Count to a Trillion

A brilliant gunslinger leaves a decimated Earth to pursue the promise of alien intelligence in this 'highly impressive' sci-fi debut (Kirkus Reviews).Hundreds of years in the future, after the collapse of the Western world, young Menelaus Illation Montrose grows up in what was once Texas as a gunslinging duelist for hire. But Montrose is also a mathematical genius-and a romantic who dreams of a future in which humanity rises from the ashes to take its place among the stars.The chance to help usher in that future comes when Montrose is recruited for a manned interstellar mission to investigate an artifact of alien origin. Known as the Monument, the artifact is inscribed with data so complex, only a posthuman mind can decipher it. So Montrose injects himself with a dangerous drug designed to boost his already formidable intellect. It has the desired effect . . . but also drives him mad.Nearly two centuries later, his sanity restored, Montrose is awakened from cryo-suspension with no memory of his posthuman actions, to find Earth transformed in strange and disturbing ways, and learns that the Monument still carries a secret he must decode-one that will define humanity's true destiny.