The Ascendant Stars

by Cobley, Michael

  ‘With my surveillance systems at full extension,’ said Farag, ‘I was able to pick up the following exchange.’

  There was the faintly sibilant hum of an open comm channel, then the sharper hiss of a new signal link.

  ‘Unknown vessel, you have entered a restricted system and may have placed yourself in danger. Please identify yourself and state your reasons for coming here.’

  A moment or two passed before a reply came.

  ‘I am K’ang Lo, Duizhang of the work/home vessel Retributor. Are you the danger that we must face? Please name yourself.’

  The frame pulled back from the adapted asteroid as an inset appeared, showing a stern-looking man with stubble-short hair and wearing an azure-blue uniform. The image was grainy and a little unsteady.

  ‘K’ang Lo, sir, I am Lieutenant Ash, commanding Strike Cruiser Silverlance, flagship of the Darien Navy. If your intentions are peaceful you can expect no danger from us.’

  A second picture appeared, next to the first. A barrel-chested man in a black and powder-blue coat stood there, dark eyes gazing intently from beneath immaculately cut black hair.

  ‘Lieutenant, it is a great pleasure to greet our brothers and sisters of Darien. Know that our intentions are honourable although we cannot promise a peaceful demeanour when confronted by the enemies of Humanity. A century and a half ago Earth was under siege by an enemy so terrible that the species’ existence seemed in doubt. Three ships were sent out into the great maze of the stars to be hidden and safe. One of those vessels brought your predecessors to this world and no doubt they faced hardship and struggle in the founding time. Well, sir, my own forefathers were aboard another of those vessels which discovered a world fertile enough for the planting of their offspring, the children of Earth, a place where they could grow and learn and even become better than their parents.’

  The Duizhang frowned, let his gaze fall for a moment and breathed in deep.

  ‘Such sweet hopes were not allowed to reach fruition. Our world was seized and gutted for its mineral wealth, my people were divided into those who could escape and those who had to stay behind. We aboard the Retributor are the descendants of the escapees and through a series of crises and decisions we have come here to Darien, to play our part in its defence, to offer what help we can to our brothers and sisters.’

  In the other picture, the commander of the Darien ship was nodding to someone out of shot before saying:

  ‘Duizhang K’ang Lo, welcome to Darien – your offer of assistance is greatly appreciated. We need all the help we can get!’

  As the ensuing dialogue faded, Kaphiri Farag’s voice-over returned:

  ‘This new arrival in the Darien system is a revelation! The Darien colony was in upheaval after the deaths of President Sundstrom and his cabinet, a crisis that was overshadowed by the destruction of the Brolturan battleship and the invasion of the Spiral Prophecy fanatics. I can now reveal that the Hegemony carrier so recently obliterated by a mystery vessel had orders to bombard all centres of resistance on Darien, an assault which would have resulted in an indiscriminate slaughter mounting into hundreds of thousands.

  ‘We must now ask if the Hegemony fleet which is just hours away has been given similar orders. And what of the Earthsphere formation now en route from the Yamanon? – will they submit to the commands of Hegemony admirals as has happened all too often in recent years? A mere handful of ships stand in the way of this oncoming armada, including the Retributor, crewed by Sino-Humans, descendants of a lost legend now emerging from the shadows. At this crucial juncture they have chosen to side with the valiant but suffering underdogs on Darien, who seem to have acquired a warship more up to date than the antique shuttle they were flying before the arrival of the Heracles. What will be the political repercussions for Earthsphere? What will be the grassroots response from the peoples of the Sino-Asiatic block whose representatives constitute a vital segment of support for President Castiglione, and whose trade sectors exert considerable influence on many key worlds of the Earthsphere alliance?

  ‘Whatever the outcome, this reporter will ensure that accurate accounts of events at Darien will continue to be forthcoming.’

  After that the cast returned to the female presenter but the drone Reski Emantes quickly faded her out. It then cut to a number of circular vid-feed arrays arranged in an overlapping sequence.

  ‘As we were watching, one of my analysers was creating a detailed datamap of Farag’s report,’ said the drone. ‘Right now we’re monitoring the spread of the report as other newsors and infotainment services pick it up and add their versions to the popfeed. Monitoring for accuracy, of course, as well as any edits and recontextualising. I’m also scanning for netspiders, who are an especially twisted type of ongrid denizens who usually descend on breaking news like this and soon start pumping out their own distorted versions, slanted and commentarised to either agree with the official line or recut to look demented and/or laughable … ah, look … ’

  On the leftmost circle one of the vidfeeds suddenly began to show the Farag report while data bubbles flickered around it.

  ‘That whole ring represents the Vox Humana worlds and a few independent Human colonies,’ Reski Emantes said. ‘At the other end is Earth, Mars, Luna, the Glow, all the mainstream megamedia corps, the transstellars and the government agencies. That vid-feed, and the pair that just appeared, they represent Citivox subscribers who post up clips and reviews. Analysis of the clips indicates a hundred per cent accuracy, no micro-editing, no sublayering, no addcuts … ’

  For a minute or two there were no further updates, then on the third ring an orange circle began to blink. The drone tapped it with a needle beam and examined a datastring that appeared.

  ‘Disturbing. That was from a Citivox subscriber on Hygailo, an Earthsphere world – he’s posted a warning to delete the latest Citivox dispatch, claiming that it’s armed with a lethal muta-virus … ’

  ‘Genius,’ said Harry. ‘Kill the message by infecting it with a virus then distributing it, and any resultant damage discredits the apparent source, Citivox.’

  ‘And here come more of the same,’ said the drone.

  For the next ten minutes they watched as the virus warnings, some more vitriolic than others, spread steadily from left to right. Then the drone put excerpts from the devirused vid up on a secondary holopanel, and they proved to be heavily edited, overlaid with extra visuals and intercut with other vidage calculated to evoke derision. Then came messages from the subscribers, some saying that the file had auto-erased itself, others claiming that net intruders had wiped the file from their stacks. This was followed by an urgent gridcast from Citivox urging subscribers and sequential users to delete the Farag report, saying that its own copy had become corrupted, making a repeat cast impossible.

  ‘What was all that about?’ Julia said. ‘What just happened?’

  ‘A full grey-grid countertrend operation just happened,’ the drone said.

  ‘But why bother?’ Harry said. ‘Can’t keep this kind of story secret – eventually an authentic version will be available everywhere.’

  ‘Yes, but all they need is for it to be unavailable or unreliable for an Earth day, even half a day, long enough for the administration to stand back and let the military carry out its assignment.’

  ‘How do we stop it?’ Julia said. ‘There has to be a way to get that report to the eyes of Sino-Asian leaders … assuming that your copy is … ’

  ‘It is intact and utterly free of any viral presence,’ Reski Emantes said. ‘I checked.’

  ‘You were having your tactical system work on possible mission profiles,’ she said. ‘Assuming that you’ve factored in this new data, have they come up with any plans for reaching the relevant leaders? Anything useful?’

  ‘Synced with the new data, the tac system is offering something very useful,’ the drone said. ‘And very risky. The mission profile entails entering the Glow as autonomous entities with plausible and consistent exter
shells. There are eight Sino politicians who wield crucial influence over the main factions; these are the ones you have to get copies of the Farag report to. Of course, these people will have high-end homenets with loyalty-grade AIs, which presents its own brand of unpredictable lethality. Thus directly infiltrating their homenets via their Glow channels massively increases your chances of attracting the attention of Glow security, in all its brutish glory. Another way to spread the information would be by screening it in the freemall districts, but any open screening would be shut down in seconds by commersector netspiders, and counter-intrusion snatch-and-cage apps would be on your tails a hot second later.’

  ‘A somewhat limited range of options,’ Harry said.

  ‘That’s because as a Construct machine I’m not a Glow native – it’s not a natural environment for me. Which is why you are going to have to acquire the services of a denizen, one of what they call the wire-born.’ The drone rose a little and a pencil-thin beam of sparkly blue light flicked out at the big holoplane. ‘Like this fellow. He calls himself Nicodemus and he usually wears this exter.’

  On the holoplane stood a tall skinny man in a long dark coat and wearing a pair of black, mirrored goggles.

  ‘So if you really want to try and stop that fleet, he’s the one to talk to. His services are expensive but my credit reserves are more than ample. My tac system searched the infobases in the Underglow and came up with a few contact strings and shadowy contraservers, so while I’m setting it up with him you’ll be on your way into the Glow. The idea is to arrange a rendezvous, probably in one of the sagaverses – I’ll send you a Glownote as soon as it’s settled.

  ‘And now you should leave. I have got a pair of good exters ready for you, both configured with coil-encrypted archives of the Farag report – if one of you ends up in a netlaw cage, the other might be able to carry out the mission.’

  ‘Right, I’m ready to go,’ Julia said.

  Harry regarded her for a moment, then shrugged and laughed.

  ‘Well, I’ve come this far, balancing insane risk against my inveterate curiosity. It would be a shame not to find out how much more trouble is lying in wait for us, hmm?’

  ‘Subjective time compression in the Glow is about eight to one,’ Reski Emantes said. ‘But do not fall into the trap of thinking that you’ve plenty of leeway. Keep the urgency of the situation in mind at all times.’

  ‘Urgency and the fate of my homeworld,’ said Julia.

  ‘And will you be multitasking while we’re off into the Glow?’ Harry said.

  ‘Of course,’ the drone said. ‘Tracking Talavera is a priority, as is establishing contact with the Construct, a somewhat challenging task to undertake from the prime tier. Now, remember – the Glow is a fabulously seductive continuum so stay sharp.’

  ‘You can count on it,’ said Julia.

  Harry nodded. ‘What the lady said.’

  CATRIONA

  Through the web-vein-circuits of the ancient forest she was able to flit from place to place, from shadowy wellspring to bright and breezy canopy, throughout the length and breadth of Segrana. The flowery dream-palace with its soaring blue pillars and drifting veils of mist was always there for her, a sanctuary, a resting bower, a reminder. And as she darted here and there she saw new fresh growth, green sprigs sprouting from charred stumps, torn ground levelled and giving forth grass and fungi and teeming with natural wildlife. The damage she had caused during her undisciplined defence against the Brolturans was being steadily healed. She also saw how the Uvovo worked with spirited direction, a consequence of the Zyradin’s effective takeover of the great forest.

  Or was it more to do with Segrana’s abdication?

  Greg brought the Zyradin to Nivyesta and Catriona as the Keeper was turned into a conduit for its permeation throughout the continental forest, and since then there had been a schism at the heart of things. For a time she had felt the strains and dark moods of disagreement between those two inhuman forces, like the sound of thunder filtering down from cloud-swathed mountain tops, the abode of gods. Now, however, it appeared that Segrana had withdrawn from contention, and also from consensus. The hoped-for fusion never took place, there was no compromise and now no dialogue. Except that Segrana seemed content to allow the Zyradin to assume sufficient control to pursue its purposes. Thus far this had amounted to coordinated efforts to restore and revive those parts of the forest damaged during the battles between the Brolturans and the Spiralists, and between them and the Uvovo. And the wounds that Cat had caused.

  Perhaps it’s just as well that I’ve been relegated to being little more than a wandering spirit, to the status of an observer, she thought. It’s no’ safe to give me those powers, I’ve proved that. No, Segrana needs another Keeper.

  But no matter now often or how intensely, or even angrily, she had declared this in the openness of her mind, never had she received a reply. She just wanted rid of what increasingly seemed to be a pointless role, and she wanted to go back to her life, that real flesh-and-blood life. They owed it to her and she deserved it, she deserved to find happiness and even love. If Greg survived the horrifying conflict that lay ahead.

  Although her corporeal integrity had been interwoven with Segrana’s vast and complex essence for a while, she had not realised until recently that she could gain access to a range of heightened sense abilities with which she could peer at the spaces beyond the sky. Quite quickly she learned how to make the sensing capacity show her visual information and to make it keep track of objects in motion, like starships. In this way she had been able to follow Greg’s progress since the Tygrans whisked him away in their ship. The lethal dangers he got himself into and out of almost made her reluctant to continue these observations, fearing that at some unexpected point she might be witness to his death, something violent and final.

  Yet she could not hide from events, and doggedly maintained a regular vigil. She saw the savage battles taking place in the space around Darien, spasms of unleashed violence that left behind expanding clouds of wrack and ruin, a spreading sea of glittering debris throughout which corpses were plentifully scattered.

  She saw the encounter between the surviving Imisil vessel and the Hegemony warship captured by the Tygrans, in whose company was Greg. With Greg as sole Darien representative, a meeting was held on the Retributor to discuss cooperation on repairs and supplies, and the fight that lay ahead. The Imisil commander was also there and lost no time in laying out the starkness of the situation.

  By now, Catriona was able to use Segrana’s sensing abilities to discern some speech, and even some thoughts, although this only worked with Greg and the Tygrans. The Imisil commander told the gathering that a fleet of Imisil warships would be arriving in less than four hours, and about six hours after that would come the Hegemony fleet, estimated to consist of approximately six hundred vessels all told. Outnumbering the Imisil and the others by roughly twenty-four to one, this was in keeping with the Hegemony policy of deploying crushing force against any who infringed upon their interests.

  Everyone there fell silent and the mood was sombre. Cat found Greg’s own cast of mind to be surprisingly positive, resigned to facing impossible odds yet determined in a roll-the-dice kind of way. While fearing for his safety, she felt strangely proud of him.

  Aye, Mr Cameron, she thought. You’ll do, so long as you come home safe – and I get my body back!

  But as she continued to observe she felt a faint, trembling unease, as if she herself were being watched. Then without warning, the gathering and all that she was aware of just slipped away from her, as if those great sensing abilities had been choked off. Her perceptions swam in a blur that started to resolve into the blue pillars of her dream-palace. But it too slipped aside, a slow smear of shadows and grainy images through which she glided, bodiless, unable to resist …

  And then, all at once, she was embodied. Physicality felt oddly multifaceted, so crammed full with minuscule details of sensation. For several dizzy second
s she stood there, revelling in the solidity of weight, of feeling grass and twigs with the soles of her feet …

  Then came the odours of burnt wood and vegetation, charred earth, wet ashes. She opened her eyes and saw she was standing at the edge of a stretch of black devastation. Bushes reduced to spidery skeletons, trees stripped to seared spikes, the forest floor a sodden grey waste dotted with vile-smelling pools.

  You are in a memory …

  Catriona caught her breath – it was Segrana.

  … my memory of the destruction wrought by the off-worlders …

  ‘It is like my memory of it,’ Cat said. ‘Segrana, forgive me, but I no longer … ’

  … wish to be Keeper? Understandable, but you underestimate yourself – you have strengths that are needed … the Other is coming for you with a Keeper’s task … give no more than the task requires and remember that you are my Keeper, not that Other’s …

  The charred forest turned about her, blurred and brightened, spun into a translucent blueness … and she was back in the dream-palace. A shadowy cloaked figure stood off to one side, waiting. Incorporeal once more, Catriona glided over to a nearby opaque blue pillar, putting it between her and her visitor.

  ** I hope that my counterpart is well ** said the Zyradin.

  ‘Couldn’t really say, one way or the other,’ she said. ‘I’d have thought you’d know more than a lesser being like me.’

  ** In certain ways I am a lesser being than you ** You may know that I have a task which only the Keeper can accomplish ** It is important and you must follow my instructions precisely **