Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus have a new sci fi/space opera book out, Virasana Empire: Dr. Laurent Book 1: "The PV-3 Mutagen." As a history scholar and courier for the secretive Circle of Thales, Rene Laurent is a man of many talents - none of them lending themselves much to a life of adventure. But when a chance meeting with a young, idealistic Belligra priest drags him into a wild quest to keep a dangerous mutagen off the streets of Floor, his curiosity gets the better of him. Between monsters both human and man-made, he realises that maybe fieldwork is more of his game than he had ever thought possible... Written by Rainbow-Award-winning authors Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus, 'The PV-3 Mutagen' is a colourful non-romance sci-fi adventure set in the wildly diverse 'Virasana Empire', and the first novel of the 'Doctor Laurent' series. Warnings: Not a romance. Harsh setting, but hopeful. Excerpt
Chapter 1 – Info Brokers There were five of them. At least, five that Rene was aware of. He had spotted the three following him when he took the escalator to the bottom floor of the mall. He had originally planned to take the tube train to Cherry Hills, but instead he turned into the access tunnel that led up to the street, trying to shake them off. Judging by the two who were now cutting him off just ahead, that had been a bad idea. The tunnel they were in was sufficiently removed from the cheap glitz of the mall to be only dimly lit, and the only other person here was a woman pushing a shopping cart, purposefully hurrying away from the developing confrontation. A quick look around showed Rene there weren't any convenient emergency doors he could slip through, either. He was in trouble. At least, they didn't seem to be professional mercenaries, just some gangers, though they moved with too much purpose to be out simply to mug him. And no ganger deserving of their colours would mug a scruffy street rat like him, anyway. To them, he had to look like he didn't have anything worth the trouble, as much a carefully crafted facade as laziness – he liked his comfortable rags a lot, thank you very much. So what did these particular thugs want from him? And more importantly, how to get rid of them? He was well aware that he didn't stand a chance against them in a fight. Combat skills were at the bottom of the list of things he was interested in. Also, the mall was too cheap to have any sort of camera surveillance. It didn't even have security guards though Rene doubted any would have come running if they had existed. He wasn't a valued customer, and as long as the gangers didn't make too much of a mess, no one would care. The best course of action seemed to be to play the helpless victim and let them rough him up a little. It wasn't like they would manage to inflict any lasting damage, anyway. He had come to that conclusion when one of the thugs, whom Rene mentally labelled their 'leader', shoved him against the wall. Rene turned to face them, clutching the stack of folders he was carrying to his chest protectively, trying to present a credible picture of being scared. The other thugs had formed a semicircle around him and their boss. Judging by the nasty grins of his ambushers, it wasn't very hard to fool them. “Gimme that,” the leader snarled and grabbed the folders. They held the weekly update on the topside situation in this sector of Floor. Nothing too important, and certainly not irreplaceable. Rene had picked them up a few minutes ago at the office of the info broker the Circle of Thales was currently employing. He congratulated himself on not yet having picked up the datacrystal with the off-planet reports from the Beetle Shack under Cherry Hills. He had planned to do that on the way back down before having a lunch of lava beetle while he was there. He let go of the folders with a strangled whine and cowered. “Hank's Beehive is off-limits,” the leader sneered, “didn't you get the memo? He is about to shut down.” So that was what this was all about. The info broker Rene had just visited had been in a turf war with another info broker two malls down the street for a while, but apparently, things were heating up. Not something he cared to get involved in even though Hank was a decent guy. Well, make that a decent guy for Floor. “Can't have that idiot handing out charity, can we? Not the Floorian thing to do, eh?” The leader clearly wasn't expecting an answer as he rammed his fist into Rene's stomach. The punch drove the air out of his lungs and hurt like a bitch. Or rather, it hurt for the few seconds it took his body to repair the damage. Rene crumpled to the ground in a heap. If he looked sufficiently hurt, they would hopefully leave him alone quickly. And not search him. If they tried to take his phone, he would have to do something, though he admittedly had no idea what. “You understand me, little shit? You stay away from now on!” “Hey! Stop that!” A voice ringing out loud and clear in the narrow tunnel rudely interrupted the leader's little speech. Rene glanced up through his long hair hanging in his face and did a double-take. The tunnel leading back towards the mall was almost filled out by a tall figure in heavy, plate armour, wielding both a broadsword and a fucking tower shield so large he could completely hide behind it. The symbol on his surcoat and shield was unmistakable – Temple Belligra, the Fist of the Church. It was about the last faction Rene wanted to have get involved in this minor scuffle. Priests were infamous for poking their noses where they didn't belong. Luckily, they were rare on Floor. Yes, they had a few Verata, but they mostly remained inside their Fort Phosphoros Monastery. The occasional Jansahar only paid attention to the local flock who worshipped at the small shrines they kept all over the planet. Both groups were easy enough to evade for someone who didn't need supernaturally talented people scanning them and finding out they were an unregistered psion. But seriously, a Belligra? There were no faithful in need of protection here on Floor, mostly because there were no faithful here. Floor prided itself with being the most secular planet of the empire, and it was a reputation hard-won. But apparently, this particular Belligra was set on rescuing him. Author Bio We are Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus, a couple currently living our happily ever after in the very heart of Germany, under the stern but loving surveillance of our cat. Both of us are voracious but picky readers, we love telling stories and drinking tea, good food and the occasional violent movie. Together, we write novels of adventure and romance, hoping to share a little of our happiness with our readers. An artist by heart, Beryll was writing stories even before she knew what letters were. As easily inspired as she is frustrated, her own work is never good enough (in her eyes). A perfectionist in the best and worst sense of the word at the same time and the driving creative force of our duo. An entertainer and craftsman in his approach to writing, Osiris is the down-to-earth, practical part of our duo. Broadly interested in almost every subject and skill, with a sunny mood and caring personality, he strives to bring the human nature into focus of each of his stories. Author Website: http://www.brackhaus.com/ Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/people/Osiris-Brackhaus/100011014541510 Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/brackhaus Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brackhaus/ Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6427435.Osiris_Brackhaus Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Osiris-Brackhaus/e/B00IVTRO2E 
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