Folks,
I'm hoping someone can help me find this book as Google is drawing a blank (or at least the search terms I'm using). I read it in the early '90's.
The main character is a sort of Indiana Jones type of guy. He has a cybernetic implant and when his gun is in his hand it makes a contact and speeds up his perception of time (things seem to happen in slow motion) and gives him a targeting reticle like a heads up display.
He has two sidekicks.
One is actually a fungus (I think - but fairly sure) who walks around in a support suit that makes him/it look like a small person in a spacesuit. At one point they need to pick a complex lock and he takes his glove off to reveal tendrils rather than flesh which he inserts into the lock and manages to pick it from the inside. He's not strong and struggles when they have to actually carry some kit and he needs to carry a case.
The second is a snake - sort of. I seem to remember envisioning him as more like a centaur but with the lower half being snake and the upper part of his body being like a human (in form so he has arms but still with snakelike attributes like scales). He's an unknown species to them and the archaeology sort of centres around remains left on various planets by a species that seem to be like him so the theory is that they are his ancestors. For some reason he doesn't know of his origins - dunno if he was supposed to have been frozen or similar from the times of the archaeology or maybe his species simply moved to a different part of the universe and he's come/been sent back.
Apart from that I can't remember much of the storyline.
They are following clues to try and find the origins of these "snake people" looking at folklore and old documents rumours etc.
There was a "scene" where they were staying in a hotel and part of the unpacking routine was to place some items around the room that looked like ornaments but were really customised weapons for each of them to use (don't remember them actually using them).
They find a building at one point sort of like a pyramid but with steeper sides (a spire?). They reckon it was built by the snake species - one of the reasons was that it had slopes instead of stairs with textured/rough surfaces for a snake's underside to get a better grip for traction.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Iain
I'm hoping someone can help me find this book as Google is drawing a blank (or at least the search terms I'm using). I read it in the early '90's.
The main character is a sort of Indiana Jones type of guy. He has a cybernetic implant and when his gun is in his hand it makes a contact and speeds up his perception of time (things seem to happen in slow motion) and gives him a targeting reticle like a heads up display.
He has two sidekicks.
One is actually a fungus (I think - but fairly sure) who walks around in a support suit that makes him/it look like a small person in a spacesuit. At one point they need to pick a complex lock and he takes his glove off to reveal tendrils rather than flesh which he inserts into the lock and manages to pick it from the inside. He's not strong and struggles when they have to actually carry some kit and he needs to carry a case.
The second is a snake - sort of. I seem to remember envisioning him as more like a centaur but with the lower half being snake and the upper part of his body being like a human (in form so he has arms but still with snakelike attributes like scales). He's an unknown species to them and the archaeology sort of centres around remains left on various planets by a species that seem to be like him so the theory is that they are his ancestors. For some reason he doesn't know of his origins - dunno if he was supposed to have been frozen or similar from the times of the archaeology or maybe his species simply moved to a different part of the universe and he's come/been sent back.
Apart from that I can't remember much of the storyline.
They are following clues to try and find the origins of these "snake people" looking at folklore and old documents rumours etc.
There was a "scene" where they were staying in a hotel and part of the unpacking routine was to place some items around the room that looked like ornaments but were really customised weapons for each of them to use (don't remember them actually using them).
They find a building at one point sort of like a pyramid but with steeper sides (a spire?). They reckon it was built by the snake species - one of the reasons was that it had slopes instead of stairs with textured/rough surfaces for a snake's underside to get a better grip for traction.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Iain
