Perihelion Summer
Page 14
“Not much,” Matt admitted. “We can take a look, but I expect we’ll have to stay on the water.”
“And then do it all again? Back and forth, forever?”
“I don’t know.” The further into the future Matt gazed, the worse the prospects seemed. None of the machinery they relied on would last indefinitely. What would the Republic of the South have to trade with the countries that could still manufacture any kind of engine part or computer chip? Jožka’s biodiesel? Rayah’s seaweed?
“But you want me to be calm?” his mother asked, her eyes narrowed from the fumes. “You want me to accept that?”
Matt knelt down beside her, shaking and sobbing. He didn’t know why, he didn’t know what had caught up with him. His father’s death, the bodies in the houses, the strange grace that had spared him from becoming a killer.
His mother took his head in her hands. “Shh,” she said. “It’s all right. Everything’s all right. I forgive you.”
About the Author
GREG EGAN is a computer programmer and the author of many acclaimed science fiction novels. He has won the Hugo Award as well as the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Egan’s short fiction has been published in a variety of places, including Interzone, Asimov’s, Nature, and Tor.com. He lives in Australia.
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Also by Greg Egan
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Dichronauts
Distress
Incandescence
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The Clockwork Rocket
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The Arrows of Time
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
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Axiomatic
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
PART ONE
1
2
3
4
5
6
PART TWO
7
8
9
PART THREE
10
11
12
13
14
About the Author
Also by Greg Egan
Copyright Page
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novella are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
PERIHELION SUMMER
Copyright © 2019 by Greg Egan
All rights reserved.
Cover art and design by Drive Communications
Edited by Jonathan Strahan
A Tor.com Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10010
www.tor.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
ISBN 978-1-250-31377-5 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-250-31378-2 (trade paperback)
First Edition: April 2019
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