Stephen Donald Huff

This compendium contains three complete novels comprising the middle trilogy of the Terminus Series. Titles include "Simian's Gate", "Simian's Walk", and "Simian's Way".Simian's Gate: During his service as an intern at the SETI Project, Simian Wynwood fatefully records "first contact" with an alien intelligence. Within months, this so-called SETI-Tech becomes widely available to the general populous, and disturbing events rapidly begin to unfold around the planet, as an apparently benevolent alien influence slowly embraces and then seizes control of nearly every aspect of human civilization, having foolishly opened Simian's Gate.Simian's Walk: Perversely efficient in the aftermath, an alien-incepted Terminus Signal drives roving clans of homicidal lunatics to exterminate these Immunes to a last number. During the course of their apocalyptic odyssey, one such band of desperate survivors must overcome petty, pre-Terminus differences to form life-and-death bonds strong enough to withstand Simian's Walk and the actual end of their world.Simian's Way: Eighteen months later, six-and-a-half billion people lay withered in death, victims of a technological Trojan horse and all murdered at the hands of family, friends and neighbors. In the aftermath, survivors divide, hunter and hunted. Extinction looms. No one will survive Simian's Way unscathed.

Simian Wynwood opened "Simian's Gate" by recording first contact with alien intelligence. This alien broadcast delivered the so-called SETI-Store, which remained in an incomprehensible state until a young savant used outmoded analog processing equipment to decode it all in a weekend.After he freely released his groundbreaking switch into the public domain on Sunday, "Bright Monday" quickly followed. Interest exploded. Within weeks, technophiles all over the world began producing countless "inventions" from automated "black-box" factories. Civilization rapidly changed. Renewable energy, resolved. Global pollution, remediated. Cancer, cured.Eighteen months later, six-and-a-half billion people lay withered in death, victims of a technological Trojan horse and all murdered at the hands of family, friends and neighbors. In the aftermath, survivors divide, hunter and hunted. Extinction looms. No one will survive Simian's Way unscathed.

During an otherwise placid Thursday morning commute, human civilization deconstructed itself like a riot in a madhouse, one hand-to-hand death-brawl at a time. None escaped the slaughter. Perversely efficient in the aftermath, an alien-incepted Terminus Signal drives roving clans of homicidal lunatics to exterminate these Immunes to a last number.During the course of their apocalyptic odyssey, one such band of desperate survivors must overcome petty, pre-Terminus differences to form life-and-death bonds strong enough to withstand the actual end of their world. While fighting for their lives, this hastily assembled family will ultimately uncover the sinister truth of Terminus, and then they must confront and somehow overcome the horrific realities of global extinction as they undertake Simian's Walk.

During his service as an intern at the SETI Project, Simian Wynwood fatefully records "first contact" with an alien intelligence. Captured in high-fidelity analog format, this broadcast message contains vast stores of advanced, world-changing technology. Within months, this so-called SETI-Tech becomes widely available to the general populous, and disturbing events rapidly begin to unfold around the planet as an apparently benevolent alien influence slowly embraces and then seizes control of nearly every aspect of human civilization.Horrified by his role in its discovery, Simian fears this fabulous "gift" is, in fact, a sinister alien plot hidden inside a technological Trojan Horse, but his is an isolated opinion utterly ignored by a global population of technophiles gone mad. Ironically, when violent fanatics kidnap him to make a live broadcast protest of his torturous execution, he cannot make them believe that he empathizes with their xenophobic paranoia, and his agonizing end seems assured. Whether by grace of fate or misfortune, a shocking outburst of violent anarchy will ultimately save him from one bloody death, only to condemn him, and all of humanity, to extinction when humankind unleashes the genocidal Terminus Signal upon opening Simian's Gate.

Champions come in all shapes and forms. The same is true of cowards. Most of us line up somewhere between these two extremes of potential, but none of us eagerly anticipate having to prove ourselves in a crossfire. In fact, most notable acts of heroism are not the results of well-considered, carefully laid plans. Rather, these are often spontaneous yet deliberate demonstrations of selflessness occasionally on display when normal human beings must confront life-threatening risk. Take a deep, calming breath now before you dare gaze into the face of death. Trembling, heed its heckling catcalls. Of broken people living broken lives; of ever hopeful children slowly ground into cynical adults beneath crushing realities; of good men trapped in bad places and of bad men working good deeds; of tangible human guilt and scatological human torment; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestries. Of redemptions failed or delivered, here find disturbing variations, and of heroes, none.

Her transformation into the creature called "Super Bitch" occurred on the worst day of her life. Literally. Weeks earlier on a Thursday morning, the apocalypse began when her father attempted to beat her to death with a golf club. Playing dead after the assault and through the inaugural hours of global slaughter, she ultimately escaped the first throes of Terminus by banding together with a small group of fellow Immunes.Then the flying saucer appeared. Though her friends risked their lives to save her from its sinister alien influence, nothing could penetrate the beam of light that descended from the saucer's belly to envelop and then elevate her body upward into its sinister confines.This is where her story ends and then begins anew. Oh, and to make everything worse than worst, she had just started her period, too.

Matriculating across that stage, nothing betrayed the Texas sand behind his ears, though his stiff, high collar hid a neck roasted red by long hours spent laboring beneath August sunshine. Indeed, years of careful study and patient attention had polished away the roughest facets of his country-born demeanor with a doctoral degree, but he would always be Charles Ray McCormick, white trash. Learning from the invariably negative example set forth by his errant, wayward siblings, Ray avoided the pitfalls of youth via intervention of a well-meaning mentor and pursuit of an academic career. Despite his best intentions, family and friends irrationally perceived this success as betrayal and they shun him when he returns home, the prodigal son made good. Ultimately, his life will depend upon the true loyalty of these same vital people from his past. Blood will save blood, when forbidden research ultimately unearths The McCormick Network.

After the apocalyptic Terminus Signal induces worldwide slaughter, a death-weary band of survivors has followed the exotically handsome Deacon into a desert wasteland equally plagued by semi-organized clans of Terminal-case burnouts and bizarre alien chimeras. From Badwater Basin sunken into the lowest badlands of North America to the high, frozen icecaps of Antarctica, this hardy troupe of survivors has come to raise hell and kick alien ass.Irrepressibly driven by a violent, indomitable desire for revenge, these desperate survivors now stand poised before hades gates, which swing wide at the bottom of an alien spaceport buried beneath Earth's southern pole. Here, the United States Government long ago built its abandoned Amundsen-Scott Base, which once provided cover and plausible deniability for an alien threat festering in the ice below. During their struggle to survive this latest attempt at redeeming human civilization, these hapless human beings will discover a new source of power long hidden inside the primitive human mind. Consequently, the cosmos may never recover from an Earth-bound exposure to The Wild Bunch.

Terminus I - III (Conquest) is a Terminus Series Compendium containing the third trilogy of the series. This special edition contains three complete novels; Terminus, Terminus II (Control) and Terminus III (The Wild Bunch). Terminus Part I: Civilization deconstructed itself like a riot in a madhouse. One minute it all functioned with a standard sort of craziness, and the next it devolved into ten billion psychotic inmates at each other's throats like suddenly sprung animals. In the aftermath, a handful of guilt-wracked holdouts stumble onto a terrible secret. They discover the cause of the catastrophe, but the answers they find only beg further questions. To learn the final truth and save their species, they must cross a blood-soaked wasteland, where they confront and overcome hordes of crazed lunatics and ravenous chimeras to investigate the long-standing enigma we call "Area-51". Post-apocalyptic revenge is sweet Terminus Part II (Control): Enter Deacon, like a sable crow, this rover appears in the Village during late fall with strange tales of enslaved children and alien invasions. Though they resist Deacon's enticement, a handful of desperate survivors will uncover many unsettling truths about the past, present and future of their species. Most startling of all, they will discover why their thoughts are not their own when influenced by the piper's song of yet another broadcast Terminus Signal. Terminus Part III (The Wild Bunch): Irrepressibly driven by a violent, indomitable desire for revenge, these desperate survivors now stand poised before hades gates, which swing wide at the bottom of an alien spaceport buried beneath Earth's southern pole. Here, the United States Government long ago built its abandoned Amundsen-Scott Base, where they will discover a new source of power long hidden inside the primitive human mind. Consequently, the cosmos may never recover from an Earth-bound exposure to The Wild Bunch.

After the apocalyptic Terminus Signal induces worldwide slaughter, a death-weary band of survivors attempts to rebuild their ravaged civilization amid an alien wilderness that overflows with bizarre savagery. Although copious quantities of drugs and alcohol disappear inside the Village each night, these tormented holdouts struggle with unquiet consciences that are hopelessly infected by endless black thoughts. For, having survived the ultimate act of genocidal self-destruction, each one of them bear their memories and scars - and the guilt of countless wicked, homicidal crimes - with the dull patience of penitent felons facing inevitable gallows.Enter Deacon, an exotically handsome desert scavenger and harbinger of bloody doom. Like a sable crow alighting atop a decayed carcass, this rover appears in the Village during late fall with strange tales of enslaved children, alien invasions, and disturbing rumors of new aberrations now freshly emerging from the California desert. Though he resists Deacon's enticement, Scientist cannot bear to separate from Girl, who has righteously determined to accompany this empathetic newcomer on his suicidal journey to the vast salt-pan of Badwater Basin. During their struggle to survive this latest attempt at redeeming human civilization, these hapless human beings will uncover many unsettling truths about the past, present and future of their species. Most startling of all, they will discover why their thoughts are not their own when influenced by the piper's song of yet another broadcast Terminus Signal.