What are the Chances?

Janusz Robertson

Description

With elements of comedy and romance, James Duncan is a hero of military background in this science-fiction novel. James is a member of under a covert programme dealing with the abusers of time-travelling technology. Though determined and an asset to planet Earth, betrayal intrudes leaving him stranded on a planet in turmoil. James will quickly realise that he must keep himself in isolation from ghastly creatures and a hostile Kingdom so that he may live in peace. To his dismay James is still human and must venture to survive, making isolation difficult to maintain. Naturally, harsh reality always fights to prevail when James is forced to choose between his values and his duties to save another. Born with the mind of a saviour, he is compelled to save them, but is challenged with the duty to stay safe and remain undisclosed. This dilemma provokes a debate of his integrity, where James' military experience conditioning him to live in duty and never in empathy is put into question.

Sujets

• Science fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Distributed by eBookpartnership
• Date de parution: 26 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781839525414
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published 2022
Copyright © Janusz Robertson 2022
The right of Janusz Robertson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Published under licence by Brown Dog Books and The Self-Publishing Partnership Ltd, 10b Greenway Farm, Bath Rd, Wick, nr. Bath BS30 5RL
www.selfpublishingpartnership.co.uk

ISBN printed book: 978-1-83952-540-7
ISBN e-book: 978-1-83952-541-4
Cover design based on Rochel Lucy Czerwinski’s idea and visualised by
Kevin Rylands
Internal design by Andrew Easton
Printed and bound in the UK
This book is printed on FSC certified paper

I would like to thank my daughter Rochel Lucy for her help with my book and for the front cover design .
Good Luck for the future .
Love
Dad .
I would also like to thank my wife Jesusa for her patience and inhuman tolerance while I was writing this book .
Thank you and Love you Always .
Janusz
XXX
Life is Hard and Cruel, but what’s important is what you make of it .
CONTENTS
Glossary
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 3.5
Chapter 4
Chapter 4.5
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 6.5
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 9.5
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 11.5
Chapter 12
Chapter 12.5
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 14.5
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
GLOSSARY
Cities of Arka – Ark (capital), Leso, Mera, Della
Little girl/queen’s daughter – Beautiful, Olnia
Queen – Vianna
Queen’s friend/seer – Sania
Queen’s dad – Herc
Queen’s mum – Yagi
Baron Rak & Baroness Mima Vos – Jihon’s parents
People – Arkans
Capital – Ark (royal family surname)
Best character – Jihon
Linguist/translator – Professor Nata
Alphians are red
Morrins are yellow
Zolgs are dark blue
Queen’s bitchboy – Gah
Kura Nectar – type of fruit juice
Garuga – Giant man-looking beast
Kani is like mythical harpies back on Earth
Beasts: Slinks, Meguns, Basins, Dags, Zarks, Fagans, Sarks
Man Eating Plant – Arkan Death
General Mass
High Prefect Baka
Seline –Baka’s wife
General Akda the incompetent
Sergeant Tus
Chamberlain Vern
Beast that first attacked James – Sarks
Arkan Year – 13 months
Arkan months – 36 days
Arkan week – 9 days
PVA – personal virtual assistant (on his sleeve)
Mappen – beast usually found near a beach
Slinks – beast
Poto – local alcoholic drink
Lugii – Part plant, part animal beast … Tears flesh off of its victims while they are still alive (Horrible way to die)
***
Monday – Magra
Tuesday – Tagra
Wednesday – Wera
Thursday – Tura
Friday – Fara
Day 8 of the week – Sura
Day 9 of the week – Hava
Saturday – Agra
Sunday – Sara
Weekend – Ferga
PROLOGUE
The US had won the race in space travel and their closest allies were left behind. Britain had to come up with something else, something new that no other nation could be working on. However, that was easier said than done. But every good idea starts with someone. The man for the job? Sir Lieutenant General Andrew Warburton. Or as James would call him, Andy. Everyone else would know him as the head of the new project. Since he was the start of the operation, he had no insight for what he had to do – not even how to go about such. But if the way the world flows is how it was meant to be, it will find a way. And by sheer accident, he met Professor Mia Eddings, desperate for help, though, she was not searching simply for any help; she needed the entire arm of the military to help her.
After she found out who exactly Sir Lieutenant General Andrew Warburton was, she told him the problem she had and after giving him a demonstration, the general finally found his project.
The project involved was not that of space travel, as the Americans are working to pursue, but time travel. But only into the past. The professor reiterated the mass destruction that could become of the Earth had the future been altered even minimally. The movies were true. Eddings continued to explain that time travel to the future wasn’t possible even if they wanted to do so as the future had not happened yet. This meant there was nothing to anchor to if one tried to travel into the future. But the past? That has already happened and is well documented. Alongside him, Professor Eddings mentioned she had another partner who aided in the development of time travel, but he wanted to alter things, suspectedly within his own self-interest, while she insisted on keeping things as they were. Eddings was an intelligent woman, having an eye for spotting suspicious ulterior motives. Her now ex-colleague fell in contact with some disreputable characters. Subsequently, after much effort of investigation, she discovered how the past had already been changed several times to profit in their favour. Science should be beneficial, not for profit.
Naturally, the general was sceptical until Professor Mia showed him her detailed recordings of what had changed. Alongside this, she highlighted her ‘secret’ meeting with her ex-colleague, who warned her that things would get worse for everyone if these disreputable characters were not stopped. Needless to say, there was deep regret buried in the words of her colleague.
But what Professor Mia needed was military help and the general needed a project. So after careful consideration, the general decided to start his project and keep those who were profiting from damaging the timeline of the universe at bay, and hopefully, someday, eliminate them. By stopping them, they needed men and women who he could trust, and the first name on his lips was Major James Duncan.
Right now, Major Duncan was not a happy man, as he wasn’t just famous among the populous of Great Britain, he was the war hero everyone wanted to meet and that reason made his life a misery. He had no private life of his own and he wanted out. When his friend, General Warburton, approached him about joining his project, James was on the verge of tearing his arm off to get into it from overwhelming desperation.
Although the way it was explained to James was that he, in effect, would have to die. And for that, James was willing to die.
Professor Mia had carefully chosen her staff to make sure that no one would leak any information about the project. She had also developed a nanochip that would be attached to the operatives who would time travel, so if any changes happened during the travel they would be aware of them and would be able to analyse the change’s impact and hopefully solve it. Unfortunately, this is where many soldiers’ surface-life deaths became their actuality. If not deaths, major damage to the brain. The nanochip had to be carefully implanted into the brain, meaning a very articulate and hazardous brain surgery with high risks of injury. When the general told her that there would be six time travellers, she immediately told him about the nanochip, and that she would make six more, but the general advised her that he would also be chipped, meaning seven more had to be produced alongside her own. She was also told that from now on, she and every member of her staff would be guarded 24/7 by men and women of the SAS. Additionally, he made a point of interest that the SAS could not know anything about the project, but would protect her and her staff with their lives.
They made their base in an abandoned World War Two facility, known only to the general and his great grandfather, who was in charge of this facility during the war. Keeping the public’s nose out of such places really did come into hand after all these years.
Construction and renovation was swift as the base was set up and ready. The walls were reinforced and every inch of glass was bulletproof. This was merely a precaution against the obvious threat of human enemy. Majority of the institute was underground, where any crucial evidence of such a project would always remain out of anyone’s eye bar those granted access. Even some of those in the institute did not understand the true purpose of such a facility.
After some time, eight of them were now chipped. The next step? Discussing security. That is, when James Duncan came up with the perfect name for the six operatives. From now on, they’d be known as ‘Sliptimers’.
The six Sliptimers no longer had a name, but were known around the base solely as commanders. If any of the support staff needed them, they would address each operative as Commander, nothing else. Only the general and the professor would call them Sliptimers, and of course, the Sliptimers themselves too.
Each of the Sliptimers had no identities in surface-level society. To this populus, they had all mysteriously died in some horrific accidents. James even got a state funeral. If only he could be there to celebrate it. Only Professor Mia, the general and his best friend, King George, knew the truth that James wasn’t dead. Although, despite knowing James’ status of living, King George definitely did not know what James was doing. As far as he was aware, James was desperate for a change in career paths and to avoid any unnecessary attention, he ‘died’ and became a commodity broker in the city.
When the Sliptimers left the base to do some R&R, they all sported faux beards and wore contact lenses to change their eye colours. James’ eyes were covered with brown contacts, concealing any sight of deep blue.
Unfortunately, as far as his family went, he was dead. Died in a terrible incident. Just like the other five Sliptimers. Although his family’s grief was disheartening for him, as a soldier he had learned to contain his emotions and knew his further purpose would be for the greater good for humanity.
The project was ready