Behemoth: B-Max & Seppuku

Description

Starfish lit the fuse. Maelstrom was the explosion. But five years into the aftermath, things aren't quite so simple as they once seemed...Lenie Clarke-rifter, avenger, amphibious deep-sea cyborg-has destroyed the world. Once exploited for her psychological addiction to dangerous environments, she emerged in the wake of a nuclear blast to serve up vendetta from the ocean floor. The horror she unleashed-an ancient, apocalyptic microbe called ?ehemoth- has been free in the world for half a decade now, devouring the biosphere from the bottom up. North America lies in ruins beneath the thumb of an omnipotent psychopath. Digital monsters have taken Clarke's name, wreaking havoc throughout the decimated remnants of something that was once called Internet. Governments have fallen across the globe; warlords and suicide cults rise from the ashes, pledging fealty to the Meltdown Madonna. All because five years ago, Lenie Clarke had a score to settle.But she has learned something in the meantime: she destroyed the world for a fallacy.Now, cowering at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, rifters and the technoindustrial "corpses" who created them hide from a world in its death throes. But they cannot hide forever: something is tracking them, down amongst the lightless cliffs and trenches of the Midatlantic Ridge. The consequences of past acts reach inexorably towards the very bottom of the world, and Lenie Clarke must finally confront the mess she made.Redemption doesn't come easy with the blood of a world on your hands. But even after five years in purgatory, Lenie Clarke is still Lenie Clarke. There will be consequences for anyone who gets in her way-and worse ones, perhaps, if she succeeds. . . .?ehemoth: ?-Max is the first of two volumes. The story will conclude in ?ehemoth: Seppuku. Counterstrike......Page 14 The Shiva Iterations......Page 25 Outgroup......Page 27 Huddle......Page 39 Zombie......Page 46 Portrait of the Sadist as a Young Boy......Page 55 Confidence Limits......Page 58 Cavalry......Page 66 Nemesis......Page 73 Portrait of the Sadist as an Adolescent......Page 77 Bedside Manor......Page 82 Boilerplate......Page 88 Portrait of the Sadist as a Young Man......Page 95 Fire Drill......Page 101 Family Values......Page 104 Portrait of the Sadist as a Free Man......Page 112 Confessional......Page 119 Conscript......Page 132 Portrait of the Sadist as a Team Player......Page 141 Automechanica......Page 152 Gravediggers......Page 161 Striptease......Page 166 Frontier......Page 173 Groundwork......Page 175 Harpodon......Page 181 The Bloodhound Iterations......Page 192 Without Sin......Page 197 Baptism......Page 217 Tag......Page 224 Fulcrum......Page 238 Incoming......Page 243 Dune......Page 249 Nightingale......Page 260 Condom......Page 271 Gehenna......Page 275 The Trigonometry of Salvation......Page 287 Migration......Page 296 Karma......Page 304 DisArmor......Page 312 Stargazer......Page 325 Sleeper......Page 333 Parsimony......Page 344 Corral......Page 349 Turncoat......Page 353 Crash......Page 361 The Skill of the Chase......Page 366 Remedial Ed......Page 370 Decirculate......Page 373 Paranoid......Page 381 Matryoska......Page 388 Basement Wiring......Page 396 Splice......Page 401 The Hamilton Iterations......Page 410 Toggle......Page 413 Fleas......Page 421 Firebreathers......Page 425 In Kind......Page 435 Expiration Date......Page 447 Bastille......Page 452 Empath......Page 473