Neutron Solstice: Book Summary
A doomie, known as mother midnight, sees the coming of strangers to the Bayou. She is taken before Baron Tourment to tell him of her visions. He is very displeased with her and the failure of her voodoo ceremony, and kills her with his bare hands.
Ryan Cawdor and his companions awaken from their most recent jump. Unlike the gateway they just left behind in Alaska, the first thing they notice about this redoubt is that it is very, very hot. They waste little time leaving the gateway. At the entrance to the redoubt, the companions leave behind their heavy clothing, as it is not needed due to the heat. They find themselves in a vast swamp. Using his sextant, J.B. determines that they are in Louisiana, about two hundred miles to the west of New Orleans.
The gateway is surrounded by a tall fence that used to be electrified and topped with razor wire. Guard towers provided extra security for the compound, but the years of harsh weather have taken their toll. The fence is no longer electrified, and has broken down in many areas. The weapons in the guard towers are no longer functional, coated in rust.
They leave the compound, and come to a what used to be the Audubon Self guiding trail. Some of the motion activated recordings still function, but most are either silent, or missing. As they travel across the trail, Finn is attacked by a huge mutie alligator. The monster must be at least fifty feet long. Ryan dispatches it, saving Finn’s life.
Shortly after the encounter with the alligator, they come across a swamp wag. They decide to take it, as it would make travelling through the swamps a hell of a lot easier on everyone. As they attempt to take it, the owners come back to prevent its theft. Finn is able to get the buggy started and as they leave, Ryan watches a man take careful aim at the departing vehicle and fires. The round hits Henn in the back of the head. Ryan sprays the bank where the people are, putting down several.
Amazingly enough, Henn is still alive. He and Finn talk for a few seconds before death finally claims him. Finn weeps at the loss of his friend. They find a secluded spot and bury Henn with his weapons. Lori sings amazing grace during the funeral. The loss of Henn places Ryan in a depression because since they discovered and began to use the gateways, he has lost three people travelling with him.
That night as they are camping they notice a thin column of smoke coming from about a mile off.
The next morning, they hide the swamp wag as best they can and continue on foot. Eventually they come to an old road sign that says Lowellton and Layayette. Here they encounter a dozen armed swampie mutants. Finn, still upset over the loss of Henn, opens the dance. The mutants are mowed down, only to get up again. They are difficult to kill because of their internal structure. The group race off into the swamps, hoping that they will be able to leave the pursuing mutants behind.
Eventually, Doc Tanner begs to be left behind. Ryan refuses to allow Doc to martyr himself and so he and J.B. stay behind to set up an ambush to buy Doc the time he needs to recover and continue. The ambush works quite well. Eight of the swampies are killed, forcing the survivors to flee. In the late afternoon, they are forced to ambush the swampies again, but this time they are only able to kill about four, as the mutants are a hell of a lot more cautious this time around. Doc, unable to travel any further, passes out from exhaustion. They wait until he has come around before they continue. A short time later they encounter a small man wearing a red shirt and white cotton pants. He asks them to follow him to the ville of Moudongue.
The ville consists of about thirty buildings and three swamp wags. The man that met the companions is named Ti Jean. He tells them to eat and enjoy themselves but doesn’t join them until later that evening. They are then invited to a large party. From here they find out more about where they are and the war that is being fought between baron Tourment and the white wolf and his followers. This battle is being over the remains of Lowellton and Layayette.
Even though Ti Jean seems to be friendly, Ryan is sure that he isn’t being totally up front with the group. He wouldn’t turn his back on him for a second.
While partying, J.B. is forced to dance with a huge woman named Marie. It is at this party that Ryan runs into a man named pecker, or Harry Bochco. This is the first time that Ryan’s past is brought up. It turns out he is the youngest son of a Barony known as Front Royal in Virginia. Doc informs Ryan that he already knew the story.
Tourment meets with Mephisto. They discuss Ryan’s group. Tourment knows that one of the seven was killed, and that they are staying in the ville of Moudongue. Tourment orders Mephisto to take a dozen men and two swamp wags. He wants Mephisto to capture them and brought back to be interrogated.
During the night, Krysty hears the sound of the swamp wags approaching. They wake up the rest of the party and prepare for a battle. Since Finn is with the big woman that JB was forced to dance with earlier during the evening, Ryan tells JB to kill her and bring Finn back.
Ryan heads outside and begins to hunt for the intruders. Instead, he discovers the man (named Henri De La Tour) who was responsible for killing Henn. He sneaks up on him and kills him by shooting the man through the neck. The death debt has been paid. He catches up with the rest of the group. He is very surprised to see that the big woman is still alive and is going with them. Finn explains that it is because of the information she has on Baron Tourment.
After trekking through the swamp, Ryan is eventually forced to kill the woman because she had been hiding a razor blade and was about to use it.
Mephisto returns from the ville and reports that the outlanders fled as they entered. He reports that the people of the ville were engaged in an unauthorised voodoo ritual. Mephisto ended up having one in five killed for this. He also reports that one man was killed by Ryan, as revenge for the killing of Henn. They also found the body of the woman Ryan was forced to kill.
The next morning the party find a pre-skydark map. They are able to discover exactly where they are. They spend a good portion of the day exploring the ruins of West Lowellton. After discovering graffiti and Krysty hearing the noise of swamp wags, they decide to go into the ruins of an old Holiday Inn and get some rest.
They split up into separate groups to explore the building. Krysty and Ryan find some tins of food and wine. JB discovers the body of someone who committed suicide. Later on, Krysty and Ryan discover another body of a person who committed suicide in a bath tub.
Later that night, they set up three sets of guards and get some much needed rest. Next morning Krysty actually straightens out the room her and Ryan used. Habit she picked up from her mother.
Finn, Krysty and Lori leave the rest of the group to go and do a little exploring. Ryan and J.B. attempt to get Doc Tanner to tell them about his past, but to no avail.
Later in the morning they hear at least a dozen swamp wags, and then shortly afterwards they hear the sounds of gunfire. They are worried that the others might be in trouble, but decide to stay put, just in case. The fight lasts for several minutes and they also hear the sounds of grenades exploding.
Just a little before noon Finn finally rejoins Ryan, J.B. and Doc. He explains that they were ambushed by a large group of sec men. Finn managed to kill seven or eight, but was unable to prevent Krysty and Lori’s capture. As they decide what to do, they encounter the White Wolf, Jak Lauren.
Krysty and Lori both finally wake up from the effects of the stun grenades that were used on them. Both Tourment and Mephisto are in the room when they come to. Krysty warns Lori not to say anything. Tourment sends Mephisto away and exposes himself to the women. Upon seeing the size of his manhood, Lori freaks out, and begins to scream until Tourment silences her with a powerful blow. Krysty promises that she will kill him if given half a chance. The out and out threat not only catches Tourment by surprise, but instils fear into him. He knows that Krysty is capable of doing what she claims.
Later on, Krysty is forced to use her mutant strength in order to prevent Lori from being raped by a pair of sec guards. With her enhanced strength, the two men don’t stand a chance and are killed. Tourment re-enters the room just as she finishes killing the sec men. He is impressed at her abilities. She puts on strong front, but Tourment sees right through it. He knows that she is too exhausted to do anything to him. He orders that the two are to be removed and brought out side so they can witness first hand how enemies of his are treated.
Ryan, J.B. Doc Tanner and Finn go with Jak to what used to be an ancient movie theatre where his people are holed up. They learn that he is hunting Tourment and his sec men because they captured his father, and they don’t want to live under his rule any longer. Jak offers to help Ryan and his friends rescue the women in return for their help in overthrowing Tourment. Ryan and the others agree to this. Finn and Jak take a dislike for each other and nearly come to blows. Ryan is forced to step in, preventing what could have been a costly firefight.
To motivate his people, Jak orders that they watch a movie called ‘Culpepper Cattle Company’. After watching the pre-dark movie, they eat and then sit down to discuss plans on how to attack Tourment’s base of operations. It turns out that Jak’s people have access to twenty tanks of Napalm, which will prove to be pivotal in taking Tourment’s base. Eventually, Ryan is forced to lay down the law. His way or no way. He is the man with the combat experience and will not allow lives to be thrown away in a useless gesture. They finally agree to a plan and prepare to attack the base at midnight.
Taking Krysty and Lori outside, Tourment forces them to watch as Mephisto tortures Jak’s father to death, cutting off parts of his body and feeding them to mutant alligators that live in the lagoon near Tourment’s base of operations. In order to prolong the torture, they use pitch to cauterise the wounds so he doesn’t bleed to death. Eventually, mercifully, Father Lauren dies from the torture. Torment orders it to continue, and then has the body hoisted far into the air so it can be seen. Both Krysty and Lori are returned to their cell. Around midnight, they finally fall asleep.
While Jak’s people rest, Ryan and J.B go together for a quick recon of Tourment’s base. They eventually get to the hotel, and take note of the patrols. They also spot the remains of Jak’s father. On the way back to the cinema, they come across a private Bomb shelter. Going inside they find the remains of an old couple and watch a video recording depicting the last days. J.B. takes a Tekna knife from the shelter. They re-seal it and leave.
Finally, around two in the morning the attack against Tourment’s compound begins. A swamp wag is loaded with the napalm, and is rigged to explode with several grenades. Finn is armed with a flame thrower to ensure the plan works. A woman named Leah drives the swamp wag right into the hotel. She is supposed to jump free, but stays with it all the way, making sure that it hits where it is supposed to. The grenades fail to detonate the napalm, but Finn sets it off with his flame thrower. The resulting explosion kills over twenty sec men and sets the hotel on fire.
Jak finds the corpse of his father.
As the sec men try to escape, Jak’s people pick them off. Ryan, J.B. Doc tanner and Finn enter the burning building to rescue Krysty and Lori. They find them but are caught by surprise when Mephisto and two sec men enter. Lori distracts them by pretending she is sick and starts to remove he clothing. Doc fires his Le Mat, killing one sec men and seriously wounding Mephisto and the other. Lori puts out Mephisto’s eye before Doc kills him and the remaining sec man. They leave the building before the fire engulfs them.
Tourment attempts to escape, heading out into the lagoon to his private voodoo temple on a small island. Ryan and Jak follow. They are attacked by three swampies, but dispatch them with little effort. Finally, they catch up to Tourment, who attempts to kill himself, rather than fall into the hands of Jak. They tie him up and drag him behind the canoe as they cross the lagoon. Tourment is torn apart by the Caymans in the Lagoon. Jak’s people won, and they now control the swamps.
The spend three days with Jak’s people, recovering from the fight. Jak eventually talks Ryan into allowing him to join their party. They return to the redoubt and jump.
A total of 7 days pass in this novel (4 days exploring, 3 days with Jak’s people recovering.)
End of Neutron Solstice.