The Retreat

People in many worlds fight the same thing: betrayal, oppression, brute violence, ignorance. They rise to the occasion in different ways – or fail to rise. The sapient dogs of kudzu-covered Atlanta escaped slavery, came together in the Great Pack, and now seek to strike against their once Masters. Two immortal men from a dead Brotherhood choose different paths to the same end: dragging mankind up out of the muck and into the stars on their world. In deep space, the seeds of violent conspiracy are laid when a transport ship is detonated beneath its crew, leading to an investigation which could turn up that which cannot be put down again. In another time, a 20-foot long Utahraptor from the Cretaceous is elected president with unexpected results, including his campaign promise: “I Probably Won’t Eat You.” What’s going on here? How are these things related? Is this science fiction or fantasy? Questions. There are always questions. (This is the  90 page pilot of a theor

MASTER PRESIDENT-3 EXT. THE US FROM SPACE - DAY We travel by red line from the White House. A cute little bus-icon with PRaptor hanging onto the back, tail trailing, leads the way. I-66 W from 17th St NW and E St Expy I-270 N, I-70 W, I-68 W, I-79 N, ... and I-44 to MO-32 E/MO-5 S/MO-64 E/S Jefferson Ave in Lebanon. Take exit 129 from I-44 Follow MO-5 S to Ledge Rock Rd in Grovespring. CAPTION: Grovespring, MO -- Center of Governance of the United States. EXT. HIGH OVER GROVESPRING, MO Fade from the unincorporated bedroom community of the late 201Xs to the modern, sleek, sprawling body of governance. From gentle green hills and trees to modern neo-brutalist architecture and an endless suburbia without a fixed center, rather a series of campuses. Businesses grow in the niches between government buildings like lichen. Coffeehouses, restaurants, massage parlors (with and without happy endings as clearly noted on the signage), car dealerships, all the thing

HELLSTAR-4 EXT. CH-6-FAC-4 ROOF - NIGHT Laughlin and Hampton crouch low behind some unidentifiable rooftop debris atop the factory node adjacent to CH-6-FAC-3 and at an angle to RES-2 where the Hungry mercenaries are making their way through. Both are wearing tactical black, though DETEC is in broad white letters across their shoulders. Neither has a gun in hand, though the pistols on their hips seem to be larger than one would expect for service size. Hampton has a banged-about-looking SMG slung on his back, dangling like a messenger bag. Laughlin, adjustable binoc projector held high, scans the rooftops and walls. SY HAMPTON I hope to seven shades that this isn't what we think it is, Laughlin. That would be bad. DEREK LAUGHLIN And by that you mean "a lot of people will die," right? SY HAMPTON I mean a lot of people will be stuck doing a lot of paperwork, and by "a lot of people" I mean me. Nuclear warheads always take so much paper