The Clone Sedition

PRAISE FOR

Steven L. Kent

THE CLONE REDEMPTION

“An exciting intergalactic adventure.”

—
Sporadic Reviews

“Fast-paced…Fans of Ian Douglas, Jack Campbell, David Sherman, and Graham Sharp Paul should find plenty here to enjoy.”

—
SFRevu

“An awesome sci-fi story…[Kent writes] his characters and story so well, as if readers are in the trenches fighting the bad guys right alongside the other soldiers. This is a story I enjoyed and would be willing to read again just to relive an alternate world of space wars, clone life, and the quest to save humans from an alien invasion.”

—
Night Owl Reviews

THE CLONE EMPIRE

“[Kent’s] dialogue is realistic, and his universe is well thought out and developed. The future he creates is both scary and fascinating. There is still a great deal of potential for development and exploration in future novels.”

—
SFRevu

THE CLONE ELITE

“Kent does a very capable job of rendering the difficulties, horrors, stress, and camaraderie of war through Harris’s eyes. He also plausibly captured the internal conflicts, jealousies, and strong emotions within a military unit between superiors and officers…effective and entertaining.”

—sffworld.com

“If you enjoy military science fiction, then this is the book for you…fast-paced and hard-hitting. Punches, bullets, and nuclear bombs are not held back. The characters face hard choices and don’t regret them after they are made.”

—
SFRevu

THE CLONE ALLIANCE

“Offers up stunning battle sequences, intriguing moral quandaries, and plenty of unexpected revelations…[a] fast-paced military-SF book with plenty of well-scripted action and adventure [and] a sympathetic narrator.”

—
SF Site

ROGUE CLONE

“Exciting space battles [and] haunting, quiet moments after war has taken its toll…Military-SF fans looking for stories that combine mystery, action, espionage, politics, and some thoughtful doses of humanism in exploring their not entirely human characters would do well to add Steven L. Kent to their reading lists.”

—SF Reviews.net

THE CLONE REPUBLIC

“A solid debut. Harris is an honest, engaging protagonist and thoughtful narrator, and Kent’s clean, transparent prose fits well with both the main character and the story’s themes…Kent is a skillful storyteller, and the book entertains throughout.”

—
Sci Fi Weekly

“The first sentence gets you immediately…From there, the action begins fast and furious, with dark musings, lavish battle scenes, and complex characterizations…
The Clone Republic
feature[s] taut writing and a truly imaginative plot full of introspection and philosophizing.”

—
The Village Voice

“A character-driven epic that understands that the best war stories are really antiwar stories…a smartly conceived adventure.”

—SF Reviews.net

Ace Books by Steven L. Kent

THE CLONE REPUBLIC

ROGUE CLONE

THE CLONE ALLIANCE

THE CLONE ELITE

THE CLONE BETRAYAL

THE CLONE EMPIRE

THE CLONE REDEMPTION

THE CLONE SEDITION

STEVEN L. KENT

An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author

Ace mass-market edition / November 2012

Copyright © 2012 by Steven L. Kent.

Cover art by Christian McGrath.

Cover design by Judith Lagerman.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

ISBN: 978-1-101-61216-3

Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is

stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the

author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

Having grown up during the era of Muhammad Ali, I’ve always wanted to write a novel about boxing. Last August, I finally put on the gloves, so to speak, and started writing.

Pleased with the results of that particular experiment—a satirical novel that merged real boxing lore with four heavyweight champions of my own invention—I rushed the first fifty pages to Richard, my agent. He phoned back a few days later to tell me that while he admired my sports-writing abilities, the book was unsellable because no one buys novels about boxing. (For those of you willing to prove Richard wrong, the first third of the book has been released as an e-book called
Long Live the Champion.)

Richard feared that I had lost touch with my readers. As his advice should always be taken to heart, I decided to spend the holidays working at my local Barnes & Noble…Call it a paid internship. I met customers, stocked shelves, and received a first-rate education about the other half of the book business from people who genuinely know what they are doing.

One thing that I learned is that most people in the book-selling business are smart and well-read. With an increase in online sales and a growing apathy toward the art of reading, however, the business of selling books has become unreasonably difficult.

Steven L. Kent

January 5, 2012

This book is dedicated to the brilliant, hardworking, and talented crew at Barnes & Noble #2617—Joe, Niki, Todd, Andrew, Sean, Adrian, AnnaLee, Angela, Carly, Cassie, Debra, Dick, Hilary, Jamie, Jason, Jay, Jose, Katie, Lisa, Maria, Mary, Mo, Nina, Renee, Rianna, Roxie, Susan, and Tuesday. Thank you for the many lessons and the endless hospitality.

Following the examples of Chevrolet, Oracle, IBM, and ConAgra Foods, Microsoft moves its headquarters from the United States to Shanghai. Referring to their company as a “global corporation,” Microsoft executives claim they are still committed to U.S. prosperity, but with its burgeoning economy, China has become the company’s most important market.

Even with Toyota and Hyundai increasing their manufacturing activities in the United States—spurred on by the favorable cheap labor conditions—the U.S. economy becomes dependent on the shipping of raw materials and farm goods.

Bottoming out as the world’s thirteenth largest economy behind China, United Korea, India, Cuba, the European Economic Community, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Israel, and Unincorporated France, the United States government focuses on maintaining its position as the world’s last military superpower.

Armadillo Aerospace announces the discovery of broadcast physics, a new technology capable of translating matter into data waves that can be transmitted to any location instantaneously. This opens the way for pangalactic exploration without time dilation or the dangers of light-speed travel.

The United States creates the first-ever fleet of self-broadcasting ships, a scientific fleet designed to locate suitable planets for future colonization. When initial scouting reports suggest that the rest of the galaxy is uninhabited, politicians
fire up public sentiment with talk about a new “manifest destiny” and spreading humanity across space.

The discovery of broadcast physics leads to the creation of the Broadcast Network—a galactic superhighway consisting of satellites that send and receive ships across the galaxy. The Broadcast Network ushers in the age of galactic expansion.

With the growth of its space-based economy, the United States reclaims its spot as the wealthiest nation on Earth. Russia and Korea become the first nations to sign the IGTA (Intergalactic Trade Accord), a treaty opening the way for other nations to become self-governing American territories and enjoy full partnership in the space-based economy.

In an effort to create a competing alliance, France unveils its Cousteau Oceanic Exploration program and announces plans to create undersea colonies. Only Tahiti signs on.

After the other nations of the European Economic Union, Japan, and all of Africa become members of the IGTA, France discontinues its undersea colonization and joins the IGTA. Several nations, most notably China and Afghanistan, refuse to sign, leading to a minor world war in which the final holdouts are coerced into signing the treaty.

More than 80 percent of the world’s population is eventually sent to establish colonies throughout the galaxy.