by Juan Carlos Moreno
Tabitha, Tibbs, and Rutgers are a trio of zoomorph freelancers hired to help Gale Hyacinth, Cirrus Hyacinth, and Ravensara, who are humans on the run from a shadowy Reclamation Project division. Taking off in Opportunity, the morphs’ hovership and home, the new crew heads for a southern jungle where an RP camp is running an off-the-books operation that threatens Ambara Down.
Gale and Cirrus were researchers for a Special Expeditions (SPEX) unit, one of several secret teams tasked with acquiring ancient technology and resources for the RP’s use. When the RP team discovered a stasis bunker from the days of High Humanity, they found only one survivor, a human teenager named Persephone Feldspar. Before defecting, the twin researchers realized their leaders wanted to create a biological weapon from microbes in Persephone’s body and use her familiarity with Pax Machina to develop a way to control the AI’s scattered robots. SPEX planned to attack Ambara Down, targeting all zoomorph species while sparing the city’s human population.
In a carefully timed raid, the crew rescues Persephone from Commander Janus Brontide and Dr. Tana Brontide, the father-daughter leaders of the RP mission. With the camp’s series of signal jammers destroyed, the PM android recovered with Persephone triggers an alarm, activating her bunker’s mechanical guardians. The ensuing battle between SPEX forces and rampaging PM units covers the crew’s escape, leaving them to ponder their next move. Deciding their best chance is to stick together, everyone agrees to teach Persephone about the world, track down the truth behind her past, and help her discover where she can make a difference.
Persephone is literally from the times before the dark age and as such would be of immense value to historians, archeologists, anthropologists, and more. Unfortunately, her relative youth and the residual effects of her centuries of hibernation make her memories of the ancient times spotty.