Escape Hatch

by Kevin J. Anderson

It came from beneath the sea!
The hideous alien “sluggos” have arrived, bloodthirsty tentacled aliens that infest the oceans of Earth, and it will take the best military minds of the Planetary Navy to defeat them.
Admiral Bruce Haldane has faced the sluggos in engagement after engagement, and the humans are slaughtered each time. Fortunately for Haldane, though, because of his high rank, he has an “escape hatch”—at the last moment of a military defeat when his own death is certain, he can swap his consciousness with another safe body, a “cannon fodder” recruit who exists only to be ready in case he needs to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Paulson Kenz is one of those cannon-fodder recruits, too weak and wimpy to be appropriate for the battlefield, but he doesn’t want to go down without a fight. Knowing that at any moment he might find himself transported into a horrific last stand against slavering aliens, he has to become an even greater military genius than Admiral Haldane himself.

77 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 25, 2018

About the author

Yes, I have a lot of books, and if this is your first visit to my amazon author page, it can be a little overwhelming. If you are new to my work, let me recommend a few titles as good places to start. I love my Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series, humorous horror/mysteries, which begin with DEATH WARMED OVER. My steampunk fantasy adventures, CLOCKWORK ANGELS and CLOCKWORK LIVES, written with Neil Peart, legendary drummer from Rush, are two of my very favorite novels ever. And my magnum opus, the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns, begins with HIDDEN EMPIRE. After you've tried those, I hope you'll check out some of my other series.

I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.

I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.

My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.

Reviews

[Matevž · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kevin J at his best. Nice short read, good idea behind the hatch and a decent finish.

Recommended reading for gamers :D

[Joe Pranaitis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Kevin J. Anderson brings us the tale of an alien invasion and the men responsible for its ending. Admiral Bruce Haladane is the head of the Earth Planetary Navy and during his last engagement with the species only known as Sluggos aboard the destroyer Far Haven he fires at them as the tentacles come out of the water. The Sluggos have made the waters of Earth their home and they attack and destroy any and all who try to kill them. As this is going on Paulson Kenz finds out that he has been drafted into the navy and has to make his own way to the base where he will begin his training. Right in the middle of this the Far Haven is destroyed and Haladne uses his escape hatch which would transfer his mind into that of a waiting host body. The two of them meet while Haladne is in his new body and he tells Kenz that he is his new escape hatch. This is a great navel novella and I highly recommend it for all science fiction fans.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Military science fiction.

A quick read. The sluggos seem like a flexible, do any thing kind of enemy. In war you need new leaders to come forward.