Edges

by Linda Nagata

  Clemantine pushed back against a smothering sense of loss, strove to focus on the present. Gesturing at the nameless star, she said, “Tell me what this means.”

  Pasha visibly gathered herself, then she confessed, “I don’t know what it means. But I think we need to know what’s in that stellar system. It can’t be coincidence. Something Urban saw there triggered the conflict. We need to know what it is.”

  “Our telescopes are out of commission, but I can ask Griffin to look.”

  “That’s good. We should do that. But if we could find the image, we’d know exactly what Urban saw. You just said he wouldn’t have erased it. So what would he have done with it?”

  “Ahh,” Clemantine said, in imitation of a sigh, though her ghost did not breathe. She opened a library window. “He kept a sequestered data cache—personal things.”

  “He gave you access?”

  “Yes.”

  The cache inventory appeared in the window. She searched for the newest file, found it.

  “It’s an image,” Pasha said, triumph in her voice.

  Chapter

  42

  In the metadata accompanying the image of the ring-shaped world, a DI had conveniently included two fields derived not from observation, but from testimony.

  Object Name: Verilotus, per the entity Lezuri.

  Summary Description: An artificial world-system constructed after the rise of the Hallowed Vasties, exploiting technologies not described within the local library. Inner torus intended for habitation. Existence of current population unknown. Outer luminous ring represented as an intrusion of an alternate Universe, with gravity-manipulating properties. Source: the entity Lezuri (uncorroborated).

  Kona waited, adrift in the zero gravity of the warren’s forest room—though tonight the light panels did not display the forest for which the room was named. The walls, along with floor and ceiling, glowed in a gradient of white light, dimmest at the door, bright at the front of the room where Kona would soon be speaking.

  For now, he waited to one side, silent, somber, refusing any attempt at conversation. The buzz of voices grew louder as more people arrived.

  Three days ago Clemantine had released the image of Verilotus. Since then, Kona had listened to the discussions, the arguments, the competing analyses circulating among the ship’s company. He’d worked quietly but incessantly to guide that debate, speaking privately to influencers like Tarnya, Naresh, Shoran, and Vytet, locking in their support.

  He’d called this meeting only after he was sure he could win consensus.

  A DI tracked attendance. A few minutes before the scheduled start of the session it notified him: *All present.

  He messaged Clemantine and Vytet, both nearby: *It’s a little early, but I’m going to start.

  Clemantine, her gaze coolly determined, nodded her agreement. Vytet gestured with her hand, Go ahead.

  Kona reached for a ceiling ring, used it to launch himself in a slow glide to the front of the room. People shifted, opening a path for him. Soft-spoken words of encouragement eased his way.

  Centuries ago, when Urban had taken himself away on the Null Boundary Expedition, Kona had believed he’d lost his son forever. When he’d caught up on all the known facts surrounding Urban’s disappearance, he’d plunged into that recidivist nightmare again. This time though, he intended to do more than mourn.

  He grabbed the speaker’s pole. Used it to turn around, face the gathering. A hush fell across the room. Everyone knew, or guessed, what he’d come to say, but their culture of reasoned consensus demanded he say it, that he make the argument, do all he could to persuade the doubters before he asked for the assent of the company.

  He told them, “We are here to make a decision. It will be some time before Dragon is fully repaired, but the immediate emergency is past. The reef is healthy and back under control of the cell field, giving us the option of navigating a new course. It’s time to decide—Verilotus or Tanjiri?

  “We’ve all had time to study and consider the few available facts surrounding Verilotus. We’ve all engaged in creative speculations based on those facts. I think there is now general agreement that Verilotus is the system Lezuri regards as home, and that he is on his way there now.

  “We allowed this thing to escape the Rock. I think it is our obligation to pursue him.

  “Realize that the entity which infested our ship, defeated our defenses, brought us to the edge of self-destruction was surely no more than a fragment of the entity as it must have been in its grandeur at Verilotus.

  “We know almost nothing about Verilotus and we have not begun to understand the physics of the luminous ring that surrounds it, but both appear to me to be wondrous creations, worthy of admiration—though my admiration does not extend to their creator.

  “Lezuri presented himself as condescending, self-serving, dominating, and ultimately violent when he could not achieve his goals by persuasion alone. In his story of his origin, he told us he grew into his power by seizing the resources of lesser minds. He was not ashamed that he had subsumed the existence of others to further his own position. For him, there was nothing wrong with this. He took what he needed to create himself.

  “And then he lost himself. This being of immense power contended with another and lost. ‘One whom I loved betrayed me.’ Those were his words. Imagine it: These were beings with the power to create worlds but without the values to sustain peace between them.

  “And Lezuri was exiled. Left alone, marooned on the Rock, brooding over what was done to him.

  “I believe Lezuri is returning home for the reason he stated—to restore his world—but also to restore himself.

  “I think it would be a mistake, an abrogation of our duty to allow him to do that. We all know how the frontier has suffered under the scourge of Chenzeme power. If Lezuri succeeds in regenerating himself as he once was, his power will far exceed that of the Chenzeme, and from what I’ve observed, he does not have the temperament for it.

  “I’m not alone in this judgment. At the Rock, two starships were scuttled to stop Lezuri from escaping his exile. Dragon was nearly scuttled in the struggle to free ourselves of his looming tyranny.

  “I do not want to be complicit in releasing this regenerated entity on the Hallowed Vasties. He will never be weaker than he is now. We need to hunt him down and destroy him while we can.”

  Chapter

  43

  Each day, at least twice a day, Fortuna’s DI directed the telescope to seek out Dragon. For many, many days the only visible change was the slow closure of the dark hull scars.

  Then a day came when the newest image showed the bright sparks of navigational jets firing alongside the hull. The conclusion was inescapable: Dragon was changing course. It was no longer bound for Tanjiri System.

  The courser’s new heading could not be calculated from a single image. Urban needed to observe the ship over several days to confirm Verilotus was its destination—but to get there first he had to act now.

  He summoned the ship’s DI. “Redirect our course to intercept the object MSC-G-349809-1b.”

  “Confirming course redirection,” the Dull Intelligence responded. “Target heading is star system MSC-G-349809. Specific destination is the inner-system object 1b, labeled as Verilotus.”

  “Correct,” Urban said. He’d designated the immense luminous ring—so thin, graceful, perfect—that surrounded the world of Verilotus as Object 1a. Lezuri had called it a blade. He’d described it as an intrusion of another Universe and he’d admitted, It could be used as a weapon.

  “Course modification underway,” the DI informed him.

  The simulated reality of the library did not replicate the sudden harsh radial motion as navigation jets fired in calculated sequence, but Urban was able to watch the ship come about through a three-dimensional projection posted by the DI. Fortuna was small, nimble. The adjustment did not take long. Infinitesimal odds that any watching eyes aboard Dragon had detected the brief
spark.

  Lezuri had said the flow of time was accelerated at Verilotus, that a year played out on that artificial world as days passed outside. An effect of the blade? Perhaps.

  Urban was days closer to Verilotus than Dragon. If he could maintain that lead through the coming years, through the time it would take him to reach the system—and if Lezuri had been telling the truth—then Urban would arrive there with an interval to explore and to prepare.

  It would be a long voyage, but he’d endured such before. He knew the tricks.

  He would not allow himself to think too hard on his present existence: less than a mote, an aberrant spark in the immensity of the void, light years of emptiness all around him and centuries of travel time separating him from any known human presence.

  He would not allow himself to dwell on what he’d lost.

  Such thoughts he locked away behind artificial barriers.

  He adopted a routine of switching off his consciousness, rousing only twice in every twenty-four hours to check the ship’s status and to view new images of Dragon presented to him by the DI. Each image confirmed its revised course.

  After a time, he discovered a slight increase in Dragon’s velocity. He matched it, then exceeded it. This raised his risk of obliteration in a random collision, but it would do no good to reach Verilotus after Lezuri.

  He instructed the DI to devote all remaining telescope time to a detailed survey of the MSC-G-349809 system. It soon confirmed the presence of two gas giant planets in the outer system, then began a slow meticulous search for minor bodies.

  Urban wakened for only brief periods, but he perceived no interval between them so it felt to him as if he was constantly awake, rocketing at mad speed toward Verilotus.

  To endure it, he adapted the calm demeanor, the machinelike patience of the persona he called the Sentinel. But dark thoughts whispered deep within the architecture of his ghost.

  What if? What if?

  A constant, haunting refrain.

  What if he had passed the beacon without visiting it? What if he had scuttled Dragon that day the entity infested it? What if he had forbidden Riffan to share his tablet with Lezuri? What if he had agreed to take Lezuri to Verilotus? What if Clemantine still lived?

  Did she?

  Had she made an alliance with Lezuri? If that meant she still lived, he hoped it was so.

  What if he reached Verilotus and found a hostile goddess?

  Or what if he found nothing? No way to level up, to gain the strength and knowledge needed to face Lezuri.

  More frightening: What if he did find those things? What then? Who would he become?

  The answers lay ahead.

  Forthcoming

  Inverted Frontier, Book 2

  Silver

  A Lost Ship – A New World

  Urban is no longer master of the fearsome starship Dragon. Driven out by the hostile, godlike entity, Lezuri, he has taken refuge aboard the most distant vessel in his outrider fleet.

  Though Lezuri remains formidable, he is a broken god, commanding only a fragment of the knowledge that once was his. He is desperate to return home to the ring-shaped artificial world he created at the height of his power, where he can recover the memory of forgotten technologies.

  Urban is desperate to stop him. He races to reach the ring-shaped world first, only to find himself stranded in a remote desert, imperiled by a strange flood of glowing “silver” that rises in the night like fog—a lethal fog that randomly rewrites the austere, Earthlike landscape. He has only a little time to decipher the mystery of the silver and to master its secrets. Lezuri is coming—and Urban must level up before he can hope to vanquish the broken god.

  Acknowledgments

  A great gap of time separates Edges from its predecessor, Vast, and perhaps that’s appropriate given the span required for Urban’s voyage home.

  Time, of course, changes us all.

  Though I’d long been thinking about this novel, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Dare I try to re-enter a world I’d first imagined more than twenty years ago? And if I did, could I make it convincing for those who’d found Vast to be a memorable addition to their science fiction libraries? Eventually, I decided to try, convincing myself it would be a quick project. That did not turn out to be the case, but without that bit of self-deception, I might never have started.

  Edges exists in its current form thanks to my freelance editor, Judith Tarr, who fearlessly insisted that an early draft needed a major rethinking. Judy later provided essential editorial input on a near-final draft, Kat Howard provided additional insight, and beta readers Larry Clough and Kristine Smith came to the rescue on short notice. Copyediting was done by Sherwood Smith, via the writers’ cooperative, Book View Café. All of you have my thanks and my gratitude. You tried to steer me in the right direction. All remaining errors and deficiencies are my own.

  I also want to acknowledge those readers who spend time with me on Twitter, or visit my blog. Your encouragement and kind words are deeply appreciated. Thank you!

  And last but certainly not least, a huge thank you to all those who've taken the time to read this book, or others I've written. You're the reason I do this, and I’m deeply grateful for your ongoing support.

  — Linda Nagata

  February 2019

  Also by Linda Nagata

  The Last Good Man

  Scarred by war. In pursuit of truth.

  Army veteran True Brighton left the service when the development of robotic helicopters made her training as a pilot obsolete. Now she works at Requisite Operations, a private military company established by friend and former Special Ops soldier Lincoln Han. ReqOp has embraced the new technologies. Robotics, big data, and artificial intelligence are all tools used to augment the skills of veteran warfighters-for-hire. But the tragedy of war is still measured in human casualties, and when True makes a chance discovery during a rescue mission, old wounds are ripped open. She’s left questioning what she knows of the past, and resolves to pursue the truth, whatever the cost.

  The Last Good Man is a powerful, complex, and very human tale.

  “A new novel by Linda Nagata is always an event. The Last Good Man pulls us into next month’s headlines with a conviction and energy that makes for an extraordinary tale.” —Hugo and Nebula award-winner Greg Bear, author of War Dogs and Darwin’s Radio.

  “...a thrilling novel that lays bare the imminent future of warfare.” —Publishers Weekly starred review

  “Nagata is rapidly assuming her place among the greats of military science fiction.” —Jerry D. Lenaburg, New York Journal of Books

  “The Last Good Man is a fantastic, lightning-fast thriller that hits all the right notes: an engaging story set in an all-too-plausible future, advanced technology, plenty of action, and fantastic, well-rounded characters.” —Andrew Liptak, The Verge

  “...if you want a novel with pulse-pounding action, in which soldiers square off against the futuristic machines — a novel that you won’t be able to put down once the action heats up — [The Last Good Man] delivers with the precision and firepower of a tactical missile...not only a cracking good read, it is a novel driving first, and fast, down the road we are seemingly already set upon.” —Paul Weimer, B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

  “Nagata has devised a thinking-reader’s future-military scenario, a highly qualified adventure in which every thrill comes with a realization of what it costs, what it says about the world that enables it, what it means to fight and kill and face death.” —Russell Letson, Locus

  “If you like your military science fiction grounded in the real and in the probable, this is your book.” —Michelle West, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

  More Books by Linda Nagata

  The Nanotech Succession - Before Inverted Frontier, there was the Nanotech Succession. Explore more of this story world in this sequence of stand-alone novels:

  Tech-Heaven (prequel)

  The Bohr Maker (winner of the 1
996 Locus Award for Best First Novel)

  Deception Well

  Vast

  The Red Trilogy

  The Red: First Light (Nebula Award nominee and finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award)

  The Trials

  Going Dark (finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award)

  Stories of the Puzzle Lands (gritty dark fantasy)

  The Dread Hammer - Book 1: a tale of love, war, murder, marriage, and fate

  Hepen the Watcher - Book 2: a tale of exile, rebellion, fidelity, and fire

  Other Story Worlds

  The Last Good Man

  Light and Shadow (a short-fiction collection)

  Limit of Vision

  Memory (finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award)

  Goddesses & Other Stories (a short-fiction collection including the 2000 Nebula Award winner for best novella)

  Skye-Object 3270a (young adult/middle grade)

  Additional information on all of Linda Nagata’s books, including sample chapters and links to print and ebook versions, can be found at the author's website: MythicIsland.com.

  About the Author

  Linda Nagata’s work has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, John W. Campbell Memorial, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial awards. She has won the Nebula and is a two-time winner of the Locus award.

  Linda is best known for her high-tech science fiction, including the near-future thriller, The Last Good Man, and the Red trilogy, an intersection of artificial intelligence and military fiction. The first book in the trilogy, The Red: First Light, was named as a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2015.