Judas unchained by Peter F. Hamilton

Peter F. Hamilton's superbly imagined, cunningly plotted interstellar adventures are conceived on a staggeringly epic scale and filled with fully realized human and alien characters as complex as they are engaging. No mere world builder, Hamilton creates entire universes-and he does so with irresistible flair and intelligence. His previous novel, the acclaimed Pandora's Star, introduced the Intersolar Commonwealth, a star-spanning civilization of the twenty-fourth century. Robust, peaceful, and confident, the Commonwealth dispatched a ship to investigate the mystery of a disappearing star, only to inadvertently unleash a predatory alien species that turned on its liberators, striking hard, fast, and utterly without mercy. \n\nThe Prime are the Commonwealth's worst nightmare. Coexistence is impossible with the technologically advanced aliens, who are genetically hardwired to exterminate all other forms of life. Twenty-three planets have already fallen to the invaders, with casualties in the hundreds of millions. And no one knows when or where the genocidal Prime will strike next.\n\nNor are the Prime the only threat. For more than a hundred years, a shadowy cult, the Guardians of Selfhood, has warned that an alien with mind-control abilities impossible to detect or resist-the Starflyer-has secretly infiltrated the Commonwealth. Branded as terrorists, the Guardians and their leader, Bradley Johansson, have been hunted by relentless investigator Paula Myo. But now evidence suggests that the Guardians were right all along, and that the Starflyer has placed agents in vital posts throughout the Commonwealth-agents who are now sabotaging the war effort. Is the Starflyer an ally of the Prime, or has it orchestrated a fight to the death between the two species for its own advantage?\n\nCaught between two deadly enemies, one a brutal invader striking from without, the other a remorseless cancer killing from within, the fractious Commonwealth must unite as never before.\n\nThis will be humanity's finest hour-or its last gasp.\n\nFrom the Hardcover edition.\n\nEditorial Reviews\n\nFrom Publishers Weekly\nStarred Review. Set in the 24th century, bestseller Hamilton's richly satisfying space opera is less a sequel to Pandora's Star (2004) than the second half of one dauntingly complicated, wonderfully imagined novel. The diverse human Commonwealth is fighting back against the implacably hostile mass-mind Prime, while discovering that agents of another hostile alien force are sabotaging war efforts. In a multitude of subplots, Hamilton adroitly leaps from the struggles of one engaging, quirky character to another. Meanwhile, the main action expands and the super-scientific weapons become increasingly terrible. Then the story shifts focus and presents a moral question: if it's now possible to wipe out the Prime, is it permissible to commit genocide? Hamilton demonstrates that humans not only can shape huge masses of data to their own ends but also can recognize when to stop doing so. Some of the people manage to transcend their small, personal concerns--sometimes. The density of detail may slow readers down, but the distinctive characters and the plot's headlong drive will pull them along. In more ways than one, this two-part work is monumental. (Feb. 28) \nCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.\n\nFrom Booklist\nHamilton takes up the many loose ends of Pandora's Star (2004) and reveals the vast, sprawling conspiracies permeating the big story's interplanetary commonwealth. So much evidence of the Starflyer's existence has been amassed that even the most skeptical begin believing, although it rapidly becomes clear that there are Starflyer agents at the top of the government and the navy. The aliens are busy entrenching themselves on newly conquered worlds, while those planets' few remaining survivors wage futile guerrilla war against them. With humanity being dangerously outnumbered, the governing body desperately seeks a weapon to neutralize the aliens. What it finally comes up with is so devastating as to be genocidal. A showdown is becoming inevitable, however, and perhaps the commonwealth must use the superweapon. In the eleventh hour, the man best suited for the job applies quick thinking and underhanded behavior to the matter. Hamilton has, as usual, produced a dense, engaging space opera that satisfyingly balances shoot-'em-up action and thoughtful debate. Regina Schroeder\nCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.\n\nReview\nAdvance praise for Judas Unchained\n\n"For flat-out huge widescreen all-engines-at-full I-dare-you-not-to-believe-it space opera, there is no one quite like Peter F. Hamilton."\n-Richard K. Morgan, author of Altered Carbon and Market Forces\n\nPraise for Pandora's Star \n\n"Should be high on everyone's reading list . . . You won't be able to put it down."\n-Nancy Pearl, National Public Radio\n\n"An imaginative and stunning tale of the perfect future threatened . . . a book of epic proportions not unlike Frank Herbert's Dune or Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy."\n-SFRevu\n\n"Recommended . . . A large cast of characters, each with his own story, brings depth and variety to this far-future saga."\n-Library Journal\n\n"Complex and engaging."\n-Booklist\n\nFrom the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the mass_market edition.\n\nAbout the Author\nPeter F. Hamilton is the author of numerous short stories and novels, including Pandora's Star, Fallen Dragon, and the acclaimed epic Night's Dawn trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, and The Naked God). Hamilton lives in England.\n\nFrom the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the mass_market edition.\n\nExcerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.\nRight 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 decor 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 √üoor of a refurbished factory block in Daroca, the capital city of Arevalo. The massive open-plan lounge 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. \n\nRenne 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. \n\nOne 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. \n\nHer 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. \n\n"This is one great place you've got here," Tarlo said as they made their way into the lounge. \n\nCatriona 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."\n\n"Plenty of wild parties, huh."\n\nHer smile became teasing. "Maybe."\n\nRenne shot him an exasperated look; they were supposed to be on duty, not hitting on potential witnesses. He just grinned back, perfect white teeth gleaming out of his handsome tanned face. She'd seen for herself just how successful that grin could be in the clubs and bars around Paris. \n\nCatriona took them over to the kitchen section, which was separated from the lounge by a broad marble-topped breakfast bar. The kitchen was ultra¬≠modern, equipped with every convenience gadget possible, all built in to swan-white egg-shaped wall modules. Somehow, Renne couldn't imagine it being used for much actual cooking, not even by the complicated-looking chef bots. \n\nThe two other girls were sitting on stools at the bar. \n\n"Trisha Marina Halgarth?" Renne asked. \n\n"That's me." One of the girls got to her feet. She had a heart-shaped face and light olive skin with small, dark green butterfly-wing OCtattoos flowing back from each hazel eye. She wore an oversize white toweling robe like defensive armor; she kept clutching at the fluffy fabric, pulling it tighter around her. Her bare feet had silver rings around each toe. \n\n"We're from navy intelligence," Tarlo said. "Lieutenant Kampasa and I are investigating what happened to you." \n\n"You mean, how gullible I was," she snapped. \n\n"Easy, babe," Isabella Halgarth said. Her arm went around Trisha's shoulders. "These are the good guys."\nShe stood to face the investigators. \n\nRenne found herself having to look up slightly; Isabella was several centimeters taller than she, almost Tarlo's height. She was dressed in very tight jeans that showed off her legs. Her long blond hair had been gathered into a single tail that reached down to her hips. It was an image of casual elegance. \n\nTarlo's grin had broadened. Renne wanted to push him against a wall and shout a warning about professional conduct, wagging her finger in his face for emphasis. Instead, she did her best to ignore the mating dance appraisals going on all around her, and said, "I've investigated several similar cases, Ms. Halgarth. In my experience, the victim is rarely gullible. The Guardians have developed a very sophisticated operation over the years."\n\n"Years!" Catriona snorted. "And you haven't caught them yet?"\n\nRenne kept her polite expression in place. "We believe we are close to a resolution."\n\nThe three girls exchanged doubtful looks. Trisha sat down again, gripping at her robe. \n\n"I know it's unpleasant for you," Tarlo said. "But if you could start by telling me the man's name." His grin mellowed to sympathetic encouragement. \n\nTrisha gave a reluctant nod. "Sure. Howard Liang." She smiled feebly. "I don't suppose that's his real name?"\n\n"No," Tarlo said. "But that identity will have created a lot of data within Daroca's cybersphere. Our forensic software teams will pull out a great many associated files. We can check on the false identity information, where it was inserted, possibly who was involved forging it. Every little bit helps."\n\n"How did you meet?" Renne asked. \n\n"Party. We get to quite a lot of them." She glanced at her two girlfriends for support. \n\n"This is a great city," Isabella said. "Daroca is a wealthy planet; people here have the money and time to play." Her eyes gave Tarlo an amused glance. "Trish and I are Dynasty, Catriona is a Grandee. What can I say? We're highly desirable."\n\n"Was Howard Liang wealthy?" Renne asked. \n\n"He didn't have a trust fund," Trisha said, then colored. "Well, he said he didn't. His family was supposed to come from Velaines. He said he was a couple of years out of his first rejuve. I liked him."\n\n"Where did he work?"\n\n"On the commodities desk at Ridgeon Financial. God, I don't even know if that's true." She pressed her free hand against her forehead, rubbing hard. "I don't know how old he really was. I know nothing about him at all. That's what I hate most about this. Not that he stole my author certificate, not that he gave me a memory wipe. Just . . . being taken in like that. It's so stupid. Our family security office sends us enough warnings. I never thought they ap¬≠plied to me." \n\n"Please," Tarlo said. "Don't blame yourself. These guys are very professional. Hell, I'd probably get taken in by them. Now, when did you last see him?"\n\n"Three days ago. We went out for the evening. I'd been invited to the Bourne club, there was some event, a new drama series launch. We had a meal afterward, then I came home. I think. The apartment domestic array says I got in at five in the morning. I don't remember anything after dinner. Is that when they did it?" \n\n"Possibly," Renne said. "Did Mr. Liang share his apartment with anyone?"\n\n"No. He lived by himself. I met a couple of his friends; I think they were from Ridgeon. We only went out for a couple of weeks. Enough for me to drop my guard, I guess." She shook her head angrily. "I hate this. The whole Commonwealth thinks I believe the President is an alien. I'll never be able to face anyone at work again. I'll have to go back to Solidade and get my face changed and use another name." \n\n"That would probably help," Tarlo said gently. "But before that we need to run some tests on you. There's a medical forensic team waiting down in the lobby. They can do this in a clinic, or here, whichever you're comfortable with."\n\n"Do it here," Trisha said. "Just get it over with."\n\n"Of course. Another team will sweep his apartment."\n\n"What do you expect to find there?" Isabella asked. \n\n"We'll pin down his DNA, of course," Renne told her. "Who knows what else we'll uncover, especially if they used it as their base. And we'll pull his files from Ridgeon Financial's personnel records, which I'd like you to verify. It would help to have a picture of him."\n\n"Won't he have had reprofiling by now?" Catriona asked. \n\n"Yes. But it's his background we'll be focusing our investigation on, his past. That's where the clues to his origin are. You must understand, we have to crack the whole Guardian organization open; it's the only way to bring Liang to justice. We're not pursuing him singularly."\n\nThey spent another twenty minutes in the loft apartment, taking statements from the girls, then handed them over to the medical forensic team. Renne was halfway to the door when she stopped and gave the big lounge a thoughtful examination. Trisha was going into her bedroom with two of the forensic team. \n\n"What?" Tarlo asked. \n\n"Nothing." She gave Catriona and Isabella a last look before leaving.\n\n"Come on," he said in the elevator back down to the lobby. "I know you. Something's bugging you."\n\n"Deja vu."\n\n"What?"\n\n"I've seen this crime scene before."\n\n"Me too. Every time the Guardians shotgun the unisphere the boss sends us out to have a look around." \n\n"Yeah, so you should have recognized it, too. Remember Minilya?" Tarlo frowned as the doors opened. They walked out into the lobby. \n\n"Vaguely; it was four years ago. But that was a bunch of guys sharing an apartment." \n\n"Oh, so what? You're going sexist on me? It's different because it's girls?" \n\n"Hey!" \n\n"It was exactly the same setup, Tarlo. And we've seen the all-girls group before as well." \n\n"On Nzega, April Gallar Halgarth. She was part of a holiday group." \n\n"Buwangwa, too, don't forget." \n\n"Okay, so what's your point?"\n\n"I don't like repetition. And the Guardians know we'll catch them a whole lot easier if they stick to the same pattern."\n\n"I don't see a pattern." \n\n"It's not a pattern, exactly."\n\n"What then?"\n\n"I'm not sure. They're repeating their procedure. That's not like them." \n\nTarlo led the way out through the lobby's revolving doors and used his e-butler to call a city taxi over. "The Guardians don't have a lot of choice in this. Admittedly the number of dumb young Halgarths in the galaxy is pretty huge, but their living and social arrangements only have a finite number of permutations. It's not the Guardians who are repeating, it's the Halgarths."\n\nRenne frowned as the taxi pulled up in front of them; he was right, though that wasn't the line she'd been thinking along. "Do you think the Halgarth security is running an entrapment operation? They could have hung Trisha out as bait?"\n\n"No," he said heatedly. "That's wrong. If it was an entrapment they would have caught Liang the first night he met Trisha. His identity history data might have stood up to a review by Ridgeon Financial, but a specific entrapment operation run by the Halgarths . . . no way."\n\n"They must be running entrapment operations. If I were the senior Halgarths I'd be goddamn furious the family was constantly targeted by the Guardians."\n\nTarlo settled back into the taxi's leather seat. "They do tend to put a fair amount of pressure on the boss."\n\n"I don't think that's right, either. If they were running an entrapment they'd tell us."\n\n"Would they?"\n\n"All right, maybe not," she said, "but as this wasn't an entrapment, it's irrelevant anyway."\n\n"We don't know it wasn't an entrapment."\n\n"They didn't catch Liang, and they haven't told us, which they would do at this stage."\n\n"Alternatively, they're busy tracking Liang, and don't want to spook him by telling us."\n\n"That's not it." She was having trouble even looking at Tarlo. "Something is just wrong. It was too neat."\n\n"Too neat?"\n\nThe tone of disbelief in his voice made her wince. "Yeah, I know, I know. But something bothers me. That loft apartment, those girls, it all shouted out, 'Here are dumb rich kids, come and rip them off.' "\n\n"I don't get this. Who's in the wrong here, the Guardians or the Halgarths?"\n\n"Well . . . Okay, I don't suppose it could have been the Halgarths, unless that really was an entrapment operation."\n\nHe grinned at her. "You're getting as bad as the boss when it comes to conspiracies. You'll be blaming the Starflyer next."\n\n"Could do." She gave him a weak smile. "But I'm still going to tell her I think something's odd about this one."\n\n"Career suicide."\n\n"Come on! What kind of a detective are you? We're supposed to act on intuitive hunches. Don't you watch any cop soaps?"\n\n"Unisphere shows are for people without lives. Me, I'm busy in the evenings."\n\n"Yeah," she said snidely. "Still putting on your navy uniform when you go around the clubs?"\n\n"I'm a naval officer. Why shouldn't I?"\n\nRenne laughed. "God! Does that really work?"\n\n"It does if you can find girls like those three."\n\nShe sighed. \n\n"Listen," he said. "I'm serious. What can you tell Myo? You had a feeling? She'll just bawl you out big time. And don't look to me to back you up. There was nothing wrong with it."\n\n"The boss appreciates the way we consider cases. You know she's always saying we have to take a more holistic approach to crime."\n\n"Holistic, yeah, not psychic."\nThey were still arguing about it forty minutes later when they arrived back at the Paris office. Five uniformed navy officers were standing in a group outside Paula Myo's office.\n\n"What's happening?" Tarlo asked Alic Hogan. \n\n"Columbia's in there with her," the Commander said. He looked very uncomfortable. \n\n"Christ," Renne muttered. "It'll be the LA fiasco. I was supposed to be chasing the leads from that operation this morning."\n\n"We all were," Hogan said. He forced his gaze away from the closed door. "Did you find anything in Daroca?"\n\nRenne was trying to think what to say; Hogan was very by-the-book. \n\n"It was a standard Guardians operation," Tarlo said quickly. He was staring hard at Renne. "We left forensics working through the scene."\n\n"Good. Keep me updated."\n\n"Yes, sir."\n"Standard operation," Renne said scathingly as they walked back to their desks. \n\n"I just saved your ass back there," Tarlo said. "You can say all that kind of intuition stuff to the boss, but not Hogan. All that little prick is interested in is checkmarks in the box."\n\n"Okay, okay," she grumbled.\n\nPaula Myo walked out of her office, carrying her shoulder bag and the little rabbakas plant she kept on the windowsill. A red-faced Rafael Columbia was standing behind her, dressed in his full admiral's uniform. \n\nRenne had never seen Myo look so shocked. It sent a cold shiver down her own spine; nothing ever ruffled the boss.\n\n"Good-bye," Myo told the office at large. "And thank you for all the hard work you did for me."\n\n"Paula?" Tarlo gasped.\n\nShe gave him a small shake of her head, and he fell silent. Renne watched Paula Myo walk out; it was like seeing a funeral procession. \n\n"Commander Hogan," Columbia said. "A word please." He vanished back into Myo's office. Alic Hogan almost ran in after him. The door closed. \n\nRenne sat down hard. "That didn't happen," she mumbled incredulously. "They can't get rid of her. She is the goddamn Directorate."\n\n"But we're not the Directorate," Tarlo said quietly. "Not anymore."\n\nFrom the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the mass_market edition.\n\nFrom AudioFile\nJUDAS UNCHAINED is the second part of what is really one massive novel, the first part of which is PANDORA'S STAR. Like the first audiobook, this one is 39 hours in length, and we're lucky to have John Lee narrating. The story picks up where the first book stopped, with the humans of the Commonwealth dealing with the attack of a destructive alien race. It's truly a planet-spanning epic story, but not at the expense of the characters, whose stories are also told. John Lee excels with both aspects. Hamilton doesn't hesitate to stop the story for a quick look around, which does slow things down but adds depth that will fascinate listeners, who will enjoy considering one of the most detailed possible futures science fiction has to offer. S.D.D. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.