Sex, intrigue…and bubbly drinks!
One thousand years in the future, life is full of surprises. No one knows that better than Dr. Keiff Carmadden, a post-human who joins a small institute at the center of the galaxy and soon finds the layers of his enlightened society peeling away. Before long he discovers each of his new alien colleagues possess a mysterious background, although none more dangerous than that of an enigmatic machine from a secretive realm at the edge of the galaxy, and only the institute’s chairman—himself a cybernetic simulation of life—is fully aware of the foreign entity’s true purpose. Can Carmadden and his new friends cut through all the half-truths and hype before the ominous machine seizes control?
First in a 4-part series, Through the Whole of Space-Time, Book One: Mysteries, Secrets, and Lies is a thought provoking journey through an era of self-indulgence—an existential romp in the far future—satirical, lyrical, and darkly sensual…
Excerpt
7 Acculturation
…Dr. Bars Llunas tore his eyes away from the dark siren and downed the last of his black ale in a single gulp, then ordered another. A full glass materialized in place of the empty and, after stealing one last look at the temptress, he downed that one too.
Somehow the night had become enchanted. There we sat in the semi-darkness of Empyrean Skies, each of us seduced by this mysterious creature, the flickering candlelight casting shadows in the deep valley of her bosom. And like so many times before I felt the subtle pull of her magnetic charm. The tronic barrier filtered out 85% of the incoming starlight, producing a quasi-twilight ambience over the countryside, with rows of cocktail tables just like ours, each with a single candle at the center, dotting the landscape. Our spot next to the invisible dome made it seem that with just a few brief paces one might step off the brink of eternity and drop into the infinite void outside the spacecraft, with the great eagle towering above us, and the stars out on the western horizon so numerous they formed a shimmering river of light that outshined the background starfield by several orders of magnitude brighter than anywhere else in the firmament.
This glowing cascade of stars—the inside edge of the Milky Way galaxy—twinkled through space from one end of the sky to the other, and received its name on ancient Earth when the Greek goddess Hera awoke from slumber and found infant Hercules nursing at her breast. When she pulled the hungry child away from her engorged nipple in mid-suckle, the torrent of milk thus created a sparkling stream of stars across the heavens.
Here at the galactic center where that shining river runs thickest, this timeless origin myth magnified the power and beauty of the divine panorama surrounding us, and, apropos, provided Empyrean Skies with a singular view of the cosmos that was every bit as magical as those ancient gods of Earth…this place was made for making memories!
And Shraxxa Koshana—our very own sex goddess personified in flesh—was just getting started. She leaned past Sylvan Rook and whispered something into Ooniva’s ear. The driftwood blonde covered her mouth and giggled…
Author Bio
Dean Rosenthal twists speculative fiction inside out. His new wave sci-fi looks ahead at possibilities of tomorrow—super-slick machines, synthetic people, travel in the wink of an eye—yet takes inspiration from classic space opera of the 60s and 70s. As an explorer of the human condition, he considers himself an archeologist of consciousness, and writes for those who sometimes feel out of place on this peculiar planet of ours…
Matt Doyle Media 
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