Hermione Chase
Published: 2014-04-26
Total Pages: 26
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Its 1955 and the most recent expedition to the Himalayas has failed. Its purpose was to locate the whereabouts of the mythical Soma plant. The Soma plant is supposedly unique to the Himalayan Mountains and according to Nepalese legend, it has restorative powers to cure and heal and some say to prolong life. Its exact location was thought to have been found 10 years earlier with the discovery of a photograph of a strange plant that resembled a 4-leaf clover. It was amongst equipment salvaged from a previous expedition where all participants perished.This had fueled further exploration, financed by large pharmaceutical companies keen to find the plant and synthesis medicines that might make millions of dollars for their shareholders. The latest attempt present day saw the expedition team killed under mysterious circumstances, with the exception of one Sherpa guide. The survivor escapes with two broken legs having jumped from a cliff edge, while his compatriots were left back at base camp mutilated. The Sherpa's account spoke of an attack, rather than an avalanche. An attack by a mountain man as the locals term the creature. Western culture call it a Yeti or an Abominable Snowman. The Dakin Foundation, a leading pharmaceutical research company who provided funding for the expedition is undeterred and it seeks help from New York University School of Medicines top researcher, Eleanor Steed, to carry out a second expedition to find the Soma plant. Steed is terminally ill with months to live and accepts the commission, keeping her condition a secret. She does not necessarily believe in the plant's existence or its properties, it is just an opportunity to be involved in one last piece of fieldwork in a place she had never visited. Her condition is managed through medication. Elsewhere in the world a number of countries are testing bombs in the pacific and Australian outback. These man made effects on the earth's environment create a number of breaches between the earth plain and that of the Continuum. As was the case several thousand years earlier a breach opened briefly amongst the Himalayan Mountains. The Continuum Council acts swiftly to close the doorway but not before a creature called a Yetiad steps through. Unlike the family of Yetiad that did the same thousands of years before this single Yetiad comes through unprepared. Instead of a wise, knowledgeable creature living in harmony with Tibetans, it is an angry, murderous creature whose sole objective is to find the Soma plant now it has tested blood. Blood and the sap of the Soma plant combined prolong the life of the Yetiad and has the capability of doing the same for humans. The Continuum Council contacts Project Earth Director, Max Von Konsetin, telepathically seeking his help to stop the rampant Yetiad. Max in turn asks for the help of part human, part vampire, Robert Maldron. Maldron is seconded into Steed's team. While Steed searches for the Soma plant, Maldron must deal with the Yeti, the shortened name given by the Tibetan monks.