Dark Matter
The fifth book in the epic saga of humankind's war of transcendence…An enemy might just have to become an ally . . . in order to save humankindThe United States of North America is now engaged in a civil war with the Earth Confederation, which wants to yield to the demands of the alien Sh'daar, limit human technology, and become a part of the Sh'daar Galactic Collective. USNA President Koenig believes that surrendering to the Sh'daar will ultimately doom humankind.But when highly advanced, seemingly godlike aliens appear through an artificial wormhole in the Omega Centauri Cluster 16,000 light years from Earth, President Koenig is faced with a tremendous choice: continue fighting the Sh'daar . . . or ally with them against the newcomers in a final war that will settle the fate of more than one universe.
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Copyright
Harper
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2014
Copyright © Ian Douglas 2014
Cover Art © Gregory Bridges
Ian Douglas asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007483778
Ebook Edition © May 2014 ISBN: 9780007483785
Version: 2016-11-17
Praise for IAN DOUGLAS
and his thrilling
STAR CARRIER SERIES!
âThe action is full-Âblooded and almost nonstop, yet the well-Âdeveloped background is surprisingly rich and logical. . . . As immersive as it is impressive.â
Kirkus, starred review for Deep Space
âDouglas knows his SF.â
Publishers Weekly
âWell researched and quite imaginative.â
CNN Online
DEEP SPACE was voted one of the Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Books of 2013 by Kirkus.
Dedication
As always,
throughout the multiverse, worlds without end, for Brea
Contents
Prologue
They called themselves the Consciousness.
Following the faint but telltale leakage of gravity from one universe to another, theyâd detected the circle of whirling masses as they opened a passageway between the âbranes, emerging in a four-Âdimensional space subtly different from other, known realities. They were working now to create a permanent gateway between universes, creating girders and connectors spanning light years, coaxing solid light from the vacuum energy itself, anchoring suns, mining starcores, imbedding the structural components within the fabric of spacetime itself.
At this point, the scope of the Consciousness spanned a number of universes. A metamind, a hive mentality, it was an emergent epiphenomenon arising from the interplay of some hundreds of quadrillions of individual minds, extending across separate realities and billions of years of time. The oldest individuals among them had outlived the universes of their birth, existing now in a kind of nomadic existence as they moved from reality to parallel reality.
The Consciousness was powerful to the point of truly godlike creativity, omnipotence, and omniscience. It was aware of events across vast scales in size and time, from quantum fluctuations in the vacuum energies that formed the base state of reality up to the gravitational interactions within galactic clusters. Their senses extended across multiple dimensions, allowing them to peer inside the cores of stars as they mined them, and they could manipulate time in subtle and surprising ways.
Unfortunately, some phenomena simply were . . . not too small, exactly, since they could perceive the dance of individual atoms, but too inconsequential, too unimportant to register clearly within the metamindâs awareness without a special act of focus.
Phenomena such as the squadron of USNA naval vessels now entering the construction field . . .
Chapter One
20 January 2425
Recon Flight Shadow-ÂOne
Omega Centauri
1010 hours, TFT
âAnd three . . . and two . . . and one . . . launch!â
Acceleration slammed Lieutenant Louis Walton back in his seat as his CP-Â240 Shadowstar hurtled down the long and narrow tunnel, riding the magnetic launch rail, vision dimming . . . and then he emerged into open space, the pressure of 7 gravities replaced in an instant by the blessed, stomach-Âdropping relief of zero-ÂG. Astern, the vast gray disk of Americaâs forward shield cap fell away, dwindling to a star, then to invisibility in moments. He was traveling now at better than 600 kilometers per hour.
Ahead was twisted, enigmatic light . . . and sheerest wonder.
âAmerica Primary Flight Control, this is Shadow One,â he called over his in-Âhead. âIâm clear and in the open.â
âCopy, Shadow One,â a voice replied. âCome to one-Âfive-Âone by two-Âseven-Âzero by zero-Âthree-Âtwo. You be careful out there, okay?â
