The Clockwork Mirror - Version 1 Following the aborted uprising of the synthetic humans, or AI's, the population of Earth has settled back to its confident hub-ub of activity, safe in the knowledge that the AI's had been defeated. This also meant that the specialised units that tracked the AI's were no longer needed. Although only in his late thirties, Jeff Blake retired as Commander of the Tech Hunters when the war against the AI's petered out, allowing the politicians to call for swathing cutbacks in military spending. As the Tech Hunters were specifically trained to target AIs, they were disbanded as soon as it was deemed they were no longer necessary. Rather than be reassigned, Blake resigned, disappearing from civilisation to live in a cabin, miles from civilisation. Blake had earned himself a reputation as the Tech Hunter Commander, spawning many stories that still did the rounds of the barracks years after the Tech Hunters disbanded. He was never comfortable being described as a hero, unable to accept that some of his deeds were in fact heroic or courageous, rather believing that he was misjudged. He would often argue that he did no more than any other soldier would have done in similar circumstances. A lot of his success had come from his unshakeable belief in his own instincts, often bringing him into direct conflict with his superior Officers. This too, had earned him a reputation as having little respect for those that commanded him. The fact that his instincts had been borne out on almost every occasion had served to pacify those Officers who would otherwise have demanded his court martial and dismissal. As tales of the Tech Hunters leaked into the popular press, public support for the distinguished Commander made it more difficult for Blake to be dismissed out of hand. Years after the AI threat had evaporated, many of the commanding Officers argued that it was likely to be no more than a shortlived reprieve, and had requested an increase in funding to allow the reformation of the Tech Hunter squad. The sudden discovery of a new type of AI amongst their own in the Senate spurred the Pentagon to issue a direct command requesting the reformation of the Tech Hunters, and in particular, the return to active duty of Jeff Blake. (This download is the first four chapters of the novel, free of charge.)