The Evolutionary Void v-3

by Peter Hamilton

  Aaron knew he had to get the mission back on track; he should find out who the Natural human was, make everyone talk to Ozzie and Inigo. Get Inigo into the Void. That was the universe-all that mattered. But for once the compulsion was weak. Her smile lurked behind his thoughts now. Sometimes he could see it without having to close his eyes.

  Bad news.

  She hadn’t been kidding, apparently.

  “Did I save them?” he asked faintly.

  “Who?”

  “The children. You said she was killing children when I stopped her.”

  Tomansio and Beckia shared an uncomfortable look, which was an eloquent enough answer.

  “Do you remember anything since then?” Cheriton asked.

  Aaron shrugged. “I don’t even remember that. There’s … nothing,” he lied as the vision of a vast crystalline ceiling shimmered like flame somewhere in his mind.

  “You were never caught,” Tomansio said. “Never stood trial. Nobody knew what happened to you.”

  “Including me, it appears,” Aaron said. It actually appealed to his sense of irony.

  “Somebody did this to you,” Beckia said tightly. A great deal of anger was leaking out of her gaiamotes. “Somebody gave you the galaxy’s biggest mindfuck.”

  “Could it have been her?” Tomansio mused.

  “No,” Aaron said, not knowing where certainty came from but knowing it anyway. “It is my choice to be as I am. And I will retain this personality despite what you believe me to be.”

  “But you’re not working too good, are you?” Corrie-Lyn said. “Your conditioning is breaking down.”

  “I’ll survive,” he said grimly. “I have a mission to complete.”

  “Which is?” Oscar asked.

  Aaron pointed at Inigo. “The Dreamer must be taken to Makkathran inside the Void. Or at least establish contact with the Heart.”

  As one, Oscar and the three Knights Guardian looked at the Natural man. He stepped forward and put his hand out to Inigo. “Dreamer,” he said. “I’m Araminta-two.” His gaiamotes released a flood of thoughts and emotions, including the gifting from the observation deck on the Lady’s Light.

  “Great Lady,” Inigo grunted.

  “Oh, yeah.” Ozzie grinned. “That is so cool, man.”

  “I’m here to help,” Araminta-two said. “The Pilgrimage has to be stopped.”

  “Now tell them who suggested you team up with Ozzie,” Oscar said smugly.

  At least it got them all talking, Aaron admitted, even though it was little more than “gosh” and “wow” as various stories unfolded. But they sat around Ozzie’s kitchen table, testing snacks and drinks from the culinary unit. All except Troblum, who stood at the head of the table, refusing to come out of his armor suit.

  “I met the Cat” was all he’d say on the subject. Everyone accepted that that was a pretty good excuse for extreme paranoia.

  The only other thing Troblum said was: “Ozzie, it’s a great honor to meet you; I am a descendant of Mark Vernon.”

  “Yeah? That’s nice, dude,” Ozzie said, and turned back to Araminta-two. “We’ve been trying to figure out if the Void can bring people inside like some kind of teleport effect,” he said. “Can you ask the Skylord that?”

  “I can ask,” Araminta-two said.

  Aaron kept watching Troblum. The big man had rocked back a fraction as Ozzie had dismissed him. There was no hint of a gaiafield emission. In fact, there was no way of telling exactly what was in that suit.

  According to Oscar, Troblum had helped build the Swarm-again something both Ozzie and Inigo seemed completely disinterested in. Aaron was interested but only in that such information might break Earth out of its prison. But right now that was a long way down any list of possible actions to take to get Inigo into the Void. Besides, given that the Raiel couldn’t break through the Sol barrier, he suspected that it might take even longer than accomplishing his primary mission.

  “Is there any way you or the Heart can reach out and bring me into your universe?” Araminta-two asked the Skylord.

  Aaron glimpsed an amazing golden web of nebula dust fluorescing from dozens of dim glimmer points within as stars contracted to their ignition points. Skylords shone against the drifting eddies, their vacuum wings fully extended.

  “You approach,” the Skylord said. “I feel you growing. Soon you will be here. Soon you will reach fulfillment.”

  “I will be with you sooner if you could reach for me.”

  “The Heart reaches for all. The Heart welcomes all.”

  “I am still outside your universe. I fear I cannot reach you. Can you reach out for me as you once did for others of my race?”

  “Those of your kind grew here upon the solid worlds. My kindred will take you there.”

  “But first we have to get to you. Can you make that happen?”

  “I feel you growing. It will not be long now.”

  “How did those of the first of my kind arrive in your universe?”

  “They emerged, as do all.”

  “Did the Heart help them emerge?”

  “The Heart welcomes all who emerge here.”

  “I can no longer reach you. My voyage to your universe is over unless the Heart helps me. Ask it to reach for me, please. I wish to visit the world where my kind dwelled before.”

  “You will come.”

  Araminta-two’s thoughts hardened. “I will not.”

  “You continue to grow closer. Your voyage is unbroken. We will welcome you. We will guide you.”

  Araminta-two growled and shook his head as the Skylord’s presence dwindled to a background murmur at the very brink of perception. “Ozziedamnit.”

  “I will if you want me to, man, but I doubt it’ll do much good,” Ozzie said.

  Araminta-two gave him an abashed look. “Sorry. Force of habit.”

  “It hardly matters,” said Inigo. “Ever since you started talking to the Skylords, it’s been obvious they simply don’t comprehend the concept of ‘outside.’ Their thoughts aren’t configured for that.”

  “But the Heart or nucleus or whatever’s running the place does,” said Oscar. “It listened to you when you asked it to take Justine inside. That was quite a night.”

  “It was still relayed through the Skylord,” Ozzie said. “And that request was a lot easier to comprehend.”

  “So we have to work out how to make the message simpler,” Inigo said. “All we have to do is establish some kind of conduit to the Heart. It will understand exactly what we want.”

  “Dude, you can’t get a message more simple,” Ozzie protested. “It’s convincing the Skylord to talk for us, which is difficult.”

  “Suspiciously so,” Inigo said. “I find it hard to believe something that can manipulate the Void fabric as the Skylords can do is genuinely unable to grasp new concepts.”

  “The control processes seem instinctive,” Inigo countered. “Direct willpower is the driving force for any modification within the Void itself.”

  “Yes, but-”

  Aaron felt a sigh building in his chest as they started to argue again. Her smile became mocking.

  “I can get you there in time,” Troblum said.

  Everyone turned to the giant dull gray figure looming over them. Myraian let out the faintest giggle.

  Ozzie pushed a big frond of floppy hair back from his forehead. “Dude, how are you going to do that?”

  “I have the Anomine planetary FTL engine in my starship.”

  Silence again.

  “The what?” Oscar asked.

  “The Anomine didn’t build the Dyson Pair force field generators; they acquired them from the Raiel. To get them into position, they used an FTL system big enough to move a planet. I have it. Or a copy of it. Actually, it’s a copy of what I believe they built.”

  Aaron didn’t care how uncertain the others were. “Is it faster than an ultradrive?” he asked.

  “Yes. It’s effectively instantaneous. It’s a wormhole.”r />
  “A wormhole big enough to shove a planet through?” Ozzie’s voice had risen a notch with incredulity.

  “Yes.”

  “Not possible.”

  “Actually, it’s perfectly possible,” the house smartcores announced.

  Ozzie growled and shot the ceiling a furious look.

  “Wormhole structure is dependent on the power source,” the smartcores said. “The greater the available power, the bigger the size you can achieve-theoretically.”

  “That’s right,” Troblum said.

  “Okay,” Ozzie said. “So what do you use to power the mother of all wormholes?”

  “A nova. Nothing else approaches the required output peak.”

  “Well, that’s handy, dude. We’ll just hang around and see if one happens.”

  “You don’t need to,” the smartcores said in the same voice, but with a gloating edge.

  “Ah.” Aaron smiled. “Novabomb.”

  “Yes,” Troblum said. “With a diverted energy function.”

  “Clever,” Inigo said.

  “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Ozzie yelled.

  “I think it will work,” Troblum said.

  “You mean you haven’t tried it?” Tomansio asked.

  Myraian started giggling again, louder this time.

  “No. Not yet.”

  “And it can get us to the galactic core ahead of the Pilgrimage fleet?” Aaron persisted.

  “It should. I envisaged transporting a Saturn-sized planet five hundred light-years as a test. But there are variables. If we make the wormhole diameter smaller-”

  “You can increase the reach,” Inigo finished. “So for something the size of a starship …”

  “I estimate we can extend the wormhole approximately twenty-five to thirty thousand light-years. If we trigger it today, it will put us ahead of the Pilgrimage fleet.”

  Ozzie stood up. “Okay, then. My work is done. Good luck to all of you.”

  “You’re not coming?” Inigo asked.

  “Hey, dude, I’m an aging irrelevancy with only half a brain, remember. And then there’s-” He frowned expressively, clicking his fingers. “What was it? Oh, yeah: I want to stay alive!”

  “Ozzie, you’d be a valuable member of any team working to prevent the expansion phase,” Corrie-Lyn said.

  “No, he wouldn’t,” Myraian said. She smiled sweetly at Corrie-Lyn. “Ozzie stays here, where I can cuddle him safe.”

  “Can’t argue with that,” Ozzie said triumphantly.

  Aaron was beginning to question exactly what Myraian was. He’d assumed she was just some worshipful groupie with a dipsy habit. But now that he’d been here a few days, he was realizing she actually had quite a say in the relationship. No doubt it was a strange relationship, but then, that was Ozzie for you. Even with his reduced memories, Aaron knew Ozzie could be extremely quirky, and those memories were a couple of centuries out of date. “All right, then. Ozzie isn’t essential. Inigo is, and Araminta-two. I have to go. So how many more can your starship hold, Troblum?”

  “Hey!” Corrie-Lyn snapped.

  “I’m dealing in practicalities,” Aaron explained patiently. “There are minimum requirements for mission success. The Dreamer and Second Dreamer are the absolute priority for this flight.”

  “Who the fuck put you in charge?” Tomansio asked.

  “Do you have a viable plan for shutting down the Void? I’m sure we’d all like to hear it if you do.”

  “By all accounts, you haven’t got much of one yourself. You know more about who you are than what you’re doing.”

  “But I do have a plan. And I’m the Mutineer, remember? The one Knight Guardian you can rely on above all the others. Even yourself.”

  “You might have been the Mutineer, but I’m damned if I know what you are now. And you certainly don’t.”

  They all turned to look at Ozzie, who was laughing boisterously.

  “What?” Tomansio asked.

  “Seriously? Have you dudes even been listening to yourselves? The Dreamer. The Martyr. The Second Dreamer. The Mutineer. Jesus H, all you need is masks and some spandex capes and we’d have us a regular superhero convention going. At least Troblum’s got himself a costume already. Good one, too, big man, by the way.”

  “Are you saying we shouldn’t go?” Tomansio asked.

  “By all the rules of probability and statistics you shouldn’t even have made it this far, not any of you, because you are seriously fucking clueless. But you have gotten here, and someone knows what they’re doing loading whatever plan they have into the Mutineer’s brain. So grab this. As far as I can make out, you guys are the last chance we’ve got to stop Ilanthe and the Void itself. I don’t know what Aaron’s boss has got in mind for when you get to Makkathran, but … Tomansio, he’s right; unless you’ve got an idea, then this is the one you bust your balls to make sure it works. Tell the kids how it is, Oscar. You and I have gone face-to-face against odds like this once before. You know when something is real.”

  “Yeah,” Oscar said grudgingly. “Ozzie’s right. This is looking like our one shot. Both Dreamers together? If anyone can stop this, it’s going to be them. Somehow.”

  Tomansio shrugged. “Okay. I’m just saying we don’t know which side the Mutineer is on.”

  “Logically, it’s a faction opposing the Accelerators,” Inigo said. “I’ve been through all this. I actually do trust him.”

  “Ha!” Corrie-Lyn said.

  “All right, so Troblum, how many of us can your starship hold?” Cheriton asked. “And does it really have wings?”

  “Life support will sustain fifteen people, but that’s cramped. And they’re thermal dissipater fins,” Troblum said.

  “There’s only ten of us,” Oscar said. “We can all fit in easy, then.”

  Ozzie cleared his throat. “You’re still not thinking. How long did it take Justine to reach the fake Far Away?”

  “Oh, crap,” Aaron said. “Void time.”

  “That’s right, man. So your actual question is, How many medical chambers has Troblum got on board? Because you’re going to need suspension once you make it past the boundary.”

  “One,” said Troblum.

  “There are five in the Elvin’s Payback,” Oscar said. “They were installed in case we got simultaneous casualties.”

  “You always did lack real faith in us.” Tomansio grinned. “We need four more, then. Are any available in this compartment, Ozzie?”

  “Not right now,” Ozzie said in a suspiciously neutral voice. “They’re all very busy for the first time in decades. Don’t worry. My replicator can put some together for you.” He raised his voice. “Is that right, me-brain-in-a-jar?”

  “Already started,” the house smartcores replied.

  “I suppose our replicator can produce them as well,” Oscar said. “That should shrink our departure time.”

  Troblum still wouldn’t take his armor suit off. Oscar didn’t quite know what to make of that. Paula’s u-shadow had sent him a largish file on the ex-Accelerator agent, but that just kicked up a whole load of additional questions.

  Tomansio had been right to question Aaron, but Oscar was a lot more concerned about the strange big man with enough personality flaws to fill entire psychology texts. And an FTL system big enough to shift entire planets? Gas giant planets? Come on.

  Then again, it was all past worrying about. They were committed now. If everything worked and Aaron’s unknown boss got to talk with the Heart, the entire Void/Pilgrimage nightmare could be over within a week.

  Yeah, that’s going to happen.

  Ozzie was right, though. That was all they had left. So he sat at the kitchen table without complaining or analyzing, eating some of the bagels and salmon Ozzie’s culinary unit had provided for their brunch. It would have been nice to chat with Ozzie, he reflected; not that they’d ever been close, but they certainly had a lot of shared history. It wasn’t to be. Ozzie and Inigo seemed to spend the entire
time arguing with each other. And in the short intervals when they had to take a breath, Tomansio was busy interrogating Aaron.

  The house smartcores (and that was pretty weird even by Ozzie standards) and Liatris said the new medical chambers would be fabricated within the hour. That just left installing them on the Mellanie’s Redemption. Another blast-from-the-past name Oscar could have done without. But then, when you’re as old as me, I guess everything is connected.

  “I hope you never restart mindspace,” Inigo said heatedly. The voice was getting loud; they all had to drop their conversations and listen in. “It’s the end of humanity, sending the mind down a rotten branch of evolution.”

  “Psychology is an evolutionary trend?” Ozzie grunted back. “Gimme a break.”

  “You’re compelling it upon every sentient. At least the gaiafield had a provision for individuals to withdraw. This doesn’t. Its mental fascism, and the worst of it is you think it’s benevolent, for our own good. Blanket the galaxy with mindspace and you’ll turn us into the kind of society I found in the Last Dream. Don’t you get it? Utopia is boring; ennui is our true enemy. You and the Void both have to be stopped. You were wrong about sharing thoughts just like Edeard in his dark phase. Both of you were seduced by the Heart’s version of perfection, which is nothing more than taming and enslaving the human soul.”

  Aaron sat down next to Oscar, holding a plate of waffles. Oscar leaned over and whispered. “Liatris says the replicator will be finished in eighteen minutes.”

  “Maybe there’s something to be said for the Void’s time acceleration, after all,” Aaron muttered back.

  “Have they been like this all the time?”

  “Five days, nonstop. I encouraged them to explore options.”

  “So what do you make of our big silent friend?” Oscar nodded gently at the hulking armor suit.

  “Neutral for the moment. I can accept his concern about the Cat. If he keeps it on inside his own starship, then I’ll have to make some decisions.”

  “Yeah. And you really don’t know what’s going to happen once we reach Makkathran?”

  “No. But I like your optimism.”

  Oscar gave him another look. He liked to think he could tell. But Aaron had this human shell wrapped over something very odd indeed-almost a void in itself. He mimicked personality rather than possessing one of his own. And Corrie-Lyn hadn’t been subtle about the near breakdowns.