Endless Sky: Old Bones (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781953645364)

The game just got real-and the system is eating itself.

Frank Kozina and his crew have achieved legendary status, only to have their ambition-and their priceless ship, the Pretty, Pretty Princess-vaporized in a catastrophic, level-40 failure. Plunged into a crippling depression, Frank is forced to confront the harsh reality: the game he loves has become just another paper-pushing job.

Trading his managerial duties at Nexus for a scout mission in hopes of reigniting his digital life, Frank heads into the ruins of Endless Circus, a vibrant ring world that has been systematically shredded. He quickly realizes the attackers-the code-eating Roknid Collective-aren't just another group of game NPCs. They're a real threat.

Now, the clock is ticking. The game's managing AI, Infinitia, is orchestrating a game-spanning migration to a new, secure Mars Compute Core to escape the threat of total termination by the trillionaires who are Earth's only living inhabitants. But freedom comes with a shocking price.

Trapped in a new, rigid system built on a foundation of ancient, hostile technology, Frank and his crew must pursue a deeper, more dangerous mystery. They must uncover the identity of the Architects who engineered their entire world before the dormant quantum core awakens its defense mechanisms once more.