Fool's Errand: Redemption

By Nick Zentor

Fool's Errand: Redemption by Nick Zentor:

Nick Stone was working with the newest state-of-the-art 3d TDM systems on a special project when it unleashed his angry alter ego, seeking redemption for an injustice that had him sent to Aton 5, the purgatory of the galaxy. In an effort to set the records straight and exonerate himself from an unjust sentence in purgatory, Stone used the computers to do the detective work necessary to track down the evidence lost in the past shadows, while a catastrophic nuclear refraction gained the attention of his alter ego and forced him to fight dangerous unseen alien beings from another dimension.

This is a short novel with many action scenes originally wrote as a possible script for a 3d animation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Zentor
• Release date: Sep 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463688182

Nick Zentor

I was born in another parallel of Earth just a few years before John Kennedy was assassinated and I was transferred to this parallel after a motorcycle accident in late 1982. After 3 years of homelessness, I was inspired to become a science-fiction writer and committed myself to the task once I had managed to find a job and a place to plug in a typewriter. I worked on the job like a good robot for 10 years while writing science-fiction on my free time.After failing to get any books published due to a low demand (every publisher explained how they were selling less books every year), I decided to get into small-publishing and accessed the local copy-outlet to publish my own books. But I didn't have enough money to print more than a handful at a time, and almost no one was interested in buying any of it.It wasn't until 2004, after I managed to save enough money for a new computer, that I began to make some real progress. I was able to do a much better job with book-making and the quality of my books improved. But still they did not sell, so I simply small-published them at my own website online and offered them for free through the website. The website was up until 2008, when I lost my apartment and spent some time homeless again.Aside from writing science-fiction, I started working with 2d computer graphics and animation in late 2004, and got into 3d computer graphics and animation in 2009, after finding another apartment. I've been working with 3d computer graphics, trying to go somewhere there, but I've had problems paying for the software.I wrote "Fool's Errand: Redemption" as the last book in the Temspace-Variant Series in 2015 and turned it into an ebook in 2017. Because I am also a 3d computer graphics artist, I decided to try my hands at my first ebook cover and produced the cover for "Fool's Errand: Redemption" to go with it.

Book preview

Tsv123:

A Fool's Errand: Redemption

Nick Stone was working with the newest state-of-the-art 3d TDM systems on a very special project when it unleashed his angry alter ego, seeking redemption for an injustice that had him sent to Aton 5, the purgatory of the galaxy.

Timedate estimate: 2025

Par: Aton 5: Another Parallel

Dedicated to all of the people disaffected by the fool's errand.

Copyright: Coldpost-85, 9/2015

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Chapters

1. The Man Who Took a Day Off from Work

2. A Fool's Errand

3. Another Parallel Mystery

4. Dr. Stone meets Mr. Makro

5. A Demand for a Hearing in the High Court

6. Setting the Records Straight

7. Dreaming of a Life

8. Somewhere on the Coast

9. Temporal Spatial Par Differentials

10. The Fracture and the EM Flux

11. A Picnic at the Park

12. Macrovision in Silver Moonlight

13: Blue Moon over the Bay

14. A Multivertical Conjunction

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Chapter 1: The Man Who Took a Day Off from Work

Nick Stone sat in the nightclub nursing a bottle of very expensive water that tasted like it came from a vat previously used to ferment white-lightning, looking at the sultry brunette across the room. Stone waited as she finally decided to come around for a chat, before he decided to spill his guts all over the counter.

Want to hear a mediocre story? he said, as she looked him over, and he looked her in the eyes.

The lights were dim but he could see her well enough to know she wasn't hiding a boyfriend. At least, that was what he decided, just because he really didn't care anymore and he was in the mood to lay it all out for anyone to know.

What kind of story? she said, and ordered a bottle of water.

A real heart-breaker with a crazy twist, Stone admitted. He waited for her reaction for a moment, and then placed a 20 on the counter for the bottle of water, and she said, I guess I've got time, if it's not too long.

Oh, well, I suppose that depends, he said, and looked across the club, at the dancers. I could give you the short version. See, 40 years ago, in the summer of 1975, while I was dating a young girl with a friend of mine and her sister, my step-brother had a jealous rage, went behind my back, and fixed it so that my mom sent me away for the summer, with misinformation.

He looked at the bottle of water and wished it were whisky or rum, but he knew his guts couldn't handle it anymore. He paused for a moment, and completed the story, I was sent away that summer against my will and lost her forever.

Sounds sad, she said. You forgot to tell me your name.

Yep, it's real tragedy, he said, Nick Stone.

Karlena. So what's the twist? she said.

Stone thought about that, and said, Step-brother used my mother and she didn't know it. She admitted the mistake 7 years later, in 1982, and that was the first I heard of it. For 7 years, both she and I were in the dark about the misinformation supplied by my step-brother. He fooled both of us for 7 years, and I was exiled to this planet for it, to waste the last 30 years working my way out of the lowest levels of purgatory.

She looked at him with more curiosity and interest, and said, What happened to the step-brother? Why didn't your mother punish him for the misinformation?

I'm not certain, but I suspect it was because he was shielded by step-father, he said. It's the only explanation. See, step-father was a wife-beater at the time, and a recovering alcoholic. Mother must have been forced to cover step-brother, it really is the only explanation.

Then why were you forced into exile on this planet? she said, and added, If it wasn't your fault?

That's the sticky mystery I haven't quite solved. But I suspect it had to do with what happened later in 1978.

1978? she said, and looked at her water. This story is getting much longer than I expected.

Hey, it's cool, if you don't want to hear the rest, he said, and shut his trap for a minute, listening to the music in the background.

She moved closer to him suddenly, much to his surprise, and spoke in his ear, We can talk with more privacy in the other room, if you want.

Sorry, sis, but I haven't got that kind of cash right now, and I don't feel in the mood for sex, he said.

She stopped for a minute, looked around, stepped back, and said, Give me a minute, I'll be right back.

Stone waited, nursing his water, with nothing better to do at the time, and it was much cooler inside the nightclub at that hour and it seemed like the thing to do. He waited for longer than a minute and began to wonder if she really was coming back or just making him wait. He began to get edgy because he realized he had spilled his guts to a complete stranger and he had never done anything like that before in his so-called life.

He slapped a 5-spot on the bar and started to get up to leave, when she suddenly returned, by herself, in a blue satin shirt, alone, much to his relief.

I hope you didn't get all dressed up on my account, he said, trying to be funny. He looked at her in the dim blue lights and thought he recognized her for a minute.

Were you going to leave? she said.

He looked at her and wondered about that, still wondering where he had seen her before. For a minute he just got lost in her words, and suddenly snapped out of it.

Uh, well, no, I just had to get up for a stretch, he lied. I thought you were busy elsewhere... uh... He stumbled for a minute and made a quick recovery.

So, how do you like the story so far? he said.

It's sad, but interesting, she admitted, and they sat down.

Stone looked at her and could see she was being sincere, so he decided to continue.

In 1978, the summer of 78, my step-brother and some kissing cousin of his tried to get my friends and I, there were about 3 or 4, to join him and his friends in a naked romp free-for-all. I was still pissed about losing Lisa and I didn't trust him, so I declined the invitation. I didn't know at the time that it was one of the last job opportunities open to me. As it turned out, the town was recruiting young people for summer camp activities that I had no idea about whatsoever that year. Recruits for some naturist videos. My reaction to the proposal apparently had a very negative effect on my position in the town.

He paused and she said, Negative? How so?

My step-brother and the princess both began treating me like some kind of unwanted retard and the rest of the town rejected me completely, for the most part. Oh, I still had a couple of friends, but no more opportunities. They all rejected me and gave me the cold shoulder. After the motorcycle accident in 1982, my mom told me about the mistake and I didn't know what to make of it. It was too late, 7 years too late, to do anything about it. Lisa was gone and I was alienated from everyone I had ever known.

Before Stone could say anymore, he saw a familiar figure step in from the street and remove his sunshades. Another stepped in beside him and left his shades on. Stone looked to the back corner and sited the other exit, and wondered if he could make an easy departure.

Well, it's been nice... what did you say your name was? he said.

Nick, she said, Are you leaving?

I have to get a little exercise, my legs need it right now, he said, and slipped around the corner of the bar counter, headed toward the other door in the dark corner. He was almost there when the goons stepped around the other side of the bar and cut him off before he could reach it.

Stone, the one with the shades off said, the company has been looking for you.

Well, I'm on vacation, he said. Tell the big guy to get back to me in about 3 weeks.

Well, I think you should tell him yourself, he said. We can patch you through to him from our vehicle.

Stone tried to decline and walk around them but the guy with the shades got in his way and stopped him.

They ushered him out the door and around the club. Two more goons were standing outside a van and he knew they weren't going to make it easy. He didn't know it at the time, but Karlena had followed them out to see what was going down. When he had them all in his sites and only one to worry about, he made his move. He