History Literature / Fragment

* SomewhereAPaleontologistIsCrying: Henders Island is populated by a lot of Ediacaran Fauna, in addition to various arthropods and Cambrian fauna. The problem? All of the weird Ediacaran fauna ''died out'' before the big Cambrian diversification. Not to mention the fact that the book suggests that all arthropods all the way down through mantis shrimp evolved there (which means that the [[KillItWithWater death-by-saltwater Henders Island animals]] would have had to of left the island over a dozen times!)
** Although Ediacaran fauna surviving past their "official" extinction is certainly plausible. It's happened multiple times in real life...
** It's possible that the idea of mantis shrimp (but probably not ''all'' arthropods) having evolved from the Henders organisms is a ShoutOut to the first ever "alternate evolution" Mockumentary, ''The Snouters''. In that book, the author traces the origins of the perfectly-ordinary taxon of flatworms to its mythical Rhinogrades as a joke.

* [[spoiler: [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Really 70 000 Years Old:]] The hendropods are really '''really''' old (their civilization dates back to at ''least'' the Late Jurassic), but you would never be able to tell because they don't really age.]]

* Longlived: Every life form native to Henders Island is biologically immortal because they get killed off to soon for aging to be required to prevent inbreeding.[[spoiler:Except the Hendropods.]]

* Longlived: Every lifeform native to Henders Island is biologically immortal because they get killed off to soon for aging to be required to prevent inbreeding.[[spoiler:Except the Hendropods.]]

* OlderAndWiser:[[spoiler: Both subverted and played straight by the Hendropods. Since they've spent centuries or more one the island, they're very knowledgable about it, but totally clueless about everything off it.]]

** TechnicalPacifist:[[spoiler:Hendropods really don't like to hurt people, but have no problems hurting non-sapient animals.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The early subplot involving Nell's nightmares about her 'monster' and her mother's death, sort of vanished and was never mentioned again. Then again, maybe she repressed those memories to focus on the [[EverythingTryingtoKillYou other monsters on the island.]]
** Also, Otto's injury. Quite a bit was made of the fact that no one knew what an infection from a Henders' species would do to a human being, and then it turned out to do... nothing. Otto's hand was mentioned a few times, but otherwise he was fine.
* LivingRelic:[[spoiler: Each Hendropod is the last member of a different culture.]]
* Longlived: Every lifeform native to Henders Island is biologically immortal because they get killed off to soon for aging to be required to prevent inbreeding.[[spoiler:Except the Hendropods.]]
* LostWorld: The entire premise of the book and its sequel.
* NerdsAreSexy: Dr. Binswanger falls pretty firmly into this trope, having a legion of adoring fangirls turning out to hear him discuss evolutionary theory.
* OlderAndWiser:[[spoiler: Both subverted and played straight by the Hendropods. Since they've spent centuries or more on the island, they're very knowledgable about it, but totally clueless about everything off it.]]
* OldMaster:[[spoiler: The Hendropods. Each of them has lasted centuries a miniature Deathworld, and don't get weaker as the age. An example is near the end of the book, where they lock themselves in with a group of Henders Rats, and casually pulp them.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: From the President of the United States, no less! But entirely justified, under the circumstances...
* SomewhereAPaleontologistIsCrying: Henders Island is populated by a lot of Ediacaran Fauna, in addition to various arthropods and Cambrian fauna. The problem? All of the weird Ediacaran fauna ''died out'' before the big Cambrian diversification. Not to mention the fact that the book suggests that all arthropods all the way down through mantis shrimp evolved there (which means that the [[KillItWithWater death-by-saltwater Henders Island animals]] would have had to of left the island over a dozen times!)
** Although Ediacaran fauna surviving past their "official" extinction is certainly plausible. It's happened multiple times in real life...
** It's possible that the idea of mantis shrimp (but probably not ''all'' arthropods) having evolved from the Henders organisms is a ShoutOut to the first ever "alternate evolution" Mockumentary, ''The Snouters''. In that book, the author traces the origins of the perfectly-ordinary taxon of flatworms to its mythical Rhinogrades as a joke.
* TechnicalPacifist:[[spoiler:Hendropods really don't like to hurt people, but have no problems hurting non-sapient animals.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The early subplot involving Nell's nightmares about her 'monster' and her mother's death, sort of vanished and was never mentioned again. Then again, maybe she repressed those memories to focus on the [[EverythingTryingtoKillYou other monsters on the island.]]
** Also, Otto's injury. Quite a bit was made of the fact that no one knew what an infection from a Henders' species would do to a human being, and then it turned out to do... nothing. Otto's hand was mentioned a few times, but otherwise he was fine.

* BadassBookworm:[[spoiler: Hender. Each Hendropod specializes in a different proffession. Hender is the historian.]]

* ''Fragment'' is a 2009 s-f novel by Warren Fahy, described by one reviewer as "an eco-thriller with teeth."

A group of scientists on the reality show Sea Life discover a distress signal from a near uncharted island in the South Pacific. Called Henders Island, the island itself is poorly known, and no one has ever reported exploring the interior of the island. The crew land on the island not only with the hope of rescuing whoever sent the signal, but also possibly discovering new species of plants and animals (and in one case, pumping ratings back into the failing show).

They soon find out why no one has ever explored Henders Island.

Turns out the island is a remnant of an ancient supercontinent from the Precambrian era, where everything has been evolving separately for 700 million years and the ferocity of the island's inhabitants has been [[UpToEleven turned up to eleven]]. Terrestrial mantis shrimp roam the interior, while the island itself is in an orgy of violence as the food chain is thrown out the window, and ''[[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou everything eats everything]]''.

Naturally, the military gets involved, and the U.S. attempt to study the island, bringing in not only the only two survivors of the Sea Life expedition to the island, but two scientists from the mainland. One is a rather nice guy with the token unusual theory which gets proven over the course of the book, while the other is a popular doom-saying scientist who does things more [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney for the money]] than [[ForScience for science]]. Eventually, the island's fauna is determined to be too dangerous, and the government [[spoiler: nukes the place]]. But not before the protagonists discover [[spoiler: sentient life on the island, and have to get it off the island and into safety before the above money-hungry scientist has them killed to render his theories unfalsifiable]].

Has a sequel called ''Pandemonium'', which deals with another isolated hostile ecosystem, this time in an enormous cave in Russia, as well as the survival of organisms from Henders Island in the underground city nearby.
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!!This series provides examples of:

* [[spoiler: [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Really 70 000 Years Old:]] The hendropods are really '''really''' old (their civilization dates back to at ''least'' the Late Jurassic), but you would never be able to tell because they don't really age.]]
* AlwaysABiggerFish: Er... mantis shrimp. However, sometimes the bigger fish is a ''smaller'' fish, as can be seen when [[spoiler: a terrestrial mantis shrimp the size of a grizzly is attacked and severely wounded by three smaller badger-sized animals. No, really]].
* BadassBookworm:[[spoiler: Hender. Each Hendropod specializes in a different proffession. Hender is the historian.]]
* BeingWatched: Yeah, you really have to wonder how observant these people are when a ten-foot mantis shrimp sits outside their door and stalks them. [[spoiler: Oh, and Hender was watching them the entire time. Heck, he called them]].
* BigCreepyCrawlies: In the first book, there the Hender organisms, which technically count due to being arthropods (although looking very little like arthropods), with the mega-mantis getting special mention.
** The sequel goes full though, there are giant gammarids, colonial centipede chains, and sea spiders.
* BizarreAlienBiology: Frequent references are made to how Henders Island fauna is so strange and so alien, except that it's all Earth-based.
** For example, the wheel-like "ants" are actually thousands of individuals in themselves, carrying several generations of offspring in their.... something. If they trip, the offspring eat them.
* BizarreAlienLocomotion: The white "bugs" are wheel-shaped, and can roll on their edges.
* CallASmeerpARabbit: Henders "rats" aren't. Not even close. Meanwhile Henders "ants" are more like tires than ants.
* CoolVersusAwesome: At the end of Pandemonium [[spoiler: The cave's lake spills into the underground city, which has become infested with Henders organisms; and the two deadly ecosystems battle it out (Pandemonium having a huge advantage; being immune to saltwater, so they easily won).]]
* DeathWorld: Er, island. In any case, this could be the epitome of said trope, as your total remaining life expectancy can be measured in minutes while venturing into the island.
** To put it into perspective, if even ''one'' mite-sized animal got off the island, it would cause the extinction of '''all life on Earth'''.
** The sequel brings us Pandemonium, a death cave just as deadly as Henders Island, partly because none of its inhabitants are vulnerable to saltwater.
* DevilInPlainSight: Thatcher. Though the other characters ignore him less because they think he's innocuous and more because he's annoying. [[spoiler: The threat from him comes from just how far he is willing to go to preserve his book deals]].
* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: In the sequel there are firebombers (flying, venom-raining, jellyfish-like animals), and ghosts (goo-shooting [[PuppeteerParasite puppeteer parasites]]).
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Ranging from Tyrannosaurus-sized terrestrial mantis shrimp up to and including the plants. Especially the plants. They drink your blood.
* EyesDoNotBelongThere: Henders "rats" have a second set of eyes at the middle of their backs.
* {{Foil}}: Thatcher Redmond and Geoffrey Binswanger. The former is an older, isolated scientist only concerned with being proven right and the money that comes with it. The younger is a handsome, charismatic scientist who enjoys surrounding himself with equals, having his theories challenged, and is more concerned with discovery itself than the accolades.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: The sequel has these.
** SpaceWhale: Well, kind of. They're not whales exactly, but whale-like and while they don't live in space, they can fly.
* GentleGiant: [[spoiler: Hender and the Hendropods. They could very clearly wipe out the humans, showing skills at dealing death that easily make them the equal of the deadliest predators on the island, but they're actually kind, sensitive, intelligent creatures who do their best to protect any innocents on the island.]]
* HeroesLoveDogs: [[spoiler: How do we know for sure that Hender is a friend? Copepod LOVES him.]]
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: [[spoiler: The hendropods see things differently than humans, both in their thoughts and literally (they have a much wider colour spectrum than humans).]]
--> [[spoiler: "[Hender] couldn't understand what humans meant by "black-and-white" movies. Hender saw lots of colors in them."]]
* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: A pack of badger mantis-shrimps chases a group of Henders rats, but when one of the badgers trip, the rats turn around and devour it, followed by swarms of wasps and ants; then ''everything'' is eaten by a dog-sized animal that springs from the canopy, bringing this trope UpToEleven.
* InfantImmortality: Both Fragment (Copepod the bull terrier) and its sequel (Ivan the Samoyed) have a dog in it, and both dogs survive to the end.
* KillItWithWater: In one of the oddest plot-twists, it turns out that contact with salt water is tantamount to instant death for Henders Island creatures (it being the reason they've been unable to escape the island).
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: After Thatcher escapes, he accidentally releases anesthetized specimens and is eaten horribly.]]

** Also, Otto's injury. Quite a bit was made of the fact that no one knew what an infection from a Henders' species would do to a human being, and then it turned out to do... nothing. Otto's hand was mentioned a few times, but otherwise he was fine.

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* OlderAndWiser:[[spoiler: Both subverted and played straight by the Hendropods. Since they've spent centuries or more on the island, they're very knowledgable about it, but totally clueless about everything off it.]]

* TechnicalPacifist:[[spoiler:Hendropods really don't like to hurt people, but have no problems hurting non-sapient animals.]]

* OlderAndWiser:[[spoiler: Both subverted and played straight by the Hendropods. Since they've spent centuries or more one the island, they're very knowledgable about it, but totally clueless about everything off it.]]

** TechnicalPacifist:[[spoiler:Hendropods really don't like to hurt people, but have no problems hurting non-sapient animals.]]

* KillItWithWater: In one of the oddest plot-twists, it turns out that contact with salt water is tantamount to instant death for Henders Island creatures (it the reason they've been unable to escape the island).

* KillItWithWater: In one of the oddest plot-twists, it turns out that contact with salt water is tantamount to instant death for Henders Island creatures (it the reason they've been able to escape the island).

** SpaceWhale: Well, kind of. They're not whale exactly, but whale-like and while they don't live in space, they can fly.

* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: In the sequel there are firebombers (flying, venom-shooting, jellyfish-like animals), and ghosts (goo-shooting[[PuppeteerParasite puppeteer parasites]]).

* InfantImmortality: Both Fragment (Copepod the bull terrier) and its sequel (Ivan the Samoyed) have a dog in it, both dogs survive to the end.

* LostWorld: The entire premise of the book (even if it says it isn't).

Has a sequel called ''Pandemonium'', which deals with another isolated alien ecosystem, this time in an enormous cave in Russia.

** To put it into perspective, it took '''NINE''' ROVs (Remote-Operated Vehicles) to collect a ''soil sample'' six feet in the jungle.

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: After Thatcher escapes, he accidentally releases anaesthetized specimens and is eaten horribly.]]

* DeathWorld: Er, island. In any case, this could be the epitome of said trope, as your average lifespan while venturing into the island can be measured in hours or minutes.

* [[spoiler: [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Really 70 000 Years Old:]] The hendropods are really '''really''' old (their civilization dates back to to the Late Jurassic), but you would never be able to tell because they don't really age.]]

* [[spoiler: [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Really 17 000 Years Old:]] The hendropods are really '''really''' old (their civilization dates back to to the Late Jurassic), but you would never be able to tell because they don't really age.]]

Naturally, the military gets involved, and the U.S. attempt to study the island, bringing in not only the only two survivors of the Sea Life expedition to the island, but two scientists from the mainland. One is a rather nice guy with the token unusual theory which gets proven over the course of the book, while the other is a popular doom-saying scientist who does thing more [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney for the money]] than [[ForScience for science]]. Eventually, the island's fauna is determined to be too dangerous, and the government [[spoiler: nukes the place]]. But not before the protagonists discover [[spoiler: sentient life on the island, and have to get it off the island and into safety before the above money-hungry scientist has them killed to render his theories unfalsifiable]].