The Whims of Creation — Simon Hawke

ENDANGERED SPECIES

THE THIRD MILLENNIUM THE MULTIGENERATIONAL SPACE ARK, AGAMEMNON, IS A PERFECT ECOSYSTEM, DESIGNED TO SUPPORT 100,000 HUMAN COLONISTS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS AS THEY JOURNEY TO A DISTANT STAR SYSTEM. BUT HALFWAY THROUGH THE VOYAGE, SOMETHING HAS GONE DRASTICALLY WRONG.

DEPRESSION IS RAMPANT. SUICIDES ARE ON THE INCREASE. AND IN A SOCIETY WHERE NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD OF FAIRIES, MUCH LESS DWARVES OR UNICORNS OR DRAGONS, STRANGE, FANTASTIC CREATURES HAVE STARTED TO APPEAR. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN IN THE CLOSED, CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT OF THE ARK? ARE THEY A THREAT TO THE HUMANS? CAN THE ELUSIVE CREATURES REPRODUCE?

AS THE BAFFLED, FRIGHTENED COLONISTS SEARCH FOR ANSWERS, A YOUNG MISFIT NAMED ULYSSES STUMBLES UPON A CLUE--AN ALTERNATE VIRTUAL REALITY WITHIN AN INTERACTIVE' BERGAME. A PLACE WHERE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, BECAUSE THE SOFTWARE IS ALIVE...