Once again, I seemed to have gotten a very short book. It seemed like I just started reading it the other night and then last night I finished it. It was very exciting, but I don’t think that’s why I read it so quickly.
Our main character, Connor Gates, now Mayor of Sanctuary, has to get away from his position and the city for awhile. He’s never been the “behind the desk” type of guy, so it’s no wonder that he’s planned this little outing into the wilds of New Earth. “Little” is kind of a misnomer, since Conner had requisitioned two brand new N-Class Rovers and they were already packed for what appeared to be an extended camping trip. The other members of the camping group were now showing up and it was going to be quite a group Altogether, including Connor, there would be nine campers.
Some of the group were questionable as to why they were included. John Rollins was one in particular. A lot of Colony Defense Forces (CDF) took R&R in Sanctuary just to get their heads clear and rest up. Some had pretty back cases of PTSD and Connor thought this little camping trip would give them a chance to unwind far from everything and anything. John was pretty much mad at everything and everybody. He had a pretty unfriendly attitude, but Connor was willing to work with him to get him back to normal. Anna Gray was another camper with issues (PTSD) that had drawn her into an almost extreme introvert. While she was smart, she was also scared of everything. Her experience during the Vemus, wherehere she was trapped behind enemy line for days was causing her to react as she was now. Again, Connor thought getting her out and away from everyone and having her do something different might ease her fears.
Well, Connor’s intentions were good, but they didn’t work out so well. He got a satellite relay call from Dash, another of his research friends who asked him to go explore a satellite imaged location not far from where they were going. Of course Connor agreed since he and Lenora, his wife, were actively involved in the archeology of New Earth. Dash thought this might be a new NEIIS (New Earth Indigenous Intelligent Species) site. While most of the known sites contained very little about the original inhabitants of New Earth, little by little they were piecing together a better history. And, on a rare occasion, some of the NEIIS technology still worked, barely, but it worked when a new power source was applied. That in itself was amazing since it was thought the NEIIS had died out almost two-hundred years before.
So, off the party goes to check out this new site. Little do they know that some of them won’t be coming back and that they’re about to discover something truly remarkable about the NEIIS. No matter where you go on New Earth, especially outside the cities, you are armed. There are several indigenous species that are very dangerous to humans. The camping party will soon find out that they didn’t bring an adequate amount of weapons or ammo to face the problems that are coming to them. A call for help is required, but will it reach them in time. Read the book to find out.
Lastly, the author does mention there will be a 6th book. There’s still a lot of undiscovered territory on New Earth and the long dead NEIIS may not be so dead after all!