Angel in the Badlands: space opera sci fi romance (Sons of Amber Book 1) by Bianca D'Arc
Authors: Bianca D'Arc
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embryos. They were the very best she could design.
And they all bred true.
Each and every one of them was totally immune from the alien virus that had already killed so many others. The enemy thought they had struck the final blow in the Unwinnable War, but they were wrong. It was Amber and her sons who would prevail in the end. The jits’suku had not ended humanity within three generations, as they had planned. The virus they unleashed after their crushing defeat at Markesh had killed millions of human men, but the enemy had not counted on the tenacity of human women.
Their doomsday weapon—the virus intended to attack the human reproductive system—had ultimately failed. Not solely because of Amber, though her genetic research did have a lot to do with the recovery of the human race, and would well into the future. No, it was their failure to really understand humans in the first place, that had been their downfall.
Amber’s research revealed their grave miscalculation. jit’suku, while closely resembling humans in many ways, actually defaulted to the male, genetically speaking. By contrast, homo sapiens generally defaulted to the female. The virus, which had mutated through the human population to eventually infect the jit’suku themselves, was designed to kill off all male humans—even those still in the womb.
It was a point of jit’suku honor that they did not make war upon women. But their bioweapon had been more deadly than they had ever realized, and it did kill some women, sickening and scarring many others with the result that they became infertile.
Humans were just different enough from the jits in the microscopic ways that counted, though the vast majority of human children born after the virus attack were female. With Amber’s help, and the few males who were immune or otherwise able to avoid becoming infected, a few male children were being born to perpetuate the species, but not enough to keep it viable. Which is where Amber’s sons had their purpose.
Designed in the lab from a myriad selection of donor DNA, Amber’s sons were totally immune to the jitvirus and its variants. They were also quite fertile and able to spread a new, resistant genetic code into the human population. With high intelligence, dominant alpha male traits, killer instincts and the skills to match, they were physical specimens. Truly super men, she believed.
Amber had carefully planned the first generation of her boys—gestated in incubators and taught under the auspices of the military who funded her program—so they would breed ninety-seven percent male offspring. Successive generations would equalize over time to the human norm of about fifty-fifty, but by her calculations, that would happen at a time well into the recovery of the species as a whole. They would have done their jobs by then, and future generations’ genetic distribution would normalize.
All as she had planned.
Not that she liked playing God. But sometimes a woman had to do what a woman had to do.
Thanks for reading Angel in the Badlands . If you enjoyed the story, please consider leaving a review. If you’re interested in more stories like this, check out the short story, End of the Line , or the novella King of Swords , which are both set in the same universe, about a century before the bioweapon’s release.
If you want more Sons of Amber stories, keep an eye on Bianca’s website at WWW.BIANCADARC.COM in the coming months for more information. Or you can sign up for Bianca’s Newsletter to be alerted when new books are released.
Jit’Suku Chronicles ~ Arcana
King of Swords, King of Cups & King of Clubs
King of Swords
David is a newly retired special ops soldier, looking to find his way in the unfamiliar civilian world. His first step is to visit an old friend, the owner of a bar called The Rabbit Hole on a distant space station. While there, he meets an intriguing woman who holds the keys to his future.
Adele has a
And they all bred true.
Each and every one of them was totally immune from the alien virus that had already killed so many others. The enemy thought they had struck the final blow in the Unwinnable War, but they were wrong. It was Amber and her sons who would prevail in the end. The jits’suku had not ended humanity within three generations, as they had planned. The virus they unleashed after their crushing defeat at Markesh had killed millions of human men, but the enemy had not counted on the tenacity of human women.
Their doomsday weapon—the virus intended to attack the human reproductive system—had ultimately failed. Not solely because of Amber, though her genetic research did have a lot to do with the recovery of the human race, and would well into the future. No, it was their failure to really understand humans in the first place, that had been their downfall.
Amber’s research revealed their grave miscalculation. jit’suku, while closely resembling humans in many ways, actually defaulted to the male, genetically speaking. By contrast, homo sapiens generally defaulted to the female. The virus, which had mutated through the human population to eventually infect the jit’suku themselves, was designed to kill off all male humans—even those still in the womb.
It was a point of jit’suku honor that they did not make war upon women. But their bioweapon had been more deadly than they had ever realized, and it did kill some women, sickening and scarring many others with the result that they became infertile.
Humans were just different enough from the jits in the microscopic ways that counted, though the vast majority of human children born after the virus attack were female. With Amber’s help, and the few males who were immune or otherwise able to avoid becoming infected, a few male children were being born to perpetuate the species, but not enough to keep it viable. Which is where Amber’s sons had their purpose.
Designed in the lab from a myriad selection of donor DNA, Amber’s sons were totally immune to the jitvirus and its variants. They were also quite fertile and able to spread a new, resistant genetic code into the human population. With high intelligence, dominant alpha male traits, killer instincts and the skills to match, they were physical specimens. Truly super men, she believed.
Amber had carefully planned the first generation of her boys—gestated in incubators and taught under the auspices of the military who funded her program—so they would breed ninety-seven percent male offspring. Successive generations would equalize over time to the human norm of about fifty-fifty, but by her calculations, that would happen at a time well into the recovery of the species as a whole. They would have done their jobs by then, and future generations’ genetic distribution would normalize.
All as she had planned.
Not that she liked playing God. But sometimes a woman had to do what a woman had to do.
Thanks for reading Angel in the Badlands . If you enjoyed the story, please consider leaving a review. If you’re interested in more stories like this, check out the short story, End of the Line , or the novella King of Swords , which are both set in the same universe, about a century before the bioweapon’s release.
If you want more Sons of Amber stories, keep an eye on Bianca’s website at WWW.BIANCADARC.COM in the coming months for more information. Or you can sign up for Bianca’s Newsletter to be alerted when new books are released.
Jit’Suku Chronicles ~ Arcana
King of Swords, King of Cups & King of Clubs
King of Swords
David is a newly retired special ops soldier, looking to find his way in the unfamiliar civilian world. His first step is to visit an old friend, the owner of a bar called The Rabbit Hole on a distant space station. While there, he meets an intriguing woman who holds the keys to his future.
Adele has a
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