Mnemonic Gun

Opening scene from my upcoming novella, Mnemonic Gun.

Zed is a Zon bioroid, a highly gengineered and nanoaugmented evolutionary descendent of the ancient Terran hominids, Homo floresiensis. Born in space but raised on Earth--the Pacific Northwest--is an operative for the Network, the star-spanning, shadowy organization committed to fighting oppression and tyranny throughout Galaxy Prime. He's a material and information recovery consultant, gathering rare books and other items, as well as intelligence the Network needs.

Then, one night, Zed stumbles upon a group human and alien criminals, all of whom are part of an insidious plan threatening all Terrans.