The Evolutionary Void (92 page)

“This is the fate our planet has brought us to,” Tyzak said. “I did not
expect this, but what is, is. And perhaps the planet knew all along what it
would be called upon to do. I will depart believing this one thing.”

Anomine began teleporting in, appearing all across the plaza. Hundreds,
then thousands. Youngsters were agitated, squeaking loudly. It was happening in
every city on the planet.

“Gore?” the Delivery Man asked. “What’s happening?”

Gore smiled at Tyzak even as he was being jostled by Anomine who were
crowding in. “Go home,” he told the Delivery Man. “You deserve it.”

“Gore—?”

Gore shut down the TD link. He folded all his secondary routines back
into his mind. There was only one consciousness now, making him as close to
human as he’d been for many a century. His dream showed him Justine with an
expression of alarm spreading over her beautiful face. She knew.

Tyzak called for the elevation mechanism.

“I feel you,” the elevation mechanism said. “You are Tyzak.”

“I am.”

“Do you wish to attain transcendence from your physical existence?”

“Yes.”

“Dad?” Justine asked.

Gore’s thoughts had calmed. He brought his arms out and glided gently
across the square to the waiting Firstlife. “This is evolution,” he told the
giant alien. “The omega you have sought for so long.”

“No, Dad, you can’t. You’re not Anomine.” Justine started to run.
Edeard’s third hand caught her.

“Today I am,” Gore said benignly.

“No!” she sobbed. “Dad, please.”

Far outside the Void’s boundary the elevation mechanisms on the Anomine
homeworld absorbed the power thundering out of the escalating nova. They
adapted it and offered it up to the remainder of their species and one other
who waited with them.

Gore felt his mind began to change, to rise. His perspective of the
universe grew elegant.

“This is how it is done,” he told the Firstlife as they grew apart,
gathering up everything the elevation mechanism was performing, the method and
the outcome he now rushed toward. The union was so tenuous now, infused with
the poignancy of Justine’s grief as she stretched herself between the two.
“This is what you can become. This is destiny. Leave your past behind and
reclaim the dream you started with. Like so …” He gifted the whole experience
of his elevation to the Firstlife, who in turn shared it with the Heart. And
after a while he was gone.

Edeard stood at the head of the group, facing up to the Firstlife. “You
must choose,” he said to the daunting alien, aware of the Heart focusing on
him. And Ilanthe.

“We do,” the Firstlife replied. “We choose evolution. It is why we
created this place; it is what we aspired to so long ago. Anything else would
betray all we were, all we aspired to. It could never be any other way.”

“Thank you.”

“It is the wrong choice,” Ilanthe declared.

“You should go with the Heart,” Inigo told her in disgust. “There is no
place for you in this universe. You wanted to be a god; this is your chance. If
it will take you.”

“You many come with us,” the Firstlife told the inversion core. “We offer
to take all of you.”

“Naaah,” Oscar told it. “Not me. I’m not quite ready for that yet.”

Inigo gave the Firstlife a thoughtful look.

“No,” Corrie-Lyn entreated. She took his hands and pressed herself
against him. “Don’t. I can’t become that, nor can I lose you again.”

“There’s going to be Honious to pay when we get home.”

“I’ll face it with you.”

“All right.” He reached out a hand to Edeard. “And you?”

“I have to see the worlds you gave me a glimpse of. And …” Edeard grinned
sheepishly. “And there are many things I would like to do.”

“Anyone else?” Inigo inquired.

“Justine?” Corrie-Lyn said uncertainly.

Justine rubbed the moisture from her eyes. “No. It’s over. Let’s go
home.”

The Wall stars now shone with a brilliance equal to the rest of the
galaxy, a blue-white collar shackling the Gulf. Inside, the containment shell
was almost complete. The bands of dark force produced by the Raiel defenses had
merged together. Only a few gaps remained, and they were reducing fast.

Within the dark shell, automated Raiel monitors continued their
observation of the Void boundary as they had done for the last million years.
It had remained quiescent since the Pilgrimage fleet had passed through.

“It begins,” Qatux whispered.

Paula tried to get a grip on her dazed thoughts. Gore’s dream had left
her reeling, delighted and awestruck. For an instant she wanted to be there,
standing in Sampalok with the Firstlife, telling the Heart she would join it.
Thank you
, she told the aching absence in the gaiafield
where the Third Dreamer once had been.
Despite everything,
you deserve to be the first of our species to achieve transcendence. I just
hope it’s not too lonely out there
.

She drew a deep breath and focused on the display that dominated Qatux’s
private chamber. The surface of the Void boundary was changing. A thin ridge
rose out of the equator, extending all the way out to the glowing loop. As
before, the dying mass of broken stars fell into the event horizon.

“This time it will be different,” Paula promised. “This time it will
absorb the energy to power evolution.”

“I feel you are right,” Qatux said.

The entirety of the loop was taken, absorbed below the boundary. The
ridge began to retreat. Then the Void itself was shrinking. Gravity, the
boundary’s primary enforcer, lessened. The impenetrable cloak that had defeated
nature for so long fell away, and the Void lay naked at the core of the galaxy.

“Oh, my,” Paula said in wonder.

The Void reached transcendence.

After it was gone, after normal spacetime reclaimed all it had lost, the
vast warships of the warrior Raiel flew in to examine the darkness their great
enemy had left behind. Virtually no matter existed in the Gulf now, no
radiation, no light. No nebulae.

Right at the center they found a single star shining bright, with a lone
H-congruous planet in orbit. And one of their own.

T
HE
R
AIEL WARSHIP
slipped
out into spacetime above Icalanise, dwarfing the
High Angel
five hundred kilometers away. Qatux and Paula teleported over, materializing in
a circular compartment over a hundred meters wide. Like the Raiel quarters on
the
High Angel
, the ceiling was hidden from sight,
giving the impression the compartment extended upward forever.

Paula regarded the waiting warrior Raiel with interest. She’d assumed
they’d be bigger than Qatux. Instead they were only two-thirds his size, but
where his hide was leathery, theirs was made up of hard neutral blue-gray
segments. Small lights twinkled under the surface, making her think it was
artificial armor. Or perhaps by now it was sequenced in like macrocellular
clusters in humans.

Neskia stood between them. Her neck waved fractionally from side to side
like a snake rising vertically, its casing of gold rings sliding over one
another without revealing any human flesh. The metallic-gray surface shimmer of
her skin was subdued. Big round eyes blinked once as Paula appeared. That might
have reflected puzzlement; Paula wasn’t sure. She had certainly been startled
by the news that the Accelerator agent had surrendered herself to the warrior
Raiel without any fuss.

“You were complicit in the establishment of the Sol barrier,” Paula said.

Neskia said nothing.

“I would like the deactivation code now, please.”

“And then what?”

“You will face an inquiry into your actions.”

“By ANA itself. So there’s really not much of an incentive to hand over
the code, is there?”

“A memory read is never pleasant.”

“A mild discomfort. But you would never be able to extract the code. I
have several self-destruct routines embedded in my biononics.”

“So you are in an invincible position. Congratulations. Curious, then,
that you allowed yourself to be intercepted. Your ship has a superb stealth
capability, yet you chose not to use it. Why?”

Neskia’s neck became rigidly straight. “I have nowhere to go.”

“She didn’t take you with her.”

“Obviously.”

“But then, ascension to postphysical status through Fusion was never her
aim.”

“I am aware of that now.”

“What deal are you looking for?”

“Total immunity. The right to settle on whatever world I select. And I
retain ownership of
the ship
.”

“No to
the ship
. You are forbidden from taking
part in any subversive activity ever again. You will permit removal of all
combat-enabled biononics. You will not reinstate them or any further weapons
enrichments. You will report any contact by criminal or proscribed
organizations to my office immediately.”

“Free political association is the fundamental right of the Greater
Commonwealth.”

“Without ANA, the Commonwealth as we know it cannot exist. I fully intend
to protect it from extreme ideologues.”

“Will it ban the Accelerators?”

“I suspect those members involved with illegal activities will be
suspended. The rest will be free to pursue and continue lobbying for what they
believe in. As is their right.”

“Very well. I agree.” Neskia’s u-shadow sent the code to Paula, along
with instructions for applying it to a specific coordinate outside the Sol
system.

“Thank you,” Paula said. “So you’re pissed at her, then?”

“To put it mildly. I risked everything, devoted my life to the cause, and
now I find it never actually existed.”

“What will you do?”

“I will found the real Accelerator faction. I still believe in human
evolutionary destiny.”

“Of course you do.”

The
Elvin’s Payback
sank down out of the low
gray clouds that were drizzling steadily across the rumpled verdant
countryside. Oscar directed it to land on the grass next to the spinney of
gangling rancata trees. He floated down out of the airlock and looked around
contentedly. Seeing the raised circular house just as it always was kindled an
unexpected bout of homesickness. While he’d been away, he’d thought of it and
Jesaral and Dushiku and Anja less and less, so much so that he’d started to believe
he didn’t care about any of them anymore. Now he was here, and he didn’t want
to leave again.

Wild emotions of surprise and trepidation burst into the gaiafield. Oscar
grinned wryly as Jesaral charged down the spiral stairs in the house’s central
pillar and ran across the lawn.

“You’re back,” Jesaral yelled. He flung his arms around Oscar and began
kissing him with youthful eagerness; rampantly erotic thoughts came percolating
out through his gaiamotes. “Oh, Ozzie, I missed you.”

“Good to be home,” Oscar admitted.

Dushiku and Anja hurried up.

“I couldn’t believe it when you showed up in Gore’s dream,” Dushiku
murmured as he hugged Oscar tight. “You were in the Void! That was you in
Makkathran right at the end.”

“Yeah, that was me,” he admitted. It actually felt good to boast about it
for once.

Anja finally got her moment with him. “So this is what you really are?
Some kind of galactic superagent?”

“Some of the time,” he admitted. “Not very often, thankfully.”

The other starship dropped through the clouds and came in to land next to
the
Elvin’s Payback
.

“Who’s this?” Dushiku asked in a resigned tone.

“And why does a starship need wings?” Jesaral asked.

“They’re not wings, they’re heat dissipaters, and this is my new
partner.”

Anja recoiled slightly. Dushiku merely gave a disapproving glance, and
Jesaral was already powering up his outrage.

“Business partner,” Oscar assured them hurriedly.

The
Mellanie’s Redemption
landed smoothly The
airlock opened, and a set of aluminum stairs slid out.

Jesaral gave Dushiku a meaningful glance that ended as a pout. Oscar put
his arms around both of them, enjoying the flashes of jealousy.

The aluminum steps bowed as Troblum came down, raindrops trickling
quickly down the worn fabric of his old toga suit. He gave Oscar’s startled
life partners a brisk nod and quickly looked away.

“What sort of business?” Anja asked curiously.

“Exploration,” Oscar said contentedly. “The Commonwealth has sent out a
lot of colony ships over the centuries. We thought it was about time we found
out what happened to some of them. And who knows what else is on the other side
of the galaxy? Wilson never did have a proper look.”

Anja raised her eyes skyward and produced a sigh of disapproval in that
way only she could. However, she stepped forward and held her hand out to
Troblum. “Good to meet you.”

“Uh, thank you.” He gave her hand a frightened look. By then it didn’t
matter; Anja was looking up at the second figure to appear at the top of the
stairs. She was so surprised, she forgot to prevent the emotion from revealing
itself through her gaiamotes.

“This is my fiancé,” Troblum announced.

“Pleased to meet you,” Catriona Saleeb said. She smiled nervously as she
came down the stairs and fumbled for Troblum’s hand.

Oscar knew he was leaking out all the wrong thoughts, but he just
couldn’t help it. He’d been the first to support Troblum when Catriona was made
real. Troblum had seen that one last slender chance in the time after the Heart
had decided to follow Gore and before the moment when it elevated itself. He
hadn’t analyzed it or paused for doubt; he’d simply gone for it, using the
Void’s creation layer to turn his solido into flesh and blood, an act that was
perhaps the most human thing Troblum had done in his life.

Oscar was also pretty sure that it wouldn’t last, that Catriona would
soon outgrow her initial thoughts. But then, ephemerality was the summation of
most human activities. The trick was to enjoy the time when things were going
right.

The
Silverbird
alighted gently outside the
Tulip Mansion, its landing legs barely making dents in the gravel drive in
front of the grand entrance portico. Justine floated down out of the airlock,
taking a wonderfully reassuring breath of Earth’s old air once again. There had
been moments when she thought that might not happen ever again. Kazimir whooped
joyfully as he followed her down to the ground. Manipulated gravity was just
one of the delights he’d discovered in the short time since she’d summoned him
back out of the Void’s creation layer.

He stood perfectly still, allowing his mouth to open wide as he stared up
at the preposterously extravagant building. “This is your
home
?”

“Yes, this is where I was born and lived ever since.” That was almost the
truth. She didn’t want to spoil things. It was going to take this naive Kazimir
a while to adjust to everything the Greater Commonwealth offered.
And who better to act as his guide and tutor?

“Would you like to look around?”

“Oh, yes!” His arms flapped around for emphasis. “Who else lives here?”

“Ah, no one at the moment. It’s become a bit of a museum, I’m afraid.
We’ll find you a bedroom, a suite, actually. There are some excellent ones in
the west wing.”

He caught hold of her hand and gave her
that
beseeching look with his lovely big adoring eyes. “Will you be nearby,
Justine?”

“Um.” She was blushing again.
Come on, girl, get a
grip
. “I will stay for a while to make sure you’re all right. I’m going
to be quite busy. There’s a lot to sort out right now.”

He grinned. “You have saved the galaxy. People will allow you time for
yourself now. I am sure of it.”

“Probably.” The entrance doors were huge jet black slabs of glossy
stonewood inlaid with a gold-leaf vine pattern. She paused as they swung open.
I never noticed before; that’s so similar to the gates of the Sampalok
mansion
. Oscar had sworn his first voyage of exploration would be an
attempt to find the previous occupiers of Makkathran. She still couldn’t quite
get her head around that partnership.
But then, in the
Void, anything is possible
. Kazimir was witness to that. And Catriona.

Kazimir peered in curiously as the lights came on along the length of the
cavernous hall. “How old is this palace?”

“Over a thousand years,” she said with pride.

“Dreaming heavens,” he murmured as they walked inside.

“I used to rollerblade in here,” she said fondly. “That’s when I was your
age or maybe a little younger. Dad would scream at me and—” She stopped dead. A
shiver ran up her body, strong enough to cause her to clutch at the door frame
for support. Shock that only a genuine flesh-and-blood body could know was
threatening to reduce her to tears.

Gore was standing in the doorway to the white room. As always, his solido
was the twenty-fourth-century version of himself, gold skin body wearing a
black shirt and trousers.

“Dad?” she gasped. In her nice rational tidy mind she’d known all along
that he would be waiting here for her, that ANA would have reanimated his
personality as soon as it confirmed his bodyloss on the Anomine homeworld. But
back in Makkathran his transcendence had been so real, so vivid. Her meat body
and brain knew her father’s mind and body had gone on to something better, that
Daddy had died, that everything afterward was just the result of clever
technology.