Slingshot: Building The Largest Machine in Human History (The Starchild Saga)

<b>Travel to space for the price of a train ticket&mdash;to the Moon for a little bit more.</b><br><br>"Slingshot <i>does for the launch loop what Arthur C. Clarke's </i>The Fountains of Paradise<i> or Sheffield's </i>Web Between the Worlds<i> did for the space elevato</i>r."&mdash;Alastair Mayer Author of the <i>T-Space Series</i><br><br>Slingshot is a love story&mdash;about a man, a woman, another man, another woman, some gender bending...and a machine, the largest ever built. <br><br><i>Slingshot </i>is a mystery&mdash;about a missing aviatrix, a conspiracy, a true-believer.<br><br><i>Slingshot </i>is an adventure&mdash;about following a dream, the ocean-deep, outer space. <br><br><i>Slingshot </i>is about constructing the first space launch-loop stretching 2,600 km between Baker and Jarvis Islands in the Equatorial Pacific. It's about high finance, intrigue, unlimited ambition, heroism, fanaticism, betrayal...and opening space to the common person.<br><br>The setting is the day-after-tomorrow. Technology has advanced, the web is more pervasive than ever, but human ambition and greed remain unchanged. In <i>Slingshot</i>, Alex Regent, Margo Jackson, and Klaus Blumenfeld reach for the stars as they blend their skills to create the world's first space launch-loop. Environmental fanatic Lars Watson with his team of young eco-terrorists will go to any length to halt the project. Reporter Lori Kutcher indiscriminately applies her own personal skills to ensure she reports the unfolding events to a watching world.<br><br><i>Slingshot</i> takes you from Seattle's world financial district, to the ocean bottom at 5 km off Baker Island, to the edge of space 80 km above. You play with dolphins and battle sharks. You fly and sail and dive, you work and play and love across the vast panorama of an Equatorial Pacific being put to leash to serve humanity's surge into outer space. While its accurate science and precise engineering will appeal to hard science-fiction buffs, Slingshot's major focus is the grand journey, the opening of outer space to the common person by men and women who loom larger than life.<br><br>Performed by Trenton Bennett — featuring his acclaimed character voice work — with an illustrated PDF companion including images, diagrams, glossary, and supplemental material.

Dr. Robert G. Williscroft is a retired submarine officer, deep-sea and saturation diver, scientist, author, and a lifelong adventurer. He spent 22 months underwater, a year in the equatorial Pacific, three years in the Arctic ice pack, and a year at the Geographic South Pole. He holds degrees in Marine Physics and Meteorology and a doctorate for developing a system to protect SCUBA divers in contaminated water. A prolific author of both non-fiction, Cold War thrillers, and hard science fiction, he lives in Centennial, Colorado.