Vortex (Sten #7). Allan Cole
THE STEN SERIES
Sten
The Wolf Worlds
The Court of a Thousand Suns
Fleet of the Damned
Revenge of the Damned
Return of the Emperor
Vortex
End of Empire
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Copyright © 2001 by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch
Published by Wildside Press LLC.
www.wildsidebooks.com
ebook edition available at www.wildsidepress.com
DEDICATION
For
Andy AFFA Anderson
and
Harry Harrison
Two stainless steel rats
QUOTATION
“When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when destruction and anguish cometh upon you.
— Proverbs 1:27
FOREWORD
Hailed as a “landmark science fiction series” the Sten Series has thrilled millions of readers all over the world.
Set three thousand years in the future, the eight Sten novels tell the tale of a tough, street-wise orphan who escapes his fate as factory planet “delinq” to become the strong right-hand of the most powerful man in the Universe — a man hailed by his billons of subjects as “The Eternal Emperor.”
THE HERO
Sten is the ultimate survivor. He’s lightning quick, mean streets cunning and blessed with the twin gifts of hungry intelligence and hard-won common sense. Born on a factory planet where life has less value than the lowliest machine, Sten rebels against The Company that enslaved, then killed his parents. He finds a new family of sorts — and the means for revenge — in the ranks of the Emperor’s Imperial Forces.
A series of crucial missions brings him to the attention of the Eternal Emperor himself. Sten’s talents and unshakable loyalty are tested in crisis after crisis, brutal warfare, and assassination.
Besides his “black ops” skills, Sten is armed with a weapon of last resort — he carries a small knife made of an undetectable substance in a flesh and muscle “sheath” in his arm. With a blade edge only one molecule thick, the knife can cut through any substance like butter.
Sten rises swiftly until he becomes a confidante and advisor to the Emperor. Through all this Sten never forgets his lowly origins. Self-depreciating humor, friendship and luck in love shield him from Fame’s blinding light. If anything his empathy and sense of responsibility for the common folk of the Empire grow with each new honor and badge of rank.
Finally he is asked to make the supreme sacrifice — risking even those he loves — to stand up for the citizens of the Empire. Then, when he succeeds, he turns his back on the greatest honor of all.
STEN’S WORLD
Picture the greatest Empire history has known. Its boundaries are the Universe itself, containing more stars, planets and sentient life than could be calculated by the swiftest 21st Century computer. This is a space kingdom where humans live side-by-side with countless alien forms. In fact the word alien itself is offensive and all species are merely called “beings.” The planetary systems range from the sophistication of Prime World where the elite gather — to the rough and ready mining and frontier worlds at the Empire’s edges.
Ruling over all this is:
THE ETERNAL EMPEROR
As his title implies, the Eternal Emperor is a human who has mastered death through the use of secret cloning techniques and mind transfer. When he’s in his cups, he sometimes boasts that although he’s been the target of hundreds of assassination, only three were successful.
The Emperor is the ultimate capitalist and when Sten steps onto the stage he has reigned for three thousand years. The source of the Eternal Emperor’s power is a mysterious fuel — called Anti-Matter Two (AM2). It drives the star ships that link the Empire and provides the energy for all industry, agriculture and commerce. He alone controls its supply and price. And he alone knows where AM2 is to be found.
The Emperor is no tyrant. He prefers wit to force, negotiation to confrontation. But if all else fails he has enormous military resources to back up his will. His past is a rigorously guarded secret and his future is permanently entwined with the Empire he created.
Despite his vast power the Emperor greatly misses the familiar things of his 21st Century youth. On a bad day he would trade it all in for a good bottle of single malt scotch or the sweet sound of an old, hand-crafted violin. He spends his spare time in his antique-cluttered royal suites, restoring or re-constructing nostalgic objects from his salad days.
The Emperor, who has the looks of a handsome, 35-year-old, is also a consummate cook and spends hours in his Prime World kitchens recreating the recipes of ancient Earth, while hatching elaborate plans to confound his many enemies.
The Eternal Emperor sees a bit of his long ago self in Sten. After all, as he occasionally implies, his roots are as common as Sten’s. If their relationship was not by necessity that of ruler and subject they might even have become friends.
Sten admires the Emperor. Perhaps, in a way, he even considers him a father figure. And he has sworn absolute loyalty to the Empire. In the end, however, he will realize that his loyalty is to the idea not the man.
OTHER CHARACTERS
Sten’s world is filled with bizarre and wonderful characters. Among the more important are:
ALEX KILGOUR: Sten’s sidekick and confidant. An incredibly strong heavy-worlder of Scots descent, Kilgour’s passion is shaggy-dog stories. All of which are so awful that his mission mates can hardly wait for the bad guys to kick in the door and interrupt him.
IAN MAHONEY: Sten’s mentor. A top military man, Mahoney excels at both cloak-and-dagger and more conventional warfare, and prefers to lead from the front. He is totally loyal to Emperor.
RYKOR — A walrus-like alien who is the Emperor’s chief psychiatrist. A fan of Sten’s from the beginning, ultimately her loyalties will be to him.
SR. ECU: The Manabi are a very special race of aliens, who appreciate beauty and civilization above all things, and whose specialty is the high art of diplomacy. They are prized for their negotiating skills and adamant neutrality. A philosophy that will be tested to the breaking point — and beyond.
MARR and SENN: Imperial caterers par excellence, these two furry beings are past masters at the art of the party.
CIND: A beautiful Bhor warrior princess and crack sniper who has set sights of a very different nature on Sten.
STREGG — THE DRINK: This heart-stopping booze appears first in Book Two: The Wolf Worlds, where a race of Viking-like beings is introduced. Hailing from an ice-planet, their ancestral enemy was the Streggan, a fierce beast that hunted the Bohr almost into annihilation. Finally, they turned the tide and wiped out the beast entirely. They named their favorite drink Stregg, in honor of their ancient enemy. The names were inspired by a boozy session the authors’ had at Harry’s Bar in Century City, California. There they discovered the wonders of Stregga, the Italian liqueur. It means witch in Italian. Here’s the secret to making your own Stregg: mix one part Stregga with one part white Tequila. Drink straight, or pour over ice. Some like to add a little simple syrup. We didn’t.
NOTE
The titles of Books One through Four are based on the formation and unleashing of Nature’s most powerful storm system: the tornado. Convection, is the gathering of the heat that powers the storm; Cat’s Claw is the spreading tendrils; Wall Cloud is when the