Permanence

by Karl Schroeder

  The magnet unit flared and exploded. Instantly, the ferrofluid wall behind Crisler's marines bubbled out and exploded. With a visible whoosh of firebeads and flame, they all went spiralling out into space.

  "Good work, Bequith," shouted Harp. "But they'll just come right back through the airlock."

  "Not if we mine it," he said. Without a word, one of the soldiers took a smart grenade from his belt, programmed it, and threw it in a perfect free-fall straight-throw. Moments later it reached the purple airlock disk, and stuck.

  "They can still come through the wall like Captain Cassels did," said Harp. "So move it! We need to secure the habs on that cycler!"

  They dove through constellations of firebeads, and now Michael allowed himself an instant to appreciate what he was seeing. It was as if he had become a giant, flying through the stars, batting suns out of the way with the back of his glove. The blue sparks seemed to have become more intense in the past few moments, indeed they were floating alone in a new velvet darkness…

  "Hey," he said. "Anybody else notice that the lights have gone out?"

  He flew on through a vision of stars, as in his ear, the words of the Chicxulub whispered:

  "The sword we forged has turned upon us

  Only now, at the end of all things do we see

  The lamp-bearer dies, only the lamp burns on."

  Rather than go through the door, Barendts had gone around it, tearing a long rip in the flexible wall material. He'd tossed a bot through that, and a moment later signalled all clear. Rue stepped through after him.

  This room was larger than the last, but equally crowded. Floor, walls, and ceiling had coffin-shaped hibernation chambers clamped to them, the only open space a kind of tunnel through them. Even here, pieces of equipment floated, tethered by cables to the walls.

  A face popped up from behind one of the coffins. It was the senior member of the science team, Katz. He looked wan and nervous. It would only take a few laser shots through the hull to evacuate the place, and kill him.

  "Who the hell are you?" he demanded. He'd have a hard time seeing Rue's own face through her helmet, and probably wouldn't have recognized Barendts. She decided to take a chance: Clumsily with her one usable hand, Rue undogged her faceplate and levered herself past Barendts.

  "It's me, Professor. Rue Cassels."

  The flight of emotions across Katz's face was amazing and gratifying. "Captain," he managed to stutter after a moment, "how did you get here?"

  "Rue?" Two more faces emerged from behind the hibernation tanks, and this time Rue's own face must have betrayed her; Evan Laurel and Corinna Chandra bounded over, laughing with amazement.

  "Is this a rescue?" Corinna asked incredulously. Rue could only nod. Corinna hugged her tightly, tears starting in her eyes.

  "But how?" muttered Katz, as he drifted to the side. Now other people were emerging from hiding: It looked as though the whole Banshee science team was here, and they all looked as stunned as Katz at Rue's arrival.

  "So much for the halo-worlders being backward," said Evan proudly. "But really, Captain, how did—"

  "Later," she said. "We need to get out of here. Where are your suits?"

  "The marines in the next section have them," said Katz, nodding through the tunnel of coffins. "They stuffed us in here a few minutes ago, no explanations. We didn't have a window to look out, but we saw a couple of flashes—"

  "Okay," said Rue. "We need those suits, so we need to get into that chamber. That means all of you get back into the storage room behind us, now! We don't want you caught here if the pressure goes."

  They crowded past her, and Rue led her men forward. There was another stout pressure door at the end of the hibernation chamber.

  "So," said Barendts, "how do we handle this one? Straight through, or stealthy?"

  "I think we…" She forgot what she was going to say, as the pressure door slid open. Rue found herself diving behind one of the hibernation chambers, like everybody else.

  Three of Crisler's marines emerged, one by one, into the chamber. They all had their hands up, gloves pressed against the sides of their helmets. There were no weapons in their belt loops.

  Rue relaxed and straightened up from her hiding place. "Good work, Lieutenant… Harp, is it?"

  The men from Michael Bequith's team filed in after their prisoners. Mike himself was there, and safe, though his shield and the autotroph canister he towed were a bit laser-scarred. Rue couldn't help but grin at the sight.

  "All safe and accounted for, I see," she said. "We were… not so lucky. We lost two."

  "There's still a squad of Crisler's boys out there," said Harp. "They'll be closing in on us right now."

  "But we have hostages," she pointed out.

  "With respect, ma'am, we had no trouble breaking in here and capturing these men. Why should it be harder for them?"

  "Because these fellows weren't expecting us," she said. "They had no idea who was attacking, or what we were after."

  She turned to wave at Katz, who was peering through the slit in the far wall. "Everybody come and get your suits! Then we're getting out of here."

  "May I be so bold as to ask who is getting out of here?" asked Katz as he pulled himself through the maze of coffin-shapes. "Have you come to rescue all of us, Captain, or just your crew members?"

  Rue frowned at him. "I wasn't aware that you needed rescuing, Professor. You joined this expedition of your own free will."

  Katz shook his head angrily. "None of us are here by choice, Captain— not any longer. Once we learned what happened on Oculus, there was a general revolt. Crisler had us all put into cold storage, and we were only awakened a few days ago, then put to work building this." He waved around at the balloon-hab.

  Now that she had her people, Rue's plan had been to call the interceptors. They would be able to pierce the shack's ferrofluid hull easily, and come alongside the hab. Each could hold two or three extra people during normal flight— but Katz's staff numbered fourteen. There was no way they could pack them all into the two interceptors that were here.

  "Pardon, Captain, but we've fulfilled our mission," said Harp. "These people are under no threat from the admiral. We can negotiate for their release later."

  Rue looked around at the faces of the science team. She saw a lot of apprehension there. "I disagree," she said. "I think these people are pawns now that Crisler has what he wants. I think," she said to Harp, "that now might be the best time to negotiate— while we have everything he wants."

  Harp scowled, and seemed to be about to say something; Mike Bequith moved forward and said, "There's a defensible point in here that looks as though it was set up as a command post; maybe it's time to make a call?"

  She found herself smiling at him. "Show me this spot."

  The next chamber had an airlock, and numerous lockers that the science team now proceeded to plunder for their suits. The inner wall of the chamber was not made of the ubiquitous white plastic of the other surfaces, though. It was white metal, glistening like it had been oiled. Scrawled across it in eye-hurting colors were the odd loops and dots of Chicxulub writing. And in the center of the wall was a purple disk-airlock.

  "Chicxulub," said Rue. "Not Lasa writing?"

  Mike shook his head grimly. "We may have been mistaken about the origin of the Envy," he said. "This writing covers the entire outside of the ship."

  "What does it say?"

  "It doesn't make much—" Mike started to say— but the autotroph interrupted him.

  "Only the Phoenix persists," it said.

  There was a momentary silence; even the members of the science team who had been cramming themselves into their suits stopped to look over.

  "Well," said Rue. "…where does this lead?" She pointed to the airlock.

  "Come," said Harp. He entered, and she followed. She noticed that Mike was right behind her.

  The airlock led to a large spherical chamber, reminiscent to Rue of the interior of the Lasa habitat on t
he Envy— or, she thought now, what she had taken to be Lasa at the time. An inscape unit had been set up here, and Rue was about to activate her inscape link when she saw something else. Near one side of the white metal space floated a very familiar object: a round, diaphanous chamber similar to the one she had crafted to control the Envy. The chamber was pulsing blue right now, and various holographic vectors were interpenetrating it, like the petals of a ghostly flower.

  "You guys built an interface," she said as Katz and the others crowded in behind her. "I'm impressed."

  "Well," smirked Katz as he moved beside her, "you bragged about how you did it enough times that we knew what to… do…" He was staring at the glowing sphere in shock.

  "It's come alive," he muttered. "What…" He reached out to touch the wall of the sphere; Rue did likewise, and felt a faint vibration through her glove.

  "What's happening?" asked Rue.

  "I don't know, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that all the fighting outside has woken this lady up."

  "Then we'd better get out of here." Rue popped up her private inscape and keyed in the command sequence that would summon the interceptors. Before she could execute the order, though, Barendts came flying through the airlock and tumbled through space, trying to maintain his aim on the purple disk. Others of the science team were leaping and scrambling through after him; there was pandemonium in Rue's earphones.

  "What's going on!"

  "— Attacking!" Barendts stabilized himself against a large egg-shaped object that jutted out of the chamber's wall. He kept his laser aimed at the airlock. "There were too many— and the civilians were in the way…"

  Rue took quick stock of her people: They were all here, plus most of the science team. She looked back at the airlock, in time to see a bare hand thrust through the surface. The hand was waving frantically, as if in warning.

  Slowly, the rest of a female member of the science team emerged through the lock. As her head broke the surface of the ferrofluid, it became clear that there was a laser rifle butted up against her jaw. Her eyes were wide with fear.

  Several other human shields appeared, and behind them, marines from the Banshee. "Lay down your weapons!" commanded one. "We have more hostages in the other room, and we'll kill them one by one unless you surrender."

  Barendts and Harp looked to Rue. She made her face into a neutral mask to hide her outrage, and nodded to them. Reluctantly, they and the other soldiers let go of their weapons.

  The marines holding the hostages moved aside to let another figure through the airlock. This man steadied himself against the edge of the lock, faced in Rue's direction, and depolarized his helmet to show his face.

  "Hello, Captain Cassels," said Admiral Crisler. He was smiling. "I don't know how you managed to get here, but now that you are I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to explain it all to me." More marines entered the chamber, and he gestured to them to take the weapons from Rue's men.

  "Plenty of time."

  27

  RUE STEELED HERSELF. She would not flinch away from this man; he was not Jentry and she was not a helpless child anymore. "Admiral Crisler, I was just about to call you."

  He smiled ironically. "Considering your situation, I believe you." He shook his head. "I honestly admit, I'm amazed to see you. How did you manage to follow us here?"

  Rue had been ready for that question. "Living in the halo worlds, we've had to spend a lot more time and resource building slower-than-light ships than you. It was easy to fix up a couple of rendezvous ships with antimatter rockets; after the beams launched you back to the cycler, we had them launch us. We used the antimatter rockets to decelerate down here, and we have another set ready to boost us out."

  "A desperate gamble," Crisler said, his eyebrows raised.

  "Not really. Because of why we're here… it's simply that I came to get my people," she said. "As you see I have found them." She gestured around at her crew. "Looking at the state of the Banshee, and the number of berths on this new cycler, it doesn't look like you've got enough room for them anyway. Why not let me take them off your hands?"

  Crisler looked surprised, then laughed. "A tempting offer— if I believed you about why you're here, which I don't. Or rather, I know you came for your crew, but what about them?" He pointed at Mike and the professor. "You've arrived with soldiers and scientists, just like I did. I doubt your little expedition's as small as you make it out to be. Regardless of what you want, I'm sure these people want the cycler mother."

  "The what?" asked Herat.

  Katz hung his head. "Self-reproducing starship technology. It's what we suspected we'd find here. When we got here and saw this place, we knew: Jentry's Envy was not made by the Lasa. It's a Chicxulub ship."

  Crisler nodded. "Renegade Chicxulub— who would have thought? Katz here tells me that the Chicxulub were wiped out by their own planet-killers. But apparently not all the Chicxulub were loyal to the extermination program to begin with. There was some kind of splinter group toward the end, and they adopted the goals of the Lasa. They made the cycler mothers, and so here we are." He frowned suddenly at the glowing control sphere. "Katz, why is that thing on?"

  "Sir, it seems to have come on by itself. The gunfire, maybe…"

  "Well, shut it down." Katz obediently slipped into the control sphere, and began gesturing at the holographic spires and disks inside it. After a few moments he emerged, shaking his head. "Some kind of sequence has started. I can't shut it down."

  "Get inscape going," snapped Crisler. "I want to see what's happening here."

  Rue switched her inscape implants to receive, and watched as windows blossomed throughout the sphere. As this was happening, she noted Herat moving over next to Katz, and Mike going the opposite way, towing the autotroph canister. Crisler's men had examined it then given it back to him after deciding it wasn't a weapon.

  "So what's a cycler mother?" asked Herat casually.

  "This place," Katz said. Seeing that Rue was listening, he said, "All human societies have outlawed self-reproducing machines. You know the disasters that happened the few times the things were made— ecological catastrophes, nanotech-based diseases… Most other sentient species also ban them. But not the Chicxulub. They raised their creation to a fine art. All the machinery around Osiris and Apophis is part of a full-grown cycler mother— a machine that gives birth to cyclers."

  "This is all very well," said Rue to Crisler, "but it doesn't get you very much, does it? Your cycler mother is stuck around a pair of brown dwarfs. How are you going to adapt it to launch FTL starships? I take it that's your plan."

  Katz looked mournful. "He doesn't have to adapt it. He can just take—"

  "That will be enough, Professor," said Crisler. He turned to look at an inscape window that showed stars. He frowned, and waved a hand to adjust the picture. "I thought this camera was mounted on the outside of the cycler?"

  Katz glanced over. "It is." He did a double take. "Oh, that must be the fires you see…" No, those tiny pinpricks were not the luminous blue dots of the ongoing fire, but the real firmament.

  "Get a bot out there!" shouted Crisler. "What's happening?" Meanwhile, he gestured to swivel the view in the window he did have open. Not surprisingly, after a moment the Banshee came into view.

  Crisler popped open another window. "Banshee, answer! What's happening to the shack?"

  "S-Sir… We were watching the other ships coming in, it must have just happened—"

  A new window appeared, either from the bot's perspective, or the Banshee's. Rue could see the long black cylindrical shape of the shack. It appeared normal except at one end, which was flattened, belling outward a bit even. And extruding through the ferrofluid was the nose of the cycler. As she watched, the balloon-habs emerged.

  "It looks like we're launching," said Herat with a smirk. "Unplanned, I take it?"

  "Shut up," said Crisler. "You, and you! Take one of the seeds back to the Banshee. We can't afford to risk keeping them all i
n one place."

  Some marines began levering one of the two large egg-shaped objects out of its socket in the wall of the chamber. As they did Herat turned to Katz, eyes wide. "Did he just call those…"

  Katz nodded unhappily. "Cycler mother seeds. We think so, anyway. Each one can regrow a complete construction system like this. These are the real treasure here."

  "Well, it seems that we're out of time," said Crisler briskly. "I don't understand what you hoped to achieve here, Rue, with this little band of pirates. But as you can see, our cycler's launching, and so we've got to get her crew secure, and get ready to follow in the Banshee. The newly arrived ships will remain to study the cycler mother.

  "But as to you…" He scowled at Rue. "You're quite right that we don't have the resources to support you. Nor can we let you escape with word of what we found here." He nodded to two more marines. "Escort Rue and her people outside, and kill them."

  "Admiral, this is insane!" Katz pushed forward, his face red. "It's murder!"

  "Dr. Katz, you still have some limited usefulness," said Crisler coldly. "Unless you'd like to join your friends outside, you'll keep silent and do your job."

  Rue's heart was pounding, but somehow she didn't feel fear— just fury. She looked around at the people in the sphere. The scientific team were cowed, all pressed back against the walls as Rue's crew reluctantly drifted forward.

  Then Mike Bequith caught her eye. He jerked his head almost imperceptibly toward the inscape screen that showed the shack. Then he winked and reached behind him.

  Behind him was the canister containing the autotroph life-forms.

  She had no idea what he was planning; anything they did now was just likely to get them killed. But Rue looked Mike in the eye, and he looked right back. That mysterious smile he sometimes got was hovering around his mouth. Rue looked at the inscape window, and her heart leapt as she saw what he'd been indicating: two smudged absences of stars hung there. They would be easy to miss unless you knew they were there.

  Rue caught Mike's eye and shook her head very slightly; then, using her link, Rue issued a command to the interceptors. Mike looked incredulous. He frowned and nodded back at the autotroph canister. She shook her head again.