The Saints of Salvation [British Ed.]

by Peter F. Hamilton

  ‘Well, at least you didn’t say you’d be honoured.’

  ‘Nonetheless, you know we would be. It would be fitting for you to accompany us; that way you may witness your triumph. You are the architect of the true FinalStrike, Yirella. Forgive the presumption, but given that the enclave is forty thousand lightyears away, if you don’t come with us, you will never know the outcome. That is not what you want.’

  ‘Oh, Saints!’

  ‘May they rest in peace.’

  ‘You’re right, of course. All the original Morgan squads are hungry for payback. After all, it’s what us poor binaries were born for. Even I have trouble shaking my conditioning.’

  ‘Life is to be rejoiced. The reason for birth, good or bad, should not be part of its consideration.’

  ‘You really are different.’ Yirella started to walk around the centrex, hunting for a pattern in the shapes and flow of lights that made up its curving sides. ‘But I’m glad you and the other history faction corpus members think we should make the effort to liberate our species.’

  ‘Not just ours. If the Neána are correct, the Olyix hold many races hostage for their god.’

  ‘Ah. Now there we have the puzzle at the heart of this problem.’

  ‘The God at the End of Time.’

  ‘Yes.’ She turned from examining a silhouette that was like an elongated combustion chamber ribbed with slim heat fins. It took a moment for her eyes to find Immanueel’s body on the wall. The mottled black and blue of their skin was changing colour, deepening towards the imperial purple sported by the rest of the shapes. ‘Before he left to escort the seedships, I asked Ainsley to make a request of whatever society arose here.’ She cocked her head to one side, regarding the chameleon body with detached interest. ‘Did you build it?’

  ‘Yes. We built your tachyon detector.’

  ‘And? Does it work?’

  ‘Theoretically, yes.’

  ‘Theoretically?’

  ‘It has not detected any tachyons.’

  ‘I’m seriously hoping that’s because there are none directed at this star.’

  ‘So are we. The proof will come, of course, when we deploy it at the reception point.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I feel obliged to point out there are problems with this path you wish to take.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘We believe we understand why you want it. We cannot concur your idea will work.’

  ‘I heard that message when I was inside Dellian’s brain; the Olyix neurovirus implanted it deep and hard. In fact, it was close to being the core of the neurovirus, because it justifies what they have done. Bring me all of your life, bring me all of your light. Together we will see the universe reborn out of us. It really did come from somewhere in the future. So if the tachyon beam is travelling back from that point to where and whenever in history the Olyix picked it up, it should also exist in this time. In fact, it should exist in every time before the moment it was sent.’

  ‘And as it travels faster than light, it creates a constant shockwave of Cherenkov radiation as it cuts through spacetime.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Which I’m hoping will allow the detector to track where it will come from.’

  ‘We understand your reasoning, but first we have to confirm the location of the reception point – information that is presumably available to whatever onemind rules the Olyix enclave. Yet even if we manage to extract that data, we are then left with the task of determining the spatial location of the receiver point when the message first reached it. If the Olyix received it a million years ago, that reception point will have moved a phenomenal distance over the intervening time. Everything in the universe is in motion relative to everything else. This neutron star is currently orbiting at two hundred kilometres per second in its journey around the galactic core. On top of that you have this galaxy’s relative speed to the local supercluster, and then the great attractor mass on top of that – and those are only two factors to be taken into account. Frankly, the further in the past the message was received, the less chance we have of finding the course of the message in our current time.’

  ‘I know,’ she said. ‘But with the proper knowledge, it will be possible to intercept it, right?’

  ‘Theoretically what you want to achieve is possible, but there are considerable practical problems.’

  ‘Ten thousand years ago the Olyix invaded Earth, and our ancestors set out to find them and bring our people home. And now here we are, you and me, finally getting close to achieving that goal. So surmounting considerable problems seems to be what humans are getting really quite good at.’

  ‘And what happens – what is your endgame – if you find the message tachyon stream?’

  ‘Go to the source – in this time.’

  ‘Again, we anticipated this would be your strategy. You think that by eliminating the source – a planet, a star system, a species – in the present, the message will never be sent from the future. The Olyix will not become religious fanatics, and Earth and all the other worlds will not be invaded.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘And what of paradox?’

  ‘That level of quantum temporal cosmology is beyond me,’ Yirella admitted. ‘All I can focus on is that Saints-damned tachyon message that is changing the past – our present – by setting the Olyix crusade loose on the galaxy. Therefore if we can eliminate, here in our present, whatever civilization, species or young god that sends it, then it will not be sent.’

  ‘Your logic is impeccable. But what about causality? Everything we know about causality dictates that time travel should not be possible.’

  ‘You are speaking of linear time.’

  ‘Of course. Our perceptions only enable us to see time as linear. But the very nature of linear time implies that – from an external observer viewpoint – the history of the entire universe from creation to heat death exists in a static form, allowing us – consciousness – to perceive time moving in only one direction. Ergo, the universe’s entirety – both space and time – was created as a complete whole. Which argues that change is not possible.’

  ‘Except that our perceptions must be wrong, because time travel has occurred,’ she countered. ‘The God at the End of Time sent a message from the future. And you have to concede that this timeline must be different from the one that existed before the message changed the behaviour of the Olyix.’

  ‘Ah. Well, the very concept of timelines implies a multiverse. One theory – and one that we corpus favour – has it that instituting a causality violation such as time travel is an anomaly that creates a new universe. Meaning, if you go back in time and kill your grandfather, that death happens in a new universe – one where your future self does not yet exist and now never will. A universe in which you are now an interloper – but also one in which you will never have a double. However, if you were able somehow to travel back to your original universe, your grandfather would still be alive there.’

  Yirella pursed her lips. ‘Time travellers are gods? Interesting.’

  ‘More like the builders of time machines are gods. On every occasion the time machine is used – for every tachyon message that is sent through time, or every time someone goes back to kill their grandfather or a tyrant – that act creates a new copy of the universe that branches off from the original.’

  ‘Meaning every alternate universe is the product of a time machine. But they’re still a perfect copy of the “original” universe up until that point just before the split?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘So the tachyon message the Olyix detected didn’t actually come from this universe?’

  ‘In the anomaly-creation theory, yes.’

  ‘So the God at the End of Time exists only in certain universes, whose history played out in specific ways?’

  ‘Possibly. But if we take as our assumption that the message was sent from the time of the heat death of the original universe – when the god perceived a condition it needed t
o address – then this makes our present the desired outcome of this new reality.’

  ‘Meaning that the God at the End of Time likewise exists – or will come to exist – in this reality, because this is its desired outcome. So the physical conditions for the God at the End of Time to come into existence are present in this universe, right here, right now. Its birth star is real. If we destroy the place it comes from here in the present, then it will never be born, and won’t send a message – which creates another copy universe. The cycle ends, and the paradox loop is broken.’

  ‘That is our reasoning, which is why we built the detector for you. We do not necessarily think your strategy will work, but we cannot ignore the possibility that it might.’

  ‘Thank you. I guess that makes the whole universe Schrödinger’s cat. We don’t know the outcome until we open the box, and even then we won’t know because opening the box from the inside means we cease to be the observer.’

  ‘Correct. Clearly some form of time travel or manipulation is possible; the message proves that. But have you considered the implication of classic temporal theory being correct? That there is only one universe and it is possible to alter the timeline? If so, there will be a considerable price for your strategy of resetting the timeline.’

  ‘Yes. I cease to exist. As do you, and everyone else alive here and now. In a multiverse, there will still be some universe in which we all exist, but if not, generations blink out as if they never existed.’

  ‘Not quite.’

  Yirella’s eyes narrowed as she studied the imprecise profile of Immanueel’s body, which was almost indistinguishable from any other section of wall now. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked.

  ‘To negate the evolution of the God at the End of Time will mean the message will never be sent, and subsequentially the Olyix will not commence their abominable crusade. They will not invade Earth. The history of the last ten thousand years will be very different.’

  ‘Yes, it’ll save us from this whole disaster. That’s the whole point. And if I can’t do that – if your time-travel-is-creationism theory is right – it’ll mean ending the cycle of new universes created by the god’s tachyon message, in which every one contains the same Olyix threat. That alone makes the effort worthwhile.’

  ‘But my dear genesis human, although the Olyix invasion was an unmitigated disaster for us here and now, the vast majority of Earth’s population is still alive in cocoon form, and our Final-Strike mission will, we hope, result in us reinstating them in their bodies. Not only that, but with the technology available now, a high percentage of them will never have to endure the low socioeconomic index lives they were living up to the point of the invasion. Records indicate that out of the nine billion living on Earth at the time the Salvation of Life arrived, four billion were significantly disadvantaged by the Universal culture’s economic structure that was prominent in that era. They would never have risen out of that. Now, our initiators and gentens can provide a post-scarcity environment for everyone, and medical science can prolong the life of baseline human bodies indefinitely, as well as opening the opportunity to elaborate up to corpus level.’

  ‘Are you seriously suggesting to me that the Olyix invasion was a good thing for us?’

  ‘It depends on your perspective. For those who fled Earth and the settled worlds in their exodus habitats, it was a catastrophic time when their lives were disrupted forever. Subsequently they spent the rest of their days fleeing in dread across the galaxy – an era of such profound experience it has shaped the psychology of every generation world since, producing a tainted legacy, with yourself and the squads as the ultimate outcome. But now the era of the exodus flights is over, one way or another. Some of the exodus, whom we should honour for their incredible commitment, strove to provide future generations with a chance at freedom. Some – billions more – fell to subsequent Olyix capture along the expansion wavefront. Were you to consider this whole epoch from the perspective of a low-income, low-satisfaction Earth resident in 2204, then if FinalStrike is ultimately successful, their view would be very different to yours. Imagine: there was a frightening disconnect in their life, and then they wake up thousands of years later in what equates to a billionaire’s paradise where they can do or be anything. Now ask yourself: does the human race have a net gain from you changing the timeline to one where the Olyix invasion does not happen? And in doing so, becoming unborn yourself, along with everybody born from the day the Salvation of Life arrived at Sol onwards? Others will be born instead, of course, but all those lives will not only no longer exist, they never will have existed.’

  ‘Fuck the Saints,’ Yirella exclaimed.

  ‘That is a true paradox,’ Immanueel said in a sympathetic voice.

  ‘But you think causality precludes a classic-theory reset of the timeline, and that by eliminating the possibility of the God at the End of Time, all I’ll be doing is preventing this current cycle from repeating?’

  ‘It is a complete unknown. And will probably remain so. The observer – you – cannot observe what will happen to themselves within a paradox. And all time travel is a paradox of one kind or another.’

  ‘I really need to think about this.’

  ‘Of course. And there is a third option. Some of our more – shall we say – unconventional theorists posit that temporal loops can only be triggered by an extrinsic factor.’

  ‘Extrinsic?’

  ‘The trigger originates from outside this universe.’

  ‘You mean, when a time machine creates a new branch?’

  ‘No. Completely outside spacetime, no matter if our existence is within a universe or multiverse.’

  ‘Fuck the Saints!’

  ‘It is a theory that permits any and every causality violation you may want to consider.’

  ‘Are you seriously saying the God at the End of Time doesn’t come from this reality?’

  ‘It is a theory – unprovable until tested. If correct, it would mean destroying the message’s origin world in the present is impossible, for that origin world is not even a part of our reality.’

  ‘So what do I do?’ she asked, despairing.

  ‘Nothing. If it is an extrinsic factor, nothing we do will have any effect. If we live in a multiverse where any attempt to modify our timeline simply creates a new different timeline, nothing in our past will change. And if we do live in a pre-ordained simultaneous totality-existence universe, your decision, whatever it is, will make no difference, because it has already been made and taken effect; there is no such thing as change. In each case, all you can do is simply enjoy the life you currently experience.’

  ‘Saints, I’m not enjoying this experience, trust me.’

  ‘Yes. And yet from what Ainsley has told us, and what I myself have observed, you have and enjoy Dellian, do you not?’

  She didn’t trust herself to answer. Instead she nodded ruefully. ‘Some kind of time travel is possible. The message proves that, right? I don’t think worrying about the possibility of resetting myself out of existence is a reason for inaction. After all, I have lived here and now; that cannot be taken away. It’s only the universe that will forget me, not me myself. So if I consider the enormity of what’s in play . . . I think that the god’s decision to send the message to the Olyix was the original decision, and our actions are determined by it. In that I have no choice. Therefore –’ She took a breath. ‘I want us to bring the tachyon detector to the enclave. If we can work out where the Olyix were when the message was received, that’s when we make the ultimate decision: Do we go after the God at the End of Time?’

  ‘Your first decision – and the one we were fully expecting you to make. Very well, genesis human, we will bring the tachyon detector with us.’

  The Avenging Heretic

  Year Four

  When he thought back to what the Avenging Heretic’s bridge used to be like during S-Day, all Alik could remember was basically a blank room with a big holographic projection in the middle.
Now, it was the kind of chamber that belonged in a drama series – which he guessed was where a lot of it had been bootlegged from. The chief suspect was Callum, with Kandara as his accomplice – though she just laughed when he asked her. The alterations had been slow to materialize. One day the shape of the chairs had changed. They were bigger and bulkier, something that belonged in early twenty-first-century war vehicles, but they were comfier, so no one said anything. Consoles increased in increments throughout the second year, their surfaces becoming army-green metal, acquiring black trim, which then developed glowing blue edging as the overall light was reduced. Control functions became more intuitive. The tactical display graphics grew into hemispherical bubbles around everyone’s head with added neon ziz. Chrome toggle switches popped up like cautious mushrooms – a few at first, then they were complemented by U-shaped guards, and eventually lined up in long rows. The chairs expanded again, with added protection, and straps, and crash webs. Red strobes and battle-station klaxons protruded from the ceiling.

  ‘For fuck’s sake, people!’ Alik bellowed the first time Jessika tested them. His virtual avatar ears were ringing, while he blinked simulated blotches from his vision. ‘This is turning into a gamer fetish bunker. We’re neurovirtual in here.’

  ‘Ambiance helps instil the right attitude,’ Yuri said.

  Alik’s teeth ground together at the mockery in that voice.

  ‘Yeah,’ Kandara chipped in. ‘Live the experience, man.’

  He glowered at her and saw Callum trying to suppress laughter. Despite being on a ship with people who could be really fucking annoying when they wanted to be, he did admit the new formation was a considerable improvement. It made it somehow easier for his mind to mesh with the Avenging Heretic’s network. The simulation was, after all, window dressing, but it was customized to accelerate response time during the drills. So he supposed – grudgingly – that it did generate the right level of alert tension. Their mission was tactical at heart; they needed clear commands and unrestricted target and threat intelligence. But still, edging that glowed . . .