Dome Of Slavery: Colonel Landry Space Adventure Series, #2

By Bryan Smith

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN LIBERATING HUMAN SLAVES IS AGAINST THE LAW?

Colonel Kendrick Landry and other central characters from "Feral Planet" return for more classic sci-fi space adventure.

It is the 25th Century. The starcraft Aurora travels to planet Alpha Centauri B-III and the Aurora commander Colonel Kendrick Landry discovers that descendants of the colonization crew of the Green Horizon, Earth's first interstellar starcraft, are living in centuries-old enslavement to a lizard-like race.

The First Intergalactic Alliance does not permit liberation of the human slaves because the planet is not a member of the Alliance and subject to Alliance law.

Alliance law, however, would sanction the Aurora's defense--including even offensive action against the lizard government, permitting its overthrow by human resistance fighters on the planet--but only if the lizard government has attacked first.

Without the knowledge or consent of Colonel Landry, head-strong Major Will Adams devises a scheme to provoke an attack by the lizard command and so justify a retaliatory pre-emptive strike.

The lizards attack with surprisingly devastating force. Now the command and crew of the Aurora will be fortunate to ensure their own survival--let alone assist in liberation of the lizards' human slaves.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Lord Acton (quote from epigram to Dome Of Slavery)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Phoenixe Press
• Release date: Feb 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386018971

Bryan Smith

ABOUT THE AUTHOR G. (Gerald) Bryan Smith is a Northern California attorney. Bryan Smith was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Georgia State University in 1979 (BA, Journalism). He attended Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University (Juris Doctorate, 1986) in Macon, Georgia; and later Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco (L.L.M., Master of Laws, 1996). He is an active member of the State Bar of California. After stints as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) in the U.S. Air Force, and association with private law firms in California, Mr. Smith started his own law office in 1999. He has since worked as a solo practitioner attorney specializing in general civil litigation with emphasis on family law, estate planning, probate, and bankruptcy (website www.bryansmithatty.com). From a teenager Mr. Smith has been an avid fan of science-fiction literature and film. His favorite science-fiction writers, in alphabetical surname order, are the grand masters Poul Anderson, James Blish, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein, Richard Matheson, H. Beam Piper, Frank M. Robinson, and Clifford D. Simak. Mr. Smith was a regular childhood fan of the original "Star Trek" and "Outer Limits" television series. Feral Planet is the first and the "flagship" in the Colonel Kendrick Landry Space Adventure Series. Other novels featuring Colonel Landry will be released in the near future: --Dome Of Slavery --Final Battle --In Search Of Kronos --Amira: Warrior Queen Of Crucida Mr. Smith is dedicated to revitalizing the classic science-fiction of the genre's so-called "Golden Age" featuring the original Star Trek and the works of science-fiction literary masters including Robert Heinlein and Poul Anderson. Hopefully, the Colonel Landry Space Adventure Series is a good step in that direction. Mr. Smith is interested in receiving candid input from his readers. Feel free to leave comments at his Website (www.phoenixepress.net)    

Book preview

DOME OF SLAVERY

Humans living for centuries under oppressive slavery to a lizard-like race 

Landry’s planetary party included Major Will Adams, the Aurora’s chief engineer, and Major Andrea Varnak–a tall, well-shaped, striking auburn-haired woman . . . They were in the company of three beefy security officers who remained quiet and constantly attentive to their surroundings.

They were standing in a marble-like plaza which bore at its center an embossed insignia of unknown significance–very possibly the symbol of the planetary government. Then one of the security officers–Arnett– let out his breath in astonishment and exclaimed in a whisper, Look, Colonel!

They all turned to where Arnett pointed to see a company of the uniformed lizard creatures brandishing energy rifles at a group of obviously human prisoners– all clad in drab grey coveralls– and directing the group to a dark open port on one side of a government building. On closer examination it appeared that some of the weapons-wielding guards were not lizards at all but were similarly uniformed men.

The guards and prisoners were positioned away from the Aurora party and did not seem to have noticed the party at all. Then all the guards and prisoners withdrew out of sight into the building’s darkened port and the port closed.

–EXCERPT FROM DOME OF SLAVERY

PRAISE FOR DOME OF SLAVERY

"We have all been looking forward to release of the second Colonel Landry book and the wait was worth it. Seldom have we seen such effortlessly flowing simple prose, nor a tale so gripping and suspenseful or better told. Western Regional Science-Fiction Digest

Thought provoking and nothing less than riveting. Mr. Smith appears determined to spearhead the old classic space opera into a modern sci-fi genre with his own stylish twists. Northern California Science-Fiction Book Review

"I for one missed the presence of  Maya, Veronica, and Tiger Jones from Feral Planet. The author gives some of the background on that in his Foreword to the book. And although I am glad to hear those characters will return in the later books, this story was nothing the less without them. Intriguing and captivating fiction." Montreal Science Fiction & Fantasy Today.

A greatly entertaining book on its face and, of course, as anyone can see even without the author’s references in his Foreword to Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Orwell’s 1984, Mr. Smith’s Dome of Slavery is an obvious allegory for the sinister specter of  government run amok. As the author quotes  Baron Acton, Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely . . . Science Fiction and Fantasy Quarterly Gazette

Other Books By Bryan Smith:

Feral Planet: Colonel Landry Series 1

BRYAN SMITH

––––––––

DOME

OF SLAVERY

COLONEL LANDRY SERIES, 2

PHOENIXE PRESS

www.phoenixepress.net   

KINDLE EDITION

© Copyright 2015  by Gerald Bryan Smith. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Second Edition, Print and E-Book published by Phoenixe Press in September 2015

Print Edition ISBN-13: 978-1503231535

ISBN-10: 1503231534

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015914544

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, North Charleston, SC

A different version of this book was previously published by Phoenixe Press, LLC by the author in the pen name of Derek Laurens, under the title "Lizard’s Lair © Copyright 2008 by Gerald Bryan Smith. 

Phoenixe Press is an imprint of the author, Gerald Bryan Smith. www.phoenixepress.net

Phoenixe Press and the Phoenixe logo are registered trademarks of the author. 

Front cover image by www.fotolia.com

AUTHOR’S FOREWORD

The novel which you hold in your hands (or, more probably  in your Kindle, Ipad, or Nook)–Dome of Slavery– has a rather interesting history, at least for me. It actually began as a back story appearing early on in the very  first book of the Colonel Landry series, part of what some of you know as The Survivors, A Novel, which I wrote over the Christmas holidays in 2007 and first published in the summer of 2008. That book was a forerunner of the recently published novel Feral Planet, which launched a substantially revamped republication of the Colonel Landry space adventure series.

Many of you will notice that Maya, Veronica, and–oh yes,  let us not forget Tiger Jones–are notably absent from Dome Of Slavery and maybe some of you even miss those guys. Don’t worry; they are back in the later  books. Let us just say that they are on vacation from the mission in Dome Of Slavery. For whatever it is worth, they were not part of a story told in flashback in The Survivors. A flashback which I came to realize was its own story and deserving of its own book, so that it became Lizard’s Lair, a prequel to all the other books. And revamped here anew–for what I believe will be the last time–as Dome Of Slavery. 

Although Dome is missing Maya, Veronica, and Tiger Jones, it does introduce Science Officer Major Andrea Varnak–whom  my friends, colleagues, fellow writers, and readers tell me is one of the most captivating characters I have yet created in my humble fiction.  She reappears in the upcoming third book Final Battle (formerly A Final Battle) and fourth book, In Search Of Kronos (formerly The Master Entity).

Dome also has the distinction of being by its word count what the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) classifies as a novella. But there is something more important, though.

Speaking of friends, colleagues, fellow writers, and readers–they have all been spurring me on to revamp Lizard’s Lair and get it out there again as the present  Dome. They have flattered me to say that the story could not be more timely and relevant.

Dome is, of course, a modern sci-fi re-telling of the old Big Brother boogeyman story. America is fast headed down the road of a paradoxically corporate-run socialist police state, the evolution of a nation  with no rights for the individual, and a society that will eventually make Orwell’s 1984 and Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 look like worlds of anarchy. That is not just my opinion. So maybe Dome is indeed timely and relevant.

Enough of all that. Let’s roll the story that  Maya, Veronica,  and Tiger Jones never saw.

BRYAN SMITH

Sacramento, California

September 7, 2015  

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Creative Influences

The author gives sincere grateful acknowledgment for the creative influences of the following science-fiction/fantasy grand masters and other sci-fi celebrities in alphabetical surname order:

Poul Anderson (my favorite The Enemy Stars and Call Me Joe, 1957 novelette inspiring 2009 film Avatar, uncredited); Piers Anthony (Xanth series); Isaac Asimov (I, Robot); James Blish (for City and short story adaptations of original l966-1969 Star Trek  television series episodes); Robert Bloch (Psycho, The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch); Ray Bradbury (my favorite, Fahrenheit 451); John Brunner (Born Under Mars); Jack Campbell (Lost Fleet series); Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey, basis of 1968 Stanley Kubrick film); Pen Densham (co-producer of the revived Outer Limits television series airing 1995-2002); Phillip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sleep, basis for 1982 film Blade Runner); Gordon R. Dickson (The Genetic General); Harlan Ellison (my favorite, his script for the 1964 Outer Limits episode Demon With A Glass Hand starring Robert Culp); Philip Jose Farmer (Riverworld series); Jack Finney (The Body Snatchers, filmed three times); Harry Harrison (Make Room! Make Room!, basis for 1973 film Soylent Green); Frank Herbert (Dune); Robert A. Heinlein (my favorites The Puppet Masters and Starman Jones); Aldous Huxley (Brave New World); Stephen King