After completing the third volume of the Earthbound Trilogy, I began a fourth story set several years after the conclusion of Planetbound . I ended up abandoning this project because — well, because Planetbound pretty much puts a period on things. Once your characters ride off into the sunset, it can be less satisfying if they ride back in again.
A reader’s suggestion started me thinking, and I realized there is some room between the final chapter of Planetbound and the epilogue — enough room for another story or two. This is where The AltianPlague fits. I hope my readers won’t mind taking the step or two backward from the conclusion of the original Trilogy that enables us to resume Nyk’s story…
— D M Arnold, April 2004
1 — A Surprise Visit
Nykkyo Kyhana climbed to the surface at the Canal Street subway station and hiked ten blocks to an office building in the Tribeca section of Manhattan. He mounted the stairs and opened a door marked FloranCo. “Good morning, Jaquie.”
“Good morning, Mr Kane.”
He nodded toward lower Manhattan. “I see they’re starting to remove the debris in earnest.”
“Yes,” she replied, “but it could be a couple of years before things return to normal.”
