Catherine Asaro - The Last Hawk

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侵权投诉

"Kelric's difficulties . . . exploring the reaches of the interstellar Skolian

Empire, are a whole lot of fun to read about. . . . Well-written,

entertaining, classic science fiction fun."

—Cleveland Plain Dealer

"A smoothly absorbing space opera that mixes high-tech gimmickry with galactic

politics and plenty of romance. . . . This one packs in lots of action along

with its many romantic interludes and diversions into speculative genetics."

—Publishers Weekly

"This intriguing novel combines hard speculative science with romantic

adventure."

—Library Journal

"Ms. Asaro reveals fascinating new aspects of her talent with each new book,

and readers can always expect something fresh, different, and absolutely

wonderful."

—Romantic imes

Tor Books by Catherine Asaro

THE SAGA OF THE SKOLIAN EMPIRE

Primary Inversion Cach the Lightning The Last Hawk

The Radiant Seas

The

Last

Hawk

Catherine Asaro

A torn DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK NEW YORK

NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this

book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the

publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment

for this "stripped book."

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this

book are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

THE LAST HAWK

thereof, in any form.

Edited by David . Hartwell Map by Ellisa Mitchell

A Tor Book

Published by torn Doherty Associates, Inc.

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 1000

Tor Books on the World Wide Web:

http://www.tor.com

a registered trademark of torn Doherty Associates, Inc.

ISBN: 0-812-55110-9 Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 97-15568

Firs! edition: November 1997 First mass market edition: December 1998

Printed in the United States of America

0987654321

To my daughter, Cathy, with love

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the readers who gave me input on thisbook: Dr.

Lynne Deutsch, Dr. Steve Goldhaber Dr Margaret Graffe, Dr. Kate Kirby, Dr.

Malcolm LeCompte and Mr. Tim Oey. I give special thanks to the above because

they were the first ever to see my fiction and their insights helped me learn

to write. My thanks also to Dr Joan Slonczewski, to Eleanor Wood of Spectrm

Literary Agency to Scovil, Chichak, and Galen, and to the staff at Tor in '

particular Tad Dembinski and David G. Hartwell A lo'vins thanks to my husband,

John Kendall Cannizzo, for his care and support.

Contents

Map Prologue

BOOK ONE: YEARS 960-966 OF

THE MODEN AGE

I: Dahl II: Haka III: Bahvia

BOOK TWO: YEARS 971-976 OF

THE MODERN AGE

IV: Miesa V:Varz VI: Kam

Appendix I: The Estates Appendix II: Glossary Appendix III: The Ruby Dynasty

Appendix IV: Timeline About the Author

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Prologue

The ship's controls wobbled in and out of focus. Kelric tried to rub his eyes,

but his arm refused to respond. The exoskeleton on his pilot's seat had jammed

around his body. When he fumbled for the catches, his fingers just scraped

over the mesh.

On his fourth attempt, the exoskeleton opened and he fell forward, sprawling

across the weapons grid in the cockpit. The only illumination came from the

red warning lights that glowed al over the control panels, bathing the cockpit

in a dim crimson radiance that didn't reach its shadowed recesses.

One green light shone among the red. An engine. One of his inversion engines.

It was the only fully functional system on his ship.

It was also why he still lived.

"I'm inverted," Kelric mumbled. The same hit that had crippled his Jag fighter

had kicked it from the sublight universe into inversion, hurling him away from

his attackers before they could blast him into slag.

The medkit above him hadn't released. He reached for it, but his arm faltered

in midair and dropped back onto the grid. Not that it mattered. He needed far

more help than a kit could give, more help even than provided by his nanomeds,

the tiny cell-repair machines in bis body.

Pain throbbed in his arm, from a bone-deep gash. In the exoskeleton he had

been numb, probably because it injected him with an anesthetic. Or perhaps the

biomech web in his body had released a drug that blocked pain receptors in his

brain. It would give him only so much of the drug, though, before its safety

routines cut it off, to prevent an overdose or brain damage.

Now his arm hurt too much to move. Even if it intended to stay put, though,

his ship was going somewhere. At least it had

2Catherine .

taken him away from the Traders. He had been out alone, »i reconnaissance,

when the Trader squad caught him. He iM they all inverted into the gravity

well of a star and tff!i their careers as kindling for the local furnace.

An alarm sputtered. Lifting his head, he saw that thejMit light had turned

yellow. The last inversion engine was ffm

Kelric swallowed. He had to find a place to land. Closing rtt eyes, he tried

to clear his mind. i |

Bolt, respond, he thought. •

The computer node in his spine answered. Attending f! messages traveled along

bio-optic threads to his brain, VJ|R tiny bioelectrodes in his brain cells

convened the signals 'iiUri; neural firing patterns. It worked in reverse as

well, letting iWi "talk" to the node. ;

Status ofnanomeds, he thought. |

Nanomed series G and H functional but depleted, thei answered. Series 0

nonfunctional. All other series exhibit •mMil function.

;

Kelric grimaced. His nanomeds repaired his body. B!l med consisted of two

parts, a molecule designed for a i«T lar task and a picochip, an atomic

computer that operated )it quantum transitions. Altogether, the picochips

formed i picoweb that told the meds what to do and how to replicate

themselves. But it was Bolt, his spinal node, that ran the show. Like the

conductor of a symphony it directed his entire bio-1 mech web, which consisted

of the picoweb, the bio-optics threading his body, and the bio-electrodes in

his brain. The

system had been integrated into his body fourteen years ago, ' when he was

twenty, the year he received his officer's co- 1 mission.

Bolt, he thought. What happened to my biomech web? '

You were linked into the ship's Evolving Intelligence brain when we were hit,

so your web took a lot of damage. I am making repairs, ? but the malfunctions

are to extensive for me to fully correct. Proceed » immediately to an ISC

medical facility.

If he hadn't hurt so much, Kelric would have laughed. Wish I could do that. He

swallowed. Can you give me a status report?

Accessing optical nerve, Bolt answered.

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"Kelric'sdifficulties...exploringthereachesoftheinterstellarSkolianEmpire,areawholelotoffuntoreadabout....Well-written,entertaining,classicsciencefictionfun."—ClevelandPlainDealer"Asmoothlyabsorbingspaceoperathatmixeshigh-techgimmickrywithgalacticpoliticsandplentyofromance....Thisonepacksinlotsofact...

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