What Might Have Been...

Fragment by Warren Fahy is a story about what might have been.

The story opens on a ship called the Trident that happens to be the backdrop for a show called SeaLife. SeaLife chronicles the adventures of a team of scientists as they explore the uncharted reaches of the south Pacific. Unfortunately, the show has lousy ratings, no drama and is basically wrapping up. The Trident is heading home when they get a distress signal coming from Henders Island. They decide to answer the call and from here on out in the story their lives, shortened though they will be, take a turn for the worse.

Henders Island is what the rest of the Earth might have been like if it hadn’t broken up into the continents we know today. Strange and violent species have evolved in a hypercompetitive environment where everything eats everything else. Humans are no match for any of the animals, as some of the Trident’s crew find out the hard way. After the inauspicious and bloody landing of some of the show’s scientist is broadcast on television, the military sends a fleet to the island with their own handpicked experts. Their plan to destroy Henders Island is complicated by the discovery of a benign and intelligent species and the race to save it from destruction.

Fragment is a great read in the same vein as Jurassic Park or Relic. I would highly recommend it.

--Mike N.