The thermopylae protocol

David Weber, 1952-

Book - 2024

"A Time Storm is Brewing. After an industrial ship carrying advanced self-replicating machines explodes on its way to Mercury, analysis of the wreckage reveals it to be forty years too old. Raibert Kaminski, the Gordian Division's top agent, and his crew on the TransTemporal Vehicle Kleio soon discover the ship was transported to an uncharted universe, one with temporarily accelerated time. Forty years passed for the ship's industrial machines while everyone else experienced only a few short days. Raibert is certain a powerful weapon of some nature has been built out in the unexplored reaches of the multiverse, but where and by whom remains unknown. The search is on, and the Gordian Division musters its fleet of time machines... at Providence, a massive transdimensional station under construction. They call upon their allies from the militaristic Admin for aid in their search--but before plans can be formalized, the leader of the Admin's Department of Temporal Investigation is murdered while visiting Providence, and the joint operation is thrown into chaos. Accusations fly and tensions mount between the two organizations. Detectives Isaac Cho and Susan Cantrell--both fast becoming experts in transdimensional crime-are dispatched to Providence. But the clock is ticking for the detectives and Raibert's crew. A vast, powerful conspiracy has shuddered into motion, and the two teams may be all that stand between it and destruction on a universal scale"-- more