Search Worlds Without End

Hugo Award-nominated Novelette

A religious archaeologist in an alternate universe where young-earth creationism has been confirmed by scientific evidence experiences a crisis-of-faith when confronted by the realization that human lives have no preordained purpose.

The story is included in the collection Exhalation: Stories (2019).

The mysterious alien artifact called the Halo came quietly and mysteriously and then sowed the earth with seeds that threatened to destroy humanity by destroying their souls. But the aliens had underestimated the human spirit and a band of Moon-based scientists survive to fight and take back what is rightfully ours. A powerful, visionary and scary look into our future and a possible encounter with an alien species almost impossible to beat.

Hired to oversee the experimental procedure that Aleph--the artificial intelligence that runs Halo Station--is certain will save Jerry Chapman, one of Halo's creators, Mikhail Gonzales encounters chaos.

For Mark Carodyne, all of life was a gamble. For money, for sport, for knowledge, for danger. That's why he had come to Krait for the skimming races he knew would make him rich. Or broke.

Or dead.

Krait. It was dominated by the pulsing quivering kaleidoscopic Omphalos that filled the sky above. An unmeasurable mass that was said to have the power to swallow whole planets - even galaxies. Indeed, seven ships had been sent to explore its mysteries and none had returned.

Now there were those who believed that Krait was about to come into its path. And Mark Carodyne had agreed to gamble his life to obtain the scientific data that might save the planet from destruction. One man. In a single ship. Skimming the edge of the unknown...

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Swords v. Cthulhu (2016), edited by Jesse Bullington, Molly Tanzer, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, Issue 107, April 2019.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

When the TARDIS makes a disastrous landing in the swamps of the planet Sunday, the Doctor has no choice but to abandon Martha and try to find help. But the tranquillity of Sunday's swamps is deceptive, and even the TARDIS can't protect Martha forever.

The human pioneers of Sunday have their own dangers to face: homeless and alone, they're only just starting to realise that Sunday's wildlife isn't as harmless as it first seems. Why are the native otters behaving so strangely, and what is the creature in the swamps that is so interested in the humans, and the new arrivals?

The Doctor and Martha must fight to ensure that human intelligence doesn't become the greatest danger of all.

For Donna Noble, the Andromeda galaxy is a long, long way from home. But even two and a half million light years from Earth, danger lurks around every corner...

A visit to an art gallery turns into a race across space to uncover the secret behind a shadowy organisation.

From the desert world of Karris to the interplanetary scrapyard of Junk, the Doctor and Donna discover that appearances can be deceptive, that enemies are lurking around every corner - and that the centuries-long peace between humans and machines may be about to come to an end.

Because waiting in the wings to bring chaos to the galaxy is The Cult of Shining Darkness.

To lose your memory once may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose it twice looks like carelessness. The Doctor's not himself. He's not quite sure who he is, but he's definitely not himself. It doesn't help that he's forgotten quite why he came to the colony world of Espero in the first place, but he's sure it was something important. Whatever the reason, he's not the planet's only visitor. Before long, he's engaged in the search for a time-bomb - a time-bomb that could have consequences not only for Espero, but for the Doctor himself - and his missing past.

As the bloody Human-Covenant War rages on Halo, the fate of humankind may rest with one warrior, the lone SPARTAN survivor of another legendary battle... the desperate, take-no-prisoners struggle that led humanity to Halo-the fall of the planet Reach. Now, brought to life for the first time, here is the full story of that glorious, doomed conflict.

While the brutal Covenant juggernaut sweeps inexorably through space, intent on wiping out humankind, only one stronghold remains-the planet Reach. Practically on Earth's doorstep, it is the last military fortress to defy the onslaught. But the personnel here have another, higher priority: to prevent the Covenant from discovering the location of Earth.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the soldiers seem to have little chance against the Covenant, but Reach holds a closely guarded secret. It is the training ground for the very first "super soldiers." Code-named SPARTANs, these highly advanced warriors, specially bioengineered and technologically augmented, are the best in the universe-quiet, professional, and deadly.

Now, as the ferocious Covenant attack begins, a handful of SPARTANs stand ready to wage ultimate war. They will kill, they will be destroyed, but they will never surrender. And at least one of them-the SPARTAN known as Master Chief-will live to fight another day on a mysterious and ancient, artificial world called Halo.

The Human-Covenant War, a desperate struggle for humankind's very survival, has reached its boiling point on the mysterious, ring world called Halo. But the fierce Covenant warriors, the mightiest alien military force known, are not the only peril lying in wait.

As the fortress world of Reach and its brave defenders were bombarded to rubble, a single cruiser fled the carnage with the battle's only human survivors--Captain Keyes, his crew of a few hundred Marines, and the last remaining SPARTAN super-soldier, the Master Chief.

With the cruiser's artificial intelligence, Cortana, concealed in his battle armor, the Master Chief crash lands on Halo in the midst of a massive Covenant occupation. Curiously, the alien soldiers appear to be searching for something hidden on the ring. Built by a long-dead race, Halo harbors many deadly secrets, but one overshadows them all. Now the Master Chief must lead the scattered troops in a brutal race to unravel Halo's darkest mystery--and unleash its greatest source of power....

This novel is based on a Mature-rated video game.

Reach fell, and when hope seemed lost, humanity stood face-to-face with the possible extinction of all life in the galaxy and lived to tell the tale.

But that was just one epic battle, and the war rages on...

The Covenant shows no mercy as they continue to assault every human world they can find, but in their way lies humanity's great champion, Spartan-117, the Master Chief. Together with his AI companion Cortana and the last remaining Spartans, the fight continues on two fronts.

One takes a crew of Spartans to the charred surface of Reach, the only planet they've ever known as home. But beneath the surface, Dr. Halsey has discovered an ancient secret... one that could alter the course of the war.

Meanwhile, Master Chief and Cortana head towards a gathering of Covenant warships because the UNSC's worst nightmare has come true: the Covenant has discovered the location of Earth and is forming a massive fleet to destroy it... and all who oppose the will of the Prophets.

The Spartan-II program has gone public. Tales of super-soldiers fending off thousands of Covenant attacks have become the stuff of legend.

But just how many Spartans are left?

While the Master Chief defends a besieged Earth, and the myriad factions of the Covenant continue their crusade to eliminate humanity, an ultrasecret cell of the Office of Naval Intelligence known as "Section Three" devises a plan to buy the UNSC vital time. They're going to need hundreds of willing soldiers, though... and one more Spartan to get the job done.

The planet Onyx is virtually abandoned and the perfect place to set this new plan in motion. But when the Master Chief destroys Halo, something is triggered deep within Onyx: Ancient Forerunner technology stirs, and fleets of UNSC and Covenant race to claim it to change the course of the Human-Covenant War.
But this reawakened and ancient force may have plans of its own...

This novel is based on a mature-rated game.

Microsoft, the Microsoft Game Studios Logo, Bungie, the Bungie Logo, Halo, the Halo logo, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries and are used under license from owner.

Based on the universe and characters from the multimillion selling Xbox video games Halo and Halo 2, Halo: Contact Harvest continues the story of humanity's next great battle in their ongoing wars against the seemingly infinite alien factions who consider the human race heathens.

This is how it began...

It is the year 2524. Harvest is a peaceful, prosperous farming colony on the very edge of human-controlled space. But we have trespassed on holy ground--strayed into the path of an aggressive alien empire known as the Covenant. What begins as a chance encounter between an alien privateer and a human freighter catapults mankind into a struggle for its very existence.

But humanity is also locked in a bitter civil war known as the Insurrection. So the survival of Harvest's citizens falls to a squad of battle-weary UNSC Marines and their inexperienced colonial militia trainees. In this unlikely group of heroes, one stands above the rest... a young Marine staff sergeant named Avery Johnson.

In the first, desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its Inner Colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the universe of lingering navigation data that would reveal the location of Earth. Among them is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Thrust back into action after being sidelined, Keyes is saddled with a top secret mission by ONI. One that will take him deep behind enemy lines, to a corner of the universe where nothing is as it seems.

Out beyond the Outer Colonies lies the planet Hesiod, a gas giant surrounded by a vast asteroid belt. As the Covenant continues to glass the human occupied planets near Hesiod, many of the survivors, helped by a stronghold of human Insurrectionists, are fleeing to the asteroid belt for refuge. They have transformed the tumbling satellites into a tenuous, yet ingenious, settlement known as the Rubble--and have come face-to-face with a Covenant settlement of Kig-Yar... yet somehow survived.

News of this unlikely treaty has spread to the warring sides. Luckily for the UNSC, this uneasy alliance is in the path of the Spartan Gray Team, a three-man renegade squad whose simple task is to wreak havoc from behind enemy lines in any way they see fit. But the Prophets have also sent their best---an ambitious and ruthless Elite, whose quest for nobility and rank is matched only by his brutality... and who will do anything to secure his Ascendancy and walk the Path.

The original Halo: Evolutions, split into two volumes. This volume contains stories by:

Tobias S. Buckell
B. K. Evenson
Jonathan Goff
Eric Nylund
Frank O'Connor
Eric Raab

When humanity expanded beyond the safety of Earth to new stars and horizons, they never dreamed what dangers they would encounter there. When the alien juggernaut known as the Covenant declared holy war upon the fragile human empire, millions of lives were lost?but, millions of heroes rose to the challenge. In such a far-reaching conflict, not many of the stories of these heroes, both human and alien, have a chance to become legend. This collection holds eleven stories that dive into the depths of the vast Halo universe, not only from the perspective of those who fought and died to save humanity, but also those who vowed to wipe humanity out of existence.

Included in this volume you'll find the stories of:

* A Spartan II washout who was most dangerous when he was told he could not serve with his fellow warriors.

* An ONI intelligence officer who falls captive to a ravenous pack of Brutes

* A dying man standing between The Covenant and the location of Earth, with only a compromised AI to aid him

* The confession of an ODST who tried to get more out of the war than just victory

* A select unit of Spartan IIIs put on a mission to succeed against against a never-before-seen Elite force

* The impossible life and possible death of Admiral Preston J. Cole

* And new to this volume, a glimpse into Forerunner life in "Soma the Painter"

Table of Contents:

• 9 - Introduction (Halo: Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe) - [Halo] - essay by Frank O'Connor
• 11 - Beyond - [Halo] - poem by Jonathan Goff
• 11 - Beyond - interior artwork by Sparth
• 13 - Pariah - [Halo] - novelette by Brian Evenson [as by B. K. Evenson]
• 57 - Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss - [Halo] - novelette by Eric Raab
• 81 - Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian - [Halo] - short story by Frank O'Connor
• 103 - Dirt - [Halo] - novelette by Tobias S. Buckell
• 155 - Acheron-VII - [Halo] - poem by Jonathan Goff
• 155 - Acheron-VII - interior artwork by Sparth
• 157 - Headhunters - [Halo] - novelette by Jonathan Goff
• 193 - Blunt Instruments - [Halo] - novelette by Fred Van Lente
• 223 - The Mona Lisa - [Halo] - novella by Tessa Kum and Jeff VanderMeer
• 343 - Icon - [Halo] - poem by Jonathan Goff
• 343 - Icon - interior artwork by Robogabo
• 346 - Palace Hotel - [Halo] - novelette by Robt McLees
• 371 - Human Weakness - [Halo] - novelette by Karen Traviss
• 411 - Connectivity - interior artwork by Robogabo
• 411 - Connectivity - [Halo] - poem by Jonathan Goff
• 413 - The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston J. Cole - [Halo] - novella by Eric S. Nylund [as by Eric Nylund]
• 488 - The Return - [Halo] - novelette by Kevin Grace
• 516 - From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal - [Halo] - short fiction by Dr. William Arthur Iqbal

The original Halo: Evolutions, split into two volumes. This volume contains stories by:

Tessa Kum & Jeff VanderMeer
Kevin Grace
Robt McLees
Karen Traviss
Fred Van Lente

When humanity expanded beyond the safety of Earth to new stars and horizons, they never dreamed what dangers they would encounter there. When the alien juggernaut known as the Covenant declared holy war upon the fragile human empire, millions of lives were lost-but, millions of heroes rose to the challenge. In such a far-reaching conflict, not many of the stories of these heroes, both human and alien, have a chance to become legend. This collection holds eleven stories that dive into the depths of the vast Halo universe, not only from the perspective of those who fought and died to save humanity, but also those who vowed to wipe humanity out of existence.

Included in this volume you'll find the stories of:

* A high-ranking prophet musing on the catastrophic last days of the Covenant Spartan: Team Black, who discover that the Covenant's politics might be more deadly than their military might

* The terrors of survival in the aftermath of a Flood infection

* The Master Chief struggling with his own humanity as he battles through war-torn New Mombassa

* The insatiable appetite of the Gravemind as it claws its way through Cortana's tortured consciousness

* An existential Elite, in the aftermath of the Human-Covenant War, returning to the site of his greatest victory as he deals with his worst defeat

* And new to this volume, the last confessions of a Prophet in "Wages of Sin"

Table of Contents:

• 5 - Blunt Instruments - [Halo] - (2009) - novelette by Fred Van Lente
• 45 - The Mona Lisa - [Halo] - (2009) - novella by Tessa Kum and Jeff VanderMeer
• 193 - Icon - [Halo] - (2009) - poem by Jonathan Goff
• 193 - Icon - (2009) - interior artwork by Robogabo
• 197 - Palace Hotel - [Halo] - (2009) - novelette by Robt McLees
• 231 - Human Weakness - [Halo] - (2009) - novelette by Karen Traviss
• 283 - Connectivity - (2009) - interior artwork by Robogabo
• 283 - Connectivity - [Halo] - (2009) - poem by Jonathan Goff
• 303 - The Return - [Halo] - (2009) - novelette by Kevin Grace
• 341 - From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal - [Halo] - (2009) - short fiction by Dr. William Arthur Iqbal

A sensational short story collection in the expansive universe of HALO, the New York Times bestselling series!

Launch once more into galaxy-spanning conflict and legendary heroism... shards of an ever-expanding journey where human and alien alike find their finest hours in facing their greatest challenges. These scattered stories span untold millennia, from the age of the ancient custodial race known as the Forerunners... to the aftermath of the Covenant's bloody war against humanity...and even the shocking events surrounding the resurrection of the mysterious Guardians. Halo: Fractures explores mythic tales of bravery and sacrifice that blaze brightly at the very heart of the Halo universe.

Featuring electrifying works from such acclaimed authors as:
Tobias Buckell - Troy Denning - Matt Forbeck - Kelly Gay - Christie Golden - Kevin Grace - Morgan Lockhart - John Jackson Miller - Frank O'Connor - Brian Reed - Joseph Staten - James Swallow

Table of Contents:

• 1 - Lessons Learned - [Halo] - short fiction by Matt Forbeck
• 32 - What Remains - [Halo] - short fiction by Morgan Lockhart
• 45 - Breaking Strain - [Halo] - short fiction by James Swallow
• 81 - Promises to Keep - [Halo] - short fiction by Christie Golden
• 126 - Shadow of Intent - [Halo] - (2015) - novella by Joseph Staten
• 217 - The Ballad of Hamish Beamish - [Halo] - short fiction by Frank O'Connor (game developer)
• 222 - Defender of the Storm - [Halo] - short fiction by John Jackson Miller
• 252 - A Necessary Truth - [Halo] - short fiction by Troy Denning
• 289 - Into the Fire - [Halo] - short fiction by Kelly Gay
• 316 - Saint's Testimony - [Halo] - (2015) - short fiction by Frank O'Connor (game developer)
• 344 - Rossbach's World - [Halo] - short fiction by Brian Reed
• 357 - Oasis - [Halo] - novelette by Tobias S. Buckell [as by Tobias Buckell]
• 393 - Anarosa - [Halo] - short fiction by Kevin Grace

100,000 years ago, the galaxy was populated by a great variety of beings.
But one species--eons beyond all others in both technology and knowledge--achieved dominance.
They ruled in peace but met opposition with quick and brutal effectiveness.
They were the Forerunners--the keepers of the Mantle, the next stage of life in the Universe's Living Time.
And then they vanished.
This is their story.

Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting is a young rebellious Forerunner. He is a Manipular, untried--yet to become part of the adult Forerunner society, where vast knowledge and duty waits. He comes from a family of Builders, the Forerunners' highest and most politically powerful rate. It is the Builders who create the grand technology that facilitates Forerunner dominance over the known universe. It is the Builders who believe they must shoulder the greatest burden of the Mantle--as shepherds and guardians of all life.

Bornstellar is marked to become a great Builder just like his father.

But this Manipular has other plans.

He is obsessed with lost treasures of the past. His reckless passion to seek out the marvelous artifacts left behind by the Precursors--long-vanished superbeings of unknowable power and intent---forces his father's hand.

Bornstellar is sent to live among the Miners, where he must come to terms with where his duty truly lies.

But powerful forces are at play. Forerunner society is at a major crux. Past threats are once again proving relentless. Dire solutions--machines and strategies never before contemplated--are being called up, and fissures in Forerunner power are leading to chaos.

On a Lifeworker's experimental planet, Bornstellar's rebellious course crosses the paths of two humans, and the long lifeline of a great military leader, forever changing Bornstellar's destiny ...and the fate of the entire galaxy.

Halo: Cryptum by Greg Bear is a tale of life, death, intergalactic horror, exile, and maturity. It is a story of overwhelming change--and of human origins. For the Mantle may not lie upon the shoulders of Forerunners forever.

The second in a new series of three HALO novels, Greg Bear's Halo: Primordium dives back into the Forerunner saga.

A long time ago, I was a living, breathing human being. I went mad. I served my enemies. They became my only friends.

Since then, I've traveled back and forth across this galaxy, and out to the spaces between galaxies--a greater reach than any human before me.

You have asked me to tell you about that time. Since you are the last true Reclaimer, I must obey. Are you recording? Good. Because my memory is failing rapidly. I doubt I'll be able to finish the story.

Once, on my birth-world, a world I knew as Erde-Tyrene, and which now is called Earth, my name was Chakas...

In the wake of apparent self-destruction of the Forerunner empire, two humans--Chakas and Riser--are like flotsam washed up on very strange shores indeed.

Captured by the Master Builder, misplaced during a furious battle in space, they now find themselves on an inverted world where horizons rise into the sky, and where humans of all kinds are trapped in a perilous cycle of horror and neglect. For they have become both research animals and strategic pawns in a cosmic game whose madness knows no end--a game of ancient vengeance between the powers who seeded the galaxy with life, and the Forerunners who expect to inherit their sacred Mantle of duty to all living things.

In the company of a young girl and an old man, Chakas begins an epic journey across a lost and damaged Halo in search of a way home, an explanation for the warrior spirits rising up within, and for the Librarian's tampering with human destiny.

This journey will take them into the Palace of Pain, the domain of a powerful and monstrous intelligence who claims to be the Last Precursor, and who now has control of both this Halo and the fate of Forerunners and Humans alike.

Called the Captive by Forerunners, and the Primordial by ancient human warriors, this intelligence has taken charge of, and retasked, the Master Builder's cruel researches into the Flood--which it may have itself unleashed on the galaxy more than ten thousand years before.

In the last years of the Forerunner empire, chaos rules. The Flood--a horrifying shape-changing parasite--has arrived in force, aided by unexpected allies. Internal strife within the ecumene has desperately weakened Forerunner defenses.

Too little, too late, the legal rate of Juridicals is only now investigating possible crimes by the Master Builder and others. Evidence-gathering agents known collectively as Catalog have been dispatched to collect testimony from the Librarian and both Didacts: the Ur-Didact, treacherously abandoned in a Flood-infested system, and the Bornstellar Didact, who accompanies the Librarian as she preserves specimens against the dire possibility of Halo extermination.

Facing the imminent collapse of their civilization, the Librarian and the Ur-Didact reveal what they know about the relationship between the long-vanished Precursors and the Flood.

The Precursors created many technological species, including humanity and the Forerunners. But the roots of the Flood may be found in an act of enormous barbarity, carried out beyond our galaxy ten million years before...

Because of that barbarism, a greater evil looms. Only the Ur-Didact and the Librarian--husband and wife pushed into desperate conflict--hold the keys to a solution.

Facing the consequences of a mythic tragedy, one of them must now commit the greatest atrocity of all time-to prevent an insane evil from dominating the entire universe... in Greg Bear's Halo: Silentium.

The Covenant has collapsed after a long, brutal war that saw billions slaughtered on Earth and her colonies. For the first time in decades, however, peace finally seems possible. But though the fighting's stopped, the war is far from over: it's just gone underground. The UNSC's feared and secretive Office of Naval Intelligence recruits Kilo-Five, a team of ODSTs, a Spartan, and a diabolical AI to accelerate the Sangheili insurrection. Meanwhile, the Arbiter, the defector turned leader of a broken Covenant, struggles to stave off civil war among his divided people.

Across the galaxy, a woman thought to have died on Reach is actually very much alive. Chief scientist Dr. Catherine Halsey broke every law in the book to create the Spartans, and now she's broken some more to save them. Marooned with Chief Mendez and a Spartan team in a Forerunner slipspace bubble hidden in the destroyed planet Onyx, she finds that the shield world has been guarding an ancient secret - a treasure trove of Forerunner technology that will change everything for the UNSC and mankind.

As Kilo-Five joins the hunt for Halsey, humanity's violent past begins to catch up with all of them as disgruntled colony Venezia has been biding its time to strike at Earth, and its most dangerous terrorist has an old, painful link with both Halsey and Kilo-Five that will test everyone's loyalty to the limit.

Welcome to humanity's new war: silent, high stakes, and unseen. This is a life-or-death mission for ONI's black-ops team, Kilo-Five, which is tasked with preventing the ruthless Elites, once the military leaders of the Covenant, from regrouping and threatening humankind again.

What began as a routine dirty-tricks operation - keeping the Elites busy with their own insurrection - turns into a desperate bid to extract one member of Kilo-Five from the seething heart of an alien civil war. But troubles never come singly for Kilo-Five. Colonial terrorism is once again surfacing on one of the worlds that survived the war against the Covenant, and the man behind it is much more than just a name to Spartan-010.

Meanwhile, the treasure trove of Forerunner technology recovered from the shield world of Onyx is being put to work while a kidnapped Elite plots vengeance on the humans he fears will bring his people to the brink of destruction.

Wars end. But hatred, guilt, and devotion can endure beyond the grave.

With the Covenant War over, the Office of Naval Intelligence faces old grievances rising again to threaten Earth. The angry, bitter colonies, still with scores to settle from the insurrection put on hold for thirty years, now want justice -- and so does a man whose life was torn apart by ONI when his daughter was abducted for the SPARTAN-II program. Black ops squad Kilo-Five find their loyalties tested beyond breaking point when the father of their Spartan comrade, still searching for the truth about her disappearance, prepares to glass Earth's cities to get an answer.

How far will Kilo-Five go to stop him? And will he be able to live with the truth when he finds it? The painful answer lies with a man long dead, and a conscience that still survives in the most unlikely, undiscovered place.

Cachalot - landless ocean planet, long ago reserved by man as a refuge for the great sea-creatures they had hunted near to extinction. Scattered humans lived peacefully in floating townships, until one day something rose from the deep destroying all in its path.

Hugo and Sturgeon Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2002. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection (2003), edited by Gardner Dozois and Year's Best SF 8 (2003), edited by Kathryn Cramer and David G. Hartwell. It is incorporated in the fix-up novel Accelerando (2005).

When the bombs that stopped the species war tore holes in the veil between worlds, they allowed entry to the Others. Now, a hundred years later, humans and shifters alike live in artificially lit cities designed to keep the darkness at bay....
 
The humanoid supersoldiers known as the déchet were almost eradicated by the war. Ever since, Tiger has tried to live her life in peace in hiding. But in the wake of her discovery that Central City’s children are being kidnapped and experimented on, Tiger’s conscience won’t let her look the other way.
 
The key to saving them lies within the walls of a pharmaceutical company called Winter Halo. But as she learns more about the facility, Tiger’s mission is derailed by a complication: Winter Halo’s female security guards are being systematically attacked by an unknown force. 
 
Now Tiger must summon all her gifts to stop those responsible for both atrocities—no matter the cost to herself...

After the end of the interstellar Tulkan wars, the militaristic Tulkan War council was sentenced to memory-wiping and incarceration in a penal colony. Their weapons, advanced slavery devices and planet destroying armaments in development, hidden in a secret cache before the end of the war, are bound to remain secret forever, the access codes to their stasis chamber wiped with the Tulk's memories. But in an old people's home in Scotland, Dr Elizabeth Brunner, Unit scientist and daughter of one of the Alzheimers patients, has noticed disturbing happenings, and calls on her old friend, the Seventh Doctor, to investigate.

What he and Ace find goes beyond disturbing, with campers murdered, the denizens of the home wired up to some sort of enormous calculating machine, and Ace being followed around by a mysterious figure, always remaining just beyond the edges of vision. They receive help from Annarenes, members of a race devoted to keeping the Tulkan menace down, but help from any quarter has to be regarded with utmost suspicion. Nothing, here, is sure to be what it seems...

THE TOME OF THE UNDERGATES HAS BEEN RECOVERED...

...and the gates of hell remain closed. Lenk and his five companions set sail to bring the accursed relic away from the demonic reach of Ulbecetonth, the Kraken Queen. But after weeks at sea, tensions amidst the adventurers are rising. Their troubles are only beginning when their ship crashes upon an island made of the bones left behind from a war long dead.

And it appears that bloodthirsty alien warrior women, fanatical beasts from the deep, and heretic-hunting wizards are the least of their concerns. Haunted by their pasts, plagued by their gods, tormented by their own people, and gripped by madness personal and peculiar, their greatest foes may yet be themselves.

The reach of Ulbecetonth is longer than hell can hold.