The Ancient Ones
Chapters (21)
The Ancient Ones
a space comedy
by
David Brin
Copyright © 2019 David Brin
Cover by Patrick Farley
Praise for the Novels of David Brin
GLORY SEASON
“Brin is a bold and imaginative writer, and Glory Season will be one of the most important SF novels of the year.”
—The Washington Post Book World
EARTH
“A major effort… The Moby-Dick of the Whole Earth movement.”
—Locus
STARTIDE RISING
“One hell of a novel… Startide Rising has what SF readers want these days; intelligence, action and an epic scale.”
—Baird Searles, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine
SUNDIVER
“Brin has a fertile and well-developed imagination…coupled with a sinuous and rapid-paced style.”
—Heavy Metal
THE POSTMAN
“A fast-paced but thoughtful novel…abounds with mythic dimension.”
—The Washington Post Book World
THE RIVER OF TIME
“Brin is a scientist who knows how to tell a story. That’s a rare combination.”
—Jerry Pournelle
Books by David Brin
EARTH
EXISTENCE
GLORY SEASON
THE HEART OF THE COMET
(with Gregory Benford)
THE POSTMAN
THE PRACTICE EFFECT
THE RIVER OF TIME
OTHERNESS
INSISTENCE OF VISION
STARTIDE RISING
SUNDIVER
THE UPLIFT WAR
BRIGHTNESS REEF
INFINITY’S SHORE
HEAVEN’S REACH
THE ANCIENT ONES
We never expected that inventing Star-Drive would lead to this.
We were first! Bold explorers who brought light and movement to the galaxy, teaching others and forging a grand alliance with all races. (Well, most of them.) It seemed the galaxy would be ours to lead and to share!
Till we met demmies.
Oh, they’re not so bad. They mean well. Impulsive and exasperating, sure. Often brilliant, cheeky, volatile, moronic, always astonishing… did I mention exasperating?
And lucky.
Gradually, it dawned on humanity –
Hey, that’s what WE wanted to be!
In ancient myths and sci-fi dreams, it’s how we pictured ourselves. As the impulsive-lucky ones, not the wise-patient elders. Only now…
…they reverently call Earthlings “the Ancient Ones.” And demmies are having all the fun!
Dr. Alvin Montessori is Human Advisor aboard the mostly demmie-crewed star cruiser Clever Gamble, orbiting above Oxytocin 41, a planet where something weird is going on. It starts when the crew unreels a humungous hose down to the surface and their first contact team discovers a whole lot of ‘somethings weird.’
Life… death… and the living dead… will never be the same.
*
Dedicated to You-Know-Who.
Seriously, you know who you are,
and what you did.
Contents
Praise for the Novels of David Brin
Books by David Brin
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Appreciations and Afterword
Unused Horrors from the Daveyard shift
About the Author
1.
So you’ve decided to come down here, slumming. Almost finished with your Academy training and raring to go hit the old galaxy, squeezing it for adventure, right?
And you heard about a senior class tradition. Head down to a spaceport bar where retired characters hang out, with implausible stories to tell. Things never taught to human cadets. Not in formal class, that is.