Kion Danos is a POW, so far from home the light of his native sun hasn't yet reached the barren deserts of the alien prison world. Taken by the Kaarrk Swarm, along with millions of human and humansh prisoners on the collapsing frontiers and lost cities of the Dominion, Infantry Captain Kion Danos never loses his fervent desire to live, to return home to his wife and daughter. At the same time, a female combat surgeon and POW named Amela Brunvig dreams of escape while a prisoner in women's polar camp Aerag-78. As the two make their respective breaks, under hot pursuit by mercenaries and Sekurita as well as Kaarrk sky eyes, their lives intersect in a harrowing adventure across worlds. Along the way, they meet an exotic array of both enemies and allies, from a gorgeous but dead female pilot to a tragic ship, from a shadowy jungle skimmer to an army of escaped prisoners led by the enigmatic Private Lute, and ultimately to a gateway between all time and space-in the Temporale, a panoramic world of adventure created by John Argo. This novel is a node in the Up Time Sector of John Argo's Empire of Time series. For more info, see clocktowerbooks website. In the Temporale, Time Trains race between nodes of here and there, of now and time past or future. Can Kion and Amela ever find their way home among infinitely many times and places, many of which resemble their own? There is no place like home, and for each of them, there is only one spouse and one child; no alternate lives will make them whole. To make matters worse, as they search for a path home, they are pursued by Amela's merciless aerag commandant. Major Rulla Texel's agenda turns out to be larger than either the human or alien concerns about conquest and looting. Who is paying Texel to uncover the secrets of lost Earth and humankind's history? What will Texel do if Kion and Amela unwittingly help her locate the hidden cradle of humankind and all of its priceless secrets and treasures? Who are the power players from the ends of time and the universe, who pursue the threads of a story as big as the universe from creation to cosmopause? The adventure begins on this remote prison planet, and a lost gateway to infinitely many alternate universes...
About the Author: John Argo has created a vast, sprawling SF universe of imaginative novels and stories called Empire of Time (EOT. Everything is at stake, and time traveling agents are at work up and down stream (time), observing and tweaking carefully to save the future--the fate of humankind and the universe is at stake, in the grand scheme that must never be forgotten. In the minor key, each novel offers gripping action with compelling characters, often spiced up with an urgent romantic subplot. This is a future history in the grand tradition of Cordwainer Smith (Norstrilia), Isaac Asimov (Foundation), Frank Herbert (Dune), and other masters of the form. Fifty years in process, and still in the making, this mind boggling panorama of infinite universes and time without end already includes over a dozen novels that serve as pinholes to peer into realms beyond comprehension. John Argo, from his home base in San Diego, continues to spin pieces of a vast mosaic that will soon coalesce into an astonishing entirety with a subseries titled Jornade: Chronicles of Metrado. Time traveling monks, military priestesses, female popes of the 38th Century--the innovations are boundless. Metrado journeys back in time to report to the Triune Holy Office uptime about such adepts as Nostradamus, Leonardo da Vinci, Homer, and others who work for HM Sacred Service. Stay tuned. John Argo in 1996 became the first author/publisher to publish entire (full length novel) proprietary (not public domain) digital books on line for download. These included the texts of This Shoal of Space and Pioneers (SF) and Neon Blue (suspense), innovatively released in weekly serial chapters to readers around the world, who sent thanks and kudos. More info at the Museum pages of Clocktower Books.