Contest

MATTHEW REILLY

CONTEST

Copyright (c) Matthew Reilly 2000

For Mum and Dad

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to Stephen Reilly, my brother -- marketing genius, tortured writer (aren't we all?) and loyal friend. To Natalie Freer -- the first person to read my work, and the most patient and giving person on this earth. To my parents for letting me watch too much television as a kid and for their unwavering support. And to Peter Kozlina for his monumental show of faith in this book before he had even read a word. And of course, thanks once again to everyone at Pan Macmillan -- Cate Paterson, for being a brilliant publisher; Jane Novak, for being a fantastic publicist (and for being the only person I know who could read Voss and then pick up Ice Station and enjoy them both!); Julie Nekich, for being an understanding editor (you have to be to work with me); and lastly, once again, all the sales reps at Pan for the countless hours they spend on the road between bookshops. Thank you.

To anyone out there who knows a writer, never underestimate the power of your encouragement.

A note from the author about Contest

Hello there. Matthew Reilly here.

Now before we get on with the show, I'd like, if I may, to share with you a few secrets about Contest.

First of all, as some of you may already know, Contest was my first novel. The story of how I self-published it after every major publisher in Sydney rejected it has been pretty well documented elsewhere, so I won't go into that here. Suffice it to say that only 1000 copies of Contest were ever released, all paid for by yours truly.

And then came Ice Station.

Now, many people have taken the time to tell me what a ride they found Ice Station to be. Such comments please me immensely because that is what it was supposed to be -- a non-stop rollercoaster ride on paper.

What few people know, however, is that when I wrote Ice Station, I had one all- consuming goal: to top Contest.

Contest is the book that made Ice Station (and later Temple) what it was. If it doesn't seem as large in scale as its two successors, it is because it was the first. It was the prototype upon which they were built; a prototype for a different style of book -- a superfast-paced, absolutely non-stop thriller. Everybody has to start somewhere. I started with Contest.

That said, I think the story in Contest is easily the fastest of all my books. It is like a sports car stripped down to its raw components -- wheels, frame, engine. No fancy paintwork. No fancy upholstery. Just raw nonstop energy.

As any author will tell you, you only get one first book. And that first one always occupies a special place in your heart. Contest is like that for me. It was the first one, and now as I look back on it, I can see without a doubt that it set the tone for everything to come.

I truly hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

Matthew Reilly November 2000

Do I dare

Disturb the universe?

- T. S. Eliot

INTRODUCTION

From: Hoare, Shane

Suetonius: The Picture of Rome (New York, Advantage Press, 1979)

'CHAPTER VII: THE FIRST CENTURY A.D.

... ultimately, however, it is Suetonius' classic work, Lives of the Emperors, that provides us with the best picture of court life in Imperial Rome. Here Suetonius might well be writing a modern day soap opera, as he outlines the lust, the cruelty, the intrigues and the numerous insidiae -- or plots -- that dominated life in the Emperor's presence...' [p. 98]

'... not least of whom was Domitian, who, although well-known for his ex-tempore executions of scheming courtesans, provides perhaps the most brutal of all examples of Roman intrigue -- that of Quintus Aurelius.

A distinguished former captain in the Roman army who rose to prominence in the Senate under Domitian, Aurelius apparently fell out of favour with the Emperor in 87 A.D. Initially recruited by Domitian to aid him in military matters, Aurelius was also a prolific writer, who not only instructed Domitian on military strategy, but who also committed those instructions to his own personal record. Much of this writing has survived to the present day, dated and intact.

However, Quintus Aurelius' writing ceased abruptly in the year 87 A.D.

All correspondence between senator and Emperor was severed. Aurelius' personal record cited no further entries. There was no mention of Aurelius in Senate documents from that year onward.

Quintus Aurelius had disappeared.

Some historians have speculated that Aurelius -- who, it was said, would appear in the Senate in fall military attire -- simply fell out of favour with Domitian, while others have proposed that Aurelius was discovered plotting...' [p. 103]

From: Freer, Donald

From Medieval to Modern: Europe 1010-1810 (London, W. M. Lawry & Co., 1963)

'... by comparison, the wheat riots in Cornwall were but a trifle when compared with the confusion that overwhelmed a small farming community in West Hampshire in the spring of 1092.

Historians have long pondered over the fate of Sir Alfred Hayes, the Lord of Palmerston Estate, whose disappearance in 1092 upset the entire feudal balance of his small agrarian community in West Hampshire...' [p. 45]

'... However, the most startling aspect of the whole affair is that if Hayes did, in fact, die suddenly (of cholera or anything else for that matter), why was his death not listed in the local church register as had always been the custom? A man so renowned for his past glory on the battlefield, and of such stature in the community, would not be overlooked by the death registrar. The sad fact is that since no body was ever found, no death was ever recorded.

Writing after his lord's disappearance, the local abbot of West Hampshire observed that, apart from necessary military excursions, Sir Alfred had never left West Hampshire before, and that during the days immediately prior to his disappearance, he had been seen about the village carrying out his business as usual. It