***
The ship was the Excelsior . It was a far bigger and more elaborate vessel than the Goldman . It accommodated four times as many passengers. It was more comfortable. It had a much better menu. And the common room was transparent in all directions save along the spine of the ship. The comet, when we got to it, was spectacular. It was easy to imagine you were not even in a ship, but that you were out riding alongside the thing in your chair. With a glass of wine and a few hors d'oeuvres. Despite all that, I was in no mood for sightseeing. And I wasn't thinking straight. I sat there in the resplendent glow of the comet and wondered whether, when we got back, I could hide in the washroom until everyone had left, then make off with the Excelsior and take it out to the asteroid. There would probably not be a refueling problem. But I'd draw every Patrol ship in the area. Ivan was a better bet. Cavarotti's Comet had been looping around the sun and lighting the skies over Salud Afar for more than three thousand years. It had originally been reported by John Cavarotti, of whom nothing more was known. The pilot explained it was beginning to come apart, and scientists thought it would make only a few more passes before disintegrating. "There are a lot of people," he said, "who'd like to see it saved for future generations. So there's an effort under way." The comet was close enough to the sun to light up, and it was a spectacular sight. We got in front of it and looked back at the head. We sank below it and braked, allowing it to pass above us. The tail was endless. "More than a million kilometers long," said the pilot. "As comets go, it's pretty ordinary." During the second day, while we still watched the fireworks, the pilot came back and asked whether I was, by any chance, Chase Kolpath. I hesitated. "Yes." "Your boarding pass says you're Jane Armitage." "I'm a writer. Kolpath is my pseudonym." He frowned, then smiled. "Okay. I have a message for you. From Ivan." "Oh," I said. "Good." "I told him there was nobody on board with that name. But he described you. Including the accent." "All right. Thanks. I was hoping I'd get to see him." He handed me the message. Chase, it said, hope everything's okay. I'll be waiting when you get back. Ivan.
I disembarked without incident and found him at the off-ramp. He handed me a box of mints. "What's going on?" he asked. He watched me checking out the crowd. "Are you looking for somebody?" "Let's go where we can talk." "The club?" "First place they'd look for me." " Who'd look?" "CSS." He made a face. "What the hell are you into, Chase?" I shushed him. "I need to talk to you." His features scrunched up, and he made an unhappy noise deep in his throat. "My place won't work. Kara's got her tikondo group tonight." Cardplayers. We eventually decided on the Samuels Lounge. It was big and crowded, and when we scouted it, I saw no sign of trouble. "Okay," he said. "Tell me what's going on." We settled into a booth with a magnificent view: Callistra, blue and brilliant above the rim of the world, and the sky dark and empty behind it. Somewhere out there other galaxies existed. But you couldn't see any of them. I leaned across the table and lowered my voice.
In the middle of it, our drinks came, something unpronounceable for him, dark wine for me. I opened the mints and pushed them toward him. He took one, listened, stared at the table, stared at me, looked around the restaurant. When I'd finished, he sat like a man who'd just been hit with a brick. "And you think they're holding Benedict?" "There's no question they're holding him. Or worse." Ivan was considerably grayer than he'd been during my flight-training days. That had only been about eight years earlier, but he looked much older. More sedate. I thought that the earlier model would have been more likely to take a chance with me. "Let me guess: You want me to take you to the asteroid." "Yes." "All right." He meant All right, I understand what you want, not All right, I'll do it . "What do you expect to find?" " Something's there." "It's a waste of time. It's also a violation of the guidelines. The company doesn't like us going out there." "Since when?" "The last two or three months. They're worried about the Mutes." "Ivan-" "If I got caught, Chase, I'd lose my license." "You're all I've got right now, Ivan. Please. I'll pay you for a full load of passengers. Plus another thousand for yourself." "You're insulting me, Chase. Look, I'd do it in a minute if I thought there was a point to it." "Do it for me. Humor me. Do it because it may be the only chance I have to save Alex." I finished my wine. I literally gulped it down. And waited for an answer. He cleared his throat. "Schedule's open for the next two days. Kara was expecting me to be home for a bit. I've been out a lot lately." "Bring her along." "I'll ask. But I doubt she'll come. She doesn't react well to transdimensional jumps." "So you'll do it?" "Damn, Chase. Kara's going to start talking to a lawyer." We waited out the tikondo game. Then we trooped up to his apartment and said hello to Kara. He explained it was an emergency, that it was connected with Alex Benedict, who'd gone missing, and we told her everything we knew. I was reluctant about that, but we had to. We were asking her to trust her husband on an overnight alone with a woman he'd known in another life.
"You can come," he said. She hesitated. She didn't like any part of the deal, and she probably didn't like me either. But she didn't want to send the message that she didn't trust him. "Kara, please come with us," I said. "We're not sure what we're looking for, and we can use the extra pair of eyes."
Kara was a beauty. One of those women who couldn't help turning heads. Dark hair, bedroom eyes, pouty lips. She probably had a great smile, too, but I hadn't seen it yet. I waited while they packed. Then they were back. Both looked uncomfortable. "I hope," Kara told me, "that there's really a point to this." There was a touch of coldness in her voice. Ivan checked with Operations. He told them he was going to Tannemann's Dwarf. Four passengers. Husband, wife, two kids. We made up names. Mr. and Mrs. Inasha of Mt. Tabor. And his own wife would also be on board. "Taking a break from the routine," he explained. "Okay, Captain Sloan," said the watch officer. "You're cleared to go. You'll have to use the Borden ." " Goldman 's not serviced yet?" "That's correct."
"Okay. That's fine."
"You'll be leaving out of A4."
He explained about Tanneman's Dwarf on the way to the boarding area. It was a dead star. "It's a popular destination," he said, "because it's sucking in a cloud of hydrogen and assorted gases, and that produces some spectacular fireworks. Kids especially love it. If you haven't seen anything like it before, it can be a pretty wild display. Kara's been out there a couple of times, haven't you, Kara?" "It's lovely," she said. She still hadn't decided what was really going on. The Borden was waiting at the dock. We got on board. Kara and I settled into the common room, while Ivan took his seat on the bridge. "How long has your friend been missing?" she asked me. While I began to explain it again, the magnetic clamps let go and we started to ease away from the dock. Once outside the station, we took aim at Tanneman's Dwarf and began to accelerate.
***
Tannemann's was everything Mr. and Mrs. Inasha and their kids could have hoped for. Even at a range of sixty million kilometers, which was as close as we wanted to get, we could see a vivid corona brightening and dimming and exploding. "You know," I said, "something like this gives me the feeling that, despite all the light-years I've logged, I really don't get around very much." "When this business is over," Ivan said, "provided we're not all in prison, you should spend some leisure time in the area. Take the tours." "I've done that," I said. "I've been to Boldinai Point, the Haunted Forest, the Crystal Sea, the Golden Isles-" "You're kidding, right?" The AI was turning us around. Lining up on the asteroid. "No, I'm not kidding." "That's ground-floor stuff, Chase. Couple of those I've never even heard of. Where is Boldinai Point?" Kara was loosening up a bit. She smiled at the question. "Ivan thinks anything that's on the ground isn't worth your time. It's gotta be out orbiting some gasbag before he's able to pay attention." "That's not true," he said. "Right. Ivan, when's the last time we've even been groundside? Other than to visit your folks?" He sighed. "I work hard, Chase, and that's the thanks I get." I smiled politely. "By the way," he continued, "your friend Benedict is an antiquities guy, right?" "Yes," I said.
He and Kara exchanged glances. "That's a cl
ever way to change the subject, Ivan." She turned to me. "But Ivan's right. We have a lost world out here somewhere that he'd be interested in." "A lost world?" "Complete with ruins. Used to be somebody there, millions of years ago." "That's the first I've heard that. You're right. Alex would want to take a look. Where is it?" "Don't know. We lost it." She laughed at her own joke. We were beginning to accelerate. "They found it a couple of centuries ago. But they didn't keep good records, and next time they went out, they couldn't find it. It had reasonably intact cities. Everything frozen." "Sounds like another hoax." "Sounds like one," said Ivan. "But the original mission brought back some artifacts. And the experts say the artifacts are legitimate." We sank back into our seats. "Apparently the world got blown or dragged out of its home system. And the lights went out." "And they lost the thing." "It's out there somewhere. Cities. Roadways. Even a few ships frozen in harbors." "Does the place have a name?" "Malaki. It's named for the captain who found it."
During the short run out, Ivan tried to talk sense into me. "Don't go back to Samuels. When we're done out here, I can take you someplace where you'll be safe." "What did you have in mind?" "Well, I can't take you all the way to Rimway. For one thing, we don't have enough fuel." "It doesn't matter. I can't leave Alex." "Chase, if the CSS really have him, there's not much you can do. Except get a good lawyer." "Maybe." "Look, I don't know this guy Benedict. But I'll bet he'd want you to get clear. Especially when there's no point-" "Let it go, Ivan. I've been through too much to walk out on him." He shrugged. "Okay. You do what you think is right."
We were lucky. We came out of hyperspace almost on top of our target. Not that it was visible to the naked eye, of course. The asteroids-there were thousands of them-drifted through a dark sky. But Ivan didn't have much trouble picking out the one with the monument. Within a few hours we moved in close. It was an ordinary asteroid, surface smooth in some areas, cratered in others. About three hundred kilometers in diameter. Even when we were on top of it, and I mean literally on top, just a few klicks away, we couldn't see it visually. The sky behind it was unbroken darkness. Ivan didn't take his eyes off the monitors. Moria, Salud Afar's sun, was behind us. But at that range it was invisible. The three of us were on the bridge, looking down into the darkness, when Ivan said something I couldn't make out. "What?" said Kara. "I was just thinking how we'd react if a light suddenly went on." A few minutes later, a soft glow did appear in the sky, outlining the rim of the asteroid. We'd gone halfway around it and were looking back at the haze along the edge of the Milky Way. "Okay," he said. "We're here. What's next?" I was wishing Alex were with us. "I'm not sure." "Surely, madame, you jest." "Great place for a monument," I said. Kara smiled. "The original plan was that the monument would light up when anybody approached. You'd have come rolling in and the lights'd go on and you'd be looking at the thing. Actually, it could have been pretty striking stuff. But after what happened, they decided to leave it dark."
"I'm not surprised." "There are a bunch of monuments on other asteroids that do light up. But not out here, of course." "This is the only monument in the Swarm?" "Yes." Ivan aimed one of the navigation lamps at the ground. But we still couldn't see anything. The light faded away. Rachel, the AI, asked for instructions. Ivan held out his hands. "What do we want to do, Chase? You want to go down and see what's there?"
We climbed into the lander and rode it toward the surface. "The monument?" he asked. "Yes. That seems like the logical place." As we descended, I asked whether either of them had ever been there before. "Nobody ever comes out here," said Ivan. "What about the Family of God?" "I think they had enough of the place. Something out here was dangerous, and they aren't dummies." "What did they think it was?" "I don't know. You'd have to ask them."
It was located on a bare plain. I knew right away it was something apart from the rockscape, even before I had a good look at it. It was tall and narrow and obviously artificial, a lost piece of a well-lit, warm world abandoned in a place where time had stopped. We only had two pressure suits. Kara said it was okay. "You go ahead. I'll wait here." We got dressed and went out through the air lock. Ivan had left the navigation lights on, but the ground was rougher than it looked from inside. "This way," he said. He turned on a helmet lamp and plunged ahead. "Watch your step." It was rough going. And the fact that I weighed next to nothing made it even more dangerous. The lights played against a wall. It served as a base for a sphere. A set of steps mounted to the sphere, and a silver door stood partly open in its side. Above, a diamond-shaped crystal pointed at the sky. When the beam from my lamp touched the crystal, the doorway caught the reflection. "Is that what they intended?" I asked. "I guess," he said. "I don't really know anything about this place." Names were engraved on the wall. Thousands of them. "Supporters, I guess," Ivan said. And a legend: THEY HAVE PASSED TO A BETTER WORLD. KYLE ROJEAU IRA AND HARM KAMALANDA CELIA TI "How were they going to power it?"
"I don't know. Probably a grid installed somewhere. I'm not much of an electrician."
I climbed the stairs and studied the partially open door. And the corridor behind it, which went completely through the sphere. Into the night on the other side. The walls and overhead were rough-hewn; the floor was smooth. And I wondered if, sometimes, the asteroid turned and lined up with Callistra so its light appeared in the passageway, illuminated that smooth gray corridor.
They have passed to a better world.
The sensors had been installed, of course. It only required someone to throw the switch. But the switch had been removed, to ensure that no one circumvented the will of the survivors. The monument would stay dark. And so it had. I was just talking, trying to hold up my end of the conversation, while I looked for something that would tell me what Alex had expected to see out there. There was nothing. No fractured space, no alien ships,
no Coalition vehicles engaged in a conspiracy. The place, the tower, the rockscape, the sky, was simply quiet. And dark. "Ivan?"
"Yes, Chase."
"Where's Callistra?" He looked up. "Must be on the other side." "It wasn't. It was just as dark over there." He grunted. "Well, that doesn't make sense. It has to be here somewhere." What had Orrin Batavian told us in what now seemed that long-ago afternoon in downtown Moreska? They'd picked one asteroid for a very special reason. And suddenly, in that moment, in the permanent midnight of that place, it all came together.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Whatever it is that hides in Uncle Lester's garden, it comes quickly and silently. Six have died, but no sound has been heard.
- Midnight and Roses
We climbed back into the air lock. "What's going on?" Ivan demanded. He was out of patience. When we got back into the cabin, Kara was staring at us. "You mean it's missing? It has to be somewhere." I couldn't stop trembling. It was cold inside the lander. I hadn't noticed it before. "No, Kara," I said. "I don't think it's anywhere." We were getting out of our suits. "What's that mean?" asked Kara. "I'm still working on it. Ivan, we need a chart." "Why?" he asked. "Please just do it." I'm pretty sure my voice had gone shrill. He backed off. "Rachel, give us the chart, please." The lights dimmed, and, over the navigation display, Callistra blinked on. Its soft blue glow touched everything, softened Ivan's intense eyes, coated the chairs and the control panel. "Where's Moria?" I asked. Salud Afar's sun. Ivan pointed toward the hatch. It was a dim yellow light. A white light, off to one side, marked Seepah. "Okay. Can we see our position? The asteroid?" A red light, a hand's width away from Moria. "Good. Draw a straight line from Callistra through the asteroid and extend it as far as you can." A blue cursor left the star, crossed the cabin, touched the asteroid, passed off to one side of Salud Afar, and struck the bulkhead. "I know what you were thinking," said Ivan, "but I could see right from the start they weren't going to line up." "That's because we have an adjustment to make. The asteroid is, what, thirty-six light-years from Salud Afar?" "Right."
Kara's eyes found me. They were afraid. "Okay. Let me think about it for a minute." Math wasn't my strong suit.
"Ask Rachel to move us, the asteroid, to where its position would have been thirty-three years ago, when they were putting the monument down. And move Moria to where it will be in another three years." "How'd you get that?" "Thirty-three from thirty-six. Okay? Now draw the line again from Callistra." "Done." The line from Callistra went directly through the asteroid and touched Moria. Touched Salud Afar. Ivan's mouth opened, and his head fell back against his seat. Kara took a deep breath. "My God," she said. Ivan shook his head. "I don't believe it. I can't believe they'd know about something like this and keep it quiet." "Alex thinks they knew as far back as Aramy Cleev." "So what's next?" "Let's go take a look."
We knew it would be somewhere along the vector, approximately three light-years out from Salud Afar. That was a pretty big target area. The problem was we didn't really know precisely when the Lantner encountered its problem. So we were guessing. We jumped to within two light-years of Salud Afar but kept well off the vector. We were dealing with a thunderbolt, and we didn't want to come out directly in front of it. Callistra was back in the sky. Brilliant and beautiful. Queen of the Night. Or a satanic spectacle. Take your choice. We burned a ton of fuel turning around. Then we started back, jumping out every few seconds, well wide of the vector. At each stop we looked for Callistra, and each time were relieved to find it still floating serenely ahead. Then, finally, it was gone. Ivan delivered a string of profanities, starting under his breath and ending in a scream. Other than that, we were quiet a long time. Finally, he turned to his wife. "Start packing, babe," he said. "We'll be leaving as soon as we get home." "A nova," Kara said. "But it's too far. It can't affect us." I could feel my heart beating while I sat there, listening to a conversation that was going to play out on a global scale. What would happen when two billion people found out what was coming?
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