Einsteinee Evolution: The Beginning

Einsteinee Evolution: The Beginning

by Johnny McKenzie
Einsteinee Evolution: The Beginning

Einsteinee Evolution: The Beginning

by Johnny McKenzie

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Overview

In the nottoo-distant future, the human race has descended into an abyss of degradation from which there is no return. A supernatural being called The Mist determines to begin a new race of man to completely replace the human race. But the chosen few for this project are not the meek of the Earth, but the hard, brutal men, women, boys, and girls who possess a code of honor that suits The Mist. The Mist guides and protects these humans as they evolve from her chosen seed to become conquerors of the known and unknown universe. There is William Billy Holt, the sixteen-year-old son of a baker, who becomes a hardened combat veteran; Sandra Franks, a girl who grows up swinging her fists; and Max Dent, a boy who loses his parents and becomes a juvenile delinquent. There will be others to join The Mists plan, and when this band of misfits becomes the crew of the starship, The Einstein, they sow the seeds of a master warrior race as they prepare to do The Mists bidding. A rousing science fiction novel, Einsteinee Evolution begins the compelling odyssey of The Mists chosen ones.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781450286800
Publisher: iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date: 06/07/2011
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 324
File size: 354 KB
Age Range: 13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Johnny McKenzie served twenty-two years in the US Air Force. After his retirement, he returned to his childhood home in rural eastern Oklahoma, where he currently lives with his wife of forty years and her beloved menagerie of useless animals. Additionally, much of his inspiration comes from his rowdy grandchildren.

Read an Excerpt

EINSTEINEE EVOLUTION

THE BEGINNING
By JOHNNY MCKENZIE

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Johnny McKenzie
All right reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4502-8679-4


Chapter One

WILLIAM HOLT

Today is a big day for Billy. He combs his dark hair just right so it hangs just over his ears. He wears his hair longer for two reasons; he hates to sit still long enough to get a haircut and more importantly to cover the fact that he has no sideburns. He really wants sideburns to go with his mustache. It was his first try for facial hair and it was more hair than whiskers but it had filled in nicely over the last eight months. He was very proud of it. He doesn't know anyone else his age who has such a nice mustache. He smiled and winked at himself in the mirror and headed out to start this very important day in his life.

Today he is going to take the Air Force test. He has studied hard and his parents are better educated than most Level nines. He hopes he will score high enough to stay out of the Ground Forces. He is exempt by law from the draft because he's the oldest child of a Level nine baker; but he really doesn't want to be a baker. He wants to be in The Air Force. As an Air Force member he has a much better chance of returning from the war alive; his duty done, his two years served and free to live his life. The Air Force also returns the bodies of the dead so his parents can grieve if death is to be his fate. Billy believes it would be easier on his parents to have something to bury if the worst was to happen. The Ground Forces seldom return the dead. They just send a letter.

Billy is very nervous as he begins the fifteen block walk to the testing center. He has walked these streets many times. He knows the sights and smells of this borough. The four and five story buildings were built back in the l990s. They were built cheaply and the shoddy workmanship is beginning to show. If they had been built better back then maybe maintenance would have a better chance of keeping them up today.

The sidewalks are clear except for the stuff stored close to the building. The people are starting to come out of their cramped living areas to try to sell some of their wares on the sidewalks; as they do everyday. They hope to sell something they have created and survive another day. And maybe have something extra.

He tries to remember the facts from the six thick volumes of study material his parents bought for him. He asks himself hard questions and then tries to answer them. More than once he discovers that he doesn't know the answer to his own question. This is very disturbing for him. It shakes what little confidence he has. The thought goes through his head that maybe he should just forget about the test. The thought is just as quickly gone. He's not a quitter and he forces himself on toward the test center; pass or fail he's going to give it a shot. The worst thing that could happen is he will fail. At least he has a chance if he tries.

Several people wish him luck as he walks to the test center. They know him from his deliveries of the bakery goods. He always speaks; acknowledging that they wish him well with a 'thank you.' No one wants their child to go to war and die. Most of these people have already experienced that very thing. They have lost a child or children to the war and don't wish that experience on any parent. They hope that Billy will pass the test so his family will have some hope of him returning. It would also give his family the option to have another of their children carry on their trade. If he passes the test another of his brothers or sisters could survive to have children. He tries not to think about how much passing this test means to him and his family.

He continues to walk and can soon see the taller building of the government testing center. As he gets closer he sees it is packed with other kids who are trying to do the very same thing he is; stay alive a while longer. He didn't think there would be so many. This appointment to test was made last year. He has been very careful with the paper that has his ID number and test date certified from the government; without it he just made a long walk for nothing.

He took the next place in line and looked around the lobby. It's evident to him by the dress of some of the testers that they are from higher Levels with extra credits for nicer clothes. It sort of makes him mad that he is going to have to compete with people who have a much better education. He remembers everyone in his family giving up a set of clothes so there would be credits to buy the study material for the test. His brother, David, had a fit about the loss of a set of clothing. In the end their mother and father just told him they were buying the books. The other children could use them to try to get into the Air Force when their time came to be drafted. It's not fair, but that's the way of things in this world and there is no sense in crying over something that he can't change.

Billy will do the best he can with what he has been given and earned for himself. He has studied very hard for this test. He keeps telling himself just how hard as the unanswered questions rattle around in his head.

The test was overly organized as most things in the government were. The door opened to the testing area and the line started to move forward. Billy presented his paperwork and was given a test booklet and assigned a seat. The group wasn't allowed to open the test booklet until after the doors were closed at ten o'clock. They were given two hours to complete the test and turn the booklet in at the desk. After that everyone would be forced to turn the test in; whether they were finished or not.

The test was much harder than Billy thought it would be. It was much harder than the sample questions in the books. He wasn't sure if he had passed or not; but he was finished. He looked at the clock. He had thirty minutes. He went over the test one more time paying particular attention to several questions he thought he might figure out if he spent enough time on them. He decided to turn the test in to be graded five minutes before time was called.

The attendant announced that there were five minutes left. "Everyone should finish as quickly as possible."

Billy closed the booklet and walked to the desk. He handed the test to the man at the desk. The man stamped a number on his test and then the same number on a small piece of paper. He handed the paper with the number on it to Billy and directed him to stand against the wall with the others. He took the last place in the line of people against the wall as he was directed. He waited nervously as others turned in their test and took their place behind him on the wall to wait.

The man would take each test and put it into a machine to be graded. He would then fill out paperwork and enter the results into the computer. The test was now graded and recorded. He would call the name of the person at the head of the line. The man would tell the person how they had done on the test, pass or fail. Today it seems most are failing. The man at the desk would call the name and the number and if they failed he would say. "You are dismissed."

The person at the head of the line waited. Billy assumed she was consumed by fear just as he was. She waited for the results to be relayed from the man at the desk. Everyone in the room would know the grade. The man said to her "You are dismissed." She tried as hard as she could to move away slowly and not cry. She took a step and burst into tears as she ran from the room.

Billy was now at the front of the line he watched as the man put his answer sheet into the computer. The non-feeling machine would determine his entire future. It chugged away for less than a second. His fate had been determined by a cold, lifeless thing.

The attendant took his time reaching for the results after they finished printing. He said nothing as he looked at them. It seemed like hours. He filled out a few papers as he did with the other tests and then entered something into the computer on his desk. The man did nothing unusual to give away whether Billy had passed or failed. Billy was about to explode with anticipation. He had been watching and knew this was his test that had just been graded. He was also at the head of the line. He remained against the wall waiting to be called to the desk. He was hoping to be called and not just dismissed.

If he didn't pass the test the man at the desk was going to say "William Holt", in his case, "you are dismissed" and everyone would know – he had failed. The man had said that a lot today. The man at the desk feeding the test into the unfeeling machine would call a name and then crush the person with the words, you are dismissed. It's a death sentence as surely as hanged by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead.

If he passed he would be called to the desk. The man at the desk picked up the mike "Holt, William Holt, please come to the desk." He was all smiles. He was going to be allowed to join the Air Force. He was on cloud nine as he walked to the desk to sign the papers. He didn't notice the envy in the faces of the others in the room whose fate had not yet been determined. The crying girl who was dismissed in front of him was no longer in his mind either.

The man at the desk pushed a paper at him to sign and then told him to report to room 2203, up the stairs. He signed the paper. He was given a copy and exited the room. He entered the stairwell and looked up "2203, damn that's a lot of stairs." He passed several people on the stairs leading to the 22nd floor, they were out of breath. He was just in better shape because he walked everywhere to deliver bakery goods.

Room 2203 was a large administrative office that served several of the local testing centers. He signed in at the desk and took a seat. He sat for two hours and twenty seven long boring minutes. He tried to read the two day old newspaper he found on the floor. The crossword had already been worked and the news was so old that it wasn't entertaining. He was interrupted once, after about an hour, when a girl sat in the seat next to him. It was the only empty seat. He watched the other people signing in and was happy to be ahead of them.

Billy, a shy, skinny, boy didn't do well around strangers. When it came to girls he was very shy. Even he got so bored that he overcame his shyness and struck up a conversation with the girl sitting next to him. She must have been very bored too because she didn't hesitate to talk once he started the conversation. Her name was Heather Mars. They were both bored and nervous and just looking for a way to pass the time. They got along well and talked for over an hour nonstop about how they saw their futures.

It was soon William's turn and the lady walked in and called his name. "William Holt", a brief pause to locate him among the hundred or so people who were waiting and "this way please." Heather wished him luck. He returned the wish but he had to go. "I hope I see you again." She smiled, "me too."

He followed the lady to an office to wait in another line. It was an hour later when the man at the desk called his name. Billy offered his paperwork. The man took it and pointed to a chair. Billy sat. After a few minutes the man handed him a card and a stack of information. Billy had been in the office ten minutes before the man spoke for the first time. "This card is a deferment from the draft for forty five days after your sixteenth birthday; don't lose it. You're now an Air Force asset and will report to this office on June the fourth for transportation to training facility S-45. If you do not report you will be immediately drafted into the Ground Force. One way or another you will be in the Force on June the fourth. Next please." Billy thanked him and turned to leave; stuffing the card securely in his pocket and holding tight to the stack of information.

Billy heard the very same speech being repeated in several of the rooms as he left the area. He looked for Heather in the main waiting room but she was nowhere to be seen. Her name must have been called.

The report date was thirty seven days after his birthday which was eight weeks away; in just 93 days he would be in the Air Force. It was the outcome he had hoped for in his dreams.

He almost ran home. People along the way yelled, asking if he had passed. He yelled; telling them he had. They congratulated him on the run. He rushed in the front door of the family bakery and everyone knew he had passed by his excited state.

His family was just as excited, he now had a chance. His sister Carol was very happy and hoped she would do as well in two years. She now believes there is some hope and she will study harder. The entire community seemed to be happy about Billy's good fortune; everyone liked him. His father told him that he didn't remember anyone from the neighborhood ever passing the test. The only one who wasn't happy about Billy's good fortune was his younger brother David. He was between Billy and Carol in age and had always been trouble.

David didn't consider himself smart and as a result he didn't try. It wasn't hard to understand his position. He wasn't the oldest and as a result he will not be exempt from the draft. But now, now that Billy was out of the way he might get the exemption because he was the oldest not in the military. The sad part about that was that he wasn't a baker. He never tried to be a baker. He will not be able to pass the bakery test to take his fathers place. Carol was a baker, she can pass the test. David was still going to be drafted and die. His position in life hadn't changed and neither had his attitude; except maybe to get worse, at least toward Billy.

Billy got to live the dream, so to speak, for three days. He was going to the Air Force. But that was not going to be his fate. Fate has him going to the Ground Forces and to his death. The Mist has other plans for him other than death but he must still go to the Ground Forces. There are things she wishes him to learn.

The finger of fate took charge of him and began to execute her plan for his future three days after he passed the test. David had been on his case even harder than usual. Billy just tried to stay out of David's way and out of trouble. He didn't want any trouble with his brother or anyone else that might jeopardize his career. But; trouble was what he was going to get.

David was feeling the pressure of the corner where he had placed himself. He was about to explode and someone was going to get hurt. Nothing, in David's mind was ever his fault and so the blame for the mess he was in had to fall somewhere else. David chose Billy to blame.

Billy was delivering a birthday cake when David and four of his hoodlum friends stopped him. David tried to take the cake but he really just wanted to cause trouble. The trouble he caused was even more that he could have wanted. Billy had enough of David's crap and he resisted. The fact was their father would take care of this later and David would be in a lot of trouble. But right now that didn't matter to Billy. The eight year old boy that the cake was for would be disappointed if he didn't get it on time. The cake wasn't the main thing on Billy's mind. It's time for David to back off and him to take a stand. This fight was something that could no longer be avoided.

Billy was pushed out of the alley and into the street. He collided with one of the members of another gang. The cake went everywhere. The fight broke out immediately. Billy could take care of himself in a fight, the result of having a brother like David who picked on him all the time. It was a long time before Billy fought back against his younger brother. David just wouldn't let things go and Billy had to fight.

These types of street brawls are against the law. This time the cops were close enough to catch all but one of the boys, David. He ran down the alley and disposed of the knife he just used to stab one of the boys in the other gang. The stabbing was extreme even for David. Someone was going to get into real trouble because this had suddenly turned into assault with a deadly weapon. The cops took everyone to jail.

(Continues...)



Excerpted from EINSTEINEE EVOLUTION by JOHNNY MCKENZIE Copyright © 2011 by Johnny McKenzie. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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