Pinnacle Plot: Days of Resonance Episode One

By Brett P. S.

Twenty-three years after the death of the greatest metallomancer the world had ever known, a new era of resonance had since seen its dawn at the end of Miles Emmerson's life. The new threat to posterity lies in the hands of villains with a vision, a world without resonance. Pinnacle, the criminal organization hell-bent toward this end, will stop at nothing to see that future realized. Enter Caleb Jonhson, A.K.A. Stone Keep.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brett P. S.
• Release date: Oct 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370368471

Brett P. S.

Brett Sawyer (1986), born in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, is an indie author who writes short stories & novellas, from science fiction to heroes. He graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 2015 with a Bachelor’s in education and currently teaches game design at Lake Land College.Short Change arrived at retailers in November of 2014, the start of a hero series where ordinary people gained powers over oddly specific domains, following the story of a shorter than average hero who can telekinetically manipulate small units of currency.Short Change is free on “smashwords.com/profile/view/BrettPS” and Barnes & Noble along with other samples and short fiction.Brett’s popular releases in science fiction include “Dark Station” and “Tales from the Colony: An Interstellar Saga.” Dark Station is a deep space thriller set aboard an abandoned orbital science station where Ben Gebbley and his crew secretly investigate the disappearance of the original staff before others come to claim the lost assets.

Book preview

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

EPILOGUE

Chapter 1

Concert Crashers

Champ de Mars, Paris

The Old Era of Resonance ended on the death bed of Magnanimous. Metallomancers no longer dominate the world, save for Magnum and the cryptic manufacture of Resotek. Those with powers may be few in number, but heroes emerge from the most unlikely places. – Old UN.C. Order Knowledge Division

June 2075, twenty-three years after the death of Magnanimous, the greatest fundraising campaign hosted by Fortune Strongholds to date ends with a benefit concert beneath the lights of Paris and the stars above …

Caleb Johnson, age 29, unofficial employee of Fortune Strongholds and code-named Stone Keep. He walked like an ordinary human tonight. Caleb prowled Champ de Mars, the massive park district that stretched southeast from the base of Paris’ Eiffel Tower, beneath the waning light of a setting sun. Fields of green faded into the ambient glow of lanterns that lit up the park in colors of red, blue and gold, but he hardly saw much of the fresh foliage. What little he could had been trampled into the mud by 4Love’s rampant fans.

They migrated from across Europe and still some from the Americas for a concert hosted by the prodigal child the woman Fortune had tasked him to protect, and he was beginning to think he’d jumped into more than he could handle. One man with a keen eye for observation might foil a plot in a small park district, but the concert spanned two-thirds of Paris, with cars and buses parked near the outskirts and traffic drawn to a near halt. His job was a fresh stain in a messy situation.

Caleb shook his head and pushed his way through crying fans eager to see the concert start. If Pinnacle would try something, they’d do it early on and they’d hit exactly where it hurt the most, an assassination attempt on 4Love and her bodyguards. Caleb nodded towards a pair of Joint Forces patrol officers in black suits strikingly similar to his own uniform. He wore slim sunglasses and a functional earpiece to listen in on some chatter, but Fortune specifically forbid him from directly interacting with the Joint Forces. For now, he’d make use of their intel and intervene if a situation came to light.

Waiting made him squirm. He pushed past a handful of bodies until he bunkered down in an advantageous position. A handful of meters apart from the stage and a decent gap from the line the Joint Forces held. Hopefully she wouldn’t drive them too wild. How good could pop music sound?

Caleb carefully examined the men on point to his left and right. They stood up high on guard towers, surveying the fields with Resotek binoculars, series 16s, capable of distinguishing intent to kill with a concealed weaponized item. He recognized the curvature as one of Fortune Stronghold’s licensed properties. If memory served, the frequency for series 16s came from the resonance user, Guilt Trip, a resonance user with a danger sense for tools.

Good choice. Much less toxic than X-ray specs and it got the job done, but the Resotek cores could only discern from a limited list of items and only under certain circumstances. For instance, the weapon had to be on the person and visibly concealed. It didn’t detect most Manipulators or those who intended hand-to-hand violence, very different from Guilt Trip’s original prowess. However, those guards could spot a pocketknife from half a mile away … if they were proficient with the devices. Caleb had some practice with a handful of Resotek devices, series 16s