In 2015, a case found in the struts of the International Space Station is brought to Earth. It releases a virus giving people amnesia. They lose their memory at the rate of a year’s worth every week. No one is immune. Infectious amnesia is unheard of. Industry breaks down as people forget where they work and how to perform their duties. People die as they forget their medication, and production ceases along with food, water supply, and energy. A few small groups realise what is happening in time and find isolated refuges. Ryder Nape takes a group to a secluded Welsh valley where safety from the virus is possible. Biologists call the virus ARIA: Alien Retrograde Infectious Amnesia.
In this conclusion to the trilogy, Dr. Antonio Menzies arrives on Zadok. The ARIA-3 bomb had reached there two days previously, causing havoc. Surviving Zadokians consider a mass-migration to Earth to escape the effects of ARIA-3. Antonio’s madness grows, and he makes disturbing discoveries in their laboratories.
Meanwhile, Ryder’s group is now on a Pacific island. His relationship with Jena is unstable and others have coruscating infatuations in tune with the increasingly desperate situation. When their island becomes unsustainable, and the alien-Earth hybrid weed gets out of control, where should they go?
What was the Zadokians’ real purpose with the ARIA viruses, and how does it all end?
“ARIA mingles the most optimistic calculations from the Drake Equation with a distopian outcome, creating a read that is as intriguing as it is fun.”
—Magdalena Ball, owner of Compulsive Reader“If you like your scifi offbeat, original, and backed by science, you’re going to love ARIA.”
—Kenyon Charboneaux, editor and writing tutor at Eros & Rust“ARIA: a smart, entertaining gem.”
—Dr. Ira Nayman, author of the Transdimensional Authority Series