Mystery, discovery, and wonder on a cosmic scale are the core of Anderson's newest novel. Lissa, a human Earth woman, and her partner 'Karl'-a giant alien academic who resembles a tyrannosaurus-are interstellar archaeologists investigating the remote and uncharted planet Jonna. There, they seem to have hit the jackpot. For on that distant world they've discovered an immense artifact which may have been left by the mysterious beings called the Forerunners. This race predated all the known cultures in the starfaring galaxy, and had vanished long before any other intelligent species had taken to the stars. But Lissa and Karl aren't the first to have made the discovery. On the far-off world, the archaeologists cross paths with the two freebooters whose motives toward the arcane object are not purely scientific. Their discovery on Jonna may be the best preserved relic of the ancient beings yet found. Other artifacts from The Forerunners have revolutionized entire fields of technology, reaping huge financial rewards. If the same holds true for this newest discovery, Lissa realizes, only she and Karl stand between the seemingly friendly freebooters and what could be the treasure of a lifetime.

The bestselling author of such classic novels as Brain Wave and The Boat of a Million Years, Poul Anderson won just about every award the science fiction and fantasy field has to offer. He has won multiple Hugos and Nebulas, the John W. Campbell Award, The Locus Poll Award, the Skylark Award, and the SFWA Grandmaster Award for Lifetime Achievement. His recent books include Harvest of Stars, The Stars are also On Fire, Operation Chaos, Operation Luna, Genesis, Mother of Kings, and Going for Infinity, a collection and retrospective of his life's work. Poul Anderson lived in Orinda, California where he passed away in 2001.

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At first sight Lissa thought it was an island-a strange one, yes, but this whole world was strange to her. Then as she and Karl came out of the woodland and went on toward the river, she knew it could not be. It lay in midstream, dully iridescent, about twenty meters long, perhaps a fourth as wide, curving up to a gently rounded top one meter or so above the water. Someone or something had made it.

But there were no native sophonts anywhere around this star. Scant though exploration had been in the seven Terran years since the system was first visited, that much was certain.

So who, and when, and why?

She halted. "What the chaos? Have you any idea what that might be?"

Karl stopped too. "None," he said. "I do not recall any such artifact from my experience or other sources of information. A slight resemblance to some dwellings of the Orcelin civilization." The tip of his tail gestured at the camp near the shore. "Obviously it is not the work of yonder persons. I presume they are studying it. They may have learned something."

The translator clinging to Lissa's backpack rendered his answer into flat-voiced Anglay. He could follow her words readily enough. If he had tried to utter them the result would have been grotesque. For her part, she could not hear most of his language, let alone pronounce those trills, whistles, and supersonic melodies. Once it had struck her funny that such a huge creature should have so thin a voice. But that was in her silly girlhood. She had since met beings much more paradoxical and less comprehensible, and learned that to them humans were likewise.

She did still sometimes wonder whether Karl-her name for him, honoring a friend at home-really spoke as academically as the device rendered it. He was a scientist, but also a top-class waymate. Yet she would never understand the nuances of his personality, nor he hers. They could never be more than comrades.

"Let's have a better look." She unsheathed her optic, raised it to her eyes, and activated it. His keener vision had already made out what she now did. The surface was not actually smooth, it was subtly, bewilderingly complex. Increasing the magnification gave small help. Noontide shadows were too short to bring out enough relief.

The idea struck her like a fist. Her hands dropped. "Forerunner work?" she cried.

Amidst the tumult in her head she felt that the translator's level tone was, for once, conveying an emotion. Calm. "I immediately suspected so." Somebody with Karl's size and strength might not be very excitable. Interested, yes; delighted, maybe; but free of the chills that ran up her spine, out to the ends of her fingers.

Steadiness returned. She lifted the optic again.

Two beings poised on the thing, with a variety of instruments set forth. One was a male human, the other an anthropard from Rikha or a Rikhan colony. She watched them come to full alertness, peer her way, and hasten down the whaleback curve. Their boat lay alongside, tethered by a geckofoot grapnel. They got in, cast off, and motored toward the land.

Lissa swung her gaze about and found their camp, which from here was half screened by brush. She put her optic back.

"Do you recognize either of them?" asked Karl.

"No," she said, "nor why they haven't been in touch." She scowled as she started off again. "We'll find out. We'd better."

The camp amounted to three dome shelters. But the vehicle standing by was no ordinary flyer adapted for this planet. Twice the size, it was clearly capable not simply of flitting through atmosphere, hovering, vertical landings and takeoffs, but of making orbit. Indeed, when last she and Karl heard from headquarters, personnel had detected a small spaceship circling farther out than theirs in a sharply canted plane. Apparently those who had been aboard would rather not be noticed.

Otherwise the landscape lay primeval, hills rolling low in the east and on either side of the valley, thickly wooded. The vegetation was unlike any she knew of anywhere else, curiously shaped boles and boughs, foliage in shades of dark yellow and brown, eerie blossoms-another world, after all. Animal life was as alien and as abundant; the sky was full of wings and clamor. The fundamental biochemistry resembled hers in a number of ways, and the basis of life itself was microbial here too. But that was due to the working of the same natural laws on more or less Earthlike planets. How many centuries until the biology of even this single continent would be even sketchily charted?

Depends partly on how much of an effort scientifically oriented sophonts feel is worth making, passed banally through her mind. The galaxy's so huge, so various, and always so mysterious.

Odd, how high and steep the riverbanks were. In fact, it flowed at the bottom of a rocky canyon. Farther inland, its sides were low, begrown to the very edge of the water. Only as she neared did she see that here the stream had broadened to almost a kilometer.

She reviewed the local geography as scanned by a satellite. Flowing westward, the river became wider still. Fifty kilometers hence its estuary was salt marshland. There it emptied into a channel that in turn led to an ocean.

Evidently local topography had made it cut this gorge. Hadn't that taken time on a geological scale? But the rock wasn't wind-sculpted, merely littered with boulders where ledges and cracks offered resting places.

Nor was the ground above richly forested, like upstream. A strip of thin, poor, rocky soil reached back some fifty meters from either verge. Tough-looking, deep-rooted little bushes stood sparsely, interspersed with lesser plants that she guessed were evanescent opportunists. She saw just a few tiny animals scuttering between, though winged creatures continued plentiful. The camp was at the edge of the semi-desert, half surrounded by fairly large shrubs, trees behind it.

One of countless puzzles.... At the moment, she had too much else to think about. Surely in due course somebody would reason this out.

She eased her pace. In spite of a noticeably denser atmosphere and higher partial pressure of oxygen, in spite of her being in athletic condition and having trained beforehand, a surface gravity fifteen percent above Earth normal added nine kilos to her weight.

Karl slowed to match her. By his standards, he was taking baby steps. Carrying nearly all their field equipment on his back, as well as his own mass, he seemed to move effortlessly.

With him at her side she'd scarcely need the pistol at her hip. Not that she supposed the pair ahead of her had violent intentions. Still, however mild-mannered, Karl was bound to be a trifle overawing. Looming a meter above her, he was not wholly unlike a, well, a tyrannosaur. Longer arms, yes, and four-fingered hands; short muzzle, big green eyes, tall ears, gray skin; the taloned feet bare rather than booted. His many-pocketed coverall resembled hers, though open in back for a formidable tail.

The air had cooled, while keeping a medley of odors, sweet, pungent, acid, sulfury. Wind boomed from the west, where clouds lifted massive. Their hollows were dark blue, their heights amber, against a sky almost purple. The sun brooded overhead, two and a fourth times the size of Sol seen from Earth. To the human eye, an M0 dwarf is pale yellow, and you can look straight at it for a moment without being blinded. To Lissa, the summer light recalled autumn at home.

And the noontide would last and last. This planet orbited close in, with a two-thirds rotational lock. A hundred and twenty-three of Earth's days would pass before noon came back.

She thrust her stray thoughts aside. The man and his partner had reached a wooden dock that a robot-they must have one or two along-had doubtless constructed, and were debarking. In a few minutes she'd meet them.

Chapter Two

The spot was about halfway between. All four halted. For an instant only the wind spoke.

After an appraising look, the man apparently decided that Anglay was their likeliest common language. "Greeting, my lady, sir." She didn't recognize his accent. The voice was resonant, though she guessed from it that he couldn't carry a tune if it had handles. "Welcome. Maybe." He added the last word with a grin. She suspected it was not entirely in jest.

"Thank you," she replied. Her glance searched him. He stood tall in his rough garb, thick-shouldered, slender-hipped. The head was round, the face blunt, blue-eyed, weatherbeaten; a stubble of beard showed he hadn't bothered lately with depilatory. The light-brown hair grew a bit thin on top but peeked abundantly from under collar and sleeves. By no means unattractive, she thought. "I'm Lissa Davysdaughter Windholm of Asborg-Sunniva III. My companion's name for human purposes is Karl."

"What language does he prefer? I know a few."

"His own. The dominant one on Gargantua," as humans called the mother planet of that race, a back formation from their name for the race itself. "He understands us quite well."

"We'd like to understand him, though, wouldn't we?"

"Shouldn't my translator be set for that?"

He laughed. "A touch, my lady! Well, I'm Torben Hebo. My partner is Dzesi, from her native world."

The other made a gesture involving her knife. "S-s-su alach." She switched to Anglay. Her species could render human sounds fairly well, with hissing overtones and an underlying growl. "Peace between us, Lissa Windholm and Karl Gargantuan."

"Peace in truth, Dzesi," Karl answered through the device. "I request knowledge of your origins, that we may address you in seemly wise."

Lissa realized, startled, that he had some familiarity with Rikhans-must have had dealings, probably scientific. Fortunate! Her acquaintance was minimal, almost entirely from what she had learned in school and from occasional anecdotes. They were said to be innately proud and touchy.

The anthropard's eerily humanlike mouth made a smile, baring pointed reddish teeth. Otherwise the visage, with its slit-pupilled amber eyes, flat single-nostrilled nose, upstanding tufted ears, and long cilia, suggested a cat more than anything else. The body, nude except for orange-hued, black-spotted fur and a belt holding two pouches and the knife, was also not unlike Lissa's, in a huge-chested, breastless, wasp-waisted fashion. The long legs brought the height to about the same as the man's.

"Yes-s," she said. "I am of the Ulas Trek in Ghazu."

"In honor," Karl responded.

"Accepted and offered."

Lissa turned to Hebo. "But where are you from, sir, and what's your allegiance?"

He shrugged. "Everywhere, and to my friends." With another laugh: "Hey, this is an unexpected pleasure. Welcome for sure, Lissa-and, uh, Karl, of course. Come on, we're being rotten hosts, let's get you settled down and have a drink for openers."

He was scanning her with imperfectly concealed lust. That was natural under the circumstances, even a compliment if he kept it under control. She was not tall but full-bodied, supple, tawny of skin and high of cheekbones, short-nosed, heavy-lipped, stubborn-chinned, mahogany hair banged and bobbed. Her last rejuvenation having been eighteen years ago, time had thus far only laid a few laughter lines at the hazel eyes. And she always carried her biological age well, whatever it was at any given time.

"We thank you, but we must take your hospitality provisionally," Karl said toward Dzesi.

"Your warning satisfies," the Rikhan told him.

"For now, anyway," said Hebo. Quickly: "We've got a lot to talk about. Plus that drink."

He led the way. Dzesi came well behind.

Karl signed to Lissa that she should lower the volume of the translator before he explained: "Her ancestors seldom went about without a rearguard. To provide one was an amicable act. The feuds are now ended-or sublimated-but traditions endure. And, I believe, instincts. Ghazu is largely steppe. Its inhabitants are the only known beings who, nomadic, independently developed high technology."

Lissa nodded. What a diverse and wonderful universe she lived in!

The habitation dome was clean, and neat where neatness counted. Hebo's things showed a certain bachelor disarray. Dzesi's things were few. The humans sat on folding chairs, the Rikhan on her haunches, the Gargantuan balanced on his tail. Hebo broke out a bottle of excellent whiskey for Lissa and himself, not diluting it much. Dzesi poured water from a gilt bottle into a decorated drinking horn and sipped ceremoniously, almost religiously. Karl had tea from his own canteen. Everybody knew how poisonous alcohol was to his kind.

Hebo lifted his tumbler. "Here's to friendship."

"Indeed." No matter how much she enjoyed the dram she took, Lissa tautened. "I must say, though, you haven't seemed eager for it."

"Business is business," Hebo replied, unabashed. "Now that you've found us, let's make the best of it."

"What's your business, then, if you please?"

"I might ask why you care. A whole planet should be plenty big enough for all, no?"

"If nothing else, we're concerned about possible damage. You can't be unaware of what ecological havoc can start if strict precautions aren't taken, especially when biochemistries are strongly similar." She was sounding like an elementary school teacher, she heard. Amusement flickered across his face. She didn't want that. "And now, this object in the river-what's it mean, what's its scientific value-and you haven't reported it. I imagine you counted on sheer area to hide you."

His grin flashed afresh. "Hey, I like your frankness. It's a long story on both sides, I'll bet. You're with a scientific expedition, right?" She nodded. "Yeah, Dzesi and I guessed that, when we detected your ship and base as we approached. Whose are they?"

"You could have learned that when you arrived." His gaze on her stayed shameless. "Our expedition originated on Asborg. Several Houses there sponsor what planetary exploration and research their means allow. This time it's mine and one other. Jonna has been neglected since it was first found and skimpily surveyed."

"Jonna? Your people's name?"

A second sip glowed along her tongue. She relaxed somewhat and smiled. "Better than a catalogue number."

"Seems like your party's awfully small. To judge by the glimpse we had. No offense, but how much can you do, working out of one camp in-how long a stay?"

She sighed. "Two years. Asborgan, that is; twenty-one months Earth standard. The most the consortium can afford at this stage." Too many worlds, she thought, too full of unknownness, and we sophonts too few. "But a beginning. There's no such thing as useless information, insight, is there?" Enthusiasm surged. "Who knows? We could make a discovery important enough that major institutions on several planets will mount a real effort." She curbed it.

Continues...

Excerpted from FOR LOVE AND GLORY by POUL ANDERSON Copyright © 2003 by Trigonier Trust
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.