The Exodus Towers
Authors: Jason M. Hough
Tags: #Action & Adventure, #Fiction, #Hard Science Fiction, #Science Fiction
Praise for
The Darwin Elevator
“The best part about alien stories is their mystery, and Jason Hough understands that like no other. Full of compelling characters and thick with tension,
The Darwin Elevator
delivers both despair and hope, along with a gigantic dose of wonder. It’s a brilliant debut, and Hough can take my money whenever he writes anything from now on.”
—K
EVIN
H
EARNE
,
New York Times
bestselling author
of The Iron Druid Chronicles
“Claustrophobic, intense, and satisfying … I couldn’t put this book down.
The Darwin Elevator
depicts a terrifying world, suspends it from a delicate thread, and forces you to read with held breath as you anticipate the inevitable fall.”
—H
UGH
H
OWEY
,
New York Times
bestselling author of Wool
“Jason Hough writes with irresistible energy and gritty realism. He puts his characters through hell, blending a convincing plot with heart-stopping action and moments of raw terror as the world goes crazy in the shadow of unfathomable alien intentions.”
—S
ARA
C
REASY
, author of the Philip K. Dick Award–
nominated
Song of Scarabaeus
“A thrilling story right from the first page. This book plugs straight into the fight-or-flight part of your brain.”
—T
ED
K
OSMATKA
, author of
The Games
“Get this book as soon as you can.… Jason is going places and
The Darwin Elevator
is sweetened-condensed proof.”
—Dustwrites
The Exodus Towers
is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A Del Rey Mass Market Original
Copyright © 2013 by Jason M. Hough
Maps copyright © 2013 by Robert Bull
Excerpt from
The Plague Forge
by Jason M. Hough copyright © 2013 by Jason M. Hough
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book
The Plague Forge
by Jason M. Hough. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
eISBN: 978-0-345-53715-7
Cover design: David G. Stevenson
Cover illustration: © Christian McGrath
v3.1
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Epigraph
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Excerpt from
The Plague Forge
If a heathen on the ladder
Raise your gun high.
Take his place, make it matter
This is our time.
—Lyric by ~/funk, Cape Town, 2270, inscribed into
the
Testament of the Ladder
by Sister Haley, 2281
Builders? That’s a laugh.
All they did was drop a cable and a nasty bug.
You want to call someone a builder,
I say look at Neil Platz.
—Skadz, Darwin, Australia, 2280
Belém, Brazil
27.APR.2283
T
HE GIRL DANCED
for an audience of ghosts.
She twirled in a slow, graceful motion, sending ripples through the pristine white dress that draped her lithe form. Her outstretched arms glided through the humid air with a poise and balance Skyler had not seen in many years.
She’d yet to notice him. She was a mirage under the bright sun, and he’d tucked himself in the shadows at the edge of the secluded square. Her focus lay entirely on movement and footing. The cobblestones beneath her bare feet were cracked and uneven, like everything in Belém. Aside from Skyler’s motionless form, two skeletal corpses lay in one corner of the courtyard, locked in an infinite embrace, grass sprouting up through their hollow rib cages. She paid no attention to them, either. Ghosts, all.
The looted remains of boutique shops hid the square from the wide avenue beyond. Skyler had only stepped in to find a defensible, quiet place to prepare his midday meal. If that had been one minute ago or ten he couldn’t say. For now he stood, whisper quiet, beneath a stucco awning that gave some respite from alternating bouts of glaring sunshine and torrential rain. Pillars, once white and elegant, supported the partial ceiling. They were nearly encased in flowering vines now, just like the walls and surrounding rooftops. Even the statue that stood watch over the woman had succumbed to the embrace of the rainforest’s green, tentacular limbs. In a few decades the whole city would be engulfed, Skyler thought. Just like everywhere else.
Except Darwin, of course. A different scourge consumed that place.
He leaned against the nearest pillar, wholly absorbed in the fluid motions being performed. The girl was not beautiful, not in the classic sense. Not like Tania. She had short auburn hair that flared as dramatically as her dress, but it was dirty and matted. Her deeply tanned skin showed traces of scars on the forearms. When her skirt billowed on the more enthusiastic turns, Skyler could see welts and scrapes on her toned legs. Despite her exquisite movements and dancer’s figure, she was a survivor.