Prisoner of Letrius

By Hallett German

A former robot king and a falsely accused political prisoner become friends and explore ways to escape from deep inside the planet. Will they succeed and find a place that they can truly call home? With two bonus and two other unpublished stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hallett German
• Release date: Apr 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215398579

Hallett German

Hallett German is a fiction and technical subject author on various aspects of IT. His works of fiction cross multiple genres including children, young adult, dysfunctional corporate mysteries/fantasies, historical fiction, and steampunk. His books offer a unique and original ride into other worlds and lives.

Book preview

Section 1: Introduction

Chapter 0: Opening Words

During a very frantic day, I was far away from reaching a final draft. It was troublesome to get past the central problem of a character escaping an underground prison. Would they be picked up by a spaceship sympathetic to their early release? Or instead, miraculously fall through the planet's core? In the end, a simpler approach was found. And from then on, the creative juices started flowing and the book took off.

Parts of this work were written while the first book in the series was being created. And it also builds on the same themes with mostly different characters. There were many times that I thought of abandoning this book. Never mind finishing this work. But I made it here!

The first book was inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, and the political works of Ibn Khaldun.

The second one shares a theme in part from Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. I hope the fun of creating this book shines through.

HG March 2023

Chapter 00: Fake Book Reviews

[There is a brief series crossover below. Nothing listed below in this chapter ever happened in real life.]

Do you have some competing authors that you can't stand and wish to see their careers dive into a permanent down cycle? Then we are the company for you!

We at Fake Book Reviews Inc. will rip apart ANY book on the social media of your choice for a low fee.

For example, a real-life Ms. Olivia Plymouth did not like a fictional series with the main character having the same name. So, she paid us a GOOD sum for us to rip apart all of the books and stories in the series especially Joyous Travel with the Wrong Suitcase. It made quite a splash.

But now, we face a new unique challenge. Some robot lovers are irate over a fictional book series about a tyrant Robot King living on a long-forgotten solitary rock called Letrius. One reason for their anger is that it puts robots in a bad light. And the series uses some dubious plot devices such as indigenous terraforming and a hollow planet. It also is a prison escape/inter-planetary travel buddy book starring the same robot.

Reluctantly, I have to admit that this work is pretty good. But, at the same time, I have to work for a living and pay my outstanding bills. So, tear it apart, I must.

Daniel Patrick Lake, CEO All-Fake Book Reviews Inc.

[This was one of the last letters written by CEO Lake. He was looking for a new job two weeks after sending that note. And the corporation's headquarters were shuttered forever.]

Chapter 1: The Forgotten Half-World of Letrius.

Look out at the sky. No, past that. Even beyond that. There it is! With your eyes burning and squinting, you can barely perceive a partial planet off in a remote corner of the Galaxy. On the top half are walled cities, picturesque towns, and snow-capped breathtaking mountain ranges.

On the lower part of this world are deep craters and an uninhabitable charred world as a result of a vicious battle between the energy resource owners versus the outnumbered workers. Some say that it contains an inhospitable prison.

Our story takes place in this strange yet welcoming place.

Chapter 2: Planetary Transition and Same Old Policies.

*Letrius Political Prisoner Committee. (The Edge)*

For thousands of years, our lone cosmos of Letrius remained undisturbed. We were ruled by a seemingly endless number of unremarkable kings that have helped little or largely ignored us. Then, our fragile social fabric was ripped apart with the coronation of the robot king. He made sincere promises to protect the inhabitants, increase food supplies, and make the planet a pleasurable experience.

But the darkness called him to seek untapped power and destroy the way of life and mountains of our indigenous people, mercilessly massacre our malnourished city dwellers, and make life a living hell for everyone.

It got to be too much. Something had to give. The resistance started small and blossomed into a full-scale revolt. That heartless despot was toppled and we adopted regional and local democratic councils.

I am part of an underground group called the Edge that challenged from the sidelines the ruling class with illicit communications, direct actions, and the freeing of political prisoners. These latter are indefinitely detained for misunderstandings and somehow threatening the status quo with their words and actions. Innocent beings were found guilty of just stating their honest opinions. Many were not freed after the governmental transition. Why does our newly formed democratic state love keeping its jailers busy and its cells full? Nothing has changed as both old and new political cellmates are being detained.

So, we needed to fight back. No one deserves to be unfairly detained. It took us some time to get this right. There were various glorious failures along the way. One of the first important steps was to find out what was going on around us. We used the terrain to our advantage. From inside the bowels of the bombarded side of Letrius, we discovered a clever way to hack straight into the Government and Prison network and cameras. Afterward, we could now observe prison activities undetected. Our friends were placed in the prison governing