by Alex Lamb
Ramon had been particularly pleased by the idea. Gustav suspected it suited the man just fine to be answering to a Prophet less politically capable than he was. It retained the status quo whilst increasing Ramon’s share of power. That alone was reason enough for Gustav to be nervous about the appointment.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the flaw in Will’s logic. Would he prefer to see one of his peers in the role? He couldn’t think of a single one of them he trusted, or would rely on to treat the Transcended threat rationally. Even Oz wouldn’t be right for the job. He was too much of an appeaser. Non-natives were out, too. A Galatean would last about five minutes in power before he met with some kind of unfortunate accident. Which meant it had to be Gustav.
At the top step, Ramon was waiting for him, his face unreadably regal. Above that was the throne where the Prophet sat. Sanchez had been carefully drugged and groomed for this ceremony. It wouldn’t do for the old man to end his reign with a loss of dignity.
The public story was that he was leaving power because God had shown him the flaw in his teachings. He was passing on the torch to someone chosen by God to reveal a new truth to mankind. It wasn’t a story Sanchez liked, but then he hadn’t played any part in making it up.
Gustav reached the top of the steps. In round, ponderous tones, the king began his proclamation to the crowd about the coming of a new spiritual leader, etc., etc. Gustav barely listened. Instead he knelt as expected, his face upturned to the Prophet’s.
‘The Earth will crumble under your hands,’ Sanchez whispered to him bitterly. Those dark eyes of his were as full of fire as ever, despite him being doped to the brim with mood-controllers.
‘Maybe,’ Gustav whispered back. ‘But at least this time we will build on knowledge, and not ignorance.’
Sanchez sneered at him. ‘Fool! Ignorance is reliable. Knowledge is not.’
Gustav managed a smile. ‘Ignorance is death,’ he said. ‘And you are the fool if you believe otherwise.’
Gustav was glad of the opportunity to tell the old man that. It had taken him days to reconcile his actions to himself, but in the end, he had done it. If he did not like the way the future looked, he realised, it was his responsibility to grab it with both hands and do his best to change it. It was all he’d ever done his entire life. Nothing had changed when he surrendered at Galatea except the tools at his disposal – and, arguably, the ones he had now were better.
Ramon’s speech ended. The king reached down and helped Sanchez out of his seat. The neural stinger in Ramon’s sleeve aimed at the Prophet’s neck was not visible from the broadcast cameras in the walls.
With Ramon’s insistent help, Sanchez knelt before Gustav as Gustav took his place on the throne. The throne room erupted into carefully orchestrated cheering. The unnatural choir let loose with a triumphant anthem. Truism was dead. Long live Transcendism.
Gustav looked out across his room full of courtiers and found himself smiling just a little. He already knew a few of the decrees he wanted to make. His first would be to allocate the bottom twenty floors of the Holy Palace for housing the poor, whose prote-farms still covered the countryside in every direction. His second would be to reintroduce education for girls.
He raised his hand in salute as the king helped the ex-Prophet Sanchez slowly descend the stairs before him.
21.3: WILL
Galatea had only ever boasted two real restaurants and one of them hadn’t survived the brief Earther occupation. Will and Rachel sat in the one that remained. It nestled in the middle of a park in the trench town of New Beginning under a canopy of genetically engineered Joshua trees. Hundreds of tiny lanterns had been woven around the branches.
Will looked at Rachel across a table littered with the remains of dessert and held her hand. She looked back at him.
She had voluntarily put on a dress that evening, something Will had never seen her do in his memories, or Doug’s. She’d even applied a little make-up. It wasn’t her usual style, but then it was a very special occasion: their first real evening alone since returning home.
Of course, they’d had snatches of private time here and there, but they’d spent all of those in bed. This was their first actual date, despite the fact they’d been home for three weeks. The days since they arrived had been swallowed up in an endless round of parties, functions and celebrations. It was as if the whole planet wanted to meet the heroes, and most of them felt they had a right to.
As well as Honorary President of the Roboteer’s League and Chairman of the new Department of Xenocultural Studies at Galatea University, Will had also been made Ambassador to the Transcended – a job he already had. The Galateans had given the role to him anyway, with a ceremony that lasted for several dull hours.
He and Rachel had talked so much all day that now they were finding it hard to muster conversation. It didn’t help that life kept threatening to sweep them both on. Will had his new post, along with a public acknowledgement of his command of the Ariel Two. Rachel had received a promotion to captain.
‘So what did Bryant say?’ Rachel ventured.
‘We’re going back to the lure star to talk to the Relic,’ Will replied. ‘Even if the Transcended don’t talk back, I’m going to send them a full memory log of my experiences. We figure that this way, they’ll be better equipped to judge other species in the future.’
Will was still painfully aware that the technology that suffused both his ship and body was on loan. It was no surprise that he was on tenterhooks to find out what the enigmatic race had to say for itself next.
Nevertheless, he wished he wasn’t leaving so soon. Rachel had been put in charge of the first Galatean starship to use the new alien technology. It was a very illustrious post, but it meant they’d be apart again for weeks.
‘Did you manage to talk to Hugo about it?’ she asked.
Will nodded. ‘He’s coming with me, as scientific advisor. Or as the “helpful sceptic”, as he calls himself.’
Hugo had made it very clear he still believed the Transcended represented a potential threat, and now that Will had been given time to think about it, some of his points weren’t so crazy. Gustav’s remarks about the aliens had resonated, too. And even if one presumed they had the best motives, exactly what the Transcended expected humanity to do next was still completely unclear.
Nothing about the coming years looked easy. As Sanchez had pointed out, the Earth would not change overnight. They were standing at the brink of the greatest social upheaval in human history with no notion of the terms on which they were now expected to live.
Even so, Will was optimistic. He saw no real reason for the Transcended not to speak plainly. Surely such an advanced race had little to gain by subterfuge. When and if humanity needed guidance, they would be informed.
Nevertheless, the human race would have to tread very carefully from now on. It was time to grow up. Who knew what they’d encounter in the new galactic shell?
‘Did he tell you when your new commission is supposed to start?’ Rachel asked.
‘Friday,’ he said glumly.
‘Good. That’ll give me time to pack.’
Will blinked at her in surprise. ‘What do you mean?’
She grinned at him. ‘I’ve decided to come with you.’
‘But … Don’t you have a starship waiting for you up in orbit?’
She nodded. ‘It’ll be here when I get back. I’m not in a hurry.’
‘But didn’t Bryant say—’
Rachel laughed. ‘Isn’t this what the whole test thing was about? That human beings don’t have to be rigidly defined by the systems they create? It’s time to start living it, Will. The future’s ours to define.’
She was right, of course. He leaned across the table to kiss her.
The music in the restaurant changed. The robotic band broke into a piece of slow jazz that he recognised immediately. Will pulled away from her lips to laugh.
‘What?’ she said, pouting. ‘Do I kiss funny or
something?’
Will shook his head. ‘It’s the music. This piece. I used it as inspiration for a program I wrote – the one that decrypted Ulanu’s security. The one that got us into all that trouble in the first place.’
‘This is what you were dancing to that day?’ Rachel looked delighted.
‘In a manner of speaking.’
Her eyes lit up. ‘Then dance with me now.’
Will raised his hands. ‘I don’t know how.’
‘You did it with robots, didn’t you? How different can this be?’ She took his hand and dragged him upright. ‘Come on, Mr Ambassador. No excuses.’
Will laughed and let her pull him down to the dance floor. They stepped out together, and, clumsily at first, began to dance under a canopy of lights like little stars.
A Gollancz eBook
Copyright © Alex Lamb 2015
All rights reserved.
The right of Alex Lamb to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain in 2015 by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment,
London EC4Y 0DZ
An Hachette UK Company
This eBook first published in 2015 by Gollancz.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 47320 6106
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Title Page
Contents
Acknowledgements
1: Battle at Memburi
2: New Roles
3: Departure
4: In Flight
5: Spying
6: Uploading
7: Infiltration
8: Cat and Mouse
9: Uncharted Territory
10: Hands On
11: Sickness
12: A Change of Plans
13: Betrayal
14: Face to Face
15: Losing Power
16: Murder
17: Back in the Saddle
18: Trouble Arrives
19: Justice
20: Ultimatum
21: Carefully Ever After
Copyright
