Temple Trouble

Behind the incense, sacrifice, and thunderous rites of Yat-Zar's temple lies a ruthless corporate machine. Ghullam, the solemn high priest, is really Stranor Sleth, an undercover agent of the Transtemporal Mining Corporation, helping maintain a miracle-faith engineered to hide industrial extraction across multiple time-lines. In this world, religion is a tool of control: abducted priests, implanted visions, staged wonders, and sacred architecture keep local believers convinced that mining operations are divine will. When trouble erupts in the kingdom of Zurb, Stranor must face a crisis that threatens both the temple and the company's interests. King Kurchuk has turned against Yat-Zar, embraced the crocodile god Muz-Azin, and imprisoned six priests for sacrifice at sunset. With enemy priests occupying the temple and the palace dungeons nearly impregnable, Verkan Vall of the Paratime Police takes command, enforcing strict paratime law while organizing a daring counterstroke. Disguised as upper-priests and backed by weaponry, paralyzers, and a heavily modified idol fitted with antigravity and loudspeakers, Verkan's team transposes through chaotic worlds, seizes the temple, uncovers hidden treachery, and marches the giant Yat-Zar on the palace in a spectacular bid to force the captives' release. Blending science fiction, satire, espionage, and ritual pageantry, the story turns faith into strategy and rescue into theatrical power play. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.