Description: Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Foreword Book 1 - Knowledge of God Part 1 - A MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW Part 2 - WALKING STAR Part 3 - TRUE RELIGION Part 4 - THE ORDER OF THE EYE Book 2 - Two Journeys Part 5 - BEYOND THE MERIDIAN SEA Part 6 - CARLOS''S PIZZA Part 7 - THE NEW BRIGHTON STORY Part 8 - APOTHEOSIS TIMELINE: COYOTE HISTORY Acknowledgements Novels by Allen M. Steele NEAR-SPACE SERIES ORBITAL DECAY CLARKE COUNTY, SPACE LUNAR DESCENT LABYRINTH OF NIGHT A KING OF INFINITE SPACE THE JERICHO ITERATION THE TRANQUILLITY ALTERNATIVE OCEANSPACE CHRONOSPACE COYOTE TRILOGY COYOTE COYOTE RISING COYOTE FRONTIER COYOTE CHRONICLES COYOTE HORIZON COYOTE UNIVERSE SPINDRIFT GALAXY BLUES Collections by Allen M. Steele RUDE ASTRONAUTS ALL-AMERICAN ALIEN BOY SEX AND VIOLENCE IN ZERO-G: THE COMPLETE "NEAR SPACE" STORIES AMERICAN BEAUTY THE LAST SCIENCE FICTION WRITER Nonfiction by Allen M. Steele PRIMARY IGNITION: ESSAYS 1997-2001 THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen''s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi--110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England This is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author''s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content. Copyright 2009 by Allen M. Steele. "Part Two: Walking Star" was originally published, in slightly different form, in Forbidden Planets , edited by Marvin Kaye, Science Fiction Book Club, May 2006. Map illustrations by Ron Miller and Allen Steele. Calendar illustration by Allen Steele. 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. ACE and the "A" design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Steele, Allen M. eISBN : 978-1-101-01956-6 1. Space colonies--Fiction. 2. Life on other planets--Fiction. 3. Outer space--Exploration-- Fiction. 4. Interplanetary voyages--Fiction. I. Title. PS3569.T338425C693 2009 813''.54--dc22 2008049491 FOREWORD When I began writing Coyote in early 2000, I believed that the tale I wanted to tell--the story of the first starship from Earth and the first interstellar colony--could be done in one volume. I''d been researching and developing this particular novel through most of the previous decade; after a couple of false starts, the time had finally come to put it down on paper. As things turned out, though, the story was too big for one novel, so I decided to write a sequel, Coyote Rising , which would tie up the threads left hanging at the end of the first book. Yet that wasn''t enough, either; by the time I finished the second book, I''d come to realize that I still hadn''t answered a lot of questions I myself had put forward. As a result, a third book became necessary, and thus I wrote Coyote Frontier . Once the Coyote trilogy was finished, I turned my attention to other matters, including a couple of independent novels-- Spindrift and Galaxy Blues --set in the same universe. Then something happened that I didn''t expect. When reviews of Coyote Frontier started coming in, quite a few critics expressed the opinion that, while it was obvious that I''d wrapped up the story line, there was more about Coyote that remained to be told. Then I began receiving fan mail from readers, with the majority asking me to write more. One reader used the maps Ron Miller and I had created to build a globe of Coyote; it now rests on my desk as a reference tool. Another took my description of the Coyote Federation flag to make one for me; it''s taped to my notebook. Yet another went so far as to create an entire fan website that included interactive maps and lists of all the major characters, events, starships, and locales mentioned in the books (you can visit it at www.coyoteseries.com). Not long after that, Coyote entered the curriculum of university science-fiction courses, with one student emailing me to ask questions for a dissertation she was writing about the trilogy. Motivated by the attention, I decided to write some short fiction about Coyote. The first story, "Walking Star," occurred after the events of Coyote Frontier ; a slightly different version appears in this novel as Part Two. A second novella, "The River Horses," filled in the gap between Coyote and Coyote Rising . And a short story, "The War of Dogs and Boids," related an incident that didn''t make its way into Coyote . I thought these stories would satisfy everyone, but they only added fuel to the fire. Readers continued to insist that I write more about the world I had created, and after a while I came to realize that, although the original story arc was complete, I wasn''t finished with this place yet. It should be pointed out that Coyote Horizon isn''t the "fourth book of the trilogy" but rather the first volume of a duology; the second volume, Coyote Destiny , will conclude the story arc. Although astute readers of this series may notice that the events of Coyote Horizon are roughly concurrent with those depicted in Galaxy Blues , it isn''t necessary to read the other book first in order to understand this novel. This novel is dedicated to everyone who asked for more. Thank you for your support, and for demanding that I return to Coyote. DRAMATIS PERSONAE Montero Family Carlos Montero--former president and diplomatic attach, Coyote Federation Wendy Gunther--former president, Coyote Federation Susan Montero--naturalist, Colonial University Jonathan Parson--captain, CFS Ted LeMare Jorge Montero II--Susan and Jon''s son Hawk Thompson--customs inspector Melissa Sanchez--prostitute Sawyer Lee--wilderness guide Joseph Walking Star Cassidy--equerry Morgan Goldstein--CEO, Janus Ltd. Mike Kennedy--Goldstein''s bodyguard Grey Rice--Dominionist missionary Alberto Consenza--Dominionist deacon Joe Bains--parole officer Lynn Hu--journalist Barry Dreyfus--pilot and first mate, CFS Ted LeMare David Laird--member, Living Earth "Hurricane Dave" Peck--bartender Charlie Banks--gyro pilot Owen McKay--innkeeper Bess Cole--barmaid Yuri Scklovskii--drover Anastasia Tereshkova--commodore, Coyote Federation Navy Russell Heflin--chief petty officer, CFSS Robert E. Lee Tomas Conseco--aide to Wendy Gunther Dieter Vogel--ambassador, European Alliance Mahamatasja Jas Sa-Fhadda-- hjadd Prime Emissary Jasahajahd Taf Sa-Fhadda-- hjadd Cultural Ambassador PROLOGUE BRIDGETON, NEW FLORIDA--ASMODEL 22, C.Y. 16 Traveler''s Rest, the home of two former presidents of the Coyote Federation, was located on top of the Eastern Divide, the granite wall that separated the savannas of New Florida from the broad expanse of the East Channel. Built of sturdy blackwood imported from Great Dakota, with a slate roof cantilevered at a forty-five-degree angle, the manor overlooked the channel and the port town of Bridgeton and, on the other side of the Divide, the grassy flatlands that lay southwest of Liberty. The residence had its own wind turbine, a slender pylon on which three blades slowly rotated in the early-spring breeze, as well as a satellite dish perched on a corner of the roof. Although visible for many miles, the house could only be reached by a narrow dirt road that wound its

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