Peter Hamilton - The Evolutionary Void

Surrounding sound level increasing-human screaming.

Subject beta: “Great Lady, what are they?”

Chikoya one: “You are the human messiah.”

Analyze: How did they know that and locate subject alpha so quickly? Time elapsed since landing seventeen minutes.

Subject alpha: “I am Inigo, yes.”

Situation analysis. Chikoya engaging deployment maneuver. High tactical advantage in successful encirclement.

Probability of protecting subjects alpha and beta from synchronized Chikoya weapons fire: minimal. Option one: discard subject beta.

Chikoya one: “You have initiated a devourment phase in the Void.”

Subject alpha: “I haven’t been in contact with Edeard for over a century and a half.”

Chikoya one: “You initiated contact. You are responsible. You must stop it.”

“All Void activity will be ended. We will see to it. Now leave Octoron.”

Chikoya one: “Messiah, you will come with us. Your threat to the galaxy must be ended. Come now.”

“Not permissible. Remove yourself and your kind from this place.”

Chikoya one: “Your messiah comes with us.”

“Inigo, raise your integral force field to its highest setting.”

Subject alpha: “What about Corrie-Lyn? Damn you, she’s naked out here.”

Subject beta: “What’s happening? Inigo, don’t go with those things, please. Aaron, you have to-”

Alert› Chikoya weapons activation.

Multiple target acquisition.

Armed› Disrupter pulse. Sequential fire.

Armed› Neutron lasers. Sequential fire.

Electronic countermeasures. Engaged. Full power.

Armed› Microkinetics. Smart acquisition. Free fire authority.

Cease fire.

Scan› Active Chikoya immediate area withdrawal. Redeployment. › Tracking.

Current tactical situation poor. Move. Subject alpha to accompany.

Subject alpha holding subject beta, force field extended to protect her.

“Let go of her.”

Subject alpha: “Fuck you.”

Scan.

Move into Building A. Utilize the cover it provides.

“Come with me.”

Moving. Subject alpha, subject beta, accompanying.

Alert› Multiple target acquisition.

Greatest tactical location: stand in Building A doorway.

Armed› Disrupter pulse. Sequential fire.

Armed› Neutron lasers. Sequential fire.

Armed› Ion beams. Sequential fire.

Armed› Microkinetics. Smart acquisition. Free fire authority.

Armed› Ariel smartseeker stealth mines. Chikoya profile loaded. Dispense.

Alert› Teleport emergence, eighteen armored Chikoya.

“We can’t get away. They know you’re here.”

Cease fire.

Subject alpha (shouting): “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Exit doorway. Weapons fire impact weakening Building A structure.

“This way.”

Enact exit strategy.

Scan› mapping Building A layout. Exit route confirmed. U-shadow established in local communications net, infiltrating adjacent transport capsules.

Alert› Chikoya access of Building A.

Targeting Building B structural load points.

Armed› Disrupter pulse. Fire.

Integral force field strengthened to resist partial Building A collapse. Fire outbreak. Scan through smoke. Three Chikoya disabled.

Subject alpha: “Where do we go?”

“We must leave the immediate area. Switch off your force field.”

Subject alpha: “What? In the Lady’s name, you’ve got to be joking.”

“Negative. They are tracking your presence through the telepathy effect. It is completely pervasive and leaves you exposed wherever you are.”

Subject alpha: “So?”

“Switch off your force field. I will render you unconscious. If you are not thinking, your thoughts cannot betray our location.”

Subject beta: “Inigo! No! He’ll kill us both. He will; it’s what he does.”

“You are no use to me dead.”

Alert› Target acquisition: Building C rooftop.

Armed› Microkinetics suppression barrage. Fire.

Target eliminated.

Subject alpha: “But I can’t stop the Void if I’m unconscious.”

“When I acquire Isaacs, I will insist he switch off the telepathy effect. No one will be able to find you then.”

Subject alpha: “Oh, sweet Lady.”

Subject beta: “No no no.”

Subject alpha: “You look after Corrie-Lyn, too.”

“I will.”

Alert› Nine Chikoya deploying in acquisition formation.

Subject alpha: “Aaron, whatever’s left of the real you in there, I’m holding you to that.”

Exit capsule approaching. Landing zone designated to u-shadow. Three decoy capsules en route-safety limiters disabled.

“You can rely on me.”

Subject alpha: “Very well.”

Subject beta: “No! Inigo, no, please.”

Scan confirmation, subject alpha force field deactivated. Targeting.

Armed› Microkinetics, minimal tissue damage mode selected, neurosedative tip loaded. Fire.

Subject beta: “No! Oh, Lady, you’ve killed him. Get away from me. Get away, you monster.”

Subject beta attempting to run.

Targeting.

Armed› Microkinetic, minimal tissue damage mode selected, neurosedative tip loaded. Fire.

Alert› Five Chikoya approaching, open assault formation.

Multiple target acquisition.

Armed› Disrupter pulse. Maximum power rating. Sequential fire. U-shadow update: landing exit capsule behind Building D.

Armed› Neutron lasers. Maximum power rating. Sequential fire.

U-shadow update: decoy capsules on collision vector. Mach eight. Accelerating.

Armed› Microkinetics. Enhanced explosive warheads. Free fire authority.

Armed› Ariel smartseeker stealth mines. Chikoya profile loaded. Dispense.

Alert› New targets.

Fire.

Fire.

Fire.

The Delivery Man’s biononics ran a last scan over the weird active-molecular vortex and the way it spun down through the quantum fields. It was an interesting chunk of superphysics technology, certainly. He had no idea what its function might actually be, though he suspected it was an elaborate experiment. Whatever it was, he was fairly sure it wasn’t the elevation mechanism.

His u-shadow opened a link to Gore. “Washout,” he reported.

“Yeah, me, too.”

“I’m coming out.” There was little light in the vast cave, a few cold blue patches up amid the multitude of stalactites eighty meters above his head. The bottom quarter of the cave had been cut smooth and flat, leaving the natural rock formations above. Even two and a half thousand years ago, when the advanced Anomine had set it up, the cave couldn’t have been a terribly practical place. That was the thing with the Anomine; everything had an aesthetic aspect.

Water dripped out of the deep fissures and off the ends of the stalactites, creating long pungent algal ribbons down the rough walls. Drainage channels had clogged, leaving dank puddles spreading across the floor. The vortex carried on regardless; moisture and murky air were never going to affect its composition or function.

As he retraced his steps along the winding passage back out to the surface, the Delivery Man was puzzled by the lack of any communication system connected to the vortex. If it was an experiment, surely they would need to monitor the results; same for a control system. Or maybe I’m missing something , he thought wearily. Maybe there is an ultrasophisticated net covering the whole planet that biononic scans are simply too primitive to discover . He was grasping at straws and knew it. The Last Throw ’s sensors were good. They’d detected a hundred twenty-four advanced devices still functional on the planet, of which the vortex was the eleventh they’d examined. If there was some kind of web linking them, Last Throw ’s sensors would have revealed it.