“I’m sure it’s not. No EVA ever is, but we don’t have a choice. I’m going to have to dig us out. If I can do it so that I can get the hull patched under cover of these rocks than that’s even better.”

This line from Cloning Freedom points out a realization that I think comes to anybody that works in emergency services or other high risk professions. Some things are simply not safe, necessary, but not safe.

I was a lifeguard for a very long time and was disgusted when in training a young pup ridiculed me because I used a reaching assist to do a rescue. He went on that we were trained to ‘a higher standard.’ I pointed out that we weren’t there to look macho but to save lives as efficiently as possible and that a dry rescue was a safe rescue. I’ve done rescues both wet and dry, real and in training, but my guide has always been minimal risk.

On another occasion, while I was training for the ambulance, I stood in a pool of gasoline as we extracted a potential spinal injury. We worked fast but not frantic and there was a Fireman with an extinguisher who had us covered in case something happened. Again, the situation was inherently risky, but we did what we had to with what safe guards we could arrange.

This realization of risk is part and parcel of life in general. We are all always at risk, by accepting it and minimizing the risk we create a modicum of safety even in the most dangerous of situations.

In my opinion embracing unnecessary risk is foolish. This doesn’t mean you don’t climb the mountain, it means you check your ropes. It doesn’t mean you let the person drown, it does mean you have the tools in your skill set to do the least dangerous rescue that saves the person.

In Cloning Freedom I have my protagonists doing a host of risky things but always in the sense that what they do is the best of a bunch of bad options.

“Way back in human history, during the era known as the twentieth-century CE, humans had a primitive form of entertainment. Dramas were performed and recorded then shared with an audience through a variety of means.” The hologram smiled condescendingly. “They were restricted to the senses of hearing and sight and had no emotional input.”

‘Television and movies. He’s talking about television and movies like they were hieroglyphs,’ thought Rowan.

I often wonder what our descendants will think of us. In Tinker’s Plague, another of my novels, they blamed us for the mess we left them. Having studied several ancient cultures I will say that the view of them as primitive is erroneous. They may have lacked some advancement in materials technology but what they did with what they had was amazing.

That said I must say I am not fond of Rome. Being I reincarnationist I am fond of saying that I didn’t like it when I followed Pyrrhus, and I still don’t like Rome. They were of course brilliant civil engineers and came up with the concept of total war, much to their shame and all our loss.

I am very fond of the Egyptians, the Celts and the Norse. All of these were cultures of greatness vastly superior to many cultures that followed them. At least in my opinion.

In Cloning Freedom I have people who view us in a verity of ways. I think it is safe to say that no one would want to have lived during the gene wars, history didn’t leap over the years between now and the now of the book. Looking back I’m sure Ryan can see glories and tragedies. Most people have a good take on the early 21st century from the E-entertainments and those who like repeats will have been exposed to other time periods. That said the view they do have is skewed like many peoples knowledge of WW2 because the entertainment industry is not a faithful reporter of history.

Thanks.

The things you find out as you go along. ::-)

Scrambling over the cold water pipe, Ryan stood on the walkway enjoying the cooler air inside. After steadying himself he inspected the wiring. A minute later he held the insulated alligator clips open over a power feed.

“OK, here goes. Trust in insulation. I have faith in insulation. If this doesn’t work, I’m barbeque.”

Having done more than my fair share of home handyman projects, including electrical wiring, I can tell you this sentiment comes from experience. The worst case was when I had cut the power to the socket. I tested it by plugging a fan in and making sure it was dead then proceeded to cut out the wall around it. Little did I know that the fellow who had first done the wiring had run two feeds to the socket splicing them to use a common return. Saw hit wire and I found myself on the other side of the room.

Ryan’s concern is magnified by voltage. I have to say that my faith in insulation is limited as is my faith in ground fault. I’ve seen people run extension cords through ponds of water with children nearby at public events. When I challenged them on it they said it was insulated and put into a ground fault.

Safety measures are supposed to augment common sense not replace it. Electricity and water are a bad mix, as is wonky wiring that breaks code. In Cloning Freedom I show that many laws are silly and intrusive, but basic safety regulations based on the laws of nature do not fall in this category. So unless you are busy saving your lady love from a murderous cooperation please don’t trust in insulation, and do use common sense.

Stephen B. Pearl

“No! I have to see Kadar. Tell him it’s Ryan from the Star Hawk. Tell him... Tell him Wesnakee.”

Wesnakee, don’t try to look it up it doesn’t exist, yet. The idea that a shared history becomes a kind of code is nothing new. Intelligence agencies have been using it for as long as there have been intelligence agencies. Words can take on heavy meanings to individuals beyond anything that a dictionary will ever define. This is epically true of people who have shared life changing experiences.

Wesnakee to most folk is nothing. To people who have read Cloning Freedom it is first and foremost a bar on the switchboard station (more on that later) that won’t become important until the sequel, Freedom’s Law, except for its shared history between Ryan and Kadar.

In the sentence above Ryan is saying, ‘I nearly died saving your life and lost a part of myself that haunts me to this day. You owe me, and by the gods if there is any of the friend I knew left in you, you will pay this debt today.” It’s a lot to put into a word and if you want the details you need to help get Cloning Freedom published. This particular story of Wesnakee is told in Cloning Freedom though you don’t see the bar itself until Freedoms Law.

Don’t let the sequel worry you. Cloning Freedom comes to a conclusion. The sequel simply goes on as life tends to.

“No! I have to see Kadar. Tell him it’s Ryan from the Star Hawk. Tell him... Tell him Wesnakee.”

Wesnakee, don’t try to look it up it doesn’t exist, yet.

The idea that a shared history becomes a kind of code is nothing new. Intelligence agencies have been using it for as long as there have been intelligence agencies. Words can take on heavy meanings to individuals beyond anything that a dictionary will ever define. This is epically true of people who have shared life changing experiences.

Wesnakee to most folk is nothing. To people who have read Cloning Freedom it is first and foremost a bar on the switchboard station (more on that later) that won’t become important until the sequel, Freedom’s Law, except for its shared history between Ryan and Kadar.

In the sentence above Ryan is saying, ‘I nearly died saving your life and lost a part of myself that haunts me to this day. You owe me, and by the gods if there is any of the friend I knew left in you, you will pay this debt today.” It’s a lot to put into a word and if you want the details you need to help get Cloning Freedom published.

This particular story of Wesnakee is told in Cloning Freedom though you don’t see the bar itself until Freedoms Law.

Don’t let the sequel worry you. Cloning Freedom comes to a conclusion. The sequel simply goes on as life tends to.