by Robert Reed
Washen didn't speak. She didn't quite know what she was thinking. Her mind had never felt emptier or more useless. What passed for her focus drifted from her cupped hands to a long pained look at her son sitting in that beautiful jungle. Then she pried open her hands and the silver lid, staring again at the slow, relentless hands.
'We have allies,' Pamir allowed. 'That's also what I've been doing these last few days. Making contacts with likely friends . . .'
Again, she closed the clock and cupped her hands around its blood-warmed metal, and quietly, almost in a whisper, she said, 'We didn't have fusion reactors.'
Pardon?'
'When I left Marrow. Most of our energy came from geothermal sources.'
'You were gone for more than a century,' Pamir cautioned. 'A lot can change in that little bite of rime.'
Perhaps. Perhaps.
'Judging by the evidence,' he continued. 'I'd guess that the Waywards had to punch a wide hole up from Marrow. Since they were coming back along the old hole, theirs met mine, making their work easier. But still. Hundreds of kilometers dug in days, or hours. That's why we didn't have any warning. And that's why they must have built all those fusion reactors, I'm guessing.'
She said, 'Perhaps,' but shook her head regardless.
Again, Washen opened her hands. But this time she dropped the clock, and it landed on its edge with a soft click, and bending over to pick it up, she found herself staring at her son as he stared at a strange green world, his soft gray eyes betraying nothing — not a whispery sense of awe, much less the tiniest concern.
'What is it, Washen?'
She opened her mouth, and said nothing. 'Tell me,' Pamir insisted.
'I think you're wrong,' she heard herself saying. 'Probably so. But where?'
Until she said it, she wasn't certain what she would say.
'About the energy source. You're mistaken. But that's not what matters most.'
"What matters?'
She said, 'Look at him.'
The ancient man stared between his feet, regarding the prisoner for a long moment. Then finally, with a measured disgust, he asked, 'What should I see?'
'Locke is a Wayward. He still believes.'
Pamir gave a low snort, then said, 'What he is is a fanatic. And he just doesn't know any better.'
'He and Till were in the leech house,' she countered, shaking her head. 'You know the place. Whisper anything, and your words are audible everywhere.'
Pamir waited.
'Ever since you woke me, it's been gnawing at me.' She picked up the clock and coaxed her sarong to grow a pocket that would hold it securely. Then she looked at Pamir with bright certain eyes, telling him, 'Till and Locke must have heard Diu talking. They wouldn't have had any choice. His confession was thorough, and it didn't leave room to maneuver. Everything the Waywards believe was invented by Diu. And that's enough of a revelation to cripple the most robust faith.'
With more stubbornness than reason, Pamir said, 'Your son's a fanatic. And Tills an ambitious, pernicious climber.'
Washen barely heard him.
Narrowing her eyes, she thought aloud. 'Those two Waywards heard everything, and it didn't matter. Maybe they weren't even surprised that Diu was alive. That's not so outrageous. Waywards always knew everything that was happening on Marrow. No secrets for them. And after Diu was dead, they took Miocene home. Because she was needed. Because if they are the Builders reborn, and if they were going to retake the ship ... then they required a high-ranking captain, like Miocene . . . someone who knows how to defeat the security systems, and the old Master . . .'
Pamir took a deep breath, let it leak out between his teeth, then offered, 'Till is cynically using Diu's dreamed-up religion, and Miocene is playing along—'
'No,' said Washen. 'And maybe.' Then she pointed at Locke, saying again, 'He believes. I know my son, and I understand, I hope, his capabilities. And he's still very much a Wayward.'
Out of frustration, Pamir asked, 'So what do you believe, Washen?'
'Diu told us ...' She closed her eyes, remembering what seemed to be only three days removed from her. 'When he was first on Marrow, alone, he had a dream. The Builders and the hated Bleak came straight out of that dream . . .'
'Which means?'
'Maybe nothing,' she confessed. Then she shook her head and rose to her feet, saying, 'If there's any answer, it's somewhere on Marrow. That's where it's waiting. And I think you're absolutely wrong about our timetable up here.'
'Do you?'
'We wait, and the Waywards only grow stronger.'
Pamir looked between his feet again, staring at their prisoner with a new intensity, as if seeing him for the first time.
'Wait too long,' she warned, 'and we'll have to tear this ship apart with a total war. Which is why I think we need to do everything now. The first instant that it's possible.'
'What we need to do,' he echoed.
Then he asked, 'Like what?'
Washen had to laugh, quietly and sadly.
'You're the Master Captain here,' she replied. 'My only duty is to serve the Great Ship, and you.'
Thirty-nine
'THERE IS A PLACE,' Miocene reminisced, inviting her son and the other high-ranking Waywards to accompany her on a little journey. 'It's very high, and quite secure, and perfect for watching the burn.'
It would be a moment rich in symbolism, and more important, a moment of pure vindication.
But Till wore a doubting expression. He looked past Miocene, then said, 'Madam,' and gave the smallest of bows. 'Is this trip absolutely necessary? Considering the risks, I mean. And the thin benefits.'
'Benefits,' she echoed. 'Did you count tradition?'
He knew better than to respond.
Miocene said, 'No, you didn't,' and laughed gently, her scorn barely showing. Then she told him, 'This is a noble tradition. The Master Captain and her loyal staff stand on the open deck, watching as their ship turns in the wind.'
'Noble,' he replied, 'and ancient, too.'
'We've done it on board this ship,' she promised. 'Many, many times.'
What could he say?
Before any answer was offered, she added, 'I appreciate what you're thinking. That we might be too exposed. Too vulnerable. Open to some celestial disaster—'
'Not on the trailing hemisphere, madam. I know that much.'
'Then you're worried about a closer, more emotional enemy.' Master or mother, her task was to lend confidence. To inspire, and hopefully, instruct. 'No one else knows about this venture. There isn't time to prepare an ambush. And believe me,' she added, a swollen hand lifting into the air between them, 'I'm strong enough to defend us from any part of the ship, and anywhere on its enormous hull, too.'
Frantic days had brought a transformation. The new Master sat on the old Master's bed. She wasn't as vast as her predecessor, but the trend was obvious. Interlocking networks of nexuses lay beneath her century-old skin, speaking to one another in dense lightspeed languages, and speaking to the ship's important systems in a tangle of frequencies and coded wisps of laser light. A newborn instinct told Miocene that the reaction chambers were being fueled and readied. She could practically taste the cold compressed hydrogen being drawn from the deep tanks. This giant burn, scheduled millennia ago, would happen without delay or embarrassment. How could anyone doubt that she was in charge? The symbolism was blatant. Nervous passengers would take comfort in the burn. The disgruntled crew would have to admit that this old woman knew what she was doing. And the Milky Way would notice, trillions of potential passengers having even more good reasons to forget the old Master and her incompetent ways.
Soon and in countless ways, Miocene would improve her ship. Efficiencies would jump. Confidence would blossom. The ship's prestige would swell as a consequence, and with her guiding hand, the knowledge of a million species would be beamed home, enriching humanity as well as the Master's personal legacy. For the last century, whenever she wanted a taste of pleasure, Miocene had
imagined the glorious day when the ship would complete its circuit of the galaxy, approaching the Earth after a half-million-year absence. By then, and mostly because of her work, humanity would dominate their little portion of the universe. And with her loyal, loving son at her side, she would accept every honor and the radiant blessings from a people that would have no choice but see her as a god and savior.
'The universe,' she whispered, speaking to herself.
Till leaned closer, asking, 'What did you say, madam?'
'You need to see it for yourself,' she replied. 'The stars. The Milky Way. Everything, and in its full glory.'
A shifting expression became simple doubt.'I have seen it,' Till reminded her. 'By holographic light, and perfectly rendered.'
'Nothing rendered is perfect,' she countered.
Then before her son could say anything else, she reminded him, 'One of us is the Master. The other is her First Chair.'
'I know that, madam.'
With a wide hand, she touched her son on the forehead, the slender nose, then with a single finger, she fondled the handsome strong chin. 'Perhaps it's too much of a risk,' she allowed. 'You can make a good argument, yes. So it will be just you and me watching the burn. Is that a worthy compromise?'
He had no choice but to say, 'Yes, madam. Yes, Mother' But as always, Till said the words with a convincing enthusiasm, wrapped right in a smile that couldn't have
been any brighter.
THE SHIP'S HULL was thinnest on the trailing face - a few dozen kilometers of original, nearly virginal hyperfiber laced with access tunnels and cavernous pipes and pumps vast enough to move oceans. Aesthetics as well as security issues played a role; Miocene and Till traveled inside one of the main reaction chambers. Nothing lived here, and next to nothing came here. Against the banks of perfect mirrors, there was no place to hide. And since no one but Miocene could fire these engines, they could pass untroubled, their swift little car rising into the craterlike maw of the rocket nozzle, the sky above them illuminated by a billion fires, each of them dwarfing the powers of their magnificent machine.
'The stars,' said Miocene, and she couldn't help but grin.
Till looked very young, standing with his hands holding each other behind his back, his back arched and his boot-clad feet slightly apart, his uniform and cap and the wide brown eyes reflecting the brilliance of the universe.
For a moment, he seemed to smile.
Then he closed his eyes and turned to her, and he opened his eyes again, admitting, 'They're lovely. Of course.'
Of course.
Disappointment grabbed Miocene. Had she really believed that a naked-eye look at the Milky Way would cause a revelation? That Till would throw up his arms and drop to his weak knees in a wonderstruck rapture?
She was disappointed, and worse, she was infuriated.
Perhaps sensing her mood, Till asked, 'Do you remember when, Mother? When you looked into a nanoscope and saw your first naked proton?'
She blinked, then confessed, 'No.'
'One of the essential bones of the universe,' he chided. 'As vital as the stars, and in its own way, more spectacular. But it was real to you before you saw it. Intellectually, and emotionally, you were prepared.'
Miocene nodded, saying nothing.
'From the moment that I was reborn and for every day since, people have talked about the stars. Describing their beauty. Explaining their physics. Assuring me that the simple sight of a sun will fill me with awe . . .'
What would it take to impress Till?
'Frankly, Mother. After such an enormous buildup, I think the sky looks rather thin. Almost insubstantial. Which is doubly disappointing, since we're close to one of the galaxy's big arms. Aren't we?'
If Miocene ignited the engine beneath them, Till would be impressed.
For a fiery instant, yes.
Smiling in a thin, almost mocking fashion, she looked ahead. Their car swerved abruptly, heading for the parabolic nozzle. Ancient hyperfiber had been blackened by corrosive plasmas, leaving a featureless wall that appeared close when it was distant, then remote as they slowed and suddenly passed through a camouflaged hatchway. Engineers had added this feature. The hatchway led into a small tunnel that passed through the nozzle, ending with a blister of diamond suspended a thousand kilometers above the hull.
Only an imbecile couldn't be impressed by this view
Mother and son remained inside the armored car, and the car floated inside the blister. The Great Ship possessed fourteen giant rocket nozzles: one in the center, four ringing the one, and nine more nozzles surrounding the first five. Theirs was one of the four, and on the horizon, standing side by side, were two of the outer nozzles, fueled and waiting the command to fire. Morphing metals and lakes of hydraulic fluids had tilted the nozzles, giving them a fifteen-degree angle. The ten-hour-and-eleven-second burn would change the ship's trajectory just enough that in another two weeks it would pass near a red giant sun, then plunge even closer to the sun's companion - a massive yet essentially calm black hole.
In less than a day, the ship's course would be tweaked twice. Instead of leaving this dense region of suns and living worlds, they would continue following the galaxy's arm, moving into new and lucrative places.
There was a soft, impressed 'Hmm.'
Till wasn't staring at the stars or the giant nozzles. Instead, he was looking down, and with a slightly contemptuous voice, he remarked, 'There's certainly a lot of them!
Lights were sprinkled across the hyperfiber landscape. But unlike the pleasant disorder of the stars, these lights had defining principles, connected into lines and circles and dense masses that glowed with a cumulative light. Yes, there were a lot of them. Probably more than there were five thousand years ago, and certainly more than the last time she visited that place. Miocene shook her head and said, 'Remoras,' with a growling tone. 'They build their cities on the trailing face. More cities all the time.'
Till smiled, and with a charming wink, he observed, 'You don't like Remoras. Do you, madam?'
'They're stubborn and exceptionally strange.' But she allowed, 'They do important work. We would be hard-pressed to replace them.'
Her son made no comment.
'Twenty seconds,' she announced.
Till said, 'Yes,' and politely looked up, those bright brown eyes squinting against the anticipated glare of the engines.
And with Till momentarily distracted, Miocene slipped away.
THE ROOM NEVER changed.
Sitting along each wall, wearing the symbolic bodies and white togas of wizened old scribes, were dozens of sophisticated AIs. Each was a little different from its neighbor, in abilities and aesthetic sensibilities. In this realm, differences were a blessing. The reason for their existence was a single question — a question requiring utter concentration as well as a fondness for novelty. Every day or week or month, one of the scribes would propose some new solution, or a variation on an old solution, and with a boundless youth, the machines would discuss and debate, and occasionally shout at one another. Inevitably they would find some critical flaw in the elaborate mathematics, or the logical assumptions, and the proposal would be given a quick funeral, its corpse placed on an electronic shelf next to millions of failed hypotheses — proof of their zeal, if not their genius.
In the room's center was a dense and extremely precise map of the ship. The map didn't portray the ship as it was today, but the ship as it existed when the first captains arrived: Every vast chamber and long tunnel, tiny crevice and grand ocean, was displayed in all of its abandoned glory.
Yet a substantial, perhaps critical feature was missing.
Into that ignorance, the new Master appeared.
The AI scribes regarded her with a cold scorn. They were conservative souls, by nature. They didn't approve of mutinies, even mutinies justified on legal grounds. With a machine's humor, one scribe said, 'Who are you? I don't recognize you.'
The others laughed in low, disgusted voices.
Miocene said nothing for a long second. Then her image pretended to sigh, and in a passing fashion, she mentioned, 'I can improve this map of yours. I know things that the old Master couldn't have imagined.'
Doubt bled into interest.
Then, curiosity.
But one of the scribes shook its rubber face, warning her, 'Your predecessor has to be put on trial. A fair and public trial, as mandated by the ship's own laws. Otherwise we will not work with you.'
'Haven't I promised trials?' she replied. 'Examine my fife. Any profile you wish. When have I been anything but a champion of the ship's laws?'
The scribes did as Miocene advised, and just as she expected, they grew bored. Her life wasn't a puzzle. It held no interest for them. One after another, their gazes returned to their elaborate, mysterious map.
'If I give you this information,' she told them, 'you cannot share it with anyone else. Is that understood?'
'We understand everything,' the first scribe warned.
'And if you find a possible solution, tell no one but me. Me.' She stared at each set of their glass eyes. 'Can you embrace those terms?'
In a voice, they said, 'Yes.'
Into the map, Miocene inserted the newest parameters: she drew the hyperfiber shell surrounding the core, then set Marrow inside the shell, and finally she showed what was inside Marrow. Then she caused Marrow to expand and contract, a flood of data explaining how energy cycled through the iron body, how the buttresses kept it firmly in place, and anything else of potential interest that she had absorbed over the horrible centuries.
In a fraction of a second, old faces grew enthralled.
Miocene felt the faint shudder as the ship's engines began throwing plasma out into the cold, cold universe.
The physical portion of her sat beside her son, watching as he turned and showed her another good smile.
'It's lovely, yes,' he admitted.
The plasma river was a wide column moving at near lightspeed, only a tiny portion of its energies given off as visible light, but still bright enough that the stunning glare caused the stars to vanish in their blinking, tearing eyes.
