The Evolutionary Void Read online

  ‘Bodant Park massacre,’ Mr Bovey said. ‘You unleashed a massacre on our planet. There were hundreds killed.’

  ‘That was just the warm-up,’ Tomansio said. ‘The agents involved in hunting her down will not give a crap about civilians who get in the way. Memory read will be the least of your worries when the others come here. And they will. Soon.’

  ‘We found you,’ Beckia said. ‘The rest won’t be far behind. Think. Be real. The most powerful organizations in the Greater Commonwealth are looking for her. Your entire planet has been invaded because Living Dream is so utterly desperate. Do you really, really, think she can elude all of us?’

  ‘I didn’t know,’ the young blond one said through teeth he’d clamped together. ‘She didn’t tell me. How could she not tell me what she’d become?’

  ‘If she loved you, she would be trying to keep you out of all this,’ Oscar said. ‘It was sweetly naive, and that time is now over. You have to make a choice. Do you want to actively help her? If so, talk to us. If not: run. Each of yous will have to try and make a break for it and pray that you don’t all get caught.’

  The three of hims turned to look at each other. Oscar was aware of the figures he could just see in the house standing still. ‘Give me a moment,’ Mr Bovey said.

  Oscar nodded sympathetically. ‘Sure.’ He moved away, talking to his team in a low voice. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘He doesn’t know anything,’ Beckia said. ‘If he did he’d be out there helping her. He’s broken up by her cutting loose; he loves her, or thought he did.’

  ‘I’m inclined to agree,’ Tomansio said.

  ‘There could be a dozen of hims out there right now helping to shelter her,’ Oscar pointed out.

  Tomansio pushed out a reluctant sigh. ‘I find that hard to credit.’

  ‘Can you actually do a memory read on a multiple?’ Beckia asked.

  ‘You’d probably have to gather all of them up,’ Tomansio said. ‘And you wouldn’t know if you’d got them all until it was too late. Multiples are always cagey about their exact number of bodies, it’s an instinctive safety redundancy thing. Interesting psychological evolution. In any case, our timescale doesn’t allow us that level of luxury. If he’s going to be useful it’ll have to be voluntary, and right now.’

  Oscar’s u-shadow told him Cheriton was calling on an ultra-secure channel. Liatris joined the call.

  ‘Brace yourself for the bad news,’ the gaiafield expert said. ‘Living Dream has found her.’

  ‘Shit,’ Tomansio grunted, throwing Mr Bovey a guilty glance. ‘Where?’

  ‘Now this is where it gets real interesting. After the confluence nests caught her at Bodant, Living Dream has been refining the emotional resonance routines based on her exact thought patterns. The upgrade has given them the kind of sensitivity that can detect the slightest emission from her mind. And quarter of an hour ago she went and shared Inigo’s Eighth Dream.’

  ‘What’s she doing delving into the Waterwalker’s life now?’ an irritated Beckia asked. ‘For Ozzie’s sake, didn’t Bodant teach her anything?’

  ‘Wrong question,’ Cheriton said.

  ‘Where is she?’ Tomansio asked.

  ‘Chobamba.’

  A puzzled Oscar had to call up the Commonwealth planetary list from a storage lacuna. ‘That’s over six hundred lightyears away,’ he protested. ‘That can’t be right. She was here sixteen hours ago.’

  ‘Your ultradrive could make that,’ Tomansio said doubtfully. ‘Just.’

  ‘She’s found a way to screw the gaiafield,’ Beckia said. ‘She must have. She is the Second Dreamer after all. That has to give her some kind of ability the rest of us don’t have.’

  ‘Cheriton, are you sure?’ Tomansio asked.

  ‘We’re confined to the building,’ Cheriton said. ‘And I’m using a dead drop relay to access the unisphere. Dream Master Yenrol’s been going apeshit since the nests found her. All the Dream Masters know about it; they’re working hard to keep it secret. I don’t think this is a scam.’

  ‘How the hell did she get to Chobamba?’ Oscar wanted to know.

  ‘Do they know where on Chobamba?’ Tomansio asked.

  ‘Not yet,’ Cheriton said. ‘But it’s only going to be a matter of time. It’s an External World, Living Dream has several Dream Masters there.’

  ‘Can you warn her again?’ Oscar said.

  ‘I’m not sure. There’s talk about shutting down Chobamba’s confluence nests, isolating her from the gaiafield.’

  ‘Stupid,’ Tomansio said. ‘That’ll alert her to what’s going on.’

  ‘Liatris, can you shotgun Chobamba, and warn her?’ Oscar asked.

  ‘She hasn’t accessed the unisphere for days,’ Liatris said. ‘There’s no guarantee she’ll get the message.’

  ‘If people know, it’ll be the talk of the planet,’ Beckia said. ‘She’s bound to find out. We just have to make it public knowledge.’

  Tomansio gave Oscar a little nudge. Mr Bovey had obviously come to his decision. The dark-skinned body was walking over to them, leaving the other two hims to stare pensively.

  ‘Yes?’ Oscar said.

  ‘I checked with ANA,’ Mr Bovey said. He sounded faintly surprised. ‘You are who you say.’

  ‘And?’

  His face expressed a great deal of apprehension, mirrored by all of hims. ‘She doesn’t know . . . she can’t know how to cope with this. Nobody can. I have to place my trust in ANA. How ironic is that? Being multiple is supposed to alleviate the requirement of a technological solution to immortality.’

  ‘Can you contact her?’

  ‘No.’ Mr Bovey shook his head as if hes were mourning. ‘I’ve tried every minute since I found out. Her u-shadow is offline. She won’t answer my calls.’

  ‘I know this is painful, but is there someone else she’s likely to turn to?’

  ‘Her cousin Cressida, they were close. In fact she was about Araminta’s only true friend in Colwyn City before we met.’

  ‘We know. She’s dropped out of sight as well, but thank you. If Araminta does get into contact, please let me know.’ Oscar’s u-shadow sent Mr Bovey a unisphere access code. ‘Immediately, please. Time is critical now.’

  ‘That’s it?’ a bewildered Mr Bovey asked as Oscar turned back to the capsule.

  ‘Don’t worry, we’ll keep looking. And you might want to consider my friend’s advice about dispersing yourselves about town. I’m being completely honest with you, we’re just the first to come visiting you and we really are the good guys.’

  The capsule’s door closed on Mr Bovey’s frown. They lifted cleanly, and turned to fly above the thick river, heading back to the docks.

  ‘So now what?’ Tomansio asked. It sounded rhetorical to Oscar.

  ‘I’m going to check in,’ he told the Knights Guardian.

  ‘Yes?’ Paula asked as soon as the secure link was opened.

  ‘We’ve found her,’ Oscar said.

  ‘Excellent.’

  ‘Not really, she’s on Chobamba.’

  There was only a small hesitation. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Living Dream has cranked up their confluence nests, something to do with getting a decent emotional pattern to recognize. According to them she’s on Chobamba and having a good time sharing Inigo’s dreams.’

  ‘That doesn’t make a lot of sense.’

  ‘How quickly can you get there?’

  ‘Not much faster than you.’

  ‘I hope you’ve got sources in Living Dream. If they are going to try and snatch her, she’ll need to be warned.’

  ‘I’d have to find her first.’

  ‘Surely ANA can track her down? Somebody must have noticed her starship arriving.’

  ‘It would have to be an ultradrive, that means a Faction helped her. But which one?’

  ‘I was thinking of a shotgun warning.’

  ‘Yes. That might work. I’ll confer.’

  ‘If we know, then it’s only
a matter of time before the Cat knows.’

  ‘Yes. If she leaves for Chobamba you’ll have to follow her.’

  ‘Oh crap, this isn’t what I signed up for.’

  ‘Can you trust your team?’

  ‘I think they’ll stick with me, yes.’

  ‘Excellent, I’ll call after I’ve spoken with ANA. Incidentally, the Accelerators are going to be put on what amounts to a trial within an hour. They were behind the Ocisen Empire invasion.’

  ‘Shit. Really?’

  ‘Yes. If they’re found guilty, we should see the pressure easing off considerably.’ Paula ended the call.

  Tomansio and Beckia were looking at Oscar expectantly.

  ‘So what does your boss think?’ Tomansio asked.

  ‘Same as us: it’s all very odd. Let’s get back to the ship in case we need to get to Chobamba in a hurry.’

  *

  The slim ultradrive ship dropped out of hyperspace half a lightyear out from Ellezelin. In its cabin, Valean reviewed the data provided by the starship’s sensors. She was shown the exotic matter intrusions representing the huge wormholes which linked Ellezelin to the economically subjugated planets which made up the Free Trade Zone. The scale of the wormholes was impressive, harking back to the first era Commonwealth when the Big15 planets were the centre of an economic web binding together hundreds of worlds. Reviewing the size and power rating she was satisfied that any of them could be used for the task Atha had assigned her. Though the one connecting to Agra would be preferable. It was the most modern and reached the furthest.

  Like most long-term Highers, Valean had used biononics to remould her body to a state she considered more functional and useful. Currently devoid of hair, she appeared skeletal, with skin that had a strange grey iridescence, and drawn so tight over her bones that each rib protruded. Muscles were hard lines, also standing proud, and moving like malmetal. Her face continued the emaciated theme, with deep-sunken cheeks and a slim nose that had nostrils resembling gills. Wide-set eyes had orbs that glowed a faint uniform pink. Her only cosmetic adornment was a circle of gold above her thorax, composed from a tightly packed cluster of threads that seemed to be moving slowly.

  After ten minutes standing in her featureless cabin the starship detected a minute distortion within the quantum fields. Another ultradrive ship dropped out of hyperspace next to hers. The newcomer was slightly larger, with streamline bulges in its ovoid fuselage. They manoeuvred together, and linked airlocks.

  Marius glided into Valean’s cabin, his toga suit emitting wisps of darkness that trailed along in his wake.

  ‘A physical meeting is somewhat theatrical isn’t it?’ he enquired. ‘Our TD linkages remain secure.’

  ‘They do,’ Valean assured him, and smiled, revealing rows of tiny burnished brass teeth. ‘However, it was felt that this would add more emphasis to the message.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘Your Chatfield fuck-up has produced an unwelcome fallout, the largest part of which I’m on my way to solve.’

  ‘Paula Myo was on to him. Deploying him to Ellezelin was a simple precaution.’

  ‘And do you have an excuse for the Cat?’

  Marius remained impassive. ‘Her behaviour can be unpredictable. That is her nature. As I recall, it was not my decision alone to salvage her from Kingsville.’

  ‘Irrelevant. Your actions have produced unwelcome consequences at this critical time. As of now you are downgraded.’

  ‘I object.’ Even as he said it he tried to call Ilanthe, only to find the call rejected. Still, his cool disposition remained unbroken.

  The brass teeth appeared again, their sharp tips perfectly aligned. ‘Irrelevant. Your new assignment is the Delivery Man.’

  ‘That joke!’ Marius exclaimed.

  ‘We approach deployment, the culmination of everything we are. Nothing can be allowed to interfere with that. He was seen on Fanallisto; find out why. What is he doing there, what are the Conservatives up to? We also need to know how the remaining Faction agents will react afterwards.’

  ‘Victory is only hours away and you send me to some shitball outside civilization to track down an incompetent part-time animal. I do not deserve this.’

  ‘Failure to comply will result in bodyloss. After the Swarm goes active there will be no re-life available. I suggest you make your selection.’

  The dark hazy tendrils exuded by Marius’s toga suit swirled in agitation. He glared at Valean, sending Olympian contempt flooding out through his gaiamotes. ‘The true reason for physical contact, I see. Very well. I will comply. I am nothing if not devoted to our success.’

  ‘Of course you are.’

  Marius rotated a hundred and eighty degrees and slipped out back to his own ship.

  ‘Thank you,’ Valean mouthed at the airlock door after it closed. She ordered the smartcore to take her to Ellezelin.

  *

  Cleric Conservator Ethan had returned to the mayor’s oval sanctum in the Orchard Palace. The Cabinet Security Service had downgraded the threat level, partially based on Ethan’s own conversation with ANA:Governance. The surviving ship was simply maintaining a stable orbit around Ellezelin, and gathering up fragments of its vanquished foe.

  His staff had served him a late supper of grilled gurelol fillets with minted potatoes and baby carrots, washed down with a sparkling white similar in taste to the one from Love’s Haven which Edeard had come to enjoy during his first life with Kristabel. It was dark outside, with few stars showing through the oval sanctum’s windows. Ethan ate by himself at a small table away from the big muroak desk, overhead a series of petal-like lines glowing a pale orange in the high ceiling. Shadows washed out from the walls, making the room seem even larger.

  He was just pouring himself a second glass of wine when his u-shadow reported that Phelim was making a priority call.

  Please Lady, no more bad news tonight, Ethan thought wearily as he accepted the secure link. He was still awaiting the call from Marius’s ‘friend’.

  ‘We’ve found her,’ Phelim declared.

  Ethan paused, the wine not quite out of the bottle’s neck. ‘Who?’

  ‘The Second Dreamer. The advanced pattern recognition routines located her for us. She’s sharing Inigo’s Eleventh dream would you believe.’

  ‘Great Lady! Do you have her safe?’

  ‘No, that’s where the problem begins. She’s not on Viotia any more.’

  ‘Damn. Where is she then?’

  ‘Chobamba.’

  ‘Where?’ Even as he asked, Ethan’s u-shadow was pulling data out of the central registry. ‘That can’t be right,’ he said, putting the bottle down.

  ‘My response exactly. But the routines are good. The Dream Masters running them swear that’s an accurate reading. She started sharing the Eighth dream twenty minutes ago.’

  ‘The Eighth?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Ethan knew it couldn’t be particularly relevant, but his curiosity about the enigmatic Araminta was overwhelming. ‘So why did she skip over to the Eleventh?’

  ‘She didn’t,’ Phelim said. ‘She’s on a linear run through.’

  ‘Four dreams in twenty minutes?’ Ethan said it out loud, his surprise echoing round the empty sanctum. At best, he would take a couple of hours to dwell in one of Inigo’s dreams, and that was because he was so familiar with them. Some of the more devout Living Dream followers had been known to spend days in a dream, supporting themselves with intravenous feeds.

  ‘Absolutely. That’s what convinced me this isn’t a false reading. Her mind is . . . different.’

  ‘How in the Lady’s name did she get to Chobamba? It was definitely her at Bodant Park. You confirmed that.’

  ‘Someone must have flown her there. And it must have been an ultradrive starship, there’s nothing else fast enough.’

  ‘So one of the Factions got her and lifted her offplanet. Lady damn them.’

  ‘That’s the obvious conclusion. But it’s a strange way
to hide. If she wanted to be completely secure she should have gone to a Central World where we have no control over the confluence nests. The Faction must know that. Perhaps this is a message. Though its nature eludes me.’

  Ethan sat back in the chair, staring at the slim curving bands of light in the ceiling. The flowers they sketched had never been seen on Querencia or anywhere in the Greater Commonwealth. That’s if they even were flowers. Edeard had always hoped to find them; but not even the grand voyages of his Twenty-eighth and Forty-second dreams had taken him to a land where they grew. And now Araminta was providing an even greater mystery.

  ‘We have to have her,’ Ethan declared. ‘It’s that simple. Whatever the cost. Without her, the only contact humanity has to the Void is—’ He shuddered. ‘Gore Burnelli. And I think we know where he stands.’

  ‘Justine can do nothing,’ Phelim countered smoothly.

  ‘Don’t be too sure. They are a remarkable family. I’ve been accessing what I can of their history. And I suspect there’s a great deal that was never put into any records. Gore was one of ANA’s founders you know. There are rumours of a special dispensation.’

  ‘So what do you want to do?’

  ‘How long before you have her exact location?’

  ‘She’s in a town called Miledeep Water, which presents us with a slight problem. It is somewhat isolated. We don’t actually have anyone reliable there. The Dream Masters are going to have to visit its confluence nest to get an exact coordinate for her. It’ll be an hour before we know exactly where she is, probably longer. I’m just hoping she shares Inigo’s dreams for long enough.’

  ‘Do we also have the kind of people on Chobamba who are capable of bringing her to us?’

  ‘There are some very loyal followers in the movement there, people I can trust. I’d like to suggest we hire some weapons-enriched troops to back them up. It’s pretty clear she’s got Faction representatives guarding her.’

  ‘As you wish. And Phelim, I don’t want another Bodant Park.’

  ‘Nobody does. But that is probably out of our hands.’

  ‘Yes. I expect you’re right. Please keep me informed of progress.’

  The link to Phelim closed, and Ethan looked at the rapidly cooling food on his plate. He pushed it away.