The Evolutionary Void

by Peter F. Hamilton

  ‘Do I have to abandon my body to be guided to the Heart?’ he asked.

  ‘You have to be fulfilled,’ the Skylord replied lovingly. ‘Then I will guide you. Soon, I feel. Your mind is strong, you believe, know your way. You understand yourself. You lack only surety.’

  ‘If I have that, if I gain what I need for fulfilment, would you take me, the living me, in this ship?’

  ‘I would do that.’

  Edeard shivered as the outlandish gifting ended. It was as if a gust of winter air had squalled around the church. He gave Araminta-two a curious look. ‘You can longtalk across the Void?’ Such strength of mind was incredible.

  ‘Not really. That was my other body. And as for the Skylord, we are joined as you and Inigo once were.’

  ‘I see,’ he lied. My other body! He’d said it so casually. How he wished for Macsen at this time; Macsen who would make light of such confusion with a quip and a laugh, and the world would be right again.

  ‘So now we find out if this Edeard is fulfilled,’ Oscar said. ‘And if he is, you fly him to the Heart.’

  ‘It would seem that way,’ Inigo agreed.

  ‘Not yet,’ Justine said. She stood up. ‘This is too important for maybes. We need a very clear understanding of what we’re supposed to achieve here. Follow me.’ And she walked up the steps towards the church’s open entrance.

  Edeard observed everyone produce puzzled looks behind the blonde girl. A few shrugs were exchanged, but they all trooped dutifully after her. Justine’s tone had been commanding.

  When they’d been introduced Edeard had been dismissive of the sultry girl. Wary even – because of her crude clothing and wild hair she reminded him of the real bandits who lived in the wilds beyond Rulan province. But as the afternoon wore on he’d revised his opinion. For a start, she was one of the Commonwealth eternals. She might look as if she was barely out of her teens, but he knew she was older than anyone who’d ever lived in Makkathran. And despite her lack of clothing, she had a dignity and poise that would’ve intimidated Mistress Florrel. He also strongly suspected she was tough enough to rip Ranalee to shreds in any kind of fight, fair or otherwise.

  The air inside of the church was cooler than outside. Seeing the interior bare apart from the big statue of the Lady was odd, emphasizing how cut off and alone he was now. A mere day ago in his own time he’d been Mayor, and the city bent to his will. These people meant well, he knew, but he couldn’t help the resentment at the way they’d summoned him out of his true life. If it had been anyone but Inigo – but then only Inigo could do such a thing.

  Stranger than the naked church was the golden man standing in the middle, waiting for them. Visible only because of some strangely pervasive gifting from Justine which he couldn’t quite shield himself from; yet his farsight found nothing where the man stood, not at first. ‘A soul,’ Edeard exclaimed when he intensified his perception.

  ‘A dream, actually. I’m Gore, pleased to finally meet you, Waterwalker. You’re a very impressive man.’

  ‘Gore is the one who guided us all here,’ Inigo explained lightly. ‘By various methods. Not all of them pleasant.’

  ‘Just making sure you don’t run out on your responsibilities, sonny.’

  ‘My father,’ Justine said proudly.

  ‘You need to keep Aaron under,’ Gore told Tomansio. ‘His neural reconditioning was never going to be strong enough to withstand an encounter with the Cat. I wasn’t expecting that. Goddamn Ilanthe.’

  ‘Lennox,’ Tomansio said coldly. ‘His name is Lennox. One of our founders. As such, very important to all Knights Guardians. What have you done to him?’

  ‘Exactly what he asked,’ Gore said. ‘Christ knows what kind of number the Cat worked on him, but he was a near-total basket case when my people recovered him. We erased what we could of that old personality, but the damage had seeped down into his subconscious. Now that can normally be suppressed providing it doesn’t receive too many associative triggers. But as for an out-and-out cure, forget it. I did what I could. I patched him back up, and sent him out doing what he loved, what he was born to do. He runs every dirty covert mission the Conservative Faction needs to keep the good old Greater Commonwealth on the straight and narrow. I’m not his boss, I’m his partner for Christ’s sake.’

  ‘Dad, the Heart?’

  ‘Yeah right,’ Gore glanced round at all of them. ‘It’s a simple enough plan. Like Aaron said, you go in and engage the damn thing, reason with it. It has to be made to understand it’s committing galactic genocide.’

  ‘That’s it?’ Oscar asked.

  ‘You got anything better?’

  ‘Well . . . no.’

  ‘Then that’s it. One minor upgrade, I’m coming with you. I might have found something to persuade it.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘A new beginning. But we’re going to have to be quick. Fuck knows what Ilanthe’s up to in there.’

  ‘All right, Dad. The Skylord will guide Edeard’s body, assuming he’s fulfilled.’

  ‘That was the original idea.’ Gore shot a meaningful glance at Inigo. ‘We do need someone we know is fulfilled.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘I’ll take the Waterwalker and Inigo in the Silverbird,’ Justine said. ‘It’s in better shape than the Mellanie’s Redemption. I think it will launch again. If not, we can reset to a few days before I land here.’

  ‘No,’ Gore said. ‘Take this ship. Its fully acclimatized to the Void now, so functionality shouldn’t be a problem any more. And we’re probably going to need some serious badass firepower if we run into Ilanthe.’

  ‘This ship?’

  Gore gave her a pitying look. ‘What do you think you’re standing on?’

  Standing atop the sweeping steps of the Lady’s church with the others gathering round him, Edeard finally felt as if he was coming alive again. This whole time had seemed bizarre, like some kestric-fuelled dream. There was nothing for him to grasp, nothing to assure him he was living. Even encountering Inigo was something he imagined might eventually befall him in the Heart, which contributed to the sense of unreality.

  But now . . .

  Raw excitement accelerated his heart, sending hot blood pounding through his body. He was smiling as he sent his farsight racing down below the streets, past the travel tunnels, winding through the strange conduits and glowing lines of energy that pervaded the structure all the way down, and down. Makkathran’s mind slumbered on still, as unchanged as the buildings and canals, those giant thoughts pulsing in their slow sombre beat.

  The Waterwalker’s thoughts lifted rapturously as he gifted his perception to his new friends, welcoming the sheer flamboyance, the audacity of the moment. How Kristabel and Macsen would have loved this, and as for the twins . . . ‘I know what you are now,’ he told the great sleeper, pouring sincerity, sheer belief into what he was saying. Sharing himself utterly. ‘I know why you came to this universe. And you should know, others have followed you in. We think we can end this now. You can finish what you started.’

  The vast thoughts began to quicken, their wide strands of gentle musings coming together into a cohesive whole. Makka-thran’s consciousness arose. ‘You? I remember you. I thought you had gone, along with the rest of your kind.’

  ‘I was brought back. I believe I am your way into the Heart.’

  ‘You have forgotten much. I am content to end here.’

  Edeard felt his soul brother grip his hand. Inigo’s confidence, his surety, was astounding.

  ‘We do not go there to submit to absorption,’ Inigo told Makkathran unwaveringly. ‘We are here to finish this. The time you feared has arrived. Millions of my species are on their way to this world, they know its secret. All of them are intent on resetting the Void to their own whim. The ensuing devourment phase will consume the galaxy.’

  ‘It cannot be stopped,’ Makkathran said. ‘The Void is what it is.’

  ‘There is a chance. I believe we can still reason with it
.’

  ‘The Void does not listen. We tried. I watched my kind die in their tens of thousands as they attempted to pass through the final barrier. It was all for nothing. The flames of their death outshone the nebulas that day.’

  ‘An entity has arrived in the Void who may make things worse. The devourment phase is beginning. And finally we have the smallest, most fragile opportunity to speak with the nucleus, the primary sentience. It will accept one of us if a Skylord guides them to the Heart. Help us. Please. Your species is still out there on the other side of the barrier, doing what they can. In all the aeons since you came, they have never faltered. We owe them so much, we owe them this last attempt.’

  ‘My kind still live?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I thought so. I thought I heard one, once, not so long ago. I called out, but it was your race who came instead.’

  ‘Please,’ Edeard said. ‘I was guided to the Heart once before. Whatever sacrifice I have to make to be guided again, I will do so, I swear upon the Lady.’

  Makkathran’s thoughts fluctuated, dousing them all in a wave of ancient sorrow. Edeard was humbled by everything the city had endured, its terrible loss.

  ‘I did not expect change to befall me ever again,’ it told them. ‘I did not expect to be shown hope, however small. I did not expect to do what I was born to do; to fly against the greatest enemy once more. You have brought this to me. For that I should show thanks. If the galaxy is to fall, then it is fitting that I should fall with it. I will take you.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Edeard said.

  ‘Thank you,’ the others chorused.

  They waited bunched together on the broad expanse outside the Lady’s church, farsight probing round, alert for the first change to manifest. They waited with the irrepressible excitement of schoolchildren knowing they were to witness something wholly spectacular.

  Justine caught it first. ‘There,’ she cried, her mind urging the others. ‘There, look, the crystal wall.’

  All around the city, the high translucent gold wall which defined the edge was growing upwards. It raced into the sky with astounding speed as the city put forth its will. Then they were tilting their heads back to gape in admiration as it curved overhead. Half an hour after the growth began the last shrinking circle of clear sky vanished as the crystal melded together. The city was encased in a perfect dome.

  Makkathran exerted its wishes. A mind larger than mountains engaged the Void’s elementary mass-location ability, demanding matter move in the manner it wanted.

  Out beyond the sealed-off port district, the Lyot Sea parted. Two vast tsunamis of water rushed apart, surging away from the shore, exposing the seabed for tens of miles. Water was the easy part. Makkathran continued its manipulation. The naked seabed cracked open with a howl of destruction which shredded any organic matter within fifty miles. Fissures deepened, slicing down through the ancient lava as they raced inland to splinter the Iguru Plain.

  Oscar was laughing helplessly as the ground shook furiously, triggering massive landslides over in the distant Donsori Mountains. It was the kind of semi-hysteria that was contagious. Edeard found himself grinning wildly in sympathy as he was toppled to his knees. Waves chased along the canals, sloshing over the edges as the earthquake’s power built. He could see the tips of the Eyrie towers rocking from side to side. Agitated air was slapping clouds against the outside of the dome.

  ‘Glad we brought you back now?’ Oscar called tauntingly above the roar.

  The Iguru Plain and the uncovered seabed had shattered down to a single level zone of undulating rubble. All the odd little volcanoes juddered about like disintegrating icebergs as their mass dissolved down into the churning debris. The city gave a sudden lurch, thrusting a hundred metres straight up as the land’s grip was finally broken. Edeard yelled in delirious shock along with everyone else as the impetus knocked him flat. He gave Oscar a crazy thumbs up. ‘Oh Lady am I ever,’ he longspoke above the tremendous din that was penetrating the protective crystal. What the devastation must be like outside was something he couldn’t conceive.

  Frenzied clouds slid down the sides of the curving crystal as the domed city began to rise further. That was just the apex of the immense warship.

  Makkathran, last survivor of the Raiel armada, soared back up into the sky it had fallen from a million years ago, and headed for the clean emptiness of space.

  *

  Gore Burnelli didn’t often admit admiration for other people, least of all meat humans. But he had to acknowledge Araminta had done a fine job living in two different time-flows. Even though he’d been one of the pioneers of enhanced mentality, he was finding the going a little tough.

  The segment of his mind designated to maintain the connection to Justine was racing on ahead, looking back at the ponderous events on the Anomine homeworld with something approaching contempt. It would be very easy to divest himself of his sluggish flesh and live fast and free in the Void. He had to focus hard on the other aspects of his mind and the requirements they served to dismiss the notion. The temptation was pulling with unrelenting tidal force.

  For a heartbeat he watched from the entranceway of the Lady’s church as Makkathran flew clear of Querencia’s atmosphere then accelerated after the Skylord which had brought the Mellanie’s Redemption just a few hours earlier.

  Exoimage displays surrounded him, tracing the progress of the infiltrator filaments as they slithered through the molecular structure of the elevation mechanism, chasing down the network pathways and penetrating delicate junctions. Primary attention switch: to the massed ranks of code awaiting initialization so the packages could slide into alien software, mimicking the routines in order to subvert them. His accelerated mind watched the symbology flip round at a speed he could actually follow as they analysed the first impulses flashing through the junctions.

  Incoming call: which he answered with another segment operating within his meat skull.

  ‘We’re in,’ the Delivery Man said. ‘I’m establishing control over all major siphon systems. The override is disengaged. Full wormhole initialization sequence is running. Power generation is increasing. I need to take that slow, there’s nowhere to send it yet.’

  ‘Well done.’

  ‘I never knew Makkathran was a Raiel ship.’

  ‘What else could it be? Haven’t you ever visited High Angel?’

  ‘No, actually.’

  ‘Oh. Well, those domes are the real giveaway. They’re identical.’

  ‘Obviously.’

  ‘Any sign of Marius?’

  ‘I haven’t got a decent sensor that can function down here in the innermost circle. Hysradar works but it’s useless. He must be in stealth mode, still.’

  ‘Keep watching. When he finally figures out we can stop his precious Ilanthe he won’t take it well.’

  ‘Oh crap. All right.’

  *

  Makkathran caught up with the Skylord just before it crossed Nikran’s orbit, barely two million miles from the desert planet. Edeard stood in the square at the centre of Sampalok, staring at the small brown orb which appeared to be hanging just above the mansion. It was kindling a surprising amount of nostalgia. He could just make out some of the surface features as he’d done that other day, now lost in the broken past, when he’d sat in the Malfit Hall waiting to be called before the Mayor and handed his bronze epaulettes. His squadmates had teased him for his questions about other people living on Nikran. They never knew, as he did, that humans lived on hundreds of worlds. And now they never would.

  Or maybe they do. Who knows what they see from the Heart?

  Of all the revelations Inigo had brought, knowing that the Void was a danger to life everywhere was the hardest to accept.

  ‘I always hated that Ladydamned thing,’ Inigo said, glaring at the six-sided mansion.

  ‘The mansion?’ Corrie-Lyn asked in surprise.

  ‘No, the arcology in Kuhmo. It dominated every day of my life while I was growing up. That
’s one of the reasons I offered the town council all that money to demolish the monstrosity, so kids wouldn’t be so blighted in future.’

  ‘It did fill your mind,’ Edeard confirmed. ‘I wasn’t really sure what genuine human architecture looked like, and I was in a hurry that day. It was the obvious choice.’

  ‘Thank the Lady you didn’t build it full size.’

  ‘I saw the fane you replaced it with,’ Corrie-Lyn said dryly. ‘It wasn’t a whole lot better.’

  Inigo grinned back at her. ‘There’s gratitude.’

  Edeard sensed concern growing in Justine’s mind. He glanced over to see her standing close to Gore, whose golden face had hardened with worry.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Some events are outside our control,’ Justine said. ‘I think you need to ask the Skylord now.’

  The creature they were pursuing was still half a million kilometres away, a shimmering patch to one side of Nikran. Edeard eyed it reluctantly. If it declared he wasn’t fulfilled then Inigo would have to delve down into the memory layer and bring out a version of himself who was. There were few enough certainties for him right now, but encountering his future self was something he knew he didn’t want to endure. ‘I’ll try.’ He felt for the Skylord, finding it on the edge of perception. Usually their thoughts were composed and content. He’d never known one to host such confusion before. It was grieving for its kindred which had succumbed to Ilanthe; and the colossal warship racing after it was also unsettling – there were ancient ancestral memories about such things: the time of chaos.

  ‘You have nothing to fear from those I travel with, including the city,’ Edeard assured it. ‘They are my companions as I seek fulfilment.’