A science-fiction saga by Badger
One survivor. An alien inheritance. A ruined Earth that remembers more than it should.
Book One of The Preserver Saga
The signal begins
2003
Fourteen-year-old Jace Cooper wins an impossible match. Then the lights fail—and something with claws emerges from the dark.
2025
The creatures return. An alien civilization enters the fight. Humanity is caught between them and loses.
AFTER
Jace awakens rebuilt, alone, and carrying the recorded knowledge of a species that may no longer exist.
The question at the heart of the story
Book One
At thirty-six, Jace is a gifted but stalled technician, still waiting for his real life to begin. On the day he finally plans to propose to Leah and ask Owen to be his best man, the earth opens.
Jace awakens in a body rebuilt by alien science, carrying the recorded knowledge of a species that may no longer exist. Stranded on a ruined Earth, he must learn what he has become—and discover why the creatures remember him.
Faces of the saga
Friends. Strangers. Adversaries. Meet the characters who shape The Preserver—without looking ahead to their endings.
The life at the center
Earth · 2025
A gifted technician with a quick wit and a habit of waiting for the right moment. Games, old hardware, and the people he loves anchor a life he keeps meaning to begin.
A life in motion
Earth · 2025
A game designer with a sharp mind, a generous sense of humor, and plans that reach beyond the familiar. She wants a life fully lived—and refuses to put all of it on hold.
Brother by choice
Earth · 2025
Jace’s childhood best friend and brother by choice. Competitive, impulsive, and fiercely loyal, Owen brings a joke, one more idea, and a willingness to show up when it matters.
Across the table
Earth · 2003
A professional card player Jace admires. Calm across the tournament table, Vale becomes the opponent standing between a fourteen-year-old and an impossible victory.
The will behind the hunt
Vool · Command organism
A commanding intelligence among the Vool. Deliberate, powerful, and unmistakably predatory, the Supreme Vool brings purpose to a threat whose full nature remains unknown.
Knowledge and consequence
Zorthane · Book One
A Zorthanian scientist working inside a civilization whose ambitions reach Earth. Her story asks what responsibility remains when knowledge becomes an instrument of power.
The weight of tradition
Zorthane · Book One
An elder scientist and Councilor committed to the preservation of life. He belongs to an old tradition facing an increasingly difficult question: what does preservation demand in practice?
Ascendant commander
Zorthane · Book One
A Zorthanian commander who pairs calm authority with ruthless ambition. Zhaarek challenges an old order he sees as weak, using political maneuvering and military force with equal calculation.
Selected characters · Character artwork in development
The larger story
The Preserver opens a planned six-book story about what we inherit, what we choose to carry, and what survival costs when memory is not enough.
A thought experiment
Imagine a civilization whose world can no longer sustain it. Two paths appear possible. Each protects something irreplaceable. Neither preserves everything.
Accept the end of the present civilization so future life can flourish. Those alive today will not live to see it.
Leave the failing world. Save its people, their culture, and their familiar way of life—but carry their dependence with them.
The Preserver
The story continues
The story continues
The story continues
The story continues
The story continues