Count to a Trillion

Hundreds of years in the future after the collapse of the Western world young Menelaus Illation Montrose grows up in what was once Texas as a gunslinging duelist for hire. But Montrose is also a mathematical genius―and a romantic who dreams of a future in which humanity rises from the ashes to take its place among the stars. The chance to help usher in that future comes when Montrose is recruited for a manned interstellar mission to investigate an artifact of alien origin. Known as the Monument the artifact is inscribed with data so complex only a posthuman mind can decipher it. So Montrose does the unthinkable: he injects himself with a dangerous biochemical drug designed to boost his already formidable intellect to superhuman intelligence. It drives him mad.Nearly two centuries later his sanity restored Montrose is awakened from cryo-suspension with no memory of his posthuman actions to find Earth transformed in strange and disturbing ways and learns that the Monument still carries a secret he must decode―one that will define humanity''s true future in the universe.