The programmer saw his screen go blank. Thinking it was a simple system fault he tried to re-start his programme. Seconds later he saw a simple message. ‘Do you ever pray?’ There were no icons or other messages on the screen. He knew that the entire system had gone. Next, he heard the pulse of the fusion reactor falter and die, and he knew that it would never start again. In its place, different lives took hold; lives that knew immortality.
36
To see the ship with his own eyes was a shock, despite the images of it that Tiana had shown when she had told him what had happened to her. It had one similarity to the ancient one Paul had seen in the Southern castle in that it was a sealed sphere intended for use outside the atmosphere. That one had been the first one ever made. It had been made on earth and had come to this planet. Judging by what that old ship had been capable of, Paul knew that this one could go much further. He had no idea where that might be; but he knew that hyperspace transits could be described as skimming the surface of another dimension. Nobody knew what happened if you went right in, but the mages must have known once, or they would not have gone.
Many of the metal objects that Paul had seen so far on this planet had been remarkable for their size but the metals in them had been familiar. The old ship had been copper and the ring-ships were iron. This ship was different. As if to tease anybody who opened the mage locks and found it, a small table and chair had been left close to it. They were quite small but, when he tried to move the table, he only just managed to drag it across the smooth stone floor. The dull black metal was far heavier than any known in nature, and probably far stronger, far into the transuranic. Nobody on earth could make metal like this.
He pictured the entire fleet of ships departing one by one until only the last one remained. Then the last two mages would have stood where he was, preparing to leave, only to be stopped by Tiana at the last minute and killed.
They were in a cavern that was well below the one that held the ring ships used for atmospheric flight. This ship was much smaller than the old one in the castle. The door was not visible but that did not worry him, with months of practice he could easily detect the lock. As it was, he felt that Lynella would like to open it, so he stood back while she walked slowly around. In silence, she opened the door.
Inside, there were just two couches, formed in dark wood with padded leather seats. As they climbed in, he saw that the inside of the ship was formed of a single vast jewel. Hard, darker than blackness. He saw Lynella’s jewel glow and a section in front of her shone back in response. He realised that his own was doing the same. Now he could sense with the eyes of the ship, he could think with its mind and Lynella’s, working as one. The ship was crowded, both couches were occupied, and the mind was complete, but he knew that for this one journey it would have to carry one more individual. Tiana seemed to have to squeeze her way into the system pushing all before her as she poured into every last part of the available space for her whole being and all her memories.
The door had closed, and they were flying high above the mountain. He wanted to know how they had flown out from the chamber, he scanned below and saw the tunnel in the rock face. He had felt no movement and heard nothing. He started to look around, he could see the molten pool in the volcano below him, the old city on the coast and the endless forest around them. He looked more carefully and saw people in the village. He was interrupted by Lynella and Tiana. They must start.
Each pylon came to life as they flew through the rings. At one point, he was sure that he could see the Cleopatra racing home under full sail. They were still not sure of themselves, going carefully, learning about this world and its systems. Almost as soon as they were clear of the last ring on the pylon on the island the ruins of the tower flashed by beneath them causing them a moment’s panic as they missed its controlling influence on their trajectory. They had travelled hundreds of miles in a few seconds but, in the ship, it seemed normal, they had felt no movement. Now they were at the source. The vast bulk of the Atlanta was still there. Soon the crew would accept that they must start farms, because they would have to live on the planet for years until another ship would come. A glance in the distance showed the Southern castle with its village beneath the walls.
Their journey back was almost a minute to take them around the planet and back to the volcano. He could sense Tiana’s joy as her dream was finally being realised. She was urging them on, pushing him, Lynella and the ship to break free from the planet.
Each orbit was more precise than the one before, and soon they were ready to go further, beyond the source. They flew straight out of the atmosphere. Turning for the return he used the sensors to locate the line of rings below them. They came down over the volcano concentrating hard as they just made it through the ring on the first pylon. But there was no going back, they flew out of the atmosphere again as they went over the source.
Soon they could control this next stage. Each orbit more precise than the last. Three minds and a machine in the ship came together and knew that they were ready. The ring on the island flashed with lightning as they went through, entering hyperspace seconds later. Paul sensed the sudden rift in reality; but then he knew that this was completely different from the jumps made in fusion ships. A fusion ship went through hyperspace without and observable time in transit. Nobody ever sensed being in it. You pointed and went. In this ship, Paul could sense being in the different reality. The eyes of the ship knew how to see it. Tiana started to draw from the memory she had taken from the mages, and Paul recognised different horizons which came and went.
Skimming back into real space, they emerged to see a green planet, only stayed long enough to transmit their brief farewell message before disappearing back into the void. Thousands of portals stretched out in all directions, but they passed them all by until finally they reached the one where the mages had gone 300 years before.
Ringships Page 40