The Many Deaths of Joe Buckley by Assorted Baen authors & Barflies

Author:Assorted Baen authors & Barflies [authors, Assorted Baen & Barflies]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Boundary

ERIC FLINT AND RYK E. SPOOR

“Dear God, I’m going to die,” muttered Joe Buckley, as the SUV bounced from one rutted pothole to another.

“Oh, come on, Joe, I don’t drive that badly.”

The silence caused Helen Sutter to glance over at Joe. His face was pale under its tan, contrasting all the more with his dark hair. His habitually cheerful expression was currently replaced by that of a man who has discovered he has a terminal illness and just two weeks to live. “. . . Do I?”

“Eyes on road! On the road!!! UNGH!”

The “ungh” was from the SUV’s particularly hard, bottoming-out-the-shocks landing following yet another acrobatic leap across the roadbed, in an attempt to leave the rough dirt track and strike out across the rocky terrain nearby.

Helen gave a restrained curse and hauled on the steering wheel. The SUV responded, skidding slightly, but heading back into the center of the dirt track leading to the Secord ranch. Holding the line with one hand, Helen brushed her blond hair out of her eyes; as usual it was escaping the ponytail it was supposedly tied into. Despite the fact that it was early in the season and only eleven in the morning, Helen could feel a thin film of sweat on her forehead.

Well, that’s the life of a paleontologist, she thought ruefully. Pay all your grant money for the chance to break rocks, instead of getting sentenced to hard labor and doing it for free.

“What’s wrong with my driving?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Joe paused. “If you’re in the Baja 500.”

“Oh, all right, I’ll slow down. But who cut down your testosterone ration? As I recall, the first year we came out here, you almost got yourself killed trying to offroad along an arroyo. Nearly lost us our dig, too. Then the second year, you—”

“Hey, all right, already. It’s just that I want to survive this summer. It’s my last year.”

* * *

Meryl Stephenson and Bryce Heyers from the next lab poked their heads in. “Hey, guys, can we use some of the— Oh, hi, Joe. Big demo for the boss, eh?”

Joe smiled. “Something like that. Look, I’ll be by your lab in an hour or so. We need to—”

A buzzing noise sounded from one of the panels. Reynolds’ head snapped around. “That’s—”

Joe was just turning towards the panel when the world split open.

Even through his headphones, A.J. heard the sharp boom of the explosion, and felt the floor jolt under his feet. The phones shut off as A.J. leapt from his chair and dashed for the door.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know,” said Melanie Sherry, standing indecisively. “But it sounded like it came from Engineering.”

Other people in the hallway blurred past as A.J. sprinted towards the doors. He burst out into the open.

As he ran towards the testing area, he could see that it was bad. Black billows of smoke, lit from beneath by orange flames, curled upwards from the shattered Engineering wing, near the Atmospherics Testing area. He felt his stomach tighten. Joe had been planning to test some of the catalytic generation processes today.

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