'You have to pass through the eye of the needle to live in the playground of the gods.
'One of Inigo's better quotes, ANA: Governance said with a cadence of amusement. 'Shame about the rest of that sermon.
'You don't help make my job any easier.
'Any and all of my resources are available to you.
'But there's only one of me, and I feel like I'm battling the Hydra out here.
'This lack of self-confidence is unlike you. What is the matter?
'The Pilgrimage, of course. Should it be allowed?
'The humans of Living Dream believe it to be both their right and their destiny. They are billions in number. How can that much belief be wrong?
'Because they might be endangering trillions.
'True. This is not a question which has an answer. Not in the absolute terms you are demanding.
'What if they do trigger the Void's final devourment phase, or at least a bad one?
'Ah, now that is the real question. It's also one which I doubt we can have prior knowledge of. Neither I nor any of the post-physicals I have interacted with are aware of what happens inside the Void.
'Inigo showed you.
'Inigo showed us the fate of humans in the Void. Which incidentally isn't too dissimilar to downloading yourself into me; though the Void has the advantage of quasi-mystical overtones to win over the technophobes among humanity. And you get to remain physical. What he did not show us is the nature of the Void itself.
'So you're prepared to take the risk?
'At this moment I am prepared to let the players strut the stage.
'Yes. That's about as un-definitive as it gets.
'If I were to forbid the Pilgrimage and enforce that decision, it would trigger a split within myself. Pro-Pilgrimage Factions such as the Advancers would likely attempt to create their own version of myself. And kindly remember I am not a virtual environment. I am fully established within the quantum field intersections around Earth.
'You're scared of a rival?
'The human race has never been so unified as it is today. It has taken our entire history to reach this congruity. People, all people, lead a good life filled with as much diversity as they wish to undergo. They migrate inwards until they download into me. Within me they are free to transcend in any way imagination and ability can combine. One day, as a whole, I will become post-physical. Humans who do not wish to travel along that path will begin afresh. That is the vision of evolution which awaits us. A «rival» focal point would distort that, possibly even damage or dilute the moment of singularity.
'There can only be one god, huh?
'There can be many. I simply wish to avoid engendering hostile ones. No one wants to see a war in heaven. Trust me, it would make a Void devourment seem trivial'
'I thought diversity was our virtue.
'It is one of them, and as such flourishes within me.
'But…
'It is also danger is that it can lead to our destruction. Opposing forces have to be balanced. That is my function.
'And this is one instance where you're going to fail if you're not careful.
'Undoubtedly.
'So we have to find other options.
'As people have sought since civilization began on Earth. That, I think, is a greater virtue.
'Okay then. Paula took a moment to marshal her thoughts. 'I'm uncertain who is behind the raid on the clinic. It is puzzling why the Advancers and Conservatives should both have their representatives there after the fact. Do you think a third Faction is involved?
'Very likely. I do not know which one. Many alliances are being formed and broken. However, you may soon be able to establish the identity. Admiral Kazimir is currently receiving a report from the base Admiral at the High Angel. He will probably ask you to tackle it.
'Ah.
'If you need anything.
'I'll let you know.
The link ended. Paula sat back on the deep curving chair which the starship's cabin had moulded for her. Given her own uncertainty about the mission, she was feeling vaguely troubled by the lack of reassurance ANA: Governance could offer. She supposed she should be grateful it was so honest with her.
Kazimir called less than a minute later. 'How did the Anagaska enquiry go? he asked.
'Positive result. It was definitely someone with advanced biononics and possibly an ultradrive ship. The target was Inigo's old memoryceil.
'Interesting. And I've just had a report that the Alini, a private starship, docked at High Angel.
'How is that relevant?
'It docked at the Raiel dome. The Navy sensors detected a drive signature which could indicate an ultradrive.
Paula was suddenly very interested. 'Did it now? There are very few humans the Raiel will allow into their dome. Who does the Alini belong to?
'Unknown. It's registered to a company on Sholapur.
'I'm on my way.
* * * * *
The Delivery Man landed at Daroca's main starport, parking his ultradrive ship, the Jomo, on a pad connected to the third terminal building, which dealt with private yachts. Then he started walking across the field to the nearby hangar zone. Even knowing all about the diversion bug infiltrated into the ground navigation section of the starport's smartcore didn't help him. All the hangars were identical, the rows regimented. It was mildly confusing. Not that he would lose his way, not with all his enrichments and an instinctive sense of direction. But just to be on the safe side… His u-shadow snatched real-time images from a sensor satellite and guided him directly.
Eventually, he was standing at the base of a glossy black wall where the small side door was protected by an excellent security shield. Not even his full field function scan could determine what lay inside. He smiled. This was more like it.
His biononics began to modify their field function, pushing a variety of energy patterns against the security shield, introducing small instabilities which quickly began to amplify. His u-shadow reached through the fluctuating gaps and launched a flurry of smart trojans into the hangar net.
The door irised open.
Ninety-seven seconds. Not bad.
Inside, his field function scanned round looking for possible guard armaments, while his u-shadow rifled through the hangar's electronic systems. Troblum had set up a fairly standard defence network, with concentric shielding around the main section of the hangar. The physicist was clearly more interested in maintaining privacy than physical protection.
His scan didn't reveal any human presence in the hangar. The first office was clearly just a reception area, cover for anyone who did make it past the diversion system. Beyond that was a second office with one of the biggest smartcores the Delivery Man had ever seen. It wasn't connected to the hangar network, or the Unisphere. His u-shadow established a link to its peripheral systems and began to probe the available files.
The Delivery Man went on into the main hangar. He whistled softly at the vast array of Neumann cybernetic modules occupying half of the space inside. The machine was powered down, but he was familiar enough with the technology to guess its sophistication probably put it beyond a level-six replicator. That was not something an individual Higher citizen normally possessed. No wonder Troblum needed such a large smartcore, nothing else could operate such a rig.
'Can you access the main memory? he asked his u-shadow.
'Not possible for me. I will need high-order assistance.
The Delivery Man cursed, and opened an ultra secure link to the Conservative Faction. There was a small risk it could be intercepted by another Faction or more likely ANA: Governance itself, but in light of what he'd stumbled across he considered it necessary. 'I need help to gain access to Troblum's smartcore. It should tell us what he's been building with this machine.
'Very well, the Conservative Faction replied. With his u-shadow providing a link, the Delivery Man could almost feel the Faction's presence shift into the hangar. It began to infiltrate the smartcore. Whil
e it was doing that, he began to look through the mundane files in the hangar's net to try and find delivery schedules. The individual components of the machine had to come from somewhere, and the EMA to obtain them went far beyond an individual's resources. There was no court the Conservatives could use to confront the Accelerators with, even if he established a datatrail back to their representatives; but if he could find the proxy supplying Troblum with additional EMA there was a chance he could find other illicit EMA transfers from the same source. A whole level of Accelerator operations would be uncovered.
'There is only one design stored in the smartcore, the Conservative Faction announced. 'It would appear to be an ftl engine capable of transporting a planet.
The Delivery Man swung round to stare at the dark machine looming above him, his gaze drawn to the circular extrusion mechanism in the centre. 'A whole planet?
'Yes.
'Would it work?
'The design is an ingenious reworking of exotic matter theory. It could work if applied correctly.
'And this built it? he said, still staring at the machine.
'There have been two attempts at producing the engine. The first was aborted. The second appears to have been successful.
'Why do they want to fly a planet round at ftl speeds? And which planet?
'We don't know. Please destroy the machine and the smartcore.
The Delivery Man put his hands on his hips to give the machine an appalled look. 'What technology level can I go up to here?
'Unlimited. Nobody must know it ever existed, least of all Highers.
'Okay. Your call.
The Conservative Faction ended the link, leaving the Delivery Man feeling unusually alone. Now he knew the purpose of the machine the silent hangar had the feel of some ancient murder scene. It wasn't a pleasant place to be, putting him on edge.
He called the Jomo's smartcore, and told it to fly over. The hangar's main doors were open when it arrived, and it nosed through the security screen to settle on the cradles inside. Its nose almost touched the wall of Neumann cybernetics.
The Delivery Man made sure the hangar security screen was at its highest rating before he stood underneath the Jomo's open airlock to be drawn up by an inverted gravity effect. Once inside he used a tri-certificate authorization to activate the Hawking m-sink stored in one of the forward holds. The little device was contained inside a high-powered regrav sled, which slipped out to hover in front of the Neumann cybernetics. With that in place, the Delivery Man aimed a narrow disrupter effect at the machine, just above the Hawking m-sink. A half-metre section of equipment vaporized, producing a horizontal fountain of hot ionized gas. It bent slightly in mid-air to pour into the Hawking m-sink, which absorbed every molecule. The Delivery Man tracked the disruptor effect along the front of the machine, with the Hawking m-sink following.
It took forty minutes to vaporize the entire machine. When it was over, the quantum black hole at the centre of the Hawking m-sink had absorbed three hundred and twenty seven tons of matter, putting the regrav sled close to its weight lift limit as it edged back into the starship's hold. The Delivery Man requested flight clearance from the starport, and the Jomo lifted into Arevalo's warm summer skies.
Justine watched it go from the safety of her own ship, parked on a pad eight hangars down the row.
* * * * *
Twilight was bathing Hawksbill Bay with a rich gold hue, mild enough so that strange constellations could twinkle merrily across the cloudless sky. The only sound around the pavilion's swimming pool came from the waves breaking around the rocks of the headland below.
'An ftl engine that shifts planets, Nelson said. 'Got to admire them. They don't think small.
'They don't think: period, Gore grunted. 'ANA is embedded in the local quantum fields. You can't just rip it out and fling it across the galaxy on a blind date with the Void.
'They obviously believe it. Troblum's EMA came through one of their front committees. He built the engine for the Accelerators.
'Don't believe it, Gore said, shaking his head. 'He even made a presentation to the Navy about the Anomine using something like this to haul the Dyson barrier generators into place. Asked Kazimir to fund a fucking search for them for Christ's sake. Why would Ilanthe allow him to go public with the idea? They'd atomize him before he even put in a call for a meeting with the Navy. No, we haven't got enough information yet.
'Makes sense if it's a diversion, Nelson said reluctantly. 'They wouldn't build anything so critical to their plans on a Higher world. We don't.
'And he's taken years to get it built, on a fairly pitiful budget. Wrong priority level. We really need to find Troblum and ask nicely what he's really been doing for the Accelerators.
'He left Arevalo a while back. Filed a flight plan to Lutain. Never showed up there, or any other Commonwealth world, Central or External.
'We need to find him, Gore repeated firmly.
'That's not going to happen. Either the Accelerators have him, or he's hiding, or more likely he's plain and simple dead.
'Then we find out which one it is.
* * * * *
Justine stood in the middle of the weirdly empty hangar and called Paula.
'There's something seriously wrong here.
'In what way? Paula asked.
'I think the Delivery Man just cleared the whole place out. Justine slowly looked round the big empty space, opening her optical vision to Paula. 'See that? There was something in here. My field scan shows those power cables were cut by a disruption effect, same goes for the support girders. Whatever it was, it was sizeable and used up a great deal of power. But the Jomo is no bigger than my ship. Which only leaves one option how he did it.
'I thought the Hawking m-sink was even more secure than ultradrive technology. It would seem I'm wrong, which is disturbing.
'Kazimir will have to be told, Justine said. 'If there are starships flying round the Commonwealth equipped with that kind of weapon the Navy should know about it. The Factions don't use the most principled people as their representatives.
'I'll leave that to you.
'Great. Thank you. He's still human enough to blame the messenger.
'He's a professional. You'll be all right. Do you know where the Delivery Man is heading?
'His direction indicated Earth when he left my sensor range. I imagine he'll want to dump the mass stored in the Hawking m-sink first, and he'll do that deep in interstellar space. Expelling it will produce a colossal gamma burst.
'Leave him alone for now. The focus is shifting back to Living Dream.
'Why?
'Our sources in the movement are reporting an alarming development, Paula said. 'Living Dream is readying all the civil security forces on all the core worlds of the Free Market Zone. Leave has been cancelled and they're undergoing martial law enforcement training.
'Martial law? Where is that applied in the Free Market Zone?
'It isn't. Yet. But if they were to annex Viotia they would probably need that many police troopers to keep the populace under control.
'Jesus! Are they planning that?
'Ethan is becoming desperate to gain control over the Second Dreamer. He's the one person who could still stop this whole Pilgrimage in its tracks.
'And everyone believes he's on Viotia, Justine said, appalled. 'Dear heavens, an interstellar invasion. In this day and age, it's unthinkable, it's left over from the Starflyer War.
'Start thinking it. I made a mistake not giving this a higher priority. We really need to offer ANA: Governance's protection to the Second Dreamer. That way no one will be able to pressure him into either helping or hindering the Pilgrimage.
'But first we have to find him. How long before you can get your agent working on this?
'Very soon now. I'm on my way to see him with one slight detour.
Justine eyed the hangar's inner office suspiciously. There was an empty space which three communications conduits led into, their ends cut off clean. '
Whatever they were building here was clearly important, and the Delivery Man took quite a risk covering it up. I don't think we have a lot of time left.
'The Pilgrimage ships won't be ready to fly until September.
'And the Ocisen Empire fleet will be here in late August, that's less than three months away. I'd like to suggest a lead no one else seems to be following.
'What's that?
'Inigo started to dream when he was at Centurion Station. Did anyone else?
'If they did, we'd know about it.
'That's the point: would we? Suppose the contact was a weak one that was never fully established. Or the recipient didn't want any part of Inigo's religion. A reluctant person just like the Second Dreamer has turned out to be.
'I think I see where you're going with this, or rather intend to go-
'I want to check out the confluence nest on Centurion Station, see if it has any memory of Void dreams, or fragments of them.
Maybe the Second Dreamer started his connection with the Skylord when he was there, just like Inigo.
'You're right, no one else has covered that angle.
'If I leave now, my ship can get me there in five hundred hours.
'You're going to fly there? Why not use the Navy's relay link?
'Too much chance of it being intercepted.
'If you do find anything it'll take you another five hundred hours to get back. It'll probably all be over by then.
'If I find anything important, I'll use the relay link to send you the name in the heaviest encryption we have.
'Okay. Good luck.
* * * * *
Troblum woke up slumped in the chair he'd sat in all day reviewing various schematics. His exovision displays had paused at the point where he'd fallen asleep. Colourful profiles of exotic mass density modulators floated like mechanical ghosts around him, each one beleaguered by shoals of blue and green analytical displays. Supposedly these components would perform their designated function without any trouble; the designers had simply scaled up from existing ultradrives. Except, nobody had ever built them this size before, which left Troblum with a mountain of problems when it came to the kind of precise power control they needed. And they hadn't even got to the fabrication stage yet.
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