ASTEROIDS

Bridge to Nowhere

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by Mike McCoy

Copyright © 2019 by Mike McCoy

Thank you for purchasing an authorized copy of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of this book in any form without permission.

ISBN: 978-1-7336307-2-6

Ingram Spark Paperback Version

Second Edition

Published by Blaster Tech in the United States of America

First published April 2019 with the subtitle; Escape from the Arcadians

Second edition published September 2019 with subtitle; Bridge to Nowhere

Blaster Tech

Cerritos, CA. 90703

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or location is entirely coincidental.

Cover Art by Lance Buckley

Acknowledgements

I’d like to thank Trinity Mak, who, at thirteen years of age, read an early half written draft of Asteroids. When asked if she liked it, she simply said, “Yes.” She didn’t offer much feedback, but her excitement to read new pages encouraged me to keep writing. I kept feeding her pages, and she kept reading until the story was complete.

I did my best to include real science and research in ASTEROIDS. I was able to do this with the help of several experts.

A special thanks to Dr. Joe Nuth of the Goddard Flight Center who “fixed” the premise of how asteroids could rain down on Earth and gave ASTEROIDS a plausible cause.

I read all 166 pages of “An innovative Solution to NASA’s NEO Impact Threat Mitigation Grand Challenge and Flight Validation Mission Architecture Development.” Dr. Bong Wie of Iowa State University’s Asteroid Deflection Research Center helped with the Hypervelocity Asteroid Intercept Vehicle, which I named Harpoon.

Jim W6LG taught me a few things about ham radio and using CW. Check Jim’s YouTube channel at YouTube/JimW6LG. I’d also like to thank Purdue University for making their “Impact Earth” tool available to the public. This allowed me to create accurate impact craters and descriptions of meteor explosions.

I’d like to thank my editors Jim Spivey and Lori Criswell-Baer. Jim was as much an English teacher as an editor and helped me focus on the story. Lori’s edits helped say things I meant but couldn’t find the right words.

I also thank my early readers, Jim Criswell and his eagle eyes that caught my typos, Rachelle Braiker, Alfred Bantug, Gregg Johnson, and others who provided motivation, essential feedback and suggestions that made Asteroids a better story.