Read Warworld: The Lidless Eye Online
Authors: John F. Carr,Don Hawthorne
Warworld: The Lidless Eye
The Lidless Eye
A Pequod Press War World Novel
Printing History
Portions of this novel by John F. Carr and Donald Hawthorne first appeared in War World: Vol. I The Burning Eye, Vol. II Death’s Head Rebellion, Vol. IV, Invasion, edited by Jerry E. Pournelle and John F. Carr, published by Baen Books in 1988, 1998 and 1991; and War World: The Battle of Sauron, 1st Edition in 2007.
All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2013 by John F. Carr and Donald Hawthorne
Original Cover Art—Copyright © 2013 by Alan Gutierrez
This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, scanning, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the authors.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing 2013
V 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN: 978-0-937912-50-8
AR
W
ORLD
V
OLUMES
E
DITED BY
J
OHN
F. C
ARR AND
J.E. P
OURNELLE
War World II: Death’s Head Rebellion
War World III: Sauron Dominion
CoDominium I: Revolt on War World
AR
W
ORLD
V
OLUMES
E
DITED BY
J
OHN
F. C
ARR
W
AR
W
ORLD
N
OVELS
War World: The Battle for Sauron
War World: The Lidless Eye
War World: Cyborg Revolt
We would like to give special thanks to Doug McElwain for his assistance. Also I would like to thank my copyeditors, Victoria Alexander and Larry Hopkins.
And thanks to Larry King, who maintains a great CoDominium website, for continuity and background:
http://www.chronology.org/pournelle/
Finally, thanks to Alan Gutierrez who, as always, did a wonderful job on the cover art. You can see more of his works at:
http://alangutierrez.com/
T
he New Harmonies were original owners and settlers of Haven until the CoDominium decided any place that inhospitable would make an excellent dumping ground for political exiles, troublesome minorities and garden variety criminals. Over a year from Earth, by way of the old Bureau of Relocation deportee ships, Haven was the end of the line of CoDominium occupied space. During the Imperium, Haven was used as a recruiting ground for the Imperial Marines and became one of the first worlds abandoned when the war against the Sauron dominated Coalition of Secession got ugly.
Although humanity has annihilated the Sauron Homeworld, the cost was high: the First Empire is beginning its long spiral into a Dark Age and the secret of interstellar travel will soon be lost for centuries. When a shipload of Saurons bent on conquest arrive unexpectedly, War World goes from pest-hole to Hellhole.
Born of rebellion and civil war, cut off from the rest of humanity after the Secession Wars, Haven is bombed back to barbarism by the Sauron invaders. The Saurons, in fear of Imperial revenge, have vowed to cut Haven off from the rest of the Empire while they slowly absorb the superior human norms into their own perverted gene pool. Any and all who resist will die.
The Haveners should have been easy pickings for the superhuman newcomers. However, what the Saurons hadn’t anticipated was the Haven is a world forever at war, each with all—and all against the Saurons.
War World is a future military shared-world anthology created by John F. Carr and Jerry Pournelle. The War World series includes seven short story collections and six novels all taking place in Jerry Pournelle’s CoDominium and Empire of Man Future History, spanning several thousand years. The primary setting is a barely-habitable moon named Haven, or War World as it later becomes known. Born of rebellion and civil war, Haven, is a world forever at war, each with all—and all against the Saurons.
JOHN F. CARR is the author of over a dozen novels, including five Lord Kalvan novels and the co-author of three War World novels, The Battle of Sauron, The Lidless Eye and Cyborg Revolt. He has edited over thirty anthologies and short story collections. Along with Jerry Pournelle, he edited and wrote the introductions to five Baen Books War World collections. He is currently rereleasing the War World anthologies, under the Pequod imprint, with mostly new stories in chronological order. For more information visit John’s website at
www.warworldcentral.com
DONALD HAWTHORNE has published a number of short stories featuring Galen Diettinger and the Saurons in previous War World anthologies. He is the co-author of The Battle of Sauron, The Lidless Eye and Cyborg Revolt War World novels. His work has also appeared in the There Will Be War series and other anthologies. He is an avid wargamer and former editor of the Avon Hill General.
ALAN GUTIERREZ, one of science fiction’s finest artists, created the cover art for War World: The Battle for Sauron. Alan also provided the artwork for the interior Sauron system maps. Visit his website at
[email protected]
| 1969 | Neil Armstrong sets foot on Earth’s moon. |
| 1990-2000 | Series of treaties between the United States and the Soviet Union creates the CoDominium. Military research and development outlawed. |
| 1995 | Nationalist movements intensify. |
| 1996 | French Foreign Legion forms the basic element of the CoDominium Armed Services. |
| 2004 | Alderson Drive perfected at Cal Tech. |
| 2010-2100 | CoDominium Intelligence Services engage in serious effort to suppress all research into technologies with military applications. They are aided by zero-growth organizations. |
| 2010 | Habitable planets discovered in other star systems. Commercial exploitation of new worlds begins. |
| 2020 | First interstellar colonies are founded. The CoDominium Space Navy and Marines are created, absorbing the original CoDominium Armed Services. |
| 2020 | Great Exodus period of colonization begins. First colonists are dissidents, malcontents and voluntary adventurers. |
| 2028 | Creation of the Humanity League. Sponsored by the A.C.L.U., Sierra Club and Zero Population groups. |
| 2030 | Sergei Lermontov born in Moscow. |
| 2032 | Captain Jed Byers of the CDSS Ranger discovers a planetary-sized moon of a gas giant and names it Haven. |
| 2038 | Sauron is discovered by Avery Landyn, a survey pilot for 3M; world is rich in radioactive and heavy metals. |
| 2040 | CoDominium Population Control under the aegis of the Bureau of Relocation and Bureau of Corrections begins mass out-system shipments of involuntary colonists. |
| 2040 | Colonization of Sparta and Saint Ekaterina. |
| 2042 | Initial attempts by 3M at colonizing Sauron fail due to deadly native fauna and the difficulty of establishing viable agriculture. 3M sells Sauron to wealthy English Separatists from Quebec and former South African expatriates living in Canada and Australia. |
| 2043 | John Christian Falkenberg III is born in Rome. |
| 2060 | Nationalistic revival movements continue. |
| 2098 | Saurons evict the CoDominium Viceroy and declare their independence. They begin to build their own space navy. |
| 2103 | Great Patriotic Wars. End of the CoDominium. Exodus of the Fleet. |
| 2110 | Coronation of Lysander I of Sparta. Fleet swears loyalty to the Spartan Throne. Marriage of dynasties produces union between Sparta and St. Ekaterina. |
| 2111 | Formation Wars begin. |
| 2250 | Leonidas I proclaims Empire of Man. |
| 2250 – 2600 | Empire of Man enforces interstellar peace. |
| 2253 | Haven is contacted by the Empire. It is well-organized and self-sufficient by this time, and agrees to join the Empire without coercion. |
| 2258 | The “Land Gators” (77th Division of Imperial Marines) is commissioned on Haven, with Major General Colin Hamilton commanding. It functions as a police garrison and as a reserve unit for the 12th Army. |
| 2432 | First Cyborg is created on Sauron. Using the results of the century-old soldier breeding program, Sauron’s scientists use gene-splicing to augment the soldiers. Chemical and biological alterations during gestation are then used to create the “perfect soldiers,” who will later be known as the “Sauron supermen” or “death’s-heads.” |
| 2594 | Emperor David II dies with no heir. This begins a gradually escalating series of struggles and violent revolts. These “succession wars” are the prelude to the Secession Wars. |
| 2598 | In the Imperial Parliament, a “Coalition of Secession” forms and begins to demand the right to withdraw from the Empire. This coalition is primarily led by Sauron. A series of skirmishes involving secessionist planets take place, but the Empire does not suspect the extent of the threat. |
| 2603 | Secession Wars begin. Growth of Sauron supermen. St. Ekaterina nearly destroyed. |
| 2609 | Gary Cummings is promoted to Colonel and put in charge of the Seventy-seventh Imperial Division’s Second Regiment. |
| 2611 | Raymond Hamilton joins the Imperial Navy and spaces out of the Haven System. |
| 2618 | The Third Imperial Fleet is destroyed off Tabletop. |
| 2623 | Seventy-seventh Imperial Marine Division (“Land Gators”) is withdrawn from Haven along with all Imperial officials. Colonel Gary Cummings retires from the Imperial Marines and is appointed Brigadier-General of the Haven Volunteers. |
| 2624 | A pirate ship, posing as a tramp freighter, attacks Castell City. |
| 2626 | The Black Hand, a small fleet of corsairs, sacks Haven and destroys most of the System’s near-earth satellites and relay stations. |
| 2627 | Haveners begin to realize that the Empire will not be returning. |
| 2637 | Sauron-supported Secessionist armada and Claimant fleets fight Imperials to a draw at the Battle of Makassar. |
| 2640 | Secession Wars continue. Dark Ages in many systems. The Battle of Sauron ends the Sauron threat and all Cyborgs on Sauron are exterminated. |
