Apes and Angels Page 33
Littlejohn’s voice went hollow. “An interstellar war?”
“Sounds melodramatic, doesn’t it?” said Kosoff. “Yet the evidence is there.”
For a long moment Littlejohn was silent. Then, “The one I worry about is MacDaniels. Returning to Earth is going to be very hard on him.”
Kosoff said, “It’s going to be very hard on all of us, returning to a world that’s four hundred years different from the one we left.”
“Yes, but it’s going to hit Brad harder than most of us.” Motioning to himself and Kosoff, the Aussie went on, “You and I will have university sinecures waiting for us. We’ll be honored and feted. Brad’s going to be just another peon returning from the field, a worker with nothing to do. It’s going to be hard for him.”
Kosoff snorted. “For ten minutes, maybe. Brad’s a born leader. He’ll find a place for himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if he returns to Gamma. Or maybe runs for a seat on the World Council.”
Littlejohn almost smiled. “Do you think…?”
With some heat, Kosoff said, “Don’t worry about Brad MacDaniels. Just try to stay out of his way. If we’re going to have an interstellar war, he might be just the man we need to lead us.”
* * *
“Breaking orbit,” Emcee announced. The display screens all around the auditorium showed gray-clouded Gamma slide off to one side, then begin to dwindle noticeably.
“We’re on our way home,” Felicia said.
Brad nodded, but his eyes were still on the screen and the shriveling globe that was planet Gamma.
I’ll come back, he promised silently. No matter how long it takes, I’ll come back to them.
That night Brad dreamed again. He was at Tithonium Chasma once more, but this time Felicia was standing beside him, out in the open, and the cliffs did not crumble. This time his father and mother and little brother were outside with him, alive, happy, smiling. This time Mnnx and Lnng and the other Gammans stood there too.
And this time Brad held a pink-faced infant squirming and gurgling in his arms.
Turning to Felicia, he said, “We’ve got a lot to do.”
“Yes,” she said, smiling delightedly. “Together.”
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
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.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
The Death Wave
Star Flight
Mithra
The Children’s Crusade
Book One
Starship Odysseus
Bradford Macdaniels
Planetology
Biology
Dinner
The Evening and the Morning
Special Assignment
Confessions
Book Two
Exiled
Brad’s Dream
Conversations
Return
Reintegration
Working Day
Apes and Angels
Adrian Kosoff
Veto
Rebellion
Decisions
Passive V. Active
Emcee
Rules of Conduct
Kosoff and Chang
Responsibility
Contact
Where do we go from here?
Wedding Day
Book Three
Symbiotes
Data Dump
The Humanoids
Plan of Action
Reaction
Dangers
The Team
Conflict
Choices
Assignment
Preparations
Objections
Isolation
Departure
Book Four
Arrival
The Village
Conference
Temptation
Conflict
Contact
Felicia Portman Macdaniels
Learning
Tiger, Tiger
Coincidence
Revelations
Argument
Starship Odysseus
Monsters from Beta
The Village
Death Time
Sky Masters
Starship Odysseus
Sacrifice
Discovery
Under Siege
Cut Off
Alone
Survival
Judgments
Communications
Return
Renewal
Tacit Approval
Unmasked
Suspicions
Reunion
Report
Evidence
Ground Team
Return
Integration
Discoveries
Excavation
The City
Book Five
Two Years Later
Quoting Scripture
Fighting Monsters
Attitudes
Killing Machines
Know Thy Enemy
Occam’s Razor
Searching
The Power of Dreams
The Facts of the Matter
Farewell
Tor Books by Ben Bova
About the Author
Copyright
This i
s 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.
APES AND ANGELS
Copyright © 2016 by Ben Bova
All rights reserved.
Cover art by John Harris
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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First Edition: November 2016