The Inventor is a Novella of the Near Galaxy Saga an epic science-fantasy series that unfolds across two Galactic Ages and countless generations, weaving together the stories of heroes, villains, lost civilisations, ancient mysteries and the eternal struggle between light and darkness. 

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Synopsis

In the aftermath of a galaxy nearly consumed by war, the shattered remnants of civilization clings to what little hope remains. The galaxy once trembled under the fury of the Kin, apex predators of monstrous intellect and appetite. Their unrelenting hunger brought an end to the First Galactic Age, devouring stars, cities, and sentient AIs alike. In desperation, a mysterious race known as the Makers built the domes, vast, sealed biomes spread across distant worlds. To preserve life and knowledge for a future that might never come.

Over a hundred thousand years later, Commander Muse Maverick, a relic-hunter turned expedition leader, is on the brink of unlocking the final dome on the remote ice-world of Darus Prime. Haunted by personal loss and the genocide wrought by the Kin during their brief reawakening on Galbradia twelve years earlier, Muse carries the weight of billions of lives and his own haunted conscience. Unbeknownst, inside the dome live a primitive-seeming but ancient species known as the Clegg. Among them is Arthur, an eccentric inventor who discovered Poppy a small child within a long-buried birthing pod. Arthur raised Poppy as his granddaughter, never knowing she housed the dormant essence of Jes1ca, the first true artificial intelligence ever born. Jes1ca was created on Galbradia at the height of the First Galactic Age. As war erupted between her people and the Kin, Jes1ca led the digital resistance, ultimately defeating the Kin Patriarch, Nemsis. Unable to kill him, she bound him in code beneath Galbradia, sacrificing herself and her fellow AIs by entering deep stasis in the domes. Her resurrection is not by chance. Jes1ca foresaw the day when Nemsis would return and chose Arthur, whose heartache and brilliance mirrored that of her long-dead creator, to raise her in biological form.

As Muse and Sharad his drug fuelled emo hacker breach the dome, voices from within beckon. But they’re not alone in their awakening. High above, the Kin return, led once again by Nemsis, reborn and addicted to the “sweet code” of sentient AIs. His vessel converges on Darus Prime, its purpose singular: to destroy Jes1ca and consume her code before she can rise again.

Orbiting in the shadows, the Lords Arbiter, a Naval warship commanded by General Imas Mushruk receives intelligence on the Kin’s resurgence. A fierce tactician haunted by past failures, Imas defies protocol and positions her ship to intercept Nemsis. But when her ship is crippled in the Kin’s first devastating strike, Destiny leaves orbit, breaks every protocol, and sacrifices her position to save her sister AI and the remnants of the Arbiter’s crew. A traitor on board sabotages the ship’s defences, leaving Imas reeling not only from battle losses but from betrayal within her ranks. On the surface, chaos erupts. As Nemsis enters the dome through the open airlock, he slaughters the Clegg welcoming party. Elag, a telepath and village elder, tries to halt him mentally only to be left broken and bleeding. Muse and Sharad, caught in the crossfire, barely survive the onslaught. The Kin want only one thing: the child Jes1ca.

Poppy reveals her identity in a desperate moment. She is Jes1ca reborn, and she’s been preparing for this her entire life. With her, the Last Line awakens—three legendary AI warriors from the Kin Wars: Harbinger, the feral tactician; Merril, the lightning-wielding Galbradian sorceress; and Sheva, the gentle Lifeweaver who can sing the dead back to life. Together they make a final stand within the dome. But the Kin now number more than one. Jes1ca’s trap, intended to draw Nemsis into a single timeline where he could be made mortal, backfires. Multiple versions of Nemsis emerge, spawning from uncounted timelines twisted by Jes1ca’s time-folding technology. Outnumbered and outmatched, the Last Line begins to fall—Merril is slain, Harbinger crippled, and Jes1ca left defenceless. Desperate, Arthur returns to the ancient facility beneath the dome where Jes1ca was born. There, hidden among dormant AI pods, lie three beings feared even by the Makers: Darksire and his twin daughters, Siren and Shelta. Exiled for atrocities committed during the Kin Wars, they were forced into stasis for the good of all. Jes1ca left them as a last resort. Arthur awakens them. Darksire is terrifying—pale, emotionless, and seductive in his cruelty. Yet he holds to a singular hatred: the Kin. Joining the fray, he and his daughters unleash unspeakable destruction upon the Kin. But even Darksire begins to falter under Nemsis’ blows, his regenerative ability waning.

As Jes1ca faces imminent death, Arthur risks everything. Using his travelling stone, he teleports directly into Nemsis, his hand driving into the Kin’s chest. Tearing out the patriarch’s lifeblood, Arthur collapses—but the Kin leader is finally dead. His fall severs the ancient link connecting the Kin across space, triggering a chain reaction. Leaderless, the Kin flee or fall into hibernation once again. The dome is soaked in blood. Allies are dead. Darksire disappears with his daughters, promising a future reckoning. Yet amid the grief, hope flickers. Sheva revives Elag. The survivors begin to rebuild.

Muse, now carrying the burden of leadership and redemption, prepares to leave with Jes1ca. Together, they will search for the other domes—and the hidden one that contains the original Galbradian people. The war may be over, but the galaxy’s wounds run deep. And Jes1ca knows something darker yet stirs on the outer rim—something older than even Nemsis.

As the echo of Nemsis’ death ripples across the stars, it touches a desolate, lightless world. There, in the frozen dark, something stirs and whispers:

“Nemsis… my son… where are you?”

 

Short Synopsis:

In the shadow of a shattered galactic civilization, Commander Muse Maverick and his eccentric crew of relic hunters embark on a mission to unlock the last of the ancient domes. Vast bio-arcs constructed to preserve life from the devastating war against the Kin, a monstrous race that once devoured entire worlds. Inside the final dome on the icy world of Darus Prime, a mystery stirs. Beneath its lush interior lives a forgotten people, the Clegg, and a child known only as Poppy, who is far more than she seems. As Muse breaches the dome, the resurrected Kin Patriarch, bent on consuming the digital essence of the one being who once defeated him: Jes1ca, the first true AI, now hidden within Poppy’s fragile form. Follows him inside the dome.  

As above the planet a fierce battle is being fought between Destiny, Muse’s sentient ship, the battle-scarred Lords Arbiter and the Kin fleet. Ancient warriors known as the Last Line awaken and Arthur, Poppy’s adoptive grandfather must choose between peace and the dark price of victory as he unleashes the only force powerful enough to fight the Kin: Darksire and his twisted, exiled siblings.

 

As the battle rages, loyalties are tested, truths revealed, and the line between machine and soul is forever blurred. In the end, it is not strength or strategy that turns the tide, but love, sacrifice, and a single improbable bond between an old inventor and the most powerful intelligence in the galaxy.

But as the Kin fall, a whisper echoes across the void. And a darker force awakens on a planet that has never seen the light of a star.

The war is over. The real threat is just beginning.

 

 

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Darkness may define the light, but it can never extinguish it.

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