City at the End of Time: A NovelMultiple Hugo and Nebula award-winning author, Greg Bear is one of science fiction’s most accomplished writers. Bold scientific speculation, riveting plots, and a fierce humanism reflected in characters who dare to dream of better worlds distinguish his work. Now Bear has written a mind-bendingly epic novel that may well be his masterpiece. Do you dream of a city at the end of time? In a time like the present, in a world that may or may not be our own, three young people–Ginny, Jack, and Daniel–dream of a doomed, decadent city of the distant future: the Kalpa. Ginny’s and Jack’s dreams overtake them without warning, leaving their bodies behind while carrying their consciousnesses forward, into the minds of two inhabitants of the Kalpa–a would-be warrior, Jebrassy, and an inquisitive explorer, Tiadba–who have been genetically retro-engineered to possess qualities of ancient humanity. As for Daniel: He dreams of an empty darkness–all that his future holds. But more than dreams link Ginny, Jack, and Daniel. They are fate-shifters, born with the ability to skip like stones across the surface of the fifth dimension, inhabiting alternate versions of themselves. And each guards an object whose origin and purpose are unknown: gnarled, stony artifacts called sum-runners that persist unchanged through all versions of time. Hunted by others with similar powers who seek the sum-runners on behalf of a terrifying, goddess-like entity known as the Chalk Princess, Ginny, Jack, and Daniel are drawn, despite themselves, into an all but hopeless mission to rescue the future–and complete the greatest achievement in human history. |
Contents
| 3 | |
Section 2 | 25 |
Section 3 | 43 |
Section 4 | 81 |
Section 5 | 87 |
Section 6 | 98 |
Section 7 | 116 |
Section 8 | 124 |
Section 19 | 240 |
Section 20 | 242 |
Section 21 | 246 |
Section 22 | 261 |
Section 23 | 273 |
Section 24 | 290 |
Section 25 | 300 |
Section 26 | 301 |
Section 9 | 131 |
Section 10 | 136 |
Section 11 | 143 |
Section 12 | 160 |
Section 13 | 171 |
Section 14 | 177 |
Section 15 | 185 |
Section 16 | 200 |
Section 17 | 203 |
Section 18 | 210 |
Section 27 | 315 |
Section 28 | 381 |
Section 29 | 388 |
Section 30 | 405 |
Section 31 | 417 |
Section 32 | 473 |
Section 33 | 475 |
Section 34 | 479 |
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Common terms and phrases
Agazutta ancient breeds angelin armor arms Astyanax Bidewell Bidewell's bions blue breath Broken Tower Busker called cats Chalk Princess Chancers Chaos CHAPTER Charles Granger City Princes close crèche Cryptids Daniel dark Denbord Deva door dreams Eidolons Ellen epitome everything eyes face Farrah fates feel feet felt fingers Frinna Ghentun Ginny Glaucous glow gray Grayne GREG BEAR hand head Herza Ishanaxade Jack Jebrassy asked Kalpa Khren knew legs letterbugs Librarian lifted light living looked lost Macht marchers memory Mender Miriam Mnemosyne Moth moved Nataraja never Nico once Pahtun Polybiblios pulled pushed remember Sangmer seemed shadow shapes Shen Shewel shoulder sleep someone stared stone stood stories sum-runners Tall tell things thought Tiadba Tiers told touched tried trod turned Typhon voice waiting walked wall watched What's Whitlow window world-lines young breed