‘And thus the Governor chose to respond to Poole’s triumph by emulating it.
‘The Endurance was built to establish another wormhole tunnel to the future, from this age to around five hundred years hence. The Governor hoped to glimpse the Qax future, you see, and so be able to shape any decision with a kind of hindsight.
‘But what emerged from the wormhole, an emissary from the future, was not any kind of tactical guidance, but very bad news indeed – bad for the Qax, I mean, but we know few details. But, in the form of a new Governor for Earth – the former has been assassinated, by the way – it brought bad news for humanity too . . .’
Hastily Parz said that there would be a new phase of the Occupation, as the Qax strove to rectify their earlier leniency. It was to be called an Extirpation.
‘But I will not live to see this,’ Jasoft said now. ‘For the new Governor has a second string to the strategy. Even as Earth is smashed in the present day, the Poole wormhole to the past still exists. The Governor intends to drive Spline ships through the time bridge, and fall on the more innocent worlds of that historic era. And he intends to take me with him – into the past!’ He forced a smile. ‘In another life, another circumstance, what an adventure that would be. But as it is—’
The Virtual snapped out of existence.
Chael picked up the sliver, ran it over a slate for testing. ‘It’s done. Wiped.’
Mara said, ‘I wanted to tell him about his daughter, before he was lost in time. It would have comforted me, at least. Now he’ll never know. Perhaps we should find her, tell her of her legacy . . .’
Chael held up his own AS tablet. ‘We have more important decisions to make. Everything will be different now. We have no control over whatever Shira’s rebels do in the past, or what impact that may have – or what any Qax invasion fleet might accomplish. We, stranded here in this age, must deal with present and future. You heard Parz speak of the new regime to come, the Extirpation. But the Qax will still need humans to administer their regime for them. They will still need us. And the proof of it is in these tablets we hold. They want us to live on; they want us to work with them . . . We do have a choice, however,’ and he glanced around, almost as furtively as Parz had, Mara thought. ‘Callisto.’
‘What?’ Mara struggled to recall the name’s significance.
‘The moon of Jupiter?’ Juq asked eagerly.
‘Yes, the moon of Jupiter – and a hideout, for us. There’s a man called Reth Cana who, under cover of a science station, is providing refuge from the Qax regime – refuge for the likes of us. That’s one choice . . .’
Mara shook her head. ‘No. I’m no planetary traveller. This is my home, for better or worse. This is where I will live—’
‘And die?’ Chael said gently. ‘Well, that is another choice. We could simply see out our time and slip away – that’s if rebel assassins don’t hit us first. The final alternative is to live, on and on.’
‘In the service of the Qax? In which case we would face the same moral dilemmas we always have,’ Mara said. ‘By administering the cruelty of the new regime, perhaps we could find a way to alleviate it. But now there’s another reason to survive.’ Mara looked bleakly at her brother-in-law, at her son. ‘Some day the Qax Occupation will be lifted. And when humans run their world again, there will be a reckoning. A reckoning for us, and what we do next – what we have done already. You, Chael, for doing so much to assemble this Endurance project, to promote it. Myself for standing by when perhaps I could have stopped it.’ She touched her son’s hand. ‘And you, you foolish, silly boy.’
To Mara’s horror, Juq looked petulant, defiant, almost as if he might burst into tears. ‘But, Mother, it was wonderful. Such fun. It was glorious! Why, anybody would have . . . I meant no harm. You know me! I never meant anybody any harm.’
She pulled back. ‘You slapped a slave worker. Didn’t you? Perhaps that alone, that one moment, will be enough to condemn you.’ She weighed the tablet in her hand. ‘We have a duty to fulficlass="underline" to help our people through the dark times to come, and then, when the light returns, to stand trial for our crimes. Either way it is our duty to survive. Together, then.’
They took the tablets, Chael first, then Juq, and then Mara, and it was done.
As Mara had predicted, the Qax were eventually forced to loosen their grip. And a traumatised humanity launched a new thrust to the stars.
The Third Expansion of mankind was the most vigorous yet, and, under a unified, highly ideological government called the Interim Coalition of Governance, the most purposeful. As the Expansion unfolded, humanity once more encountered alien kinds, and re-engaged in wider Galactic history – and this time as conquerors.
It was only a little more than ninety years after the liberation from the Qax that another first contact, of devastating significance, was made.
The wars with the Silver Ghosts would span more than two thousand years.
The Seer And The Silverman
AD 5810
Donn’s mother’s screaming filled the lifedome. ‘He’s gone. The Ghosts have taken him. Lethe, Benj is gone!’
Shocked awake, Donn Wyman grabbed a robe and ran out of his cabin.
His mother and father were outside Benj’s cabin in the plaza, in their sleep clothes, clinging to each other. The cabin door was open, and Donn could see at a glance that the room was empty. Only seconds after wakening, he had a sickening, immediate sense of what was wrong. The abduction from out of the heart of his home was bewildering, as if part of reality had been cut away, not just a human being, not just his brother.
‘Now, Rima, don’t take on.’ Donn’s father, Samm Wyman, was trying to calm his wife. He was a careworn man, slight of build and with his family’s pale-blue eyes. Donn knew that spreading calm was his father’s fundamental strategy in life.
But Rima was struggling in his arms. ‘He’s gone! You can see for yourself!’ Her hair was wild, her face-tattoos unanimated, just dead black scars on her cheeks.
‘Yes, but you’re jumping to conclusions, you always think the worst straight away . . .’
She pushed him off. ‘Oh, get off me, you fool. What else could it be but an abduction? If he’d gone out through the ports the lifedome AI would know about it. So what good is being calm? Do you think you can just wish this away?’
Donn said uncertainly, ‘Mother—’
‘Oh, Donn – help me look. Just in case he’s somewhere in the dome, somewhere the AI hasn’t spotted him.’
Donn knew that was futile, but they had to try. ‘All right.’
Rima snapped at her husband, ‘And you find out if he’s anywhere else on the Reef. And call the Commissary. If the Coalition are going to meddle in our affairs they may as well make themselves useful. They could start by finding out where every Ghost on the Reef was last night – and the Silvermen.’
She stalked off and began throwing open doors around the rim of the plaza. The household bots followed her, their aged servos whirring.
Samm eyed his elder son. ‘I already called Commissary Elah. Who knows? Maybe those Coalition goons will be some use for once. She’s just taking out her anger on me, and she’ll take it out on you too before she’s done. It’s her way. Don’t let it upset you.’
‘I won’t, Father. But this is bad, isn’t it?’