Peter Hamilton - The Temporal Void

'Edeard! What is this place? Salrana's head turned from side to side, trying to take in what she was seeing. There was surprise in her voice, but no fear.

'I'm not sure. It's a way to travel across the city. A very old one. I think some of Makkathran's past inhabitants used it, but I don't really know. It isn't connected to any of the buildings on the surface. So it probably wasn't the inhabitants before us.

'Oh, she said with a short laugh. 'Edeard, what have you become?

'I don't know, he said lamely. 'Whatever, in the end I was no use.

'Don't say that. She kissed him. 'Why are we here? Where are we going?

He sighed and scratched the side of his head. 'Away, I suppose. Out of the city. Then… exile. We'll find some distant province. I'll grow a beard. You don't have to stay with me.

'I think I better had, at least to start with.

'Thank you. He checked the souls that remained with him. Kristabel, Dinlay and his parents were all waiting silently a little way down the bright tunnel. They seemed content with his lead. Right now he wasn't going to tell Salrana about them, she'd had enough shocks. He reached down into the substance of the tunnel walls, and lot them conduct his farsight. He'd always known the network of tunnels extended out underneath the crystal wall, but he'd never really bothered to see where they led.

Down, he saw now. A long, long way down. The multitude of tunnels merged then merged again and again in a funnel-like web whose last few strands extended for tens of miles beneath him. Down to where the true mind of the city lay.

But… there were a few branches that stretched out horizontally under the Iguru Plain. He asked the city to send him there.

'What's happening? Salrana asked, abruptly clutching at him as she felt the tunnel tilting.

'It's all right, he grinned reassuringly. 'We're going to fly.

'Fly?

They began to skid along the tunnel as it apparently shifted up past forty-five degrees. Then they were falling. Salrana let out a long wail of shock.

'It's all right, Edeard assured her, shouting. He attempted to stroke her back, which really didn't work very well when the skirt of her Novice robe started flapping up, trying to wrap itself round her torso. So he applied his third hand, pressing it down again.

'We're going to die! she shrieked.

'No we're not. I always use these tunnels like this.

She screwed her eyes shut, and buried her head against him. The flight went on for a lot longer than Edeard was used to. The tunnel was obviously carrying them a long way out of the city. He didn't know where exactly.

Before long Salrana calmed a little, and started to look round. 'We're not going to die? she gasped.

'We're not going to die.

'Where are we?

'I'm not sure. Outside the city by now.

The tunnel began to curve sharply. Edeard hadn't experienced that before. And somehow they weren't falling downwards, but rushing up. They started to slow. Edeard glanced up. The tunnel ended a few hundred yards above him in a blaze of scarlet light.

'Hang on, he instructed, and suddenly they were through into a simple circular room with red-glowing walls. There were no windows. The hole below their feet quickly irised shut and they were standing in the middle of the floor.

Salrana didn't let go of him, though she was peering round curiously. 'What now? she asked.

'I'm not sure, he admitted. 'I don't know what this place is.

A black circle expanded on the wall. It vanished, leaving an equally black opening. Edeard and Salrana shared a look, and walked over to it. Some of the red light seeping out exposed what looked like rock walls beyond. Edeard extended his farsight, and confirmed there was some kind of cave outside. They stepped through cautiously on to a sandy floor. The air was dry and stale. Edeard's farsight couldn't see far through rock, of course, but the cave extended for some distance. After they walked a few steps the red light began to fade. Salrana spun round in time to see the circular opening seal up. She let out a little squeal.

Edeard held up a hand, and did the spark trick Kristabel had shown him back at the beach lodge. A layer of cold white flame licked round his fingers, throwing the cave into stark relief.

'But it's just rock, Salrana exclaimed, studying the hole that had closed.

'I don't understand the city, Edeard said. 'I just talk to it.

'How? she asked, a strong flash of curiosity shimmering through her veiled thoughts.

'Well… He shrugged. 'I just do, really.

'This is like before, she said and shivered. 'You and me hiding alone at the bottom of a hole while outside our lives are destroyed.

The fatigue really hit Edeard then. It wasn't just his body that was exhausted by the ride back to Makkathran, the emotional turmoil he'd suffered was even more debilitating. He just wanted to curl up and go to sleep — for a very long time. The light scintillating round his hand began to fade.

'Edeard, his mother said. 'Don't give up. Not now.

He took a moment. 'All right, he said miserably.

Salrana looked at him.

'Come on, he said. 'Let's see where this leads us to.

The cave wasn't always as wide as where they'd entered it. Some places they had to squeeze and push their way along, with the rock grazing their clothes. The cave took them upwards, which worried Edeard. After farsighting the tunnels diving down into the depths of Querencia he wondered just how far underground they were.

It took an hour for them to squirm and worm their way through the cave before Edeard finally saw a pale sliver of daylight up ahead. They had to crawl up a steep slope with a roof of rock barely three feet above it before they emerged into a level cave. The entrance was curtained by a thick layer of eaglevine, whose red and green leaves muted the afternoon sunlight.

Edeard sent his farsight probing through the lush vegetation to discover the cave mouth was halfway up a vertical cliff. He could sense no one outside, not even an animal. When he pushed the strands of eaglevine apart he found himself staring north east across the Iguru Plain, with the Donsori Mountains in the distance.

'This is one of those little volcanoes, he told Salrana. Far below him, a verdant forest of palms and vrollipan trees boiled around the lower slopes before giving way to the rich fields that divided up the plain. He twisted his head and looked up. 'The top of the cliff is closer than the bottom. I think I can get there okay.

'Edeard! Be careful.

'Don't worry, he said. His farsight was examining the rock below the swarm of eaglevine. It was a rugged surface, providing innumerable hand and foot holds. He stretched out and secured a grip, then began to climb.

'I'll scout round ahead, Dinlay's soul said, and drifted upward. For the first time, Edeard began to envy the dead. The climb actually wasn't so easy. He had to use his farsight to locate every grip, then shove his hands through the scratchy vines. It was even more difficult to get his feet through, he was constantly having to use his third hand to part the ancient rope-like cords.

Over ten minutes after leaving the cave, the tips of the vines gave way to.bare rock. The cliff began to curve, and Edeard scrambled his way up off the rock and on to the slope of thin soil and reedy grasses.

He used his longtalk to tell Salrana: 'Made it. His third hand gripped her carefully, and he lifted her out of the cave and up through the air.

'I can't see anyone, Dinlay said. 'And there's a pavilion a quarter of a mile round the mountain, where the ground flattens out a bit. Nobody home.

'Thank the Lady for that, Edeard muttered.

He settled Salrana gently beside him. She produced a nervous grin. 'I think that was worse than the city tunnel, she said apologetically.