Heaven's Fall

Ace Books by David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt

HEAVEN’S SHADOW

HEAVEN’S WAR

HEAVEN’S FALL

Published by the Penguin Group

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This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

Copyright © 2013 by Phantom Four Films and St. Croix Productions, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group.

ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Goyer, David S.

Heaven’s fall / David S. Goyer & Michael Cassutt. — First edition.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-441-02093-5 (Hardcover)

1. Human-alien encounters—Fiction. 2. Space flight—Fiction. I. Cassutt, Michael. II. Title.

PS3607.O925H425 2013

813'.6—dc23

2013006738

FIRST EDITION: August 2013

Cover art by James Paick.

Cover design by Lesley Worrell.

Interior illustration by Steve Karp.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

To Ginjer Buchanan

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Map

Dramatis Personae

Prologue: THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2040

WHIT

Day One: FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2040

RACHEL

DALE

TAJ

AGGREGATE CARBON-143

RACHEL

YAHVI

TAJ

WHIT

YAHVI

RACHEL

DALE

YAHVI

RACHEL

DALE

Day Two: SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2040

RACHEL

XAVIER

CARBON-143

RACHEL

ZEDS

RACHEL

Day Three: SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2040

CARBON-143

XAVIER

TAJ

Day Four: MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2040

RACHEL

DALE

RACHEL

WHIT

Day Five: TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2040

XAVIER

YAHVI

Day Six: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2040

CARBON-143

RACHEL

DALE

Day Seven: THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2040

TAJ

CARBON-143

DALE

RACHEL

SANJAY

Day Eight: FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2040

XAVIER

WHIT

Day Nine: SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2040

DALE

YAHVI

CARBON-143

Day Ten: SUNDAY, APRIL 22, 2040

RACHEL

SANJAY

DALE

ZEDS

Day Eleven: MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2040

WHIT

RACHEL

DALE

CARBON-143

XAVIER

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Dramatis Personae

The Crew of
Adventure

RACHEL STEWART-RADHAKRISHNAN
, commander

PAV RADHAKRISHNAN-STEWART
, pilot

ZDS (“ZEDS”)
, a Sentry

YAHVI STEWART-RADHAKRISHNAN
, passenger

XAVIER TOUTANT
, passenger

SANJAY BHAT
, flight engineer

In Bangalore

TEA NOWINSKI RADHAKRISHNAN
, former astronaut

TAJ RADHAKRISHNAN
, former vyomanaut

WING COMMANDER KAUSHAL
, commander, Yelahanka Air Base

MRS. MELANI REMILLA
, director, Bangalore ISRO

SURESH KATEEL
, Indian politician

COLIN EDGELY
, leader of the Kettering Group

CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER SINGH
, leader of the security team

WARRANT OFFICER PANDYA
, security team

AIRCRAFTSMAN ROI
, security team

EDGAR CHANG
, media representative

KALYAN BHAT
, bereaved relative

ARUNJEE LIN
, media representative

URVASHI MURALY
, media representative

SURINA
, nursing assistant

ISHAT
, crematorium worker

On Keanu

HARLEY DRAKE
, former astronaut

SASHA BLAINE
, former astronomer

JAIDEV MAHABALA
, engineer

NICK BARTON-MENON

ROOK

ELLEN WALKER-SHANTI

DULARI SMITH

MAREN HOUTMAN
, art sector

JORDANA SWALE
, agro sector

ZHAO BUOMING
, former spy

MAKALI PILLAY
, exobiologist

At Site A

REIVER AGGREGATE CARBON-143/A72
, combat and assembly formation

WHIT MURRAY
, junior engineer

COUNSELOR KATE

COUNSELOR MARGOT

COUNSELOR HANS

COUNSELOR NIGEL

COUNSELOR CORY

COUNSELOR IVETTA

RANDALL DEHM
, engineer

JAMES DE LA VEGA
, program manager

Pilots

STEVE LIU
and
JO ZHANG

BENVIDES
and
QUENTIN

Prologue