The Universe Game: Circle One

Over the last three centuries, Earth has sent hundreds of their toughest soldiers to play the Universe Game. None of them have ever come back.  The Game was left behind by the Main, a mysterious super-civilization of almost unlimited power that disappeared thousands of years ago. No-one knows how the Game is played, or where it happens, or even what the prize is.  And yet despite the odds, every civilization from the present-day Cluster wants to play. If one civ gets access to advanced Main tech ahead of the others, it means dominance for them, and an end to the Cluster’s fragile balance of peace. Now another human team is about to take on the Game, and this time around, Earth leadership is trying something different -- along with the usual elite warriors, they’re sending military academic Dr Arvic ‘Neb’ James, a specialist in Main xenoarchaeology. The other soldiers think he’s already as good as dead.  The team will need to learn the Game, navigate a hostile environment, survive other players, and grapple with the deepest secrets of the Main. At stake is not only their own survival, but the unstable balance of the Cluster and the future of Earth-born civilization.  The Universe Game is a GameLit / LitRPG adventure with levels, experience points, skills and progression. Book One is complete at about 95k words, posting new chapters every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Feedback, comments, sugggestion (and suggestions for other work I should read!) most welcome.