The Killing Star

175 Pages·30.018 MB·English

by  Charles R. Pellegrino, George Zebrowski

J
< "A NOVEL OF CONCEPTUAL FEROCITY AND SCIENTIFIC
PLAUSIBILITY" The New York Times Book Review
' CHARLES PELLEGRINO
—------------------------- ANO -----------------------------
George zebrowski
7HV
/ML
To Walter Lord and Arthur C. Clarke,
our literary fathers.
THE KILLING STAR is an original publication of Avon Books. This work has never
before appeared in book form. This work is a novel. Any similarity to actual persons
or events is purely coincidental.
AVON BOOKS
A division of
The Hearst Corporation
13 30 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10019
Copyright © 1995 by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski
Published by arrangement with the authors
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 94-31367
ISBN: 0-688-13989-2
All rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof
in any form whatsoever except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law. For infor­
mation address Avon Books.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data:
Pellegrino, Charles R.
The killing star / Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski.
p. cm.
1. Twenty-first century—Fiction. I. Zebrowski, George, 1945- . II. Title.
PS3566.E418K55 1995 94-31367
813’.54—dc20 CIP
First Morrow/AvoNova Printing: April 1995
AVONOVA TRADEMARK REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. AND IN OTHER COUNTRIES, MARCA RE-
GISTRADA, HECHO EN U.S.A.
Printed in the U.S.A.
QP 10 98765432

I
P
unctuated
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quilibrium
And there fell upon men
a great hail out of heaven....
—Revelation
1
Spring, R.D. 2076
For those few who lived to look back, the most
fearsome deaths were the quickest. Those who did
not survive the first human contact with the Intrud­
ers were alive in one moment, the billions of
them—happy or unhappy, seeking new loves,
leaving old loves behind, or choosing to be alone,
building toward small dreams, large dreams, or
having no dreams at all—and then, over an entire
hemisphere of Earth, their consciousness dissolved,
as if they had been the dream of something alien
suddenly awakening.
The first ship came from the direction of Sagit­
tarius. It came with fire in its belly and venom in
its mind. It was an old ship, without a crew. Only
machines, small and crablike, stirred within its ce­
ramic rigging. It came with antihydrogen tanks
nearly empty; but this did not matter. It was never
meant to decelerate into any solar orbit or to voyage
home. At 92 percent of light speed, the ship slipped
through the heliopause, one light-day from the Sun,
with an easy stealth, trailing only dead silence
across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, until it
was too late for it to be noticed. Long before reach-
3
4 Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski THE KILLING STAR 5
ing heliopause, it had calved four times, sending decelerating half was also detectable, but it made
large pieces of itself toward Mars, Earth, the Moon, no difference. One of the iron rules of relativistic
and Mercury. These components zeroed in on the bombardment was that if you could see something
signatures of an electronic civilization, whose radio approaching at 92 percent of light speed, it was
and photonic emissions outshone even the Sun on never where you saw it when you saw it, but was
certain frequencies, as clear and easy to follow as practically upon you.
the sweep of a lighthouse beam. Six minutes out from Miranda, the leading half
From the ship's swift perspective, all the heavens blossomed into a cluster of ten thousand relativistic
were compressed into a mighty dome, with the bomblets—bursting forth as an expanding shroud
stars astern pulled into its forward view. It moved which, by the time it reached this world 472 kilo­
with a velocity that aged it at only one third the meters in diameter, would custom-fit its dimen­
rate of the rest of the universe. All the energy put sions.
into achieving that velocity had transformed the In­ Ahead, just below the surface of Miranda's ice
truder into a kinetic storage device of nightmarish fields, tanks of supercooled chemicals—millions of
design. If it struck a world, every gram of the ves­ them—would soon be detecting anomalous emis­
sel's substance would be received by that world as sions in the sky. The ship had no way of knowing
the target in a linear accelerator receives a spray of whether or not the operators of the solar system's
relativistic buckshot. Someone, somewhere, had largest astronomical observatory would have time
built and was putting to use a relativistic bomb—a to realize that the blue-shifting gamma-ray sources
giant, roving atom smasher aimed at worlds. were interstellar lances, or that they and their liquid
Cold, cheerless, and determined, the ship knew telescope array were targets. The ship's mind was
itself and its purpose. It calved again—this time certain that even if someone at the target did com­
into two halves. One half kept what was left of the prehend what was about to happen, he was already
antihydrogen fuel and began to brake just enough powerless to prevent it. Armed with this knowl­
to insure its arrival at Uranus's small moon, Mir­ edge, and with indifference, the Intruder hurried
anda, only a few hours behind the leading half, on.
where it would strike the opposite hemisphere,
guaranteeing a complete kill.
As the leading half dipped into the plane of the
solar system, it encountered increasing numbers of
dust particles in its shields. They ionized harmlessly
ahead of the ship, blushing faint radio waves that
would be detectable, if anyone on Miranda hap­
pened to be listening. The gamma-ray shine of the
2
Miranda Station
The visiting scientists' quarters were all full,
making it necessary to put dividers into the already
cramped staterooms to accommodate the seasonal
influx of graduate students. Don Peterson's room
was one of the largest, but it was still scarcely larger
than the average bathroom back home on Earth—a
windowless cell with a sink, foldaway desktops,
and a roll-down bed that left no space for a liquid
crystal wallscreen.
But one luxury that Singapore's Miranda Re­
search Station did offer was a combination control
van and community tearoom with panoramic
views. The van was Peterson's favorite place. Even
though the view did not change appreciably day-
to-day, he had never grown tired of it. Cut by the
horizon, Uranus was a huge dome glowing with
backscattered sunlight. The rocks outside cast long
shadows over fields of dust and ice crystals, blue
under the pale white stars.
Peterson liked the solitude of the graveyard shift.
No one else had wanted it, but he had volunteered
gladly, because it released him from the overcrowd­
ing of a dozen-member support crew and a scien-
7
MM
8 Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski THE KILLING STAR 9
tific party of thirty. He also hoped to take protocol, the SETI bank fixed on Peterson, who was
advantage of a phenomenon no one had yet ex­ on duty and by profession an astrophysicist. His spe­
plained, but which had been confirmed by nearly a cial interest was in anomalously large flares on
century of oceanic and space exploration—that dwarf stars, which was at best small preparation for
most important discoveries tended to be made be­ recognizing the first evidence ever that starship en­
tween midnight and 3:00 a.m. gines were burning in the galactic night. Peterson
Tonight, as he sipped a bulb of tea and scribbled was here searching for something else, which was
notes on a liquid crystal pad, Peterson was keenly typical of the history of exotic discoveries; but an as­
aware of the probability curve, and waited patiently trophysicist would have to do, the computer de­
for something interesting to emerge; but his fears cided.
that he would end his tour on Miranda without And so, still within the first part of a second, Pe­
scoring any significant discoveries were wrongly terson's pad went blank, blinked red, then dis­
placed. He was about to score far too many. played a star chart as the SETI bank called out, "We
The first sign of the visitors was eighty gamma have an anomalous gamma-ray source at the posi­
photons—each measuring exactly 0.5 million elec­ tion displayed on your pad"—a red dot began to
tron volts—passing through the observatory's array blink—"0.5 million electron volts. Intensity holding
of tanks and producing brief pulses of light that were steady. Zero probability of Earth vessel in that sec­
measured and recorded by ultrasensitive photomul­ tor matching these outputs. Your opinions and que­
tiplier cameras set on the tank walls. One ten- ries are urgently needed, Dr. Peterson."
thousandth of a second after the first eighty photons The intensity profile showed that hundreds of
struck, a small area of the station's computer mem­ anomalous particles were coming in, all with the
ory—the SETI file—was triggered in time to receive precise energy obtainable only from electron­
the next batch. By then, the SETI bank had pro­ positron annihilation. Even one such particle was
grammed itself to respond only to the 0.5 million proof enough that someone out there had manufac­
electron-volt gammas, ignoring all other particles tured antihydrogen and was using it to power an
passing through the detectors. In every tank, the antimatter drive.
cameras recorded gamma-ray tracks through the flu­ Peterson immediately rejected the notion that he
ids, revealing their energy levels and indicating pre­ was the butt of an elaborate joke; these days the
cisely the direction from which they had entered. penalties for even minor hacking offenses were too
In that first part of a second, the computer severe to be worth the risk. And he knew the com­
searched the roster of station personnel and learned puter's fail-safe systems too well. He also knew the
that no one present was even remotely affiliated crew. Even though most of them were competent
with Project SETI—the Search for Extraterrestrial In­ scientists, and young Steven Bilenkin seemed es­
telligence. In that same part of a second, following pecially promising, outside their individual areas of
10 Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski THE KILLING STAR 11
expertise they were typical university brats: profes­ More gamma-ray tracks were lancing through the
sor-types utterly lacking in imagination. Within the tanks—more and more of them, all at 0.5 million
first day of their arrival, they had all adapted to and electron volts. The computer assembled the infor­
become bored with Miranda's landscape, and had mation, red-dotted the sources, and threw them up
stopped looking out the windows. on Peterson's star field display.
Peterson stared at the star chart and the blinking Without warning, two new points of red ap­
red dot, then glanced outside and found the same peared beneath Vega.
stars on the horizon. Where the dot should have Another winked on in the shoulder of Orion.
been, just above the eastern edge of Miranda Then another.
Canyon and Bardo's Leap, nothing was visible to And another.
unaided eyes. But something was out there, unde­ "You're kidding me," Peterson said. "You've got
niably, by everything he knew. to be fucking kidding!"
He said, "Give me distance, vector, and velocity." "Multiple deceleration sources," the computer re­
The particles alone, emanating from a point source, plied. "Distance five light-months. Velocity ninety-
would provide all the necessary information—re­ two percent light speed. Your opinion?"
quiring only a few calculations using a sphere "They must have been cruising at that speed for
whose radius extended from the gamma-ray source decades!" he shouted. "And now they're turning on
to Miranda. The computer flashed numbers that their engines all at once—correction, they turned
would have, under different circumstances, made them on all at once." He stared at the display.
Peterson famous. They told him that the engine was "They're scattered across light-months. They can't
five light-months away and approaching the solar be communicating with each other, so they must
system at 92 percent of light speed. The number of have synchronized years in advance to light up
particles being emitted indicated that it was decel­ their engines now! But why? And why so many of
erating at a rate that would simulate a G-force of them?" His throat constricted as he said, "Call
two against its occupants, assuming a vessel whose Earth."
mass was that of a small space station. "Maximum power?" the computer asked.
He did some quick mental calculations. Five "Do it. Downlink all data immediately."
light-months away ... five months since the gam­ "Ready, Dr. Peterson."
mas left their source ... subtract five months He fumbled in his mind for the right words, but
deceleration at two gravities ... assuming an ap­ there was no precedent. No one had ever an­
proximately steady rate ... and the vessel could be nounced the arrival of alien starships before. His
as little as four or five weeks away.... hesitation insured that the data would arrive ahead
"Oh, my God," he said, catching his breath. of his words, and he decided that this was as it
"We'll have company—and real soon." should be: let the facts speak for themselves. Oth-