For three months, Cory and his team have hung with Asto’s military in orbit, watching as drone armies attacked Earth.
They could have helped more had Nations of Earth communicated with the fleet or if they could only find out where these drones come from, who controls them and from where. The enemy is smart, enmeshed with sections of Earth’s population and Asto’s military severely hamstrung by Nations of Earth playing chicken.
Three months ago, the president contacted Cory asking for help. The connection was interrupted and never re-established.
It’s as if they don’t want help.
Cory’s got gamra breathing down his neck with the requirement that Nations of Earth officially approves the presence of Asto’s military in orbit.
Something has to give.
He and his team return to a battle-scarred Earth on a hare-brained mission to talk to Nations of Earth, to check on the president, to get him to sign for approval. Getting there is hard. The state of the Nations of Earth assembly is deeply troubling. But getting out, that’s where it gets truly interesting.
Snippet from the book:
I was on the way back and in view of the bus when I spotted movement in the undergrowth.
I called out, “Action!”
At first, a white and brown goat shot out of the bushes. It ran across the road, realised that the wall around the Exchange complex was in its way, then did a sharp left turn and ran off down the road.
Deyu lowered the weapon she had pulled out.
Reida came out of the bus laughing, but Deyu raised the weapon again, aimed to the left of where I was coming back up to the bus and discharged.
A discharge always made the hair on my arms stand up.
A split second of utter silence was followed by a heavy thump of something falling down in the bushes and dead wood.
Mereeni jumped from the bus and she and Reida ran across. I took my weapon from the bracket on my arm and ran to the bus.
Most of the others had come onto the road. Sheydu, Isharu, Nicha, Evi and Telaris, and Ynggi. They all stood around the vehicle protecting it like a wall of armour and weapons.
Asha’s guards had dispersed across the closest section of the road. All had pulled on their helmets.
