Three rookie space cadets crash on an unknown planet with aliens hot on their tail!
While a dissident alien scientist struggles to control time, he discovers that his wife will betray him. His favourite student discovers a way to see into the past but finds himself surrounded by enemies in a complex, fragmenting culture.
Meanwhile, Stone, douchebag son of Iron Cross winner Jake Nanden, a nerd and a feminist from the Space Fleet Academy crash-land on an unknown planet after falling through a worm-hole in this gripping and visionary science fiction thriller.
Called Anubians by humans, the jackal-headed aliens are now revealed as Ischians but they are hiding something on this unknown planet in an unknown universe.
Stone's world is shattered while he tries to escape and warn Earth of danger.
If you like Stargate, Flight of the Phoenix, Stephen Baxter, Arthur C. Clarke or Greg Bear, you will just have to read this thought-provoking part two of the epic Iron Series.
Categories: non-fiction, philosophy, metaphysics, fiction, science fiction, visionary, alien contact, clones, history.
Character interview with Jake Nanden.
Name (s): Jake Nanden
Age: 34
Please tell us a little about yourself.
I am 5'11', dark hair, short - Army cut, slightly curly. Green eyes.
Describe your appearance in 10 words or less.
Getting middle aged, slightly paunchy with drying skin - like paper in places - except my mech arm. That's synthetic skin on there and as smooth and supple as the day it was sprayed on. I even had mine tattooed but don't tell anyone.
Would you kill for those you love?
I kill every day - most days - to keep my culture intact. I would say that is killing for those I love. Of course there is a moral code... And as a soldier the moral code is almost everything. After a while... killing... it sometimes seems to be the only thing you have left. Family are too far away.
Do you like animals?
I love animals. Their love is unconditional. You can never quite be sure with humans, can you?
Do you have a family?
Ha! Ha! Yes. A test-tube. No seriously my mother - Mary, my sister Justine and a dog - a collie called Frisky. My adoptive dad was the famous robotics designer Robert R. Nanden but he's dead. My mother was his assistant and pretty accomplished at that!
Can you remember something from your childhood which influences your behaviour?
I am not sure about any of my childhood memories. They are probably all implanted. I am a replicant. The first memory I am sure about is playing on the grass with my adoptive mother watching me playing cricket.
She shouted out, "Jake! You are such a talented cyborg!"
Even at my tender age, I knew a replicant was not the same thing as a cyborg and I knew that she should know, as her first husband had been a famous robot designer. Her words had always stuck in my head.
But anyway, adoptive parents of replicant children are always told to create some vivid experience for their kid in the first few days so that the imprinting takes properly. So it's probably not significant.
Do you have any phobias?
Mirrors. Can't stand them. They make me sweat and... well, I'm very nervous around them. I avoid them.
This book is the popular second book in the War for Iron: Element of Civilization series.
A review from Amazon:
5 Stars
A great read that lays the foundation for the Iron Universe
ByPedro Diazon April 28, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
I was first turned on to this author by Too Bright The Sun. It was an action filled Sci Fi read that extends beyond your standard Sci Fi books out there, with a deep and rich level of character development. Iron 2 continues along this vein. We are given new characters who are thrust via time travel into a planet where they have to use their wits to not only survive, but eventually become leaders for a struggling humanoid clan.
In and on itself, it is a good novel, but its main purpose is to focus on introducing us to the Iron series Universe. Here we are shown what the Aliens behind the scenes that caused the conflict in Iron 1 are like, their beliefs, and their menacing intrusion into human affairs. Being able to understand the Alien’s philosophies and true intentions sets us up for what is sure to be a great third volume to the series. Can’t wait for its release.
Prologue
It’s been over ten years since Gary Enquine sent my friend Przeltski to a certain death. Not one day has gone by without the memories of that battle prowling my mind like a waking nightmare. Many times, I have woken in a cold-sweat thinking about it. I will not rest, cannot rest, until Gary Enquine has been brought to justice and been forced to pay for his cowardice. Ten years; it’s a long time but I can be patient. Personal journal entry of Jake Nanden for 2101, Feb 3. 1.
Twenty-two years later … .
***
1. Unknown Place
Kek-suîxjh looked out over the hills surrounding the city, his mournful, long-snouted jackal face staring back at him from the transparent walls of his office.
In a moment of childish caprice, he tried to smile but his reflection just grinned back with a sickly parody of a smile.
It has been so long since I was happy.
His two pups had grown up, or at least one had, and even though his wife still looked as beautiful as ever, he felt the weight of age grow heavy. He returned to his desk and stared at its blank surface. He sometimes had to force himself to look away, to see the big picture, before he could remember why he had been trying to solve this problem. Religion, and his speciality, metaphysics, were not the pleasurable subjects they used to be; thinking no longer divorced from real life. Now, he yearned for one thing; to return a feeling of optimism, and yes, faith in religion and science, to the people of the planet Ito.
What if … God allows the transgression of time-laws but only under certain conditions?
The transparent surface of the desktop filled with physics formulae to describe his thoughts but they did not produce a pattern he could accept.
