By Sorrow Increased

Knowledge is power. The kind of power that can either hold the universe together – or blast it apart.

That truth is one of the few things in life pilot Nick Pike believes in. A hero in a whole other life, he has since made it on to all the wrong lists – with his name right at the top of God’s To Stomp list. He’s found, however, his own Garden of Eden in the form of an intergalactic cargo-hauling business he runs with his friend and former teammate, Darby. But, like any Eden, this one comes complete with a snake.

When his sorely-in-need-of-repairs ship, the Pike’s Pique, makes an emergency landing on a planet straight out of the Ming Dynasty, that snake appears in the guise of a former – and definitely to be avoided – business partner. And the apple he holds out is a fast and easy job of transporting an accused killer to a local warlord. The bounty offered for his capture and delivery, he promises, will be more than enough to get the Pique up and flying again.

With creditors hounding them and with no other prospects in sight, Nick gives reluctantly in to temptation and takes a bite out of that apple. All, however, is not quite as it seems. In fact, nothing is at it seems. Nick and Darby must then band together with an unlikely crew as they attempt to hold the universe together.

(Science Fiction / Action Adventure – 95,000 words)
 

~ ~ Contains Christian themes ~ ~