Warstrider: All Six Novels and An Original Novella

by Ian Douglas

  Dev saw little reason to be hopeful. The Xenophobes might be the closest thing Man had to natural enemies in the Galaxy—outside of himself, of course—and the war might go on year after year on world after world. On each planet, the resident Xeno intelligence, the "One," would have to be individually approached, contacted, and converted to a different way of looking at the universe.

  "As I said, Your Majesty, the war might not be over for a long time yet. We will have to deal with each planetary intelligence one by one. Just contacting them may be difficult. Certainly it will be all but impossible on worlds where we're actively fighting them."

  "True. Still, the One of Lung Chi has been at peace for a number of years now. Perhaps we could approach that world in peace, now that we know what to look for, how to communicate with it. The DalRiss have offered to help. They're already intrigued by the possibility of reoccupying their own homeworld. We may yet return to the colonies like Lung Chi and An-Nur II, to worlds lost to Man for decades. With the intelligent cooperation of each world's intelligence, terraforming will be miraculously easy."

  Dev tried to imagine an organism that girdled a planet, busily converting raw materials to human-breathable air, adjusting the planetary temperature, even manufacturing entire cities to spec, all in exchange for intelligent conversation with the Not-Self organisms inhabiting the surface.

  There was so much to be gained from peaceful contact. The alternative was genocide . . . and the exploding suns of Aquila.

  "So you see, Chu-i Cameron-san, we have much to thank you for. True, communication alone will not end the war, but it is a beginning. Perhaps the most important beginning there is. That medal cannot repay what we owe you. Nothing can. But perhaps we can reward you further."

  Dev reached up and touched the Star. "I am content, Your Majesty."

  "Indeed? My staff has been going through your records. I gather that only last year you were seeking transfer to the Hegemony Navy. Certainly you have amply demonstrated your talents, both in linking and in tactics. According to your records, you possess that blend of psychological attributes that would guarantee your success as a naval officer. Perhaps you would consider a transfer to the Imperial Navy? A more tangible reward for your services, one that could see you with a command of your own within a few short years."

  Dev grinned. Glancing to his right, he caught Katya's eye, warm with understanding, and maybe just a bit moist as well.

  It was definitely a breach of protocol, but Dev reached out, taking Katya's shoulders and giving her a hug.

  "Thank you, Your Majesty," he said. "But I already have everything I could possibly want."

  TERMINOLOGY AND GLOSSARY

  AI: Artificial Intelligence. Since the Sentient Status Act of 2204, higher-model networking systems have been recognized as "self-aware but of restricted purview," a legal formula that precludes enfranchisement of machine intelligences.

  Alpha: Type of Xenophobe combat machine, also called stalker, shapeshifter, silvershifter, etc. They are animated by numerous organic-machine hybrids and mass ten to twelve tons. Their weapons include nano-D shells and surfaces, and various magnetic effects. Alphas appear in two guises, a snake-or wormlike shape that lets them travel underground along SDTs, and any of a variety of combat shapes, usually geometrical with numerous spines or tentacles. Each distinctive combat type is named after a poisonous Terran reptile, e.g., Fer-de-Lance, Cobra, Mamba, etc.

  Analogue: Computer-generated "double" of a person, used to handle routine business, communications, and duties through ViRcom linkage.

  AND Round: Anti-nano disassembler. Tube-launched NCM round that bursts almost as soon as it is fired, releasing an NCM cloud.

  Antigenics: Nanotechnic devices programmed to hunt down and destroy disease bacteria and parasites inside the body.

  APW: Armored Personnel Walker. Any of several large, four-legged striders designed to carry unlinked passengers. VbH Zo ("Elephant") can carry fifty troops. Kani ("Crab") can carry twenty.

  Ascraft: Aerospace craft. Vehicles that can fly both in space and in atmosphere.

  Beta: Second class of Xenophobe combat machine, adapted from captured or abandoned human equipment. Its weapons are human-manufactured weapons, often reshaped to Xeno purposes. They have been known to travel underground.

  Bionangineering: Use of nanotechnology to restructure lifeforms for medical or ornamental reasons.

  CA: Combat Armor. Light personal armor/space suit providing eight hours' life support in hostile environment.

  Cephing: Also linking. Derived from cephlink. To operate equipment, computers, striders, etc., through a cephlink.

  Cephlink: Implant within the human brain allowing direct interface with computer-operated systems. It contains its own microcomputer and RAM storage and is accessed through sockets, usually located in the subject's temporal bones above and behind each ear. Limited (non-ViR) control and interface is possible through neural implants in the skin, usually in the palm of one hand.

  Cephlink RAM: Random Access Memory, part of the micro-circuitry within the cephlink assembly. Used for memory storage, message transfer, linguistics programming, and the storage of complex digital codes used in cephlinkage access. An artificial extension of human intelligence.

  Charged Particle Gun (CPG): Primary weapon on larger warstriders. Including proton cannons and electron guns, they use powerful gauss fields to direct streams of charged subatomic particles at the target.

  Colonial Authority: Hegemonic bureaucracy charged with overseeing government, trade, and terraforming of the human-inhabited worlds.

  CMP: Cluster Munitions Package. Missile or artillery round payload. Dispenses hundreds of mines, bomblets, or nuclear-triggered plasma bolts in a destructive "footprint" across a large area.

  Cryo-H: Liquid hydrogen cooled to a few degrees absolute, used as fuel for fusion power plants aboard striders, ascraft, and other vehicles. Sometimes called "slush hydrogen."

  C-socket: Cervical socket, located in subject's cervical spine, near the base of his neck. Directs neural impulses to jacked equipment, warstriders, construction gear, heavy lifters, etc.

  C3, C-Three: Military term for Command, Control, and Communications, the essentials of battlefield command.

  Deplur: Depleted uranium. Ultradense metal used in massive projectiles such as 8-mm hivel ammunition.

  DSA: Deep Seismic Anomaly. Seismic tremors associated with subsurface movements of Xenophobe machines.

  Durasheath: Armor grown as composite layers of diamond, duralloy, and ceramics; light, flexible, and very strong.

  El-shuttle: Saucer-shaped pressurized chamber ferrying passengers and cargo up and down the sky-el. The passenger deck has seats for up to a hundred people, complete with jackplugs and a recjack library.

  E-suit: Environmental suit. Lightweight helmet and garment for use in space or hostile atmospheric conditions.

  Fabricrete: Artificial building material assembled molecule by molecule by nanotechnic constructors in Rogan Process, using dirt or refuse as raw material.

  Fusorpak: Power unit carried on board most striders and large vehicles. Uses tanked slush hydrogen as fuel.

  Gamma: Third type of Xenophobe combat machine, usually relatively small and amorphous. Apparently a fragment of a Xenophobe Alpha, animated by one or more Xeno machine-organism hybrids. Its surface consists of nano disassemblers, making its touch deadly.

  Gun tower: Unmanned sentry outpost armed with various energy or projectile weapons. May be automated, remote-controlled, or directed by an on-site, low-level AI.

  Hardware: Any physical computer equipment, but usually specifically applied to cephimplants, sockets, and other equipment surgically implanted within brain, skin, or bone.

  Hegemony: Also Terran Hegemony. World government representing fifty-seven nations on Earth, plus the Colonial Authorities of the seventy-eight terraformed worlds. Technically sovereign, it is dominated by Imperial Japan, which has a veto in its legislative assembly.

>   HEMILCOM: Hegemony Military Command. Local military command-control-communications (C3) headquarters, usually based in sky-el orbitals, charged with coordinating military operations within a given sector.

  Hivel Cannon: A turret-mounted, high velocity rotary cannon. Similar to twentieth-century CIWS systems, it fires bursts of depleted uranium slugs with a rate of fire as high as fifty per second. Usually controlled by an on-board AI, its primary function is antimissile defense. It can also be voluntarily controlled and used against other targets.

  HMC: Hegemony Military Compound. Military base supporting at least one battalion of warstriders plus auxiliary forces.

  Hotbox: Strap-on rocket or scramjet booster. Small modules allow striders to softland after an airdrop or provide jet-assisted boosts for navigating rough terrain. Larger modules provide surface-to-orbit thrust for aerospace transports.

  Hunorm: Human-normal. Refers to link-feed senses, especially vision, in human-normal ranges, as opposed to spectra normally invisible to humans, such as infrared.

  ICS: Intercom System. Provides shipboard voice communication for unlinked personnel. Also refers to linked communications between crew members of a single vehicle.

  Imbedded Interface: Network of wires and neural feeds imbedded in the skin—usually in the palm near the base of the thumb—used to access and control simple computer hardware. Provides control and datafeed functions only, not full-sensory input. Used to activate T-and C-socket jacks, to pass authorization and credit data, and to retrieve printed or vocal data "played" inside the user's mind. Also called 'face or skin implant.

  Jacker: Slang for anyone with implanted jacks for neural interface with computers, machinery, or communications networks. Specifically applied to individuals who jack in for a living, as opposed to recreational jackers, "recjacks."

  Kokorodo: Literally "Way of the Mind," a mental discipline practiced by Imperial military jackers to achieve full mental and physical coordination through AI linkage.

  K-T Plenum: Extraspacial realm at the hyperdimensional interface between normal fourspace and the quantum sea. From Nihongo Kamisamano Taiyo, literally "Ocean of God." Starships navigate through the K-T plenum.

  Kuso: Japanese word for feces. Not a Japanese expletive, it is used as such by Inglic-speakers.

  L-LOS: Laser Line of Sight. Straight-line path clear of interfering smoke, dust, or other obstruction along which laser communications can be established.

  Loki: 36 Ophiuchi C (Dagstjerne) II. World 17.8 light-years from Sol currently undergoing terraforming by colonists of Scandinavian descent. Place names taken from Norse mythology, including Asgard (synchorbital), Bifrost (skyel), and Midgard (towerdown). Capital: Midgard. Language Norsk-Lokan.

  Lung Chi: DM+320 2896 (Chien) IV. World terraformed by colonists of Manchurian descent. Overrun by Xenophobes in 2537.

  Medsystem: Any AI-oriented electronic network dedicated to monitoring and controlling biological functions during cephlinkage. Bodily functions are monitored through micro-circuitry imbedded within ship or combat suits, which in turn are plugged into the AI overwatch system. All physical sensations, including pain, can be edited from the human brain's awareness.

  Meteffectors: Metabolic Effectors. Nanotechnic devices that increase the efficiency of certain bodily processes, converting body fat to energy, and food to muscle tissue.

  Microbion: Gene-tailored, microscopic artificial life-form designed to perform some ecological or life-support function, such as adjust a planetary ecology's tolerance to high or low carbon dioxide levels.

  MJ: Megajoule. Measure of energy. The detonation of one kilogram of TNT releases approximately five MJ of energy.

  Morphing: Xenophobe ability to change shape or repair itself within certain limits, made possible by flexibility of positioning and bonding between the machine's nanotechnic "cells."

  MSE: Mental Stability Evaluation. Test recorded by full sensory link determining a subject's reactions, flexibility, and the presence of potentially hampering or unwanted prejudices or mental debilities.

  Nangineering: Nanotechnic engineering. Use of nanotechnic devices in building or in medicine.

  Nano-Ds: Nano disassemblers. Xenophobe weapon, delivered by mag-accelerated projectile or through contact with a specialized appendage, consisting of billions of submicroscopic machines programmed to disassemble molecular bonds. A high concentration of nano-Ds can cause several kilos of mass to disintegrate into its component molecules within seconds.

  Nanoflage: Nanofilm on military vehicles designed to transmit colors and textures of vehicle's immediate surroundings. Selectively reflective, it does not reflect bright light or motion.

  Nanomold: A semiportable nanovat used in construction. Placed on site, it uses Rogan's Process to convert dirt or other locally available raw material into fabricrete walls or prefab building sections.

  Nanovat: Industrial tank used for growing nanotechnic products. Small vats can produce, on order and with proper raw materials, food, garments, disposable computers, and other small items. Large vats are required to grow pieces of large manufactured goods like vehicles.

  NCM: Nanotechnic Countermeasures. Submicroscopic devices programmed to hunt down and destroy enemy nanotechnic disassemblers before they cause irreparable damage. In combat, applied as a patch or an aerosol.

  Neopsychometrics: The science of measuring human psychological variables, such as aptitude, emotional disturbance, or psychotechnic disorders. "Neo" pertains to the revolution in human psychology brought about by link-assisted diagnosis and treatment.

  New America: 26 Draconis IV. Frontier colony 48.6 light-years from Sol.

  PLSS: Portable Life Support System, pronounced "pliss." A small and lightweight unit providing air, heat, power, and waste recycling for environmental suits and other protective garments.

  Psychotechnic Disorders: General term for a group of mental disorders resulting from breakdowns in an individual's abilities to relate to high-tech, computer-oriented society. They include:

  Technic Depression (TD): Feeling of inferiority to AIs, coupled with an inability to cope with speed of information transfers, virtual reality shifts, or changing styles.

  Technomegalomania (TM): Delusion of godhood fostered by virtual realities. Marked by depression, anger, or hostility when subject is in the real world, by feelings of invulnerability and power when linked.

  Technophobia (TP): Unreasonable fear of machines, computers, or aspects of technic society, such as analogues or cephimplants.

  Quantum sea: Energy continuum reflected in "vacuum fluctuation," the constant appearance and reabsorption of vast quantities of energy on a subatomic scale. Tapped by starships operating within the K-T plenum.

  Rank: Terran Hegemony ranks are based on the Imperial Japanese rank structure, though the English terminology is preferred in common usage. A rough comparison of rank in the Hegemony Military, as compared to late twentieth-century America, is given below:

  Enlisted Ranks

  U.S. Army/Marinesg

  Imperial Military

  Private 2nd class/(no equivalent)

  Nitto hei

  E-2 Private/PFC

  Itto hei

  Superior private/(no equivalent)

  Jotto hei

  E-3 PFC/Lance Corporal

  Heicho

  E-4 Corporal/Corporal

  Gocho

  E-5 Sergeant/Sergeant

  Gunso

  E-9 Sgt. Major/Sgt. Major

  Socho

  WO Warrant Officers (CWO)

  Jun-i

  Commissioned Ranks

  U.S. Army / Navy

  Imperial Military

  0-0 Cadet

  Seito

  0-1 2nd Lieutenant/Ensign

  Sho-i

  0-2 Lieutenant/Lieutenant (jg)

  Chu-i

  0-3 Captain/Lieutenant

  Tai-i

  0-4 Major/Lieutenant Commander

  Shosa

  0-5 Lieutenant Colonel/
Commander

  Chusa

  0-6 Colonel/Captain

  Taisa

  0-8 Major General/Rear Admiral

  Shosho

  O-9 Lieutenant General/Vice Admiral

  Chujo

  O-10 General/Admiral

  Taisho

  O-11 General of the Army/Fleet Admiral

  Gensui

  Recjack: Using implants for recreational purposes. These range from participation in ViRdramas to shared multiple sensual stimulation to direct stimulation of the hypothalamic pleasure centers (PC-jacking).

  Riderslot: Opening in an ascraft or other transport's hull designed to receive striders. Usually equipped with grippers, magnetic locks, and autoplug ICS and datafeed connectors.

  RJ: Military slang for free time spent recjacking.

  Rogan Process: Nano construction technique, named after inventor Philip Rogan, employing assemblers and any plentiful raw material. Through "RoPro" or "RoProduction," walls, buildings, roads, any similar large structure, can be "grown" out of rock and earth quickly and cheaply.

  SDT: Subsurface Deformation Track. Path through a planetary crust previously used by Xenophobe underground travelers. Rock once turned plastic by intense heat and pressure offers subsurface "highways" more easily traversed by subsequent craft.

  Selfware: Jacker slang for the human mind, both the physical processes of neuronic impulses and the less quantifiable processes of consciousness, reasoning, and "self." If software is the program run on hardware, selfware is the program run on wetware.

  Shichiju: Literally "The Seventy." Japanese term for the seventy-eight worlds in seventy-two systems so far colonized by Man.

  Silicolubricant, silicarb: Greasy black silicon compound used to reduce friction in interior working parts.

  Sky-el: Elevator used to travel between a planetary ring and the surface of the planet. A cheap and efficient way of moving people and cargo back and forth from surface to orbit. Earth has three sky-els: Singapore (Pulau Lingga), Ecuador (Quito), and Kenya (Mount Kenya). New Earth has two. Other worlds have one. Some, including New America, have none.