ISBN: 978-1-80074-060-0
Published: 25/11/2021
Summary
Beyond Terror's Reach is the third in the Martha Twine trilogy. Martha's adventures take her into outer space, where she finds that NASA, the British and the US military have been populating planets since the 1960s. Some parts of space are like the Wild West, with unethical big business running enterprises they would not get away with on Earth. There is a plot to take over the US by stealth, and Senate and Parliamentary representatives from the UK and Europe get involved in disclosure of the secret space programme. Martha encounters space wars, and meets beings from other constellations as she seeks to rescue humans trafficked from Earth by criminal syndicates, and discovers that the struggle between good and evil is not limited to human beings.
Extract
“By now Brandon could see the newsagents and the entrance to the alley. He counted twenty paces, and casually putting his hand in his pocket, drew out the plastic glasses. With a quick look round, he put them on. For a moment he could see nothing. Then as his eyes got used to the darkness, he saw a set of stone stairs leading downwards. He walked down the steps and turned a corner. Things got brighter. He could see a man wearing a transparent visor standing by a gate. The man opened the gate and let him through. On the other side of the gate was a blinding white light. Brandon could not see what was behind it. He heard the gate lock behind him.
‘Just walk through the light area,’ said the man.
Brandon felt himself lift up, surrounded by white light. He floated through white clouds, and dimly saw armed men standing in the background, as he fell, feet first, through a huge metal funnel, and out into a reception area. He was aware of blue sky, clouds and sun shining down. He was in a goods wagon on a moving train. He heard a voice say, ‘Move out through the door please.’
There was a door in the wagon. Brandon opened it and found it led into another wagon. He walked through. There were three men sitting huddled on the floor, wearing shabby coats and hats. Brandon noticed that he had got a lot smaller, and that he was wearing the same gear as the men. He had been told that he would get protective clothing within the electromagnetic environment, but this was not what he had expected.”
Off Planet
Martha encounters space wars and meets beings from other constellations and outside the known universe, as she seeks to rescue humans trafficked from Earth by Russian-funded* private militias, and discovers that the struggle between good and evil is not limited to human beings, or even to the universe.
*Thanks to a US military upgrade Martha discovers she can programme voice recognition software to achieve changes in her ultrasound environment. In 2022 she is providing assistance to victims of the Ukraine war, when she accidentally discovers the identity of paramilitary groups targeting individuals in Europe and North America. Martha recites a simple programme command: “Let all Russian weapons cease to operate.”
This is intended to reach Ukraine, but has the unexpected effect of removing all directed energy weapons used by covert private militias in Europe and North America as well. From this, Martha realises that Russia must be behind all the directed energy weapons attacks on Europe and North America. The voice recognition programmes only last a short time, and only work within specific energy fields, but Martha repeats them regularly.
Further reading
A great deal of research has been undertaken on the themes covered in the books, uncovering a world where the fiction gives way to contemporary science. You can delve deeper by visiting the supplementary sections of this website.