THE TWO TRAVELERS
PRELUDE - BEYOND THE GLASS WALL
(Revised Version)
Two lovers awaken one thousand years into the future amid what remains of the world they once knew.
As they seek out each other, and other remnants of their old lives, they discover strange and often hostile kingdoms spawned from the last breath of what had once been the United States of America.But first, there is the end of the old world.
It is there when these two teenagers are captured and locked in a facility for people deemed a threat to the state run a worldwide fascist regime known as the Faction. Despite the media’s claim to the contrary, nobody has ever been known to leave.
As the clock ticks down and the world around them must be falling apart, Justin and Laura discover each other across a transparent wall as indestructible as steel. As they grow closer to each other, longing to interact but never able, their love of each other grows beyond their control or even their understanding. Never able to express a growing love in any physical way they communicate only through the small holes drilled between them.As the world around them darkens, and people around them vanish one by one, Justin and Laura retain their humanity and sanity through each other. They await the end, watching each other through the indestructible glass wall, awaiting the end.
(Rewritten, edited and expanded from 2012 original)
Smashwords (Free on Smashwords)
Amazon
EPISODE 1 - THE KINGDOM OF ANGELS
(Revised Version)
Two lovers awaken one thousand years into the future amid what remains of the world they once knew.
As they seek out each other, and other remnants of their old lives, they discover strange and often hostile kingdoms spawned from the last breath of what had once been the United States of America.
Justin’s thousand-year sleep ends with an awakening into a society utterly devoid of men.
All positions that men might have held, socially, emotionally or physically, have been replaced by women as far as physicality would allow. The existence of any genuine male, who they have no emotional or physical resistance against, sends powerful waves that shake the society to its core and threatens to unravel it from the very root of itself.
Almost instantly, Justin finds himself deeply entangled into their lives. He is more valued than any individual could, or should, ever be and he soon finds himself the centerpiece of every hope, the catalyst of every scheme and the source of generations of untapped desire. As the one thing everyone needs, but by no means available to all, he understands that he is a ticking time bomb. One misinterpreted act as seduction too many, or to the wrong person, and the entire society might very explode into an extraordinary level of violence that could leave most, if not all, dead.
(Rewritten, edited and expanded from 2012 original)
Smashwords
Amazon
EPISODE 3 - THE PACIFISTS' WAR
Two lovers awaken one thousand years into the future amid what remains of the world they once knew. As they seek out each other, and other remnants of their old lives, they discover strange and often hostile kingdoms spawned from the last breath of what had once been the United States of America.
Laura’s thousand-year sleep ends with an awakening in a land of pure pacifism.
There are no athletics, all forms of aggression are outlawed, and any activity that expresses anything remotely like violence, including film, games, and art, is banned. The sole exception is a form of robot whipping boys used to fight off aggression who battle robot to robot and are useless against human beings.The citizens are therefore utterly helpless against a group of psychotic raiders whose raping and pillaging coincide with Laura’s arrival. She, a trained soldier, predictably clashes with the invaders but, contrary to the teachings of the society she finds herself in, does not regress her into a monster. This knowledge contradicts the core beliefs of the society, resonates with many of the people, makes nervous the aristocrats who dominate and abuse the lower classes, and has the potential to unravel everything.
(Rewritten, edited and expanded from 2012 original)
Smashwords
Amazon
EPISODE 3 - THE LEGEND OF BLUE WATER
Two lovers awaken one thousand years into the future amid what remains of the world they once knew. As they seek out each other, and other remnants of their old lives, they discover strange and often hostile kingdoms spawned from the last breath of what had once been the United States of America.
Justin travels to Reno, Nevada where water is more valuable than gold.
In the big cities of Nevada, people are either extremely poor or extremely rich, often with a slum separated by a wall around a paradise interior city. Water is the primary force of control the government uses to control its citizens, water that requires people to gamble and risk permanent, generational debt in order to pay its outrageous prices. The masters of Nevada, led by the Hodge family, control everything and everyone through this system. Now, with the introduction of technology from Justin’s time, they have greedily raised the price of water sky high.Justin’s arrival coincides with that moment of great desperation for the people of Reno. In order to make some desperately needed money, and maybe help some people in the process, he utilizes his era’s technology to get some water and sell it low-priced. This is not something the Hodges can or will tolerate, viewing any stranger selling water as an unacceptable loss of profit, and they are willing to do almost anything to balance the score.
Smashwords
Amazon
EPISODE 4 - THE REANIMATION NIGHTMARE
Two lovers awaken one thousand years into the future amid what remains of the world they once knew. As they seek out each other, and other remnants of their old lives, they discover strange and often hostile kingdoms spawned from the last breath of what had once been the United States of America.
Laura escapes the wilderness of Washington and finally makes her way to Boise.
Boise is a strange city. Its interior sections are walled and each section contains a rank of citizen known as a “ticket” and the rank holders “Ticketers.” The Ticketers range from the poor and powerless of the Wood, the working class of the Iron and Steel and the powerful wealthy of the Bronze, Silver and Gold with the last being the masters of the city and control everything. Each of their walled sections, known as “zones,” reflects their status.
Something has gone wrong in the Silver Zone. When Laura wanders into the city, this not apparent, but it’s serious enough that, after news recounting Laura’s encounter with the Vicks in Washington reaches the higher-ups, she is perceived as the perfect fixer of this situation. Although she has no interest in this, and deeply wants to avoid any kind of trouble, she finds herself in the center of yet another dangerous situation. Thrust deep into the Silver Zone, with no exit path to be found, she is forced deeper into a gauntlet of horror into the heart of a nightmare.