“I don’t believe it!” Reese stammered.
“Seeing is believing,” Cyrus said simply.
“But how?” Hondo asked. “How can that be? And for what possible purpose?”
“Those are the million dollar questions,” Cyrus admitted. “If I had to guess, I’d say that it was her job to make sure we stayed on track.”
“I don’t understand,” Reese admitted.
“You lost me,” Hondo confirmed.
“Someone went to a lot of trouble to point these, quote unquote, ‘meteorites’ at specific parts of our planet. Like you said, Hondo, it makes for some pretty long odds that they would be discovered and land in the hands of the right people. But those odds improve if you have someone on the inside, making sure to nudge people in just the right direction. The right suggestion here, an advantageous accident there, who says whether it’s serendipity or happenstance that shapes our future? Maybe it’s a more corporeal presence.”
Sitting back in his chair, Cyrus watched his two closest friends take in the most earth-shattering news of their lives. This changed everything they ever believed about the world around them. They had proof that some guiding hand was, at least in some way, responsible for the most significant scientific breakthroughs in human history. And if our race was urged, leveraged, or coaxed in a given direction, in such a way, over the last hundred years, how might we have been influenced over the millennia prior? How might human history have been influenced by an unseen intelligence?
There was no doubt in Cyrus’s mind that he had considered many of the questions that were now blasting through the minds of his friends. He tapped one more key on his laptop and brought up his last slide. “Professor Meade may not have discovered Tracy, but he had a pretty precise idea where the four meteors originated. All four came from this part of space. He provided precise vectors.”
The screen showed a constellation of stars not unlike any other section of the sky visible on a clear night.
“I think it’s time we had a talk with Tracy Clark.”
Cyrus Cooper will return in…
Surviving Origin
A Note from Xander Weaver:
Thank you for reading “Halon-Seven.” I hope you’ve had as much fun reading it as I’ve had writing it. If you did, you’re encouraged to show your support by posting a review with your online retailer of choice. Those reviews make a big difference to new readers, and are a definite aid when it comes to spreading the word about my work. Just a brief statement explaining what it was that you enjoyed is all it takes.
Your time and effort are sincerely appreciated.
Thank you!
—Xander Weaver
Acknowledgments:
Some believe that writing is a solitary endeavor; the result of a single author slaving over a keyboard until the story that needs telling has been told in its entirety, but this has never been the case for me. I do my best work when receiving feedback and input from trusted friends and colleagues. My wife, for example, is the first to read all that I write. She makes the first round of edits, even before I hand the manuscript off to the editor. Why? Well, when you’ve married someone as talented, intelligent, and genuinely interested in your work as I’ve had the good fortune to do, it would be foolish not to make use of that valued resource.
Then there’s my editor for this manuscript: Kane Gilmour. A gifted bestselling author, a professional editor with a killer resume and an all-round great guy, Kane is more than just a professional resource. He’s a friend. With tremendous demands on his time these days, I’m thankful for the opportunity to work with him on a project that means so much to me.
The cover art for Halon-Seven is once more the brilliant work of Lee Roesner, a longtime friend and proprietor of Paradigm Graphic Design. Lee has the sort of talent and artistic sense that makes great design seem effortless. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the cover of this book and the way its theme is perfectly meshed with the rest of the series.
As in the past, I’m also fortunate to have a support team of fact checkers, proofreaders, and general enforcers who raise the quality of my work. For both their time and effort, I want to give special thanks to: Wayne and Terri Manke, Tom Nielsen, Wenzel Roessler, and Jake and Julie Dresser. Jamie Dresser, in particular, championed this book from its roughest draft through to its final proof—truly a level of support that goes above and beyond. He read this manuscript more times than anyone, tenacious in his will to see it in print.
With friends and colleagues like these, the writing process is anything but solitary. I am extremely fortunate to know the true meaning of “friendship.”
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About the Author
Thank you for reading Halon-Seven. This is the fourth book in the “Cyrus Cooper” series, and in many ways it was my favorite to write. Cyrus is a far more complicated character at this point in the game. Having left the Coalition—where he’d been a major part of thrilling covert schemes—behind, his hope of leading a simpler life quickly seems not meant to be. If anything, he’s thrown into a world that’s more chaotic than any he has ever known. Now he’s forced to deal with wounds from the past, while searching for his rightful place in the present. And the future is coming…whether he likes it or not.
As is my way, this story is a mix of thriller, espionage, and science fiction. Like many authors, I am first a reader at heart. I write the genre of stories I want to read—that I love to read. I desire action, mystery and suspense—I want to be thrilled! A book should make me think, even while taking me on a wild ride that sticks with me long after the tale is finished. Learning things along the way is a great deal of fun, but at the core of it all I thrive on characters. Whether I love them or hate them, the greatest characters ever written are those that spark an emotional response that makes reading, and writing, fun. Halon-Seven is my attempt to capture these qualities.
If you would like to be notified of future book releases in advance, I welcome you to join my newsletter at: www.XanderWeaver.com. Rest assured, your personal information will never be sold or traded.
While I’m working on the next thrill ride, I frequently post updates to Facebook (Weaver.Books) and Twitter (@XanderWeaver). Please follow the progress and join in the fun!
Other books by Xander Weaver:
Book One: Dangerous Minds
Book Two: Rogue Faction Part 1
Book Three: Rogue Faction Part 2
For more information, please visit:
www.XanderWeaver.com
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