First Fleet by Stephen Case is
a pulp science fiction tale released as serialized
novellas by Retrofit Publishing. “Part 1: Bones” is a short story
leading into the series and is currently available for free at [ Amazon ] and [ Smashwords ].
“Part 1: Bones” sets the stage on a
medical frigate that regenerates the bodies of killed soldiers. When
one of the res-pods behaves strangely, a medical officer suspects
that the Colonists – or an unknown intelligence – have smuggled
aboard something dangerous.
In Part 1, Case introduces the reader
to some of the hard science fiction aspects of the series by showing
us the regeneration process, where stored personalities are
downloaded into cloned bodies. Part 2 expands this to include the
light lines that enable FTL travel, and other technology that I don't
want to spoil for you. Case also gives us the impression of the long
history of his universe which has led to the war with the Colonizers,
who have settled on planets at the far edge of inhabited space.
In Part 1, we also get a glimpse of the
monster who causes the slaughter of the First Fleet. In “Part 2:
Wake,” humanity scrambles to penetrate the silence of the First
Fleet, but without matching bodies to regenerate, they cannot
download the stored personalities of the dead soldiers who might have
seen the face of the enemy. From here the story branches out to two
points of view.
Beka Grale, a disentanglement expert,
finds herself folded into a secret team of investigators who run
unethical experiments in the hopes of uncovering the memories of the
First Fleet. Meanwhile, a regenerating medical officer may hold the
key to the mystery of the First Fleet, but the wayward res-pod lands
at an outlying planet, where fugitive Cam Dowager contemplates
destroying the pod to keep the military out of her figurative
backyard.
First Fleet is a grim tale of
desperation where the characters begin in a vacuum of knowledge and
are quickly overwhelmed by an influx of secrets and of events beyond
their control. Stephen Case presents us with several questions that
give the story depth beyond its beautifully crafted tone of horror.
We wonder – is a regenerated person really the same person? What
makes one human?
Would you set aside your ethics to save
the human race?
“Part 2: Wake” ends on a
cliffhanger that has me biting my nails until the next release. [ Amazon ]
You can pre-order “Part 3: Descent” for April 1, 2015 at [ Amazon ].
