World of Fire (Dev Harmer 01) (48 page)
EPILOGUE
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Dev awoke to patterns of rippling, multifaceted light. Sunshine bouncing off water, broken into a million pieces.
His first thoughts were of a slightly awkward but tender farewell with Astrid Kahlo at the ISS outpost before he clamped the transcription matrix on his head and set it for automatic upload.
The dazzle of the reflected light made him wince, but it wasn’t as searing as it would have been had he still had Aligherian vision.
He sat up on the mediplinth, feeling awful as usual after a data ’port. No, he decided. More than usually awful. It wasn’t so much like a hangover this time, more like a persistent migraine.
Facing him was a slim, prim-looking man with an oddly distended neck. His epidermis had a slickness to it, as though he was encased in resin. Webs of skin stretched between his fingers.
Webs of skin stretched between Dev’s own fingers too.
The man blinked, two white secondary membranes closing like curtains perpendicular to his eyelids.
“Mr Harmer?” he said. “Welcome to Robinson D in the Ophiucus constellation, also known as Triton. I’m your liaison, Xavier Handler. Do you want the good news or the bad news?”
“Good news first,” said Dev. “Always start with good news.”
“The good news is the installation has been entirely successful,” said Handler. “No transcription errors occurred during download. Mind and host form are fully integrated.”
“So what’s the bad news?”
A flap flared on either side of Handler’s neck, exposing an underside of raw red flesh.
Gills.
It was an embarrassed gesture. Like an intake of breath.
“The bad news is: the host form itself has been compromised.”
“I’m sorry, what? Compromised?”
“Yes.” Webbed fingers fluttered. “A problem with the growth vat. Something went wrong during the assembly process. Something small but crucial. I’m afraid it means your host form has sustainability issues.”
“Cut the crap. Sustainability issues? What is that jargon-speak for?”
Xavier Handler shifted his feet. “Your host form is breaking down at a cellular level. It’s already begun. At best guess, you have seventy-two hours. Seventy-two hours before your body becomes irredeemably damaged and no longer functional.”
“Three days...” said Dev.
“Three days,” Handler confirmed with a brief, despairing nod. “And there’s so much for you to do. So very much...”
Look out for Book 2,
World Of Water
, coming soon...
Acknowledgements
It was Solaris’s Ben Smith who proposed the idea of an adventure series situated on a variety of planets, each world unique, with its own particular characteristics and dangers. I’m grateful to him for setting my mind down the path which has led to the Dev Harmer Missions.
I’m grateful, too, to Gary Main, who originally sowed the idea for what I now call data ’porting.
The hugely talented Eric Brown cast his expert eye over the manuscript and gave it the thumbs up, offering small suggestions which improved things immensely. I appreciate him taking the time and trouble to do so.
The date is 4 Jaguar 1 Monkey 1 House – November 25th 2012 by the old reckoning – and the Aztec Empire rules the world.
The Aztec reign is one of cruel and ruthless oppression, encompassing regular human sacrifice. In the jungle-infested city of London, one man defies them: the masked vigilante known as the Conquistador.
Then the Conquistador is recruited to spearhead an uprising, and discovers a terrible truth about the Aztec and thier gods. The clock is ticking. Apocalypse looms, unless the Conquistador can help assassinate the mysterious, immortal Aztec emperor, the Great Speaker. But his mission is complicated by Mal Vaughn, a police detective who is on his trail, determined to bring him to justice.
“The kind of complex, action-oriented SF Dan Brown would write if Dan Brown could write.”
The Guardian
on
The Age of Zeus
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Lex Dove thought he was done with the killing game. A retired British wetwork specialist, he’s living the quiet life in the Caribbean, minding his own business. Then a call comes, with one last mission: to lead an American black ops team into a disused Cold War bunker on a remote island near his adopted home. The money’s good, which means the risks are high.
Dove doesn’t discover just
how
high until he and his team are a hundred feet below ground, facing the horrific fruits of an experiment blending science and voodoo witchcraft.
As if barely human monsters weren’t bad enough, a clock is ticking. Deep in the bowels of the earth, a god is waiting. And His anger, if roused, will be fearsome indeed.
‘A full-blown thriller, high on action and violence.’
Eric Brown,
The Guardian
on
Age of Aztec
‘One of the SF scene’s most interesting, challenging and adventurous authors.’
Saxon Bullock,
SFX Magazine
on
The Age of Ra
‘Lovegrove is vigorously carving out a godpunk subgenre – rebellious underdog humans battling an outmoded belief system. Guns help a bit, but the real weapon is free will.’
Pornokitsch
on
The Age of Odin
‘5 out of 5. I found myself unable to put it down, and plan to reread it soon.’
Geek Syndicate
on
Age of Aztec
Kindle and the Amazon Kindle logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates
