Peter Hamilton - The Evolutionary Void

“Yeah,” Ozzie admitted. “But man, on the plus side, I can get us out of here safely. Qatux owes me. The High Angel will stop by and collect us on its way to Andromeda or wherever the hell it’s going.”

“No,” Aaron said. “You’re not abandoning hope after half an hour. And I don’t believe I even have to threaten anyone or anything to make that come about, now, do I?”

“No,” Inigo sighed.

“Our goal is to connect you somehow to the Void Heart,” Aaron said. “Now, I’m not the greatest self-thinker anymore, but you’re the smartest guys I know with the weirdest of blessings. You’ll come up with something.”

“Fair enough,” Inigo said. “What about your telepathy effect, Ozzie? Can we talk to the Void that way?”

Ozzie shoved the empty glass away and reached for the plate of toast. “Okay, this is how it works. The gaiafield is a broadcast medium. You transmit your thoughts out through the motes, and they zip across space to connect with everyone else’s motes. Confluence nests are just powerful amplifiers and relay stations; they’re what turn it into a ‘field.’ Admittedly, it’s a big field, but step outside the Commonwealth and you’re on your own. Now, there are other, similar fields out there, with the Silfen communion the biggest of them all. It’s truly galaxy-spanning, dude. I know, I’m tuned in. But it’s not so dense as the gaiafield. That’s because of species psychology; the superelves don’t have the same urge to carry every piece of boring stream-of-consciousness drivel that humans crave.”

“So?” Aaron asked.

“We can’t use the gaiafield. It can’t extend to the center of the galaxy.”

“Not quite right,” Corrie-Lyn said. “The Pilgrimage fleet will be dropping a series of confluence nests en route. That was always the plan, and Ethan won’t change that aspect. They’ll do for the gaiafield the same as the navy TD relays did for Centurion Station. The idea is to open a permanent dream channel to the Void so the faithful who weren’t in the fleet can witness everyone reaching fulfillment and rush to follow them.”

“And the instant we try using that, Ethan will shut it down,” Inigo said.

“Last resort,” Corrie-Lyn said. “The hack might last long enough, especially as it’s you, the true original Dreamer. You still have more clout than anyone else in the movement.”

“I doubt that now that Araminta has appeared,” Inigo said.

“Yeah, useful to know,” Ozzie agreed. “Okay, mindspace. Now, that’s something different. I rearranged spacetime’s quantum structure so that it becomes a conductor for thought, same as air conducts sound. Admittedly, it works best for human thoughts; that’s what I worked with to synchronize it with at the beginning. Aliens are aware of it, but for them it’s like the Silfen communion is for humans: vague. Unless you’re the goddamned Chikoya, then you think it’s a doorway into the thoughts of your ancestors. What is it about avian culture that makes them worship their ancestors like that? It’s got to be a hundred thousand years since their wings were big enough to actually carry them, yet every space habitat they ever built is zero-gee so they can flap about with all the grace of a chicken falling off a wall. Even here they’re in a lograv compartment.”

“They will find enlightenment in the end,” Myraian said. “You are worthy of that. Your galactic dream will lead all of us out of the darkness.”

“Thanks, babe,” he said. “The point of it was to have something which allows people to share their thoughts in a more open way. Confluence nests contaminate the purity of thoughts; they allow distortions, partial thoughts with the emphasis where the originator desires, perverting the whole truth.”

“Do we have to do this now?” Corrie-Lyn asked with deceptive lightness.

“Just telling you the why of it so you’ll understand. That’s the reason I set up mindspace. But both notions have the same problem: reach. Bluntly, they need power to stretch that far.”

“What powers the mindspace?” Inigo asked.

Ozzie winced. “Ah, well, see, I kinda adjusted the Spike’s anchor mechanism to propagate the change to spacetime which makes mindspace work. There’s a device, sort of a parasite, really. But its emissions aren’t directional; you can’t squirt it around like a laser. The whole concept of mindspace was to embrace all sentient entities in the galaxy.”

“But it doesn’t,” Aaron said curtly. “Aliens have trouble utilizing it.”

“Yeah, well, this is the marque one, dude. I just need to do some fine-tuning is all. The theory works.”

“He’s had decades,” the voice from the house’s smartcores said. “All he’s done around here since we built the anchor modifier is bum around finding his inner geek. Progress zero.”

“Hey, screw you,” Ozzie snarled. “Experimenting on alien brains might be your bang, but it ain’t mine, not anymore.”

“You don’t have to experiment on anything. You were just frightened, that’s all. Frightened different minds and exotic thoughts would find a way of corrupting mindspace the way the gaiafield went.”

“I’m observing the psychosocial implications of mindspace’s impact on alien cultures, and you goddamn well know that. A genuine galactic dream isn’t something you rush into. I made that mistake before.”

“And the kind of freaks who come to the Spike for refuge are such good representatives of their societies.”

“Damn, I used to be a bigot.”

“You used to be honest with yourself. You know goddamn well you’re struggling with the right of imposing it on species who have no understanding of what they are relative to the universe. It is cultural imperialism in its worst possible form. Our way of thinking is better than yours, so come join us.”

“Universal understanding might have prevented the Pilgrimage.”

“Is there any way you can increase the power from the anchor?” Inigo asked. “Maybe just on a temporary basis?”

“No way, man. And I don’t need my brain-in-a-jar thoughts to confirm that. We’re at the limit of the anchor’s capacity now. Hell, mindspace reached over two hundred and fifty light-years; that’s pretty goddamn phenomenal. In any case, there’s no knowing if the Heart would mesh with mindspace.” He took a drink of the coffee before it cooled down any further. “So that leaves us with you.”

“Me?” Inigo queried.

“You dreamed the Void from thirty thousand light-years away. No booster circuitry involved. You have an inbuilt connection. How did you do that?”

“I don’t know. I never did understand. The best anyone came up with was that Edeard and I were related somehow. Could be, but we’ll never know. I connected to a human. There aren’t any left in the Void now. The Skylord was quite clear about that when Justine asked.”

“You mean a Skylord like the one Araminta is talking to? She can do it. Have you even tried?”

“Whatever curse she has, it’s different from mine.”

“Have you tried?” Ozzie asked more forcefully.

“No.”

“No, of course not.” He turned to Aaron. “And you, you’re desperate for this link. Did you ever consider hunting Gore down? The Third Dreamer, Lord help us. He’s got a working connection to Justine, who is right where you need her.”

“That’s outside … I don’t have, that is, I’m not aware of contingencies to contact Gore.”

“Because it’s a new development,” Corrie-Lyn said scathingly. “You can’t think for yourself. And the Lady knows, nobody else is allowed a say in your universe.”

“So big thanks there for all the drama yesterday,” Ozzie said. “But actually, you already have two proven methods of getting your voice heard inside the Void.”