HEAVEN’S
WAR
Ace Books by David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt
HEAVEN’S SHADOW
HEAVEN’S WAR
David S. Goyer &
Michael Cassutt
ACE BOOKS, NEW YORK
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2012 by Phantom Four Films and St. Croix Productions, Inc.
Illustration by Steve Karp.
Jacket design by Lesley Worrell.
Jacket illustration by James Paick.
Text design by Tiffany Estreicher.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
FIRST EDITION: July 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goyer, David S.
Heaven’s war / David S. Goyer & Michael Cassutt.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-1-101-58100-1
1. Human-alien encounters—Fiction. I. Cassutt, Michael. II. Title.
PS3607.O925H46 2012
813’.6—dc23
2012002325
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ALWAYS LEARNING
PEARSON
Dedicated to all our Architects, especially
Jack Vance
Gene Wolfe
Jack McDevitt
Allen Steele
and
Connie Willis
NEO “Keanu” Interior
Dramatis Personae
Present on Keanu
ZACK STEWART, astronomer and astronaut, former commander of Destiny-7
CAMILLA MUNARETTO, 9, Revenant
YVONNE HALL, astronaut Revenant
COWBOY, dog, formerly the property of Shane Weldon
DASH, Sentry
Houston Group
RACHEL STEWART, 14, Zack’s daughter
SHANE WELDON, Destiny-7 mission director
HARLEY DRAKE, former astronaut
SASHA BLAINE, astronomer
GABRIEL JONES, former director of the NASA Johnson Space Center
BRENT BYNUM, White House deputy
XAVIER TOUTANT, Katrina refugee, drug dealer
Bangalore Group
VIKRAM NAYAR, Brahma mission director
ZHAO BUOMING, Chinese intelligence agent
PAVAK RADHAKRISHNAN, 16, son of Brahma commander Taj
MAKALI PILLAY, exobiologist
VALENTINA MAKAROVA, exolinguist
DALE SCOTT, disgraced former astronaut
CHITRAN RANHOTRA, refugee and mother
JAIDEV MAHABALA, enterprising engineer
DAKSHA SAIKUMAR, engineer
Table of Contents
Part One
The Prisoner
Zack
Rachel
Part Two
Arrival Day: Valya
Arrival Day: Xavier
Arrival Day: Harley
Arrival Day: Gabriel
Arrival Day: Rachel
Arrival Day: Jaidev
Arrival Day: Harley
Arrival Day: Zack
Arrival Day: Zhao
Arrival Day: Zack
Arrival Day: Harley
Arrival Day: Dale
Arrival Day: Valya
Arrival Day: Makali
Arrival Day: Zack
Arrival Day: Pav
Arrival Day: Harley
Part Three
The Prisoner
Zack
Rachel
Xavier
Part Four
The Prisoner
Dale
Zhao
Pav
Valya
Harley
Rachel
Makali
Gabriel
Part Five
The Prisoner
Zhao
Dale
Harley
Zack
Rachel
Valya
Xavier
Pav
Jaidev
Gabriel
Makali
Zhao
Zack
Harley
Dale
Rachel
Xavier
Part Six
The Prisoner
Valya
Pav
Gabriel
Dale
Zhao
Part Seven
The Prisoner
Makali
Harley
Zack
Epilogue
Rachel
Acknowledgments
Heaven’s Fall
NASA JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
MISSION CONTROL STATUS REPORT
AUGUST 29, 2019
DESTINY-7 LANDING
NASA’s Destiny-7 multipurpose crew vehicle successfully splashed down today in the Pacific Ocean near San Clemente Island, California, at 9:45 A.M. PDT.
The combined crew of acting mission commander Tea Nowinski and Brahma spacecraft crew members Taj Radhakrishnan, Natalia Yorkina, and Lucas Munaretto were taken aboard the recovery vessel Liberty within an hour and are undergoing physical examinations at Vandenberg Air Force Base.