Showing results for "Paradise" in Hard Science Fiction

Homicide detective Siro Ferreira-Nunes must solve his most challenging case. More and more people end up dead in the “city of dreams,” an allegedly perfect society. The victims haven’t just been murdered; they’ve been also horribly mutilated and stripped of their neural implants and augmentations. This is not the work of a serial killer but the signature of crime syndicates who sell the costly augmentations on the black market. A specialist in organized crime, detective Ferreira-Nunes is the right man for job.

In the floating city of Qelustra, every need is anticipated, every life optimized, every emotion edited to perfection. Disease, crime, and poverty no longer exist. Humanity has achieved paradise. But Rhen Dikem feels a wrongness in the flawless forests he oversees. Dr. Miavena Standish discovers that her empathy experiments draw on the anguish of alternate selves. Councilor Zaragoza Al-Rashid uncovers a secret energy program siphoning life from dying realities.

The Outer Layer is an enigma to its residents. Representatives from countless races and civilizations wander the many territories, hoping to unlock the secrets and progress further into its depths. An anomaly has been detected in space by an artefact from an extinct civilization. Ciqalo, a machine intelligence from the Wanderer civilization, is tasked with investigating and weaponizing the anomaly for a galactic war.