Cadaver Island

CADAVER ISLAND

By Kevin Rodgers

Copyright © 2013, Pro Se
Productions

Published by Pro Se Press at
Smashwords

The stories in this publication are
fictional. All of the characters in this publication are fictitious
and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely
coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any
information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in
writing of the publisher.

Edited by Percival
Constantine

Editor in Chief, Pro Se
Productions-Tommy Hancock

Submissions Editor-Barry
Reese

Publisher & Pro Se Productions,
LLC-Chief Executive Officer-Fuller Bumpers

Pro Se Productions, LLC

133 1/2 Broad Street

Batesville, AR, 72501

870-834-4022

[email protected]

www.prosepulp.com

Front Cover Art by Arianne Soares
with Fitztown

Book Design, Layout, and Additional
Graphics created by Sean E. Ali

Ebook Design and Formatting by Russ
Anderson

I would like to dedicate
this novel to my parents, Kateri and Howard Rodgers. I appreciate
their support and feedback while I created this book. I love them
both very much.

A woman stood in front of a
mirror and stared at the reflection of her naked body. She
remembered when a hovercraft accident caused her friend, Dr.
Laurent Stine, to replace her body parts with android components.
The metal fingers of her left hand moved across the flesh of her
breasts, brushed against her nipples, and then paused on the
stainless steel compartment which held her mechanical heart.
Stretches of olive skin covered sections of her upper torso, except
for an alloy section of her spinal cord and the metallic glimmer of
her pelvic joints.

She strolled over to a
mahogany armoire and opened the top drawer. Her doctor, Laurent
Stine, told her that he might be able to install a sophisticated
computer chip some day that would allow her to
feel
things
that her fingers touched. But for now, she removed a photograph
album from the armoire’s drawer without being able to feel its
warped, water-damaged cover and its yellow, curling pages. As she
scanned through the book and stared at the photographs, she
remembered how her life had changed since one of Sir Xavier’s
vicious Eye-Bots knocked her off of her hovercraft and caused her
to plunge off the side of a ravine. Fortunately, her friend, Dr.
Stine, had obtained a master’s degree in robotic biology from the
University of Thyme. He’d replaced her damaged body parts with
pieces of an advanced android, who was the wife of an exiled,
insane aristocrat.

Her finger touched a
photograph on the other side of an old, plastic sleeve. She smiled
as she stared at the picture and remembered when she walked through
a meadow of tulips, roses, and sunflowers with her boyfriend,
Zachary Plate. They’d strolled across the meadow together until
they reached a towering cliff, which overlooked The Enchanted
Forest of Sorrow. While Zachary kissed her, pinned her to the
ground, and groped her breasts, she’d seen the owl for the first
time. Its talons clung to the termite-ravaged bark of an oak tree’s
branch. It’s wide, yellow eyes glowed in the gloom of dusk. When
she pointed at the owl, Zachary rolled off of her and admired the
bird’s wingspan as it hooted, flapped its wings, and flew away.
Shortly thereafter, the owl became her pet.

“
When will the owl bring
another message? I can’t stand to wait another day!” she said. She
stepped away from the armoire, approached a pair of French doors,
and pulled them open. Then she plucked a red, silk bathrobe from a
rocking chair, used the robe to cover the flesh and steel of her
ruined body, and stepped onto the cobblestone floor of a balcony.
She glanced up and watched the silhouettes of wyverns pass in front
of the sun.

Flowering vines climbed
trellises to her left and right and the scent of jasmine throbbed
in the air. The balcony provided a bird’s eye view of The City of
Thyme. Elegant, glass skyscrapers rose from a bustling village.
From here, she viewed the straw roofs of small huts, where
merchants sold fruits and vegetables. Farther to the south, the
glass dome of City Hall rose from a cluster of tall, brick
buildings, where the city’s workers lived in small, one-bedroom
flats. As a cool breeze lifted her auburn hair and caused her
bathrobe to billow, the girl smelled the scent of rain. She glanced
toward the balcony and noticed dark clouds swirling above the peaks
of Mount Zahn. Forks of lightning connected the air and earth,
followed moments later by the deep rumble of thunder.

She gasped when a loud,
beeping sound throbbed from a stainless steel compartment, which
contained her mechanical heart. She peeled a fold of her bathrobe
away from her breast and bent her neck so she could look at an
energy gauge, which indicated how strong or weak the battery pack
was. She frowned when she realized that the life span of the
battery pack had reached forty-eight hours. Within the next two
days, she would need to visit Dr. Stine’s office and let him
install a replacement pack. The life cycle of the battery packs was
one year, and Dr. Stine was the only person in Thyme who was
authorized to remove expired battery packs and install new ones.
She felt the urge to fly her hovercraft to his office and have the
battery pack replaced immediately. As she pivoted on her feet,
however, she noticed movement from the corner of her left eye. Her
pet owl, a massive, white-feathered bird named Stanley, strafed
around the left side of the balcony and landed on the brick ledge
of a wide windowsill. The girl laughed, patted Stanley on the head,
and plucked a yellow sheet of folded paper from his beak. As she
unfolded the paper, Stanley hooted and flapped his
wings.

“
Oh, thank you, Stanley!
I’ve been waiting so long to hear from Zachary!” she said. Then she
scanned the long message, written by Zachary, with a black fountain
pen on a thick sheet of white paper:

To Angelique, My
Love:

I am forced to write this
message to you by candlelight in a jail cell. Sir Xavier Thames and
his underlings surrounded our convoy on a rocky path near The Cave
of Polinus on the night of the full moon. Although our swordsmen
and knights fought valiantly, they were no match for Xavier’s
Eye-Bots and the phantoms of his bride, Lysette.

I don’t know what’s going
to happen to me. I’ve been visited several times by an elderly
cleric, who claims to be an attorney. He revealed that Xavier plans
to charge me with witchcraft and espionage. When I asked the cleric
what the penalty is for such crimes, he told me that if I’m found
guilty, I’ll be beheaded by a guillotine. My heart aches with
despair, because I’m afraid I’ll never be able to see your face and
kiss your lips again! I hope you understand just how much I love
you, my darling. I never wanted to abandon you when you became a
partial android after your accident. If I can somehow escape from
prison, I promise to find my way back to you. And if you’ll have
me, I want to be your husband someday!

Oh, I hear the guards
coming. I should finish this message and hand it to Stanley, since
he’s flapping his wings outside my window. Stay strong, my darling,
and say a prayer for me! I’ll be in your arms again
soon!

Faithfully
yours,

Sir Zachary
Plate

Stanley hooted while
Angelique stared at the message and wept softly. She folded the
paper into thirds, pushed her way through the French doors, and
strolled toward the armoire. She flipped through the pages of the
photograph album until she found a page with an empty, plastic
sleeve. Then she tucked Zachary’s message into the sleeve, closed
the book, and wept softly. Snot bubbled around her nostrils and she
choked on phlegm while she sympathized with Zachary’s plight. How
long ago had he written the message? Had he already been found
guilty of witchcraft and espionage by the court of Sir Xavier
Thames? She cringed when she thought about her lover being
decapitated by a guillotine as punishment for the alleged crimes.
She ran across the hardwood floor of her bedroom, jumped onto the
white comforter and soft mattress of her canopy bed, and buried her
face in a soft, white pillow.

“
How can I live without
you, Zachary?”

Someone’s knuckles rapped
on the thick wood of her bedroom door. There was a brief pause.
Then the person knocked again. Angelique rolled over on her back
and stared at the white, transparent canopy that surrounded her
bed. Rays of sunlight slanted through the French doors, providing
dim light. She rose from the bed, strolled toward the door, and
opened it. She smiled when she noticed a silver-bearded man dressed
in a flowing, white robe. He held a gold scepter in his left hand.
She stepped aside and allowed the wizard to enter her
room.

“
I’m sorry to interrupt
you, but I have some bad news,” he said.

“
It can’t be any worse than
the news I just received,” she said.

“
What happened? I’ll do
what I can to help.” He analyzed her facial expressions and noticed
that she was upset.

“
Stanley just delivered a
message from Zachary. He’s been captured by Xavier and is being
held in a jail cell. Xavier has placed him on trial for witchcraft
and espionage! And if he’s found guilty, he’ll face death by
guillotine!”

“
Oh, I’m so sorry,” he
said. She collapsed into his arms and he hugged her. He felt her
body tremble against his old, weak frame.

The wizard heard the
beeping noise from her heart’s battery pack. He pulled away from
her and pointed at her chest. He shook his head and
frowned.

“
I should’ve scheduled you
for an appointment to have a new battery pack installed. I can’t
believe I forgot to mark it on my calendar. We need to go to my
office as soon as possible and install a replacement,” he
said.

“
It’s my fault, too. I
should’ve remembered. I’m so sorry, Dr. Stine,” she
responded.

“
Well, I hate to do this,
but I should tell you why I’ve come on such short notice. Your dog,
Razor, is missing. One of the knights saw him near the entrance to
the catacombs a few hours ago. We need to find him immediately,”
Dr. Stine said.

“
Razor is missing? Maybe
he’s exploring and will come home soon,” Angelique said.

“
I’m afraid he’s been
abducted. Come, my princess, we must go to the catacombs at once!
We must rescue him if he’s in trouble!” He wondered if they should
replace her battery pack first. But he decided it could wait until
after they located Razor.

Dr. Stine turned around and
gave her some privacy while Angelique removed her robe. She found a
white bra and pink, silk panties from a dresser drawer and put them
on. Then she strolled over to her closet, opened the door, and
removed a floral-printed, summer dress from a hanger. The bottom
hem of the dress touched her knees after she put it on. Then she
covered her feet with emerald-encrusted slippers and followed Dr.
Stine into the hallway. As they descended a spiral staircase, she
hoped nothing bad had happened to Razor. Even though her dog was a
robot, he looked just like a Cairn terrier. When she found him, she
wanted to give him a rawhide bone and brush his hair. Deep down
inside, she wondered if she’d ever be able to do those things
again.

***

Several knights wielded
swords and held shields as they stood guard near the entrance of
the catacombs. Beyond a metal gate, a dark tunnel dived into the
stone and darkness of a vast burial chamber. Angelique and Dr.
Stine approached the gate and smiled at the knights, who stepped
aside, saluted, and stood at attention. Angelique and Dr. Stine
noticed that torches lined the subterranean corridor. Several
flames flickered. Their light illuminated the gloom of the
catacombs and cast shadows on jagged stone.