Martin H. Greenberg & Larry Segriff - Far Frontiers [ss]

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FAR
FRONTI ERS
Edited by
Martin H. Greenberg
and Larry Segriff
DAW BOOKS, INC.
DONALD A. WOLLHEIM FOUNDER
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ELIZABETH 1. WOLLHEIM
SHEILA E. GiLBERT
PUBLISHERS
[from the back cover]
KATHLEEN M. MASSIE-FERCH
ROBERT J. SAWYER * ALAN DEAN FOSTER
TERRY D. ENGLAND * JANET PACK * MARC BILGREY
KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH * LAWRENCE WAlT-EVANS
PETER SCHWEIGHOFER * JULIE E. CZERNEDA
ANDRE NORTON * JANE LINDSKOLD
ROBIN WAYNE BAILEY
Exploration lies at the very heart of science fiction. From Jules Verne and H.G. Wells to the
earliest sf pulp magazines, to the most current science fiction best sellers, protagonists have
always sought to learn about new territories, concepts, and technologies, imaginatively reaching
out to distant worlds and galaxies, to uncharted regions of Earth itself, to the next step in
evolution, to the many futures that may await us as we strive to discover all we can about the
universe.
Now thirteen of todays top authors blaze new pathways to worlds beyond imagination from: a
civilization of humans living in a Dyson sphere to whom the idea of living on a planet is pure
mythology...to an ancient man so obsessed with an alien legend that he will risk ship and crew in
the Void in the hopes of proving it true...to the story of the last free segments of “humanity,”
forced to retreat to the very edge of the galaxy in the hope of finding a way to save themselves
when there is nowhere left to run....
CONTENTS
IN
T
by Larry Segriff
TR
A
by Kathleen M. Massie-Ferch
ST
A
by Robert J. Sawyer
CH
by Alan Dean Foster
OU
T
by Terry D. England
TH
E
by Janet Pack
H
O
by Marc Bilgrey
DR
E
by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
THE LAST BASTION.
by Lawrence Watt-Evans
FORGOTTEN
by Peter Schweighofer
DOWN ON THE FARM
by Julie E. Czerneda
SET IN STONE
by Andre Norton
RUiNS OF THE PAST
by Jane Lindskold
ANGEL ON THE OUTWARD SIDE
by Robin Wayne Bailey
INTRODUCTION
Frontiers. There’s something magical about that word. Something stirring in its echoes.
Something that calls to us, that sets our blood singing, our pulse pounding, and our souls soaring.
Frontiers are more than just that, however, more than just stirring action, compelling characters,
and lives lived on the edge.
I’ve long believed that what our modem society needs most is a new frontier—something
that would reignite a sense of patriotism and community, something that would help to channel
our aggressions, something that would give us, as a nation and as a world, a sense of pride, a
sense of productivity, a sense of progress. That’s why I’ve been such a fan of the space program.
It’s also why, for the past twenty years or so, I’ve been so disappointed in our space program.
But space isn’t the only frontier left open to us. It may not even truly be the final frontier.
Some of my favorites include cities on the ocean floor, virtual reality, and perhaps the greatest
frontier of all: death itself.
Come with us now as we invite some of today’s top writers to take us on a personal tour
of their own favorite frontiers.
TRACES
by Kathleen M. Massie-Ferch
Kathleen M. Massie-Ferch was born and raised in Wisconsin. She’s there still, with a
wonderful husband, two Scottie dogs, several telescopes, numerous rocks, and more books than
she cares to count. She worked her way through college, earning degrees in astronomy, physics,
and geology-geophysics. For the past twenty years she has worked for the University of
Wisconsin as a research geologist. Massie-Ferch has made short fiction sales to a variety of
places, such as Marian Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, Sword and Sorceress, Warrior
Princesses, and New Altars. She has coedited two historical fantasy anthologies for DAW Books;
An-dent Enchantresses and Warrior Enchantresses.
“Which one?” I asked, but it was obvious which TV sample he wanted—my office wasn’t
that big.
His dark eyes were wide with excitement.
"That pretty blue rock.” Angshu pointed to the Seven-inch-long assemblage of crystals.
The five-year-old’s dark and wild curls reinforced the determined set of his jaw.
“Of course.” My arms strained under his weight, I had to set him down. “You’re heavy,
even in three-quarters G.” I picked up the aggregate of beautiful blue crystals and pointed out
several prominent marks. “See the lines that cross each side? Kyamte crystals break easily along
these cleavage planes. I think your class will find this other rock much more interesting.” I set the
kyanite back on its padded resting place, despite Angshu’s outstretched hand, and reached toward
the dark brown rock from lower on the shelves. The intercom’s chime resounded through my
office.
My private code. Blast. Three swift steps brought me to my desk. Toggling the answer
button silenced the incessant chime. “Geology section,” I said.
“Dr. Sehkar?”
“Matt! Are you back already?” I glanced back around at Angshu, who watched the
kyanite crystal as if it’d leap into his eager grasp.
“No, ma’ani. We’re still on the surface.” Matt’s labored breathing echoed off his EVA
helmet and into the open comm link. His voice suddenly sounded older than his twenty-two
years. “I’m still checking out this outcrop for you, but it’s—well, the lava tubes aren’t all that
remarkable after all. The lava flows are in fact older than the cyanobacteria colonies offshore, as
you suspected. But the beach is interesting. I think you should see it.”
I suppressed a groan. Angshu tried to grab for the kyanite—well beyond his reach. I
snapped my fingers. He stopped, although he refused to look at me. “Matt, I’ve got that prelim
report staring me in the face. That’s why I sent you instead of going myself, remember?”
“I know,” Matt said. “I need your advice!”
I couldn’t stop the groan. How I wanted to say no and finish my blasted report—but then
nothing about Delta Pavoms Two went fast. “Aren’t you even going to give me more of a hint?”
“No, it’ll be more fun as a surprise. Remember, that’s why you get paid the big bucks.”
I almost didn’t catch it. The keying phrase sent a shock through me. I could read a lot
between those few words, and I played my part. “Watch your mouth, Matt.” I checked my desk
clock. “With travel time, mark it two hours from now. An hour, if possible.”
‘Thanks, boss.” Relief eased Mall’s voice back to its normal tone, although he was still
breathing heavily. “I know it’s your rec time—”
Tune to change the subject.
“You sound out of breath.” I punched in the proper code and my computer brought up his
bio-vits and those of his team members. The stats looked reasonable; still, they could be wrong.
“Have you checked your oxygen mixture recently?”
“It’s fine. Just rough terrain.”
“All right. Careful, Matt. I don’t want any accidents.”
“I know,” he said, “no time for the paperwork.”
“You’ve got that right!” I closed the channel and was about to call transport when I
caught some move-‘Dent at the edge of vision.
“No!” I yelled, too late. I lunged forward and grabbed Angshu in mid-fall. The chair he
had been climbing on crashed against the shelves. The harsh sound of colliding chair and rocks
echoed through the plastic and metal office and sent shivers through me. The lowest six of the ten
shelves unhinged themselves and quickly dumped their contents.
“Oh-oh,” Angshu said as he clung to me in dismay in the now silent room.
“Oh-oh is right. Look at this mess.”
‘They break pretty easy.”
I sighed and hugged him. My heart thumped in my chest. The shelves weren’t broken,
only collapsible.
“If you had fallen among that—?”
“I’m sorry, Mommy.”
I surveyed the pile of rocks and poliglas. ‘This will have to be cleaned up before we leave
orbit. I don’t have the hour it’ll take just now.” I squeezed him again before setting him down. I
returned the chair back to its normal placement and snapped it into the floor locks, its secure
position, then turned to my son. “As I said, you can take one rock to school today.” I searched
through the pile on my floor, setting aside several limestones sporting new scratches. My prized
tholeiite from my very first planetfall—scuffed! I pulled out a fist-sized metallic rock.
“Fortunately for you, most rocks are durable. Here, you can take this one, and only this one
rock.”
He wrinkled his nose at the dark-brown, irregular lump. “It’s ugly!”
I forced it into his small hands. ‘True, but I’ve been to lots of solar systems and this is one
of the oldest rocks ever found, anywhere. A meteoroid from Luyten 97-12. It’s 5.8 billion years
old.”
“Wow!” Angshu examined the rock in awe.
“From an asteroid belt.”
“Great-o!” He turned it over and over in his hands. ‘It’s heavy! Did they find any
dinosaurs there? Can we go there next instead of Beta Hidee?”
“Beta Hydri. No, we found only very simple life-forms, like we find everywhere. I keep
telling you,” I widened my eyes and pitched my voice lower, “we’re the only spacemen.”
The boy’s smile vanished quickly. “But Airy told everyone at school you found
spacemen. Where’d you find them? I want to see them, too.”
I stiffened, the words stung. “Your friend, Airy, is wrong. When I served on the JFK—”
“Before I was born, right?”
“Yes~ My associate and I thought we had found some fossils of a smart animal. Maybe
smarter than a chimp. But the Theologians proved me wrong.” I stooped to look him directly in
the eye. ‘There is only one God and one intelligent species, just like they teach you in biology
class. It’s very important you remember that. Be sure to tell Airy I said so.” This conversation
would require more attention, between planets. Now I had to get planetside, and soon. I toggled
the flight hangar and asked for a landing pod.
“Sorry, ma’ am,” Flight Chief Nolan answered. ‘The physical science department already
has all my one-passenger pods out. Most everyone else is finished by now. Are all your people
loners today?”
“No, it’s just a big watery planet with widely spaced outcrops of dry land.”
“You’ve got to settle for a four-pod. I’ve one left.” I waited, hoping for another answer;
Nolan’s chuckling filled the silence. “Dr. Sehkar, they’re not that much bigger, but if you want,
I’ll round up a pilot for you.”
“No, thanks, Chief. You do realize what happens whenever I have extra room?”
A hearty laugh answered me. “Yes, ma’am. Just try to contain yourself this time and leave
some rocks for the next survey team.” He paused briefly. “Hmm. You’d better hurry, Doctor. XO
just made a request for a four-pod for some last minute underwater bug hunting. The next
smallest is a ten-pod—”
I interrupted him. “I’m on my way. I want that four-pod. Don’t you dare give it to
Exobiology!” I was up, grabbing my field pack and rushing out of my office, with Angshu in
tow, before the echo of the hangar chief’s voice faded.
We were immediately assaulted by the noise of the crowded corridors. The buzz of tense
conversation— even some arguments—and hurried footfalls bounced off the brightly painted
walls of the T.C. Chamberlin. The sounds hugged me like a scratchy wool sweater. The only time
more people moved about was the day before the ship set orbit. Then there was an air of an-
ticipation and excitement. Now people simply rushed from labs and offices, comparing survey
results and hastily finishing their preliminary planetary reports. I dodged a distracted crewman
and in the process bumped into old man Greg Greely from Astrophysics.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“It’s always a pleasure seeing you and your handsome son. Hi, Angshu.”
“Hi, Dr. Greg. See my rock!”
“And a nice meteoroid it is.”
“Can I look through your telescope again, Dr. Greg?”
“Of course, anytime. Praise be, Angshu, you’ve grown since I last saw you. Can it only
have been a week?” He patted the boy’s head, then looked at me. “Dr. Sehkar, perhaps we three
can have dinner again soon?”
“After we leave orbit,” I answered. “I’ll make dinner and then you men can go look
through your telescope. Let’s plan later. Now I’m going planetside one more time.”
“Oh? That’ 11 get Ops excited,” he stated dryly. “Why so late?”
“Later,” I dismissed his many unspoken questions. His hand on my arm stopped me.
“Will this upset the Theology Council?” His words were soft and meant only for my ears.
I hesitated, remembering Matt’s voice. “I don’t think so. Just an outcrop my tech can’t
explain away.”
“Good.”
I grabbed my son’s hand again as Greely moved away. Angshu and I hurried through the
crowded hall. It took barely a minute to get him settled in school; half-destroying my office still
had him intimidated—a small blessing—then I made for the hangar access tube.
“Dr. Sehkar!”
I ignored the first attempted distraction—maybe he’d go away—but the insistent voice
edged closer.
“Dr. Sehkar!”
I continued walking, partially turned, and waved. Commander Nichols, Ops Chief,
increased his stride to catch up. It took too few steps.
“What’s on your mind, Commander?” I asked when his steps finally matched mine. He
was so tall that I never got used to his size. He seemed twice my own height of 158 centimeters.
Maybe if I saw him more often, I’d get used to his towering form. I’m glad I didn’t have to. His
water-blue eyes, long nose, and angular chin were all perfect, but when summed together they
gave his face too strong and brutal a look for a man of the cloth, and that left him with an anger
which never diminished. You could feel it like a cold wind.
“My last status report shows you still have five people down below.”
I stopped at this corridor’s connecting access hatch and punched in the code. The latch
circuit clicked open. “Actually, I think you’ll find I have seven people planetside, and I’m on my
way down to supervise the last sampling.” I pulled on the large door so perfectly balanced even a
child could open it.
Commander Nichols followed me through the hatch into the air lock and secured the door
latch behind us. We both started removing the outer soles of our boots, exposing the magnetic,
inner soles. The latch cycled closed with a comforting click. We went through the next hatch.
“I’d like to see things wrapped up soon. Do you anticipate a delay, Dr. Sehkar?” He
paused ever so slightly before using my title.
I opened the next seal, and kept my voice neutral. “You sound as if I typically cause
delays. On the contrary, since I’ve been on the Chamberlin, I’ve always finished my reports on
time, if not early.”
“You mistake my concern for criticism. Your work is theologically sound.”
“Thank you.”
“If only your husband had been so meticulous.”
“I don’t have a husband,” I replied evenly, despite the chill in my chest.
“Excuse me, your son’s father. Martin Tilton.”
“Dr. Tilton is not a part of my life anymore,” I whispered tartly, even though no one
would have heard us if I had screamed the words.
“He isn’t? Are you sure?” Nichols’ voice had just a hint of disbelief in it.
“According to the Council’s ruling, Dr. Tilton does not exist and never has. You’ll find no
evidence of him in any school yearbook or scientific journal. I was never married. He is not part
of Angshu’s life either. And I’d thank you not to bring any hint of disgrace into my life or my
son’s, or I’ll report you to the Theological Family Council.”
“Of course.” He was all smiles and sweetness, as if he could be trusted.
“I mean it. ill words will only cause hann.”
Nichols inclined his head slightly. “You know your code.”
“Just as well as you do, I suspect. What is the purpose of this conversation? You waste
your time if it’s meant purely for insult. Or are you trying to threaten me?”
‘Threaten you?”
“Yes, by bringing up a heretic’s name. Linking him with me. I know there is no record of
Dr. Tilton in Chamberlin’s computer. I could demand to know how you came about your
information.”
“It was not my intent to threaten you.
“I hope not.” I didn’t believe him, and he knew it, too.
“The Captain wants us back on schedule soon. We’ve several days to make up.”
We entered the spiral access tube that led to the heart of the Chamberlin. Perhaps he
wanted an argument; I didn’t. I let the tension flow from me as I set a pace comfortable for my
shorter legs. We walked the spiral pathway that was at a sharp angle to the busy corridor we had
just left. Our pace would also mimmize the effects of the walk that began at three-quarter G and
proceeded to zero-G at the center of our rotating, cylindrical ship. Even so, my stomach
protested. I always felt as if I climbed an endless ramp. I concentrated on the clicking our boots
made on the metal floor. The sound distracted from the sensation of losing Gs and helped me
avoid thinking of my stomach’s strengthening protests. Nichols’ presence always left me feeling
combatant.
“Hmm, several days?” I repeated as if I didn’t believe his statement. ‘There is one small
problem in exploring new worlds. Timetables don’t allow for unpredictability. That’s why the
Science Council, of which I am a member, runs this vessel and not the flight crew.
“Just so you know—”
I stopped, more to ease my stomach’s protest than anything else. The pervasive hum of
the ship’s circula-
tion motors seeped through the soles of my feet. I loved that soothing rhythm. It was as if the ship
was
alive. ‘This is my fifth planetfall with the Chamberlin. I’m not that green, Commander.”
He shook his head. “I know that. If you can use this corridor at this pace and not get sick
to your stomach,
you’re better than half my crew.” We continued walking.
I couldn’t stop the smile. He could be so charming when he wanted. Did he notice the
irony? No, not him.
He just thought he was all charm. “It’s all in the diet,” I said. “My people have iron stomachs.”
Nichols returned a slight smile, hidden mostly by his blond mustache. “I was going to
guess it was because you’re so short. They say short people have less trouble with Sim-gravity.”
He stopped by an adjoining hatch at one-quarter-G level—the service crew section and
Operations. “Also, I suppose your experience on the Explorer-class ships helps.”
“Again you tread on ice. My past is past, so the Family Council decreed.” I forced the
bitterness out of my voice. Why was it there? I was over the past, wasn’t I?
Nichols paused a moment, obviously phrasing his words carefully. “For your son’s sake, I
hope so. It would be unfortunate if he lost both parents to the jus tice system. What I intended to
摘要：

[scannedatMyhouse01-01-04ver1.0][TryTextaloud-mp3toturnanybookintoanaudiobookitissocool-www.nextup.com]FARFRONTIERSEditedbyMartinH.GreenbergandLarrySegriffDAWBOOKS,INC.DONALDA.WOLLHEIMFOUNDER375HudsonStreet,NewYork,NY10014ELIZABETH1.WOLLHEIMSHEILAE.GiLBERTPUBLISHERS[fromthebackcover]KATHLEENM.MASSIE...

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