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The Saints of Salvation [British Ed.]

Page 53

by Peter F. Hamilton


  2052 European Federation creates UDA (Urban Defence Agency) – builds force fields over major European cities.

  2062 November Kellan Rindstrom demonstrates quantum spatial entanglement (QSE) at CERN.

  2063 January Ainsley Baldunio Zangari founds Connexion.

  2063 April Connexion twins portal doors between Los Angeles and New York, charges ten dollars to go between cities.

  2063 Global stock market crash, car companies lose up to ninety per cent of their share value. Shipping, rail and airline stocks fall. Aerospace stocks rally as space entrepreneur companies announce ambitious asteroid development plans.

  2063 November Space-X flies a QSE portal into LEO on a Falcon-10, providing open orbit access. Commencement of large-scale commercial space development.

  2066–2073 Thirty-nine national and commercial colony/development missions to asteroids (the Second California Rush – so called because of the number of American tech company CEOs involved). Large number of World Court injunctions filed by developing nations and left-wing groups against exploitation of exo-resources by for-profit companies.

  2066 Astro-X Corporation’s mission to Vesta. Establishment of Vesta colony.

  2066 Connexion Corp merges with emergent European, Japanese and Australian public transit portal companies to form conglomerate. Major cities now portal networked. Non-commercial vehicle use declining rapidly.

  2067 Globally, thirty cities now protected by shields, two hundred more under construction. Start of decline of conventional military forces. Phased Air Force and Navy Reduction Treaty signed at UN by majority of governments. Armies reconfigured as counter-insurgency paramilitary regiments – numbers cut substantially.

  2068 Seven corporations established at Vesta. Astro-X completes its Libertyville habitat colony, housing three thousand people.

  2069 First solar powerwell portal dropped into sun by China National Sunpower Corporation. Five-kilometre-long magnetohydrodynamics chambers built at Vesta, positioned on large asteroids, outside Neptune orbit.

  2070 Armstrong resort dome assembled on Moon. Similar resorts under construction on Mars, Ganymede, and Titan.

  2071 All major cities on Earth linked by Connexion stations – except North Korea.

  2071 UN treaty forbidding non-equitable exo-resource exploitation. Any asteroid or planetary minerals mined for use by commercial companies must be equally distributed among all nations on Earth. US, China and Russia refuse to sign. European Federation awards treaty Principal Acknowledgement status; starts to draw up its own non-exploitation regulations, where ‘excess profits’ of asteroid development companies will be channelled into Federation foreign aid agencies. Commercial asteroid development companies reregister in non-signatory countries.

  2075 Seventeen self-sustaining habitats built in asteroid belt. Construction of Newholm starts at Vesta (by Libertyville) – fifty kilometres long, fifteen kilometres in diameter. Takes three years to form, two years to complete biosphere.

  2075 Fifty-five per cent of Earth’s energy now comes from solar powerwells. Decommissioning of nuclear power stations begins, radioactive material flung into trans-Neptune space via portals.

  2076 Increasing number of asteroid developments become self-sustaining and Earth-exclusionary. Start of habitat independence movement.

  2077 Interstellar-X launches first starship, Orion, propelled by QSE portal solar plasma rocket. Destination Alpha Centauri. Achieves point seven-two lightspeed.

  2078 March Global tax agreement signed by all governments on Earth, abolishing tax havens.

  2078 August Nine space habitats declare themselves low-tax societies.

  2078 November First Progressive Conclave gathers at Nuzima habitat; fifteen billionaires sign Utopial pact to bring post-scarcity civilization to humanity. Each launches asteroid colony expansion, with an economy based on AI-managed self-replication industrial base.

  2079 China National Interstellar Administration launches starship Yang Liwei . Destination: Trappist 1. Achieves point eight-two lightspeed.

  2081 All Earth’s energy supplied by solar powerwells. Connexion largest energy customer.

  2082–2100 Twenty-five portal-rocket starships launched from Sol to nearby stars.

  2082 Major national currencies now backed by kilowatt hours. Global de facto currency is wattdollar.

  2082 Interstellar-X-led General Starflight Accord signed between all starfaring organizations (capable of building starships) and governments, ensuring open access to new stars and no duplicated star missions.

  2083 Orion arrives at Alpha Centauri. Psychroplanet discovered two point eight AU from star, named Zagreus. Too expensive/difficult to terraform. Eleven government missions transfer into Centauri system and establish asteroid manufacturing bases, along with eight independent asteroid companies. Construction of multiple portal starships at Centauri system begins.

  2084–2085 Twenty-three starships launched from Centauri.

  2084 Last car factory on Earth (in China) shuts down. Connexion hub network serves ninety-two per cent of human population, including space habitats.

  2085 Utopials launch starship Elysium .

  2086 Alpha Centauri asteroid manufacturing stations abandoned. Small joint-venture solar rocket plasma monitoring station maintained in orbit around the star, providing drive plasma for the starships.

  2096 Chinese starship Tranage arrives Tau Ceti, exoplanet discovered.

  2099 Chinese begin terraforming of Tau Ceti exoplanet, named Mao.

  2107 US starship Discovery arrives Eta Cassiopeiae. Exoplanet discovered.

  2110 US begins terraforming Eta Cassiopeiae exoplanet, named New Washington.

  2111 European Federation agrees to terraform exoplanet at 82 Eridani, named Liberty.

  2112 Elysium arrives at Delta Pavonis. Terraform-potential planet discovered, named Akitha. Construction of habitat Nebesa and extensive orbital industrial facilities. Terraforming of Akitha begins.

  2127 Yang Liwei arrives at Trappist 1. China begins terraforming two Trappist exoplanets T-1e and T-1f, Tianjin and Hangzhou.

  2134 New Washington terraforming stage two complete, open only to American settlers.

  2144 Olyix arkship Salvation of Life detected point one lightyears from Earth as its antimatter drive is switched on for deceleration. Communication opened. Four-year deceleration to Earth/Sun Lagrange Three point opposite side of sun from Earth.

  2150 Earth population twenty-three billion; nearly seven and a half thousand space habitats completed, population one hundred million.

  2150 Olyix begin to trade their biotech with humans in exchange for electricity to generate antimatter, allowing them to continue their voyage to the end of the universe.

  2153 Mao declared habitable. Farm settlers transfer from China, begin stage two planting – trees, grass, crops. Fish introduced into ocean.

  2162 Neána mission reaches Earth.

  2200 Eleven exoplanets now in stage two habitation. Large-scale migration from Earth. Twenty-seven further exoplanets undergoing stage one terraforming. No more being developed; fifty-three marked as having terraform potential. Portal starship missions ongoing, but reduced.

  2204 Portal starship Kavli arrives in Beta Eridani system, eighty-nine lightyears from Earth. Detects beacon signal from alien spaceship.

  THE SAINTS OF SALVATION

  Peter F. Hamilton was born in Rutland in 1960 and now lives in Somerset. He began writing in 1987, and sold his first short story to Fear magazine in 1988. He has written many bestselling novels, including the Greg Mandel series, the Night’s Dawn trilogy, the Commonwealth Saga, the Void trilogy, Chronicle of the Fallers, the Salvation Sequence, short story collections and several standalone novels, including Fallen Dragon and Great North Road.

  By Peter F. Hamilton

  The Greg Mandel series

  Mindstar Rising

  A Quantum Murder

  The Nano Flower

  The Night’s Dawn trilogy

  The Real
ity Dysfunction

  The Neutronium Alchemist

  The Naked God

  The Commonwealth Saga

  Pandora’s Star

  Judas Unchained

  The Void trilogy

  The Dreaming Void

  The Temporal Void

  The Evolutionary Void

  Chronicle of the Fallers

  The Abyss Beyond Dreams

  Night Without Stars

  The Salvation Sequence

  Salvation

  Salvation Lost

  The Saints of Salvation

  Standalone novels

  Fallen Dragon

  Misspent Youth

  The Confederation Handbook

  (a vital guide to the Night’s Dawn trilogy)

  Great North Road

  The Queen of Dreams trilogy

  The Secret Throne

  The Hunting of the Princes

  A Voyage Through Air

  Short story collections

  A Second Chance at Eden

  Manhattan in Reverse

  First published 2020 by Macmillan

  This electronic edition first published 2020 by Macmillan

  an imprint of Pan Macmillan

  The Smithson, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com

  ISBN 978-1-5098-4465-4

  Copyright © Rutland Horizon Limited 2020

  Cover Images © Shutterstock

  The right of Peter F. Hamilton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Visit www.panmacmillan.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.

  Table of Contents

  Title page

  Contents

  Dedication page

  List of Major Characters

  Juloss Falling

  London

  Delta Pavonis

  Interstellar Space

  London

  Puppis Star System

  London

  London

  Interstellar Space

  London

  Gox-Nikolaj Quint

  FinalStrike Mission

  Kruse Station

  Knockdown Mission

  The Avenging Heretic

  Nashua Habitat, Delta Pavonis

  FinalStrike Mission

  The Avenging Heretic

  FinalStrike Mission

  London

  FinalStrike Mission

  London

  The Avenging Heretic

  Neutron Star

  The Avenging Heretic

  Gox Quint

  Morgan

  Saints

  Morgan

  Saints

  Gox Quint

  Morgan

  Saints

  FinalStrike

  Saints

  Gox Quint

  Saints

  Morgan

  Gox Quint

  Saints

  Dellian’s Squad

  Saints

  Yirella

  Saints

  Yirella

  Return Flight

  London

  New York

  Yirella2

  Yirella1

  Salvation timeline

  About the Author

  By Peter F. Hamilton

  Copyright page

 

 

 


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