S. Swann - Prophets

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

FIRST PROLOGUE - Signs

CHAPTER ONE - The Music of the Spheres

CHAPTER TWO - Vocation

CHAPTER THREE - Audience

PART ONE - Original Sins

CHAPTER FOUR - Stigmata

CHAPTER FIVE - Pilgrimage

CHAPTER SIX - Geas

CHAPTER SEVEN - Tithes

CHAPTER EIGHT - Mysteries

CHAPTER NINE - Initiations

CHAPTER TEN - Heresies

CHAPTER ELEVEN - Acolyte

CHAPTER TWELVE - Portents

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Communion

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Limbo

CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Divine Intervention

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Exodus

PART TWO - Burnt Offerings

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Sectarianism

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Purgatory

CHAPTER NINETEEN - Faith of Our Fathers

CHAPTER TWENTY - Service

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - Fallen Angel

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - Jihad

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - Revelation

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - Confession

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - Apocrypha

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - Relic

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - Resurrection

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - Harbinger

PART THREE - Prodigal Son

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - Test of Faith

CHAPTER THIRTY - Seraphim

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - Good Samaritans

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - Descent

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - Hubris

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR - My Brother’s Keeper

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE - Mixed Blessings

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX - Hallowed Ground

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN - Zealots

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT - Destiny

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE - Götterdämmerung

FIRST EPILOGUE - Last Rites

CHAPTER FORTY - Mysterious Ways

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE - Visions

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO - Conversions

APPENDIX - Alphabetical Listing of Sources

“SO, NICKOLAI, HOW DO YOU FEEL WORKING WITH A BUNCH OF HUMANS?”

“Mosasa isn’t human.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that, didn’t you? Mind expounding on that little tidbit?”

Nickolai pondered his options for a moment. The fact he carried a rather large secret with him made him reluctant, but Kugara was the only other member of the team he would feel comfortable having as an “ally.” He also thought she had a point that they both needed one. This mission was going to take them far outside the grip of the BMU, the only law recognized by their nominal comrades. And would he want to trust his life to humans like Wahid or Parvi, or even Fitzpatrick?

Nickolai finished his pitcher and told Kugara what he could about Mosasa. “Our employer,” Nickolai said, “doesn’t just work with AIs. He doesn’t own them.”

“Meaning?”

“He is them.”

Kugara lowered her mug. The glass hit the table with a slightly liquid squeak. A similar sound seemed to come from her throat. After a moment she said, “Shit.”

“Tjaele Mosasa is a construct controlled by a salvaged Race AI device. The ‘man’ who briefed us is no more real than my right arm. . . .”

Other fine DAW science fiction and fantasy from S. ANDREW SWANN

Science Fiction:

THE HOSTILE TAKEOVER TRILOGY:

PROFITEER (#1)

PARTISAN (#2)

REVOLUTIONARY (#3)

THE MOREAU NOVELS:

MOREAU OMNIBUS (#1-3)

FEARFUL SYMMETRIES (#4)

Fantasy:

THE DWARVES OF WHISKEY ISLAND

THE DRAGONS OF THE CUYAHOGA

*

BROKEN CRESCENT

*

GOD’S DICE

Fiction:

ZIMMERMAN’S ALGORITHM

Copyright © 2009 by Steven Swiniarski.

All Rights Reserved.

DAW Book Collectors No. 1468.

DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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First Printing March 2009

eISBN : 978-1-101-01694-7

http://us.penguingroup.com

This is for Michelle,

for putting up with all my crap.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Bakunin

Father Francis Xavier Mallory —Roman Catholic Priest and veteran of the Occisis Marines.

Nickolai Rajasthan —Exiled scion of the House of Rajasthan. Descendant of genetically engineered tigers.

Vijayanagara Parvi —Mercenary pilot from Rubai.

Tjaele Mosasa —Proprietor of Mosasa Salvage, owner of the Eclipse .

Jusuf Wahid —Mercenary from Davado Poli.

Julia Kugara —Mercenary from Dakota. Descendant of genetically engineered humans. Former member of the DPS (Dakota Planetary Security).

Eclipse

“Bill” —Paralian expert in physics.

Dr. Sharon Dörner —Xenobiologist from Acheron.

Dr. Samson Brody —Cultural anthropologist from Bulawayo.

Dr. Leon Pak —Linguist from Terra.

Rebecca Tsoravitch —Data analyst from Jokul.

Earth

Cardinal Jacob Anderson —Bishop of Ostia, Dean of the College of Cardinals, Vatican Secretary of State.

Yousef Al-Hamadi —Eridani Caliphate Minister-at-Large in Charge of External Relations.

Khamsin

Admiral Muhammad Hussein al Khamsiti —Commander of the Prophet’s Voice and battlegroup.

Admiral Naji Bitar —Commander of the Prophet’s Sword and battlegroup.

Salmagundi

Flynn Jorgenson —Forestry surveyor.

Alexander Shane —Senior member of the Grand Triad.

FIRST PROLOGUE

Signs

The no-mind not-thinks no-thoughts about no-things.

—SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA BUDDHA (563-483 Bce)

CHAPTER ONE

The Music of the Spheres

Blaming Fate, God, or Destiny is an admission that you don’t have a clue what’s going on.

—The Cynic’s Book of Wisdom

The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.

—SOCRATES (470-390 Bce)

Date: 2502.12.09 (Standard) 5.48 ly from Xi Virginis

The egg moves at half light speed through the vacuum, its surface a deep blackness absorbing every stray photon, emitting nothing. Particles with small masses—from stray protons up to grains of interstellar dust—slide around it, nanometers from its surface, following the ovoid perimeter until they find their original track on the opposite side, where they resume their motion as if the egg had not crossed their path. The only sign that something exists beneath its event-horizon skin is the resonance in the fabric of space-time as it ripples gravity in its wake.

The egg has traveled for over two centuries, 228.326 years standard to be exact. Viewed from the perspective of those who built it, its journey has barely begun. The Protean outpost on the lawless planet Bakunin, the origin of the egg, had secluded itself from the persecution of the rest of human civilization and looked far beyond the limits of that civilization to propagate itself. The egg’s destination is removed from its builders by thousands of light-years in space, and a million years in time. Packed within it is the combined resources and knowledge of the entire Protean civilization.