Escape Velocity: A Dire Earth Novel [Paperback]

USJason M. Houghis theNew York Timesbestselling author ofZero Worldand The Dire Earth Cycle:The Darwin Elevator, The Exodus Towers,andThe Plague Forge,as well as the novellaThe Dire Earth. Hough was born in Illinois but grew up on the mean streets of suburban San Diego, California. In 1978, when he was six, his parents took him to seeStar Wars,and so began a lifelong love of sci-fi and all things geek. He later worked for a decade in the videogame industry as a 3D artist and game designer. Today he lives in Seattle with his wife and two young sons. When not writing, Hough enjoys building LEGO spaceships with his boys and other similarly grown-up pursuits.9780553391343|excerpt

Hough / ESCAPE VELOCITY

Chapter 1

Location Unknown

He lay at the bottom of a deep hole, in a puddle of filthy water that sizzled as bits of molten metal dripped down from the destruction above.

Skyler Luiken remained motionless for a time, just staring up at the column his arrival had carved. He remembered nothing of the actual crash. Couldn’t even remember when exactly he’d lost consciousness, or why. Medically induced, probably. Another gift from Eve. Her last? He called out for her. “Eve?”

No response came. But then she’d said he’d be on his own, didn’t she?

He took a long, shuddering breath and allowed all the sources of his frayed nerves to worm through his mind. He was a thousand light-­years from Earth. Alone. His friends were scattered across the gigantic, planet-­spanning apparatus of the Scipios, their exact locations and conditions unknown. All of them had been thrown toward the massive collection of alien space stations in the final explosion of Eve, their host. Eve, the only ally they had, the only one who knew what the hell was really going on here. Now gone. Holy fuck, she’s really gone. The AI had sacrificed herself. Expelled hlӟ