A solitary old gentleman dies under peculiar circumstances, and with that, his estate passes to a young lady who barely knew him. Property. Cash. Stocks tied to corporations that will prosper in the coming centuries. Plus a hundred rocks that look like faces, and a dongle holding mysterious beauties.
A notable force, at least among the ranks of the Ship's social clubs, the Wanderer's Society had tens of thousands of full members, including dozens of aliens and sentient machines who were known to have visited Sol and her worlds. One cadre of harum-scarums built a temple on Mars; a smaller team visited the Earth at the height of the Saale glaciation, hunting for the remains of a lost streakship. But most famous of all was the J'Jal gentleman who once hiked across Asia and Europe. After living as a convincing human in Constantinople, in the 600s CE, he fashioned a boat and tall sails, riding the breezes past a rock not yet called Gibraltar. Then two more continents were walked before his return to Asia and his camouflaged shuttle. And how did he prove his fantastic story? By leaving toes behind. The greatest wanderer of Old Earth, he occasionally cut off his own digits, then buried them beside enduring landmarks, and following his explicit directions, the present citizens of Earth found his mummified skin and little bones that were still, even after so long, a little bit alive.
Robert Reed is the author of hundreds of published works. He won a Hugo Award in 2007, for "A Billion Eves." But Reed is best known for his Great Ship saga.
Genre: Science Fiction
A notable force, at least among the ranks of the Ship's social clubs, the Wanderer's Society had tens of thousands of full members, including dozens of aliens and sentient machines who were known to have visited Sol and her worlds. One cadre of harum-scarums built a temple on Mars; a smaller team visited the Earth at the height of the Saale glaciation, hunting for the remains of a lost streakship. But most famous of all was the J'Jal gentleman who once hiked across Asia and Europe. After living as a convincing human in Constantinople, in the 600s CE, he fashioned a boat and tall sails, riding the breezes past a rock not yet called Gibraltar. Then two more continents were walked before his return to Asia and his camouflaged shuttle. And how did he prove his fantastic story? By leaving toes behind. The greatest wanderer of Old Earth, he occasionally cut off his own digits, then buried them beside enduring landmarks, and following his explicit directions, the present citizens of Earth found his mummified skin and little bones that were still, even after so long, a little bit alive.
Robert Reed is the author of hundreds of published works. He won a Hugo Award in 2007, for "A Billion Eves." But Reed is best known for his Great Ship saga.
Genre: Science Fiction
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