Critical Mass: A Novel


 
 
 
 
 Also by Daniel Suarez Daemon Freedom™ Kill Decision Influx Change Agent Delta-v An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC penguinrandomhouse.com Copyright © 2023 by Daniel Suarez Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader. DUTTON and the D colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC. Permissions appear in the appendix and constitute an extension of the copyright page. library of congress cataloging-in-publication data Names: Suarez, Daniel, 1964- author. Title: Critical mass : a novel / Daniel Suarez. Description: [New York] : Dutton, [2023] Identifiers: LCCN 2022017530 (print) | LCCN 2022017531 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593183632 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593183649 (ebook) Subjects: LCGFT: Science fiction. | Novels. Classification: LCC PS3619.U327 Cr 2023 (print) | LCC PS3619.U327 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017530 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017531 Cover design by Sarah Oberrender; Cover images: (moon) Romolo Tavani / iStock / Getty Images; (space) Andrei Cosma / Arcangel Adapted for ebook by Estelle Malmed This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. pid_prh_6.0_142488350_c0_r1 Contents Cover Also by Daniel Suarez Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Prologue Part One: Earthbound Chapter 1: Reckoning Chapter 2: Prognosis Chapter 3: Liftoff Chapter 4: Master Plan Chapter 5: Ajegunle Chapter 6: Wide-Awake Chapter 7: Waterline Chapter 8: The Cape Chapter 9: Smoke Screen Chapter 10: Oga Chapter 11: Through the Looking Glass Chapter 12: Adrift Chapter 13: Cargo Part Two: Orbital Chapter 14: Transit Chapter 15: Base of Operations Chapter 16: Ex Post Facto Chapter 17: Settling In Chapter 18: La Trocha Chapter 19: Visitors Chapter 20: Mission Plan Chapter 21: A Slender Thread Chapter 22: Distraction Chapter 23: Realm of Possibility Chapter 24: Green Team Chapter 25: Surface Operations Chapter 26: Nightfall Chapter 27: Price of Admission Chapter 28: Declaration Chapter 29: LOC/LOM Chapter 30: LEML-Mark-I Chapter 31: Skin in the Game Chapter 32: Monument Chapter 33: A Going Concern Chapter 34: Conception Chapter 35: A Modest Proposal Chapter 36: Biosphere Chapter 37: Topping Out Chapter 38: Proliferation Chapter 39: Monster Chapter 40: Legacy Chapter 41: The Exchange Chapter 42: Debtpocalypse Chapter 43: Overton Window Chapter 44: The Amy Tsukada Chapter 45: Oberhaus Chapter 46: Confrontation Chapter 47: Return Acknowledgments Appendix Further Reading About the Author _142488350_ For Michelle Sites, my guiding star Give me but a place on which to stand, and I will move the world. —Archimedes of Syracuse Prologue MARCH 5, 2038 Adedayo Adisa stared at a holographic model of Earth floating translucent before him. With a hand gesture he altered a red line that skimmed the virtual planet’s atmosphere, causing the line to plunge downward and terminate on the model’s surface. Another adjustment and the line once more rebounded back into space. Gesture after gesture resulted in more of the same—either burning up on reentry or skipping back off into space. No iteration resulted in a stable planetary orbit. Footsteps sounded on the decking behind him and then the wheel of the habitat’s pressure door rotated, creaking open. He turned to see Isabel Abarca step into the compartment and unclip her long black hair. She rubbed her scalp as she sighed in exhaustion. Her faded blue flight suit was patched with white Kapton tape in several places. She resealed the pressure door behind her, then looked up. “The number two oxygen generator needs maintenance. We’ll have to cannibalize parts from Hab 2.” She noticed the holographic model. “How are they doing?” Adisa’s Nigerian accent was thicker than usual, betraying his stress. “Their spacecraft is on course to encounter Earth in twenty-six days.” She smiled. “Then you did it, Ade.” Abarca came up to look over his shoulder. “So they’ll make it back to Earth.” “Yes—but only momentarily.” He tried another failed trajectory. Abarca’s smile faded and she sank into a seat next to him at the galley table. She stared at the holographic model, too. Adisa remained uneasy. “Because of their delayed departure, high velocity was necessary to encounter Earth—which means they will have difficulty slowing on arrival. On their current trajectory our crewmates will skim Earth’s atmosphere at over 100,000 kilometers per hour. At that speed orbital capture through aerobraking is difficult. They are likely to either plunge too deeply into the atmosphere—burn up and die—or sail straight through and back into deep space. Lost forever.” “How likely?” It was several moments before he answered. “Atmospheric variability makes it impossible to know for certain, but their autopilot software will not even calculate an aerobrake solution at that velocity. The required deceleration might kill them. Which means they will have to pilot the craft manually through unknowable variables—all while under 10 or more g’s. A feat that I have been unable to model.” Abarca studied the hologram silently as the virtual ship burned up yet again. “I fear that by guiding them onto this trajectory I have not saved our crewmates—but killed them.” “There was no other choice, Ade.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “We were out of time, and that piecemeal propulsion system was imprecise. Without your course corrections they would have missed the Earth entirely.” He gazed at the hologram. “That was only necessary because I took too long integrating systems. If I had finished on schedule, we would have made the transfer window to Earth and all returned home safely. The fault is mine.” “It was no one’s fault. Rushing that work could have caused ten other failures. Again: missing the Earth entirely.” “It hardly matters