The third and final part of my new story, Staring from the Abyss, is now up on the Zeo Genesis website. Marius Gwerre is trying to get the man he has been hired to protect to safety on the Abyss Station. But something is after them, something more powerful than even Gwerre could imagine. Read the story here.
The bridge had been breached. Whoever was after Halem had peeled open the most secure space in the Abyss Station as if it was a food can.
That at least answered one question. Only a zeo could do that.
Part 2 of my story, Staring from the Abyss, is now live on the Zeo Genesis website.
What had been a routine bodyguarding job for Marius Gwerre suddenly turns serious as the Abyss Station comes under attack from unknown enemies. You can read it here. And if you haven’t read part 1, that is here.
Here’s a taste of the action:
“What’s going on?” asked Halem. “Is it a flare?”
Marius ran to the crystal dome. He looked out.
There.
A ship, fast burning towards Abyss station.
But even as he fixed the ship by sight, his feeds flared out again. Whatever this incoming ship was, it was able to blank out sensor arrays. Not many factions were able to do that.
“What’s wrong?”
Marius turned around to see Warq staring at him.
He gestured out into the black. “We have a visitor.”
ZeoGenesis is a new tactical skirmish game set in the universe of the Hundred Suns, where the civilisations of the different systems travel via slipways to the different heliospheres, each committed, to varying degrees, to either the philosophy of the Hegemony, which seeks to unify the Humanverse under a single government, or the more anarchistic Accord, who want to let each heliosphere develop according to their own lights, despite the fracturing this will cause.
Most of humanity’s material needs have been met through Z-technology but this has also spawned a new style of combat: Zeoforms, big armoured suits that their operators control through the Kanai-Edelman Bridge, which provides for direct mental control of the Zeoform. These are fast, tough, rugged battle suits that work at speeds far beyond normal human capacity.
As yet, both sides avoid outright war but there are skirmishes, raids and other provocations as each try to enhance their control. But there are other powers at work of which neither the Hegemony nor the Accord are entirely aware. These include the Fleet, the ancient fleet that piloted humanity, on the run from both an alien civilisation and a devouring AI superintelligence, to the Hundred Suns, and the benign superintelligence that seeks to guard and hide humanity from the powers that would destroy it.
For a thousand years, humanity has lived in relative peace, safe among the Hundred Suns. But now people are beginning to think that the Hundred Suns are not so much a refuge as a prison, while distant rumours tell of things beyond imagining searching for the location of the Hundred Suns.
It’s a truly fascinating setting and it’s a great pleasure to write a story (hopefully the first of many) set in this universe. The game was designed by Andy Chambers and the lore is by the great Gav Thorpe, one of the most legendary names in game designing.
My story is called Staring From the Abyss and here’s the beginning:
Marius Gwerre, bodyguard to the rich and occasionally the famous, looked up at the crystal dome. Beyond, the stars spread across the void. They were turning, slowly, gently, in a vast circular dance as the abyss station danced, too, spinning slowly on its axis while it orbited the Pinnacle slip point.
“This is so…so real.”
Gwerre looked down from the wheeling stars to the man who was speaking. Warq Halem. The man whom he had been employed to protect by Halem’s clan family.
And the question occurred to him: Why?
Gwerre watched as Halem’s commentary, relayed through his feeds, brought an answering chorus of real-time responses. Yes, it was true, the man had his followers, but anyone with a crackpot theory and a loud enough voice could always attract a following. It still didn’t seem sufficient reason for Halem’s clan family to have contracted Gwerre as close protection.
