The Long War (50 page)
Authors: Terry Pratchett,Stephen Baxter
On the seventh day, at last, the eruption finished. No more fresh ash, to global relief.
But it ended with a clash of cymbals, as Frank Wood, sleepless, grimy, watched on the room’s wall TV. The caldera, fifty miles wide, emptied of magma, just collapsed. It was as if a chunk of real estate the size of a small
state
had just been dropped a thousand feet.
Some of the younger Sisters, excited, went stepping over into ash-coated Datum Madison to witness the consequences first hand. After just five minutes the quakes came, a ground-shaking pulse of energy travelling around the planet – though in the ruins of Madison there was only rubble to disturb. Then, after an hour or more, the
sound
, like a tremendous artillery barrage just over the horizon, or like the launch of a space shuttle, Frank Wood thought, digging back into his boyhood memories.
‘My God,’ Frank said, and he felt for Jansson’s hand. ‘What is to become of us, Monica? . . . Monica?’
Her hand was very cold.
We’re very grateful to Jacqueline Simpson, co-author of the invaluable
The Folklore of Discworld
, for advice on kobolds, theology, and other generous and wise contributions. It was Jacqueline who brought to our attention the poem ‘Unwelcome’ by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge. We’re also beholden once again to our good friends Dr. Christopher Pagel, owner of the Companion Animal Hospital in Madison, and his wife, Juliet Pagel, for their assistance with research, and for another very helpful draft read-through.
All errors and inaccuracies are of course our sole responsibility.
T.P.
S.B.
December 2012, Datum Earth
TERRY PRATCHETT
is one of the world’s most popular authors. He is the winner of numerous literary prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, and he was awarded a knighthood in recognition of his services to literature. Pratchett lives in England.
STEPHEN BAXTER
is an acclaimed, multiple-award-winning author whose many books include the Xeelee sequence, the Time Odyssey trilogy (written with Arthur C. Clarke), and
The Time Ships
, a sequel to H. G. Wells’s classic
The Time Machine
. He lives in England.
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B
OOKS BY
T
ERRY
P
RATCHETT
The Dark Side of the Sun
Strata
The Unadulterated Cat
(illustrated by Gray Jolliffe)
FOR YOUNG ADULTS
The Carpet People
The Bromilead Trilogy
The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy
THE DISCWORLD® BOOKS
Eric
(illustrated by Josh Kirby)
Where’s My Cow?
(illustrated by Melvyn Grant)
The Last Hero
(illustrated by Paul Kidby)
The Art of Discworld
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The Streets of Ankh-Morpork
(with Stephen Briggs)
The Discworld Companion
(with Stephen Briggs)
The Discworld Mapp
(with Stephen Briggs)
The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld
(with by Stephen Briggs)
The Discworld Graphic Novels
The Color of Magic
The Light Fantastic
DISCWORLD FOR YOUNG ADULTS
The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents
The Illustrated Wee Free Men
(illustrated by Stephen Player)
B
OOKS BY
S
TEPHEN
B
AXTER
Anti-Ice
The Time Ships
Traces
The Light of Other Days
(with Arthur C. Clarke)
Evolution
The H-Bomb Girl
NORTHLAND
Stone Spring
Bronze Summer
Iron Winter
FLOOD
Flood
Ark
TIME’S TAPESTRY
Emperor
Conqueror
Navigator
Weaver
DESTINY’S CHILDREN
Coalescent
Exultant
Transcendent
Resplendent
A TIME ODYSSEY (WITH ARTHUR C. CLARKE)
Time’s Eye
Sunstorm
Firstborn
MANIFOLD
Manifold 1: Time
Manifold 2: Space
Manifold 3: Origin
Phase Space
MAMMOTH
Silverhair
Longtusk
Icebones
Behemoth
THE NASA TRILOGY
THE XEELEE SEQUENCE
Raft
Timelike Infinity
Flux
Ring
Xeelee: An Omnibus: Raft, Timelike Infinity, Flux, Ring
THE WEB
The Web: Gulliverzone
The Web: Webcrash
NONFICTION
Deep Future
Omegatropic
Revolutions in the Earth: James Hutton and the True Age of the World
B
Y
T
ERRY
P
RATCHETT AND
S
TEPHEN
B
AXTER
COVER DESIGN BY R. SHAI LER, TW
THE LONG WAR
. Copyright © 2013 by Terry and Lyn Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Terry Pratchett® and Discworld® are registered trademarks.
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the authors’ imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published simultaneously in Great Britain by Doubleday, an imprint of Transworld Publishers, a division of Random House Group, Ltd.
FIRST U.S. EDITION
Art by Richard Shailer
ISBN 978-0-06-206777-7
Epub Edition June 2013 ISBN 9780062067784
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