Title Page

FALLING FREE

a science fiction novel

by

Lois McMaster Bujold

Copyright © 1988 by Lois McMaster Bujold

Cover design by Passageway Pictures, Inc.

Cover image: Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

Books by Lois McMaster Bujold

Books by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Vorkosigan Series 

Falling Free

Shards of Honor

Barrayar

The Warrior's Apprentice

The Vor Game

Cetaganda

Ethan of Athos

Borders of Infinity

Brothers in Arms

Mirror Dance

Memory

Komarr

A Civil Campaign

Diplomatic Immunity

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance

CryoBurn

The Chalion Series

The Curse of Chalion

Paladin of Souls

The Hallowed Hunt

The Sharing Knife Tetralogy

Volume One: Beguilement

Volume Two: Legacy

Volume Three: Passage

Volume Four: Horizon

Other Fantasy

The Spirit Ring

Short Stories

Proto Zoa

Dedication

For Dad

Acknowledgment

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank three gentlemen for helping to improve the ratio of science to fiction in this story: Dr. Henry Bielstein, for information on space physiology and medicine; James A. McMaster, welding engineer; and Wallace A. Voreck, explosives technology consultant.  Much that is technically correct I owe to them; any errors are my own

My debt exceeds words to the late Dr. Robert C. McMaster, physicist, engineer, teacher and inventor, for help beyond technical, beyond measure.  The errors are still my own, but I'm working on them.

— Lois McMaster Bujold

     May 1987

FALLING FREE

a science fiction novel

by

Lois McMaster Bujold

Chapter One

Chapter One

The shining rim of the planet Rodeo wheeled dizzily past the observation port of the orbital transfer station. A woman whom Leo Graf recognized as one of his fellow disembarking passengers from the jumpship stared out eagerly for a few minutes, then turned away, blinking and swallowing, to sit rather abruptly on one of the bright cushioned lounge chairs. Her eyes closed, opened, caught Leo's; she shrugged in embarrassment. Leo smiled sympathetically. Immune himself to the assorted nauseas of space travel, he moved to take her place at the crystal viewport.

Scanty cloud cover swirled in the thin atmosphere far below, barely veiling what seemed excessive quantities of red desert sand. Rodeo was a marginal world, home only to GalacTech mining and drilling operations and their support facilities. But what was he doing here? Leo wondered anew. Underground operations were hardly his field of expertise.

The planet slid from view with the rotation of the station. Leo moved to another port for a view back toward the hub of the station's wheel, noting the stress points and wondering when they'd last been x-rayed for secretly propagating flaws. Centrifugal g-forces here at the rim where this passenger lounge was situated seemed to be running at about half Earth-standard, a little light perhaps. Deliberately stress-reduced, trouble anticipated in the structure?

But he was here for training, they'd said at GalacTech headquarters on Earth, to teach quality control procedures in free fall welding and construction. To whom? Why here, at the end of nowhere? 'The Cay Project' was a singularly uninformative title for his assignment.

"Leo Graf?"

Leo turned. "Yes?"