Starhawk Read Online Free PDF

had turned off all the lights. The result was absolute darkness. There was no source of illumination whatever outside. Put the navigation lights on, and you were passing slowly through a constant fog whose density never varied. It was, he thought, as close as you could get to hell in the real world, a place where nothing ever changed, where nothing ever happened.
    Â * * * 
    LIBRARY ENTRY
    One cannot look at the images of these ancient monuments without wondering, why? They are scattered around star systems with a kind of haphazard glee, left in places where, their creators surely knew, no one was ever likely to see them. They are magnificent pieces of art, the silver pyramid orbiting a terrestrial—though lifeless—world in the Sirius system, the black cluster of crystal spheres and cones rising out of the snows at the south pole of Armis V, the great transparent Cube at Arcturus. The sculpted figure, believed to be a self-portrait, on Iapetus.
    Akim Shenoba, in his prizewinning analysis, “Symbiotica,” argues that mental development necessarily implies an appreciation for art, a passion for mathematics, a need to know how one came to exist. The Great Monuments, he thinks, demonstrate an angry reaction, an act of defiance, by a single species against an empty universe. He tells us that their existence implies that minds, wherever they are found, will be similar. That, in the end, there will be no true aliens.
    I respectfully disagree.
    I cannot imagine humans writing symphonies they suspect would never be played. Novels that would never be read. Or wandering around the Orion Arm, leaving titanic sculptures that no one would ever see.
    â€”Soli Chung,
Lost in Time
, 2194

Chapter 3
    THE RIDE TO Lalande 21185 took a long thirty hours. Priscilla got no sleep to speak of and developed a seething anger that the authorities at Union hadn’t told them more. How did they know there was a bomb? How many people were on board the
Gremlin
? Had they succeeded in warning the pilot?
    â€œRelax,” Jake told her. “We can’t do anything until we get there. There’s a decent chance it’s all a false alarm anyhow. Consider it part of the certification process. If you get your license, there’ll be other emergencies. Nothing matters more than how you respond when things go wrong.”
    She got the message.
    Â * * * 
    PRISCILLA HAD SPENT the morning reading while Jake watched a romantic comedy with himself in the starring role. Then they decided to do a virtual tour of the pyramids, which evolved into a round of the game
That’s My Mummy
. They were near the end when Benny froze it and sounded a few notes from “Love in the Dark” to gain their attention. “Captain Hutchins,” he said, “we are five minutes from transiting back into normal space.”
    Priscilla had cornered Jake’s Egyptologist and was about to finish him off. “Give up?” she asked.
    â€œHis prospects aren’t good, are they?” He shrugged, threw up his hands, and switched the system off. They started for the bridge. Tawny, a cat they’d rescued earlier in the flight, appeared from somewhere and began following her. She paused to gather her into her arms. “You guys have really bonded, haven’t you?” said Jake.
    â€œShe likes to keep an eye on me.”
    They took their seats, Priscilla still functioning as pilot. “Two minutes,” said Benny. Jake hoped they’d surface reasonably close to Barton’s World.
    â€œYou ever do a rescue before, Jake?” she asked.
    â€œNot like this. Pulled a couple of guys out of a ground station once on the Leopard Moon.”
    â€œSirius,” she said.
    â€œVery good.”
    â€œOne minute,” said Benny.
    The Leopard Moon had derived its name from a darkened area that, if one had an active imagination, looked like a leopard. Or maybe a tiger. Take your pick. Its picture had