Stargods by Ian Douglas (best summer books TXT) 📕

Mount Olympus or Asgard. Walk the streets of ancient Atlantis. Have tea with thehobbits of Middle Earth. Hunt dinosaurs 100 million years in the past. Or rub tentacles with the ur-Sh’daar in the glory daysof the N’gai Cloud. Unlimited possibilities.”

“Unlimited possibilities,” Konstantin added, “if we can survive the next few days.”

“What do you mean?” Gray asked.

“There are forces—institutions—that don’t want any of this to happen.”

“How will they come after it?” Taggart asked.

“They’ve already tried. The space elevators. The Tomsk. I am at this moment in communication with the Russian fighter pilot of that ship,” Konstantin told them. “She entered the Godstream when the Tomsk was destroyed above Tsiolkovsky. She was angered at being manipulated by powerful political forces and sought the sourceof the orders directing the attack. She has found that source.”

“And what source is that?” Mackey wanted to know.

“Dimitri Vasilyev, the Russian Federation defense minister. Aleksey Lebedev, the Russian president and many within his cabinet.Zhao Zhanshu, the president of China, and Xiao Chunhua of the Central Military Commission. President Walker, President ofthe—”

“Wait a second!” Gray said. “Walker?”

“And most of his cabinet,” Konstantin said. “The list is quite long. Yang Jinping. Rodrigo Alvarez. Renee Kurtz. Thomas Deichman.Mohamed ben Hassoumi. Amani Samro. Anak Abnur. Linda—”

“You’re reading off a list of world leaders,” Gray said. “World leaders and military commanders, from countries all over theworld!”

“Yes. Thirty-five world nations are represented, including all of the most heavily populated.”

“How the hell do we fight that?” Gray wanted to know.

“We can’t nuke the capitals of thirty-five different countries,” Taggart said. “Most of the populations don’t have anythingto do with this mess!”

“What is this,” Mackey asked, “some kind of global cabal? Where did they come from?”

“Years ago, there was an expression,” Konstantin observed. “‘Old boys’ club.’ It referred to business or political leaderswith back-channel communications among themselves, and a willingness to help one another on an unofficial basis.”

“You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,” Taggart put in. “These were all men, of course?”

“The practice extends back at least to the nineteenth century, when women played a very small role in both business and politics,” Konstantin told her. “That changed, however, with time. This sort of corruption—a means of working around existing laws or moral standards without accountability or oversight—is a human trait. What is important within the system is the preservation of power and privilege.”

“So you’re saying this old boys’ network has been running the world, is still running the world. And now they want to shutdown the Singularity because it’s . . . inconvenient?”

“It seems to be a matter of human nature,” Konstantin observed.

“Yes, well, the question remains. What do we do about it?”

“There may be a way to address the issue,” Konstantin said. “My informant told me that Vasilyev is actually on board the RussianFederation carrier Vladivostok.”

“Where the Tomsk came from,” Gray said.

“Exactly. The Vladivostok’s intentions are unknown, but the ship appears to be making its way across the Pacific and may be approaching us here atSupraQuito.”

Gray checked a data feed from the America, relayed from satellites throughout geosynchronous orbit. “I see her. She’s over Borneo now . . . and moving east.”

“Admiral,” Mackey said. “I suggest—”

“Quite right, Captain. Go to general quarters. Laurie?”

“Already done, Admiral. Yorktown is going to GQ. Full alert.”

“There’s a problem though, Admiral,” Mackey said. “America is at Alert 4, portside routine. It’s going to take time to get under way.”

Both America and Yorktown were at low readiness levels. Members of both crews were ashore within Skyport and elsewhere, their weapons down, their drivesminutes from being brought up to full power. Gray had been a ship captain long enough that he didn’t need to ask “how long?”Even if they left the dockside personnel behind, it would be ten minutes before they could move . . . or defend themselves.

“Can Synchorbital give us covering fire?” he asked. There were planetary defense weapons within the SupraQuito military base.Perhaps those . . .

“Negative, Admiral. All weapons have been off-line since Towerfall.”

“Captain Mackey, I want the ship powered up and moving now.”

“I’ve given the orders, sir. The laws of physics—”

“I know, I know. Do your best. We’re sitting ducks here, if the Vladivostok is gunning for us.”

“I’m checking with some old contacts in the Kremlin,” Koenig said. He hesitated, listening. “They’re as mystified as we are.It looks like Vasilyev is doing this on his own.”

“Gone rogue,” Taggart said.

“Can we take over Vladivostok’s controls, the way we did with the Nungie planetoids?”

“I’ve already tried,” Koenig replied. “The Vladivostok appears to be operating purely on her internal network. They’ve cut off all communications arriving from outside.”

Meaning there was no way for the gestalt Mind to ride a carrier wave into the Russian ship’s computer network . . . and noway to employ the Omega virus to hack their way in.

“Damn it,” Gray said. “We have the whole fucking Godstream to draw on! There’s got to be something we can do!”

“Perhaps there is,” Koenig said. “Ride with me.”

As one organism, the Godstream Mind united, then moved . . . but not toward the Russian carrier. Instead, Gray found himselfdeep within the alien circuitries of the Ashtongtok Tah, still in her slow orbit around the moon, the Omega virus continuing to maintain an open comm channel.

The mind of Gartok Nal confronted them, the being bristling with what could only be defiance. “Why are you here?” he demanded.“We are preparing to depart, in accordance with our agreement. You have no business here.”

“Our apologies, Gartok,” Koenig’s voice replied, “but we need to borrow your ship, please. Just for a moment.”

Gartok Nal blustered, but there was nothing he could do about it. The gestalt brought the planetoid to life, a process considerably faster and more efficient than was the case for human vessels. Her weaponry networks were powered down and key circuits had been fused, rendering her gravitic fists useless just as a precaution, but her power plant was already up and running and it was a matter of moments to engage her drives.

“Inertial dampers on,” Gray announced. The gestalt would not have felt the acceleration, of course, since they weren’t physicallyon board the ship, but there was no