Survival--A Novel Read online

  But they did avert it, Ignatiev thought happily. Of course, with the shielding generators that the Predecessors gave us, they had no fear of the approaching death wave. With that menace removed, cooler heads worked hard to remove the causes of conflict. And prevailed.

  Yet a voice in Ignatiev’s mind asked, For how long? Will the pressures leading to conflict arise again?

  I’ve got to get back to Earth, he realized. I’ve got to get them pointed toward expansion. That’s been the human race’s solution to population problems since the Stone Age: move outward, climb the next hill, and find new territory.

  The partnership between organic and machine intelligences is the new territory that can replace the old pressures of population growth and resource shortages. Together, man and machine can not only survive, but prevail.

  He looked to Gita again and saw that she was staring at him, still smiling. Ignatiev suppressed an urge to laugh. The machines aren’t the only ones who can read my mind, he thought.

  “Professor Ignatiev?”

  Ignatiev realized that Mandabe was speaking to him.

  Slightly flustered, he said, “I’m sorry. My mind wandered.”

  Mandabe almost smiled. Not quite. “We need to know if you plan to return to Earth or remain here. I understand that you are involved in astronomical studies, together with the machines.”

  “I wish to return to Earth.”

  “And your research?”

  “The other members of my group can continue it perfectly well without me. Even better, I imagine.” Then he added, “Dr. Nawalapitiya will go with me.”

  “I see,” said Mandabe.

  Gita beamed at Ignatiev.

  Captain Thornton said, “My technical staff is working with the machines to construct a new starship. Smaller, but more advanced.”

  “Intrepid will remain in orbit here, then,” said Mandabe.

  Thornton nodded.

  His eyes searching the other department heads sitting around the conference table, Mandabe asked, “Any other business?”

  No one spoke.

  Breaking into a wide grin, Mandabe said, “In that case, I move that we adjourn and get back to work.”

  There were no objections.

  EPILOGUE

  ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

  Ignatiev smiled down at Gita’s sleeping form. So lovely, he thought. So wonderful.

  Together with half a dozen other researchers, they were aboard the new starship that the machines had built for them. At Ignatiev’s suggestion, the human passengers had dubbed the ship Homebound.

  Mandabe and the rest of Intrepid’s two-thousand-some scientists, engineers, and technicians remained at Oh-Four, carrying on their studies of that planet, its biota, and the machines.

  The avatar suddenly appeared, standing next to Ignatiev, alongside Gita’s cryonic capsule.

  “All the diagnostics show that her brain patterns have been successfully downloaded into the ship’s computer. She will awaken together with the rest of you, once you establish orbit around Earth.”

  “In two thousand years,” Ignatiev murmured.

  Gesturing to the empty sleep capsule beside Gita’s, the avatar said, “It is time for you to download and enter cryonic sleep, Professor.”

  Ignatiev nodded. With a sigh he patted Gita’s slender hand. Already it felt cold to his touch. Almost reluctantly he climbed into the open capsule and stretched out on his back.

  A set of hair-thin sensors wormed through his thick white hair and gently touched his scalp.

  Goodnight, sweet prince, Ignatiev thought. And immediately felt foolish.

  The avatar bent slightly over him. “You will awake once the ship achieves orbit around Earth.”

  “In two thousand years.”

  “Slightly more than that,” said the avatar.

  “In a new world,” Ignatiev said. “A lot can happen in two thousand years.”

  “Yes,” the avatar agreed. “Yet, somehow, we expect that you will be quite capable of dealing with your new world. And all the other worlds you eventually encounter.”

  Ignatiev smiled and closed his eyes.

  Tor Books by Ben Bova

  Able One

  The Aftermath

  Apes and Angels

  As on a Darkling Plain

  The Astral Mirror

  Battle Station

  The Best of the Nebulas (editor)

  Carbide Tipped Pens (coeditor)

  Challenges

  Colony

  Cyberbooks

  Death Wave

  Empire Builders

  Escape Plus

  Farside

  Gremlins Go Home (with Gordon R. Dickson)

  The Immortality Factor

  Jupiter

  The Kinsman Saga

  Leviathans of Jupiter

  Mercury

  The Multiple Man

  New Earth

  New Frontiers

  Orion

  Orion Among the Stars

  Orion and King Arthur

  Orion and the Conqueror

  Orion in the Dying Time

  Out of the Sun

  The Peacekeepers

  Power Play

  Powersat

  Power Surge

  The Precipice

  Privateers

  Prometheans

  The Return

  The Rock Rats

  The Sam Gunn Omnibus

  Saturn

  The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, volumes A and B (editor)

  The Silent War

  Star Peace: Assured Survival

  The Starcrossed

  Survival

  Tales of the Grand Tour

  Test of Fire

  Titan

  To Fear the Light (with A. J. Austin)

  To Save the Sun (with A. J. Austin)

  Transhuman

  The Trikon Deception (with Bill Pogue)

  Triumph

  Vengeance of Orion

  Venus

  Voyagers

  Voyagers II: The Alien Within

  Voyagers III: Star Brothers

  The Winds of Altair

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  BEN BOVA is a six-time winner of the Hugo Award, a former editor of Analog, former editorial director of Omni, and a past president of both the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America. Bova is the author of more than a hundred works of science fact and fiction. He lives in Florida. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Book One

  Prologue: Starship Sagan

  Book Two

  Twenty Years Later: Starship Intrepid

  Data Bank

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Book Three

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six


  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Book Four

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Book Five

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Epilogue

  Tor Books by Ben Bova

  About the Author

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  SURVIVAL

  Copyright © 2017 by Ben Bova

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art by John Harris

  A Tor Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates

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  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-0-7653-7954-2 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4668-6876-2 (ebook)

  eISBN 9781466868762

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  First Edition: December 2017