The Evolutants - The Origin of the Species: Weapons of Mass Distortion - VOL 1

By Edmund J Gray and Einstein of the Evolutants

Since her sixteenth birthday, Clora has been kidnapped, shot, and genetically mutated.  Now she's responsible for the very safety of our planet and the multiverse which exists beyond our own frail reality.

After this, acne should be a breeze.

• Language: English
• Publisher: EpiphanyMill LLC
• Release date: Jul 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781947691056

Edmund J Gray

Edmund J. Gray was born in Northumberland, UK, in the charming hamlet of Waren Mill, on the northern edge of Bamburgh village, just a few hundred yards from the sea at Budle Bay. His favorite childhood memories revolve around impromptu European holidays with his mother, frolicking at the water's edge at Budle Bay, and surrounding himself with his many unique 'fictional' friends, several of which now populate the pages of his fantastic book series. Edmund Joined the Merchant Marines as soon as he was old enough to do so, and had countless adventures spanning much of the world (civilized and otherwise), including: Africa, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and his personal favorite - India. He settled in Sacramento, CA, in the US, where he married his wife, Rose. He has one daughter, Sandra, who, not surprisingly, loves to read. In addition to writing, Edmund also loves to cook, sketch, and write in calligraphy.

Book preview

A ‘Brave New Multiverse’ Novel

The

Evolutants

THE Origin of the Species

Weapons of Mass Distortion

Book ONE

Edmund J. Gray

Enchanted Bubble Wand Press

This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Text Copyright © 2018 EpiphanyMill LLC.

Cover Art Copyright © 2018 Whendell Souza

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in review. 

Published in the United States by Enchanted BubbleWand Press, an imprint of EpiphanyMill LLC.

Brave New Multiverse Press is a registered trademark and the Enchanted BubbleWand colophon is a trademark of EpiphanyMill LLC.

Visit us on the Web!  EpiphanyMill.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gray, Edmund J.

Origin of the Species / Edmund J. Gray. – First edition.

ISBN 978-1-947691-04-9 (intl. tr. pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-947691-05-6 (ebook)

[1. Young Adult-Fiction.  2. Superhero-Fiction.  3. Anime-Fiction.]  I. Title.

Library of Congress Control Number 2017962393

The text of this book is set in 11.5 Apollo MT.

Book design by Rod R. Garcia

Edited by E. M. B.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

EpiphanyMill LLC. Supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read and write.

For my grandson, Rodney, without whom this book would have never happened.

A hero is the right man, in the right place, at the wrong time.

~T.A. Klein

Foreword

I first became acquainted with Edmund in the spring of 1969.  The team and I had gotten ourselves into a bit of a pickle.  Cool, being the impulsive young chap that he is, attempted to utilize the Amulet of Merlin to escape our predicament.  You'll read about the amulet in another of Edmund's previously published books... well, it will be published in your future, which of course is my past.  *SPOILER ALERT*  I must admit, I never expected the amulet to work under those conditions.  I assumed, admittedly incorrectly, that we resided upon the very highest plane of existence.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that my compatriots and I were merely fictional characters, living in a world borne not of the mind of a god, but of a common man.  It was humbling, confusing, and a bit maddening.  *END SPOILER*  That is not why I'm writing this today. 

I wish to address my observation of Edmund, and the circumstances under which the stories you are about to read came about.  Edmund was pleasant enough.  I feel compelled to add he spoke the Queen's English with a level of grace and dignity I've not heard outside the U.K.  He had the look of an early twentieth-century cinematic swashbuckling hero, very much like the film-star Errol Flynn.  He was handsome, suave, and debonair, not unlike myself.  He carried himself with quiet dignity and poise. There was a clear undercurrent of non-malicious arrogance that comes with the innate awareness that one is of British descent.  Edmund, or 'Jim' as he asked us to call him, took our appearance in his modest flat in smashingly cool stride.  Make no mistake, he was visibly surprised.  One would have to be dead or heavily sedated to regard the sudden appearance of bipedal, talking animals, and a green-skinned teenager in one's domicile as an unremarkable event.  To his credit, there was none of the expected shrieking, screaming, drooling, or wetting of the trousers we have sadly become accustomed to.

He instead noted he had recently been dreaming about us, and then quoted Dickens. Wondering aloud, he pondered if we might simply be the unpleasant result of an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, or fragment of raw potato.  There's likely more of hero sandwich than of hero about you... he mused. Then he calmly added, but then that's not exactly true, is it?

I took that opportunity to introduce myself and the team, and went on to assure our unwitting host that we were equally confounded by our presence in his home, and meant him no harm whatsoever.

Edmund (I'm sorry, but I can't bring myself to refer to him as Jim) knew we were cut from a heroic bolt of cloth, and following a round of spirited introductions, he offered us refreshments.  Tea and lemonade were offered as I recall.  Sabre was the only one of us to decline, though he was ultimately swayed by the mouth-watering remainders of an expertly prepared rack of lamb.

Edmund asked if we would care to join him in viewing a historic broadcast underway on the telly.  Whether it be by providence or sheer coincidence, we had arrived in this other world just minutes before their lunar landing, an equally historic event in our world.  I verified the date with Edmund; it was July twentieth, nineteen hundred and sixty-nine.  It coincided with our own lunar landing, which comes as no surprise when considering the fact Edmund created our entire universe to mirror his own… but I digress.

So, there we stood, in the cramped living room of a tiny flat, on an earth that belonged to an alien universe.  History unfolded before us as the famed American astronaut, Neil Armstrong stepped off the lunar module Eagle.  He strode, rather bounded into a region dubbed the Sea of Tranquility.  Before any bounding took place, however, Armstrong uttered the famous words, That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.  Later, Buzz Aldrin (his real name was Edwin, in case you've ever wondered) joined Armstrong on the moon's surface and described the view as magnificent desolation.

It was an awe-inspiring moment for all. As we watched, Edmund turned to me and casually enquired, So, why have you come here?

It felt foolish to admit we'd been fleeing imminent danger, but that is precisely what I told him.  I then showed him the amulet that had brought us to him.

He examined the bauble carefully, turning it over in his hands as if it was made of a butterfly's wings.  I was a tad nervous as I watched him handle the literary artifact. What might happen if he was to activate it? Was there another plane of existence above his as well?  How far up and down did the rabbit hole extend?  Was it possible that it was infinite?  Of course, I now know the answers to those questions and many more that I had yet to consider, but I shan't divulge those answers here. More books have been written that you are yet to be privy to, and I'll not take away the satisfaction that comes with discovery.  Suffice it to say, that chance meeting with Edmund was not the only one.  We have had many madcap adventures with him, as well as with his grandson, his great-grandchildren, and a few other brave individuals whom we now call friends.  One of them, a wise woman who grasped our situation surprisingly better than most, told me something that I shall never forget; 'reality is subjective'... and indeed it is.  If I wasn't real, then would I be capable of traveling across the multiverse with an amulet forged by the hands of a druid whom I once considered to be fictional, and interact with beings who might be considered more real than I?  It positively boggles the mind.

My friends and I remained with Edmund for a brief time that evening.  When it was time to return home and face the evil that had forced us up the rabbit hole in the first place, we took with us a weapon of great power and departed through an altogether unexpected portal which existed exclusively in Edmund's home.  You'll read about that adventure and more as your time passes.

We would all like to thank our dear friend for his assistance, his camaraderie, and his creativity.  For without him, we simply would not be.

~Einstein – Las Vegas, Nevada – March 2068 

Prologue

Historical events, the really big ones anyway, are most often earmarked by a brave conquest or some new and exciting innovation.  But just as often, they can be fouled by the bitter taste of defeat and utter hopelessness. 

Sometimes though, a seemingly insignificant event takes place - an incident which, by