Tech-Heaven (The Nanotech Succession Book 0) by Linda Nagata

Author:Linda Nagata [Nagata, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Cryonics, Near future, Nanotechnology, The Nanotech Succession
ISBN: 9780983110002
Publisher: Mythic Island Press LLC
Published: 2010-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

IT WAS NEARLY ELEVEN O’CLOCK that night when Katie found herself on the curb at the train station, a suitcase at her feet while she kissed and hugged Nikki good-bye. She’d been dozing in the car. Now she swayed on her feet, seeing the world with that sense of false clarity that comes from an advanced state of exhaustion. Gregory took her hand. She reached for her suitcase, but Ferris caught it up first, winking at her. They waved to Nikki as she drove off, then they walked together to the counter to check in. They were all three scheduled to testify at the Senate hearing on Monday. They stood in line behind a man who seemed vaguely familiar to Katie, and after a minute she recognized him as one of Senator Carson’s aides. Of course Ilene would be on the same train, she realized. There weren’t many transportation options in this day and age and Ilene, too, had to be in D.C. on Monday.

The aide checked in a few bags and confirmed a handful of tickets. Katie watched him as he walked away from the counter. A moment later, Ilene swept through the terminal, surrounded by a bevy of bodyguards, a few members of the press trailing behind. Katie watched them go through the metal detector and the explosives sensor. Then Ferris was at her side, his deep voice rumbling in her ear. “You’re heading for her country now. She’ll be at the top of the food chain, like a shark in her territory. Keep that in mind and your senses will stay sharp.”

Katie looked at him in disbelief, sure that she must be dreaming. Then Gregory slipped his arm around her shoulders. “Come on. We’ll be able to sleep on the train.”

But they didn’t sleep, not at once, anyway. Ferris had brought a thermos of herbal tea, and they sat in his cabin for a few minutes, drinking that and watching the night flash past outside the window. Katie turned to Gregory. “What were you talking to Ilene about?” she asked, remembering the unsettling sight of the two of them deep in conversation under the wedding tent.

Gregory smiled sadly. “Philosophy. It didn’t go anywhere.”

“You wait until after the hearings,” Ferris said. “When the vote’s taken, somebody’s going to lose—and not gracefully, I’ll bet. After the vote, things will start to happen.”

Katie thought about that. Acts of domestic terrorism had been on the rise for years—mostly fanatics pushing the agenda of Generational Challenge. The planned third stage of the Mars mission had been put on indefinite hold. In a few weeks, when the Mars explorers had finished their five-hundred-day stay on the red planet, they’d abandon their base and go home with no successors in sight. The Chinese still had their space station, but by all reports it was in terrible shape, and caught in a rapidly degrading orbit. In a few more years it could become yet another atmospheric hazard as parts rained down around the globe.

“If things

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