Ill Wind Part 45

Dramatis Personae

San Francisco Connor Brooks-Seaman Miles Uma-Captain, Oilstar Zoroaster Oilstar Zoroaster Ed Dailey-Second Mate Dr. Alex Kramer-Oilstar Microbiogist Maureen Kramer-his wife Jay Kramer-his son Erin Kramer-his daughter Dr. Mitch.e.l.l Stone-Alex's a.s.sistant Jackson Harris-Environmental activist Daphne Harris-Environmental activist, Jackson's wife Todd Severyn-Petroleum Engineer Dr. Iris Shikozu-Stanford University William Plerry-Environmental Policy Office Emma Branson-CEO Oilstar Walter Cochran-Oilstar executive Moira Tibbett-Sandia, Livermore researcher Dave Hensch-Stanford student Officer Orenio-security guard Jake Torgens-Environmentalist, radical activist Reverend Timothy Rudge-Pastor, Holy Grace Baptist Church

White Sands, New Mexico Dr. Spencer Lockwood-Physicist, Solar Satellite project head Rita Fellenstein-Chief technician Dr. Lance Nedermyer-Department of Energy program manager Dr. Gilbert Hertoya-Director, Electromagnetic Launch Facility Juan Romero-technician Dr Arnold Norton-Sandia scientist

Albuquerque, NM Brig General Bayclock-Commander, Kirtland Air Force Base David Reinski-Mayor of Albuquerque Sgt Catilyn Morris-Helicopter mechanic Colonel David-Commander, Phillips Laboratory Colonel Nichimya-Commander, Base Personnel

Washington DC Henry Holback-President of the US Harald Wolani-Vice President of the US The Honorable Jeffrey Mayeaux-Speaker of the House Rita Mayeaux-his wife Franklin Weathersee-Mayeaux's Chief of Staff General Wacon-Chairman, JCS

Other locations Heather Dixon-Insurance adjuster (Flagstaff, AZ) Al Sysco-Manager, Surety Insurance (Flagstaff, AZ) d.i.c.k Morgret-Gas station owner (Death Valley, CA) Carlos Bettario-Rancher (Death Valley, CA) Lt Bobby Carron-F/A-18 pilot, USN (China Lake, CA) Lt Ralph "Barfman" Petronfi-Bobby's wingman (China Lake, CA)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author's imagination or are used fict.i.tiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Look for these and other digital works by Kevin J. Anderson:

RESURRECTION, INC.

In the future, the dead walk the streets-Resurrection, Inc. found a profitable way to do it. A microprocessor brain, synthetic heart, artificial blood, and a fresh corpse can return as a Servant for anyone with the price. Trained to obey any command, Servants have no minds of their own, no memories of their past lives.

Supposedly.

Then came Da.n.a.l. He was murdered, a sacrifice from the ever-growing cult of neo-Satanists who sought heaven in the depths of h.e.l.l. But as a Servant, Da.n.a.l began to remember. He learned who had killed him, who he was, and what Resurrection, Inc. had in mind for the human race.

CLIMBING OLYMPUS.

They were prisoners, exiles, p.a.w.ns of a corrupt government. Now they are Dr. Rachel Dycek's adin adin, surgically transformed beings who can survive new lives on the surface of Mars. But they are still exiles, unable ever again to breathe Earth's air. And they are still p.a.w.ns.

For the adin adin exist to terraform Mars for human colonists, not for themselves. Creating a new Earth, they will destroy their world, killed by their own success. Desperate, exist to terraform Mars for human colonists, not for themselves. Creating a new Earth, they will destroy their world, killed by their own success. Desperate, adin adin leader Boris Tiban launches a suicide campaign to sabotage the Mars Project, knowing his people will perish in a glorious, doomed campaign of mayhem-unless embattled, bitter Rachel Dycek can find a miracle to save both the Mars Project and the race she created. leader Boris Tiban launches a suicide campaign to sabotage the Mars Project, knowing his people will perish in a glorious, doomed campaign of mayhem-unless embattled, bitter Rachel Dycek can find a miracle to save both the Mars Project and the race she created.

BLINDFOLD.

Atlas is a struggling colony on an untamable world, a fragile society held together by the Truthsayers. Parentless, trained from birth as the sole users of Veritas, a telepathy virus that lets them read the souls of the guilty. Truthsayers are Justice-infallible, beyond appeal.

But sometimes they are wrong.

Falsely accused of murder, Troy Boren trusts the young Truthsayer Kalliana...until, impossibly, she convicts him. Still shaken from a previous reading, Kalliana doesn't realize her power is fading. But soon the evidence becomes impossible to ignore. The Truthsayers' Veritas has been diluted and someone in the colony is selling smuggled telepathy. Justice isn't blind-it's been blinded blinded.

From an immortal's...o...b..tal prison to the buried secrets of a regal fortress, Kalliana and Troy seek the conspiracy that threatens to destroy their world from within. For without truth and justice, Atlas will certainly fall...

GAMEARTH.

Book 1 of the Gamearth Trilogy By Kevin J. Anderson It was supposed to be just another Sunday night fantasy role-playing game for David, Tyrone, Scott, and Melanie. But after years of playing, the game had become so real that all their creations-humans, sorcerers, dragons, ogres, panther-folk, cyclops-now had existences of their own. And when the four outside players decide to end their game, the characters inside the world of Gamearth-warriors, scholars, and the few remaining wielders of magic-band together to keep their land from vanishing. Now they must embark on a desperate quest for their own magic-magic that can twist the Rules enough to save them all from the evil that the players created to destroy their entire world.

GAME'S END.

Book 3 of the Gamearth Trilogy By Kevin J. Anderson The finale to the Gamearth Trilogy. It's all-out war between the players and characters in a role-playing game that has taken on a life of its own. The fighter Delrael, the sorcerer Bryl, as well as famed scientists Verne and Frankenstein, use every trick in the Book of Rules to keep the world of Gamearth intact while the outside group of players does everything possible to destroy it.

CAPTAIN NEMO.

The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius By Kevin J. Anderson The life story of the enigmatic dark hero most readers know from Jules Verne's novels 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. A boyhood friend of Verne's, Nemo goes off to explore the world, adventuring aboard sailing ships, crossing Africa in a balloon, exploring deep caverns that lead to the center of the Earth, and eventually building the Nautilus Nautilus, the terrible submarine in which he wages war against war.

Short stories:

"Drumbeats"

A chilling story cowritten with Rush Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. A rock drummer bicycling through the African wilderness encounters a village that makes very special drums. This one will make your heart skip a beat. drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. A rock drummer bicycling through the African wilderness encounters a village that makes very special drums. This one will make your heart skip a beat.

"Frog Kiss"

A humorous fantasy tale. An evil wizard has turned the entire royal family into frogs and set them loose in the marshes, and only a kiss can restore them to their natural forms . . . but there are so many frogs, and so much swamp, who is willing to kiss them all?

"Fondest of Memories"

Everyone tends to edit their memories of lost loved ones, emphasizing the admirable qualities and good times, downplaying the unpleasant aspects. For a man given the chance to have his dead wife cloned, he can rebuild and restore her memories . . . with a few slight modifications.

"Redmond's Private Screening"

A hard-edged horror tale. For a shady filmmaker in the early days of Hollywood, it seems like a great opportunity when a disgraced samurai offers to commit seppuku before the cameras. But the cameras are rolling.

"Job Qualifications"

The expectations we place on our politicians seem impossible for any person to achieve. A candidate needs to be all things, know all walks of life, understand every segment of his const.i.tuency. How could one person achieve so much . . . without a little help from a handful of clones.

"Prisons"

Co-written with Doug Beason. On a harsh prison planet, the warden and the staff are as much prisoners as the convicts, but a risky prison break might free them all.

"Collaborators"

Co-written with Rebecca Moesta. A collaboration is a close synergy between two creative artists, where one idea is a catalyst for another, and another. But when two people join their minds to create virtual universes, the artwork is so vast they begin to lose their own ident.i.ties.