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Centre of Gravity
Ian Douglas
The second book in the epic saga of humankind's war of transcendenceIn the evolution of every sentient race, there is a turning point when the species achieves transcendence through technology.The warlike Sh’daar are determined that this monumental milestone will never be achieved by the creatures known as human.On the far side of known human space, the Marines are under siege, battling the relentless servant races of the Sh'daar aggressor. With a task force stripped to the bone and the Terran Confederation of States racked by dissent, rogue Admiral Alexander Koenig must make the momentous decision that will seal his fate and the fate of humankind.A strong defensive posture is futile, so Koenig will seize the initiative and turn the gargantuan Star Carrier America toward the unknown. For the element of surprise is the only hope of stalling the Sh'daar assault on Earth's solar system—and the war for humankind's survival must be taken directly to the enemy.
Vermin … (#ulink_517d46bb-d481-5609-b6fb-1ab769d1523a)
The All of Us race was unaccustomed to dealing with other sentient species. One of the primary reasons for this was, simply, their size; by almost any standards, the H’rulka were giants.
An adult H’rulka consisted of a floatation gas bag measuring anywhere from two to three hundred meters across, with brain, locomotion and feeding organs, sensory apparatus and manipulators clustered at the bottom. Most other sentient species with which they’d had direct experience possessed roughly the same size and mass ratio to a H’rulka as an ant compared to a human.
When the H’rulka thought of other life forms as “vermin,” the thought was less insult than it was a statement of fact, at least as they perceived it. Within the complex biosphere of the H’rulka homeworld, there were parasites living on each All of Us colony that were some meters across. H’rulka simply found it difficult to imagine creatures as intelligent that were almost literally beneath their notice in terms of scale.
“Commence acceleration,” Ordered Ascent directed. “We will move into the region of heavy radio transmission, and destroy targets of opportunity as they present themselves.”
The H’rulka warship, more than twenty kilometers across, began falling toward Sol, the inner system, and Earth.
To Brea,my guiding star
Table of Contents
Vermin … (#u0ad74dbe-3a6b-5afc-9272-b603b08b8f94)
Title Page (#udb2c13e0-721a-5b4a-9869-e99efa579bf0)
Dedication (#udc6b3ef2-1d41-5ab2-ba48-b2c442983859)
Prologue (#u90e3a59f-6405-593d-8de1-59008d0d4bab)
Chapter One (#u4c926080-a787-5191-a016-a300e9afd28b)
Chapter Two (#u0cc2f907-8376-5d20-8981-5fe894e30e29)
Chapter Three (#u3b94ce80-ec36-58be-bf98-b6f54dc4c2ff)
Chapter Four (#ucfb66cbd-af16-5949-9317-0f6208616e7a)
Chapter Five (#uaabf92dd-6ebc-574e-a028-7cfc2b9f7e4e)
Chapter Six (#ucd799b04-4017-50e9-9ccd-2dc12ab4160e)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
By Ian Douglas (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue (#ulink_458277ab-433c-5a55-9b71-3094e9593e84)
12 December 2404
Emergence, Arcturus System
36.7 light years from Earth
0310 hours, TFT
The recon probe emerged from its Alcubierre bubble of tightly warped space, bleeding off excess velocity in a burst of high-energy photons. An artificial gravitational singularity the size of a small dust particle and as massive as a star flicked on and off a few meters beyond the craft’s bulbous nose, dragging it forward with an acceleration of nearly five thousand standard gravities. At that rate, the craft would be crowding the speed of light within another one hundred minutes.
Only slightly larger than a VG–10 Krait smart missile, the ISVR–120 probe was too small to carry sentient organics; its pilot was a Gödel 2500 artificial intelligence packed into the solid-state circuitry that filled the pod’s core and so, technically, could be said to take up no space at all. Certainly it needed none of the bulky life-support equipment necessary for organic life.
The AI was called Alan, named after Alan Turing, one of the giants in the development of the first computers four and a half centuries earlier.
Within seconds of the probe craft’s emergence from the warp bubble, Alan had scanned the system ahead, a volume of space dominated by a single bloated and brilliant orange star. The Confederation Naval Standard Ephemeris entry on the star resided within Alan’s surface memory.
STAR: Alpha Boötis
COORDINATES: RA: 14
15
39.7
Dec: +19˚ 10’ 56” D 11.24p
ALTERNATE NAMES: Arcturus, Alramech, Abramech, 16 Boötes
TYPE: K1.5IIIFe–0.5
Ian Douglas
The second book in the epic saga of humankind's war of transcendenceIn the evolution of every sentient race, there is a turning point when the species achieves transcendence through technology.The warlike Sh’daar are determined that this monumental milestone will never be achieved by the creatures known as human.On the far side of known human space, the Marines are under siege, battling the relentless servant races of the Sh'daar aggressor. With a task force stripped to the bone and the Terran Confederation of States racked by dissent, rogue Admiral Alexander Koenig must make the momentous decision that will seal his fate and the fate of humankind.A strong defensive posture is futile, so Koenig will seize the initiative and turn the gargantuan Star Carrier America toward the unknown. For the element of surprise is the only hope of stalling the Sh'daar assault on Earth's solar system—and the war for humankind's survival must be taken directly to the enemy.
Vermin … (#ulink_517d46bb-d481-5609-b6fb-1ab769d1523a)
The All of Us race was unaccustomed to dealing with other sentient species. One of the primary reasons for this was, simply, their size; by almost any standards, the H’rulka were giants.
An adult H’rulka consisted of a floatation gas bag measuring anywhere from two to three hundred meters across, with brain, locomotion and feeding organs, sensory apparatus and manipulators clustered at the bottom. Most other sentient species with which they’d had direct experience possessed roughly the same size and mass ratio to a H’rulka as an ant compared to a human.
When the H’rulka thought of other life forms as “vermin,” the thought was less insult than it was a statement of fact, at least as they perceived it. Within the complex biosphere of the H’rulka homeworld, there were parasites living on each All of Us colony that were some meters across. H’rulka simply found it difficult to imagine creatures as intelligent that were almost literally beneath their notice in terms of scale.
“Commence acceleration,” Ordered Ascent directed. “We will move into the region of heavy radio transmission, and destroy targets of opportunity as they present themselves.”
The H’rulka warship, more than twenty kilometers across, began falling toward Sol, the inner system, and Earth.
To Brea,my guiding star
Table of Contents
Vermin … (#u0ad74dbe-3a6b-5afc-9272-b603b08b8f94)
Title Page (#udb2c13e0-721a-5b4a-9869-e99efa579bf0)
Dedication (#udc6b3ef2-1d41-5ab2-ba48-b2c442983859)
Prologue (#u90e3a59f-6405-593d-8de1-59008d0d4bab)
Chapter One (#u4c926080-a787-5191-a016-a300e9afd28b)
Chapter Two (#u0cc2f907-8376-5d20-8981-5fe894e30e29)
Chapter Three (#u3b94ce80-ec36-58be-bf98-b6f54dc4c2ff)
Chapter Four (#ucfb66cbd-af16-5949-9317-0f6208616e7a)
Chapter Five (#uaabf92dd-6ebc-574e-a028-7cfc2b9f7e4e)
Chapter Six (#ucd799b04-4017-50e9-9ccd-2dc12ab4160e)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
By Ian Douglas (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue (#ulink_458277ab-433c-5a55-9b71-3094e9593e84)
12 December 2404
Emergence, Arcturus System
36.7 light years from Earth
0310 hours, TFT
The recon probe emerged from its Alcubierre bubble of tightly warped space, bleeding off excess velocity in a burst of high-energy photons. An artificial gravitational singularity the size of a small dust particle and as massive as a star flicked on and off a few meters beyond the craft’s bulbous nose, dragging it forward with an acceleration of nearly five thousand standard gravities. At that rate, the craft would be crowding the speed of light within another one hundred minutes.
Only slightly larger than a VG–10 Krait smart missile, the ISVR–120 probe was too small to carry sentient organics; its pilot was a Gödel 2500 artificial intelligence packed into the solid-state circuitry that filled the pod’s core and so, technically, could be said to take up no space at all. Certainly it needed none of the bulky life-support equipment necessary for organic life.
The AI was called Alan, named after Alan Turing, one of the giants in the development of the first computers four and a half centuries earlier.
Within seconds of the probe craft’s emergence from the warp bubble, Alan had scanned the system ahead, a volume of space dominated by a single bloated and brilliant orange star. The Confederation Naval Standard Ephemeris entry on the star resided within Alan’s surface memory.
STAR: Alpha Boötis
COORDINATES: RA: 14
15
39.7
Dec: +19˚ 10’ 56” D 11.24p
ALTERNATE NAMES: Arcturus, Alramech, Abramech, 16 Boötes
TYPE: K1.5IIIFe–0.5
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