War Dogs: Ares Rising Read online

  —Charles Stross

  “The heart of the mystery is worthy of Bear in its bravura extrapolations into far-future science and moral ambiguity… a testament of faith both in human beings and in something beyond them, divine or indistinguishable from it, and it seems directed as much toward the world of today, with all its sinful affections and deceits, as it is toward the far future.”

  —Locus

  “A menacing wonderland of a ship.”

  —Marc Laidlaw

  “I loved Hull Zero Three—this book reminds me of why I fell in love with science fiction in the first place. Searing questions or humanity, a good old-fashioned riddle of a plot, and excellent conceptualization make Hull Zero Three more than worth the effort.”

  —thebooksmugglers.com

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  Contents

  COVER

  TITLE PAGE

  WELCOME

  DEDICATION

  DOWN TO EARTH

  BACKGROUNDER, PART 1

  I HATE PHYSICS

  JOURNEYS END IN LOVERS MEETING

  MARS WILL BE HEAVEN, SOMEDAY

  GOD SAVES DRUNKARDS AND BAKA DUDES

  EVERY SKYRINE IS SOMEBODY’S BASTARD

  THE WAY IT SPOZED TO BE

  HEAVY HAND

  NOT YET A HERO, HUH?

  NOT DEAD YET

  THE STRAIGHT SKINNY—OR NOT

  BRIEF HOPE

  BLONDE ON A BUGGY

  PARADISE LAID UP

  WHAT THE LOCALS RECOMMEND

  NOT YOUR FATHER’S FUTURE

  HOBOS AND DRIFTERS

  PATRIOTS AND PIONEERS ALL

  BACKGROUNDER, PART 2

  HOPE IS THE THING THAT FLOATS

  IN HEAVEN AS IT IS ON EARTH

  BACKGROUNDER, PART 3

  WAKEFUL THOUGHTS FOR SLEEPLESS GRUNTS

  COMES THE HEAT

  SHIT ALSO FLOATS, SOMETIMES

  DRIFTERS AND HOBOS

  GO DOWN IN HISTORY, DAMN YOU ALL

  ZULU TIME

  LAST EXIT TO HELL

  SKY BASIC

  BACKING UP NOW

  MOVING FORWARD AGAIN

  WHAT THE BIG BOYS WANT YOU TO KNOW

  TWO BALLS, ONE HEAD—YOU’RE GOOD TO GO

  ANT FARM

  NEWS OF JOE

  DEEP PRIDE

  COLD COMFORT

  TEAL’S WAY

  HOW LOW CAN YOU GO BEFORE IT’S UP AGAIN

  LARGER ISSUES

  MEETINGS, PARTINGS, SWEET SORROW

  BIRDS

  OFF THE RED

  INVALUABLE

  COMING HOME AGAIN

  OOPS

  CAESURA

  IN STIR

  EXTRAS MEET THE AUTHOR

  A PREVIEW OF KILLING TITAN

  A PREVIEW OF THE LAZARUS WAR

  ALSO BY GREG BEAR

  PRAISE FOR GREG BEAR

  ORBIT NEWSLETTER

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2014 by Greg Bear

  Excerpt from Killing Titan copyright © 2015 by Greg Bear

  Excerpt from The Lazarus War: Artefact copyright © 2015 by Jamie Sawyer

  Cover design by Lauren Panepinto

  Cover images © Arcangel Images, © Shutterstock

  Cover © 2014 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Orbit

  Hachette Book Group

  1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

  orbitbooks.net

  orbitshortfiction.com

  First ebook edition: October 2014

  Orbit is an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Orbit name and logo are trademarks of Little, Brown Book Group Limited.

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  ISBN 978-0-316-33576-8

  E3