The Search for Spark
Page 22
Molly sighed, and then looked around (even as in the distance there were one, two, three, four more lightning strikes). He shook his head. “Right then, he really did get it all wrong. The idiot with all his plans and tasteless visions and bankrupt morality. I mean, it’s obvious: The parking lot goes there and the Buy-Molly-Buy Super—”
BOOM!
“MMPFF, AND THEY WONDER WHY HALF THE UNIVERSE IS EMPTY. YEESH.”
* * *
The Willful Child loomed against the backdrop of deep space, angling round as the engine pods ignited. The vessel slid back across the Unknown Barrier, and then, in a flash, vanished down the tunnel of T-Space.
And no one saw the bunny.
EPiLOGUE
Near the Litter Nebula …
“Combawt Spweshalwist Paws, wis it dead yet?”
Lieutenant Pauls studied the sensor data on his screen, and then looked up and squinted at the small drifting vessel and all its broken pieces on the main viewer. “Not entirely, Captain. I still have ever-so-faint life-sign readings.”
“Awrr, wewwy good! Wewwy werrl, fffirwerr wagain! Hawr! Hawrr!”
“Captain! A new vessel has entered the system!”
“Whharr?”
“It’s a … it’s a … uh-oh. Sir, this is a Polker Galaxy–class Holy Crap You’re In For It Now Dreadestnaught, the uh, the GPS Furry Smear on the Highway. It’s powering all nine hundred sixty-seven weapons!”
“Wunn! Wunn! Gharrus ourh hweere!”
The navigation officer turned in his chair. “Uh, what did you say, sir?”
“Wunn! Wunn rahwhay!”
The navigation officer turned to the astrogation officer. “Did you work that one out?”
“Not sure, Hank,” the astrogation officer replied. “Like counting? You know, ‘One! One!’ ‘One! Anyway!’ But that makes no sense.”
“Captain! The Dreadestnaught’s weapons are all primed!”
“Arrrwha! Wunn! Wunn!”
The navigation officer’s frown deepened. “Could it be—”
And the universe interrupted by getting very bright.
But not for long.
In any case, in the instant before all that bright white light, might one have heard faint cheering coming from the AFS Sentwy Wobbwer?
No. Sound doesn’t travel in space. End of lesson (and this is how Science Fiction educates).
THESE are the voyages of AFS Willful Child. Its mission, to tear across the universe on an eight-billion-year crusade to make everybody decent and nice. That’s right, the most harrowing adventure now awaits Captain Hadrian Alan Sawback [insert pic], Commander Halley Sin-Dour [insert pic], Lieutenants Sticks, Beta, Eden, and Polaski [insert small pics], with Doc Printlip, Combat Specialist Galk, Security Officer Nina Twice [insert even smaller pics], and introducing Chief Engineer Buck DeFrank [insert arrested druggie mug shot], and assorted semiregulars and guest stars …
Follow their serialized adventures through books, ebooks, and assorted bootleg e-versions (for all the cheapo self-justifying thieves who don’t pay for shit because, well, they’re thieves) for as long as you like …
And failing that, there’s always
Deeply in the deepest depths of deep space …
Captain Tiberius Alex Razorback stepped onto the bridge of the Wanton Child. Lights blinked, components hummed and clicked, lenses flared, and something beeped a slow, massively irritating pulse. He paused for a moment, scanning his bridge crew at their stations. Still seated in his command chair was his 2IC, Comely DeCliche, only her unregulation mane of wavy red hair visible from where he stood by the lift entrance.…
Aaagh! No. I. Just. Can’t.
TOR BOOKS BY STEVEN ERIKSON
The Devil Delivered and Other Tales
This River Awakens
Willful Child
Willful Child: Wrath of Betty
Willful Child: The Search for Spark
The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Gardens of the Moon
Deadhouse Gates
Memories of Ice
House of Chains
Midnight Tides
The Bonehunters
Reaper’s Gale
Toll the Hounds
Dust of Dreams
The Crippled God
The Kharkanas Trilogy
Forge of Darkness
Fall of Light
Malazan Novellas
Bauchelain and Korbal Broach
Crack’d Pot Trail
The Wurms of Blearmouth
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STEVEN ERIKSON is an archaeologist and anthropologist and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His New York Times bestselling Malazan Book of the Fallen has met with widespread acclaim and established him as a major voice in fantasy fiction. He lives in Canada.
Visit him online at www.steven-erikson.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Tor Books by Steven Erikson
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
WILLFUL CHILD: THE SEARCH FOR SPARK
Copyright © 2018 by Steven Erikson
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Steve Stone
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-8396-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-8395-2 (ebook)
eISBN 9780765383952
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
First Edition: November 2018