Shattered Helix: The TV series
LOGLINE:In a far-flung corporate future, an empath detective's buried past becomes his only clue in a ticking-clock noir thriller.
GENRE: Science fiction/noir mystery thriller
6 x 60′ TV drama
Written by K.J.Heritage
Based on the published novel: Shattered Helix
PILOT: 'Hour One: VATIC'
In a brutal corporate future, Vatic, a genetically enhanced ‘Skilled’ investigator, is dragged from hypersleep with most of his memory missing.
The Company gives him a simple choice: investigate the apparent suicide of scientist Chen Jelinek at its top-secret asteroid laboratory, Zeta-Karst, or die.
Toxic from his accelerated revival, Vatic has just six hours before his organs begin to fail.
The self-important Karst scientists and their director are all convinced Chen killed himself after his research was cancelled. Vatic believes otherwise.
The scientists are hostile, the base is full of secrets, and the security system is defunct. His unpredictable empathic abilities are returning too, tangled with violent fragments of a past he can’t remember. Are those fragments somehow connected to the mission?
As Vatic examines Chen’s crushed remains and his increasingly disturbing personal files, the evidence for suicide becomes overwhelming. Yet, the Company went to extraordinary lengths to get Vatic to Karst. If Chen Jelinek’s suicide isn’t the reason, then what has he really been sent there to investigate?
Writer statement for Shattered Helix
At heart, I’m a ‘pantster’. The kind of writer who discovers what is going on and why as the story develops. It’s a precarious place to be, especially when crafting complex mysteries, but this approach paid real dividends when I created the novel Shattered Helix.
For much of the story, I shared the hero’s frustration at not knowing who Vatic was or why he had been sent to investigate this particular mystery. Along the way, I found out about his peculiar and shocking past much as Vatic did, creating a weird symbiosis between author and character. Until, of course, we both shared that delicious moment of revelation and understanding.
Since the moment Vatic woke up half-dead and screaming in his hypersleep pod, I’ve always thought his story was very much suited to television, particularly as the story continues through several sequels.
I’ve found writing screenplays from scratch a lot easier than adapting an existing story. However, I finally put my mind to the task and came up with a six-episode outline, kicking off with the pilot script, Hour One: Vatic.
It felt natural to use Vatic’s own countdown (he has six hours to solve the mystery before his organs give out), and it gives the series a beating pulse. Especially when Vatic is pretty much dead on his feet and the investigation is going nowhere.
About K.J. Heritage
K.J. Heritage (Kev) is a bestselling British author of mystery science fiction, crime, action-adventure and epic fantasy.
His fiction blends suspense, pace, big ideas and dark wit. His first short story, Escaping the Cradle, was runner-up in the Clarke-Bradbury International Science Fiction Competition, and his short fiction has appeared in anthologies alongside writers including Hugh Howey (Silo/Wool) and Samuel Peralta (The Future Chronicles).
His story Churchill’s Rock, from Chronicle Worlds: Legacy Fleet, travelled to the Moon as part of the Lunar Codex Peregrine mission in 2024.