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JUDAS UNCHAINED
 
Table of Contents
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CHAPTER NINETEEN ABOUT THE AUTHOR PREVIOUS WORKS BY PETER F. HAMILTON To Sophie Hazel HamiltonI never knew how much I missed you until you arrived
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
NAVY Captain Wilson Kime—Ex-NASA pilot. Admiral, navy chief Rafael Columbia—Vice Admiral, planetary defense Tarlo—Lieutenant, Navy Intelligence Renne Kampasa—Lieutenant, Navy Intelligence Morton—Convict, navy trooper Oscar Monroe—Navy captain, Defender McClain Gilbert—Navy captain Anna Kime—Wilson’s wife, and Navy chief of staff Tunde Sutton—Navy physicist Alic Hogan—Lieutenant Commander, Navy Intelligence Natasha Kersley—Seattle project chief Rob Tanne—Convict, navy trooper Catherine Stewart—aka the Cat, convict, navy trooper Matthew Oldfield—Second Lieutenant, Paris office Vic Russell—Second Lieutenant, Paris office Gwyneth Russell—Second Lieutenant, Paris office Jim Nwan—Second Lieutenant, Paris office John King—Lieutenant, Paris office DYNASTIES Nigel Sheldon—Co-inventor of wormhole technology. Co-owner of Compression Space Transport Ozzie Fernandez Isaac—Co-inventor of wormhole technology. Co-owner of CST Daniel Alster—Chief executive aide to Nigel Sheldon Campbell Sheldon—Direct great-grandson, high position in Sheldon Dynasty Gerard Utreth—Braunt family rep, Democratic Republic New Germany Isabella Halgarth—Starflyer agent Victor Halgarth—Isabella’s father, Starflyer agent Bernadette Halgarth—Isabella’s mother, Starflyer agent Giselle Swinsol—Sheldon Dynasty starship project manager Otis Sheldon—Pilot, Sheldon Dynasty starship Nelson Sheldon—Sheldon Dynasty security chief SENATE Paula Myo—Investigator, Senate Security Justine Burnelli—Earth Socialite–now Senator Thompson Burnelli—Commonwealth Senator–undergoing re-life Elaine Doi—President, Intersolar Commonwealth Patricia Kantil—Chief aide to Elaine Doi Ramon DB—Senator for Buta, leader of African caucus Crispin Goldreich—Senator; Chair, budget commission Toniea Gall—Chairwoman, Resident’s Association High Angel GUARDIANS OF SELFHOOD Bradley Johansson—Founder of Guardians of Selfhood Kazimir McFoster—Clan member in the Guardians of Selfhood Bruce McFoster—Ex-Guardian, Starflyer assassin Stig McSobel—Guardian, leader of Armstrong City team Samantha McFoster—Guardian, technician for planet’s revenge Olwen McOnna—Guardian Adam Elvin—Ex-radical, quartermaster for Guardians ALIENS Tochee—Alien of unknown origin The High Angel—A sentient alien starship MorningLightMountain—Prime alien from Dyson Alpha Starflyer—Hostile alien of unknown origin Qatux—A Raiel, living on the High Angel The SI—Sentient intelligence, machine based, of human origin OTHERS Mellanie Rescorai—Unisphere personality, SI agent Orion—Parentless teenage boy from Silvergalde Dudley Bose—Astronomer at Gralmond University, re-lifed Hoshe Finn—Detective, Darklake city police Gore Burnelli—Head of the Burnelli Grand Family Mark Vernon—Engineer Liz Vernon—Biogenetic technician, Mark’s wife Simon Rand—Founder of Randtown, leader of resistance Alessandra Baron—News show presenter, Starflyer agent Tiger Pansy—Actress in “adult” TSI dramas Paul Cramley—Professional hacker Kaspar Murdo—Head janitor at Saffron Clinic The Agent—Underworld security personnel manager on Illuminatus Niall Swalt—Junior employee, Grand Triad Adventures tour company Edmund Li—Officer in Far Away freight inspectorate division, Boongate Station Michelangelo—TSI news anchor
PROLOGUE
Right from the start, there was something about the investigation that made Lieutenant Renne Kampasa uneasy. The first little qualm came sliding up out of her subconscious when she saw the victim’s loft apartment. She’d been inside loft apartments just like it a hundred times before. It was the kind of plush metropolitan pad that a group of funky TSI soap characters usually lived in: beautiful single people with well-paying jobs that gave them most of the day off so they could enjoy a floor space of around five hundred square meters as they lounged around in an extravagant décor provided by overpriced interior designers. The kind of scenario completely divorced from real life but full of dramatic or comic potential for the scriptwriters. Yet here she was, a day after the Guardians’ shotgun message that denounced President Elaine Doi as a Starflyer agent, being shown into just such an apartment on the top floor of a refurbished factory block in Daroca, the capital city of Arevalo. The massive open-plan living room had a wide sunny balcony that looked out over the Caspe River, which flowed through the heart of the city. Like all the capitals of successful phase one space planets, Daroca was a rich montage of parks, elegant buildings, and broad streets stretching away to the horizon. Under the planet’s bronze-shaded morning sunlight it glimmered with a sharp coronal hue, adding to the panorama’s graceful appeal. Renne shook her head in mild disbelief at the fabulous view. Even with the decent salary the navy paid her, she could never afford the rent on this. And it was currently being paid by three first-life girls, all under twenty-five. One of them was showing Renne and Tarlo in: Catriona Saleeb, a small twenty-two-year-old, with long curly black hair, wearing a simple green dress with strong geometric lilac stripes—except Renne knew the dress was a Fon, which put its price tag over a thousand Earth dollars, and the girl was using it as a casual housedress. Renne’s e-butler printed up Saleeb’s file in her virtual vision; she was a junior member of the Morishi Grand Family, working at a bank in Daroca’s large financial district. Her two friends were Trisha Marina Halgarth, who had a product placement job at Veccdale, a Halgarth subsidiary that designed chic domestic systems, and Isabella Halgarth, who’d taken a job at a contemporary art gallery in town. They fitted the whole profile: three bachelorettes sharing a place in the city, having fun together while they waited for their true careers to launch, or husbands of equal wealth and status to materialize and carry them off to a merged trust fund mansion to produce their contracted quota of children. “This is one great place you’ve got here,” Tarlo said as they made their way into the lounge. Catriona turned and gave him a smile that was a lot more than simple politeness. “Thanks, it’s a family place so we get it cheap.” “Plenty of wild parties, huh.” Her smile became teasing. “Maybe.” Оглавление:
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