Story description[1]
News has reached Town Forty-Four, on the tranquil world of Virger-Mos II: Terra has fallen, the Emperor is dead and the Imperium belongs to Horus Lupercal. As the people of Forty-Four struggle to deal with this revelation and the rest of the planet falls into anarchy, Leon Kyyter begins to doubt the news, along with the stranger from Terra, the remembrancer with the odd tattoo...
Synopsis
The people of Town 44 on the remote Imperial backwater world Virger-Mos II are thrown into doubt and confusion when it is announced that Horus has slain the Emperor and now rules the galaxy. Mechanic Silas Cincade volunteers to travel to the capital to find out the truth,[2a] and meanwhile the people begin carrying weapons and having arguments over the best course of action. Lights in the sky appear to herald the arrival of Astartes, and reports start to come through of armoured figures wiping out towns. Solar farmer Dallon Prael announces his intention to die rather than surrender to Horus's forces and mistakenly shoots dead Silas Cincade as he returns from the capital.[2c] As the town falls into violence and anarchy a boy named Leon Kyyter discovers his father's lodger, a remembrancer named Mendacs who arrived eight weeks earlier[2b] and formed something of a friendship with the boy[2d], sneaking out of the house and follows him to the town's skyhook. Mendacs forces the skyhook's lone astropath to send a message before executing her, and reveals to Leon that he is an Alpha Legion agent tasked with spreading false tidings of Horus's victory who has orchestrated events to make Virger-Mos II fall to the Warmaster without even being invaded. Mendacs departs for his next mission, and unable to stop him Leon watches silently as his planet burns.[2e]
SettingCharactersTrivia
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The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.
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- The premise of the story, and especially the scene in which Silas Cincade is mistakenly shot as an intruder by Dallon Prael, is obviously inspired by "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", an episode of the original The Twilight Zone TV series.
See alsoSources
- 1: Black Library: Liar's Due (archived from the original 02 December 2023, last accessed 10 August 2024)
- 2: "Liar's Due" (Short Story):
- 2a: +++Broadcast Minus Zero Zero [Solar]+++
- 2b: +++Broadcast Minus Eight Weeks [Solar]+++
- 2c: +++Broadcast Plus Eleven Hours [Solar]+++
- 2d: +++Broadcast Minus Two Weeks [Solar]+++
- 2e: +++Broadcast Plus Twenty-Two Hours [Solar]+++
