A novelette.
SHACKLETON'S BURDEN is a science fiction novelette that starts the stalking of the adventurous Alec Shackleton through the Eleven Wonders of the Universe with a ragtag team, his side-kick Dancer, a cocky android. Their quest: to find technology left behind by the fallen Empire of the First Ones in the far reaches of the galaxy.
Alec Shackleton spent his youth bouncing from one planetary system to another with his father on expeditions. Alec had likened it to searching for the real Charon, the actual ferryman at the river Styx. He couldn't keep his father’s dream anymore, so he left and broke out on his own to make a life for himself.
Alec wanted so much more than chasing across the galaxy after a myth, a legendary story. It was just too bad that the rest of the galaxy caught up to him, propelling him into the greatest adventure ever told. Alec is the guy who the steps up because there isn’t anyone else who can.