Hellhole Awakening

Home > Other > Hellhole Awakening > Page 52
Hellhole Awakening Page 52

by Kevin J. Anderson


  JESSUP, ROLF—shadow-Xayan, originally from Ridgetop.

  JHERA—Xayan telemancer preserved in slickwater, lover of Birzh; now the counterpart of Antonia Anqui.

  JONN—Crown Jewel planet, ruled by the Hirdan family.

  JORDAN, CRAIG—Adolphus’s chief of security, now managing part of the Hellhole defense forces.

  KAPPAS—Crown Jewel planet, ruled by the Paternos family.

  KEATS, HUME—worker on Buktu, as well as a pilot who flies with Ian Walfor.

  KERRIS—linerunner ship operated by Turlo and Sunitha Urvancik, named after their dead son.

  KIAFA—popular hot beverage.

  KLIEF—Crown Jewel planet, former home of Sophie and Devon Vence.

  KOMUN, GEORGE—planetary administrator of Umber.

  KOUVET, CAPTAIN—security officer at Council City Spaceport.

  LASSEN, OWEN—representative from Teron.

  LINERUNNER—maintenance ship that travels along the stringline paths to check iperion integrity.

  LODO—male Xayan, one of the three surviving Originals, assigned to studying the museum vault.

  LUBIS PLAIN SHIPYARDS—large military shipyard on Qiorfu.

  LUMINOUS GARDEN—one of the spectacular gardens on the grounds of the Diadem’s palace.

  MACHI—Crown Jewel planet.

  MAGEROS, LADY OPRA—noblewoman, descendant of one of the families that brought about the downfall of the Osheers.

  MAIL DRONE—small automated packet that travels along the stringlines.

  MALIBU, HENRY—deacon among the Children of Amadin, former doctor.

  MARUBI—Crown Jewel planet.

  MAYAK, TOBNER—scientist on Sonjeera.

  MCLUHAN, EVA—a linerunner who committed suicide in deep space between destinations.

  MERCIFULS—secular order of nurses.

  MICHELLA TOWN—main colony town on Hallholme; referred to colloquially as Helltown.

  MORAE, ELWYN—first administrator of Candela.

  NARI—drilling supervisor on Hellhole.

  NAX, BEBE—Tanja Hu’s administrative assistant on Candela, mother of Jacque.

  NEHL—young orphaned girl, a member of the Children of Amadin.

  NELL, LADERNA—assistant to Ishop Heer, also his lover.

  NEPHILIM—Deep Zone planet, supposedly the site of a fountain of youth.

  NERON, FERNANDO—Hellhole colonist, first man to immerse himself in slickwater and take on an alien personality, Zairic. Fernando-Zairic served as spokesman for the shadow-Xayans, until he was murdered on Sonjeera along with other emissaries.

  NICLES—Deep Zone planet.

  NOAB—Crown Jewel planet, home of the Crais family.

  NOABY—valuable jewel mined on Noab.

  NOMOLOS—Deep Zone planet.

  NOORMAN, CAPTAIN FELIX—captain of a scout ship aboard the Constellation fleet.

  OBERON, LANNY—supervisor in iperion mines on Vielinger.

  OGG—Crown Jewel world where Osheer family was exiled.

  ONGENET, ARIA—beautiful wife of historical Diadem Philippe the Whisperer, known for her numerous lovers, which she often entertained at her Cottage on the Pond of Birds.

  ORIGINAL—one of five Xayans preserved in the vault against the asteroid impact: Allyf, Encix, Cippiq, Lodo, and Tryn. Only three remain alive.

  ORSINI—one of the Crown Jewels, ruled by Lady Enva Tazaar.

  OSHEER—centuries-old variation of Ishop Heer’s family name.

  OSHEER, LORD ELMAN—Osheer patriarch at the time of the family’s disgrace.

  OSHU—Deep Zone planet.

  PACKARD, ERNST—one of Adolphus’s trailblazer captains who died establishing the line to Ridgetop.

  PARRA, ZINN—noble descendant of one of the families that disgraced Ishop Heer’s ancestors.

  PASSENGER POD—cargo container with life support and amenities, used for transporting people along stringline network.

  PATERNOS—noble family from Crown Jewel planet Kappas, rivals of the Tazaars.

  PATERNOS, LADY JENINE—ruler of Crown Jewel planet Kappas.

  PENCE, TORII—trade representative of the Hirdan family from Jonn.

  PHILIPPE THE WHISPERER—historical diadem, husband of Aria Ongenet.

  POND OF BIRDS—small body of water on the grounds of the Diadem’s Palace, site of the romantic, luxurious Cottage.

  PRINIFLOWER—medicinal plant native to Ridgetop.

  PRITIKIN, LUKE—one of the Diadem’s inspectors on Hellhole.

  PUHAU—isolated mining village on Candela, wiped out in a mudslide.

  QIORFU—Crown Jewel planet, site of the Lubis Plain Shipyards; original home of the Adolphus family, now ruled by the Riomini family and administered by retired commodore Hallholme.

  QUIRRIE, TONA—real name of Antonia Anquie.

  RAPANA—iperion-processing center on Vielinger, site of an industrial fire.

  RICKETTS, COLONEL—representative of the Army of the Constellation.

  RIDGETOP—forested Deep Zone planet best known for its goldenwood groves, administered by Carlson Goler, site of a massacre that was covered up by Diadem Michella.

  RIDGETOP RECOVERY—massacre that occurred when Constellation forces razed an existing colony on Ridgetop to clear the way for new settlement; the truth was covered up by the Diadem.

  RIOMINI—powerful noble family headquartered on Aeroc.

  RIOMINI, GILAG—former Riomini lord who helped Michella establish her power base.

  RIOMINI, LORD SELIK—head of the Riomini family, Supreme Commander of the Army of the Constellation; he is also called the Black Lord.

  RO-XAYAN—rebellious Xayan faction.

  ROLLER—small all-terrain vehicle.

  RONOM—Deep Zone planet.

  ROYAL RETREAT—one of the Diadem’s seven official residences.

  RUE DE LA MUSIQUE—the Street of Music, run-down section of Council City where Ishop Heer has his secret office.

  RULLINS, JAKO—abusive man, former lover of Antonia Anqui.

  SANDUSKY—one of the Crown Jewel planets, known for biological research.

  SAPORO—harbor city on Candela.

  SETSAI—Deep Zone planet.

  SHADOW-XAYANS—humans who have accepted a Xayan personality from the slickwater pools.

  SLICKWATER—Xayan liquid database of lives.

  SLICKWATER SPRINGS—settlement out at the three original slickwater pools.

  SMOKE STORM—meteorological event on Hallholme.

  SONJEERA—capital planet of the Constellation, heart of the Crown Jewels, seat of power for Diadem Michella Duchenet. Also, site of the central stringline hub for all travel throughout the Constellation.

  SONJI PHEASANT—game bird native to Sonjeera, considered a delicacy.

  SPENCER, LIEUTENANT JOHAD—former weapons officer during Adolphus’s rebellion, now his staff driver.

  STAR THRONE—the Diadem’s throne on Sonjeera.

  STATIC STORM—dangerous electrical-discharge storm that occurs on Hallholme; colloquially called a “growler.”

  STRINGLINE—ultrafast interstellar transportation system that follows quantum lines of iperion laid down across space.

  STRINGLINE HAULER—large-framework ship that is loaded with cargo containers and passenger pods; travels back and forth from Sonjeera to a designated stringline terminus.

  STRINGLINE HUB—central point from which all the transportation lines radiate; the Constellation’s only hub is on Sonjeera.

  STRINGLINE TERMINUS—endpoint of a stringline, a station in orbit over a destination planet.

  SUZUKI, RANDOLPH—chocolatier, member of a fallen noble family.

  SVC-1185—blue-giant star, site of a stringline power substation on the route to Ridgetop.

  TANINE—Crown Jewel planet, site of a brief uprising.

  TASMINE—Governor Goler’s old household servant, only survivor of the Ridgetop Recovery.

  TAZAAR—powerful noble family headquartered on Orsini, rivals of the Riominis.
<
br />   TAZAAR, LADY ENVA—head of the Riomini family, also an aspiring artist.

  TEHILA—most distant Deep Zone planet, home of semi-intelligent herd animals.

  TELEMANCY—Xayan telekinetic power.

  TELLO, FRANCK—officer in the first rebellion, General Adolphus’s best friend, killed during the Battle of Sonjeera.

  TELOM, DAK—officer in the Army of the Constellation, secretly a spy for General Adolphus.

  TERON—Deep Zone planet.

  THERIS, RENDO—administrator of the Ankor spaceport complex.

  THESER—Deep Zone planet, administered by Sia Frankov, home of eccentric spacedrive engineers.

  TIER, DOM CELLAN—planetary administrator of Oshu.

  TILLMAN, ARMAND—cattle rancher on Hellhole.

  TRAILBLAZER—a ship that lays down a path of processed iperion to create a new stringline route.

  TRAKMASTER—heavy-duty overland vehicle used on Hellhole.

  TROMBIE, BUXTON—Duchenet family attorney.

  TRYN—female Xayan, one of the three surviving Originals.

  UETER—Deep Zone planet.

  ULMAN, LIEUTENANT RICO—test pilot at the Lubis Plain shipyards.

  UMBER—Deep Zone planet.

  UNDINE, GOVERNOR MARLA—one of the five territorial governors of the Deep Zone, arrested and held as a political prisoner.

  UPBOX—cargo container launched into orbit, where it is picked up by a stringline hauler.

  UROA—Xayan leader whose presence now shares a body with Keana Duchenet.

  URVANCIK, KERRIS—son of Turlo and Sunitha, killed in military service shortly after the end of Adolphus’s rebellion.

  URVANCIK, SUNITHA—stringline runner, married to Turlo.

  URVANCIK, TURLO—stringline runner, married to Sunitha.

  VENCE, DEVON—son of Sophie Vence, boyfriend of Antonia Anqui. A shadow-Xayan, his alien counterpart is Birzh.

  VENCE, GREGORY—former husband of Sophie Vence, father of Devon.

  VENCE, SOPHIE—powerful merchant woman in Michella Town, in a relationship with General Adolphus.

  VIELINGER—Crown Jewel planet, source of iperion, formerly ruled by the de Carre family, now a holding of the Riomini family.

  VOBBINS, JALUKA—head of the Theser spacedrive engineers.

  VOJA TREE—a type of willow common on Vielinger, whose bark is said to have medicinal (and some say spiritual) qualities.

  VONDAS, CAPTAIN—expedition leader on original colony ship to Buktu.

  VUARNER, PRIEMA—last noble victim on Ishop Heer’s list.

  WALFOR, IAN—administrator of Deep Zone planet Buktu, with shipyards and ice mines. Previously, he was a black-market runner who delivered supplies to DZ planets without using the stringline.

  WARRIOR DIADEM—Edwond the First.

  WEILIN, EVELYN—socialite woman from a noble family fallen on hard times; descendant of one of the twelve nobles who caused the disgrace of the Osheer family.

  XAYANS—original race of inhabitants on Hellhole.

  YARICK—Constellation noble family.

  ZABRISKIE, SERGEANT FRANCONE—trailblazer pilot for Army of the Constellation.

  ZAIRIC—Xayan leader who originally proposed the slickwater preservation plan; his presence joined with Fernando Neron, both killed by Diadem Michella.

  OTHER BOOKS BY BRIAN HERBERT AND KEVIN J. ANDERSON

  Dune: House Atreides

  Dune: House Harkonnen

  Dune: House Corrino

  Dune: The Butlerian Jihad

  Dune: The Machine Crusade

  Dune: The Battle of Corrin

  Hunters of Dune

  Sandworms of Dune

  Paul of Dune

  The Winds of Dune

  Sisterhood of Dune

  Mentats of Dune*

  Hellhole

  BY FRANK HERBERT, BRIAN HERBERT, AND KEVIN J. ANDERSON

  The Road to Dune

  (includes the original short novel Spice Planet)

  BY BRIAN HERBERT

  Dreamer of Dune

  (biography of Frank Herbert)

  *forthcoming

  About the Authors

  Brian Herbert has written numerous novels, including Man of Two Worlds with Frank Herbert, The Race for God, and Sudanna, Sudanna. In 2003, he published Dreamer of Dune, a Hugo Award–nominated biography of his father.

  Kevin J. Anderson has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Readers’ Choice Award. He set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

  HELLHOLE AWAKENING

  Copyright © 2013 by DreamStar, Inc., and WordFire, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  www.wordfire.com

  Cover art by Stephen Youll

  A Tor Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

  175 Fifth Avenue

  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor-forge.com

  Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Herbert, Brian.

  Hellhole awakening / Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. — First edition.

  p. cm.

  ISBN 978-0-7653-2270-8 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4299-4959-0 (e-book)

  1. Space colonies—Fiction. 2. Space warfare—Fiction. 3. Life on other planets—Fiction. 4. Fantasy fiction. I. Anderson, Kevin J., 1962– II. Title.

  PS3558.E617H46 2013

  813'.54—dc23

  2012038824

  e-ISBN 9781429949590

  First Edition: March 2013

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76
/>   Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Appendix A

  Appendix B

  Consolidated Glossary

  Other Books by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

  About the Authors

  Copyright

 

 

 


‹ Prev