Helix Wars

Praise for Eric Brown

“A classic concept – a built world to dwarf Rama and Ringworld – a setting for a hugely imaginative adventure.
Helix
is the very DNA of true SF. This is the rediscovery of wonder.”

Stephen Baxter on
Helix

“Essentially a romp – a gloriously old-fashioned slice of science fiction... What gives the novel a unique spin is its intertwining parallel plots. It’s smart, fun, page-turning stuff, with an engaging cast and plenty of twists... A hugely entertaining read.”

SFX Magazine
on
Helix

“Equal parts adventure, drama and wonder. Sometimes they work alone, providing a raw dose of science fiction. Other times, Brown uses them in concert to spin an irresistible blend that pulls the narrative along almost faster than you can keep up. However it’s served,
Helix
is a delightful read and is an excellent reminder of why we read science fiction: it’s fun!”

SF Signal
on
Helix

“A thoughtful, provocative book that sets up a bigger story than it has a chance to tell... A surprisingly calm and fluid read, gracefully skimming over the years with the same detachment displayed by its immortal protagonist. If my regret is that this book was not longer, it is a very good book indeed.”

Pornokitsch
on
The Kings of Eternity

“A novel about discovery: about the discovery of other worlds and other species only – I repeat only – insofar as it is about the discovery of love, and one another... A charmingly timeless tale, lithe, powerful and tremendously affecting.”

The Speculative Scotsman
on
The Kings of Eternity

“So very fast as to speed past, and feisty enough to excite... Sets the scene for a strange world wherein anything and everything science-fictional can happen.”

Tor.com
on
Weird Space: The Devil’s Nebula

“Spot-on... It delivers a good story, introduces the premise of the setting and the threats and dangers posed within it, but also works well as a stand-alone... With Eric Brown already signed up for another book, I know that it’ll be a series worth following.”

Walker of Worlds
on
Weird Space: The Devil’s Nebula

“Brown’s spectacular creativity creates a constantly compelling read... a memorable addition to the genre.”

Kirkus Reviews

“Brown concentrates on stunning landscapes and in the way he conveys the conflicting points of view between races... No matter how familiar each character becomes, they continue to appear completely alien when viewed through the opposing set of eyes.”

Interzone

“There is always something strikingly probable about the futures that Eric Brown writes... No matter how dark the future that Eric Brown imagines, the hope of redemption is always present. No matter how alien the world he describes, there is always something hauntingly familiar about the situations that unfold there.”

Tony Ballantyne

“Eric Brown joins the ranks of Graham Joyce, Christopher Priest and Robert Holdstock as a master fabulist.”

Paul di Filippo

“SF infused with a cosmopolitan and literary sensibility... accomplished and affecting.”

Paul J. McAuley

“Eric Brown is
the
name to watch in SF.”

Peter F. Hamilton

Also by Eric Brown

N
OVELS

Weird Space: The Devil’s Nebula

The Kings of Eternity

Guardians of the Phoenix

Xenopath

Necropath

Cosmopath

Kéthani

Helix

New York Dreams

New York Blues

New York Nights

Penumbra

Engineman

Meridian Days

N
OVELLAS

Starship Summer

Starship Fall

Starship Winter

Revenge

The Extraordinary Voyage of Jules Verne

Approaching Omega

A Writer’s Life

C
OLLECTIONS

The Angels of Life and Death

Ghost Writing

Threshold Shift

The Fall of Tartarus

Deep Future

Parallax View
(with Keith Brooke)

Blue Shifting

The Time-Lapsed Man

A
S
E
DITOR

The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne Adventures
(with Mike Ashley)

ERIC BROWN

HELIX

WARS

First published 2012 by Solaris

an imprint of Rebellion Publishing Ltd,

Riverside House, Osney Mead,

Oxford, OX2 0ES, UK

www.solarisbooks.com

ISBN: (epub) 978-1-84997-454-7

ISBN: (mobi) 978-1-84997-455-4

Copyright © Eric Brown 2012

Cover Art by Dominic Harman

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

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of he copyright owners.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

For Phillip Vine, Patrick Mahon,

and Mark Chitty

– Champions all –

with thanks

O
NE
/// D
ESCENT

1

A
FTER THE ROW
with Maria, which left him feeling sick and wishing he could retroactively edit his words, Ellis strapped himself into the shuttle’s couch and prepared to take off from Carrelliville spaceport.

For the next thirty minutes he lost himself in the anaesthetic of routine, running through the pre-flight systems check with his controller in the terminal tower. Soon, thankfully, he would be leaving New Earth and heading for D’rayni, seven worlds further along this circuit of the Helix.

“You’re ready to go, Jeff. Initiate in ten, nine...”

Ellis handed over to the smartcore, and seconds later the main drive ignited and the shuttle eased itself from the gantry. He closed his eyes as the pressure forced him back into the couch. The shuttle rose slowly, then gained speed, and in his mind’s eye he saw Maria’s pursed expression of barely suppressed hatred.

He opened his eyes and concentrated on the view.

He’d piloted shuttles for almost ten years now, and he knew he would never cease to feel the thrill of taking off and looking down on the misty green expanse of New Earth and its neighbouring worlds curving away beneath him.

He wondered what it must have been like for shuttle pilots back on Old Earth, over a thousand years ago. The thought of inhabiting a single planet, a spherical world floating alone in space, was a concept he understood intellectually but found hard to envisage.

On the Helix, things were very different.

The vast curving length of the fourth circuit looped away before him. Directly below, New Earth was an expanse of green parks dotted with small cities and townships, linked by arterial roads and monorails. In the distance, the blue expanse of the sea separated New Earth from the next barrel-shaped world along the chain. Beyond that was the next world, as yet uninhabited, an even hazier stretch of verdure separated from its neighbour by yet another sea. And so it went, world after sea after world, on and on – ten thousand of them in total, wound around the light of the G-type sun.