Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Kindle Edition, 2014 © Penny Publications
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Lockstep Conclusion
Karl Schroeder | 27731 words
Illustrated by Mark Evans
The story so far:
Toby Wyatt McGonigal is lost in space. The eldest son of a family that's gambled its fortune on homesteading in the outer Solar System, he was on his way to stake a claim on a dormant comet when something disabled his ship's engines. When Toby wakes from cold sleep, he discovers that his little deep-space tug is now orbiting a dark, frozen planet—an orphan world just as lost in interstellar space as he is. Although he can see the shapes of cities on its surface, they too are cold and dead. Out of resources, he goes back into artificial hibernation, certain that he's not going to wake again....
He does, in a sumptuous bedroom whose windows look out on an amber, glowing sky. He's been rescued by Ammond and Persea, a rich-seeming couple who live in one of the cities on the formerly dormant planet, Lowdown. They tell him that fourteen thousand years have passed since he was lost. In that time, a vast civilization has grown up between the stars. The lockstep worlds hibernate for years at a time while their automated systems gather resources for a brief awakening that can last as little as a month. Ammond and Persea promise to tell him more, but meanwhile, they are treating him suspiciously like a prisoner. Other than them, the only person he's seen since waking is a mysterious girl around his age, who seemed to be burgling Ammond's estate. She had with her a strange catlike creature. He can't get these two out of his mind.
When Ammond and Persea take him to the Europan ice planet of Little Auriga, Toby learns that he is indeed a pawn in some political maneuver. It seems that as the founding family in the deep-space worlds, the Mc-Gonigals were important, and Ammond and Persea want to exploit him in some way. Toby escapes from them with the help of one of the catlike creatures he saw on Lowdown, and meets the girl he saw burgling Ammond's estate. Her name is Corva , and she and her friends are gypsylike vagabonds known as stowaways . Their animal companions, denners, are synthetic life forms that help them to hibernate without using the official cold-sleep machinery of the lockstep.
Corva tells Toby that the thousands of planets in the lockstep are suffering under a tyranny, and that Toby is important because, well, he owns them all . He is the heir of the family that founded the lockstep system. This comes as a shock, but that's nothing compared to what she tells him next. Although fourteen thousand years have passed in real-time since Toby was lost, only forty have passed for the lockstep's founders because of their regular hibernation. Toby's brother and sister are both alive, and it his brother, Peter , rules the lockstep empire.
Peter has learned that Toby is back from the dead—and Peter wants Toby dead.
Toby has no time to think about any of this, because Ammond and Persea are after them, and so he, Corva, and their friends stow away on an outbound freighter, going into cold-sleep again in a bid to escape the gathering forces that are pursuing Toby.
Toby McGonigal wakes from cold-sleep with the help of his catlike companion, the "denner" that he's named Orpheus . He and his stowaway companions have escaped from Little Auriga, where he was hunted, and now he's on a new planet—somewhere called Wallop. He doesn't trust Corva Keishion and her friends any more than he trusted the people who initially rescued him from fourteen thousand years of hibernation; so before Corva and the others revive, Toby leaves the cargo container they stowed away in, to find his own way on Wallop.
He has to get his bearings. He's learned that a strange civilization, the locksteps , has grown up among the orphan planets that drift between the stars; and he's learned that he's the heir to the whole thing. His brother and sister are still alive, and apparently want him dead. Beyond that, Toby knows nothing, but he's determined to find out, and to get back to his family. He can't believe they really want him dead, and apparently his mother is alive, but in hibernation somewhere too.
Over the next few weeks Toby meets people from all over the lockstep. It really is a vast empire, because there are up to one hundred thousand free-floating planets for every star in the galaxy. The entire seventy-thousandworld lockstep that Peter McGonigal rules is contained in the space between the Solar System and Alpha Centauri. Simple nuclear rocket technology is sufficient to create a vibrant civilization here, because all the worlds synchronize their hibernation cycle: thirty years asleep, one month awake. As Toby discovers, this stable, aeons-old civilization has become the safest investment in the galaxy, and a kind of 'backup' for the whole human race. Empires rise and fall on the fast worlds around the stars; posthuman singularities flash and vanish; eugenic crazes, political fashions and genetic manipulations depopulate whole planets; yet the locksteps abide.
When he encounters Corva Keishion again, Toby learns that her planet is being punished by the tyrant Peter McGonigal. Her brother came to Wallop to bring her home, but he's now trapped in cold sleep in a military complex. Corva wants to get him back, and Toby is her key. Because he's a McGonigal he can override the cold-sleep system. Toby is disappointed to learn that she had an agenda when she saved his life, but he decides to help her anyway.
With the help of Corva's friends, Shylif and Jaysir , they break into the complex. Toby is about to use his override on the hibernating ship when they are captured by Nathan Kenani, a servant of Toby's brother. Kenani declares that he's going to keep them prisoner until Toby's apparently murderous sister Evayne arrives onWallop. As he sends them into cold sleep, however, Kenani is acting oddly. Perhaps he isn't as loyal to Evayne and the other McGonigals as he claims to be.
Once again Toby finds himself waking with the help of Orpheus. This time, though, the denner is weak, nearly dead. He's fighting the power of the hibernation bed that Nathan Kenani put Toby in, and the bed is winning. Toby escapes just in time to finish waking and to save Orpheus. Then he sets about reviving his companions.
Just before Orpheus was taken away from him by Kenani and the forces loyal to his brother Peter, Toby had set the denner's "clock"to wake him in seven years and three months. The entire world ofWallop is asleep now, except for a lockstep known as the weekly, which goes on a 7.25 year cycle. This small part of the vast sleeping city is awake now so that it can trade with locksteps that run on different frequencies.
After waking the others, Toby also revives the crew of the ship where Corva Keishion's brother has been kept prisoner. Unfortunately, in doing this he also revives the enemy of his friend Shylif, and a fight ensues. Keeping the two apart, Toby leads his ragtag group to the Weekly lockstep, and from there they secure a flight to the world of Corva and her brother, the rebellious planet Thisbe.
On Thisbe, Toby finds himself growing closer to Corva, but at the same time he's learning more about his legacy and the legends surrounding the McGonigals. One grand myth tells that Toby McGonigal will someday return to destroy the locksteps and institute some sort of golden age; the stories say that he will march on the planet Destrier, where his mother lies in hibernation, with a vast army. Many of the people of Thisbe believe this prophecy, and those that don't can see the advantage in Toby's playing along with it. The trouble is, he doesn't want to become some kind of new Messiah. The idea is repugnant to him, but he also knows that Corva would be horrified if he chose this path.
Nonetheless, his hand is forced when long-range telescopes discover his sister, Evayne, on her way to Thisbe with a fleet of McGoni-gal loyalists. After consulting with government and military advisors, and with pressure on him from every side, Toby makes his decision.
He chooses the path of the Messiah; and wh
en Corva finds out, she curses him to his face and runs away. He doesn't expect to ever see her again.
17
"The rules of a lockstep standoff are simple," one of Thisbe's generals had told Toby."Wake before the other guy and capture him in his bed."
"That's it?"Toby asked.
"No. The more resources you have, the higher the frequency you can set for your troops—or, the more troops you can keep awake on a rotating basis. The more you push this, the more it costs you. If you have to go all the way to real-time, and don't sleep at all, then you've probably already lost."
Toby stood at a stone balcony in one of Thisbe's mountain fortresses, gazing out at a stunning vista of white-capped peaks and roiling cloud. The air was thin and bracingly cold.
In the valley below, Thisbe's army was burying a bunker full of supplies. The whole planet only had enough food, energy, and industrial capacity to stay awake for a few weeks. It was a lockstep world, its whole infrastructure based on the slow accumulation of resources during winter-over. Even with nanotech and orbital industries, there was no way they could stay in real-time for long. Soon, the entire world would have to sleep.
The jets screaming across the sky, and the busy soldiers and bots in the valley, were all trying to balance an equation whose terms weren't all known. How long to sleep? That was what it all came down to. Everybody knew when Evayne's ships would arrive, but that wasn't the problem. Every day that the Thisbe defense forces stayed awake in anticipation of her landing was a day's rations used, a day's energy. If Evayne was smart—and Toby knew she was—she wouldn't stage a landing when she arrived. She would go to sleep, and wait for a while. Six more months, a year. She would slumber, unassailable in far orbits, while Thisbe bled itself dry waiting up for her.
The defense forces had come up with a rotating watch that allowed them to keep a small standing army ready at all times. The problem was, it was small. Evayne had the advantage, and everybody knew it.
"You have quite the way with women," somebody behind him said.
Toby turned to find Jaysir and Shylif standing by the metal doors that led to the mountain tunnel. "You made it!" The generals hadn't wanted to allow these two civilians—stowaways, no less!—to visit their precious bunkers. Toby had been insistent, but he hadn't been sure until this moment that his stubbornness had done any good.
Shylif stepped forward and shook Toby's hand. Jaysir grinned and slapped him on the back. Toby frowned into Shylif's eyes. "How are you?"
"Actually... better than I expected." He smiled, and there was a twinkle in his eye that hadn't been there before. "Can't say the same about Coley. But he'll live."
Toby nodded, and shot Jaysir a guilty look. "Corva hates me. I know."
Jaysir shrugged. "Well, you did the one thing she didn't want you to do. You sold out to your legend. I'm actually kind of surprised that you called for us. You hardly need our help anymore, do you? You've got the whole planet to play with now."
"Tactful as always, our Jay," rumbled Shylif with a frown.
"So I didn't live up to her expectations." Toby looked away across the wind-swept valley. "The problem is, everybody has expectations. I had to decide who to disappoint, didn't I?"
Shylif looked away, pensive. "That, I understand. But, why did you ask us to come?"
"Two things, one of which Jay already knows about—" At that moment a call came through on Toby's glasses. He held up a finger to Jay and Shylif, and turned away. "Hang on a sec. Yes?"
"Sir." It was Long Seville, who as Minister of Security had been charged with the thankless task of planning the defense of Thisbe. "We've received a message from your sister. It's for... well, it's for you."
He turned back to Jaysir and Shylif. "It's Evayne. Can I have a moment? You know, family stuff." Wide-eyed, the two backed away. Toby walked to the stone balcony and took a deep breath, bracing his hands on the cold granite. Okay. You can do this. He opened the message.
The woman who appeared, as if hovering in the air before him, could have been some long-lost aunt. She looked so much like Mom, it was agonizing. Evayne was now older than Peter, or so the stories said, because she had changed her frequency so many times in the pursuit of state business. Still, she looked no more than thirty—an imperious queen in green robes, beautiful and terrible in her wrath.
"What the Hell, Evie," he muttered.
"To the people of the planet Thisbe," she declared, "I give my greetings, and a warning. You will release to me that person who falsely claims to be my brother, the holy Emperor of Time, Toby McGonigal, Who Waits. Bring him to your seat of government, and I will descend to claim him in six months, real-time. If you resist, you will be destroyed.
"To the impostor, I appeal to you to save your countrymen at least from the fate that awaits you. Come forward of your own accord, and we may be lenient. Hide, or attempt to fight us, and not only you, but all whom you love will share your fate."
The picture blinked out.
"Long," snapped Toby, "I'm replying."
"What are you going to say?" He heard the tension in the minister's voice.
"Don't worry—I'll send you a copy so you know what I said."
With a barely perceptible sigh, Long agreed.
Toby stood for a long time staring down into the valley. Then, when he realized he was just putting things off, he shook himself and said, "Reply.
"Hey, Kiddo, how's it going? Haven't seen you in ages, you look great! I haven't talked to Peter yet, but I hear he's doing good too.
"Yeah, I got your message. Don't make me prove that I am who I say I am—I mean, after all, I know more embarrassing stories about you than anybody alive. Well, except maybe Mom.
"Yes, it really is me. So, you see, there's no need to unload any more crap on these people, who've already had to put up with a lot from you. We're gonna reset their frequency—either you or me, I don't care which of us does it. Then you and I are going to sit down and have a conversation—long overdue, I think. Deal? Great. See you in six months.
"End."
His smile slipped, and he tilted his head back to glare at the clouds. "Stupid, stupid." Well, but how was he supposed to handle this? Like an adult? He was seventeen years old, and Evayne knew it—but she hadn't seen him in forty years. If he'd acted any different than he used to with her, she might not have recognized him.
She, on the other hand, had looked and sounded nothing whatever like the little girl he'd loved as his only sister. He closed his eyes and let his face twist into a grimace of pain.
After composing himself, he went back to where Shylif and Jaysir were standing together at the tunnel entrance. Well, it was more like they were huddling together, the way they looked. They were scared, and Toby didn't like the idea that it was him they were scared of.
"You need to hide her," he said. "From everybody, but most of all..." He didn't say Halen's name; he shouldn't have to with these two.
His friends exchanged a glance; then Shylif smiled. "That's a good idea."
Corva's brother had styled himself as the right-hand-man to the new messiah. He was bursting with ideas—what Toby should wear, the uniforms his new staff should wear. He wanted to design a symbol for Toby's new movement (really Halen's movement), something that could be printed onto banners and hung off buildings. Toby had refused to let news of his return spill out of government circles, so naturally rumors were flying everywhere, and he was sure Halen was eagerly spreading many of them. Halen couldn't wait for the moment when Toby would step onto the stage of some gargantuan amphitheater, and command a crowd of tens of thousands to go down on their knees before him.
"And then," Toby went on, "you need to do the same yourselves. Shy, you take care of Corva. Jay... Remember what I asked you to look into? That is, if you're sure no one else is listening."
Jay laughed. "If they are, their ears just pricked up."
"Are they?"
"They're trying." He shook his head. "But this conversation is private. You kne
w I'd be jamming our personal space, didn't you."
"No. I hoped..." He had to smile, though; Jaysir was clever about these things.
Jay had perked up; positively enthusiastic for a change, he said to Shylif, "Toby wanted me and the makers to look at the code from that data block I told you about. He thought we might find something useful."
"And did you?" asked Toby.
Jay made a noncommittal gesture. "Well, we found something, but I don't know if it's useful. It's about your biocryptographics."
"How easily that word rolls off your tongue," observed Shylif.
"What did you find?"
"We know how it works for everybody else who uses Cicada Corp devices. We all have user accounts and we sign in biocryptographically. But that's not how your commands seem to work. You don't have an account— you don't need one."
Toby was puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Back on Wallop, I just assumed you were a super-user—that you had an administrative account on the Cicada Corp system that let you change major settings and stuff in the system. But that's not what you've got. There is no super-user, as far as we can tell. The Cicada Corp system is self-administering, and can't be accessed by anyone from outside. That's what the code on the block seemed to say, anyway. If you'd given us access to the data itself..." But Toby was shaking his head. "Yeah, I thought not. Toby's data is encrypted with the same biocrypto," he told Shylif. "I copied it, but without the same combination of DNA, voice, iris, fingerprint, and brainwaves, I can't get at it. Anyway, you've got major power over the Cicada system, but not as an administrator."
Toby shook his head. "If I'm not a superuser, then how am I able to command the system?"
"It turns out you're not commanding it at all. You're voting."
"I'm what?"
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