by Harper Maze
Whilst he’s dancing around the cellar like a buffoon, I swipe the last of the byte-ball gifts from my inventory and try to discern the content through the translucent case.
“Wait. Before you open that last one, there’s somewhere I want to take you. Come…”
The fear of wandering around the open areas of Sol resurges like a river bursting a dam. “Where to?”
“You’ll see.”
I follow him back up through his house and to the teleport. “I’m not going outside…” I fight the need to puke and squeeze my trembling hands into fists. I never imagined that outside in Sol would be as terrifying as outside realworld.
“You’re with me. We’ll be fine. Trust me.”
Everything looked normal in the feeds, and Denver sounds so confident… Against my better judgement, I let Denver set a destination, and he vanishes. Selecting the same port, I follow him.
The New York skyline appears around me as I arrive in the garden of a small house overlooking some water. The area is deserted. “What is this place?”
“Like it?”
“It looks nice,” I say, noncommittally. Virtually identical buildings line both banks of the waterfront, each with its own jetty. I stare at the row of houses opposite, they’re so similar it’s like someone got the code for a building and copied it dozens of times.
“Nice? According to Dad, this used to be prime New York accommodation. It’s called Half Moon Island. Come.”
I follow Denver as he runs to the water’s edge like he’s ten again, and clambers aboard a white and grey speedboat bobbing gently in the water. The passenger seat is set back a little from the driver, or pilot, or whatever you call them on boats. I push myself in and fasten the seatbelt. Having raced in-Sim against Denver in everything from dune buggies in the Sahara, to Formula One cars around the local Abu Dhabi circuit, I know his driving ability is no better than mine. The engine roars to life, and we turn out towards a short waterway between two concrete walls. Ahead is a chicane of concrete jetties – I assume realworld they would stop the area from flooding. Even before we pass between them, I can see the Statue of Liberty rising majestically to my left. Denver boosts the accelerator, and we bounce across the harbour towards the statue.
All around the base is a seething mass resembling an ant’s nest. I zoom in on my visor and gasp as the mass focuses into an immense crowd that contains more avatars crammed into one tiny place than I think I’ve ever seen before. Every shoreline around the bay is the same. People are starting to gather in large numbers to stare at the beacon. The realisation that Sol is ending has begun to dawn on the masses; everyone is waiting for a sign. Right now, the torch is green. Comforting, reassuring green. Denver kills the engine, and we glide to a halt, the boat floating lightly on the tide. Taking my arm, he leads me to the stern. “It’s time,” he announces with a smile.
I swipe open the capsule. “What the frack?”
“I knew you were desperate, and that you needed it.”
“But this is too much…” Inside the globe is a rotating diamond, at least five centimetres across. Not a real diamond, or even a Sol diamond, but an in-Sim $uns diamond-voucher. The $uns symbol embossed on the largest front facet shows 500,000 $uns.
“I just want you to be happy,” Denver says, his avatar’s eyes almost teary. “Open it,” he urges, his voice rich with nervous, excited anticipation.
Of course, I’ve seen these before, but never for this amount! I study the lower front facet where a small button activates the lid on top of the virtual diamond. With a little trepidation, I push the button and watch with wonder as the lid pops open and a glistening diamond and sapphire ring spins sedately before me.
“Oh my…” I manage to say.
Denver opens his mouth to speak, but a loud crack cuts through the air. We turn in unison to see a trio of speedboats zipping towards us across the waves. I don’t need zoom to know who they are, the blaze of purple and gold robes blatantly betrays them. I can picture Shuzo standing at the fore with his silvery weapon drawn, that look of zealous desire on his face.
Instead of turning the boat around and driving to a port, Denver swipes a menu and his M16 appears on his back. As he spins to face the COGOD frackers, I catch a shimmer of silver from the weapon.
“What the frack?”
The last thing I see is Denver’s face, emotionless, detached and angry.
He opens his mouth to speak, his lips forming into a snarl, but before he can say anything a massive explosion booms in the street outside. Realworld! My entire container shakes. Air swirls about my legs, and small items rain down on me. I cover my head with my arms, and hear countless pairs of boots thudding across the floor towards me.
“What the…” Denver yells realworld, followed by an oomph sound. Hands grab me, and before I can scream, something sharp pokes into my arm.
I fall into the blackness.
Thursday, Halley 25th, 2044
Survivor’s Day – 4 days before Baktun
The Heir shall inherit Sol on the day they come of age, and may do with it as they wish.
Forgive me, my child, for this is the last gift I can provide.
The Ordinance: Book of the Will of G.O’D. (3:19-20)
-30-
My head is a fog, like I’m trying to think with a brain steeped in syrup. A dull ache throbs across my shoulders, arms and neck. A cacophony of unfamiliar sounds surround me, the constant hum of electrical devices, dull murmurings of distant conversations and heavy footsteps on solid floors.
I try to move, but my arms and legs won’t work. My visor rests reassuringly on the bridge of my nose, only it feels heavier than I remember. Everything feels heavier. I try to wriggle my arms and legs free, but I’m stuck. As I lift my head slightly, the hazy impression of benches, or church pews, gradually crystallises into view. They’re made from a lighter wood to the floor beneath me, but I’m drawn to the contrasting grain running through the planks in intricate natural patterns. My addled mind attempts to work out if I’m stuck in-Sim, or if I’m having some sort of realworld nightmare.
In desperation I try to move again, only it’s useless. I open my mouth to scream but nothing comes out.
“She moved,” a voice says, louder and closer than any other. It’s a voice I don’t fully recognise but there is something eerily familiar about it. The way he clips his words, as though he’s cutting each one with a guillotine as it leaves his mouth.
A diminutive figure dressed in long flowing robes that capture shimmering shafts of light with each movement, steps into my view. Though the voice was unfamiliar, Shuzo’s sneering face is unmistakable. There is something about him though, something different. It takes me a heartbeat to realise, but the first person I see, truly see realworld, is Disciple Shuzo and he’s leering at me in victory.
“Call the Arch Herald. The Heir has awakened. Prepare the Crucifix.”
Thank You!
Thank you for taking the time to read this book. I would love to hear your views, by leaving feedback.
Join my mailing list for news of my upcoming books, including Heir of G.O’D. Book 2, the rest of the series and my other projects:
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You will also receive a free Heir of G.O’D. novella
“Arm@g3dd0n: Memoirs of a Natural Disaster”
set several years before ‘Heir of G.O’D’ and the Devastation.
You can also contact me on [email protected]
Releases Coming Soon
Dystopian Sci-Fi
Heir of G.O’D. Book (2) - Pre-order Now
Heir of G.O’D. Book (3) - Late 2020/ early 2021
Action-Mystery-Thriller
Savanna Steel – Blue Eyes Trilogy to be released 2021
Life After?
Available now
LGBT+ Coming of Age
Will Kayleigh be able to face the consequences of her actions?
With no future plans, Kayleigh Summers fought for her dre
am for most of her life.
After life-changing surgery, she receives an unexpected offer from a sports entertainment company to become their latest star, which means relocating to America.
Within a training academy full of glamorous people, Kayleigh recounts how she struggles with her self-image, relationships and her confused sexuality.
Bursting into the limelight of professional wrestling, Kayleigh becomes burdened by the pressures of her sudden fame and turbulent love life and finds herself on the brink of a breakdown.
One drunken night, she breaks her most sacred rule.
Will Kayleigh be able to face the consequences of her actions?
Or will her new future crumble around her?
Acknowledgements
I wholeheartedly wish to thank my loving partner and development editor Ash Maze, without whom this book would not have been possible. Without her dedication, and her determination to check and recheck every sentence of this story, it would not have happened. My love, always.
I would also like to thank the many beta readers who have taken the journey with me, including Rob, Phil, Dave, Sharon, Chris, Iona, Mark and Steve. Also, Rebeca for the amazing cover and Paula for her dedication and excellence in editing, and detail in completing the final article.
About the Author
Harper Maze is a lifetime geek, fantasy & sci-fi nerd. Growing up in middle England, surrounded by a host of adopted animals and foster brothers and sisters, she saw both sides of life from a very young age, and learned that her brand of kooky humour, mixed with her naturally affectionate spirit, could have a healing effect on humans and animals alike. Harper’s early life experience form the bedrock of her character writing, allowing her to draw from deeply personal experiences to bring characters to life; this is most evident in the LGBT+ coming of age novel ‘Life After?’.
In the early nineties, Harper packed up her earthly belongings and headed off to the city of Birmingham to embark on a career in I.T. and programming. Eventually, she made it to the great city of London, planning and delivering multi-million-pound IT programmes. The Heir of G.O’D. series of novels draws deeply on her exposure to the often slightly ridiculous world of corporate machinations.
These days, whilst still managing a large team in the world of the corporates, Harper enjoys a (slightly) slower pace of life with her amazing partner and two over-exuberant Bengal cats by the coast in South East England, viewing the world with her own particular brand of sardonic irony.
You can follow Harper’s latest releases and news at: www.harpermaze.com
Gary O’Drae’s Fracking Blog
Fracking facts taken from Gary O’Drae’s blog, extracted from The Ordinance: Book of the Devastation
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Frackers need to Frack Off
By Gary O’Drae, 10th October 2020
Definition: Hydraulic Fracturing (noun) A process in which fractures in rocks below the earth's surface are opened and widened by injecting chemicals and liquids at high pressure: used especially to extract natural gas or oil (also called frack·ing).
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/hydraulic-fracturing
Fact: Hydraulic Fracturing, or ‘fracking’, by design causes earthquakes in the Earth’s Crust.
https://earthworks.org/issues/fracking_earthquakes/
Fact: Side effects of fracking include, but are not limited to, a tremendous amount of chemical-laden wastewater which needs to be disposed of, and massive amounts of natural, unwanted salt water.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/03/28/new-seismic-hazard-map-includes-fracking-related-quakes-for-the-first-time/
Fact: Fracking waste is disposed of by injecting massive amounts of wastewater into the earth’s crust which increases seismic activity.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/448.abstract
Fact: The Government of the United Kingdom suspended all fracking activity on 02 November 2019 due to an inability to predict the probability and size of seismic activity associated with fracking.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-ends-support-for-fracking
Fact. The effects of fracking are more pronounced in seismic regions, with the largest confirmed earthquake caused by fracking occurring in Oklahoma recorded at magnitude 5.7 on the Richter Scale.
https://frack-off.org.uk/fracking-impacts/earthquakes/
Fact: The Yellowstone Caldera is the most destructive in the Northern Hemisphere, with the eruption two million years ago likely the most powerful seen on earth – 2,500 times more powerful than the Mount St Helens eruption.
http://www.extremescience.com/biggest-volcano.htm
Fact: In all probability, an eruption of Yellowstone and the resulting earthquake, would send the earth into a volcanic winter which would last for decades.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/smithsonian-channel/are-we-on-the-cusp-of-a-global-volcanic-winter/
Definition: Volcanic Winter Cooling at the Earth’s surface resulting from the deposition of massive amounts of volcanic ash and sulphur aerosols in the stratosphere.
Sulphur aerosols reflect incoming solar radiation and absorb terrestrial radiation. If atmospheric loading is significant enough, temperatures on the planet’s surface can drop by up to 10o Celsius and cause atypical weather conditions for several years.
An eruption of Mount Toba, approximately 70,000 years ago, caused temperatures to plunge and almost caused the extinction of modern humans.
https://www.britannica.com/science/volcanic-winter
Fact. There are active fracking operations within 50 miles of the Yellowstone Caldera and magma reservoirs at the Hilliard-Baxter-Mancos field.
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/big-frack-attack-is-hydraulic-fracturing-safe
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Sol Calendar of 2022
Comprised of 13 months, each of 4 x 7-day weeks, and each starting on a Monday.
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Regions and World collectives
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Glossary and Terms
General Terms
Realworld
The real physical world (everything outside of the Sol simulation).
Sol
A massive multiplayer simulation, within which the whole solar system is replicated.
In-sim
All things within the Sol simulation.
$uns (pronounced suns)
Cryptocurrency that originated in Sol, but is now the solitary remaining global currency both in-Sim and realworld.
Gary O’Drae / G.O’D. / The Creator (Deceased)
Gary O’Drae created Sol. Users refer to him by his initials G.O’D. (pronounced god). Followers of The Church of G.O’D. refer to him as The Creator.
Heir of G.O’D.
Gary O’Drae’s only child, who stands to gain control of Sol on their eighteenth birthday, a day which is named as Baktun.
The Devastation
A global catastrophic event—the eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera—that decimated the planet. The eruption lead to a global volcanic winter and a mass extinction event.
Occurred on 26th December, 2025.
Hydraulic Fracturing (colloquially Fracking)
Process of obtaining fossil fuels from deep in the Earth’s crust by means of injecting chemicals into the bedrock to cause new fissures, releasing shale gas. One of the side effects is increased seismic activity. Fracking is blamed for the chain reaction which caused Yellowstone to erupt (The Devastation). Fracking, and its derivatives, is now used frequently as a term of anger, insult or derision.
Haven
Temporary accommodation formed by stacking thousands of shipping containers into blocks, most commonly two lines of ten, back to back, and stacked five high. Containers were converted into living accommodation and associated services (shops, clinics, etc.) by O’Drae and Umbra, and protected with a solar panel roof. Still
the primary living accommodation for most survivors as at 2044. Ana and Denver reside in the Dubai Haven.
Container
Living accommodation formed from a converted shipping container, often containing a bed space and shower room at the rear, with living accommodation and Sol rigs at the front.
Rig
Consisting of a harness and two-way feedback connections to connect a suspended user to Sol. Often paired with an omnidirectional treadmill. Mobile rigs with limited functionality exist for Sol use during travel.
Solar Panel Roof
Connected solar panels—covered in an acid-resistant coating—which sit in a framed network above a Haven’s containers and trade districts. Whilst sunlight was greatly impaired in the early years after The Devastation due to ash clouds, they provided protection from the acid rain and constant storms. As the cloud coverage in Earth’s atmosphere reduce, the effectiveness of the panels as an energy source increases. Solar panels are hinged, allowing maintenance crews to clean and repair them from the Haven below, minimising exposure.