After two hundred and fifty years of conceptualising, designing, building ... and scheming, the largest man-made structure (excluding craters) ever constructed was launched. But this was no ordinary Ship. This was the saviour of mankind; she was an Ark. She contained the pristine genetic material of every life-form that had managed to survive the cross-hairs and epicurean menus long enough to be sampled. Her destination, if it actually existed when she finally arrived there, was thousands of light years away but that was fine because she was under the command of a sentient brain that rarely got bored. There were only two problems; her long-term mental state was subject to some debate and she'd managed to pick up a nasty infection in the days before she launched. Apart from that, life was good. It had been the job of The Chairman of the Board of the World Committees of the Ship to steer a course through the figurative minefields to the point where the Ship was launched. As her engines had fired at the precise date and time specified, his destiny had been fulfilled and his future was firmly embedded in the history books. But something had managed to infiltrate the ship and was now threatening to bring his entire glorious edifice crashing down around him. Invoking the very best of his scheming, vindictive, delusional, megalomaniac nature he devises a scheme to rid himself of the threat. If the ship happens to become collateral damage in the process then it's a small price to pay for his continued good standing. Meanwhile, in the land of Ag, Bruno Traderson sets off to circumvent the Barrier that's standing between himself and his sister. The Barriers are huge sheer black slabs which rise out of the ground to a height of over two miles and the only way to see what's on the other side is by sea. After an epic sea voyage he finally makes landfall, only to be thrown into another alien world. What he finds there will change not just himself, but the secret of Whim will change the entire universe, forever. Whim: The Awakening is the sequel to Whim: In The Beginning