At Childhood's End
Traduction: [ Google | Babelfish ]
Catégories : [ Livres ]
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Dorothy is the CEO of A Charitable Earth, a philanthropic organisation. When she learns in the news that an alien spaceship is in orbit around the Moon, she goes to her friend Will, an astronaut at the Space Defence Centre, bringing with her a device that she had salvaged years ago from a crashed alien spacecraft. That device, once attached the SDC's rocket, allows them to fly to the Moon much faster than with a conventional rocket and board the spaceship before the crews sent by other countries. On the ship they meet the Doctor, Yaz, Graham and Ryan, and the Doctor recognizes Dorothy as Ace, with whom he she had travelled thirty years earlier. Once back on Earth, Dorothy and the Doctor investigate rumors of homeless people being abducted and sighting of Ratts, humanoid aliens able shapeshift into rats reported by Dorothy's friend Chantelle. The Doctor equips Yaz and Ryan with beacons and try them to get abducted, assuming that they will be transported first to the ship around the Moon before being forwarded to their destination. While the Doctor and Graham are on the ship trying to trace the transporter's signal, the others are attacked by Ratts who abduct instead Dorothy and Chantelle. At the same time, the spaceship is boarded by a party of Astingir soldiers, centaur-like beings who are in perpetual war with the Wraiths, creatures who have tried to invade every weak empire on their path. The Astingir recognize the Doctor as one who, in the past, has interfered with the Quantum Anvil, the prison where the Astingir keep the Wraiths captive, by putting Ace in contact with it in order to make her a future emissary between the Wraiths and the other inhabitants of the Universe. The Doctor and Graham manage to escape the Astingirs as the latter destroy the spaceship. The Doctor has however had the time to discover that the spaceship is only the first in a chain of relays hiding the final destination of the abductees. Chantelle and Dorothy arrive on an arid planet where they are, separately, herded by Ratts, towards a processing centre. The centre is managed by Halogi-Kari who explains that in order to go around the laws of the Shadow Proclamation, they work as a charity, collecting what is useless or unwanted — homeless people — and giving it away to the Wraiths who need a body to be able to function inside the Universe. Thanks to a special baseball bat Dorothy had with her when transported, The Doctor manages to find the planet she is on and travels there with her gang. They are soon followed by the Astingir who storm the building, intent on killing everyone inside. The order however arrives from the Astingir High Command that their actions are illegal and that they must stand down. In the meanwhile Halogi-Kari explains Dorothy that he needs her for building a bridge between the Quantum Anvil and the Universe to let the Wraiths out, planning to use them to wipe out the Shadow Proclamation; he then throws her into the Anvil. The Wraiths have however seen many futures while in the Anvil and have decided to change their way of life. They accept to go back into the Anvil, having seen in the future that it would not be forever. Ace stays behind to force Halogi-Kari to clean up the mess he created.
[ Posté le 23 octobre 2023 à 16:11 | pas de commentaire | lien permanent ]
