A Climate of Revenge
A Sarah and JanetM Mystery With a Writer’s Guide for Our Climate Crisis
by
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Our story begins: Chapter 1. A Long Night Outside the Restaurant Sarah walked out of the restaurant past the taxi lane and into the dark parking lot. The charging kiosks threw patches of dim light barely enough to walk by, but they lit up when anyone approached. If anyone was sneaking around in the lot, the kiosks would surely have given them away. There was no moon, the stars were just coming out, but the heat of the day was hanging on for a while. The dinner appointment had been a waste of time, the ex-executive who had booked the table was only interested in hiring her to promote his I’m-a-good-guy-now agenda by getting the dirt on his enemies one way or another. Sarah had no patience with such greenwashing. What did he call himself, Winestead? She knew she had heard that name before, but where? JanetM would have a complete dossier by morning. Anyway his story did not make much sense; he was hiding something. Only god knew what sins against the Earth this man had already committed. Sarah was not interested in his building a new facade; he could keep his money. To make matters worse, the dinner was one of those little-food-and-fancy-plates affairs. The whole experience left Sarah feeling still hungry and irritable. The interview had gone on for much too long. As Sarah walked out of the building, she saw a small knot of men standing at a distance and talking. She might have recognized one, but not in any good context. Whatever they were selling, for her it was a no-sale night. One of the men looked directly at her. He wanted something; she could see it in his eyes; she did not know or care what. She gave this thin man her best lean-and-hungry look. As she approached her car, she pulled out the charger cable and hung it carelessly on the kiosk hook without looking. She paused but a second pulling her cellphone from the pocket on her left shoulder and turned its body, so the best cameras were out. “Log the faces,” said Sarah, “then start the car.” “Got it,” replied JanetM, the strong AI that haunted her phone. The car door clicked open. Sarah returned the phone to its pocket, slid into the seat, and clicked her seat belt, all in one well-practiced motion. The car came alive; just having JanetM inside was enough. It made no sound at all as the dashboard lit up. The door locks then clicked closed. “Sport,” said Sarah out loud; this was not her “Economy” night. The car still made no sound, but the headlights came on showing expectant life. They advertised her fast-back Chevy as if it were a fancy sports car; she knew it was not. Still, sometimes she just wanted it to be, and the economy setting and drivetrain be damned. The thin man had taken a few steps closer. Not tonight. Sarah dropped the car into drive and stomped the accelerator. The rear tires screamed for a quarter turn, then the max-traction cut in. The noise vanished as the car accelerated forward with all the power that the tires would take without slipping, pressing Sarah into her seat. She picked up speed, making a circle around the perimeter of the small lot, the kiosks flashed her track as she passed. The way out took her by the restaurant entrance, by the scattered group of standing men, then past a lone vagrant standing off in the dark just caught by her headlights. She shot by them all much too fast but in eerie silence. As she approached the main road, the tires squealed again as regenerative braking brought the car to a near stop, pressing Sarah into her seat belt uncomfortably. As she pulled onto the main road, the gears first complained a bit and then the car silently accelerated into the long night and was gone. -- This but the start of our two heroes’ hunt for a man with a thousand enemies through a land with a million problems. --
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About the Book
Sarah and JanetM are a human/Artificial Intelligence pair who do private investigations in the near future where our climate crisis has hit and hit hard. Sarah turned down a job offer from Jackson Winestead. He is an ex-executive apparently interested in hiring Sarah to promote his I’m-a-good-guy-now image. Sarah does not trust him and has no patience for such monsters. Soon after, two policemen arrive at Sarah’s house to inform her that Winestead was found dead not twenty minutes after they met. The next day, Winestead’s wife Venessa approaches Sarah to offer her a quite different job. Winestead has left money for Sarah to find his killer and report privately to his family. Sarah and JanetM take on the murder investigation. What first appeared simple a case of greenwashing grows within the international environmental crisis. Sarah and JanetM are in the thick of it, surrounded by secrets and lies, as they seek the killer of a man with a thousand enemies in a world with a million problems. The IPCC report, “Climate Change 2022, Impacts, Adaption and Vulnerability summary contains: C5.3 Enhancing knowledge A wide range of … processes … can deepen climate knowledge and sharing, including … using the arts … (high confidence). This story is a response to this clarion call. It is a story of young people in effective action on our historic problems.
About the Author
Bio of Tom Riley Tom Riley 5/31/2022 TomRiley@bigmoondig.com Cell: (410) 274-3162 Summary: (543 words) After an extensive career at NASA as an Instrument Engineer, Tom Riley started a people-based space program, The Big Moon Dig, compatible with the needs of our climate crisis. Our climate crisis clearly must now come first, and that effort needed positive stories of people in action. NASA Projects: Working at NASA (08/1989 to 02/2014) as an instrument engineer, Mr. Riley worked on the teams for the following projects: 1. Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) is a laser ranging instrument for an interplanetary mission. 2. SOLSE-LORE is a Shuttle bay instrument under Hitch-Hiker Jr. Shuttle instruments making limb measurements of ozone. This pair of instruments is tested new ways to measure the Earth's ozone. 3. SIMBIOS provides calibration and validation equipment, data, and procedures for SeaWiFS and other marine monitoring satellites for which NASA/GSFC has data responsibility. He organized and ran the Intercalibration round-robin experiments for ten laboratories around the world that participate in this project. 4. SeaWiFS is the current premier ocean color satellite. Its ocean color maps are used extensively by scientific, environmental, and commercial concerns to determine the biological state of the oceans worldwide. 5. TOMS-ADEOS was one of an 18-year series of satellite flights providing a near continuous monitoring of the Earth's ozone. This American-built instrument flew on a Japanese satellite. 6. TOMS/Meteor-3 is one of an 18-year series of satellite flights providing a near continuous monitor of the Earth's ozone. This American-built instrument flew on a Russian satellite. 7. SSBUV was a secondary payload flown in the bay of the Space Shuttle. It provided calibration measurements for all ozone measuring satellites. Web Project: After retirement, Mr. Riley designed and documented the following low-cost space exploration project: 1. Riley, Tom, “The Big Moon Dig”. A Web site established in 20014, http://bigmoondig.com/BigMoonDig.html Publications: Mr. Riley’s publications are a mix of technical material and fiction: 1. Riley, Tom. “Climate of Revenge”. (IUniverse, 2022) A novel set in the middle of our climate crisis. 2. John Thomas, Symbioses as an Alternative to Master/Slave for Artificial Intelligence. Chapter (IGI Global, 2021). 3. Riley, Tom. Born to Storms, (Amazon Books, 2020). A novel for young adults facing our climate crisis. 4. dall’Acqua, Luisa, & Irene M. Gironacci Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Risk Management and Cyber Intelligence. Chapter N, Tom Riley, “General Patten and our Climate Crisis, The Stories People Need” (IGI Global, 2020). 5. dall’Acqua, Luisa, Tom Riley, Narrative Thinking and Storytelling for Problem Solving in Science Education (IGI Global, 2019). A mix of science fiction short stories and technical articles to support STEM education. 6. dall’Acqua, Forecasting and Managing Risk in the Health and Safety Sectors, (IGI Global, 2019). Chapter 3, pages 52-80. Tom Riley, “The Coming Human/Machine Symbiosis, Effects on Society, and Business Planning”. 7. dall’Acqua, Luisa, Dickson Lukose (2018a). Improving Business Performance Through Effective Managerial Training Initiatives. Hershey PA: IGI Global. Chapter 12, pages 254 – 282. Tom Riley, “Extended Managerial Implications: People and Space in the Twenty-First Century”. 8. Riley, Tom, & Kelda Riley, The Computer Controller Cookbook. Creative Computing Press, 1983. An early workbook of DYI computer projects. Education: George Washington University, Washington, DC, M.S., Engineering Management 06/1995. University of Houston, Houston, Texas, B.S., Electrical Engineering, Mathematics 02/1969.