“The warships will be disabled, not destroyed,” Kazimir said. “I could not countenance such a loss of life.”
“Then I don’t even see what you convened us for,” Crispin said.
“Because Governance and I don’t want to reveal our true capability outside a genuine and serious threat, which this is not.”
“Rock and a hard place,” Gore grunted. “The only way to deal with them without huge loss of life all around is by using ANA’s technology, which in turn makes us frightening to all the physical aliens knocking around this section of the galaxy.”
“This is a morals debate?” Ilanthe mocked.
“It might get even the Raiel worried about us,” Justine said.
“Gets my vote,” Gore said. “Supercilious little turds. It’s about time someone gave their pedestal a good kicking.”
“Oh, stop it,” Justine told him.
Gore leaned forward. “Deliver a warning to the command ship,” he said. “If it is ignored, disable that ship. If they continue after that, take the lot of ’em down. Use the lowest level of technology we’ve got that will do the job, but do it.”
“Seconded,” Crispin said.
“I would point out that it will be a nestling of the Emperor in charge of the fleet,” Creewan said. “The political implications of the ruling nest being defeated are not good. The likelihood of subsequent instability is strong.”
“Which neither harms nor concerns us,” John Thelwell said. He gave the Custodian a dismissive glance. “We’ve given the Empire a beating before; they never learn.”
“Our position gives us an obligation,” Justine said.
“Only according to human morals,” Ilanthe said. “These are aliens.”
“I wish to remain true to myself, thank you,” Justine said primly.
“Of course you do.”
“I vote against any physical force being used against the Empire fleet, no matter how restrained. We need to seek an alternative.”
“Thank you, Mother,” Kazimir said. “Anyone else against the motion?”
Creewan raised his hand.
Kazimir looked around the table. “Then it is the majority vote that the navy deliver a warning to the command ship and subsequently disable it if that warning is ignored. I will initiate that immediately.”
“And what if they keep coming after the command ship is taken out?” Justine asked. “Which they will, and you all know it.”
“Then I will reconvene this committee,” Kazimir said.
She let out an exasperated hiss of breath and against all etiquette withdrew instantly. The others stared at the vacated space as the perceptual reality adjusted to her absence.
“That’s what being in a real body does for you,” Ilanthe muttered archly.
“I will, of course, provide a secure link to the navy ship delivering the ultimatum,” Kazimir said. “All of you will be able to access the event.”
“How long until the demand is made?” John Thelwell asked.
“I’d like to bring in a ship which I know has the ability to disable a Starslayer without loss of life,” Kazimir said. “We have that capability in the Hancher assistance squadron. Flight time will be within ten days. The warning will allow them one Earth day to turn around.”
“We’ll be back here in two weeks, then,” Gore predicted.
Less than a second after the meeting officially ended, Ilanthe requested access to Gore’s personal perceptual reality. He had been expecting it and permitted her entry as he ambled along the white sand beach below the headland. She walked up out of the water, wearing a blue and white bikini.
“Very Ursula Andress,” he said appreciatively. Gone was the spiky Cat hairstyle of the meeting; she was shaking droplets out of long honey-colored tresses.
“Thank you.” Ilanthe squinted up at the noon sun, holding a pale hand across her forehead. “The governors you have configuring this place are very crude. Am I likely to get sunburn?”
“They’re not crude, just strong. Prevents hostiles trojaning in nasty surprises. And no, you won’t get sunburn; just increase your skin pigmentation factor.”
“Ah.” She blinked as her skin darkened to a rich bronze. “It’s still a very earthy environment to me. Will you get me drunk and seduce me?”
“Sex is common enough between enemies.”
“Oh, Gore,” she said, pouting. “We’re not enemies. Besides, we both got what we wanted out of the meeting.”
“Did we?”
“We both voted for the same thing. Why, is dear Justine still sulking?”
He started walking along the shoreline again. “One word of genuine advice: Don’t ever underestimate my daughter. I still do occasionally. It’s a mistake.”
“Point taken. Do you think Kazimir will delay because of her?”
“Fuck, no. He’s the most Right Stuff human you’ll ever meet. Government gave him a clear order, so he clicks his boot heels, salutes, and presses the button.”
“You are so anachronistic. You really should update your references.”
“What? Haul myself all the way into the twenty-fifth century?”
“Well, one step at a time.”
“That’s when you were born, wasn’t it?”
She chuckled. “They’re right. You are pure evil.”
“Who’s they?”
“Just about everybody.”
“They’re probably right, then. So what can I do for you?”
“Can we deal?”
“On the Pilgrimage? Sure.”
“Interesting capitulation. Why do I not believe you?”
“It’s going to be a cusp event. Every faction knows it. Hell, even some of the animals outside are waking up to what’s going on. The Darwinists are wetting themselves with excitement. And your group isn’t much better while you run around pushing and prodding in places you shouldn’t.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“That ass Marius is clocking a lot of light-years.”
She pretended shock, her hand going to the base of her throat. “As is your Delivery Man.”
“True Conservatives are paranoid little creatures. They have good cause.”
“You claim you’re not one of them?”
“I have an affiliation.”
“Funny, according to our files, you’re the chairman of the board.”
“You really should update your references.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Look, do you want to deal or not?”
“You’re very hot in that pose, you know that?”
“Gore!”
“All right, what are you offering?”
“Some détente. A little less manipulation from both sides.”
“Let the animals decide, you mean. I don’t think I can buy that coming from you. In any case, we’ve both spent so long moving our pawns into place that they’ll just keep on going without us now.” He tilted his head to one side and smiled. “Or am I missing something?”
“No.”
“Really? Perhaps some critical event that you need to work smoothly?”
“Moments like that are made up by historians after the event to justify their own dreary existence. There’s no one thing which will make or break the Pilgrimage.”
“Really? Have you ever tried telling Ozzie or Nigel that the actions of an individual are historically invalid?”
“Nobody manipulated them. And this is a distraction. We simply want both sides to cool down.”
“So the Accelerator Faction wants to let galactic events be decided by animals. Hmm. No wonder you don’t like my environment; it doesn’t have any flying pigs.”
“Is that your answer?”
“No. But I am mildly curious. Unless either a faction or ANA: Governance itself intervenes, the Pilgrimage ships will launch. So what the fuck exactly is the Accelerator line on the galaxy being devoured by the Void, exterminating all life, including ourselves?”
“It won’t
happen. This is why I’m here, to tell you we have taken precautions in the event of the worst-case scenario.”
Gore stopped and turned to stare at her, genuinely surprised. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“If the Void’s boundary sweeps through this sector of space, Earth and ANA will be perfectly safe.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Oh, yes, we do.”
“I really, really hope you’re not basing your goals on some chunk of weapons technology you’ve managed to cobble together with a couple of old replicators. The Raiel cannot defeat the boundary. Even ANA: Governance can’t work out what will happen if and when the Void’s boundary washes across itself.”
“That level of expansion is extremely unlikely, to the point of sheer impossibility. First, the stars of the Wall have tremendous mass, enough to facilitate the wishes of every Living Dream pilgrim for centuries. It is an absolute fallacy that every star in the galaxy will be engulfed by the Void. It’s Raiel propaganda shouted in tedious repetition by the Ocisens. The Raiel are an ancient failed race, as changeless as the Void itself; they have no right to dictate to us. Even if the entire galactic core gets devoured, it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing alive in there; the planets are radiation-saturated husks of rock. You even believe it yourself, always accusing us of wanting the devourment. Have I ever said that?”
“No. I know exactly what Accelerators want: fusion. Right? You want to merge ANA with the fabric of the Void continuum. You think that’s how we’ll achieve postphysical status.”
“You have accessed Inigo’s dreams. We know the Conservatives have analyzed them as thoroughly as everyone else. Inside the Void, the mind directly affects the fabric of the universe. We can take charge of our own destiny.”
“No, no, no,” Gore shouted. “The Void is not a fucking universe; it is a microverse, a tiny insignificant little speck of nothing. In cosmological terms, it doesn’t even register. You can play God in there, for sure; the Waterwalker does it. But you’re only God in there, nowhere else. It is an alien version of ANA, that’s all. That’s not transcendence; it’s being so far up your own ass that you can’t see what’s going on outside.”
“It is a huge opportunity for growth. The Void has stalled; it has been changeless for millions—billions—of years. We can reinvigorate it. Humans have already begun that process, ordinary pitiful animals that now have mental powers even we can only fantasize about. Imagine what will happen when ANA has full access to such a technology and begins to manipulate it in new directions.”
“Sweet Ozzie, you are pitiful. I’d be contemptuous if I considered you sentient, but you’re not even that.”
“We knew you would be opposed to the fusion. This is what our offer concerns.”
“Go on,” Gore said suspiciously.
“We will duplicate ANA. Those who wish to attain fusion with the Void can stay here; those who do not can transfer over and fly free.”
“That doesn’t solve a fucking thing, girlie. The Void can’t be allowed to fuse with a postphysical mind or even ANA, which, face it, isn’t there yet.”
Ilanthe’s expression hardened. “Your language betrays you. ‘Can’t be allowed’? You don’t have the right to make that judgment. Evolution will occur, triggered either by the Pilgrimage or by a more direct connection. For all you know, the Waterwalker himself may bring about expansion.”
“He happened a thousand years ago, ten thousand for all we know.”
“Time is irrelevant in there.”
“Shit! You’re not Accelerators, not anymore; you’ve seen the light and converted to Living Dream.”
“We have seen an opportunity to advance ourselves and taken it. We have never hidden our purpose from anyone.”
“Accelerators didn’t start out lusting after the Void.”
“Now you are betraying your age, your own changeless nature.”
“I should just get out of the way, then, should I? Maybe simply erase myself? Make it all nice and simple for the new order.”
“You are responsible for your own destiny.” She shrugged an elegant shoulder. “Your choice.”
“Okay, granted, and I will make it, believe me. But assuming you’re right and the Void doesn’t expand like a hyperspace tsunami when the Pilgrimage gets inside, how are you going to fuse ANA with it?”
“We don’t have to. Highers will travel with the Pilgrimage ships. They will study the true nature of the Void fabric and the mechanism which generates it.”
“If it can be built once,” Gore said quietly, “it can be built again.”
Ilanthe smiled. “Now you understand. We can build a second Void here in this solar system and bring about the fusion right away. ANA will evolve and transcend.”
“Nice science experiment. What happens if it doesn’t work? ANA is the core of Higher culture; Earth is the physical center of the Commonwealth. If you take that away, two cultures will suffer.”
“I never thought I’d hear that: Gore Burnelli, whining liberal. Normal, Higher, and Advancer humans will have to make their own way in the universe. That, too, is evolution.”
“In a galaxy that your arrogance will have given a very short future.”
“Our solution is one that will satisfy all factions. Both of us can carry on almost as before.”
“You weren’t even born on Earth. I was. It’s my home. And I’m not letting anyone fuck with it.”
“Then you are even less developed than we gave you credit for. Our offer stands. I expect the other factions will take us up on it when they see the inevitability of what is to come.”
“Are you planning to blow the Empire fleet out of space?”
Ilanthe looked genuinely indignant. “Of course not. They are an irrelevance. Kazimir will deal with them one way or another.” She smiled coldly. “Please consider our offer, Gore. It is made in the spirit of reconciliation. After all, if anyone can be said to be ANA’s father, it is you. Time perhaps to let go and allow your child to make its own way in life.” She trotted back into the waves and dived below the water.
Gore stared at the surf where she had disappeared, his mind tracing her withdrawal from his personal reality. “Fuck me,” he grunted.
When he walked along the dirt track that curved up around the headland, he found Nelson already sitting by the pool at the base of the tower. As usual, there was a tall drink on the table beside him.
“Did you get all that?” Gore asked as he sat down.
“I got it all. I just don’t think I believe much of it. For a start, she’s being very glib about the Pilgrimage ships actually getting inside. What are you going to do?”
“I knew they wanted the kind of abilities the Void fabric has—that’s a logical development on the way to becoming postphysical—but I’m concerned about their method of acquisition. I don’t believe a damn word about some bunch of selfless academics going with the Pilgrimage to study how the thing is put together. We’re going to have to root around a little harder to find out what they’re really up to out there. Find out what you can about that guy Marius was visiting on Arevalo, that physicist, Troblum.”
“Will do. And what if ANA does finally become capable of ascending to postphysical status?”
“I’ve always known it would right from the start. That was the whole point of it—well, that and giving ourselves the ability to defend the Commonwealth.”
“Are you going to try to stop it?”
“Of course not. I just don’t want the natural process hijacked. And that’s what’s going to happen if we’re not careful.”
It was already night when Aaron’s regrav capsule landed on the pad of St. Mary’s clinic, just outside the reception block. He stepped out and looked around. The clinic was set in four square miles of thick forest, with individual buildings scattered across the landscape. Tall gistrel trees formed a dark wall around the pad, their long feathery branches blocking any view of the villas, medical blocks, spas, and leisure domes
he knew were out there. The only light came from the long windows of the reception block thirty meters away, shining through the black trunks.
Corrie-Lyn stood beside him, straightening her blouse. Her face was screwed up. “Gosh, I love the whole gloomy jungle-with-wild-creatures look they’ve gone for. Very welcoming.”
“Perhaps we could get your manic depression eradicated while we’re here.”
“Screw you.”
“Now remember, darling, happy faces.”
He gripped her hand and produced a big bright smile. She almost shook free, then remembered and drew a reluctant breath. “Okay, but this better be quick.”
The reception doors opened as they walked toward the low building. It was a plush interior that looked as if it had been carved out of pink and gold marble, with secluded grotto chambers recessed into the wall of the central hall. Most of the chambers had been utilized by exclusive retail outlets as display booths for their inordinately expensive designer clothes and products.
Their personal clinician was waiting to greet them: Ruth Stol, who clearly had been designed to promote the clinic’s expertise, with a body that resembled a teenage goddess draped in semitranslucent silver and pink fabric. Even Aaron, who was perfectly mission-focused, took a moment to admire and smile at the vision of vitality who extended her flawless hand in greeting. His field functions detected a discreet scan from the building security net, which he deflected easily enough, showing the sensors an image of a moderately overweight man. The additional volume around his torso was actually provided by a bandolier harness carrying an array of weapons.
Ruth Stol was devoid of all enrichments, though she had more macrocellular clusters than the average Advancer. Her nervous system shone with impulses operating at the kind of rate that normal humans could achieve only with a serious dose of accelerants.
“Thank you so much for choosing our clinic, Mr. Telfer,” she said. Her hand pressed against Aaron’s palm, squeezing flirtatiously. His biononics ran a check for pheromone infiltration. Paranoid! But her touch and voice were definitely arousing him; his exovision grid showed his heart rate up, his skin temperature rising.
The Void Trilogy 3-Book Bundle Page 33