Far Thoughts and Pale Gods

by Greg Bear

  “Yes. He carried the scar, too.”

  Jeshua nodded. “How long do we have?”

  “I don’t know. The city is running out of memories to repeat. Soon, in less than a century, it will have to give up. It will move like the others one last time, and strand itself someplace where it can die in peace.”

  Jeshua walked away from Thinner and the girl’s body and wandered down an access hall to the terraces on the outer wall. He shaded his eyes against the rising sun and looked toward Arat. There he saw the city that had once occupied Mesa Canaan. It had disassembled and was trying to cross the mountains.

  “Kisa,” he said.

  The wind played with his hair.

  About the Author

  Greg Bear is the author of over twenty-five books, which have been translated into seventeen languages. He has won science fiction’s­ highest honors and is considered the natural heir to Arthur C. Clarke. The recipient of two Hugo Awards and four Nebula Awards, Bear has been called “the best working writer of hard science fiction” by the Science Fiction Encyclopedia. Many of his novels, such as Darwin’s Radio, are considered to be classics of his generation. Bear is married to Astrid Anderson—who is the daughter of science fiction great Poul Anderson—and they are the parents of two children, Erik and Alexandria. Bear’s recent publications include the thriller Quantico and its sequel, Mariposa­; the epic science fiction novel City at the End of Time; and the generation starship novel Hull Zero Three.

  All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  These are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2016 by Greg Bear

  Cover art by Greg Bear

  “Heads” © 1990 by Greg Bear

  “The Wind From A Burning Woman” originally appeared in Analog, 1978

  “A Plague of Conscience” originally appeared in Murasaki, edited by Robert Silverberg, 1992

  “Scattershot” originally appeared in Universe 8, 1978

  “Petra” originally appeared in Omni, 1992

  “Mandala” originally appeared in New Dimensions 8, 1978

  Cover design by Mauricio Díaz

  978-1-5040-2142-5

  This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

  180 Maiden Lane

  New York, NY 10038

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