“No. But this telepathy effect exposes everything to everybody. That’s what he came here to do. Therefore, he is aware of our arrival.”
“Can you determine the source of the effect?”
“No.”
“Very well. Come with me now.” Aaron walked out into the companionway.
Inigo gave Corrie-Lyn a bemused shrug, and the two of them followed meekly behind Aaron as he went into the scoutship’s main airlock.
The landing pad had extruded a malmetal cylinder that was compatible with the starship’s seal. The outer door expanded, showing the cylinder curving down. Aaron stepped through and glided forward in the low gravity. The cylinder bent in a sharp double curve to take them through the tube wall. They passed through a translucent pressure curtain that shivered around them, and then they were inside a small blue metal building with open archways. The temperature and humidity rose sharply to subtropical levels. They walked through the arches onto a broad paved area. The tube’s inner surface was covered in lush pink-tinged grasses and long meandering gray-blue forests. Fifteen kilometers above their heads, a sliver of dazzling white light ran along the axis of the tube, shining through the thick smears of helical cloud that drifted along the interior. As soon as they’d stepped through the pressure curtain, Corrie-Lyn had felt the gravity rise to about two-thirds Earth standard, which gave her the visual impression of standing at the bottom of a cylinder where anything moving on the solid roof above her should fall straight down, though intellectually she knew damn well that every point of the landscape arching above her had the same gravity.
She puffed her cheeks out, partly from the heat and partly from the improbability of the vista. “And this is just the transport route?”
“One of them,” Aaron replied. “There are short-length wormholes and some T-spheres operational within the structure. However, they are under the control of the species which installed them. The tubes provide a general connection between chambers.”
“We walk?” she asked incredulously.
“No.” Aaron looked up.
Corrie-Lyn followed his gaze, seeing a dark triangle descending out of the glaring light straight toward them. As it grew closer, she could see it was some kind of aircraft, maybe twenty meters long and quite fat given its otherwise streamlined appearance. Human lettering was stenciled on the narrow swept tail fin, registration codes that made no sense. Landing legs unfolded neatly fore and aft, and it settled on the tough wiry grass. A door swung open halfway along its bulging belly. No malmetal, then, she mused. She couldn’t see any jet intakes, either. Whatever propelled it had to be similar to ingrav.
The cabin interior was basic and somehow primitive to anyone accustomed to the Commonwealth’s ubiquitous capsules. She sank into a chair that could have been designed only for a human body. The hull wasn’t transparent, either, which disappointed her. Inigo picked up on the feeling. “There’s a sensor feed,” he told her, and gave her u-shadow a little access routine that wasn’t like any program she was familiar with.
“How do you know that?” she asked as the aircraft’s camera views unfolded in her exovision. They were already lifting fast, not that the acceleration was apparent.
“I’m monitoring Aaron’s datatraffic,” he replied levelly.
After it rose above the thick winding clouds, the aircraft shot forward. The speed made Corrie-Lyn blink. “Wow,” she murmured.
“As best I can make out, we’re doing about Mach twenty,” Inigo said. “Even with the way this tube bends about, you can probably get from one end of the Spike to the other in a couple of hours.”
“So what’s the place we’re going to?”
“The chamber has been named Octoron,” Aaron said curtly.
“How far?”
“Flight duration approximately three minutes.”
She rolled her eyes, hoping her mind wasn’t showing just how unnerving she found this machinelike version of Aaron, though presumably he no longer had the thought routines that bothered about such emotional trivia. When she concentrated on the few thought impulses inside his head, they were all calm and cool, so much so that it was hard to sense them at all.
Their little plane looped casually halfway around the axial light, then slowed quickly to begin its vertical decent. They landed close to a broad low dome of some silver-gray fabric that had wide arches around the base. It was obviously a transport hub; several other planes were landing and taking off. People came and went from the cathedral-sized dome, dressed like any citizens of the Outer Commonwealth worlds in a mix of styles from ultramodern toga suits down to the whimsy of centuries past.
Sitting right at the center of the airy dome was a gold-mirrored sphere whose lower quarter was hidden belowground. People were walking in and out of it, pushing through the surface as if it were less substantial than mist. As she walked toward it, Corrie-Lyn was conscious of the suspicion and curiosity starting to emanate from the minds around her. Her consternation that Inigo at least would be recognized was acting as positive feedback. Several people stopped to stare. She felt their astonishment as recognition dawned. It was swiftly tinged by anger and resentment.
Just before they reached the gold surface, Aaron took Inigo’s hand. “Do not attempt to evade me,” he warned.
“I have no intention to,” Inigo told him.
Aaron was still holding him as they all went through the sphere wall. Corrie-Lyn felt the surface flow around her like a pressure curtain. Then she was falling slowly as gravity shrank away again. It was gloomy inside. Her macrocellular clusters ran vision-amplifying routines, enabling her to see the wide shaft she was dropping down. It was a variant on a null-grav chute, about three hundred meters long. Aaron and Inigo were a couple of meters ahead of her.
The descent took barely a minute. Whatever gravity distortion was gripping her, it began to flip her around so that she wound up rising to the far end of the chute. It was covered by a murky barrier identical to the one at the other end of the chute. Her skin tingled as she passed through.
Emergence location: plaza.
Active> Grade three integral force field
Active> Level two biononic field scan. Scan summation: plaza one hundred seventy-eight point three meters major diameter. Three main access roads, five secondary streets. Immediate population eighty-seven adult humans, subdivision fifty-three Higher; nineteen children under twelve. No alien life-forms. Surrounding buildings average height twenty-five meters, facade composition high-purity iron. Domestic power supply one hundred twenty volts; high rate communication net. Visible transport: bicycles. Gravatonic fluctuation indicates seven ingrav drive units operational within three kilometers.
Preliminary assessment: secure environment. No threat to subject alpha. Subject alpha restrained by physical grip; maintain restraint condition.
Primary mission commencement: Determine location of Oswald Fernandez Isaacs.
Four options.
Initiate option one: ask.
“You.”
Octoron citizen one: male, height one point seven two centimeters; biononic functionality moderate: “Yes?”
“Where is Oswald Fernandez Isaacs?”
Octoron citizen one: “Who? Hey, aren’t you Inigo?”
Subject alpha: “Yeah, ’fraid so.”
Octoron citizen one: “You bastard. You stupid selfish bastard. What are you doing here?”
Subject alpha: “Look, I’m sorry. This is complicated. Please answer his question. We need to find Ozzie.”
Octoron citizen one: “Hey, why can’t I sense your thoughts?”
“Irrelevant. Do you know where Isaacs is?”
Octoron citizen one: “You’re with Inigo? Go screw yourself.”
Scan> Octoron citizen one altering biononic field functions. Skin temperature rising, heart rate increasing, muscle contraction, elevated adrenaline. Analysis: possible aggression.
Threat.
Response.
Activate> Biononic weapons field.
Armed> Disrupter pulse. Target: midsection Octoron citizen one. Fire.
External sound level increasing. Human screaming.
Subject beta: “Oh, great Lady! You killed him.”
“I neutralized the threat.”
“Threat? What fucking threat, you monster?”
Primary mission: option one failure. Go to option two.
“You.”
Octoron citizen two: female, one point five eight centimeters, zero biononics, full Advancer macrocellular sequence. Running.
Capture.
“You.”
Octoron citizen two: “What? I haven’t done anything. Let me go. Help! Help!”
Subject beta: “Put her down, you bastard.”
“Is Oswald Fernandez Isaacs resident in the Spike?”
Octoron citizen two, no response.
Option two, second level.
Octoron citizen two: incoherent scream.
“Is Oswald Fernandez Isaacs resident in the Spike?”
Octoron citizen two: “Yes, yes, he’s here. Oh, shit, that hurts. Stop it, please. Please.”
Subject beta: “Let her go.”
Subject alpha: “Stop this now.”
Scan summation: twenty-three Higher humans activating high-level biononic fields.
Approaching. Interperson data exchanges increasing.
Threat imminent.
Response grade one to hostile enclosure situation.
“Halt now or I will kill her.”
Subject beta: “Stay back. Back. The maniac means it. Please, stay back.”
“Where is Oswald Fernandez Isaacs?”
Octoron citizen two: “I don’t know. Please.”
“Who knows where Isaacs is?”
Three Octoron citizens, simultaneously: “Let her go.”
Scan reception> Eight target sensors locking on.
“I will kill her unless he is brought to me.”
Subject alpha: “Stop this. Let me talk to them.”
“No.”
Enclosure threat elevated to grade five.
Response. Random target selection twelve citizens, three buildings.
Armed> Disrupter pulse. Sequential fire pattern.
Armed> Ion beam. Sequential fire pattern.
Scan> Level five> Successful penetration of debris cloud and atmospheric ionization.
Zero immediate threat.
Surrounding sound level high.
Humans in plaza retreating. Casualties fifteen. Fatalities five.
Octoron citizen two struggling. Uncooperative.
Primary mission: option two failure. Go to option three.
U-shadow download general broadcast into local communication net.
“This is an open message for Oswald Fernandez Isaacs. I mean you no harm. It is imperative that you contact me. I have Inigo with me. Together you can resolve the Void catastrophe.”
Subject beta: “Oh, that should do it, you moron dickhead. I’d be rushing to call you if it was me.” Voice level raised/condition hysterical.
“Be silent.”
Subject alpha: “Aaron, this has to stop. Do you understand? You are wrecking your own mission.”
Analysis.
Claim refuted.
“I know what I have to do. Don’t interfere.”
Subject alpha: “You don’t know. You’re dealing with humans; you need an emotional component in your reasoning. And you don’t have that anymore.”
“This environment is hostile to my emotion-based routines; it corrodes my rationality. They cannot be permitted.”
Subject beta: “Oh, shit. Shit, what do we do?”
Subject alpha: “I don’t know.”
Alert> T-sphere establishing across Octoron. Emergence of eleven objects—distance fifty meters. Scan> Level eight> Intruders identified: adult tri-stage Chikoya encased in armor. Multiple weapon hardware attached. Force fields active.
Surrounding sound level increasing—human screaming.
Subject beta: “Great Lady, what are they?”
Chikoya one: “You are the human messiah.”
Analyze: How did they know that and locate subject alpha so quickly? Time elapsed since landing seventeen minutes.
Subject alpha: “I am Inigo, yes.”
Situation analysis. Chikoya engaging deployment maneuver. High tactical advantage in successful encirclement.
Probability of protecting subjects alpha and beta from synchronized Chikoya weapons fire: minimal. Option one: discard subject beta.
Chikoya one: “You have initiated a devourment phase in the Void.”
Subject alpha: “I haven’t been in contact with Edeard for over a century and a half.”
Chikoya one: “You initiated contact. You are responsible. You must stop it.”
“All Void activity will be ended. We will see to it. Now leave Octoron.”
Chikoya one: “Messiah, you will come with us. Your threat to the galaxy must be ended. Come now.”
“Not permissible. Remove yourself and your kind from this place.”
Chikoya one: “Your messiah comes with us.”
“Inigo, raise your integral force field to its highest setting.”
Subject alpha: “What about Corrie-Lyn? Damn you, she’s naked out here.”
Subject beta: “What’s happening? Inigo, don’t go with those things, please. Aaron, you have to—”
Alert> Chikoya weapons activation.
Multiple target acquisition.
Armed> Disrupter pulse. Sequential fire.
Armed> Neutron lasers. Sequential fire.
Electronic countermeasures. Engaged. Full power.
Armed> Microkinetics. Smart acquisition. Free fire authority.
Cease fire.
Scan> Active Chikoya immediate area withdrawal. Redeployment. > Tracking.
Current tactical situation poor. Move. Subject alpha to accompany.
Subject alpha holding subject beta, force field extended to protect her.
“Let go of her.”
Subject alpha: “Fuck you.”
Scan.
Move into Building A. Utilize the cover it provides.
“Come with me.”
Moving. Subject alpha, subject beta, accompanying.
Alert> Multiple target acquisition.
Greatest tactical location: stand in Building A doorway.
Armed> Disrupter pulse. Sequential fire.
Armed> Neutron lasers. Sequential fire.
Armed> Ion beams. Sequential fire.
Armed> Microkinetics. Smart acquisition. Free fire authority.
Armed> Ariel smartseeker stealth mines. Chikoya profile loaded. Dispense.
Alert> Teleport emergence, eighteen armored Chikoya.
“We can’t get away. They know you’re here.”
Cease fire.
Subject alpha (shouting): “Tell me something I don’t know.”
Exit doorway. Weapons fire impact weakening Building A structure.
“This way.”
Enact exit strategy.
Scan> mapping Building A layout. Exit route confirmed. U-shadow established in local communications net, infiltrating adjacent transport capsules.
Alert> Chikoya access of Building A.
Targeting Building B structural load points.
Armed> Disrupter pulse. Fire.
Integral force field strengthened to resist partial Building A collapse. Fire outbreak. Scan through smoke. Three Chikoya disabled.
Subject alpha: “Where do we go?”
“We must leave the immediate area. Switch off your force field.”
Subject alpha: “What? In the Lady’s name, you’ve got to be joking.”
“Negative. They are tracking your presence through the telepathy effect. It is completely pervasive and leaves you exposed wherever you are.”
Subject alpha: “So?”
“Switch off your force field. I will render you unconscious. If you are not thinking, your thoughts cannot betray
our location.”
Subject beta: “Inigo! No! He’ll kill us both. He will; it’s what he does.”
“You are no use to me dead.”
Alert> Target acquisition: Building C rooftop.
Armed> Microkinetics suppression barrage. Fire.
Target eliminated.
Subject alpha: “But I can’t stop the Void if I’m unconscious.”
“When I acquire Isaacs, I will insist he switch off the telepathy effect. No one will be able to find you then.”
Subject alpha: “Oh, sweet Lady.”
Subject beta: “No no no.”
Subject alpha: “You look after Corrie-Lyn, too.”
“I will.”
Alert> Nine Chikoya deploying in acquisition formation.
Subject alpha: “Aaron, whatever’s left of the real you in there, I’m holding you to that.”
Exit capsule approaching. Landing zone designated to u-shadow. Three decoy capsules en route—safety limiters disabled.
“You can rely on me.”
Subject alpha: “Very well.”
Subject beta: “No! Inigo, no, please.”
Scan confirmation, subject alpha force field deactivated. Targeting.
Armed> Microkinetics, minimal tissue damage mode selected, neurosedative tip loaded. Fire.
Subject beta: “No! Oh, Lady, you’ve killed him. Get away from me. Get away, you monster.”
Subject beta attempting to run.
Targeting.
Armed> Microkinetic, minimal tissue damage mode selected, neurosedative tip loaded. Fire.
Alert> Five Chikoya approaching, open assault formation.
Multiple target acquisition.
Armed> Disrupter pulse. Maximum power rating. Sequential fire. U-shadow update: landing exit capsule behind Building D.
Armed> Neutron lasers. Maximum power rating. Sequential fire.
U-shadow update: decoy capsules on collision vector. Mach eight. Accelerating.
Armed> Microkinetics. Enhanced explosive warheads. Free fire authority.
Armed> Ariel smartseeker stealth mines. Chikoya profile loaded. Dispense.
Alert> New targets.
Fire.
Fire.
Fire.
The Delivery Man’s biononics ran a last scan over the weird active-molecular vortex and the way it spun down through the quantum fields. It was an interesting chunk of superphysics technology, certainly. He had no idea what its function might actually be, though he suspected it was an elaborate experiment. Whatever it was, he was fairly sure it wasn’t the elevation mechanism.
The Void Trilogy 3-Book Bundle Page 187