The Well of Stars
Page 43
The Cuckoo’s Boys (story collection)
* denotes a Tor Book
He drove the blade into the tabletop
She watched as the keen edge clipped one of her middle fingers.
“Make a fist,” he said.
“But I understand,” she countered. “We disperse so that all of us don’t die together.”
“A fist. Now!”
She jumped a little bit, and then to cover her fear, she sat forward and found the courage to ball up her fingers and palm. Osmium reached high with the knife, aimed and thrust hard. The woman felt a pain born entirely from her own mind. The hand had been missed, and by plenty.
“Why?”
“Because if we are dispersed, and diluted, and thin,” Osmium explained. “Then not only will that help keep the harum-scarums from being decimated. It is also the very best way of ensuring that every species, small or large, will bear his share of the suffering.
“If it comes to that.
“If it comes …”
“Again, hypercomplicated, dense with ideas and a plot that works itself into a fine old lather: amazing and satisfying both.”
—Kirkus
About the Author
Robert Reed is the critically acclaimed author of eleven science fiction novels, including The Remarkables, Down the Bright Way, Black Milk, The Hormone Jungle, The Leeshore, Beyond the Veil of Stars, An Exaltation of Larks, Beneath the Gated Sky, Sister Alice, and Marrow.
Reed is also a prolific writer of short fiction, having been compared to both Ray Bradbury and Philip K. Dick and nominated several times for the Hugo Award. His short stories have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Science Fiction Age, and many other magazines. The Dragons of Springplace is a selection of his prestigious short work. He was the Gold Award winner of the first Writers of the Future contest.
Cutting-edge hard science fiction coupled with strong characters and intricate plots is Reed’s forte. He, his wife, Leslie, and their daughter, Jessie Renee, live in Lincoln, Nebraska.
THE WELL OF STARS
Copyright © 2004, 2005 by Robert Reed
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Edited by James Frenkel
A slightly different version of this novel was published in England in 2004 by Orbit, an imprint of Time Warner Books UK.
A Tor Book
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eISBN 9781466822962
First eBook Edition : May 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0-765-34764-0
ISBN-10: 0-765-34764-4
First Edition: April 2005
First Mass Market Edition: February 2007