num_pages: 304
description: In the universe next door first introduced in S. M. Stirlings The Sky People aliens terraformed Mars (and Venus) two hundred million years ago seeding them with life-forms from Earth. Humans didnt suspect this until the twentieth century. Then American and Soviet probes landed on our sister worlds and found lifeintelligent life at that. By the year 2000 all the great powers of Earth are contending for influence and power amid the newly-discovered inhabitants of our sister planets.In A.D. 2000 Jeremy Wainman is an archaeologist who has achieved a lifelong dream; to travel to Mars and explore the dead cities of the Deep Beyond searching for the secrets of the Kings Beneath the Mountain and the fallen empire they ruled.Teyud za-Zhalt is the Martian mercenary the Terrans hire as guide and captain of the landship Intrepid Traveler. But she conceals a secretone that links her to the enigmatic Ancients the Lords of Creation who reshaped the Solar System in the time of the dinosaurs.When Jeremy and Teyud meet the foundations of reality will be shakenfrom the lost city of Rema-Dza to the courts of the Crimson Kings.
language: English
title: In the Courts of the Crimson Kings
publisher: Tor Books