Dumarest 33 - Child of Earth Read Online Free
life he had been leading and attempt to retrace his steps back to Earth? Readers could only speculate—until now.
Even more frustrating for film-makers and readers alike has been the lack of a proper conclusion to the saga. The cover of the English-language edition of
The Return
announced itself as ‘the long awaited final novel’, but even though Dumarest did indeed finally locate Earth and arrive in the orbit of the planet in the final pages, there were still unresolved plotlines and loose ends that left many readers disappointed. Clearly Ted Tubb had written the 32nd Dumarest novel with the intention of continuing the story to a satisfying conclusion in one further volume.
In
The Return,
Dumarest makes his way to the planet Kaldar in the Lonagar Drift, armed with the coordinatesof Earth that he has discovered in the Temple of Cerevox on Raniang. Still pursued by the Cyclan, he charters a ship, the
Geniat,
captained by one Leif Chapman and crewed by Kaldari who believe that they will find indescribable wealth on Earth. But the final leg of Dumarest’s journey is long and fraught with danger, and just to complicate matters, he is torn between two lovers, raider scout Zehava Postel and Kaldari administrator Nadine Cavallo, one of whom, it transpires, is working for the Cyclan. Evading the Cyclan’s trap, the
Geniat
finally arrives at Earth to be confronted by a Cyclan ship and the cyber Tryne, a new form of cyber, one genetically engineered in the Cyclan laboratories with a sponge-metal alloy brain. Dumarest brings about the destruction of Tryne’s ship but the
Geniat
is badly damaged in the conflict and Captain Chapman realises he must make an emergency landing on the planet below.
As the book ends, Dumarest has completed his quest, but his immediate future and survival is unknown, and many questions are left unanswered. Assuming he survives the crash-landing, what will Dumarest find on his return to Earth? What is the meaning of the creed of the Original People: ‘From terror they fled to find new places on which to expiate their sins’? Why have the Cyclan gone to so much trouble to keep the planet hidden, not just from Dumarest but from the entire universal population? Why are they still so desperate to get their hands on the secret of the affinity twin when they have already developed a method of transferring memories and knowledge from a human brain to a cybernetic surrogate, a creature whose outward appearance can be altered as required?
At long last, the answers to these questions—as well as those relating to Dumarest’s early life—are here.
Chris Bentley
October 2008
CHAPTER ONE
S omewhere a woman screamed in torment her voice rising in a shriek of savage hatred at the forces of the universe that had devastated her life; a cry of helpless frustration, anger and seething despair. To soar in a long, nerve-scraping ululation then to break, to drop into a moaning susurration as she cradled the ravaged body of her child, to stare bleakly at the ruin of her home, the slumped corpses of her slaughtered dead, the end of a familiar life.
Sounds Dumarest had heard before on a scatter of worlds that had fallen victim to the arrogance and ambition of petty rulers. The burning, bloodshed and butchery dispensed by mercenary forces interested in nothing but victory, reward and self-preservation.
He moved and the screaming vanished. There had been no woman only the impact of wind transmitted through the hull against which his head had rested. The sounds inducing memories and latent images conjured from the recesses of his mind. Near-dreams of other places, other times. Reminders of things best forgotten. Of events impossible to forget.
Another rose to dominate his vision.
A face, hard, mad, bearing the stamp of corrupt degeneration. One still young yet seared with the acid of sadistic indulgence. The hair was a thick roach adorned with flecks of ribbon, scraps of filigree, the gleam of gems. The eyebrows
Even more frustrating for film-makers and readers alike has been the lack of a proper conclusion to the saga. The cover of the English-language edition of
The Return
announced itself as ‘the long awaited final novel’, but even though Dumarest did indeed finally locate Earth and arrive in the orbit of the planet in the final pages, there were still unresolved plotlines and loose ends that left many readers disappointed. Clearly Ted Tubb had written the 32nd Dumarest novel with the intention of continuing the story to a satisfying conclusion in one further volume.
In
The Return,
Dumarest makes his way to the planet Kaldar in the Lonagar Drift, armed with the coordinatesof Earth that he has discovered in the Temple of Cerevox on Raniang. Still pursued by the Cyclan, he charters a ship, the
Geniat,
captained by one Leif Chapman and crewed by Kaldari who believe that they will find indescribable wealth on Earth. But the final leg of Dumarest’s journey is long and fraught with danger, and just to complicate matters, he is torn between two lovers, raider scout Zehava Postel and Kaldari administrator Nadine Cavallo, one of whom, it transpires, is working for the Cyclan. Evading the Cyclan’s trap, the
Geniat
finally arrives at Earth to be confronted by a Cyclan ship and the cyber Tryne, a new form of cyber, one genetically engineered in the Cyclan laboratories with a sponge-metal alloy brain. Dumarest brings about the destruction of Tryne’s ship but the
Geniat
is badly damaged in the conflict and Captain Chapman realises he must make an emergency landing on the planet below.
As the book ends, Dumarest has completed his quest, but his immediate future and survival is unknown, and many questions are left unanswered. Assuming he survives the crash-landing, what will Dumarest find on his return to Earth? What is the meaning of the creed of the Original People: ‘From terror they fled to find new places on which to expiate their sins’? Why have the Cyclan gone to so much trouble to keep the planet hidden, not just from Dumarest but from the entire universal population? Why are they still so desperate to get their hands on the secret of the affinity twin when they have already developed a method of transferring memories and knowledge from a human brain to a cybernetic surrogate, a creature whose outward appearance can be altered as required?
At long last, the answers to these questions—as well as those relating to Dumarest’s early life—are here.
Chris Bentley
October 2008
CHAPTER ONE
S omewhere a woman screamed in torment her voice rising in a shriek of savage hatred at the forces of the universe that had devastated her life; a cry of helpless frustration, anger and seething despair. To soar in a long, nerve-scraping ululation then to break, to drop into a moaning susurration as she cradled the ravaged body of her child, to stare bleakly at the ruin of her home, the slumped corpses of her slaughtered dead, the end of a familiar life.
Sounds Dumarest had heard before on a scatter of worlds that had fallen victim to the arrogance and ambition of petty rulers. The burning, bloodshed and butchery dispensed by mercenary forces interested in nothing but victory, reward and self-preservation.
He moved and the screaming vanished. There had been no woman only the impact of wind transmitted through the hull against which his head had rested. The sounds inducing memories and latent images conjured from the recesses of his mind. Near-dreams of other places, other times. Reminders of things best forgotten. Of events impossible to forget.
Another rose to dominate his vision.
A face, hard, mad, bearing the stamp of corrupt degeneration. One still young yet seared with the acid of sadistic indulgence. The hair was a thick roach adorned with flecks of ribbon, scraps of filigree, the gleam of gems. The eyebrows
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