Then Shibo lifted one hand, as if in salute—and vanished. Toby did not understand any of it.
The Killeen shook his head and turned to look off into the distance. His face seemed carved with deep, dry ravines.
“Good then,” Walmsley said crisply. “You’ve sucked most of the juice out, I gather. Hurry along—we have work to do.”
When Toby looked back to see his father’s reaction, the Killeen was gone.
The suddenness of loss staggered him. He closed his eyes, steadied himself.
Walmsley waved him on. “I know all this is a bit quick, but there really is pressing business.”
Toby took a last look at the endlessly roiling perspectives and followed Walmsley down the ramp. Into a dark where light sharpened into hard points like a waiting bucket of stars.
So time had done its work and his father had changed. So had Toby. Who had been right or wrong was nothing now, a dry rattle among fading facts, lost in the curve of events. The places where the esty had scarred him were firmer and he could take whatever came without clinging to the past or foreboding for the future. His steps were light and he went forward into whatever would be.
Timeline of Galactic Series
2019 A.D. Nigel Walmsley encounters the Snark, a mechanical scout.
2024 Ancient alien starship found wrecked in Marginis crater, on Earth’s moon.
2041 First signal received at Earth from Ra.
2049 First near-light-speed interstellar probes.
2060 Modified asteroid ships launched, using starship technology extracted from Marginis wreck.
2064 Lancer starship launched with Nigel Walmsley aboard.
2066 Discovery of machine intelligence Watchers.
2067 First robotic starship explorations. Swarmers and Skimmers arrive at Earth.
2076 Lancer arrives at Ra. Discovery of the “microwave-sighted” Natural society.
2077 Lancer departs Ra.
2081 Mechanicals trigger nuclear war on Earth.
2085 Starship Lancer destroyed at Pocks. Watcher ship successfully attacked, with heavy human losses.
2086 Nigel Walmsley and others escape in Watcher ship, toward Galactic Center. Humans launch robot starship vessels to take mechanical technology to Earth.
2088 Humans contain Swarmer-Skimmer invasion. Alliance with Skimmers.
2095 Heavy human losses in taking of orbital Watcher ships. Annihilation of Watcher fleet. No mechanical technology captures due to suicide protocols among Watchers.
2097 Second unsuspected generation of Swarmers emerges.
2108 First in-flight message received from Walmsley expedition: “We’re still here. Are you there?”
2111 Final clearing of Earth’s oceans.
2128 Robot vessels from Pocks arrive at Earth carrying mechanical technology. Immediate use by recovering human industries.
2175 Second mechanical-directed invasion of Earth, using targeted cometary nuclei from Oort cloud. Rebuilding of human civilization.
2302 Third mechanical-directed invasion of Earth. The Aquila Gambit begins successive novas in near-Earth stars. Beginning of Ferret Time.
2368 First mechanical attempt to make Sun go nova. Failure melts poles of Earth.
2383 Second nova attempt. Continents severely damaged.
2427 Fourth mechanical-directed invasion of Earth. Rebuilding of human civilization.
2593 Fifth mechanical-directed invasion of Earth. Diplomatic ploy thwarted.
2763 Fifty-seventh Walmsley message received: “Are you there?”
3264 First expedition launched toward Galactic Center from Earth.
4455 First appearance of fourth chimpanzee species; clear divergence from host, Homo sapiens, the third species.
FLIGHT OF HUMAN FLEET TO GALACTIC CENTER “THE BIG JUMP”
29,079 Formation of added geometries to Wedge space-time around the central black hole. Old One manipulation of local Galactic Center space-time, apparently in anticipation of further mechanical-Natural violence. Mechanical forms carry out first incursions into Old One structures.
29,694 Walmsley group arrives at Galactic Center in Watcher craft.
29,703 First human entry into Wedge. Some communication with Old Ones.
29,741 Arrival of Earth fleet expedition at Galactic Center.
29,744 Meeting of Earth expedition and Walmsley group.
30,020- The “Great Times” of human development. Unsuc-34,567 cessful search for Galactic Library. Successive conflicts with mechanicals. Development of higher layers of mechanical “sheet intelligences.” Philosophical conflicts within mechanical civilizations. Formation of mechanical artistic philosophy.
34,567- Chandelier Age. Humans protected themselves 35,812 against rising mechanical incursions. Participation of earlier humans from the Walmsley expedition. Some collaboration with Cyber organic/mechanical forms. Discovery of Galactic Library in the Wedge.
35,812- The “Hunker Down.” Exodus from the Chandeliers 37,483 to many planets within 80 light-years of Absolute Center. Includes High Arcology Era, Late Arcology Era, and High Citadel Age as human societies contract under Darwinnowing effects of mechanical competition.
37,518 Fall of Family Bishop Citadel on Snowglade, termed the “Calamity.”
37,524 Escape of Family Bishop from Snowglade in ancient human vessel. Clandestine oversight of this band by Mantis level mechanicals.
37,529 Surviving Bishops reach nearest star, encounter Cybers. Defeat local mechanicals. Adopt some human refugees.
37,530 Bishops leave, escorted by Cybers and cosmic string.
37,536 Bishops reach Absolute Center, enter Wedge.
37,538 Temporal sequences become stocastically ordered. Release of Trigger Codes into mechanical minds. Death of most mechanical forms. Intervention of Highers to rectify damage done by excessive mechanical expansion.
Preservation of several human varieties. Archiving of early forms in several deeply embedded representations.
Beginning of cooperation between Higher mechanically-based forms and organic (“Natural”) forms. Decision to address the larger problems of all lifeforms by Syntony, in collaboration with aspects of lower forms.
Beginning of mature phase of self-organized forms.
END OF PREAMBLE. LATER EVENTS CANNOT BE THUS REPRESENTED.
About the Author
GREGORY BENFORD is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine. He is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, was a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University, and in 1995 received the Lord Prize for contributions to science. His research encompasses both theory and experiments in the fields of astrophysics and plasma physics. His fiction has won many awards, including two Nebula Awards, one John W. Campbell Award, and one British SF Award. Dr. Benford makes his home in Laguna Beach, California.
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1. Firm, friendly, positive
Julia turned her best side toward the camera, a three-quarter shot, and spread her arms. Okay, maybe a bit theatrical, but she had the backdrop for it.