Jack Castle [Castle - Stranger Origins

STRANGER

ORIGINS

JACK CASTLE

PUBLISHED BY CASTLE BOOKS INC

Copyright 2019 by Chris Tortora

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors imagination or are used fictionally and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed, electric or audio form without written permission.

ISBN: 9781074033897

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR JACK CASTLE

The lines of imagination and reality never have been so blurred as they are in the amazing, yet sinister theme park so creatively envisioned by Jack Castle!

-Joe Butler, Spokesman Review

"For nearly a decade, Jack Castle has been crafting thrilling adventures for my theme park and guiding millions of guests through them. So, it comes as no surprise his talent as a storyteller has expanded to thrill readers worldwide through his Stranger World book series."

-Gary Norton

Owner of Silverwood Theme Park

(The largest Theme Park in the Northwest)

Also by Jack Castle:

Europa Journal

Bedlam Lost

White Death

The Revenants

Stranger World (series):

Stranger Origins

Stranger World

Stranger Realm

Stranger Tides

Stranger Desert

For Elisa Brinton

( a.k.a. the Leftenant)

This ones for you.

Acknowledgements

I will always be grateful to my wife Trace, and my two best friends: Chad Bryant and Greg Wahlman for their constant and unwavering support.

I would also like to thank beta-readers (and crew of H.M.A.S. Dauntless) Elisa Brinton, Alexandria Tortora, Jamie Dougall, Sue and Michael Sablan, and Dr. Robert Bob Hagen for their critical comments, helpful suggestions and helping me keep it all straight in this crazy, upside down world.

Special thanks to my editor, Suzanne Holland ( ) and copy editor, Meredith Johnson, for helping me polish the final draft and bring it home.

Finally, I wouldnt have sold near as many books without Kings Custom Covers ( www.KingsCustomCovers.com ) and their spectacular cover designs.

The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. Where shall I begin, please your Majesty? he asked.

Begin at the beginning, the King said very gravely, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

- Lewis Carroll , Alice in Wonderland

Prologue

Lisa Burton

Would you please hold still?

I will not.

You dont want me to carve your face off by accident, do you?

Senior hologram-engineer, Lisa Burton, activated her hydrostatic-scalpel once more and resumed re-crafting the nose of her most favored creation. Just as the blade was about to reach its target, her subject abruptly turned her face to the side for the fifth time.

Lisa sighed, and switched off the scalpel. Removing her safety glasses, she asked, Now what?

In a crisp British accent, she replied matter-of-factly, I dare say, I quite like my nose right the way it is.

Lisa hopped down from her high stool and said, Well, theres been some uh, Lisa coughed into her fist, complaints.

The woman before her wore black knee-high boots, off-white trousers, and a navy-blue, nautical jacket. A black leather pistol belt with spare pouches ensnared her narrow waist. The taller woman arched a high eyebrow down at her and asked cynically, with only the slightest hint of curiosity, Complaints you say, what sort of complaints?

Not sure exactly how to respond, Lisa settled for saying, The guests say that you think youre better than them.

Her subject adjusted her naval coat slightly, I am a Leftenant in Her Majestys Navy and second in command of Her Majestys Airship, Dauntless. So, one would think that those sniveling, puerile infants would mind their betters and be grateful every time I bring them back in one piece from another harrowing expedition.

She thought about this some more. Furthermore, I fail to see what any of that nonsense has to do with the shape of my nose.

Lisa knew she could easily have shut down the Leftenants programming to perform the cosmetic surgery, but in truth, she quite liked these little bouts of banter with the Leftenant. In fact, if an outside observer didnt know she was a hologram, they might even say the two of them were best friends.

Without warning, a man with a contentious mound of bright-orange hair and a face with more freckles than skin popped up from behind the partition wall and announced, Hey, Nerd-a-Saurus-Rex, the bosss-bosss-boss wants to see you.

The carrot-tops name was Cliff Munson, or as the gene slicers down on seventh called him, Cliff Munchin. The latter was usually the more accurate of the two, as Cliffs dumpy frame was hardly undersized, and he was always eating potato chips or some other vending machine related snack.

Normally, Lisas work and rank afforded her a minimum of no less than three floors, but due to last months attacks, she had been forced to share her office space with some of the other designers and creationeers.

If that wasnt bad enough, Cliff Munson was easily her least favorite co-worker. Like most things in Stranger World, Cliff was a perfect dichotomy in that his work was as brilliant as his lab was an untidy dung heap. He had several degrees from M.I.T., but he gave off the impression of a slovenly dimwit trapped inside the body of an overweight man nearing forty. Cliff had an almost childlike enthusiasm, yet also an incredible mean streak. He was like the neighbors kid who liked to fry ants under a magnifying glass, all the while laughing about it.

Still, why would Corporate want to see me? she wondered. Typically, when a creationeer was called upstairs, it was for a swift termination. What could I have possibly done? She realized Cliff was still watching her with a bemused look upon his face.

Refusing to let him see her sweat, but failing to keep her voice from wavering, she asked, Do you know what they want?

Cliff must have picked up on her non-verbal cue, because he appeared more tickled than ever when he answered, Dunno, lab-rat. They didnt say.

Numbly, Lisa nodded. Okay, thank you.

Cliff was always calling her names like that: bookworm, lab-rat, Vampira. Unfortunately, most of them were fairly accurate. She almost never saw the sun, usually arrived at work long before everyone else, and left long after the sun went down. Also, she had taken her current employment straight out of college eight years ago. The j-o-b was so demanding, she rarely had time for a social life.

Cliff shuffled around the partition dividing their workstations in his ridiculous foam slippers. I dont know what you did, but it must be pretty bad for you to get called upstairs .

Munch-MUNch-MUNCH

As usual, Cliff was loudly snacking away and leaving behind enough crumbs to fill a pastry shop. Deep down, what she wanted to say was, Hey Cliff, in case you cant read the ka-bizillion signs, this entire floor is clearly designated as a clean and sterilized area . So, heres an idea, whaddya say, now and forever, you leave your germy crumbs out of the tissue sequencer? But, because she had worked with Cliff long enough to know it would be only wasted breath, she chose to avoid confrontation, and settled for saying, Okay, Cliff, thanks for letting me know.