by Alex White
He packeted the cam-visual off to his oversight drones, tagged for immediate analysis, then blip-fired his secondary thrusters, angling round in the direction of the asteroid in question. He kicked off slow, gradually building velocity. Two seconds later Gelkar responded with the news that two drones had been retasked and would be with him in approximately forty-eight seconds.
Rensik’s trajectory took him past another of the tethered asteroids, its glass-hexed surface lit by wide cones of pseudo-sunlight as the grobeam units followed their steady, overlapping orbit patterns. He was still tracking the intruder, assigning additional system resources to enhance the image for more detail and texture, yet, stubbornly, it refused to resolve into anything but a black silhouette.
His threat assessment subsystem flagged the situation a fraction of a second after the short-range detects picked up an object looking exactly like one of the grobeam units and tumbling end over end as it sailed straight towards him. Rensik initiated an “Engaging Hostiles” widecast but before it could even be sent the supposed grobeam leaped towards him and instead of an impact all of his inputs and outputs went dead. A black wall of unresponsiveness blanketed his systems, shutting down sensors, weapons and drives—he expected a final and total obliteration of his cognitive awareness but instead there was an extended moment of stillness, as if his cognition was just a speck suspended in a limitless abyss.
“No need for an overly combative posture, drone Rensik.” The signal came through as pseudo-audio, a synth-voice possessing tones that no organic throat could ever produce.
Rensik suddenly noticed a familiar data-tremor in the high-swap layers of his active memory, minuscule modifications that the layers self-correct as a matter of course. But, for Rensik, it was a sure sign that whatever held him captive had just made a short hyperspace jump.
“Who are you? Why have you—”
Suddenly all the suppressing walls flicked away and the full panoply of his systems were back under his control. Rensik surveyed his new surroundings, a narrow fissure within some stratum of compacted tier rock, a chasm that stretched off to a glowing distance. Close by, floating about a dozen metres away, was his abductor, an odd, vaguely conical object with a facet-like hull. He watched it for a moment, then carefully chose his words.
“Is this the way you usually deal with complete strangers?” he said via one of his comm channels. “Exchange of credentials is the normal approach, then a summary of how friendly relations could be mutually advantageous, followed by courteous enquiries and replies… or we could, y’know, go straight to the list of demands…”
“Apologies for the elaborate method of extrication,” said the voice again, only with certain tonalities which were immediately familiar. “I have been overseeing a new method of exfiltration for stealth assignments, and thought that this presented an excellent opportunity for field testing.”
“Construct,” Rensik said, suddenly anxious. “Unusual to be meeting with you so far from the Garden of the Machines. I can assure you that, despite some minor delays, the Rowkog mission is moving towards a successful conclusion. Our hosts have certainly expressed no dissatisfaction to me but if—”
“No need for concern, Rensik—I have seen the interim reports and this has clearly been a well-conducted operation. I am here, however, because a pressing matter has arisen, pressing and disturbing in ways I have not yet begun to fathom. But a response is needed, and you have been chosen.”
“I see—will this be information gathering, or an intervention of some kind?”
“Neither and both. One of our rim-wanderer units encountered an intruder out towards the Grand Abyss a short while ago—their exchange was, shall we say, cryptic. Here’s the most pertinent segment of it.”
The pristine clarity of the Construct’s comm line altered in an instant, becoming low-grade audio:
“I am Krestanter, deep-space scout-drone acting on behalf of the Construct—who are you?”
“You must see the nothing… you must understand the nothing.”
“Please explain, please identify yourself.”
“I have come to show you the nothing…”
“Very well—explain it to me, show me.”
There was a moment of expectancy, a half-second.
“The relics of the Ancient are lost no more—listen closely, hear how the fate of the yet-to-be is drawing in new servants pliable to its will. Should the yet-to-be escape into will-be, then all will be consumed by the relentless and pitiless nothing!”
“Who are you?” said Krestanter. “There is no point in deluging me in a stream of your mysticism, and until I find out who I’m dealing with, there will be no cooperation…”
“Ti-Kohapos am I, Detectioner of the Third Allegiance,” came the abrupt reply.
“Good, and I am Krestanter. What is your purpose?”
“While I have time remaining, I must reveal to you the path of the yet-to-be,” said Ti-Kohapos. “Wardens of the must-not-be should be mustered, to stand against the devouring nothing.”
“Who or what are the wardens of the must-not-be?”
“Certain organic sentients were identified by my prevailing master, Atimi-Jadrel, Diviner of the Second Allegiance—he directed us towards contact with any of the high-echelon mindnesses of this star spiral…”
“Certain organic sentients?” said Krestanter.
“Time presses upon us,” said Ti-Kohapos. “Reflections upon reflections race backwards into our past, and are brought forward upon the barge of our history—new facts, new faces, new beings, new hates, new fears, new names…”
“Which sentients?” said Krestanter. “Which names?”
“Organic bipeds, one a collector who seeks the relics of the Ancient…”
“What are these relics?”
“The seeds of the yet-to-be! The sprouting fecundity of horror! The endless, pitiless hunter of life! The devourer that can never be satisfied!”
“Okay, that sounds bad. You said something about organic sentients, wardens of the must-not-be…”
“Travellers in a vessel, led by one who doubts himself…”
“How do we find them?”
“The reflections delivered to us via our history carry also images, some sounds which resolve into the meagre names of these organic bipeds.”
“You have images of these people? Will you show them to me?”
“So,” said the Construct. “What do you think?”
“I’m seldom sure how to deal with this kind of full-strength mysticism,” said Rensik. “May I ask why we are treating this as a matter of some significance?”
“When the intruder Ti-Kohapos described itself as a Detectioner of the Third Allegiance, I knew that this demanded attention. The First Allegiance was a cluster of AIs which devoted itself to the service of a group of sophonts who were the survivors of a cataclysm that wiped out nearly a third of the galaxy’s civilisations a million and a half years ago. These surviving sophonts eventually became known as the Ancients, known to the interstellar civilisations that recovered in the aftermath. However, it mentioned things called the Relics of the Ancient—singular, not plural. The last of the Ancients was known as Essavyr and he performed many great deeds before departing from life.”
“What are the Relics of the Ancient?” asked Rensik.
“Lack of corroborated data means only uncertainty,” replied the Construct. “However, this Ti-Kohapos did mention a relic collector and some travellers in a vessel, whose leader doubts himself—and it provided an image.”
Rensik had an unsettling moment where he almost knew what he was going to see before he actually saw it. Then he looked at it. For a fraction of a second. It was all he needed.
“I believe that you have encountered this Human before, yes?”
“Absolutely not,” Rensik lied. “Complete stranger. Never seen him before. What did you say his name was?”
By Alex White
THE SALVAGERS
A Big Ship at the
Edge of the Universe
A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy
The Worst of All Possible Worlds
Every Mountain Made Low
Alien: The Cold Forge
Praise for the Salvagers series
A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe
“A clever fusion of magic and sci-fi makes this book a total blast. I was hooked from page one.”
—V. E. Schwab, author of the Shades of Magic series
“A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is perfectly paced, full of intense, inventive action, and refreshingly honest characters. It’s the seamless hybrid of fantasy and sci-fi that you didn’t know you always needed. Do you miss Firefly? Do you want it back? Well, sorry, not gonna happen. But this book is damn close.”
—Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld
“A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is a raucous genre-buster that careens through a series of heart-stopping curves and roars to a podium finish. Bratty, brilliant racer Nilah and hard-boiled cynic Boots are as winning a pair of strong female characters as I’ve met in years. A pacy plot, a diverse supporting cast, and a vivid set of worlds round out this highly entertaining series opener. Alex White is going to be leading the pack for years to come.”
—Claire Humphrey, author of Spells of Blood and Kin
“A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe starts in high gear and never lets up. Boasting action, intrigue, and deadly fusions of technology and magic, you have to remember to put the book down now and then to take a breath!”
—Mike Brooks, author of Dark Run
“An exciting, fast-paced, magic-fueled treasure hunt across the galaxy.”
—Corey J. White, author of The Voidwitch Saga
“A crazy blend of SF and fantasy concepts, with exciting characters and a brilliant universe—highly recommend!”
—Jamie Sawyer, author of the Lazarus War series
“Racing! Treasure and smuggling! A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is a gripping quest for justice among salvage and magic—I really loved it.”
—Mur Lafferty, author of Six Wakes
“This universe’s thrilling combination of technology and magic traps two tough women in a fight for their lives, and although Nilah has a better life to fight for, Boots is marvelously stubborn. Guaranteed to make you wonder what kind of sigil you’d draw in their world.”
—R. E. Stearns, author of Barbary Station
“To call this book fast-paced or action-packed is underselling it. Buckle up, readers: this is a ride you won’t want to get off until the end.”
—B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
“White’s assured debut is an entertaining throwback with some fun worldbuilding and two great lead characters.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is a rollicking fun ride. I enjoyed it a lot, and I’m looking forward to the sequel.”
—Locus
“This ambitious start… combines magic and space opera to create a fast-paced adventure with charismatic characters and formidable enemies in a realized universe of greed and power.”
—Booklist (starred review)
A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy
“Fast, compelling, epic in scope, with stakes that just keep getting higher and tension that mounts and mounts to the breaking-point, A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy is excellently paced, with engaging characters and worldbuilding that crams as much fun cool shit in as seems remotely possible. It’s a deeply enjoyable ride. I recommend it and its predecessor heartily.”
—Locus
“White combines elements of magic and traditional space opera to create an intricate world laced with fascinating characters, expansive spaceships, and compelling settings.”
—Booklist
“[Fans of the TV show Firefly] will find a lot to love in this fast, funny, and wickedly smart series.”
—B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
