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Chelsea Handler Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (epub
Brit Brinson [Dia of the Dead Dia of the Dead (epub)
Cody Goodfellow [Radiant Dawn Radiant Dawn (epub)
Cate Tiernan [Immortal Belove Immortal Beloved (epub)
C J Busby [Deep Amber 01] Deep Amber (retail) (epub)
Carl Ashmore [Time Hunters 01 The Time Hunters (epub)
Drew Hayes [Super Powereds 02 Super Powereds Year 2 (epub) i
Beth Harbison [Shoe Addict 02 Secrets of a Shoe Addict (epub)
Cara Lynn Shultz [Dark World The Dark World (retail) (epub)
Bite My Cookies [Who Needs Chri Joyee Flynn

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.I don’t know why." He really didn’t.And nothing made Tucker more uncomfortable then things he didn’t understand."If I could just have—""No need to worry," said Buhl smoothly."Because we’ve found another approach.We haven’t been able to eradicate the virus that caused the blackout.So we’ve come to the Polar Network solution, two brand new hyperpulse generators, one here and one on Mars, both of them built from scratch, every bolt, every capacitor, every circuit board assembled in brand new facilities.It cost billions of C-Bills, but we have allowed no vector for the contagion to infect this new network."Buhl pushed aside his plate."We must succeed this time.We are running out of chances." He peered at Tucker."That’s why you’re going to bring up our new network.""I’m ready to do whatever you wish, sir," said Tucker steadily."Are you, my boy?" asked Buhl softly."I wonder.You see, I know you’ve been fighting us.""Sir, I—"Buhl held up his hand and Tucker fell instantly silent.Because what Buhl said was true.For four long years, Tucker Harwell had been playing a desperate game of delay and obfuscation.He inserted subtle errors in his notes.He dropped a word here, a phrase there, sending ComStar technicians scurrying down blind alleys, plumbing useless, esoteric theories.He told small, carefully crafted lies.Sometimes, when he was sure his captors wouldn’t believe him, he told the truth.And now that they knew, what else could he say?"So," said Buhl."If the Polar Network fails." He smiled faintly and shook his head.Tucker felt Patricia’s hand on his shoulder and he stood.And why not? There was nothing else Buhl needed to say.His meaning had been perfectly clear.* * *Patricia stopped in front of the entrance to Tucker’s lab.His cell.He expected her to open the door, but she didn’t.Instead, she said, "I have one more thing for you to think about, brother.Yes, Buhl will have your head if the Polar Network fails.But consider, what will happen if the test succeeds?""ComStar will have the template for restoring the HPG network.""That’s right." She flashed him a tight smile.A triumphant smile."And then, all the sudden, we’ll have no need for boy geniuses."Tucker blinked.He’d always known Patricia would hurt him if her duty required it, but he suddenly saw she was just willing to.She wanted to.At that moment, something inside him broke."Patricia," he whispered.She laughed and it sounded brittle."So the genius finally understands."Tucker stared at her for a long moment and then he drew a deep, shuddery breath."You are my sister.I love you.I love you.Whatever—" He swallowed had."Whatever you do to me.I want you to know.I want you to remember.I forgive you."Her face softened and the cold gleam in her eyes seemed to fade away."Oh, Tucker," she whispered."Oh, Tuck." She smiled sadly and shook her head."But I don’t forgive you."Tucker’s jaw sagged open.Her eyes narrowed."It’s always came so easily for you," she snarled."You.Who are a heretic.Your sins stain me, brother.Me, who has always faithfully walked the path set out by the great Blake.""Patricia, I never meant—""It’s too late, Tucker," she said coldly, opening the door with an electronic key."You’ll get no absolution from me."And then she shoved him into his little prison and closed the door.Tucker was so upset by his sister’s tirade that it was full minute before he realized the battered memory core was missing.* * *The HPG’s control room was a study in understated elegance.The space was fifteen meters in diameter reaching up to a domed ceiling.Consoles and computer equipment ringed the room.Executive chairs fashioned from hand-tooled brown leather sat in front of the consoles, each occupied by a technician in a dazzling white uniform.The floor was black granite, polished to a high sheen.Tucker glanced down and saw himself looking back up.It was like looking in a dark mirror.In the center of the room was the HPG core, a stem that passed through the domed ceiling and opened into a flower fifty meters across, the business end of the hyperpulse generator.It was the antenna that would rip a hole in spacetime and broadcast a message that would be instantly received by a station orbiting another star.Beneath the floor a dedicated fusion reactor provided the tremendous power the process required.But none of it was possible without the core.Inside the steel cylinder, the core was a maze of branching circuits linking germanium processors to shielded magnetic coils.It was the most sophisticated piece of technology in human space.And like everything else in the room, it was brand new.Tucker crossed the dark floor to the core.He wore gloves that prevented any electrostatic discharge that might damage the core’s intricate circuits.For a moment he considered taking the gloves off—but, no, Buhl’s people were watching his every move.He reached out and touched the core’s metallic surface.He remembered how it had felt to touch the core on Wyatt: like he was touching the beating heart of interstellar civilization.But that’s not how it felt today.Today it just felt cold.Tucker let out a deep breath and turned.Six meters from the core, centered on a dais, there was a chair.Like a man going to the gallows, Tucker marched to the chair and sat down.He reached up and rubbed his neck.To his watchers it must’ve looked like Tucker was trying to relieve the tension in his muscles.But what he was really doing was brushing the tips of his fingers against a tiny dot of metal hidden on the inside of his high collar.What he was really doing was taking strength from wherever he could find it.The little piece of jewelry was a Knight Errant’s rank pip, given to him by Alexi Holt on Wyatt, a parting gift as Patricia and the Com Guards took Tucker away.He thought of it as a promise, a promise that Alexi and The Republic hadn’t forgotten him.It had been four years and so far that promise hadn’t turned out to be worth much.But Tucker hadn’t abandoned the tiny sliver of hope the pip represented.It was foolish to hope The Republic would come for him.But sometimes a foolish hope was better than none at all."Preparing initiation sequence," someone said.Tucker glanced at the master control board, watching the HPG come to life."Eighty-two percent," said the adept at the secondary control station.What was her name? Wharton.She frowned."I’m getting flux in the primary hyperspace coil.Variance of three percent.Five.Six."It was a little high, but Tucker wasn’t worried.This core was free from the virus that infected the rest of the network.Which was why he’d finally run out of options.Even if he committed some last desperate act of sabotage it wouldn’t matter.They’d just kill him and try again.Either way the Polar Network was going to work.Despite Tucker’s best efforts, Buhl’s technicians had hit upon a strategy that would certainly defeat the persistent virus everyone knew was causing the blackout.Instead of trying to fix the existing network, they would rebuild it.The strategy was horrifically expensive—but that scarcely mattered [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]