Tales of Enoch - The Watchers

“Tales of Enoch – The Watchers” is a gritty tale of finding one’s own humanity in a world plagued by death, desperation and the need for survival. Set in a post-apocalyptic future where the Earth has encountered an extinction event – known as the cataclysm—when a 7-mile asteroid struck the Mediterranean and forced a geological chain reaction involving the massive volcanic eruptionsthroughout the globe. Choked by carbon and sulfur dioxide, the survivors all seek to leave Earth for other habitable worlds, booking passage by paying in metals on annual frigates that run between the other colonies. Together living together in the last city of man, called Enoch. These are the tales of the men and women who have been left behind, those who struggle through the ashen deserts and acid rain, who live in a technological marvel of a city that protects them from the harsh environment that is now Earth. These short stories are a crossbreed of Cyber-Punk, Gothic and Horror genres. "The Watchers" is the first of its kind, approximately 25,000 words.Harmon Burbanks is a salvage appraiser contracted to the Enoch Road Recyclers. He has been called far out into the desert to appraise a find made by the crew of Division 16. Expecting perhaps an old refrigerator or possibly a rundown rust of a car, Harmon is surprised when it’s revealed to be a derelict human spacecraft, having crashed into the desert floor. During his appraisal, Harmon learns that the ship is more than just space debris waiting to be melted down but is the Narthex, the first carrack sent to colonize Alpha Centauri that went missing on its maiden voyage over 80 years ago. What happened to it and its crew is still unknown, but metals are hard to come by these days and a ticket to Alpha Centauri is not paid in credits.When a woman—Seima—with unusual skin, is found inside one of the Narthex storage bays, the Enoch Road Recyclers fear for their share in the salvage claim and attempt to kill her. Harmon is tasked with getting her as far away from the crew of Division 16 as possible. What little do the road recyclers know, is that Seima is not the only surviving member of the Narthex and what horrifying event caused the Narthex’s disappearance those 80 years ago has not left them unscathed. The crew of the Narthex have been changed by the terrors of space, both physically and mentally. Is Harmon and his recently acquainted friends prepared to meet the cosmic nightmare or will they lose more than just their lives?

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