Science Fiction – Nicholas Walker

Les enfants du Kraal

Nicholas Walker — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 00:59:20 +0000

Un roman dystopien de Sc Fi au rythme très rapide, écrit par un auteur à succès. Se déroulant dans le futur, l’humanité s’est presque détruite dans des guerres nucléaires donnant au Kraal (Sasquatch et le Yéti) une chance de prendre le contrôle du monde. L’humanité est réduite en esclavage et forcée de travailler pour le Kraal jusqu’à ce qu’une bande d’enfants, dirigée par Jessica, s’échappe et riposte. Jessica est une dirigeante extraordinaire qui déteste tellement les Kraal qu’elle hurle quand elle les combat ! Son commandant en second, Tom, est calme et sérieux…

Oliver

Nicholas Walker — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 00:27:47 +0000

Leonie lay in the bushes waiting until Dee had walked the soldier off, then she dashed across the road, ducked under the barrier and hurried up the driveway. The main doors of the Institute were locked but Oliver had told her where to go. The fire escape ran right up the side of the building and she went up it to the fourth floor. She carefully tried the fire door but of course it was locked. Leonie stared along the row of windows. Oliver’s was the fifth one and by this time he should be hanging out waiting for her but everything was still in darkness. She put a finger in each corner of her mouth and gave a whistle. It was the fifth whistle before the light went on and Oliver slid open the window and looked out blinking blearily at her. ‘Sorry, I fell asleep,’ he called quietly to her. ‘Fell asleep?’ she demanded. ‘Look, I’m sorry to keep you up, I’m sure.’ ‘Don’t go on,’ he said, ‘and shut up a bit I’ve got to concentrate.’ Leonie sighed and leaned back against the wall so as not to distract him. ‘I wonder if the Scarlet Pimpernel had this trouble?’ she muttered. Oliver was staring intently at the fire door. Nothing seemed to be happening and nothing went on happening for some minutes. At last Leonie grew fed up with waiting. ‘What are you playing at?’ she demanded. Oliver shook his head, ‘Sorry, I can’t seem to feel the lock,’ he said. ‘Hang about I’ll put the light off, that sometimes helps.’ He disappeared back into the room. ‘The first time he’s going to do something useful with his head and it doesn’t work,’ she said to herself. Oliver returned and sank back into a reverie studying the fire door even more intently. Then suddenly his eyes blazed and she heard the electric lock in the door stir. Leonie gave the door a push and she was inside and seconds later she was in Oliver’s room. ‘Anybody about?’ she mouthed, remembering the bugs. He shook his head, ‘Remember only five seconds,’ he said in her ear, ‘anymore and someone might come and investigate.’ She nodded and handed him a torch then crept off up the corridor. Only once did she see anyone, a man in a white coat, but she ducked into a doorway and he disappeared into one of the rooms without noticing her. Finally she found what she was looking for, a cupboard containing the knock out switches for that floor. She found the one for Oliver’s corridor, flicked it off for the count of five then put it back on again. When she got back to the fire door Oliver was already waiting for her. ‘Thanks,’ he said giving her a quick kiss. ‘Hey, it was more trouble than that,’ she said indignantly. She pulled his head down and this time he kissed her properly. She crinkled her eyes up at him when he finally released her. ‘I was scared to death you’d be electrocuted or something when you stepped through the doorway,’ she said. ‘So was I,’ he admitted. ‘I wasn’t sure it was on the same power circuit. Thanks kid.’

The Poisoners of Moloo

Nicholas Walker — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 01:50:52 +0000

Four highly disturbing Science Fiction stories from a bestselling author:

The Poisoners of Moloo: is about a planet where the main business is the manufacture of fine poisons for disposing of people, poisons like the Time Linked Poison where a woman grows a day older each minute or the Melting Poison where the victim melts from the feet up! Lembert is the Police Chief of the planet Soho who finds his wife Dustin is having an affair and decides to get rid of her.

The Last Lifeboat: is set on the Queen Elizabeth II where the passengers are virtually the sole survivors of a nuclear holocaust. The food is running out and the radiation is growing by the day and they have to form a new society to survive. Written while the author was on a World Cruise on the QE2 all aspects of the ship are accurate and bring a stunning reality to the story as the wealthy characters are forced to develop new rules to deal with working, living and sexual relationships.

Walk for Your Life: a space shuttle crashes on the fast spinning planet of Quadra and the survivors are forced to march for twenty hours every day to keep ahead of the burning sun. Rescue is months away and it is every man or woman for themselves in this harrowing tale and relationships and traditions fade…but someone is watching!

666: relevant to today: Ebola has mutated into the deadly Ebola Doomsday virus which is running rife in a future planetary system. A motley group of experts are assembled and dropped onto the surface of an infected planet, they know they either find a cure or they will be abandoned to die and along with them millions more. The science is accurate, and frightening, but the story is mainly concerned with the different personalities and the relationships that develop between them and the tension is increased with the addition to the team of: The Angel of Death, a beautiful woman who is the biggest mass murderer of children in the galaxy, and Professor Joy Sowlee who is famous mainly because her whole face has been eaten away by a rogue virus.

Four immensely entertaining stories from a research scientist so all the science is accurate and terrifying!

Return of the Kraal

Nicholas Walker — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 01:31:41 +0000

‘You’ve been out hunting Kraal!’ She took his arm and steered him towards the privacy of the wood store. ‘Mac, listen, I was just out for a stroll,’ she said. She shrugged, ‘I bumped into this teensy little baby Kraal.’ ‘Don’t come it with me, you’re lying,’ he said angrily. ‘You’re playing with the stones in your ears, you always play with the stones in your ears when you lie to me.’ Kimba wrenched her treacherous hand away and stared at it accusingly, she couldn’t think of anything to say. ‘It’s totally against all the rules even going out alone, you know that. You could step in a Tessaa never mind the Kraal.’ ‘I can look after myself,’ she said losing her temper, ‘and you should remember that I’m a leader,’ she touched the sword over her shoulder that proclaimed her rank, ‘I don’t answer to you.’ He took her by both shoulders and shook her: ‘I don’t care what you are, you are my wife and you will do as I say,’ he said. ‘Yeah, that’s going to happen,’ she said. ‘Yes, it’s going to happen,’ he said, losing his temper in turn. ‘I absolutely forbid you to go off after the Kraal on your own.’ ‘And what are you going to do?’ She shook herself free from his arms but he grabbed her and slammed her back against the wall of the wood store. ‘Kimba, you’ll obey me on this one,’ he said as angry as she had ever seen him before. ‘Or I’ll borrow the damned belt from the committee and use it on you myself.’ Kimba flinched and her arm reacted by reaching for her sword, then she took a deep breath and made herself relax. After a minute she put both her arms around him and held him closely. They stood there for a long moment the other Vadors steering clear of the romantic scene. ‘Mac,’ she said quietly after quite a time, ‘every morning I come awake very suddenly thinking I’m back with the Kraal again, away from you that horrible, horrible time. Then I reach out and you’re there and a wave of happiness comes over me.’ She pushed him back so she could look into his eyes but still held onto him. She stroked his arms with her fingers. ‘I love you so much I can’t tell you in words, my big strong man. And, I will defer to you as my husband when I can, and I understand why you are so cross with me and you could use your strength and no doubt use the belt on me…give me the hiding of my life if you want but you have to know that if you lay one finger on me then you’ll never be able to close your eyes in safety again.’ ‘I don’t want to lose you again,’ he said almost desperately. ‘I’ll try and see that doesn’t happen,’ she said. She went up on her tip toes to kiss him, a nice kiss. ‘But we are warriors Mac…and it’s the risk we take.’

Revenge of the Kraal

Nicholas Walker — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 01:23:06 +0000

‘I’m breaking out this weekend,’ she said in a low voice but a voice that carried to them all. ‘I want to know how many of you want to come with me.’ There was a stunned silence at this. After a moment Olivia spoke: ‘I want to come…’ ‘I know you do,’ Kimba interrupted her. ‘What about the rest of you?’ ‘We haven’t thought about it,’ said Barnaby. ‘Well, I mean, we have of course but you’ve got to give us a bit to decide.’ ‘That’s fair enough,’ said Kimba to everyone’s surprise. ‘Isn’t it awfully dangerous?’ said Tina in a small voice. ‘Yeah!’ said Kimba. ‘Look, it is dangerous being a Vador. Make no mistake every day of your life it is dangerous, you are being hunted by the Slime. I don’t want you to be under any false pretences so I’ll tell you now, being a Vador is very hard. We train every day, we work all the time. Often we don’t eat for days on end and when we go on a march we run for miles!’ She did her looking around trick again. ‘We are being hunted all the time, we can be attacked at any second: when we are eating, when we are sleeping. We have to fight for our lives against Warriors and Hunters and there’re the Stingers which hurt so much some of us scream with the pain.’ She paused again, ‘You sleep on the ground, you dress like this,’ she grabbed a bunch of the rough cloth shirt she wore. ‘And when you eat you are lucky to get a piece of meat or bread.’ She crouched down in her familiar pose and now there was complete silence in the cave. She let it grow and now the children could see tears in her eyes. When she spoke it was in a whisper: ‘I was thinking how to explain to you best what it’s like,’ she said. ‘There’re three words that keep coming to my mind: excitement, laughter and love. That’s what being a Vador means: excitement, laughter and love! The Kraal hunt us but we also hunt the Kraal and when we bring one of the Slime down there is nothing like it…nothing! You’re fighting to get our world back from these monsters! Two years ago Jessica took a Warrior on face to face and brought it down. ‘You laugh, all the time. Even when it’s at the most dangerous everyone is joking or playing tricks on the others and I say we go hungry and we do but then Craddock catches a deer and we have meat roasted over the fire and maybe Paula has made some of her cheese and Tara has still got some Gaart bread and in season there’s the apple drink and…and…and you’ve never tasted food quite like it because you’ve had to fight so hard for it.’ She rose to her feet and now she was crying unashamedly. ‘And all the time you feel this tremendous warmth all around from all of you because you are a Vador! Even from people you don’t really like that much you love them because they’re Vadors like you and you’d die for them. A year ago Tom asked for volunteers to go on a virtual suicide mission to rescue Jessica…do you know that every single Vador volunteered? Every single one! If I don’t escape, he’ll come for me, within the year, whatever it costs them because I am a Vador!’ And her voice thrilled with pride. ‘So, you can stay here, the Kraal won’t punish you if the rest of us escape and you stay on. They never do, like a farmer doesn’t punish his animals. You can stay a slave the rest of your life, it’s not so bad. Or you can come with me and live your life rather than give it away!’

Kingdom of the Kraal

Nicholas Walker — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 01:13:50 +0000

Zeke reached the tree line and ducked inside and they were safe then there came a whipping sound and a howling Zeke was suddenly whisked off into the tree tops. ‘Down!’ Tom rapped and this time they obeyed him instantly. Tom and Robba stared upwards, Zeke now the shock was over had managed to get control of himself but he was still gasping with fear. He was hanging by one foot from a vine high above their heads. Giggle Hook! And if to prove him right the vine above them started its high pitched giggling, just like a bunch of little girls. Giggle Hooks, another weapon bred by the Kraal especially for the Vadors. They lay dormant for months but the second they were stepped on they grabbed the foot and contracted massively hoisting the victim high into the tree tops out of reach of immediate help. Toby had been caught by one months ago and had dangled there for two days before a search party found him, he still walked with a limp. The giggling grew louder as though taunting them but what it was really doing was trying to alert any nearby Kraal. ‘Everybody up,’ Tom rapped. He pointed four times in different direction: ‘You, you, you and you: one hundred paces and keep watch. If you see anything then whistle the alarm.’ They went without a word. Tom glanced around, thank Heavens Robba was here. Robba, the best climber of all the Vadors. She was already unwinding a loop of rope from her waist. ‘That one, I reckon,’ said Tom and he drew his knife and it hissed across the small clearing and stuck quivering in a tree trunk. Robba was studying the tree tops all around, she gave a nod then she wrapped the loop of rope around her ankles, rested it against the tree trunk and went up it like a squirrel taking the knife with her. ‘The rest of you, we’ve got the worst job,’ said Tom. ‘Robba’s going to cut him free and we’re going to catch him. The six new recruits all gave sombre nods, the last half hour had done more to turn them into Vadors than any amount of training could have accomplished. Tom formed them in a circle around the rotating figure of Zeke above. He had taken the coil of rope from his pack and he criss-crossed it amongst the group so there was a lattice of rope to break Zeke’s fall. ‘Now, this is going to be very difficult,’ said Tom, ‘but you have got to stand firm and keep the rope very tight, lean back against it. If you turn and run then he’ll break his neck…you understand?’ Once again there came an almost concerted nod. Robba was in the tree tops already. ‘Ready?’ she called down. ‘Go for it,’ said Tom and she sawed at the vine. ‘Close your eyes if you can’t stand it,’ Tom said to his group. The giggling changed to a howl and then with a scream Zeke came plummeting down like a rocket and tore into the rope cradle, it was like catching a boulder coming off a mountain. Everyone was smashed to the ground and then there was silence for a moment. ‘Zeke?’ Tom demanded. ‘I’m okay,’ he groaned sitting up. ‘Anybody else hurt?’ Tom said getting to his feet. Everybody was groaning or rubbing themselves but everybody was getting to their feet. Tom risked a glance at Juda, the girl who had run, she was sucking her hands where the rope had cut through the skin. He turned back to Zeke: ‘Why can’t you watch where you’re putting your great feet?’ he demanded. Zeke was standing now, he started to laugh. Zeke was always ready to laugh. He held up his hand and passed it around the group for them to slap in a gesture of thanks. He got to Tom and they stared at each other for a long moment then all at once Tom gave him a hug. Robba came sliding down the tree like a monkey. ‘Do try not to do that again,’ she said. ‘It does so mess up my nails.’

Children of the Kraal

Nicholas Walker — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 01:05:13 +0000

Jessica gave a shrug, one way was as good as any other and she stepped forward and immediately sank into the ground up to her knees. 'Aaah!' She started to struggle. 'Keep back Tom, freeze ... it's a Tessaa.' Tessaa. A harmless toadstool until the Kraal had messed around with it. Now it was huge, could be twenty metres across, and it would lie in wait for weeks, working for the Kraal. If you stepped on it, it was like stepping into very thick honey, you would stick fast and sink, very very slowly. You could struggle, even pull a leg free, though it took a great deal of effort, but you always got another limb stuck as you did so. It would get harder and harder to pull yourself out and you would get more and more exhausted until you collapsed and sank right into the Tessaa. The only real hope you had was if the Kraal saved you. Jessica was fighting like a mad woman. She had a chance because she wasn't far from the edge. She heaved desperately on one leg and reluctantly it slid out of the clinging, sucking mass, but she had nowhere to put it but back down into the mire again; but now she was half a metre closer to solid ground. A Tessaa had another bad habit, it was very loud and now it started its: Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! The deep throaty cry that was telling the Kraal it had caught someone. Tom stood right at the edge stretching out his hand but she was still too far out of reach. She was still fighting, though, just as strongly. It hurt, fighting a Tessaa, it stuck so fast it nearly took your skin off, but Jessica didn't seem to notice. Tom reached for his grapnel and tossed the rope end to her. She grabbed it and he started a strong pull, leaning his body against the strain. At first nothing seemed to be happening then slowly, oh so slowly, she started oozing towards him. 'Come on Jess,' he urged. 'Pull.' 'Walk away with it,' she gasped. 'Use your body weight to pull me out ...' She broke off staring past him. He caught her gaze and whirled around: a Hunter Kraal was standing only metres away. If a Kraal could grin this one would be grinning now. 'That's it Tom, forget it,' she said, standing upright. She tossed the free end of the rope to him. 'You make for the Homestead now.' 'Don't be daft, you're nearly free.' 'No, it's only waiting for me to come closer and it'll get us both in its catch-net,' and her voice was absolutely level. Tom glanced at the Kraal again, it was true, it had its net-launcher in its hand but it wasn't using it. 'I can't just leave you,' he said. 'No! Got your bow?' 'Of course.' He unslung the bow from his shoulder. 'Shoot me.' She tapped her chest. 'Here ... quickly now.' 'What? No!' 'Come on Tom. Do it! Don't leave me for the Kraal.' 'No, they'll only capture you.' 'That's why, now shoot me damn you!' and for the first time her voice rose in desperation. 'No!' He slung the bow back on his shoulder. 'Well, clear off then, you wimp!' she cried.