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    Before Indoctrination
    Before Indoctrination
    Before Indoctrination
    Ebook78 pages1 hour

    Before Indoctrination

    By Ryan Viergutz

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Science and magic collide when the freelance journalist Wall Natheralm plunges into the schemes of two conspiracies. Built around the capture and control of the young telepath Henrietta Eskalpol, the battle will engulf Wall and his parents. The key to Henrietta's freedom, and those beyond her, may rest with the bonds of gentle friendship.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRyan Viergutz
    Release dateApr 10, 2018
    ISBN9781370496266
    Before Indoctrination
    Author

    Ryan Viergutz

    I'm a freelancer, writer, roleplayer and gamer. I don't want to live in the same place any longer than a year for a very long time and I am always yearning for adventure. The first two overlap often enough that they're almost the same thing, though they aren't by anyone's measure. Regardless of the state I'm in, I am always roleplaying and I allow myself to indulge in gaming, usually of a video game variety, sometimes. At any given time I will have a scifi or fantasy book in my hands or in my travel bag.

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      Book preview

      Before Indoctrination - Ryan Viergutz

      Before Indoctrination

      Ryan Viergutz

      Copyright 2018 Ryan Viergutz

      Cover by Emily Viergutz

      This work is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and situations depicted in this book are fictional. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

      Other Books by Ryan Viergutz

      Secrets of the Empire

      Enemy Territory

      Necessary Lies

      Can't Fall Back

      Overthrown

      Last Chance (Coming 2018)

      Tatsuro Calesani, Chaos Mage

      Stricken By Entropy

      Splinters in Three Souls

      Absolute Mayhem

      Ghost Infection: Silph and Leah

      Blown to Smithereens

      No Stone Unturned (Coming 2018)

      Siren's Air Raid

      Stratosphere (Coming 2018)

      Chapter 1

      The agent in the sharp black suit scowled at me and put her hand on her pistol's holster. I'm sorry, sir, you cannot go beyond this point.

      I clapped my clipboard together and waved it at her. It's my job. I'm a neurology researcher and I need to understand what's happening in this base.

      As the agent stared at me through her inscrutable dark lenses I felt the creeping presence of the cameras, gun mounts and motion sensors throughout the hallway. The grey vault door had innumerable decals that warned of authorized entrances and the prosecution of trespassers. The heavy weaponry, including two steely-eyed murder robots in the guard sheds, implied the execution of said trespassers with so much certainty they did not need to state the inevitability of death.

      The agent lifted her eyebrows at me and did not move from her position. I advise you to leave, sir, and forget you encountered me. Return to your escort.

      Every time, I swear, every time they referred to an escort, I wished I was in a much different place with much more delightful company. I had told her the truth, though, in that my job brought me to investigate places of this ilk. I bowed respectfully to her, keeping my eyes on her the whole time. She kept her eyes on me, too, and my heart staggered when she spoke into her earpiece.

      Your escort and compansions will wait down the left hallway, sir. The agent, who had covered her name with blackout tape, followed me with only her eyes while I left. Forget you ever saw me.

      I guess they didn't know me well. Authority tended to raise my hackles, and for all of my respect and courtesy, I would find a way back into that section soon enough. I didn't tend to advertise, though, and kept my skills on the down low. People in high-powered places like the Arraxico Space and Naval Research Base, typically known as ASANAR, didn't notice reporters who roved around in obscure blogs and gossip magazines.

      I rejoined the group, kept my head down and pretended that I'd always been there. The escort, a boring old bureaucrat in a terrible suit, glowered at me and gestured me along with a head nod. I could escape his sight a hundred times and he still wouldn't care. My instincts told me he'd be at his job for a few months and would leave soon enough. The authorities would recognize him as a security risk and quietly make a scandal to remove him. Loose lips sink military projects.

      The bureaucrat droned on in his sleepy voice. I wanted to curl up on the floor and snooze. He could read a rousing adventure full of malice and excitement and still make it sound like the statistics of that recent budget's summary of the tedious misery... urgh. Here we have the Prime Shooter platform. You'll remember it from our recent war in Haipar.

      Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know about this government?

      Didn't you do a piece on that, Mr. Somme? the bureaucrat asked.

      I hid a snicker at the stuffy professor in the leather vest. Yes, I did. He stepped toward the missile platform in the glass case and cleared his throat for a lecture. I believe it successfully fulfilled its objectives, though it hardly rose to the peak of the second model of the Incineration Laser. The multi-barrel cannon create a massive output that can annihilate a modern LeMay tank in roughly twenty seconds.

      I rolled my eyes and shoved him aside. The escort moved toward me. I raised my fists and lifted my eyebrows. He backed off and the professor looked worried. Hold on a second. The LeMay tank can withstand a lot more punishment than the Incinerator could ever throw off. I think the Prime could destroy the tank in a third of its time. Haven't you done your research, old man?

      The professor sputtered. Listen here young man -

      All right, the escort said. Let's not get in an argument in this tour, hm? If you want to go over the merits of our excellent weaponry you can do it later.

      I grinned. The professor looked furious. If he punched me, well, bring it on. I could use some violence in this domain of war. The escort rolled his eyes. So far it had gone according to plan. I just needed another good excuse to set us at each other's throats and then I'd be away from this tour guide and the least interesting parts of this base.

      During the next two exhibits I kept my eyes on the professor and grinned at him like I'd gotten the upper hand in our argument. He was growing red and his eyes were starting to goggle at me. I'd give it another few exhibits before he made a move. If he didn't, I would. The glimpse of the murderous robots behind the secret vault had me enraptured with curiosity. If I didn't get in there pretty soon I'd scream with exasperation. That might be a good distraction, by the by.

      Fate happened to fall in my favor for once because at the next exhibit, when I started to ruminate upon the uses of

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