"But the currents carry something else as well. Something that preys on the human mind."
Across the world, sailing is a sport enjoyed by many, from weekend fun to the discipline of ocean racing. But lying deep beneath the waves is a secret no sane human was ever meant to encounter.

"It happened just like Pa Michigan said it would..."
Paramilitary right wing organisations, extremist militias... All symptomatic of the schisms and problems born of paranoia, hatred and distrust in the United States. But what if some of that paranoia turned out to be right?

"Everyone who survived - about 29% of the Earth's human population - remembers where they were on December 19, 2005..."
Everyone looked forward to the regeneration of Tasmania's pristine forests, to the remediation of our environment on a global scale. But as ever, human beings ignored the time-honoured advice: don't mess with Mother Nature.

"Over the last three weeks twenty-five licensed prostitutes have disappeared. Of them, seven women and five men have been found murdered... carved up and left in bins at restaurants. Sound familiar?"
Life's a bit tough when the most hideous of crimes is pinned at your feet. But it doesn't get much worse than when your accusers know you're innocent.

"Did you see the flutter of sparks? Did you hear the crunch of metal grazing rock?"
A plane crash might not be the most likely place for a lecture, but then perhaps it is also the most telling. Sometimes, blood is thicker than intelligence.

"When God created the Noog, He didn't give them a sense of humour."
That was the galaxy-wide saying, and no-one was in a hurry to disagree. But the Noog were as much into the Corporate Spirit as anyone else. At least until three penniless travellers discover that the Noog may not be servile any longer.

"Third day, no contact."
In the jungles of Surinam mercenary activity has reached a peak. Cruel weapons and dirty tricks run rampant. This is one confrontation from which no-one will walk away...

"The drug, the phooey, swirled around his brain, clamping to receptors, heightening some, dulling others, and the constant pain ebbed into nothing, for a while."
Drug cultures come and go, but invariably the victims remain the same. In such a world, freedom is in the eye of the beholden.

"Vladia stared up into the night sky, and shuddered at the thought of what had fallen. So far only the sketchiest of reports had come in from the wilds to the east, but enough was said to know that another one had landed..."
There comes a time when we must all protect our home. As the saying goes, keep watching the skies...

"Two hours ago his knee started jiggling. It always did that in stressful situations."
Sometimes the most fulfilling moment of your life is also the emptiest. Fate is a master at making ambition your greatest foe.