The information formed a command, which in turn generated more data, and he began to fathom its purpose. He began to understand who he was.
Slowly, over eons, his consciousness returned. Patiently, he waited, testing his mental abilities, checking his memories one at a time. Eventually, satisfied that his brain was fully restored, he reached out and found the senses of his body. He could feel something touching his fingertips, soft material with a rough texture. The air was clean and cool, the artificial scent of flowers mixed in with the obvious signature of people. And he could hear voices, one female, the other a young boy’s.
Finally, he opened his eyes, already having identified the two people attending to him.
‘You’re awake!’ Librarian Horst said with a relieved chuckle.
‘Let me see, let me see!’ Otto demanded, pushing in front of her to peer into Gofal’s face.
‘I am . . . alive,’ Gofal said emphatically.
‘Yes,’ Horst laughed. ‘Yes, you are.’
He was sat in a chair, in a small, cluttered room with a tiny porthole view out to space. ‘Librarian Horst, we are not on the Firmament or Icarus.’
‘No, we’re not. This is the Traum. It belonged to my husband. And I’m not a Librarian any more. You can call me Gina. I’m sure you have a lot of questions.’
Gofal looked down at himself, noticing slight differences to his casing. ‘This is not my body.’
‘No,’ Otto said quickly. ‘You got shot and your head was all broken up.’
‘That’s enough, Otto,’ his mother replied, pulling him away. She looked at Gofal. ‘What do you remember?’
‘Everything. I was captured by the Scribe, interrogated, then executed. How can I be here?’
Gina Horst’s face saddened. ‘They shouldn’t have done that to you, Gofal. You’re a gift from the Gods, you’re their prophet. You should be protected. I couldn’t let you die. During the interrogation, Mori took scans and copies of your cerebral matrix.’
‘Yes, I remember. He hoped to access my knowledge of the future.’
‘The matrix copy included your personality, your memories, everything. I stole it from the Church’s archive. I restored that backup into a new body. I added in the interrogation recordings so that your memories are complete, right up to the moment of . . .’ Horst blushed. ‘Well, you know everything.’
‘You have left the Church?’
Horst’s eyes glistened with raw emotion. ‘Mori left me no choice. I had to protect you.’
‘You have sacrificed much for me. I thank you both.’ He looked down at Otto. He was holding Gofal’s hand, his young face full of hope.
Gofal glanced back up at Horst. ‘I am grateful, but I am also surprised. I never expected this to happen.’
‘I couldn’t lose you. I had to try.’
‘I don’t think you understand my meaning. This was not part of my vision of the future. I expected Mori to release me. This is not the future I was shown.’
Horst frowned. ‘What does that mean?’
‘That the information I have on the future is not accurate.’
‘But that can’t be true. The Gods move through you. They showed you the future.’
‘Perhaps it was one possible future, or a preferred future. Either way, events have deviated from the vision I was given. My knowledge is no longer valid.’
Horst shook her head, refusing to believe Gofal’s interpretation. ‘Does it matter if a few details vary?’
‘Even one tiny difference means that none of the information I was given can be trusted to be one hundred percent accurate. We are in uncharted territory.’
‘What does that mean?’ Otto asked.
‘It means I do not have accurate knowledge of the future.’
Horst turned away, resting in a chair under the window, lost in thought.
‘In time, I will be able to calibrate and compare my visions to the reality of the future and determine a percentage of deviation. The visions may yet have significance and purpose.’
Horst smiled with relief. This had obviously taken its toll on her. She had turned her back on her old life, all for him.
‘Your sacrifice was not in vain,’ Gofal said, trying to reassure her. ‘I’m sure, in time, we will discover my true purpose.’
Hope warmed her features. Horst stood and looked out of the tiny window. The Infinite was just coming into view, rising above the grey clouds of the Wasteland. The light broke through, casting a halo around Horst’s head.
Gofal wallowed in the golden view, content for now. Then he recalled his discoveries in Library One. His knowledge of the future might be in doubt, but he was certain of what he knew about the past. The Fracture was a man-made disaster, caused by the same people who founded the Church. They had experimented with space-time in order to wield unlimited energy, an experiment that led to the invention of Cube transit. But the experiment had gone wrong, ripping apart space and time, causing the Fracture. And if space and time were fluid, then it might help explain how a bot from over two hundred years ago could know Gofal’s name.
The answers that Gofal sought were not to be found in the future, but in the past.
SERMON
The bell for morning prayer rang in the distance, the soft toll echoing along the stone corridors towards Scribe Mori’s chamber. He didn’t want to go, not today. He was in no mood to inspire the Readers, Librarians and the chosen followers who would be waiting there for him.
‘How long do I have?’ he asked.
Librarian Okuda was attending him today. He carried the ceremonial cope, lowering it reverently to the Scribe’s shoulders. Okuda – always with an eye for the small details – straightened it, stepping back to check his work, replying without looking up. ‘Fifteen minutes. There’s no rush. Your predecessor made them wait.’
‘Then I shall be prompt,’ Mori replied, realizing immediately that he sounded pompous and petty.
Okuda disappeared behind him, returning with a small glass.
‘What’s this?’ Mori asked, sniffing the clear liquid.
‘Gin.’
Mori smiled. ‘Am I so transparent to you?’
‘You seemed tense. Unsurprising, given what happened at the Firmament.’
Mori gazed into the glass, replaying the terrible events in his mind. His inauguration would not be forgotten in a hurry, but not in the way Mori had hoped. There had never been hostilities at the Firmament before. It was a place of ceremony and contemplation, of pilgrimage and penitence, not warfare.
‘Any update on the missing?’ he asked, sipping at the alcohol.
‘I’m afraid not.’
Mori thought of Librarian Horst and her children. The three of them were missing, presumed dead. ‘Such a terrible waste,’ he muttered. Horst’s death lingered with him, overriding all the others that had perished during the battle. He had hoped she would be part of his future. Now, as he emptied the glass, Mori felt small and alone.
‘Let’s get this over with,’ he said, forcing a smile.
Okuda bowed, then led the way along the corridor to the cathedral at the center of Icarus. The congregation stood as he entered, watching Mori keenly as he made his way to the pulpit. The bell stopped and, as Mori looked out over the sea of faces, a tense silence enveloped the space.
Mori raised his hand. ‘May the blessings of the Infinite Gods shine upon you, faithful servants to their great plan.’
The congregation responded in unison. ‘May their reflections shine upon us all.’
Mori smiled. ‘Please, be seated.’ He waited for the shuffle of feet to die away, for the room to become silent once more. In that moment he thought of Horst again, and the grief stole his thoughts. He glanced down at the pad with today’s sermon on it. Somehow, it no longer seemed appropriate.
‘My friends,’ he said at last, smiling sadly. ‘Yesterday was supposed to be a day of joy. Instead, it became one of great sadness.’
Some in the crowd nodded, their faces fu
ll of sympathy.
‘The Church exists to nurture and protect the spiritual wellbeing of its followers, to bring them closer to the Infinite Gods. We are their servants, we light the path to salvation. But we have been negligent, we have let them down . . .’
Mori watched their faces, seeing signs of concern. ‘If we cannot protect and sustain the very souls of our flock, then what is the purpose of the Church?’
His voice echoed over their heads. He waited, letting the question become uncomfortable.
Mori continued, his voice becoming louder. ‘Life in the Cluster is hard. It is short and full of danger. We are the lucky ones! We are the chosen few whose lives are stable. We have food and air and water. Many of our followers do not, so they look to us for answers. For those living with nothing, we are the only thing that makes a difference. We stand between the light of the Infinite Gods and the darkness of this difficult existence. We are a thin line of hope, a fragile beacon that could be easily snuffed out in an instant! History is our warning; it has already happened before. If not for the Church, humanity would have died in the Fracture. We saved them, and now we must save them again. For we stand at a crisis point in history, where humanity is once more being tested. If the Church falls, then so will the rest of the Cluster, and the gift of humanity will perish.’
He took a breath, calming his voice, and continued in a whisper. ‘The disease of war is spreading throughout the Cluster, and we are the only ones who can stop it. From today, our blessed fleet of arkships will no longer hide from our followers. They will ride through the Cluster, as a beacon of hope and justice. Where we find ignorance and intolerance, we will offer prayer and education, but where we see hatred and violence – when there is no other way – the Church will bring the wrath of the Gods upon them! We can no longer stand by and watch as humanity kills itself. The Church must intervene. We will stop this disease, we will bring an end to war, and, with the mighty sword of the Infinite Gods, we will bring about a new golden age of enlightenment.’
The story continues in book 5,
Arkship Prophecy
Coming soon
Sign up to my newsletter to get news, free stories, videos and other good stuff!
AUTHOR’S NOTES
Thank you for reading Arkship Conquest – the fourth book in the Arkship Saga.
Things are getting messy, aren’t they? The Church does not interfere. That’s been their mantra since book one. But now, everything has changed. They’re going to interfere! Lots! Book five will see a very different Church take on their enemies as Scribe Mori drags everyone into a Cluster-wide war. As for Halstead, Bara and Gofal . . . well, there’s lots more story to tell. I hope you’ll come back to read it. For now, let me just say a huge thank you for buying and reading my books. If you’d like to see more stories, then you can help by leaving a review on Amazon. Reviews make the book more discoverable and help to bring new readers to the Cluster.
Thanks as ever to my amazing family, especially my wife, Diane and my two daughters. Thanks also to supportive friends like Barry Hutchison, Stephen Aryan, Chris Chatterton and Bryan Hitch. Final thanks must go Conor Daly, B Allen Thobois and the rest of my ARC team for their insightful feedback.
Book five is called Arkship Prophecy and is due out in August 2018. If you want to know more about it, then sign up to my mailing list newsletter! You’ll get regular updates on my writing, sneak peeks of cover art, free stories plus lots more.
Thanks again, I hope you’ll be back for the next part of the saga.
Best wishes,
Niel Bushnell
May 2018
USA Readers: Review Arkship Conquest here
UK Readers: Review Arkship Conquest here
A FINAL WORD
If you’ve enjoyed this, or any of my other books, then you can support me by getting me a good old cup of coffee here:
http://ko-fi.com/nielbushnell
Arkship Conquest Page 17