“It’s over?”
“Yes, sir.”
Samual narrowed his eyes as he contemplated his staff captain for a long moment. “The Kiint,” he said eventually.
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, I am one of their operatives.”
“I see. And what part did they play in all this?”
“None.” Keaton grinned. “This surprised the hell out of them, too.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Samual glanced out at the galaxy again as it began to slide from view. “Is Calvert going to take us back?”
“I don’t know.”
“The Kiint agreed they would help us with medical supplies if we solved this crisis. Will they honour that promise?”
“Yes sir. Ambassador Rulour will be happy to extend the Kiint government’s full cooperation with the Confederation.”
“Good. Now get your shabby arse out of my headquarters.”
The doors parted before Joshua could datavise his arrival.
“Welcome home,” Ione said. She dabbed a platonic kiss on his cheek.
He led Louise into the apartment, enjoying her little gasp of astonishment as she saw the glass wall looking out over the bottom of the circumfluous sea.
“You’re the Lord of Ruin,” Louise said.
“And you’re Louise Kavanagh, from Norfolk. Joshua talks about you all the time.”
Louise smiled as if she didn’t believe. “He does?”
“Oh yes. And what he hasn’t told me about you, Genevieve certainly has.”
“Is she all right?”
“She’s fine. I’ve got Horst Elwes looking after her. They’re on their way. Which should just give you time to freshen up.”
Louise glanced down at Andy’s dilapidated clothes. “Please.”
Joshua poured himself a hefty glass of Norfolk Tears while Ione was showing Louise the bathroom. “Thanks,” he said when she came back.
“You did it, didn’t you? That’s why we’re here.”
Yeah. I did it. No more possessed.
A plucked eyebrow was raised delicately. And when did you pick up this ability?
A little gift from the Sleeping God.he let the memories flood out directly, showing her and Tranquillity what had happened.
I was right about you, all along.her arms circled round him, and she stood on her toes to give him a kiss.
Joshua gave the door to the bathroom a guilty glance.
Ione smiled wisely. Don’t worry. I won’t mess things up.
“I don’t know what to do about her, Ione. Damnit, I ruled the universe, I was given the answers to everything, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Don’t be stupid, Joshua, of course you know. You’ve always known.”
Brad Lovegrove regained control of his body as if waking from a debilitating coma. Every thought, every action, was dreadfully slow and confused. The whole period of Capone’s possession retained the constituency of a feverish dream, flashes of revolting clarity stitched together by slipstream blurs of sensation and colour.
He found he was sitting at a glass-topped table. It was in the lounge of a five-star hotel suite. A big picture window showed New California sliding past outside. There was a pot of hot coffee in front of him, cups, a plate with a pile of scrambled eggs. A thick pool of blood was spreading over the glass, flowing round the plate to reach the edge. Big scarlet drops splattered onto the carpet around his feet.
A woman in the chair opposite was crumpled over her half of the table. Three quarters of her body was covered in green medical nanonic packages; with a navy-blue towelling robe worn over them. One package from her throat had been removed and placed on the table. The skin it exposed had a savagely deep cut, opening her carotid artery. There was a small fission blade knife nestling in the hand of her outstretched arm.
Brad Lovegrove fell off his chair, burbling incoherently with shock.
Joshua and Louise waited by the airlock hatch of docking bay MB 0-330. They’d both accessed the sensors around the bay, watching Lady Macbeth settle lightly on the cradle. Her chemical verniers puffed out fast bursts of bright yellow flame around the equator as Liol brought her in. She touched the cradle in perfect alignment, and the holding latches closed. Utility hoses and cables rose up to jack in one by one. Thermo-dump panels folded down into the hull, and the whole assembly started to sink down into the bay.
He did that well, Joshua admitted to himself. How are you doing?he asked syrinx.
Almost there,she told him.
Affinity showed him the big voidhawk sticking close to the Mindori and Stryla as the blackhawks curved round the spaceport spindle to chase the habitat’s docking ledge. The two blackhawks needed guiding and coaxing: their personalities were almost traumatised into catatonia by the possession. Both of them desperately wanted their lost captains. It wouldn’t happen, Joshua knew, Kiera had destroyed the bodies back on Valisk, forcing the newly possessing souls into the blackhawks.
They will recover with time,Oenone said softly. We will be here for them.
I’m sure you will.
Congratulations, Joshua Calvert,the jovian consensus said. And our profound thanks. Samuel has told us that it was you alone who communed with the singularity.
I had plenty of help reaching it,he said. a smile image flashed between himself and Syrinx.
Your method of terminating the crisis was spectacular,consensus said.
Believe me, it was one of the quiet options. God-power is a modest understatement for the singularity’s abilities.
Are you still in contact?
Yes. For the moment. There’s a few loose ends I want to tie up myself. After that, it’s over.
To abandon such power requires considerable strength of character. We are happy to see Samuel’s faith was not misplaced.
To be honest, a life spent jumping round the Confederation righting wrongs really doesn’t appeal. From now on all I carry is a message.
Joshua Calvert, missionary,syrinx teased. Now there’s a real miracle.
Will you be returning the Confederation stars to their original position?consensus asked.
No. I want them to stay here. That also is my decision.
And one we will have to abide by. After all, it will not be easy for us to send a starship back to the Sleeping God from here.
It’s not impossible. But then that’s the whole point.
Would you explain?
Humans have been lucky in the past, expanding and colonising our way across the galaxy. I’m not knocking it. Things were pretty bad back there on Earth for a while. As a species we needed to get away, as the old saying goes, to put our eggs in more than one basket. But it can’t go on forever. We have to face up to the future, and develop in different ways. There are eight hundred stars out here in this cluster, that’s all. There can be no more physical expansion at our current social, economic, and technological level. No more running away from our problems; we’re mature enough to address them now.
And our isolation will ensure that we do.
I’m hoping it will concentrate a few minds, yes.
We will live in interesting times.
All times are interesting if you know to live them properly,joshua said. I have the new coordinates of the other stars for you. You’ll have to send out voidhawks to them and spread the information, put us all back in contact.