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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.
- You may wish to consult
Oblivion (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
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[[edit] | [edit source]]
- 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[[edit] | [edit source]]
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[[edit] | [edit source]]
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[[edit] | [edit source]]
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.
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Bernice Summerfield
- Chris Cwej
- Roz Forrester
- Jason Kane
- Sgloomi Po
- Nathan li Shao
- Leetha
- Randolph Bane
- Kiru
- Mr. Pelt
- Simon Deed
- Fenn Martle
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
Astronomy[[edit] | [edit source]]
- 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[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Jason has some unfinished work in the Catan Nebula.
- Sgloomi Po found Jason in the Lower Habitats of the Proximan Chain.
The alternate Earths[[edit] | [edit source]]
- 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[[edit] | [edit source]]
Cover
Textless cover
Sketch
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- According to author Dave Stone, this is the third part in a trilogy consisting of the novels Sky Pirates!, Death and Diplomacy and this novel.
- The character of Nathan le Shadon reappeared in Stone's short story Little Killers, published later the same year in issue 135 of Interzone; the story also mentions Queegvogel Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Duck Seven.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Schirron Dream and her crew last appeared in PROSE: Happy Endings, though they last appeared at length in PROSE: Sky Pirates!.
- Roz Forrester last appeared (and died) in PROSE: So Vile a Sin.
- Jason Kane last appeared in PROSE: Deadfall.
- Chris Cwej last appeared in PROSE: Mean Streets.
- The Shadow Directory's "Egg" first appeared in PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet.
- Chris mentions that the universe's higher powers keep going on about "some imminent Big War" as hinted at in PROSE: Alien Bodies and Dead Romance.
- Chris mentions being in "sixteenth-century Japan", which happened in PROSE: The Room With No Doors.
- Benny and Jason got divorced in PROSE: Eternity Weeps. His marriage to Charlene Connor (which happened in PROSE: Deadfall) is hinted at.