Peter Hamilton - The Evolutionary Void

A grimace of pain crossed Edeard’s face. Those closest to him took a nervous half step backward as a terrible anger rose through his mind, spitting out flares of misery and depression that made flesh judder and tenacity waver in even the most stalwart in the square.

“In the Lady’s name, what do you want from me?” Edeard yelled furiously. They were backing off fast now. “Every time, every Honious-fucking time I do whatever I can to make things right, this is what happens. Every time, something or someone comes out of the darkness to screw things up.”

Vintico’s mouth twitched uncertainly. “Waterwalker, we simply wish that our own children have the chance to-”

“Shut! UP!” Edeard bellowed. “I have lost my grandchild to bring you this world today. My beautiful lovely little boy who brought no misery and suffering. Unlike you and your wretched kind who generate nothing else. I unmade him to give you a chance. And now I must do it again, because clearly I’m not allowed to go off voyaging around the world. Because when I do, you appear and ruin what peace and hope there is. The militias can’t be stopped now that they’re on the march, just as you oh so cleverly intended. They have to be stopped before they leave, have to be stopped from leaving; in fact, they must never have a reason for leaving. And the only way to do that is prevent your Lady-damned Our City from being formed. Do you understand what that means, you piece of shit? They have been born but two days! Why should I unmake them for you? Eh? Answer me that? Why should I just not exterminate every one of you here and now? That would have the same result. They’ll never be born again, for sure as a genistar shits in the forest, that voyage won’t happen next time around because I can’t leave Makkathran before the stopover problem is solved. So they’ll never meet Marvane, and he’ll never be crowned Luckiest Man. Will he?”

Vintico took a defiant step forward even though he didn’t understand what was being said to him. “You can never exterminate all of us. Together we are strong.” To prove it, the minds of those in the square began to combine their telekinesis, strengthening a broad shield to ward off whatever terror the Waterwalker would unleash.

“Yeah,” Edeard barked. “Don’t I fucking know it.” With a final snarl of anguish he reached back for a memory-

– to land on the ground at the foot of the Eyrie tower. The crowd exclaimed in admiration; several people applauded. More cheered at the resurgence of the Waterwalker.

He stared around in a daze. It was as if the sights and sensations of the city were muted somehow, as if this time lacked the solidity of true life. I don’t take part in life anymore. I just respond to the old events as I believe I ought. What kind of existence is this?

Kristabel scowled at the flamboyant display of his ability.

“Daddy,” Marilee scolded.

“That was so bad.”

“Teach us how to do that.”

He gave the twins a weary look. They had never looked happier than holding their babes barely a day ago in his own personal time. Now that is never to happen, not even if I engineer a meeting with Marvane for them . “The Skylord comes,” he told them dully, hoping that would be enough to silence them for a while. It always had before.

Out across the Lyot Sea the massive shimmering bulk of the Skylord had risen above the horizon. Far above, on the tower platform, Finitan’s astonishment at the arrival was echoed by the whole city. Awe turned to trepidation as the size of the Skylord became apparent to everyone.

So no voyage , he mused as the great creature flew effortlessly above the choppy sea. And Kristabel said I had become almost intolerable at this point. So now, instead of alleviating that with the voyage, I must do something about the mass of stopover visitors. Lady, please understand, I cannot take much more sacrifice in my life. Truly, I cannot .

THE DELIVERY MAN spent the flight accessing what information the smartcore had on the Anomine. There wasn’t much. They were an advanced race who had traveled along the standard evolutionary development route for biological species, zipping from agricultural age to industrial age right up to a benign civilization with FTL starflight and a kind of cellular-based replicator technology that meshed with their own forms. That development allowed for a lot of diversification before their various blocs and genealogies eventually reunited and they elevated themselves to postphysical status. From the small snippets of true history the navy expeditions had uncovered, it seemed that the trigger factor for reunification was the threat posed by the Prime.

Sitting in the antique styling of the Last Throw ’s cabin with an uncommunicative Gore, the Delivery Man couldn’t help but wonder if the Anomine had found the Prime a little too much like looking into a mirror for comfort. Bodies that had merged into machinery? Albeit the Prime capability was set at a more primitive level. There but for the grace of God go I, grace in this case being the Prime’s biogenetically embedded xenophobia. The Anomine were only too well aware of what would happen if the paranoid, aggressive, and heavily armed Prime ever escaped their home star system, as they were already attempting in slower-than-light starships. Their concerns were vindicated by their observation of the first Prime ships to reach the existing civilization of the closest star system, Dyson Beta. The peaceful aliens of that world never stood a chance.

Within ten years of the genocidal invasion, the Anomine had thrown up force field barriers around the stars humans came to know as the Dyson Pair. Where the Dark Fortress generators had come from-indigenous construction or borrowed from the Raiel-was a point still much argued over by a small specialist section of human academia. But it was that effort which had brought the diverse Anomine back together. Barely a hundred fifty years after the barriers went up, the majority of the Anomine went postphysical.

“There’s nothing about the elevation mechanism,” the Delivery Man said as the Last Throw streaked toward the Anomine star at fifty-five light-years an hour. They were fifteen minutes out, and the starship’s sensors were starting to obtain high-resolution scans of the system with all its planets.

“Classified,” Gore replied smartly. “Some aspects of government never change no matter how benevolent and transparent they strive to be. Secrecy is like oxygen to politicians and defense forces; there’s always got to be some of it to keep them going.”

“But you’ve got the files, right?”

“I’ve accessed the summaries.”

The Delivery Man gave Gore a suspicious look. “I thought you had this all planned out.”

“I do, sonny, so stop with the panicking.”

“Have you got those summaries?”

“Not actually with us here today, no, but I remember most of the critical stuff.”

“But … You do know how to get it working again, don’t you? You said that.”

“I said that we think it’s intact.”

“No!” The Delivery Man sat forward abruptly, almost ready to fly out of the chair and go nose to nose with Gore. “No, no, you said, and I quote, they went postphysical and left their elevation mechanism behind.”

“Well, obviously they didn’t take the fucker with them.” Gore gave a chirpy grin. “If you’re postphysical, you can’t, because the mechanism is physical. We saw that with the Skoloskie; their mechanism was still there rusting away on their abandoned homeworld. Same goes for the Fallror. It’s what happens. Jeezus, relax, will you; you’re acting like a prom virgin who’s made it to the motel room.”