Is it possible to interfere with history in a moral way, especially if profit is the primary motivation for doing so? Is it possible to sustain any ethical standards at all when handed what amounts to unlimited power? These and other shadowy questions are raised in this book, the unofficial history of Dr Zeus, Inc -- known to its employees simply as the Company. This collection brings together the early Company stories in one volume for the first time. Also included are new stories, three previously unpublished, and one, 'The Queen in Yellow' written exclusively for this book.
Science-fiction fans will follow the secret activities of the Company's field agents -- once human, now centuries-old time-travelling immortal cyborgs: Botanist Mendoza's search for the rare hallucinogenic Black Elysium grape in 1844 Spanish-held Santa Barbara, California; Facilitator Joseph's dreamlike solicitation of the ailing Robert Louis Stevenson in 1879; Marine Salvage Specialist Kalugin's recovering of an invaluable Eugene Delacroix painting from a sunken yacht off the coast of Los Angeles in 1894; and Literature Preservationist Lewis's retrieval of priceless literary artefacts, in 1914 Egypt, from the mummy case of Princess Sit-Hathor-Yunet.