Von Neumann's War

Somebody was testing a planet-killing weapon on Mars—
and the next target was Earth

Mars is the staging ground. Earth is the target. A storm of invasion gathers as the Red Planet pales and Earth scientists – amateurs and professionals alike – race to discover what it portends. Worse news: the horde of self-replicating probes suspected as the cause – implacable and all-consuming in its own right – may be only the tip of a full-scale assault.

Ideas — the only useful weapon when facing an adversary an order of magnitude more advanced than you are. But against such an enemy, thought without action is as futile as war-making without a plan. Humanity’s hope? The “straddlers”: intelligent soldiers who know their science — and fighting scientists who have no scruples about using their smarts to kick some alien butt. Yet even with the right people finally on the job, the hour is late.

For Mars glows red again. And the swarm is nearly upon us!

Multiple New York Times and USA Today best-seller John Ringo rocks our world as hard as he did with his ground-breaking “Posleen War” series, teaming with NASA and DOD scientist Travis S. Taylor, a specialist in advanced propulsion and space telescopes — and popular author of Warp Speed and The Quantum Connection — to usher in a new saga of invasion, resistance and heroism!

"If Tom Clancy were writing SF, it would read much like John Ringo."
—Philadelphia Weekly Press on New York Times best-seller John Ringo.

“[S]timulating and satisfying speculation.”
—Publishers Weekly on Travis S. Taylor’s The Quantum Connection.

Cover Art by Kurt Miller

Hardcover

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, August 2006

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Ringo, John, 1963-
  Von Neumann's war / John Ringo &
Travis S. Taylor.
       p. cm.
  ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-2075-7
  ISBN-10: 1-4165-2075-9
1. Mars (Planet)--Fiction. 2. Life on other planets--Fiction. 3. Space warfare--Fiction. I. Taylor, Travis S. II. Title.

  PS3568.I577V66 2006
  813'.6--dc22

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-2075-7
ISBN-10: 1-4165-2075-9

A Baen Books Original
Baen publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com

Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webscription.net

VON NEUMANN'S WAR

JOHN RINGO
&
TRAVIS S. TAYLOR

To the soldiers, contractors, analysts, scientists, and engineers who press daily to maintain our nation's security

The Commando's Prayer

Give me, my God, what you still have;
give me what no one asks for.
I do not ask for wealth, nor success,
nor even health.
People ask you so often, God, for all that,
that you cannot have any left.
Give me, my God, what you still have.
Give me what people refuse to accept from you.
I want insecurity and disquietude;
I want turmoil and brawl.
And if you should give them to me,
my God, once and for all,
let me be sure to have them always,
for I will not always
have the courage to ask for them.

Corporal Zirnheld
Special Air Service
1942

Also by John Ringo

There Will Be Dragons
Emerald Sea
Against the Tide
East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Ghost
Kildar
Choosers of the Slain
Unto the Breach (forthcoming)

Princess of Wands
Into the Looking Glass

A Hymn Before Battle
Gust Front
When the Devil Dances
Hell's Faire
The Hero (with Michael Z. Williamson)
Cally's War (with Julie Cochrane)
Watch on the Rhine (with Tom Kratman)

The Road to Damascus by John Ringo & Linda Evans

with David Weber:

March Upcountry
March to the Sea
March to the Stars
We Few

Also by Travis S. Taylor

Warp Speed
Quantum Connection