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Adam Chesin
Thank you for visiting. This site is dedicated to the writing of me, Adam Chesin. My first novel, "Indefinitely" is available on Barnes and Noble’s website, as well as Amazon.com.
Johnny was born in present day Los Angeles, addicted to crack-cocaine and left in a dumpster to die. But Johnny cannot die. Throughout his life he has been many things--cop, husband, father, soldier, prison inmate. And in a world where immortals are hunted by aliens, and their friends and loved ones die without warning, Johnny is more vulnerable than anyone.
Follow the immortals across Earth and the galaxy, from the beginning of recorded history to centuries in the future. From Ancient Rome to Vietnam, from alien worlds to the first civilizations on Earth, there were the immortals.
Weapons of Indefinitely:
The small arms of Indefinitely are based on caseless ammunition. That is, bullets in which the propellant is bonded directly to the projectile, eliminating the need for brass or other types of casings. Besides reducing weight, and increasing capacity, it allows for fewer moving parts which reduces jamming, and higher exhaust pressures, because there is no need to eject spent casings. The US experimented with caseless weapons during the Vietnam War, as a way to eliminate the need for jet fighters to expel, or store, the heavy casings of their 20mm guns. A major problem with early caseless weapons was fouling due to the adhesives available at the time. The problem has been solved by Indefinitely’s time with the advent of better synthetic adhesives and non stick coatings in the weapons.
Handguns/Submachine Guns: 9mm is still a popular choice of handgun due to low recoil and high capacity. .40 caliber S&W is still a popular alternative for those desiring more fire power. Its parent case, the 10mm auto, which was originally believed to be too powerful, has made a comeback. Recoil is managed by a free floating barrel and elastic springs, once only available in larger rifles, such as the .50 caliber. Most police and military handguns can quickly become submachine guns by adding a 30-36 round magazine and flicking the selector switch to burst.
Assault Rifles: The M37 was the official rifle of the United States Space Force during the late 21st century, and saw much use during the American-Russian war. It was later replaced by the M51, which saw action during the Zargon War of the 23rd century. Both weapons were based on the G11 assault rifle designed by Austrian gun manufacturer Hechler-Koch in the 20th century, and were chambered in 4.73mm like the prototype. They were rotating-chamber operated which meant that a magazine stick of 100-120 rounds was loaded horizontally over the barrel, with the ammunition pointing downwards. The operator chambered it by rotating the barrel clockwise which allowed a round to drop down, and then swing back to align with the barrel. It could be set for single shot, three round burst, or full auto, and support a single shot grenade launcher beneath the barrel. The standard round was a tungsten-carbide/carbon fiber jacketed armor piercing round, effective against the ballistic fibers worn by enemy forces, both human and alien. Training rounds were an aluminum-ceramic frangible, designed to shatter upon impact, which eliminated ricochets in vacuum and low gravity environments.
Sniper Rifle: The sniper weapon of the 21st century fired a .454 caliber bullet, which was a longer version of the .454 Casull revolver cartridge, or .45 magnum. During the Zargon War, most snipers carried the .50 magnum smart rifle. The bullet followed a laser beam emitted by the weapon’s sites, and stabilized its flight with miniature fins powered by a micro fuel cell. Both weapons had a range of about 2000 meters, and fired from a box magazine of ten. In the works is the M1B, the most powerful sniper rifle yet, intended to fire a .30 caliber round at nearly escape velocity (7 miles per second). The recoil of such a weapon would normally break the operator’s shoulder. It is the intention to construct the barrel of a memory metal alloy, which would deform after firing, and resume its normal shape in less than a second.
Machineguns: The squad automatic weapon of the 21st century was the Dillon gun, a 6 cylinder rotating barrel machine gun, based on the Vulcan minigun which first saw action in Vietnam. Like its predecessor, it fired from a 6000 round belt of .30 caliber ammunition, and could expend its ammunition in a single minute. It was replaced by the Stuart gun, a 5.56mm belt fed weapon, as better materials in the weapon sped up cooling, eliminating the need for rotating barrels and heavy battery packs. Rate of fire dropped marginally, but the lighter 5.56mm round had a better range and was more effective against the small-unit tactics of the Zargon. Its origins can be traced back to the M2 .50 caliber browning which first saw action in WWII.
Grenade Launcher: Platoons also carry fully automatic grenade launchers as well as machineguns. In the 21st century, they fired from 300 round belts, at a range of 300 meters, with a blast radius of 10 meters. By the Zargon War, grenades had been replaced by 20mm rounds of plastic explosive, eliminating the need for steel jackets. This reduced weight, and increased range and accuracy. Thermite crystals in the plastic compensated for the elimination of shrapnel, which ionized upon impact that bored through body armor and tissue. Single shot grenade launchers carried under rifle barrels fired similar rounds.
Flamethrower: Flamethrowers have been used since WWII as an antipersonnel weapon, to drive enemy forces out of hiding, as an alternative to chemical attack. Early flame throwers fired a mixture of gasoline and kerosene, which were highly affective, but if the user was hit, the fuel tanks could explode, leaving him to burn to death. Current flamethrowers use a synthetic hydrocarbon (cyano-methane/nano ethylene) and super cooled aluminum-magnesium (cold liquid even at room temperature) designed to be in-volatile even under high pressure, or when hit by weapons fire. Flamethrowers saw much use during the Murgatroid War in the 25th century, which were highly effecting against their eyes, unprotected by their hard shells that were resistant to rifle fire, and which could flush them out of hiding holes in jungle and bombed out cities. The nano molecules could slip between microscopic spaces between living tissue, increasing effectiveness.
Incendiary: Aquatex was the incendiary compound that was used in the 21st century against company sized forces, that were entrenched and hiding in areas such as caves, and tunnels dug in the habitable regions of otherwise hostile environments. It was designed to replace napalm (burning jellied gasoline), which was highly effective against guerilla forces in Vietnam. Aquatex was a synthetic liquid rubber that burned at 4000 degrees C, which led to the nickname “Tire Fire.” It was replaced by HX90 during the Zargon war, which derived its explosive power from carbon 60 molecules, like microscopic balloons full of hydrochloride nitrous-ethylene, and potassium nitrate-titanium thermite. It left a green residue on damaged surfaces, and a much cleaner and less toxic smell of charcoal and chlorine. Both compounds were generally delivered by rocket, but could also be adapted for missile or conventional bomb.
Coming soon from Space Force R&D:
Greenhouse: a tactical defoliant consisting of a fungus engineered to attach only to plant matter, and destroy it through dehydration.
Nitro 7: High explosive generally delivered as a 30 millimeter bullet from aircraft. Consists of nitroglycerine stabilized by a xenon polymer, detonated upon impact by high energy crystals of gallium hydroxide and technetium nitrate.
Smart mine: programmable explosive booby-trap consisting of a charge of Nitro 7, can be preset to detonate when sensors detect enemy, can be set to detect visually, thermally (though negated by IR shielding), breath gas analysis (as in non humans, can be negated by vacuum seal), or vocally (as a foreign or alien language), sensor range approximately one meter, blast radius 10 meters.
Indefinitely-Part II
When Charles Conlin was seventeen, he made an enemy of the ancient and powerful Nicholas Florius, who imprisoned him for four hundred years until he was released by Johnny. Now he’s back, struggling to make it in the twenty-fifth century as a student, police officer, soldier, fugitive. But this time, alien hunters aren’t the only threat to cut short eternal life. The mortals have declared war--one by one, immortals are being hunted down and exterminated. Only by coming together with the last few survivors from every time and place on Earth, can they hope to survive against their enemy, a shadowy figure known only to them as Colonel Black.
Now on Lulu.com.
Send E-Mail to: crashlander13911@aol.com
Copyright © 2008 Adam Chesin. All Rights Reserved