Peter Hamilton - The Evolutionary Void

“To finally achieve what I’ve so often wrongly been accused of doing: influencing the outcome of human affairs. We must have more options ranged against Living Dream and Ilanthe. And the Cat, of course. You may yet be able to play a true part, Troblum. Do you want that?”

He looked across the cabin at Catriona, who was bestowing him with that worshipful look again. He put his head in his hands. She’s not real. Nothing I have is real . With biononics amplifying his strength, he suddenly thumped his fist down on top of the micromanipulator unit. It made a dull thudding sound, and some of the tiny components jittered around inside. His fist rose again. This time his biononics added a weapons pattern to the impact. The dome shattered, and the delicate little mechanisms inside were crushed beyond salvation. Electronic components scattered across the decking, ruined by both the violence and the air that contaminated their flimsy molecular structure.

“Show me,” he told the SI. “And who is Bovey?”

“Come alone.” Araminta had been insistent about that.

Oscar appreciated the sentiment, but … Some things were just too big to leave to goodwill and pleasantries. He took a table in the middle of Andrew Rice’s restaurant at the bottom of Daryad Avenue, an ancient (by Viotia standards) wood-and-carbon-paneled building barely a mile from the docks where Elvin’s Payback still sat in the warehouse, overlooked and unnoticed by the managers trying to restore order to the docks. There weren’t many people; the windows had just been replaced after having been smashed. Oscar was sure it should have had more tables, too; the remaining ones were certainly spaced unusually far apart. Perhaps some had been looted. Who loots a table?

A human waiter came over to take his order, and he asked for a salad. He rather liked the look of the enormous steak and kidney pies a couple of blokes were eating at a corner table, but he’d only just finished his tea and twister. It had taken less than ten minutes to walk to Rice’s from the Elvin’s Payback , which was cause for mild suspicion. Did Araminta know their location? It was hard to see how.

Beckia was out in Daryad Avenue, keeping watch as she browsed through a recently reopened store opposite the restaurant. Cheriton had taken up position in a lane at the back, also scanning around for any sign of other agents or some kind of trap or just something out of the ordinary. Oscar still couldn’t figure out what was going on. The gaiafield quite clearly revealed Araminta standing in the observation deck of the Lady’s Light , where she had remained for the last couple of days. Ethan and Taranse walked across the empty chamber to her and bowed in unison.

“Embarkation is complete, Dreamer,” Taranse said. He looked exhausted but supremely content, a man who’d achieved his goal in life.

“Thank you,” she said. “You have done a remarkable job.” She turned to Ethan. “Are we ready to launch?”

“Yes,” he said with open delight. “The ultradrives appear to be functional.”

“Very well. Please ask the captains to lift and set a course for the Void.”

“It will be done.”

“Is there any sign of Ilanthe?”

“No, Dreamer.”

“No matter. I’m sure she will make herself known before we reach the boundary.” She turned back to the tall strip of transparent fuselage in time to see the construction yard’s last layer of force fields deactivate. It was dawn outside. A bright yellow-gold radiance illuminated the colossal Pilgrimage ships, and she smiled at the sight of it. Then the decking trembled and the Lady’s Light slowly lifted out of its regrav suspension, rising into Ellezelin’s clear sky.

“Holy crap,” Oscar grunted. He truly had no idea what he was doing here now. In fact, he started to worry that Tomansio was right and Living Dream had broken into her mind so they could clear up any possible remaining problems. That was bollocks, he knew. Why wait until now?

His salad arrived. He gave it a dispirited look.

“Ah, life just got interesting again,” Beckia said. “Here we go.” Her link showed him a Mr. Bovey climbing out of a cab on Daryad Avenue just outside the restaurant. It was the middle-aged black-skinned one Oscar had talked to before.

“Yes! Your money is mine,” Cheriton declared. “Pay up.”

The team had been running a pool on who would actually show up at the restaurant. Oscar had put his money on the elusive cousin, Cressida.

“Anything suspicious?” Oscar asked the rest of the team. Liatris, who was flying coverage over Colwyn City in a modified capsule, said no, the area was clear of any covert activity. Back in Elvin’s Payback , Tomansio also reported a clean sweep.

The Mr. Bovey walked straight into the restaurant and sat down next to Oscar. He was wearing a conservative gray toga suit that barely shimmered, which made him look quite dignified.

Oscar’s biononics threw a small privacy cloak around the table. “Mr. Bovey,” he began in censure, which he was about to follow up with something along the lines of what’s she up to? when the man simply grinned and shook his head. “No,” he said emphatically. “That’s Mr. Bovey over there keeping an eye on you.”

Oscar twisted around. The two men eating steak and kidney pies waved solemnly. “I don’t get …”

“I’m Araminta. Araminta-two, I suppose. I borrowed one of my fiance’s bodies. This one, to be precise. I always liked this one.”

“Ungh?” Oscar grunted.

“I’m starting to go multiple. It’s an interesting lifestyle, don’t you think?” He gave Oscar a lopsided smile.

“Fuck me.”

“Quite. You said you could help?”

“Oh, shit, yes!” Oscar’s skin was actually tingling from astonishment. He couldn’t help it; he started laughing in delight. Maybe there is hope . “If you’d like to come with me …” Biononics and secondary thought routines had to regulate his neural responses, filtering down his adrenaline rush so he could concentrate properly on the mission. He had to stay focused.

Araminta-two gave him a modest shrug and stood up.

“Cover us,” Oscar told Beckia and Cheriton. “Liatris, get us out of here.”

“Way ahead of you,” Liatris said.

Oscar couldn’t remember being both elated and terrified to such an extent. If they were going to be intercepted, it would be now, after this version of Araminta was identified for what s/he was. As they walked to the door, he wanted to shove his integral force field up to full strength, activate all weapons enrichments. Keep cool. Keep calm. It’s a brilliant maneuver. No one could anticipate she’d do this .

Liatris brought the ingrav capsule flashing down directly onto the pavement outside the restaurant, earning several angry glances from pedestrians who had to dodge out of the way. The door opened, and Oscar virtually shoved Araminta-two inside. Then they were rising fast, already curving toward the docks.

Araminta-two nodded cheerfully at a thunderstruck Liatris, then looked around briefly. “You know, some people think ingrav shouldn’t be allowed in this city.”

“Right,” Oscar said.

“There’s a chance it screws up the deep geology. There could be earthquakes.”

“Uh huh.” This was so the opposite of anything Oscar was prepared for, it had shifted over to vaguely surreal.

Their capsule dipped down to hover in front of the Bootle amp; Leicester warehouse. The doors curtained apart, and they nudged forward. Oscar just knew that was going to draw attention from the dock staff. It didn’t matter anymore. They had Araminta, so nothing else mattered. Actually, one Araminta, not the whole person. Maybe that’s why she-he-whatever-is a bit … flaky .