"The late afternoon sun glistened across a smooth cobalt blue lake embedded in a vast tract of dark green trees. The meetinghouse was nestled at the edge of the lake under a huge range of hills. A single storey house, it shone pale cream in its new coat of paint, a few flowers bringing a sparkle of colour to the front. Inside the house were most of the members of the Council of Planets, winding up this session of a meeting and planning when they would gather again. The front door opened and one of the members came out and headed for the unirail that was some fifty metres from the side of the house. He climbed into the cab at the front and fiddled for a while and then climbed laboriously back out and went to a panel set in the far side of the car. Just for a few milliseconds, the trees were lit up by a blinding white flash. The walls of the house vaporised and sped outwards, carried by a shock wave that raced across the lake in a vast arc, rippling the water into froth as it went. Moments later there was a vicious crack that echoed and re-echoed off the hills. The roof of the house collapsed downwards, almost complete, until it rested on the ground as if that had been how it was planned originally."

The Adepts Book 1: Furato