He started to walk towards the gate out onto the road. She was out there somewhere; if he had to search the whole arcology himself, he would find her.
“What’s that?” someone asked.
People were stopping and looking up at the dome. The sun had only just risen over the eastern rim; it showed a low bank of grey cloud washing in from the north. It reached the geodesic crystal structure and flowed gently round it. Not an armada storm; in fact Andy had never seen a cloud move so slowly before. Then it became curiously hard to see out through the crystal hexagons. The reason took a very long time to register, he even checked the now-fervid news shows to be absolutely certain.
For the first time in nearly five and a half centuries, snow was falling on London.
There was no sign now that humans had ever visited or been involved with the red dwarf star named Tunja. Joshua had moved the settled Dorado asteroids to the New Washington system along with all their industrial stations; the two Edenist habitats were to be found orbiting Jupiter.
Nothing remained to tell the new inhabitants of the system’s infamous history.
Quantook-LOU had spent two days recovering from the effects of gravity he’d endured in Lalarin-MG. He remained immobile in his personal space, plugged into Anthi-CL’s dataweb, supervising the initial repair work.
Conflicts between the diskcity dominions had ended, from surprise rather than agreement to start with. But he had mediated a new peace with the other distributors as they all examined and shared the images which came from sensors mounted on both sides of Tojolt-HI.
The bounty they revealed was almost beyond belief. Mastrit-PJ’s entire population of diskcities now orbited the tiny red star, packed together in equatorial orbit. And beyond them was a supply of raw cold matter that defied logic; a vast ring of particles over two hundred million kilometres in diameter. The Mosdva were suddenly drowning in resources.
They could leave the old worn-out diskcities, building new dominions independent from each other. As far as the distributors could tell, every Tyrathca enclave had been emptied at the same time the diskcities were taken from Mastrit-PJ. The conflicts which had cursed the Mosdva since the dominions were established would be over for all time.
Quantook-LOU also had the data from the humans, telling him how to build their faster-than-light ship engines. Other distributors were already mediating for favourable alliances with Anthi-CL, wanting to share the technology. This was a new part of space, strangely empty without the nebula which had dominated half of their old orbit. Billions of stars lay open to them. It would be interesting to find the humans again, and other races of which Joshua Calvert had spoken.
The Ly-cilph’s perception field expanded slowly outward as its active functions returned out of their dormancy within its macro-data lattice.
At first it believed it had suffered memory loss. It was no longer in the jungle clearing where the human sacrifice was conducted, instead it appeared to be floating in clear space. The perception field could find nothing within range. No mass existed for a billion kilometres, not even a lone electron, which was extremely improbable. The energy waves washing through the field were of a strange composition, one it had no prior record of. An analysis of this continuum’s local quantum structure revealed it was no longer in the universe of its birth.
A dense mass point emerged beside it, emitting a variety of electromagnetic wave functions. It was impervious to the Ly-cilph’s probing.
“We understand you are on a voyage to comprehend the full nature of reality,” Tinkerbell said. “So are we. Would you like to join us?”
Oenone’s crew appeared in Harkey’s Bar amid cheers and boisterous hugs, and the party looked like reaching truly epic proportions. Genevieve loved every minute of it. It was noisy, hot, and colourful; nothing like parties at Cricklade. People were nice to her, she’d managed to drink a couple of glasses of wine without Louise noticing, and cousin Gideon even partnered her on the dance floor. But nothing was funnier than watching the antics of Joshua’s brother, who spent the whole time trying to avoid a very beautiful and extremely determined blonde lady.
Louise stuck by Joshua’s side the whole time; smiling more from fright than delight as everyone crowded round him, wanting to hear the tale of the naked singularity from his own mouth. Eventually he led her through the door, swearing he’d be back in a second. They took a lift directly up to the lobby and walked out into the parkland.
“You looked unhappy in there,” he said.
“I didn’t realize you had so many friends. I never really thought about it. I only ever met you and Dahybi before.”
He led her down a path lined by orange wimwillows, towards a nearby lake.
“I never met half of them before today.”
“It’s so pretty here,” Louise sighed as they reached the shore of the lake. The water-plants had balloon-like flowers that hung an inch below the surface; green fish nibbled at the tuft of stamen coming from their crowns. “This must have been a wonderful place to grow up in.”
“It was. But don’t tell Ione, all I ever wanted to do was fly away.”
“She’s very beautiful.”
He held her closer. “Not as beautiful as you.”
“Don’t,” she said, troubled.
“I can kiss my fiancée if I want. Even Norfolk permits that.”
“I’m not your fiancée, Joshua. I just kept saying that because of the baby. I was ashamed. Which is so stupid. Having a baby is a wonderful thing, the best thing any two people can do. Fancy being prejudiced against it. I’ll always love my home, but so much of it is wrong.”
He dropped down on one knee, and held her hand. “Marry me.”
From the expression on her face she could have been in agony. “That’s very kind, Joshua, and if you’d asked that day you left Cricklade I’d even have eloped with you. But, really, you don’t know anything about me.
It wouldn’t work; you’re a starship captain and unutterably famous, I’m a landowner’s daughter. All we ever were was a beautiful dream I had once.”
“I know everything there is to know about you. Thanks to the singularity, I’ve lived every second of your life. And don’t you ever call yourself someone else’s daughter again. You’re Louise Kavanagh, nothing else. I had one exciting flight, which was the result of thousands of people backing me up behind the scenes. You walked right up to Quinn Dexter and tried to stop him. It is not possible to possess more courage than that, Louise. You were astonishing. Those drunken buffoons in Harkey’s Bar look up at me. I stand in awe at what you did.”
“You saw everything I did?” she enquired.
“Yes,” he said firmly. “Including last night.”
“Oh.”
He gently pulled at her hand, making her kneel beside him. “I don’t think I could marry a saint, Louise. And you already know I’ve never been one.”
“Do you really want to marry me?”
“Yes.”
“But we’d never be together.”
“Starship captains are a thing of the past now, just like landowner daughters. There’s so much we have to do in our lives.”
“You don’t mind living on Norfolk?”
“We’ll change it together, Louise. You and me.”
She kissed him, then smiled demurely. “Do we have to go back to the party?” she murmured.
“No.”
Her smile widened, and she stood up. Joshua stayed on one knee.
“I haven’t had my answer yet. And this classic routine is killing my leg muscle.”
“I was taught to always keep a man waiting,” she said imperiously. “But your answer is yes.”
“Anastasia, is that really you?”
“Hello, Dariat, of course it’s me. I waited for you. I knew you’d come eventually.”
“I very nearly didn’t. There was a spot of trouble back there.”
“Lady Chi-ri has always smiled upon you, Dariat. Right from the start.”
“Y
ou know, this isn’t what I expected to find on the other side of the beyond.”
“I know. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“Can we see it together?”
“I’d like that.”
It was the last time Joshua would use the ability, and strictly speaking it wasn’t necessary, but there was absolutely no way he was going to miss out on seeing the Kiint home system in person just for the sake of virtue and dignified restraint. He materialized on the white-sand beach not far from Tracy’s chalet. The coast was exquisite, of course. Then he looked up. Silvery planet crescents curved away through the deep-turquoise sky.
“Now I’ve seen it all,” he said quietly.
Five white spheres erupted in the air around him. The same size as providers, but with a very different function.
Joshua held his arms up. “I am unarmed. Take me to your leader.”
The spheres winked out of existence. Joshua laughed.
Jay and Haile were racing over the sands to him.
“Joshua!”
He managed to catch her as she jumped at him. Swung her round full circle.
“Joshua!” she shrieked happily. “What are you doing here?”
“Come to take you home.”
“Really?” Her eyes were rounded with optimism. “Back to the Confederation?”
“Yep, go pack your bags.”
>
“Hi, Haile. You’ve grown.”
>
He put Jay down. “Well what do you know, there’s hope for all of us.”
“It’s been fab here,” Jay said. “The providers give you everything you want, and that includes ice cream. You don’t need money.”
Two adult Kiint appeared on the black teleport circle. Tracy was coming down the steps from her chalet. Joshua eyed them all cautiously.
“And I’ve been to loads of planets in the arc. And met hundreds and hundreds of people.” Jay paused, sucking on her lower lip. “Is Mummy all right?”
“Uh, yeah. This is the hard part, Jay. She’s going to need a day or two before she can see you. Okay? So I’m going to take you back to Tranquillity, and then you can go back to Lalonde with all the others in a little while.”
She pouted. “And Father Horst?”
“And Father Horst,” he promised.
“Right. And you’re sure Mummy’s fine?”
“She is. She’s really looking forward to seeing you, too.”
Tracy stood behind Jay, and patted her on the head. “I’ve told you to wear a hat when you play out here.”
“Yes, Tracy.” The little girl pulled a face at Joshua.
He grinned back. “You go and pack. I just need to talk to Tracy for a moment. Then we’ll be off.”
“Come on, Haile.” Jay grabbed one of the Kiint’s tractamorphic limbs, and they hurried off towards the chalet.
Joshua’s grin faded when the youngsters were out of hearing. “Thanks for nothing,” he said to Tracy.
“We did what we could,” she said fiercely. “Don’t you judge us, Joshua Calvert.”
“The Corpus judges us, decides our fate.”
“None of us asked to be born. We’re more sinned against than sinners. And Richard Keaton saved your arse, as I recall.”
“So he did.”
“We would have made sure something survived. Humanity would have carried on.”
“But in whose image?”
“You’re proud of your current one, are you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.”
She rubbed a white hand over her forehead. “I keep running comparisons. What the human race is compared to so many others.”
“Well don’t, it’s not your concern any more. We can find our own way now.” He turned to the adult Kiint. >
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He sighed and looked up at the arc again. >
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> Joshua said. >
Jay appeared on the chalet veranda carrying a bulging shoulder bag. She shouted and waved, then charged down the steps.
“Is her mother all right?” Tracy asked urgently.
“She’s treatable,” Joshua said. “That’s all I can say. I’ve stopped intervening now. It’s just too damn tempting. Not that the singularity would permit much more.”
“It doesn’t need any more. Corpus analysed what you’ve done. You made some smart moves. The current economic structure won’t survive.”
“I provided the opportunity for change, plus one small active measure. What happens after … well, let’s just say, I have faith.”
Jed and Beth stayed with Marie in the hospital waiting room. Beth wasn’t exactly overjoyed about that, she would have loved to see Tranquillity’s park. But Gari, Navar, and Webster were settled in the paediatric wing which wasn’t far away. She didn’t know what was going to happen to any of them next, but then right now that applied to a lot of the human race.
There were worse places to be cast ashore.
The doctor who’d met the bus came out of the emergency treatment centre.
“Marie?”
“Yes?” She looked up at him, bright with hope.
“I’m terribly sorry, there was nothing we could do.”
Marie’s mouth parted silently, she covered her face with her hands and started sobbing.
“What happened to him?” Beth said.
“There was some kind of nanonic filament web in his brain,” the doctor said. “Its molecular structure had broken down. Disintegration caused a massive amount of damage. In fact, I really don’t understand how he could have survived at all. You said he’s been with you for weeks?”
“Yes.”
“Ah well, we’ll do a postmortem, of course. But I doubt we’ll learn much. I think it’s a symptom of the times.”
“Thanks.”
The doctor smiled briskly. “The counselor will be along in a moment. Marie will have the best help possible to overcome this. Don’t you worry.”
“Great.” She saw the way Jed was looking at Marie, as though he wanted to be crying with her, or for her, sparing her the burden.
“Jed, we’re done here,” Beth said.
“What do you mean?” he asked in puzzlement.
“It’s over. Are you coming?”
He looked from her to Marie. “But we can’t leave her.”
“Why, Jed? What is she to us?”
“She was Kiera, she was everything we dreamed of, Beth, a new start, somewhere decent.”
“This is Marie Skibbow, and she’ll hate Kiera for the rest of her life.”
“We can’t give up now. The three of us can start Dead-night again, for real this time. There were thousands of people just like us who wanted what she promised. They’ll come again.”
&n
bsp; “Right.” Beth turned and marched out of the waiting room, paying no heed to his braying calls behind her. She hurried for the lift, her heart lifting at the prospect of finally seeing the lush parkland with its sparkling circumfluous sea.
I’m young, I’m free, I’m in Tranquillity, and I’m definitely not going back to bloody Koblat.
It was a great beginning.
The Assembly Chamber was deathly silent as the vote was taken. The ambassadors on the floor were first to register.
From his seat at the Polity Council table, Samual Aleksandrovich watched the tally rise. There were several abstentions, of course, and the names were no surprise to him: Kulu, Oshanko, New Washington, Mazaliv, several of their close allies. No more than twenty, though, which made the First Admiral smile contentedly. In diplomatic terms that was as good as a censure motion in itself, a sharp warning to the larger powers.
The ambassadors of the Polity Council entered their vote. Samual Aleksandrovich was last, pressing the button in front of him, and seeing the last digit click over on the big board. Ridiculous anachronism, he thought, though certainly dramatic enough.
The Assembly speaker got to his feet and gave the President a nervous little bow. Olton Haaker stared straight ahead, not meeting anyone’s gaze.
“The motion that this house has no confidence in the President is carried by seven hundred and ninety-eight votes, with none against.”
Durringham had never recovered from the devastation wrought by Chas Paske. It was the docks and warehouse sector which had born the brunt of the water’s impact. Not that they’d stopped the onrush. Debris from their disintegrating frames had formed a black speckle crest on the wave as it surged on into the town’s main commercial district. The wooden buildings with their minimal foundations had crumpled instantly. Three dumpers had been knocked over and pushed along.
A kilometre inland, the resistance offered by energistically reinforced walls managed to protect the buildings, though the mud on which they lay was siphoned away, dragging them back towards the Juliffe as the waters retreated. When they’d drained away, Durringham was left with a broad semicircle of destruction eating right into the heart of the town, a swamp with a million filthy splinters sticking upwards. Bodies lay among them, caked in drying mud and slowly decomposing in the dreadful humidity. Despite this, Durringham continued to function as an urban centre all the time Lalonde was hidden away in a realm outside the universe. Like Norfolk’s, its essentially low tech nature allowed its inhabitants to carry on along virtually the same lines as before. Boats continued to sail up and down the Juliffe, crops were sown and harvested, timber cut and sawn.