Wrangler Joe and the Orb of Levanah

About the Book

Asteroid Wrangler Joseph McGregor thought he had it made, living the “Life of Riley” on Asteroid Mine Alpha 3. Until one day, while taming the spin out of a million ton rock, Joe and his superchimp crewmate Dillon discover a religious artifact of literally pre-biblical proportions.

The artifact was a crystalline globe made of pure and flawless diamond and the chamber in which it was found was covered with a scribbled message that when translated by Joe’s priest friend, Father Thomas, reveals that the origin of man on Earth was not what the religions of Earth have been teaching for thousands of years. Joe soon realizes that the globe is an extremely hot commodity and that he must keep it secret and safe.

Soon after Joe returns from the asteroid, he learns that someone has leaked his discovery to the Mining Consortium and that they are pulling in the asteroid early for processing. Joe knows that the “processing” will destroy any evidence of the valuable archeological and religious find.

Torn between service to his self and service to others Joe is faced with two equally disturbing choices; lay low and hope to stay out of trouble or step-up and take action for the good of mankind.

With the help of several friends Joe embarks on a scheme to hijack the mysterious asteroid and push it out into deep space. Disguised as Dr. Zeus from the “Planet of the Apes” movies Joe steals his own Wrangler ship, flies out to the mysterious asteroid and forces the tugging ship to relinquish its cargo. Joe then pushes the rock back out into space with several attached rockets. On the way back to base, Joe manages to elude the security forces and stealthily slip back into Alpha 3 to establish a truly drunken alibi.

Thinking that he has succeeded “Scott Free”, Joe returns to his normal routine life as a humble Wrangler. His friends however, having tasted the success of their vigilante activities, decide to continue the fight against the overbearing Mining Consortium with a series of relatively petty but publicly popular rebel events.

A year passes and so does Joe’s close friend Grump, who helped him in the original asteroid hijacking scheme. The day after Grump’s wake Joe hears a strange humming in his apartment, which turns out to be the mysterious and beautiful diamond orb. The humming increases to the point that a wave of electromagnetic energy burst from the globe and passes through the entire base, shutting off all electrical systems. This naturally throws the base into a frenzy of alarms and turmoil, and scares Joe senseless.

Immediately after the event Joe learns from his girlfriend Julie that the Consortium has retrieved the mysterious asteroid and is returning it to the base. Joe realizes that he must once more don the mask of Dr. Zeus and act on behalf of humanity.

By learning how to activate the potentially dangerous power of the orb, Joe and his vigilante team threaten the greedy syndicate with continued blackouts that could possibly destroy the entire base and the lucrative mining operation.

The consortium soon gives in and through a series of strange events and clever deceptions, Joe and crew manage to elude base security and once again save the asteroid from certain destruction.

The thrilling and unexpected ending will hopefully excite readers and entice them to follow Wrangler Joe and Dillon in their next installment.

“Sir, I See Fairies!”

“The Further Adventures Of Wrangler Joe”

About the Author

As an avid reader of a multitude of Science Fiction and Fantasy novels, J. C. Barnett has been fascinated by stories of unlikely heroes in incredible places doing incredible things against incredible odds. This fascination coupled with an over active imagination has led him down a thirty year road of creating and telling stories, and we do mean “whoppers”. Fortunately, for his family and loved ones, along the way he also managed to acquire a Bachelors Degree in Biology, twenty years experience in several major chemical companies, and a Proctor post for MENSA.