The Mammoth Book of SF Wars Read online

  Ian Watson invented Warhammer 40,000 fiction for the Black Library of Games Workshop twenty years ago with his novel Inquisitor, not to mention his notorious Space Marine. His highly successful Inquisition War trilogy omnibus edition was recently reprinted, and Space Marine itself, often hailed as the best ever 40,000 novel, has just been released by the Black Library of Games Workshop as print-on-demand through their website due to overwhelming reader demand. He lives in Northamptonshire, England.

  Ian Whates is the author of two novel sequences: the Noise Books (space opera) and The City of a Hundred Rows (urban fantasy with steampunk overtones and SF underpinning). He has also edited several anthologies, including Solaris Rising (Solaris, 2011) and two that specifically feature conflict within SF: Conflicts (2010) and Further Conflicts (2011), both via his own NewCon Press. He lives in Cambridgeshire, England.

  Together they edited The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories.

  Recent Mammoth titles

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  The Mammoth Book of Women’s Erotic Fantasies

  The Mammoth Book of Drug Barons

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  The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 10

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  The Mammoth Book of Bob Dylan

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  The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 24

  The Mammoth Book of Gorgeous Guys

  The Mammoth Book of Really Silly Jokes

  The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 22

  The Mammoth Book of Undercover Cops

  The Mammoth Book of Weird News

  The Mammoth Book of the Best of Best New Erotica

  The Mammoth Book of Antarctic Journeys

  The Mammoth Book of Muhammad Ali

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  The Mammoth Book of Lost Symbols

  The Mammoth Book of Body Horror

  The Mammoth Book of New CSI

  The Mammoth Book of Steampunk

  THE MAMMOTH

  BOOK OF

  SF WARS

  EDITED BY

  IAN WATSON AND

  IAN WHATES

  Constable & Robinson Ltd

  55–56 Russell Square

  London WC1B 4HP

  www.constablerobinson.com

  First published in the UK by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2012

  Copyright © Ian Watson and Ian Whates, 2012 (unless otherwise stated)

  The right of Ian Watson and Ian Whates to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

  UK ISBN 978-1-78033-040-2 (paperback)

  UK ISBN 978-1-78033-546-9 (ebook)

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  First published in the United States in 2012 by Running Press Book Publishers, A Member of the Perseus Books Group

  All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

  This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.

  Books published by Running Press are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected].

  US ISBN: 978-0-7624-4592-9

  US Library of Congress Control Number: 2011939121

  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

  Running Press Book Publishers

  2300 Chestnut Street

  Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

  Visit us on the web!

  www.runningpress.com

  Printed and bound in the UK

  CONTENTS

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  PEACEKEEPER

  Mike Resnick and Brad R. Torgersen

  FROM OUT OF THE SUN, ENDLESSLY SINGING

  Simon R. Green

  ALL FOR LOVE

  Algis Budrys

  THE WAR ARTIST

  Tony Ballantyne

  THE WAR MEMORIAL

  Allen Steele

  POLITICS

  Elizabeth Moon

  ARENA

  Fredric Brown

  PEACEKEEPING MISSION

  Laura Resnick

  THE PEACEMAKER

  Fred Saberhagen

  JUNKED

  Andy Remic

  THE LIBERATION OF EARTH

  William Tenn

  A CLEAN ESCAPE

  John Kessel

  STORMING HELL

  John Lambshead

  SOLIDARITY

  Walter Jon Williams

  THE PRICE

  Michael Z. Williamson

  THE HORARS OF WAR

  Gene Wolfe

  THE TRAITOR

  David Weber

  THE GAME OF RAT AND DRAGON

  Cordwainer Smith

  CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE

  David Drake

  THE RHINE’S WORLD INCIDENT

  Neal Asher

  WINNING PEACE

  Paul McAuley

  TIME PIECE

  Joe Haldeman

  THE WAKE

  Dan Abnett

  THE PYRE OF NEW DAY

  Catherine Asaro

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  INTRODUCTION by Ian Whates and Ian Watson, © 2012 Ian Whates and Ian Watson.

  PEACEKEEPER by Mike Resnick and Brad R. Torgersen, © 2012 Mike Resnick and Brad R. Torgersen. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the authors.

  FROM OUT OF THE SUN, ENDLESSLY SINGING by Simon R. Green, © 2012 by Simon R. Green. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

  ALL FOR LOVE by Algis Budrys, © Algis Budrys 1962. Printed by permission of the Estate of Algis Budrys.

  THE WAR ARTIST by Tony Ballantyne, © Tony Ballantyne 2011. Published by permission of the author.

  THE WAR MEMORIAL by Allen Steele, © 1995 Allen Steele. Printed by permission of the author.

  POLITICS by Elizabeth Moon, © Elizabeth Moon 1990. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  ARENA by Fredric Brown, © 1944, by Street & Smith Publications, copyright © 1974 by Fredric Brown. Orig
inally appeared in Astounding Science Fiction. Reprinted by permission of the Estate and its agent, Barry N. Malzberg.

  PEACEKEEPING MISSION by Laura Resnick, © 2008 Laura Resnick.

  THE PEACEMAKER by Fred Saberhagen, originally published as “The Lifehater”, © 1964 Fred Saberhagen. Printed by permission of the JSS Literary Productions.

  JUNKED by Andy Remic, © 2009 Andy Remic. Published by permission of the author.

  THE LIBERATION OF EARTH by William Tenn, © 1953, 1981 by William Tenn; first appeared in Future Science Fiction; reprinted by permission of the author’s Estate and the Estate’s agents, the Virginia Kidd Agency, Inc.

  A CLEAN ESCAPE by John Kessel, © 1985 John Kessel. Published by permission of the author.

  STORMING HELL by John Lambshead, © 2009 John Lambshead. Published by permission of the author.

  SOLIDARITY by Walter Jon Williams, © 2005 Walter Jon Williams. Published by permission of the author.

  THE PRICE by Michael Z. Williamson, © 2010 Michael Z. Williamson. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE HORARS OF WAR by Gene Wolfe, © 1970 Gene Wolfe. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agents, the Virginia Kidd Agency, Inc.

  THE TRAITOR by David Weber, © 1997 David Weber. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE GAME OF RAT AND DRAGON by Cordwainer Smith, © 1955. Every effort has been made to contact the agent for the Estate.

  CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE by David Drake, © 1978 David Drake. Published by permission of the author.

  THE RHINE’S WORLD INCIDENT by Neal Asher, © 2008 Neal Asher.

  WINNING PEACE by Paul McAuley, © 2007 Paul McAuley. First published in Postscripts 15, PS Publishing.

  TIME PIECE by Joe Haldeman, © 1970 Joe Haldeman. Printed by permission of the author.

  THE WAKE by Dan Abnett, © 2011 Dan Abnett. Printed by permission of the author.

  THE PYRE OF NEW DAY by Catherine Asaro, © Catherine Asaro 2012. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

  INTRODUCTION

  THE ABILITY to make war appears to have been in mankind’s blood from the moment we first began to evolve, violence being an integral part of our heritage. Picture a caveman and invariably we imagine him holding a spear or a club. Yet we call our species Homo sapiens, Intelligent Man, while some have even suggested that Homo faber, Man the Maker (of everything from ploughs to radiotelescopes) might be more appropriate. Perhaps both are misguided. Glance at our history, taking in the past few thousand years right up to the present day, and it would be hard to argue that Man the Warmaker isn’t the most fitting designation of all. Have we outgrown war? Have we left it behind? No, and it’s doubtful we ever will.

  Some of the stories in this collection suggest that our warlike tendencies (which of course we all regret, don’t we?) might come in rather useful in the future, supposing we encounter non- benevolent aliens. Just to be on the safe side, of course. After all, it’s perfectly feasible that only general-purpose predators become fully sentient and claw their way to the stars.

  As if to demonstrate that even this coin has a flipside, four of our twenty-four tales feature peace or peacekeeping in their titles – fittingly, since this is surely what we really want, or so we like to tell ourselves.

  The truth is that there is something about warfare, about Conflict, about violence, that sets the heart racing and the blood singing. Our genre has been responsible for some of the most thought-provoking, challenging, edifying and intelligent fiction of the past century, and doubtless it will continue to be so; but there is another side to science fiction. The tang of weapon-oil, the sleek slide or the grind of metal on metal, the sizzle of an energy beam, the raw ferocity of explosion, and the cunning of a black ops specialist, are just as important an aspect of science fiction as the virtual futures, cybernetic implants, and the nature of the multiverse. The brilliance of a ship’s commander who triumphs against all odds (despite being heavily outgunned and tactically disadvantaged) will raise a cheer as surely as the flash of insight that casts light on a puzzling aspect of the human condition. In fact, the chances are that it was just such stories of bravery and derring-do that drew many of us into science fiction in the first place. We like big explosions and impossible missions, men and women pitted against aliens or against other men and women. We like to read of nobility, treachery, and sacrifice, of triumph and loss. And that’s what this particular Mammoth is all about. Humankind pushed to the limits in every conceivable way.

  A problem with tackling a subject as vast as “war” in a genre that has been fascinated by the subject for many, many decades is that there are a whole lot of stories to choose from. No single collection can ever encompass all that merit inclusion and no anthology can hope to satisfy everyone. There are bound to be those who glance down the contents list and think, but what about this story or that one? If we’ve missed out your favourite we apologize, but hope you’ll take a look in any case and discover a few new favourites in the process. As with any anthology, not everything has gone absolutely to plan. Some of the stories we had hoped to include proved to be unavailable, while, despite initially promising signs, Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 proved one universe that was closed to us; alas, the company lawyers declined any reprinting in a non-GW publication.

  Thankfully, our successes have far outweighed our disappointments, and we are delighted with both the quality and diversity of tale we have gathered together in The Mammoth Book of SF Wars. We only hope that you, the reader, are too.

  Ian Whates and Ian Watson, 2012

  PEACEKEEPER

  Mike Resnick and Brad R. Torgersen

  Suppose that soldiers of our present day are drafted by advanced aliens as peace enforcers on a distant world in exchange for technology …

  In this first of the three original stories commissioned for this book, Mike Resnick teams up with Brad Torgersen, a Writers of the Future finalist in 2009 who then speedily sold stories to Analog, and who has been in the army reserves for twenty years. The amazingly energetic Mike Resnick has collaborated with a bushel of other authors (which turns out not to be a big sheaf but is actually eight gallons; nevertheless we’ll leave this), as well as authoring a library of books by himself and being expert on horseracing, purebred collies, Africa and who knows what else. As of 2009 at least he has the unique distinction (ahem, there can only be one) of being the all-time top award winner for short fiction.

  IT WAS A normal duty day in the city until the Earth limo showed up. It glided through the chaotic s’ndar traffic that bustled across my assigned six-way intersection. Flow control was provided by a single s’ndar of the city’s provisional constabulary, who jerked his brightly coloured paddles to and fro over his bug’s head, herding his people this way and that.

  Since the ceasefire, my squad and I didn’t mess with the locals unless we had to. We kept out of the way, as backup for the traffic cop in case of real trouble.

  I exchanged glances with Corporal Kent, who’d seen the limo. Her facial expression said, You’re the boss; you figure it out.

  I sighed, then got up out of my sandbagged security position and began walking towards the vehicle as it ground to a halt a few metres away.

  The s’ndar traffic cop watched me, decided it was none of his business, and went back to waving his paddles.

  Low-rise commercial and residential structures sprouted around the intersection like mushrooms, their hemispherical roofs designed to shelter pedestrians from the daily monsoon. Along the boulevards poles rose up from the pavement at regular intervals to support endless rows of electrical conduit, phone conduit and fibre optics.

  A slight haze of smog hung over the s’ndar city. It was impossible to ignore how similar, and yet also totally different, the scene was from the average urban centre on Earth. Humans and s’ndar had reached roughly equivalent technology levels.

  Then the Interstellar Conglomerate intervened.

  The
smooth hum of the limo’s twin engines quit, and the man who stepped out of the car was someone I was familiar with only from the news feeds. Senator Jeff Petersen had played football in college, and still kept reasonably fit. Tall and broad-chested, his full head of pepper-tinged hair was trimmed close. He had on a khaki field vest – one of the Earth embassy models that contained ballistic armour plating in addition to being festooned with pouches and pockets. He also wore neatly pressed khaki shorts and high-topped boots.

  Given the oppressive humidity, I envied his wardrobe.

  Two similarly dressed Secret Service personnel – one male, with a pistol on his hip, the other female, with a sub-machine gun in her hands – flanked the senator as he strode towards me. Other Secret Service agents stepped from the car and scanned the surroundings cautiously, their mirror sunglasses and straight faces making them seem somehow robotic.

  I saluted the senator when he drew near.

  “Sergeant Colford!” yelled Petersen over the din of traffic as he extended his hand. He’d obviously read my name tape on my armour. Good politician’s reflex. Made it seem like he really gave a damn who I was.

  I rapidly chow-slung my rifle and shook Petersen’s hand. He had a surprisingly strong grip. Well, maybe not so surprising, given his profession. His smile was amiable, and his nicely capped teeth sparkled in the oppressive sunlight.

  I strongly resisted the urge to like him.

  “Senator,” I said formally, “I wish I’d known you were coming.”

  “You guys always say that,” Petersen said, continuing to smile. “But how am I supposed to talk to you candidly if your commander or first sergeant is warning you at morning briefing?”

  It was a good point. But if I knew my corporal, she was already calling in to the Tactical Operations Centre. Headquarters would have our asses if we didn’t report the senator’s arrival asap.

  Petersen surveyed my semi-hardened position.

  “A bunker and eleven troops. Kind of overkill, don’t you think? The s’ndar in this city are pro-Conglomerate now. They’re our friends.”