A galactic drug epidemic. A memory altering drug. A space cop fights to dismantle the criminal syndicate destroying families across the stars.
Title: Hethydect
Author: R. Morello
Series: Standalone Novel
Publisher: Cathedral Rocks Publishing
ISBN: 9798882514227
Format: Ebook and Paperback
Pages: 295
Word Count: 72,514
Genre: Science Fiction, Space Sci Fi, Galactic Crime Fiction
T-3 police craft commander Trevor battles a galaxy wide drug epidemic fueled by the memory altering drug Hethydect, fighting to dismantle the criminal syndicate responsible while managing the high personal stakes of the drug war.
Hethydect is a space driven science fiction thriller following Trevor, a T-3 police craft commander battling a galaxy wide drug epidemic. The memory altering drug Hethydect destroys families while a criminal syndicate led by Sage distributes it through remote space stations. Trevor and Paula fight to dismantle the network and save those caught in addiction, blending space patrol adventure, family stakes, and a high tension drug war across the stars.
“Hethydect” follows Trevor Fleming, commander of the T-3 police craft, who leads the Special Space Police in a relentless war against Hethydect, a memory altering drug spreading like a plague across the galaxy. With his partner Mark and a team of hardened officers, Trevor raids remote stations, breaks up illegal labs, and hunts down the drug’s shadowy mastermind, the elusive and ruthless Sage.
Hethydect’s seduction is simple and deadly: one touch allows users to relive any moment of their past with perfect clarity. It offers comfort, escape, and nostalgia, but leaves its victims chemically enslaved, mentally fractured, and physically destroyed. Families collapse, violence erupts, and space stations are overrun with addicts lost in their own memories. For Trevor, this war is not abstract — addiction has already infiltrated his own family, ensnaring his brother-in-law and straining his marriage to Paula, a fellow officer.
While the police shut down Hethydect sites across multiple star systems, Trevor discovers the drug’s production is far more organized and far reaching than anyone realized. Sage operates a galactic drug empire with mobile refineries hidden in mountains, underground cavern stations, and drifting space hubs that appear and vanish without warning. His inner circle is loyal, violent, and willing to sacrifice entire crews to protect the operation.
As the T-3 unit escalates their pursuit, Trevor pushes the limits of procedure and personal safety, often crossing lines his partner urges him not to. The raids grow deadlier. The conspiracy grows wider. And Sage always stays just out of reach.
When an undercover detective provides a lead on one of Sage’s largest production centers, Trevor and the team launch a brutal multi-front crackdown across multiple planets, but Sage anticipates the assault, shifting his operations and using both violence and manipulation to protect his empire.
Meanwhile, Mark becomes exposed to Hethydect during a raid, triggering vivid, traumatic relived memories. His unraveling becomes a stark reminder that no one, not even the police, is safe from the drug’s psychological reach.
As the chase accelerates, Trevor races to dismantle Sage’s network before it spreads beyond control. But the closer Trevor gets to the truth, the more personal and dangerous the mission becomes, forcing him to balance duty, family, and the moral cost of justice in a galaxy slowly drowning in its own memories.
“Hethydect” is a tense, character-driven space crime thriller about addiction, corruption, loyalty, and the cost of fighting an enemy that hides in the mind as much as in the shadows of deep space.
The Galactic Drug War: Discusses the social and criminal costs of a widespread drug epidemic in a futuristic, interstellar setting.
Memory and Identity: A key element is the drug Hethydect’s ability to alter memories, which allows for discussions on the nature of identity and psychological manipulation.
Space Patrol Adventure: Focuses on the high action and procedural aspects of interstellar law enforcement against organized crime.
Personal Stakes in Public Service: Examines the emotional toll on law enforcement when the crime they fight hits close to home.
A unique blend of space opera action and crime thriller narrative, appealing to fans of both genres.
Features high concept science fiction elements with the memory altering drug and advanced policing technology.
A standalone, focused adventure with emotionally resonant family stakes.
Fans of space based police procedurals and sci-fi noir.
Readers who enjoy thrillers involving drug cartels and criminal syndicates in unique settings.
Anyone interested in stories exploring the power and fragility of human memory.
R. Morello writes psychological and surreal science fiction that explores grief, identity, memory, and the hidden emotional worlds people carry inside them. Shaped by New England roots, his work blends speculative concepts with deeply human storytelling.
R. Morello is a speculative fiction author whose work blends psychological tension, cinematic surrealism, and deeply human emotional arcs. His novels and novellas, including Upside Down, Fractured Echoes, and the Simulation trilogy, explore grief, identity, and the unseen internal worlds we rarely reveal.
His stories often feature “dual selves,” mirrored identities, looping realities, and emotional architectures made literal.
He writes for readers who want more than escapism stories that feel uncomfortably true, beautifully painful, and haunting long after the final page.
ISBN: 979-8882514227
Author photos (on request)
R. Morello
Cathedral Rocks Publishing
