Ripped from Earth and transported to a strange new world, archaeologist Eliana Fisk is taken captive by the leaders of a native tribe.
What do they want with her? She’s not sure, but they don’t seem friendly.
When she discovers evidence of an ancient sacrificial ritual, Eliana fears she’ll be next. Can she avoid becoming an offering to their bloodthirsty god?
And how in the worlds will she ever get back home?
You’ll love the fast-paced action in this science fiction thriller. It’s a harrowing tale of survival against all odds, and the gateway to an ancient alien mystery.
Read an excerpt
Reuben’s fingers twitched, and a series of glyphs lit the top of the screen, spelling out the parameters for the translocation. The great arch came to life. The keening noise amplified its pitch and intensity until it climbed above the audible range for the human ear and went silent. Blue-white sparks of energy flickered between nodes of the arch.
The sphere of concentric rings around the platform spun, collecting the energy from the outer arch and concentrating it inside the sphere. The sphere spun, blurred, and radiated a soft turquoise brightness.
Then the light was gone, the rings wound down, and a lunar rover appeared on the platform—its squat, wheeled form perfectly intact.
The crowd exploded with applause. Reuben inputted a few more commands on the console and the rover rolled to Amon’s side.
Amon tried to hide his smile. This was a parlor trick compared to what was coming next. The appearance of the rover had been meant to warm up the crowd and dispel their initial doubt. Carbon had merely been transported from the lab a few floors below ground. The surface of the moon, however, was hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth, and moving at an incredible velocity.
“Tonight, Carbon will be making the journey to the lunar surface. He’s made this journey many times in our years of testing, but tonight is the first time he will do so in public. A team is waiting for him in the research biodome of the Lunar Station.”
Reuben motioned, and a new set of parameters appeared. Amon waited for him to nod then said, “My wife, Eliana, will help me christen this maiden voyage. Sweetheart, if you’ll do me the honor?” He held out his hand.
Eliana walked across the stage and took Amon’s hand.
“Traditionally, you’d break a champagne bottle across the hull,” Amon said to the audience. “But I don’t know if that’s recommended when we’re working with electronics.” When Eliana laughed, the crowd laughed along with her.
Amon and Eliana met Reuben at the control unit. As rehearsed, Eliana stood between her husband and Reuben in front of the screen.
Reuben keyed in a few commands, and a series of calculations scrolled up. Amon double checked Reuben’s work as he did it, verifying energy levels coming in from the particle accelerator and calculating the moon’s position, rotation, and velocity in real time. They didn’t have to speak. Amon knew everything was going according to plan on Reuben’s end by his grunts of approval.
When they were ready, Reuben verified radio communication with the lunar team then cleared the display and brought up a green Initiate button. The button was strictly for show and big enough for the cameras to make out.
Reuben nudged the button’s digital image across the display so it was in front of Eliana. She reached out her left hand—her new ring glittered. When her fingers came into contact with the screen, she pulled her hand back sharply, as if she had been zapped by an electric shock. She rubbed her fingers and frowned.
“Are you okay?” Amon whispered into her ear, careful to hold the microphone away from his mouth.
“I’m fine,” she said, quick to put a smile back on her face for the cameras. She moved a few steps from the display—not part of the stage directions they had rehearsed, but Amon was too distracted by what happened next to give it much thought.
The machine screamed as it came to life. The keening noise didn’t go subaudible, but escalated into a banshee’s screech. Electricity popped loudly across the arch, and great tree-like shapes of blue-white lightning shot into the air in every direction.
“Reuben, what’s happening?” Amon shouted, turning back to the display. A graph that measured the energy output from the particle accelerator careened into the danger zone. Reuben gestured wildly, trying to regain control of the apparatus, but the holo controls were no longer responding to his increasingly frantic motions.
“It’s unresponsive. Initiate emergency shutdown!”
Amon dropped the mic with a clunk that was swallowed in the chaos. He leaped over to the display, yanked out a tactile keyboard from the base of the screen, and began rapidly typing in override commands designed to short-circuit the translocation.
It didn’t respond to those either.
“Cut the power!” Amon yelled. Reuben was already tearing at the floorboards to reach the power cables beneath them. Electricity saturated the air, causing Reuben’s hair to stand on end and wave wildly.
Reuben held up the control unit’s plug. Amon glanced up and saw the display was dead. The arch continued to thrum with energy.
“Shit!” Amon said, already knowing it was too late. The redundant power cables connecting the arch and the translocation platform to the particle accelerator meant that they would have to cut all the power cables to shut it down. And there wasn’t enough time for that.
“Eliana!” Amon yelled, twisting frantically as he searched for her. The light radiating from the sphere of rings this time was blinding, a bright-white sun that outshone the spotlights fixed on the stage.
He shielded his eyes with one hand and squinted into the light. The chairs where Lucas and Wes had been seated were empty—they must have retreated from the stage when the Hopper malfunctioned. Did they take Eliana with them?
But then he spotted her, silhouetted against the great ball of light that emanated from the sphere.
He sprinted toward her only to stumble into something hard that tripped him and sent him sprawling to the deck. He felt the bar of the microphone stand beneath him as he pushed himself back up.
He juked around Carbon, the lunar rover. She was ten feet from him now. Eliana stretched her arm toward the sphere of light, reaching. She gasped, her mouth widening, as the expanding radiance engulfed her wrist.
Five feet away. He lifted his knees, pumped his arms, reached out to grab her. The light swallowed her elbow, her shoulder, half her body. A terrible dread lined Amon’s stomach with steel wool.
Two feet. He jumped, reaching out. Instead of coming into contact with Eliana, he felt the light as a physical resistance pushing back at him like a viscous liquid.
The feeling of resistance retreated suddenly. He slammed into the unforgiving hardness of alloy rings, knocking the breath from his lungs.
Eliana. He gasped and writhed on the ground, shocked from the impact. Where did she go? Gritting his teeth against the pain, he pushed himself to his feet.
Red spots crowded his vision. When they cleared, he saw that the stage was only illuminated by the spotlights now, and bulbs flashed from the media pit. The horrible screeching noise had ceased, but shouts from the audience filled his hearing. He stood on the translocation platform inside the alloy rings.
A very interesting story that was hard to put down. The storyline was fast paced and the characters were very believable. I really liked this book and I highly recommend it.
Transporting to the moon is a great idea. However, adding an unknown meteorite bit into the mix caused a sparking anomaly to the jump. Where did Eliana land? What did she encounter? Would she survive? Would Amon find her? The twists and turns of her journey and those trying to find her will keep you on your seat waiting for the shoe to drop. A great read.
I have rarely enjoyed a book as much as I did this one! From the world building to the immensely lovable characters to the “die trying” attitudes, this was just what I needed right now.
An interesting story that leaves the reader wanting more. A mix of futuristic science and ancient mythology and history mix to create an entertaining read.
This is a great read! It has an excellent plot, lots of action and twists. The characters are great and grow throughout the novel. The concept of translocation is amazing and within the realm of possibility. I left wanting to discover more about the aliens controlling the indigenous population.
This is a quick read, less than 300 pages. It is an interesting premise, but it felt rushed. I did not have time to care about any of the characters. No time was spent developing them, ot the "world" to which a main character traveled. It feels somewhat Maze Runner like, with a dash if Stargate SG-1.
Kept me wondering as it flowed between earth and the violet skies of the other earth. Wish it gave more answers. I wanted closure but all it offered was a glimpse of the next book.
science fiction is forgivable for the poetic license it takes, but it should at least follow its own rules. this one does not. it could have rated higher had it answered even basic questions about its plot. too many players crowded into too little space.
Interesting concept nicely plotted around an experimental transporter. When all goes awry, we follow two very different povs. Technology, gods and nefarious colleagues.
This is the question that is at the centre of this book and I don't think that Herron really answers it. There is an interesting storyline that involves a matter transmitter that goes wrong. It's a good story line. However, what spoils the book for me is the handling of the interactions between modern and ancients.'The Auriga Project' is worth a read just because the underlying plot line is different. You might enjoy it more than I did, ots of people apparently do. I'm just not one of them.
This is a very unusual series beginning. I love the concept of transportation travel and the intrigue it suggest to develop the story further. I’m sure I will enjoy the next stories. The author gives you a very human touch to the story of scientists developing new technologies.. Enjoy the story and read on
I read this book and the bonus story. Thank you. This is a new author to me. I enjoyed reading this story and the bonus. It was well written and exciting. Now on to book two.
This book was everything I was looking for a scientific demonstration that went sideways only to start us off on a new adventure .I can't wait to see where we go next .
I couldn't read it fast enough to see, where it will go. And then it was the End.Quote from the book: "When he made it through the Wall and returned to tell the tale, then he could tell everyone. then they would believe him. Then they would know the truth.
This series has it all! Sci fy, a touch of fantasy, teleportation, high tech and primitive beings on another planet. Fast paced, action and thriller, with mystery and intrigue. Interesting the similarities between these “aliens” and the Mayan civilization on Earth! I was transported willingly with Eliana, alas to fight for survival and understand the primitive ways and culture. Amazing and very imaginative plot!
An interesting mix of science fiction and anthropology. Herron handles both sides well.An easy read. I look forward to book 2.For those who may get upset at violations of the laws of physics as we know them, well, just suspend disbelief and enjoy a good story.
I really relished the somewhat complex but absorbing story build of this book, I found some of the characters too stereo typed, but the whole was an enjoyable read.
I found this book to be hard to put down, the pace of events kept me wanting to see what would happen next. I like that in a good book. The main characters were believable and interesting. Even the bad guys.
While I normally do t like hanging stories such as this one, it is complete enough to satisfy my idea of a complete book. The translocator is like the “beam me up” transporters from Star Trek but more powerful with the right assists. Going a long way to a different world and adventures there along with potential demons makes for a good storyline. A worthwhile read.
The plot was interesting, and the book had a conclusion, with enough questions unanswered that I plan to buy the second in the series. The characters are plausible and likable, and the writing is pretty good. Amon's fanatical search for his wife is somewhat overdone, and the probability of his arriving on the same planet and in her vicinity is really rather low, but I'm willing to overlook that for at least one more in the series.There was one sentence, referring to the localizing of the trajectory in which Eliana was sent, in which "galaxy" and "stellar system" seem to be confused, but I can overlook that, too,
