The Void Trilogy 3-Book Bundle

by Peter F. Hamilton

  “Nothing much. She asked Oscar to meet her in a restaurant on Daryad Avenue in fifteen minutes.”

  “But …” Troblum pulled the news feeds to center. The protective force fields over the construction yard were powering down, leaving the skies wide open for the colossal ships to launch. “She’s on board the Lady’s Light. I’m accessing the feed right now.”

  “Yes. So either she’s bringing the entire Pilgrimage fleet to Viotia for a quick visit, or there’s something else going on.”

  “What?”

  “Are you taking an interest, Troblum? Are you considering contacting Oscar now?”

  “I’m not talking to him. For all I know, this is some trick of yours.”

  “If it is, it’s a little late in the day.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “I’m infiltrating nodes inside the restaurant. Oscar’s team is running checks to provide cover for their man. They’re good, but I can elude them. Would you like to observe the meeting?”

  Troblum closed his eyes. Images from the starship’s sensors showed him Viotia as a vast intrusion within spacetime’s gravity field. The planet was only a hundred thousand kilometers away, although the SI didn’t know that. Or perhaps it does.

  The fear and worry that had ebbed away slowly over the last week suddenly resurged, elevating his heart rate. Tiny beads of sweat oozed out of his pores, chilling his skin. Biononics smoothly countered the physiological aspects, but they couldn’t quell his anxious thoughts. He couldn’t begin to guess what was going on. I don’t understand people, fuck it. Why is Araminta doing this? Why is she trying to kill the galaxy? Why is she calling Oscar? And he must know she won’t be meeting him.

  “You said Oscar’s people are checking out the restaurant?”

  “Yes. Two of them are physically deploying to cover the building. He’s already on his way.”

  “But he knows where Araminta is; he knows she won’t be there. It must be a trap, yet he’s going into it.”

  “A trap set by who? And why? And why now? No weapon in the galaxy can stop the Pilgrimage ships; we know that. Your Commonwealth Navy can’t break through the force fields Ilanthe has provided, nor can the warrior Raiel.”

  “Are you saying it isn’t a trap?”

  “I’m telling you what’s happening and offering to share.”

  “Why? Why do you want to involve me?”

  “To finally achieve what I’ve so often wrongly been accused of doing: influencing the outcome of human affairs. We must have more options ranged against Living Dream and Ilanthe. And the Cat, of course. You may yet be able to play a true part, Troblum. Do you want that?”

  He looked across the cabin at Catriona, who was bestowing him with that worshipful look again. He put his head in his hands. She’s not real. Nothing I have is real. With biononics amplifying his strength, he suddenly thumped his fist down on top of the micromanipulator unit. It made a dull thudding sound, and some of the tiny components jittered around inside. His fist rose again. This time his biononics added a weapons pattern to the impact. The dome shattered, and the delicate little mechanisms inside were crushed beyond salvation. Electronic components scattered across the decking, ruined by both the violence and the air that contaminated their flimsy molecular structure.

  “Show me,” he told the SI. “And who is Bovey?”

  “Come alone.” Araminta had been insistent about that.

  Oscar appreciated the sentiment, but … Some things were just too big to leave to goodwill and pleasantries. He took a table in the middle of Andrew Rice’s restaurant at the bottom of Daryad Avenue, an ancient (by Viotia standards) wood-and-carbon-paneled building barely a mile from the docks where Elvin’s Payback still sat in the warehouse, overlooked and unnoticed by the managers trying to restore order to the docks. There weren’t many people; the windows had just been replaced after having been smashed. Oscar was sure it should have had more tables, too; the remaining ones were certainly spaced unusually far apart. Perhaps some had been looted. Who loots a table?

  A human waiter came over to take his order, and he asked for a salad. He rather liked the look of the enormous steak and kidney pies a couple of blokes were eating at a corner table, but he’d only just finished his tea and twister. It had taken less than ten minutes to walk to Rice’s from the Elvin’s Payback, which was cause for mild suspicion. Did Araminta know their location? It was hard to see how.

  Beckia was out in Daryad Avenue, keeping watch as she browsed through a recently reopened store opposite the restaurant. Cheriton had taken up position in a lane at the back, also scanning around for any sign of other agents or some kind of trap or just something out of the ordinary. Oscar still couldn’t figure out what was going on. The gaiafield quite clearly revealed Araminta standing in the observation deck of the Lady’s Light, where she had remained for the last couple of days. Ethan and Taranse walked across the empty chamber to her and bowed in unison.

  “Embarkation is complete, Dreamer,” Taranse said. He looked exhausted but supremely content, a man who’d achieved his goal in life.

  “Thank you,” she said. “You have done a remarkable job.” She turned to Ethan. “Are we ready to launch?”

  “Yes,” he said with open delight. “The ultradrives appear to be functional.”

  “Very well. Please ask the captains to lift and set a course for the Void.”

  “It will be done.”

  “Is there any sign of Ilanthe?”

  “No, Dreamer.”

  “No matter. I’m sure she will make herself known before we reach the boundary.” She turned back to the tall strip of transparent fuselage in time to see the construction yard’s last layer of force fields deactivate. It was dawn outside. A bright yellow-gold radiance illuminated the colossal Pilgrimage ships, and she smiled at the sight of it. Then the decking trembled and the Lady’s Light slowly lifted out of its regrav suspension, rising into Ellezelin’s clear sky.

  “Holy crap,” Oscar grunted. He truly had no idea what he was doing here now. In fact, he started to worry that Tomansio was right and Living Dream had broken into her mind so they could clear up any possible remaining problems. That was bollocks, he knew. Why wait until now?

  His salad arrived. He gave it a dispirited look.

  “Ah, life just got interesting again,” Beckia said. “Here we go.” Her link showed him a Mr. Bovey climbing out of a cab on Daryad Avenue just outside the restaurant. It was the middle-aged black-skinned one Oscar had talked to before.

  “Yes! Your money is mine,” Cheriton declared. “Pay up.”

  The team had been running a pool on who would actually show up at the restaurant. Oscar had put his money on the elusive cousin, Cressida.

  “Anything suspicious?” Oscar asked the rest of the team. Liatris, who was flying coverage over Colwyn City in a modified capsule, said no, the area was clear of any covert activity. Back in Elvin’s Payback, Tomansio also reported a clean sweep.

  The Mr. Bovey walked straight into the restaurant and sat down next to Oscar. He was wearing a conservative gray toga suit that barely shimmered, which made him look quite dignified.

  Oscar’s biononics threw a small privacy cloak around the table. “Mr. Bovey,” he began in censure, which he was about to follow up with something along the lines of what’s she up to? when the man simply grinned and shook his head. “No,” he said emphatically. “That’s Mr. Bovey over there keeping an eye on you.”

  Oscar twisted around. The two men eating steak and kidney pies waved solemnly. “I don’t get …”

  “I’m Araminta. Araminta-two, I suppose. I borrowed one of my fiancé’s bodies. This one, to be precise. I always liked this one.”

  “Ungh?” Oscar grunted.

  “I’m starting to go multiple. It’s an interesting lifestyle, don’t you think?” He gave Oscar a lopsided smile.

  “Fuck me.”

  “Quite. You said you could help?”

  “Oh, shit, yes!” Oscar’s
skin was actually tingling from astonishment. He couldn’t help it; he started laughing in delight. Maybe there is hope. “If you’d like to come with me …” Biononics and secondary thought routines had to regulate his neural responses, filtering down his adrenaline rush so he could concentrate properly on the mission. He had to stay focused.

  Araminta-two gave him a modest shrug and stood up.

  “Cover us,” Oscar told Beckia and Cheriton. “Liatris, get us out of here.”

  “Way ahead of you,” Liatris said.

  Oscar couldn’t remember being both elated and terrified to such an extent. If they were going to be intercepted, it would be now, after this version of Araminta was identified for what s/he was. As they walked to the door, he wanted to shove his integral force field up to full strength, activate all weapons enrichments. Keep cool. Keep calm. It’s a brilliant maneuver. No one could anticipate she’d do this.

  Liatris brought the ingrav capsule flashing down directly onto the pavement outside the restaurant, earning several angry glances from pedestrians who had to dodge out of the way. The door opened, and Oscar virtually shoved Araminta-two inside. Then they were rising fast, already curving toward the docks.

  Araminta-two nodded cheerfully at a thunderstruck Liatris, then looked around briefly. “You know, some people think ingrav shouldn’t be allowed in this city.”

  “Right,” Oscar said.

  “There’s a chance it screws up the deep geology. There could be earthquakes.”

  “Uh huh.” This was so the opposite of anything Oscar was prepared for, it had shifted over to vaguely surreal.

  Their capsule dipped down to hover in front of the Bootle & Leicester warehouse. The doors curtained apart, and they nudged forward. Oscar just knew that was going to draw attention from the dock staff. It didn’t matter anymore. They had Araminta, so nothing else mattered. Actually, one Araminta, not the whole person. Maybe that’s why she—he—whatever—is a bit … flaky.

  Tomansio was in the middle of the starship’s cabin as the three of them rose up through the airlock. The floor solidified underneath them. Oscar couldn’t help the vast grin on his face. He jabbed a finger at Tomansio. “I told you so!”

  “Yes,” Tomansio said softly.

  That was when Oscar’s biononics told him Tomansio was executing an extremely thorough field scan of Araminta-two. He almost protested, then realized he should have done it back in the restaurant.

  “Clear,” Tomansio declared. “In fact, very clear. You don’t have biononics; even your macrocellular clusters are basic.”

  “Mr. Bovey is multiple,” Araminta-two said. “He doesn’t depend on the technocentric systems other Commonwealth cultures revolve around.”

  Tomansio dipped his head. “Of course. But you do understand what you’re saying is difficult to accept without proof.”

  “I know. Watch through me.”

  The Dreamer’s gifting to the gaiafield revealed her view through the front of the Lady’s Light. From her position she could see the curvature of the planet starting to fall away below as the starship rose ponderously out of the atmosphere. The dawn terminator line was etched by a gold corona that skittered off ocean and clouds alike. The Dreamer’s mouth opened. “Trust me, Tomansio, I am very real,” she said.

  Across the gaiafield, those billions of Living Dream members watching in envy as the Pilgrimage began reaffirmed their devotion to her. Tens of millions wondered who Tomansio was.

  Araminta-two lifted an eyebrow at Tomansio. “So?”

  “Okay, that was pretty convincing. A multiple of two. Who’d have guessed?”

  “Not you,” Araminta-two said.

  “Let’s hope I’m not alone.”

  Oscar grinned again. “I was right. She didn’t betray us.”

  “Oscar, I love you dearly,” Tomansio said. “But if you don’t shut up about that, I will shove you headfirst into—”

  Oscar chuckled. “Yeah, yeah.” The smartcore showed him two capsules arriving in the warehouse. Beckia and Cheriton came sprinting out. It took the edge off his humor slightly. He ordered the smartcore to launch as soon as the other two were in the airlock.

  Tomansio gave him a startled look as the Elvin’s Payback punched clean through the warehouse roof and accelerated vertically at twenty gees. The internal gravity countered some of the force, but they all had to sit down quickly on the couches extruded by the cabin floor.

  “A little drastic,” Tomansio mused.

  “Tactically smart. Up here we can run if we have to.”

  “You’re the boss.”

  Beckia and Cheriton emerged from the airlock and gave Araminta-two incredulous looks as they lumbered over to their acceleration couches.

  Oscar’s initial jubilation was draining away. Viotia spaceflight control was directing a lot of queries and warnings at them, but nothing appeared to be in pursuit. Space above the planet was relatively clear; none of the starships the sensors could detect were threatening. “All right,” he said to Araminta-two. “What the fuck is going on?”

  “I was running out of options,” Araminta-two replied. “Becoming the Dreamer is a diversion.” His confidence faltered for a moment. “I hope. That’s where you come in.”

  “I wasn’t lying,” Oscar said. “We’re here to help in any way we can.”

  “Why? I know who you are. I checked. But I’d like to know who’s backing you.”

  “Fair enough; it was ANA, but now we’re just hanging on by ourselves. Hoping for something to turn up. And … you did.”

  “What do you need?” Tomansio asked. “Are you going to crash the Pilgrimage fleet into the boundary or something?”

  Araminta-two’s dignified face produced a sad smile, making him look even older. “There are twenty-four million people on those starships. Idiots, yes, but still people. There is no way I will slaughter them as an example to the rest of the galaxy not to go in. No, if they arrive at the Void boundary before we can stop them, then I’ll have to get the Skylord to open the way for them. So you see, I really need help.”

  “Name it,” Oscar said.

  “Bradley suggested I find Ozzie. He said Ozzie is a real genius, and if anyone can come up with a solution, it will be us in combination.”

  Oscar’s skin chilled right down. “Bradley?” he asked lightly. The others gave him a curious look; it must have been because of what his emotions revealed.

  “Bradley Johansson,” Araminta-two said. “I met him on the Silfen paths.”

  “Bradley Johansson is alive?”

  “Bradley is a Silfen now.”

  “Holy crap.”

  “Do you speak the truth of this?” Tomansio demanded almost in anger.

  Araminta-two faced him down. “I speak the truth.” He turned back to Oscar. “Bradley told me you and he fought together in the Starflyer War. He said I could trust you, Oscar. And you did help me back at Bodant Park.”

  “Bradley a Silfen,” Oscar said in wonder. “How about that. We both survived the Planet’s Revenge in our own ways.”

  “He lives,” an incredulous Beckia murmured. “The greatest of us all, our founder, humanity’s liberator. He lives! Do you realize what—” She broke off, too overwhelmed to speak.

  “I don’t wish to disappoint,” Araminta-two said. “But he’s not coming to help. I’m afraid the best he could do was send me.”

  “And he wanted you and Ozzie to team up?” Oscar queried.

  “Yes. Um, he was also worried about the Ilanthe-thing and what it is now. Even the Silfen are concerned about that, as much as they are about anything.”

  “Nobody knows much about Ilanthe,” Oscar said. “So let’s concentrate on what we can achieve.” He opened a secure link to Paula.

  “Take her to Ozzie,” Paula said as soon as he’d finished explaining.

  “Really?”

  “Bradley is right. The Dreamer and Ozzie together would make a formidable combination.”

  “All right, then.”

&nb
sp; “And … Araminta really met Bradley?”

  “Yeah, so she says. Something, huh?”

  “Indeed.”

  “So where’s Ozzie these days?”

  “The Spike.”

  “No shit, Paula. That’s seven thousand light-years away.”

  “I know. But face it, what else have we got? We’re that desperate now.”

  “Okay.” The Elvin’s Payback had finished its initial acceleration. It was curving into a wide elliptical orbit above Viotia. Oscar grinned at Araminta-two. “Ozzie’s in the Spike. It’ll take five days to get there.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  “Great.” He gave a relieved smile.

  “A word of caution,” Paula said, which brought Oscar back down fast.

  “Yeah?”

  “I believe someone called Aaron has possibly taken Inigo to the Spike for exactly the same reason you’re going, to link up with Ozzie.”

  “Oh, crap.” He glanced around to see the team members all giving him a vaguely accusatory stare. “Inigo? They found Inigo?”

  “Yes. Which I’m hoping is good. If you can bring together the First and Second Dreamers along with Ozzie, that may really give us the kind of edge we’re going to need to—”

  “Take out the Void? Blow up the Pilgrimage fleet? Eliminate Ilanthe?”

  “I’d settle for any one of those right now.”

  “So who is this Aaron character, and who is he working for?”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know. But logically he belongs to a faction inimical to Pilgrimage. And be careful. He can be very trigger-happy, and he’s known to be somewhat aggressive with it. Your team should be able to protect Araminta from him if he turns hostile.”

  “Okay. What about you, Paula? What are you doing?”

  “Working on a couple of leads, as always.”

  Feeling slightly let down by her reply, Oscar ordered the smartcore to go FTL and take them to the Spike. Then he and the others started questioning Araminta-two in earnest.

  “What will you do now?” the SI asked Troblum as the Mellanie’s Redemption tracked Oscar’s starship going FTL. It suddenly vanished from his exovision. None of the sensors could track it when it was stealthed.