Oblivion (novel)

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Oblivion was the seventy-second Virgin New Adventures novel. This novel was the final part of a trilogy which began with Sky Pirates! and Death and Diplomacy, and as such it featured characters and themes from both of those earlier novels, including Roz Forrester from before her first appearance in Original Sin.

Publisher's summary

Roz snarled up into the face of her abductor. "If you touch me I'll kill you. Who are you? Just what the hell is going on?" The blond man looked down at her with a mixture of what looked like fear and pain. "My name's Chris Cwej," he said. "And as to what's going on, hell is probably as good a word for it as any."

Something has burst through the worn and patchwork fabric of the universe, like a high-velocity round through a rotten apple. The timelines are cut loose and whipsawing — alternative pasts, presents and futures slicing through the world we think of as real.

At the centre of the disruption three adventurers, Nathan li Shao, Leetha and Kiru, are trapped on a parallel Earth — flung from one twisted alternative to another by a man called Deed, who has usurped the power of the Godhead. If their friend Sgloomi Po cannot reach them in time they will be obliterated. Deed is attempting to forge his own reality and consign all others to oblivion.

To help end the chaos, Sgloomi has assembled a number of old friends: Bernice Summerfield, the feckless Jason Kane and Christopher Rodonante Cwej ... but there has been one small mistake. A miscalculation has placed someone among them who should not be there. Someone who should be dead.

Chapter titles

  • Prologue: Refrigerated Dreams of Me
  • Another Prologue: Getting Inside
  • Strike One: The Oncoming Storm
    • Chapter 1: A Fractured Surface
    • Chapter 2: Signals from the Underground
    • Chapter 3: The Interminable Salutation (Alternate Earth)
    • Chapter 4: Fairly Strange Reunions
    • Chapter 5: Made of This (Alternate Earth)
    • Chapter 6: Getting Up to Speed
    • Chapter 7: Minimal Cutting (Alternate Earth)
    • Chapter 8: The Elevation of the Masses, Altogether
  • Strike Two: Somewhere Between Now and Then
    • Chapter 9: The Mysteriously Elusive Villain, Part One (Alternate Earth)
    • Chapter 10: Foreign Music
    • Chapter 11: Suspicious Gestures
    • Chapter 12: The Mysteriously Elusive Villain, Part Two (Alternate Earth)
    • Chapter 13: Incidental Arrivals
    • Chapter 14: A Small Sojourn in Subterranea
    • Chapter 15: Displaced Relationships (Hybrid Timeline)
    • Chapter 16: Degrees of Attrition (Alternate Earth)
    • Chapter 17: Retrogressive Definitions
    • Chapter 18: Janus Waking (Alternate Earth/s)
  • Strike Three: Final Approach
    • Chapter 19: Crossmatched Cover Stories
    • Chapter 20: Past Times Catching Up (Alternate Earth)
    • Chapter 21: A Hell of a Life in the Glory Hole
    • Chapter 22: Could Be You (Premonitions of the Nexus)
    • Chapter 23: Peeling Back the Shins
    • Chapter 24: Light Come Down (A Meeting of Minds)
    • Chapter 25: Grounding Out
    • Chapter 26: A Break From Unreality
  • Strikeout: The Nexus of All Possible Events
  • Denouement: Reset Endings
  • Appendix

Plot

After waking up from a nightmare, young Simon Deed finds a mysterious man sitting near his cradle. This man reveals himself to be one Mr. Pelt and offers to give Deed a mystical and extremely beautiful clockwork egg if he does certain tasks. This involves Simon killing his new baby brother and hiding the "wrongness" inside of him.

Meanwhile, a new Adjudicator named Roz Forrester makes her very first planetfall (specifically on the planet Zarjax) with her partner Fenn Martle. The Adjudicators' visit to Zarjax is meant as a decoy while Covert Ops find the source of a drug flowing into the Fnarok population of the Overcities which has been traced to Zarjax.

In a place "not recognizable as any place on Earth", a clockwork egg ticks away.

Strike One: The Oncoming Storm

To get out of a destitute state, Bernice Summerfield begrudiginly takes a job babysitting a group of richly parented children while they explore the ruins of temples on the planet of Malanoor. Finding the job extremely displeasing, Benny decides to scare the children by telling a (somewhat sensationalised) tale of the extremely disturbing history of the "Lost Temples". While doing this, one of the children notices something falling onto the planet.

When this thing crashes onto Malanoor, it shuts off the fields protecting "explorers" from encountering any actually harmful wildlife. As such, Benny has the Malanoorian guides surround the children and keep them safe while she finds out what exactly crashed. At first, Benny looks through the jungle but is drawn to the temples. While examining the tunnels, Benny begins thinking about mythical "Great Beast" before she falls into a chamber and is found by a tentacled creature.

As the clockwork egg ticks interminably on, a hand approaches it.

While eating lunch at a diner with his friend Jimmy Kiru, private eye Nathan Leshane is approached by a mysterious Reptilian woman named Lisa Chan. Lisa reveals herself to be a friend of a friend (one Bernice Kane, whose name Nathan immediately forgets after it is mentioned and who Nathan can only vaguely remember) and asks him for his services as a private eye. Lisa reveals that her father (a brilliant inventor who made a mysterious device which is presumably a primitive computer) was murdered. Though it seems like a cartel killing, Lisa (and Nathan) have reasons to doubt this. Shortly after discovering this, Nathan departs to stake out the former apartment of Lisa's father. While this seems like a bust, Nathan notices a group of "Billy Boys" entering the apartment and follows them in.

The "beast" that grabbed Benny is revealed to be Sgloomi Po, who Benny vaguely remembers. Sgloomi reveals that hir "family" within the Schirron Dream is in grave danger while bringing Benny back to the vessel - which has crashed onto the surface of Malanoor. While walking to the Dream, Benny tries to get Sgloomi to reveal what the danger is but hir simply says that "a friend" will explain further. Once inside, this friend is revealed to be Chris Cwej - who begins to explain what has happened before Benny finds her ex-husband Jason within the ship. After Jason leaves, Chris discusses what is threatening the universe. According to him, something has been trimming away the alternate possibilities created by every action. While most people are unaware of this, time travellers such as himself, Benny, and Jason along with inhabitants of other dimensions (such as the crew of the Schirron Dream) have some insight into this process. Chris claims that this will greatly hasten the end of the universe (meaning that it only has ~1-2 billion years left) and that the nexus point of this is Earth - where Nathan, Leetha, and Kiru are trapped - which is causing the planet to fracture into various "pocket-sized hells".

As Nathan enters into the apartment and confronst the Billy Boys, the hand begins twisting the mechanisms within the clockwork egg. This causes reality to begin to fall apart around Nathan while the Billy Boys surround him. This is closely followed by Nathan being plunged into nothingness and his body seemingly exploding. Within his bunker, the owner of the hand (a being named Bane who has connected the clockwork egg to a being known only as "Employee Zero") makes a tiny adjustment to the mechanisms.

As the Schirron Dream prepares to launch, Benny learns that her ex-husband is flying the ship. This leads to a brief argument that causes Jason to purposefully fling Benny into one of the Dream's chairs using the ship's rapid acceleration. Though this is seemingly only due to the argument, Sgloomi reveals that this was to escape the dark matter clouds surrounding Malanoor as fast as possible so as to show Benny "the current state of affairs" as quickly as possible to avoid her lapsing into a psychotic state. Upon looking at the screen showing the nearby universe, Benny is lost for words.

Strike Two: Somewhere Between Now and Then

While visiting the house of Professor Tzanov, Dr. James Kiru discovers the great detective Nathan le Shadon being clawed at by a large lizard creature. He soon realizes that the "lizard creature" is actually young woman rescussitating the detective from the effects of a poisoned dart. Upon recovering, Nathan reveals that the woman is the daughter of Professor Tzanov who was "most cruelly murdered". Nathan also reveals that he purposefully visited the house to ensnare the murderer - who he reveals to be the malevolent Dr. Simon Deed.

Upon looking at the screen, Benny sees what looks like static. This is revealed to be a representation of a universe in which every single potentiality of every single planet in existence has become somewhat real. Though these possibilities are invisible and somewhat intangible, it is suggested that flying through them actively destroys them. Benny is horrified at the thought of effectively committing mass genocide - which leads to an argument with Jason which is ended by Sgloomi. Chris reveals that there are still a few more people that need to be collected before they can enter into "the nexus" and that, even this far from the center of disruption, it will be a "bumpy ride".

Shortly after landing on Zarjax, Fenn and Roz split up. Roz is struck by the sheer alienness of Zarjax (having never been to a planet largely inhabited by aliens) and teams up with a Zarjaxi militiaman named Logh. The two watch over a gathering of Fnaroks before Roz is frantically called by Fenn - who says that things have gone "oogli shaped" at a shebeen. Roz and Logh travel to the Three Jade Shebeen in a flier. To enter into the Shebeen, Roz has Logh send the flier through one of its roof coverings. Once inside, Roz and Logh discover a chamber holding several unconscious Zarjaxi humans (which greatly disturbs Logh). Before the two can find any sign of Fenn, a blaster beam strikes Logh and kills him. Roz attempts to fire at the beam but is hit by another beam.

After revealing the presence of Simon Deed, Nathan brings Miss Tzanov to a nearby hansom (powered using radium) and has her sent away to the protection of "Chief Inspector Bullstradd". Though Kiru questions this act, Nathan reveals that he has good motive. While examining a cache of burnt papers linked to Professor Tzanov, Nathan found links to the Sojourners. As such, Nathan intends to visit the Downtown. As Kiru descends into the Downtown, he begins to have strong feelings of everything around him being unreal as memories of a different life flow through his mind. Nathan speaks of similar feelings but assumes it is just a side effect of Deed's poisoned dart. Once inside the Downtown, Nathan asks after a Sojourner and is attacked. During this attack, "Dr. James Kiru" and "Nathan le Shadon" phase into becoming Kiru and Nathan li Shao before the world splits apart.

The Schirron Dream arrives at a planet none of its crew recognizes and Sgloomi departs while telling Jason, Chris, and Benny to stay behind. Around the same time, Martle finds Roz in one of the hospital beds and rescues her before any parts of her brain can be extracted. Shortly after this, Roz is found by Sgloomi (who is forced to sedate her after hir is attacked by Roz and Fenn) before bringing her to the Schirron Dream presumably while being chased by Martle. Sgloomi demands that the ship take off as soon as hir arrives. Once this begins, Benny visits the aft section and finds Sgloomi and Roz. Chris is deeply disturbed by the fact that Sgloomi effectively brought his closest dead friend back to life. He demands that Sgloomi return Roz to her native time period but the Sloathe reveals that the Schirron Dream seemingly wanted Roz to accompany them. As such, Chris watches over Roz and attempts to calm her down after she awakens. Meanwhile, Benny and Jason get into an argument that only ends when Sgloomi attempts to calm them down.

As a food break for a paper-reclamation plant staffed by "Underclassers" finishes, a native of "the City" known as Nathan L hides among them. Originally a "Researcher" (effectively, a copyist and producer of propaganda for the regime of Simon Deed and the Market), Nathan discovered a file known as DORMANT-CLASSIFIED://101 which detailed how his entire life was essentially a fraud. Shortly after this, Nathan began an affair with an Underclasser woman named Lisa T. While meeting with Lisa, Nathan finds himself unable to feel anything as his body seemingly works all on its own to have him embrace Lisa and talk about his feelings of internal emptiness before hearing a voice from the darkness saying "nothing inside".

Nathan L is brought before the People's Patrol alongside Lisa T. While the People's Patrol reveal that DORMANT-CLASSIFIED://101 was a trap created by them to see what Nathan would do with the knowledge of the true nature of his life, Nathan can only think of odd memories of a land that cannot possibly exist. Soon, Nathan's "fellow collaborator" is brought in. The close presence of Nathan, Kiru, and Leetha causes their memories to completely return. As they escape from the clutches of the Patrol, Bane readies himself for "the Conversion".

Strike Three: Final Approach

The Schirron Dream materializes at the edge of the Solar System - specifically near the Tenth Planet, as this is as close to the event horizon as the Dream's star-drive will allow it to get. Jason is forced to fly towards Earth using sublight engines (something that will take several days). Along with this, Sgloomi predicts that they will encounter "strangeness". Though hir is unworried by this due to the various experience the crew of the Dream have with "strange" events, Benny points out that Roz has basically no experience with these events. Shortly after this, a wavefront begins to approach the Dream. As it does, Chris attempts to convince Roz that she has been kidnapped for secretive purposes within the Adjudicators but accidentally frees Roz - who promptly attacks Chris. Shortly after this, the wavefront hits and Roz is deeply affected by it - with even her body slightly shifting due to its effects.

After regaining their memories, the three natives of the System find a place to hide and begin sharing stories from the System as a way to regain more and more of their memories. Soon, the three fall asleep but wake up several hours later to find a mysterious wall of blinding white light which eradicates everything it touches on an atomic level barrelling towards them. While Nathan has no real way to prove this, he believes that they are now able to view what happens the world reassembles itself. Seeing that there is nothing they can do, Nathan and company simply stay close together as the wall crawls nearer and nearer.

As the wall passes over Nathan, he goes through an extremely odd experience. At first, he experiences what it is to be completely formless (with extremely surreal memories largely involving drugs filtering through his brain) before he moves "outside". Once "outside", he finds himself nearby a dying machine which had been sucking his lives dry while a friendly presence speaks to him. Soon, though, this reality is proven to be a false one and Nathan wakes up beside Leetha and Kiru. The three speculate that the various realities they have been within have slowly been "eating" away at them before looking over their surroundings.

Shortly after Roz breaks out of her restraints, the Schirron Dream runs into three warships. Benny and Jason discover that the Dream effectively has no weapons. To compound their problems, Roz emerges onto the bridge with Chris and forces them into the "brig" of the Dream (thinking that they are mutineers). While in the brig, Benny says that this version of Roz has gone through a process known as "the Haze" which the Legion forced onto her (and which failed). With Jason and Benny in the brig, Roz (who believes that the Dream is a warship) prepares to ram the ship into the nearby Shelaarg warships. While she is able to start this process, Chris attacks her and tries to stop her. Benny and Jason arrive on the brig just in time to see as Roz knocks Chris out. Roz lunges at Jason but he is able to deftly stop her (greatly surprising Benny) as another wavefront smashes into the ship.

Characters

Worldbuilding

Astronomy

  • According to Chris, the universe has 1.5 billion years left to go.
  • Due to sitting in a dark-matter cloud at the edge of Mutters' Spiral, Malanoor's sky is almost completely devoid of stars. Its inhabitants are troll-like beings with a complete inability to look up.

Locations

The alternate Earths

  • In the first alternate Earth, J. Edgar Hoover was ousted as director of the FBI after a scandal and was replaced by William S. Burroughs. Burroughs began augmenting the agents with drugs, neurosurgery, and technology which made them into beings dubbed "Billy Boys".

Cover gallery

  • Cover

    Cover

  • Textless cover

    Textless cover

  • Sketch

    Sketch

Notes

Continuity

External links

v • e
Virgin Books New Adventures
Seventh
Doctor
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
Bernice
Summerfield
1997
1998
1999
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