The Heroes of Blackworld

The Spacetime Driller
A million years into the future an offshoot of humanity has evolved into gender-neutral beings called Moddai that can modify their form to adapt to the rigors of surviving deep space. Long pursued by their enemy, the Odium, who long ago irradiated the Earth, which have chased them across the stars seeking their destruction.

Roxx is an important member of the Moddai species, a spacetime driller that enables their escape whenever the Odium attack. Unfortunately for the Moddai, Roxx considers himself to be a man, a fact whose consequences also mean his death. However, when they find themselves in trouble and under threat, they have no choice but to accept his demands that he be allowed to live, and be set free. But little does Roxx know that he's about to discover something so profound that it will change the course of humankind forever.

The Kingdom of Terrene
A million years into the future, Terrenians are very similar to their human ancestors, except for a special augment serum that gives most long life, and a special few extraordinary abilities. Instead of prosperity, however, the augment has brought complacency, and danger to the kingdom, as few understand the machines, which are breaking down, that make the augment. Only one man knows how to save them, but he'll have to break his sacred oaths and disobey his beloved Queen to do it.

Mulier Odoratus
A million years into the future not every branch of humanity has survived, but of those that have, few have had it worse than the Seral, a human-descendant species that lives on a part of the Baj that receives no sun circle. In the freezing snows of the Shadelands there is little food, little light, and a relentless enemy. Their only hope is to wait close to the ancient travel node and hope that soon someone will come and help them, but time is running out.

The Man that Time Forgot
A million years into the future and Drugo is a million-year-old cybernetic organism who, after wandering the Baj for many hundreds of thousands of years, stumbles upon a group of very human-like peoples. Seeing them awakens a longing for the past, and when they are taken captive by an unknown enemy he decides to also get captured. But to live to be a million years old means making very good decisions, and yet this last one might very well get them all killed.

About the Author: A.B. Call is an author who has written several books, both technical and creative, as well as being an artist and teacher in computer visualization at Iowa State University. His current endeavors are to creatively explore with science fiction and visualization the plausible (as well as the less plausible) evolutionary routes humanity might take in the far future.