‘Aye, that I was. Good morning to you, Waterwalker. And young Salrana, of course. And I think you must be Burlal. Am I right?’
The boy gave a cautious nod, clinging tighter to Edeard’s leg.
‘Well congratulations and then some, Waterwalker, that was quite a sight. I’ve just spent the night up on top of the mountain where the air’s clearest. Didn’t want to miss anything. After all, it’s not every day you get to see an entire universe evolve, is it?’
‘My first time, as well,’ Edeard told him.
‘Aye well, it’s over now.’ Lionwalker Eyre gave Salrana a roguish smile. ‘It’s nice for an old romantic like me to see you two back together.’ A finger wagged at Edeard. ‘Don’t you go messing it up again, lad.’
‘I won’t,’ Edeard said quietly.
‘Well, I’d best be off. I expect you two have a lot to talk about.’ He started walking briskly down the road.
‘Wait,’ Edeard called after him. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Onwards,’ the Lionwalker replied with a wave. ‘Always onwards.’
THE EVOLUTIONARY VOID
Also by Peter F. Hamilton
The Greg Mandel series
Mindstar Rising
A Quantum Murder
The Nano Flower
The Night’s Dawn trilogy
The Reality Dysfunction
The Neutronium Alchemist
The Naked God
In the same Timeline
A Second Chance at Eden
The Confederation Handbook
(a vital guide to the Night’s Dawn trilogy)
Fallen Dragon
Misspent Youth
The Commonwealth Saga
Pandora’s Star
Judas Unchained
The Void trilogy
The Dreaming Void
The Temporal Void
For Felix F. Hamilton
who arrived at the start of the Void.
Don’t worry, Daddy’s world
isn’t really like this.
First published 2010 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2010 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-0-230-75378-5 PDF
ISBN 978-0-230-75377-8 EPUB
Copyright © Peter F. Hamilton 2010
The right of Peter F. Hamilton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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