The Terminal Experiment - Robert J. Sawyer

Praise for The Terminal Experiment

Winner of the Science Fiction

and Fantasy Writers of America’s Nebula Award

for Best Novel of the Year

Finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel of the Year

Winner of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Award (“the Aurora”)

for Best Novel of the Year

“A terrific mix of science, technological derring-do, and murder. A great story; a crackerjack novel.”

—The Globe and Mail

“A very intriguing philosophical journey; a taut, believable exciting mystery story.”

—Edmonton Journal

“Audacious. Sawyer is to be commended for raising important philosophical issues in the form of a highly entertaining scientific mystery. His characters are convincing; their motivations and relationships are always at the heart of the action.”

—The Montreal Gazette

“A page-turner; a quality read. Murder is the name, and chases through cyberspace the game—a cautionary tale straight from the murky depths of the brave new world of our data future. Entirely realistic.”

—Ottawa Citizen

“Sawyer has succeeded in blending the high-tech mystery novel with the cutting-edge-future SF story, and has enriched both with fascinating philosophical speculation about life after death. This book matters.”

—Hugo and Nebula winner Nancy Kress

“Sawyer’s impressive storytelling skills make The Terminal Experiment a compelling thriller.”

—Toronto Star

“Robert J. Sawyer won the Nebula Award with this novel, and I would have voted for it. There is so much of interest in this book—artificial intelligence, a good murder mystery, a nicely realized near-future, and, as I’ve come to expect from Sawyer’s novels, thought-provoking philosophy.”

—SF Site

Praise for Robert J. Sawyer

“By any reckoning Sawyer is among the most successful Canadian authors ever.”

—Maclean’s

“Sawyer is Canada’s answer to Michael Crichton.”

—Toronto Star

“A writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation.”

—The New York Times

“Robert J. Sawyer’s novels—intelligent, literate, and immensely readable explorations of the biggest ideas there are—prove that science fiction is now literature.”

—The Halifax Chronicle-Herald

“Can Sawyer write? Yes—with near-Asimovian clarity, with energy and drive, with such grace that his writing becomes invisible as the story comes to life in your mind.”

—Hugo and Nebula winner Orson Scott Card

“No reader seeking well-written stories that respect, emphasize and depend on modern science should be disappointed by the works of Rob Sawyer.”

—The Washington Post

“Sawyer is the dean of Canadian science fiction.”

—Ottawa Citizen

“Sawyer is on a par with giants like Asimov and Heinlein— and, perhaps more than any other science-fiction writer working today, he understands that it’s a genre about ideas.”

—Mystery News

“Sawyer is one of the most successful Canadian writers ever. He has won himself an international readership by reinvigorating the traditions of hard science fiction, following the path of such writers as Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein in his bold speculations from pure science. Almost alone among Canadian writers, he tackles the most fundamental questions of who we are and where we might be going— while illuminating where we are now.”

—National Post

“If Robert J. Sawyer were a corporation, I would buy stock in him. He’s on my (extremely short) Buy-On-Sight list, and belongs on yours.”

—Spider Robinson

“Robert J. Sawyer is just about the best science fiction writer out there these days.”

—The Denver Rocky Mountain News

“It is clear that the Canadians regard Robert J. Sawyer as a national treasure, as well they should.”

—Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show

PENGUIN CANADA

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Canada Inc.)

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin 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 0745, Auckland, 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

Published in Penguin Canada paperback by Penguin Group (Canada), a division of Pearson

Canada Inc., 2009

Originally published in the United States by HarperPrism, an imprint of

Publishers, 1995

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (OPM)

© Robert J. Sawyer, 1995

This novel was originally serialized in four parts under the title Hobson’s Choice in Analog

Science Fiction and Fact magazine’s mid-December 1994 through March 1995 issues.

All rights reserved.

Without limiting the rights under reserved above,

no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval

system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written