one? snapped the burly one. He took a bite from the hoagie.

The twenty-fifty-one four-door, replied Rix.

Yes it was, the burly one said after a pause. Two days ago.

You let your insurance lapse, the sinewy one said harshly.

That I did.

You don’t come here, the sinewy mechanic barked and he rose. You take that up with the agency. That’s based on your social credit.