Publisher's Summary
In the evening, when the sky was the colour of burnt umber, the factories crawled down the continental shelf to drink.
The Spire is an inhuman artefact, a construction almost three hundred miles high. But it is more than just a big dumb object. Those close to it can look into the future - a future which is going to be arriving sooner than they think, and which is as bad as can be.
In the here and now, Professor Bernice Summerfield, doyenne of twenty-sixth century archaeology and seedy space-port bars, is used to seeing strange things in her rooms. So it takes the unexpected arrival of an angel to get her away from increasingly desperate professional deadlines and off to investigate one of the seven hundred and seventy-six wonders of the galaxy.
However, Benny is not the only one interested in the Spire. A mysterious race of weaponsmiths, a mutogenic assassin and a sect of fanatically anti-religious reptiles all have their reasons for learning - or concealing - the structure's secrets. And, as she struggles to unlock this ancient mystery, it soon becomes clear that the life of an eccentric professor is of very little consequence indeed.
Characters
- Benny takes on the job of investigating The Spire for God for the payment of her second novel, written by a virtual construction of herself created by God (who incidentally didn’t finish that book either).
- Benny, unable to cope with her role in the temporal paradox overdoses on tranquilizer pills, but is saved by Clarence.
- Clarence used to be a People ship, except he was involved in an accident, God refashioned his intelligence into something more or less (sort of) humanoid, and looks a bit like an angel.
- Clarence looks a bit like Keanu Reeves, though naked and with wings.
Factory 34561239
- Helps Benny’s group escape Vo’lach Prime.
- It also thinks about excluding pears from its fruit and vegetable section when it hears Bernice state “everything’s gone pear shaped”.
The Air Vent
- Benny’s group are rescued by the Air Vent inside a life hating submarine.
References
- The Spire is one big time travel device.
- The spire cycles through multiple paradoxes before a balance is found between the missiles and destruction.
- Ordifica is briefly seen here.
Notes
- This novel shows another permutation of Bernice Summerfield in an alternate universe.
Continuity
- Benny agreed to take on assignments for God in BNA: Oh No It Isn't!.