Jocko, the Red

In the third book of Jocko, Jacob Henderson, a simple man with inexplicable, uncontrollable paranormal powers, consents to become the Sankta Savant, a holy being that is to protect the Mariner people from an impending invasion of time-traveling carnivores. Carnivores who brutally harvest the minds of victims, leaving them unconscious and dying. Jocko is a swarthy, ill-spoken piano refinisher, but to the Mariner, he is a deity.

For Jocko, this lofty role is unwelcome and uncomfortable. He resents being worshiped, but feels strong responsibility for the colorful Mariner people who are instinctively passive and easy harvest for the Red.

By consenting to become the Sankta Savant, he will indeed confront the Red, but as a result, be thrust into an incomprehensible wash of time travel, surging from then to now and now to then. He will become a prisoner in the hellish Red hive, where captive minds are unsure if they are dead or alive.

A selfless sense of responsibility causes Jocko to painfully turn his back on love and risk his own life for the sake of others—not just the Mariner, but countless millions of other beings across countless galaxies.

Although he aspires to nothing more than quietly leading a simple life, fate has dictated that he will become the holy Sankta Savant, and indeed that powerful being will become an unanticipated, lethal nightmare for the Red.

Perhaps Jocko really is a deity?

©2014 Jerry Dean Cooper (P)2023 Jerry Cooper