The Machinery of Light

  THE END

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Special thanks to

  Brian De Groodt, for getting out

  Michelle Marcoccia, for getting back

  James Wang, for the big picture

  Marc Haimes, for the road less traveled

  Mark Williams, for riding shotgun from the early days

  Steven Klotz, for helping me keep dinosaurs at bay

  Peter Watts, giant squid and SF giant

  Rebecca Fischler, ’cos she’s into survival

  Cassandra Stern, legend in her own lifetime

  Spartacus, for having no concept of time

  Jen Hitt, for talking me out of the tree

  Magen Aucoin, for taking charge of the legions

  Jenny Rappaport, for getting me started

  David Pomerico, for helping me finish

  Michael Schur, for teaching me much about acceleration

  Thanks also to …

  Ajax, John Joseph Adams, Jon Allison, Charlie-Jane Anders, Greg Bear, Alan Beatts, Kat Beight, Al Billings, Patricia Bray, Mike Brotherton, Michael Briggs, Colleen Cahill, John Carrasquillo, Jeff Carlson, Gail Carriger, Karen Casey, Erin Cashier, Roz Clarke, Mike Collins, Lino Conti, Rob Cunningham, Richard Dansky, Jessica Dawson, David Deutsch, Eric Dorsett, Tom Doyle, David Louis Edelman, Jerry Ellis, Kelley Eskridge, Nathan Evans, Jude Feldman, Graeme Flory, Jim Freund, Rick Fullerton, Larry Giammo, Tom Goss, Nicola Griffith, Mia Haimes, Inga Hawley, Lisa Heselton, Jess Horsley, Leslie Howle, Dave Hutchinson, Faisal Jawdat, Michael Kanouse, Joshua Korwin, Justin Kugler, Randall MacDonald, Justin Macumber, Richard Morgan, Mollie Mulvanity, Mysterious Galaxy, Rob Neppell, James Nicoll, Annalee Newitz, Hope O’Keefe, Mike O’Malley, Joshua Palmatier, Maria Perry, David Pickar, Heidi Pickman, Jerry Pournelle, Glenn Reynolds, Ripley, Paul Ruskay, Jack Sarfatti, Zakhorov Sawyer, Joseph Scalora, Tom Schaad, Russ Selinger, Mike Shepherd, Stacey Sinclair, Jeri Smith-Ready, Steven Sobel, Starship Sofa, Tim Stringer, Melinda Thielbar, Robert Thompson, Sanho Tree, Uberjumper, Juliet Ulman, Duane Wilkins, Albert Williams, Sarah Williams, Susan Williams, Pete Yared, Don Zukas, Derek Zumsteg, and Captain Zoom.

  Dupont Circle, Washington D.C.

  September 2000—February 2010

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Descended from Australian convicts, DAVID J. WILLIAMS nonetheless managed to be born in Hertfordshire, England, and subsequently moved to Washington, D.C. Graduating from Yale with a degree in history some time later, he narrowly escaped the life of a graduate student and ended up doing time in Corporate America, which drove him so crazy he started moonlighting on video games and (as he got even crazier) novels. Learn more about the world of the early twenty-second century at www.autumnrain2110.com.

  The Machinery of Light is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  A Spectra Trade Paperback Original

  Copyright © 2010 by David J. Williams

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Spectra, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  SPECTRA and the portrayal of a boxed “s” are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Williams, David J.

  The machinery of light / David J. Williams.

  p. cm.

  eISBN: 978-0-345-52189-7

  1. International relations—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3623.I556495M33 2010

  813′.6—dc22

  2010010097

  www.ballantinebooks.com

  v3.0