Death wave, p.34
Death Wave,
p.34
Cree smiled and told his son, “You will, Junior. Someday you will.”
Dee Dee tousled her boy’s hair. “When you grow up, honey,” she said. “When you grow up.”
* * *
Jordan felt tired, and somehow disappointed. The day had been long and emotionally draining, with a crowded news conference following the starship’s launch, then speeches by the assembled politicians—including Jordan, as the representative of the World Council—and finally a long, liquor-soaked luncheon hosted by the governor of New Mexico during which the politicians congratulated themselves on opening a new era of starflight for the human race. And finally a one-on-one interview with the Otero Network’s Nick Motrenko.
He was close to exhaustion by the time he and Aditi reached their hotel suite. But as he sat on the bed and bent down to take off his shoes, Aditi touched his shoulder and said, “Adri is calling.”
The leader of the New Earth people appeared in solid three dimensions in the viewer on the opposite bedroom wall.
“Friend Jordan,” the old man said, “and Aditi, my dear one. I call to offer you my congratulations on your success.”
Adri was standing, wearing a long robe of royal blue filigreed with silver threads. His bald, wrinkled face was beaming at them contentedly.
Without waiting for their response, Adri went on, “Perhaps you don’t fully appreciate the high accomplishment that you have achieved. The first rescue mission is a significant step in itself, but it is symbolic of something far greater.”
“Greater?” Jordan blurted, knowing his word would take an hour to reach New Earth.
With an almost guilty expression clouding his aged face, Adri explained, “You see, this crisis of the death wave has actually been a test of your people’s vision and resolve.”
Jordan felt his brows narrow and saw that Aditi looked equally puzzled.
“The death wave is a very real and very dangerous problem. Its threat to the less-advanced civilizations is acute, gravely serious. Entire species of intelligent creatures are under a sentence of death unless you people of Earth help them.”
We know that, Jordan said to himself.
Adri continued, “But there is something else involved, as well. Something of even greater significance for the human race.”
“Greater significance?” Jordan echoed.
“You have led your people to starflight. You have succeeded in one of the most significant steps that any intelligent species can take.”
Aditi moved to the bed and sat beside Jordan. The two of them watched Adri’s ancient, seamed face like a pair of schoolchildren listening to their tutor.
“A species that achieves spaceflight,” Adri went on, “has separated its fate from the fate of the planet that gave them birth. Once a species has spaceflight, it can survive a catastrophe that destroys the world of its birth. No natural disaster on its home planet, no global war or environmental devastation, can drive that species into extinction, for it has created new homes for itself elsewhere in its solar system.
“But in the long term—the very long term—the species’ eventual fate is tied to the fate of its birth star. If Earth’s sun explodes, or merely throws off a supermassive coronal flare, life on Earth, life throughout the solar system, could be wiped out.
“Starflight gives your species a way to separate its fate from the fate of its home star. With starflight the human race can live for untold eons, spreading through the galaxy and giving rise to new intelligences, both biological and electronic. That is why starflight is so important. It guarantees the immortality of your species and its descendants.”
Adri fell silent. Jordan started to reply, found his throat was dry.
Aditi said, “And the rescue missions we are undertaking are merely the first steps toward creating a true interstellar civilization.”
Jordan found his voice. “We won’t get his answer for another couple of hours, at least.”
She nodded.
He grasped her wrist and led her to the glass sliders of their balcony. As they stepped into the dark, cloudless, desert night, Jordan murmured, “Astronomy began in the desert.”
Gazing up at the thousands of bright pinpoints sparkling across the dark sky, Aditi said, “Yes, I’m sure that’s right.”
For long moments they stared upward. Jordan pointed out the Dippers, the fainter Dragon twining between them, the lopsided W of Cassiopeia, and, in the opposite direction, Orion climbing above the distant horizon.
“There’s a story from the Old Testament,” Jordan told her, his voice oddly low, “about God taking Abraham out into the desert night and telling him, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.’”
“That must have pleased Abraham.”
“I’m sure it did. But I’ve always interpreted those words in a slightly different way. I think what they mean is that we will populate the stars in the sky. We will become a true interstellar civilization.”
Aditi leaned her head on his shoulder. “And we’re taking the first step, now.”
“Yes, now,” Jordan replied. “But it’s only the first step.”
Above them, the stars beckoned.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ben Bova is a six-time winner of the Hugo Award, a former editor of Analog, former editorial director of Omni, and a past president of both the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America. Bova is the author of more than a hundred works of science fact and fiction. He lives in Florida. You can sign up for email updates here.
Tor Books by Ben Bova
Able One
The Aftermath
As on a Darkling Plain
The Astral Mirror
Battle Station
The Best of the Nebulas (editor)
Challenges
Colony
Cyberbooks
Escape Plus
Farside
The Green Trap
Gremlins Go Home
(with Gordon R. Dickson)
Jupiter
The Kinsman Saga
Leviathans of Jupiter
Mars Life
Mercury
The Multiple Man
New Earth
New Frontiers
Orion
Orion Among the Stars
Orion and King Arthur
Orion and the Conqueror
Orion in the Dying Time
Out of Sun
Peacekeepers
Power Play
Powersat
The Precipice
Privateers
Prometheans
The Rock Rats
Saturn
The Silent War
Star Peace: Assured Survival
The Starcrossed
Tale of the Grand Tour
Test of Fire
Titan
To Fear the Light
(with A. J. Austin)
To Save the Sun
(with A. J. Austin)
The Trikon Deception
(with Bill Pogue)
Triumph
Vengeance of Orion
Venus
Voyagers
Voyagers II: The Alien Within
Voyagers III: Star Brothers
The Return: Book IV of Voyagers
The Winds of Altair
Thank you for buying this
Tom Doherty Associates ebook.
To receive special offers, bonus content,
and info on new releases and other great reads,
sign up for our newsletters.
Or visit us online at
us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup
For email updates on the author, click here.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Rio Grande Gorge
Jordan Kell
Barcelona
Albuquerque
Taos, New Mexico
World Council Headquarters
The Death Wave
First Things First
San Francisco
Plans
Decision
Action
Tarragona Air Force Base
Assessment
Mountain View
Officers’ Club
Barcelona
New York City
Nashville
Tarragona Air Force Base
World Council Headquarters
Boston
Barcelona
Communications Center
World Council Headquarters
Grand Hotel
North Dakota
Grand Hotel
Communications Complex
Janos Rudaki
Barcelona, El Prat Airport
Treasure Island
Walter James Edgerton
Chicago
Communications Complex
Chicago
Barcelona
Gilda Nordquist
Chicago
North Dakota
KTBR
Nordquist and Stavenger
Griffin and Otero
Albuquerque
Barcelona
Douglas Stavenger
History Lesson
Escape
The Hub
Aditi
Preparations
Evidence
Barcelona
San Francisco
Boston
Beacon Hill
Otero Studio Six
Barcelona
Boston
Otero Studio Six
Dead Worlds
Responsibility
Habitat Gandhi
Mitchell Thornberry
Concord, Massachusetts
Invitations
News Conference
Assassination
Preparations
Intelligence
Counterintelligence
Habitat Gandhi
Plans of Attack
Deployments
Action
Escape
Stalemate
Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make …
… Nor Iron Bars a Cage
Broadcast
Habitat Gandhi
Love Your Enemies
The Trial
Babysitting
London
Cornwall
Moscow
Seeds of Doubt (1)
Seeds of Doubt (2)
Rise and Strike
Christmas Presents
Confrontation
Election Day
Epilogue: Six Years Later
About the Author
Tor Books by Ben Bova
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DEATH WAVE
Copyright © 2015 by Ben Bova
All rights reserved.
Cover art by John Harris
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Bova, Ben,
Death wave / Ben Bova. — First edition.
p. cm.
“A Tor Book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-7950-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-6874-8 (e-book)
I. Title.
PS3552.O84D43 2015
813'.54—dc23
2015023075
e-ISBN 9781466868748
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
First Edition: November 2015
Ben Bova, Death Wave
