The Compleat McAndrewsTHE BRAIN OF AN EINSTEIN --
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Publisher's Note:
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"Like Arthur C. Clarke and Greg Bear . . . brilliantly balanced seesaw between enormous concept and lifesize characterisation." --The London Times
Cover art by Dru Blair
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
First printing, April 2000
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Printed in the United States of America
Copyright © 2000 by Charles Sheffield
Portions of this work have appeared previously in revised form, as follows:
"Killing Vector," (c) UPD Publications, 1978
"Moment of Inertia," (c) Davis Publications, 1980
"All the Colors of the Vacuum," (c) Davis Publications, 1981
"The Manna Hunt," (c) Davis Publications, 1982
"Rogue World," (c) Mercury Press, 1983
"Shadow World (The Hidden Matter of McAndrew)," (c) Davis Publications, 1992
"The Invariants of Nature," (c) Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1993
"Out of Focus," (c) Charles Sheffield, 1999 (first appeared in SF Age)
"The Fifth Commandment," (c) Charles Sheffield,1999 (first appeared in Analog)
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
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Typeset by Windhaven Press Electronic version by WebWrights
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First Chronicle:
Killing Vector
Second Chronicle:
Moment of Inertia
Third Chronicle:
All the Colors of the Vacuum
Fourth Chronicle:
The Manna Hunt
Fifth Chronicle:
The Hidden Matter of McAndrew
Sixth Chronicle:
The Invariants of Nature
Seventh Chronicle:
Rogueworld
Eighth Chronicle:
With McAndrew, Out of Focus
Ninth Chronicle:
McAndrew and The Fifth Commandment
Appendix:
Science & Science Fiction
UNSUITABLE ENVIRONMENT
"McAndrew and Roker." Kleeman's voice came from the speakers, calm and superior. "There will be punishment unless you return at once."
I was at last at the airlock. McAndrew and Wicklund were there. Without speaking, McAndrew turned and pointed towards the wall of the lock. I looked, and felt a sudden sickness. The wall where the line of spacesuits should be hanging was empty.
"No suits?" I said stupidly.
He nodded. "Kleeman has been thinking a move ahead of you." There was a long and terrible pause. "I looked out," he said at last. "Through the viewport there. The ship's capsule is still where we left it."
"You're willing to chance it?" I looked at Wicklund, who stood there not following our conversation at all.
Mac nodded. "I am. But what about him?"
I walked forward and stood in front of Wicklund. "Do you still want to go with us? Leave the Ark forever?"
Wicklund licked his lips, then nodded.
"Into the lock." We moved forward together and I closed the inner door.
"Do not be foolish." It was Kleeman's voice, with a new expression of alarm. "There is nothing to be served by sacrificing yourselves to space. McAndrew, you are a rational man. Come back and we will discuss this together."
Mac swung open the outer airlock door. The air was gone in a puff of ice vapor. I saw the capsule at the top of the landing tower. To reach it we had to traverse sixth meters of the interstellar vacuum.
BAEN BOOKS by Charles Sheffield
Between the Strokes of Midnight
The Compleat McAndrew
Convergence
Convergent Series
Transvergence
The Mind Pool
Proteus Combined
Proteus in the Underworld
Borderlands of Science