Ryk Spoor

The Bill is Coming Due... ... on Project Hyperion. Ariane Austin discovers she and her friends Marc, Simon, and Wu Kung are crippled after their battles in Challenges of the Deeps, unable to use their Arena-born powers. The newly-embodied Hyperion AI, Dr. Alexander Fairchild, is working with a Molothos officer to undermine the Faction of Humanity... while he also pulls deadly strings back home in the Solar System. The insane Hyperion Maria-Susanna is active at last, and someone has murdered one of the Champions of the Arena even as he was coming to meet with Marc DuQuesne. All of these events are related, and the collision of such forces will shake the entirety of the Arena, and beyond, as they find that everything, everything, is affected by the long, dark shadows of Hyperion.

Sequel to the popular space adventure Grand Central Arena Leader of the Faction of Humanity. It was a ridiculous title, but the Arena declared that Captain Ariane Austin held that position after she led the crew of the Holy Grail to discover the impossible, physics-defying place--and successfully returned. And when the nigh-omnipotent Arena says something, it becomes reality. Now, Ariane must figure out what it truly means to be Leader of Humanity--both for herself and for the survival of her species--before enemies at home or within the Arena move to depose her, kill her, or worse. She'll need all her luck, Marc DuQuesne's indomitable will, Simon Sandrisson's genius, and the skill of a living legend to survive what's coming. But in the end, the fate of humanity in the galaxy and beyond may hinge on the choice of an uncertain ally--one who has nothing to gain and everything to lose by siding with the upstart humans.