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ONE TEN YARDS SEAWARD from where I stand on the beach, the new-risen moons backlight our assa
TWO “SLIDERS, SIR!” Ord gripped my elbow and whispered over Himalayan wind as thin and sharp
THREE FOUR MONTHS LATER, I sat in my private room at New Bethesda Naval Hospital, while my Re
FOUR THREE DAYS AFTER my therapist harpooned me, I stared at the Himalayas again. From twenty
FIVE MUNCHKIN LED ME DOWN a boutique corridor where tourists browsed space-themed trinkets, a
SIX MUNCHKIN POUTED. “This thing still creeps me out.” Howard strode down the passage towa
SEVEN I WALKED TOWARD ORD. Within twenty yards, my long-unused thigh muscles burned, even at
EIGHT I FOUND THAT PERSON somersaulting around the Airpool. Once they’ve gawked the Earthv
NINE TWO DAYS LATER, in the Spook Ring’s amphitheater, twenty feet below Howard, Munchkin, an
TEN HOWARD SCHEDULED THE LIVE TEST for dawn. In geosynchronous orbit, the sun still rises jus
ELEVEN INSIDE THE CONTROL CHAMBER, every admin-bubble row glowed like strung pearls. Supervis
TWELVE THEN THE VENTILATORS THUNKED, and stopped. Munchkin lurched forward in the dark. “J
THIRTEEN I POINTED AT THE TECH SERGEANT’S antennaed helmet. “You got contact with New Moon?”
FOURTEEN WHUMP. WHUMP. WHUMP. I squeezed my eyes shut against the flashes as the
FIFTEEN I SHOOK MY HEAD. “No. Howard, the Moon is, like, a quarter million miles from us. Thr
SIXTEEN WE SPENT THE FIRST FOURTEEN DAYS of our ride to nowhere discovering surprises. How
SEVENTEEN ORD AND I HIT THE CONTROL CHAMBER entrance on the run, panting. Jeeb had resumed
EIGHTEEN WE TOTED UP THE DAMAGE NEXT DAY. The net cost to us of transiting a temporal fabric
NINETEEN HOWARD WAS WRONG. We sped through the orbits of the outer planets of the big yellow
TWENTY SOMEONE HAD STRAPPED A SCHOOL BELL to my head, and it wouldn’t stop clanging. My cheek
TWENTY-ONE VENTED HEADGEAR OR NOT, an infantryman who has survived combat knows the smell of
TWENTY-TWO I BIT OFF A SCREAM as I jumped and pulled away. I spun, raised the rock in my h
TWENTY-THREE I STARED. THEN I BLINKED. Then I shook my head. What I saw remained. The pint
TWENTY-FOUR FEW ROUNDS CAN PENETRATE ETERNADS. But armor doesn’t insulate the wearer from phy
TWENTY-FIVE TEN MINUTES LATER, Blackbeard’s cavalry crossed paths with the distant group.
TWENTY-SIX BLACKBEARD’S DUCKBILL STALLION hit the broken scree apron at the cliff base like a
TWENTY-SEVEN A HALF HOUR LATER, Yulen halted the duckbill caravan of us four, the guards, and
TWENTY-EIGHT BOOM-BOOM-BOOM. I heard it, now. My blood coursed cold in my veins,
TWENTY-NINE I TURNED MY HEAD, and saw, six inches from my face, a snow-white, clawed foot as
THIRTY I TURNED AND STARED. A miles-wide dust cloud sizzled on the horizon as Casus’s army th
THIRTY-ONE I WHISPERED, “Bassin, you mendacious, one-legged son of a bitch!” But my former
THIRTY-TWO THE SLUGS BUNCHED into an armor-touching-armor phalanx, as the Casuni bore down on
THIRTY-THREE JUDE WAS RIGHT. Bassin was a phony who had fooled me once. If he fooled me twice
THIRTY-FOUR AN HOUR LATER, AS THE SUN ROSE, Wilgan put us, his First Mate, and the rest of th
THIRTY-FIVE FIVE HUNDRED YARDS FURTHER, the half dozen sailors on point slowed and peered ahe
THIRTY-SIX THE BEAST THAT MENACED Howard, Jude and me for our last few hours at sea was neith
THIRTY-SEVEN MY JAW DROPPED so far that I chinned my command-circuit audio alarm, and Ord’s v
THIRTY-EIGHT “WOULD YOU LIKE MY ADVICE?” I asked the Queen. “General, in my home, it is cu
THIRTY-NINE CRAP. CRAP, CRAP, CRAP. I said, “I don’t have—” “Every resource of Marin wi
FORTY HOWARD LAID HIS HAND on a stack of books on the table. “I did some quick reading while
FORTY-ONE I SHOOK MY HEAD. “No. We had carnosaurs, they have carnosaurs. We had duckbills, th
FORTY-TWO I’M NO SWABBIE, so I wouldn’t know a barge if I waterskied across one, but the Quee
FORTY-THREE THE BARGE’S LONG BOAT put me ashore at the Pillars under the 2 A.M. light from th
FORTY-FOUR I LEVERED MYSELF OUT OF MY CREVASSE, and looked up at the sun without even checkin
FORTY-FIVE CASUNI PISTOLS CAN’T HIT A BLIMP outside sixty yards. So, although I was staring d
FORTY-SIX THE NEXT MORNING, Casus and I walked out on the prairie, bent forward against the w
FORTY-SEVEN CASUS REINED UP HIS BIG WHITE DUCKBILL with its forelegs on a natural pavement of
FORTY-EIGHT THE FINAL DAMAGE TALLY for our party’s midnight handshake with the Tassini Scouts
FORTY-NINE SOMETIME LATER THAT NIGHT, cold rain dripped on my face, and woke me in dimness pu
FIFTY A WRONK STALKED TOWARD US out of a tree clump, head low, tail high, snarling and slobbe
FIFTY-ONE THE CARNOSAUR APPROACHED so fast that its snout cut a wake like a speedboat. I coul
FIFTY-TWO TWO DAYS LATER, the Royal Barge eased alongside the stone quay at the University. B
FIFTY-THREE THE THREE CLANS’ DELEGATIONS sat around an equal-sided triangular conference tabl
FIFTY-FOUR THE NEXT MORNING, the owner of the biggest gun smithy in Marinus handed Ord and me
FIFTY-FIVE BOOM. Three months after Wilgan educated me about amphibious operation
FIFTY-SIX “A SOLDIER SURE OF HIS FOOTING has no need of a mount!” The Marini Infantry Marshal
FIFTY-SEVEN JUDE SWUNG ALONGSIDE ME, and matched my pace. I smiled at him. “Would the Lieu
FIFTY-EIGHT I SLID MY TORSO PLATES DOWN over my shoulders by flickering lantern light, and as
FIFTY-NINE JUDE HURLED THE BARBED BLACK IRON. At the same instant, a tentacle tip wrapped the
SIXTY I PUNCHED THE ZOOM ON MY OPTICS so hard that they retracted. I swore, tore off my helme
SIXTY-ONE BY THE TIME THE FIRST REPORTS had become second, and third, and fourth reports, the
SIXTY-TWO TEN MILES OUT into the Sea of Hunters, as we skirted the boiling melee of the feedi
SIXTY-THREE AN HOUR LATER, I planted my feet in the sand of our expanding beachhead, and a ha
SIXTY-FOUR THE NIGHT AFTER WE REDUCED the caves in the Limestone Hills, after security was se
SIXTY-FIVE IN THE NEXT MORNING’S DAWN, I stood alongside Gustus, Ord, Bassin, and Casus on a
SIXTY-SIX IN FACT, I WASN’T THE ONLY part of this expedition that was afraid of heights. The
SIXTY-SEVEN I LOOKED DOWN ACROSS FORESTS to the Troll and the cleared land around it, and rel
SIXTY-EIGHT THREE MINUTES LATER, a Sapper set at my feet an olive-drab, twenty-three-pound me
SIXTY-NINE MILES AWAY, across the artificial green dusk of my visor display ghosted pale, spi
SEVENTY WHEN I REACHED THE GROUND and dragged Howard off the ’Bot’s back, he was conscious, b
SEVENTY-ONE THE FIRST MOON HAD RISEN by the time I got Howard back to Bassin’s HQ. Bassin and
SEVENTY-TWO AT FIRST LIGHT THE NEXT MORNING, I sat on one snorting wobblehead among fifty, in
SEVENTY-THREE I STAND AT PARADE REST on the lecture hall stage, and stare out across three th
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