Heirs of Earth (25 page)

AND AS SUCH, I CANNOT TELL YOU WHAT THE STARFISH WILL THINK OF THE INFORMATION YOU WISH TO GIVE THEM. I CAN ONLY HELP YOU DELIVER IT.

“But you must have an opinion on it.”

Jagged branches swayed against a wintry sky for a few moments, as if the Nexus was considering her comment.

IF WHAT YOU SAY IS TRUE, IT SAID EVENTUALLY, AND THE SPINNERS HAVE INDEED HIDDEN THEMSELVES IN PI-1 URSA MAJOR, THEN YOU MAY WELL ACHIEVE THAT WHICH YOU SET OUT TO DO. THE SPINNERS MAY BE DELIBERATELY CHANGING THEIR TACTICS NOW UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE STARFISH, AFTER SO LONG, WILL NOT NOTICE. AS THE SPINNER WAKE MOVES, WE FOLLOW; AS WE ACCELERATE, THEY PULL AHEAD. LULLED BY THIS ROUTINE, PERHAPS WE WOULD NOT HAVE NOTICED ONE SMALL DEVIATION, WERE IT NOT FOR YOU. THIS DEVIATION WILL BE A WELCOME CHANGE IN ROUTINE FOR SOME AND A THREAT TO THE ESTABLISHED ORDER FOR OTHERS. WHAT HAPPENS IF THE SPINNERS ARE DESTROYED? WILL THE MIGRATION DISBAND? OR WILL WE BE DESTROYED ALONG WITH IT, NO LONGER NEEDED? AGAIN, WE CANNOT POSSIBLY HOPE TO KNOW.

“But
will
you pass on our message?” she asked, sensing
an
offer of assistance in the Nexus’s tone. “Can you tell those others higher up the chain so that the Starfish will eventually find out?”

NO. I CANNOT IN GOOD CONSCIENCE DO THAT. THERE ARE THOSE WHO WOULD RESIST THE MESSAGE, PERHAPS EVEN EXPUNGE IT FROM EXISTENCE, ALONG WITH ALL OF THOSE WHO HEARD IT. I COULD NOT RISK THAT. I ENJOY THE PROCESS OF MY LIFE TOO MUCH.

BUT LISTEN TO THIS, CARYL HATZIS, FOR IT IS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I WILL TELL YOU: YOUR RACE HAS MADE ASSUMPTIONS. I HAVE TOLD YOU THAT ALREADY, BUT I HAVEN’T TOLD YOU ALL OF THEM YET. THERE IS ONE MORE THAT YOU MUST CONSIDER. IF YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT THE SPINNER TACTIC, THEN YOU ARE POTENTIALLY COMMITTING A GREAT CRIME AGAINST THEM. THEY ARE, AFTER ALL, SELFLESS PROPAGATORS OF KNOWLEDGE, PROVIDING A GREAT SERVICE TO NEW CIVILIZATIONS AND CULTURES WHEREVER THEY TRAVEL. AND YET YOU WOULD BETRAY THEM SIMPLY TO FURTHER YOUR OWN EXISTENCE. WHO WOULD BELIEVE AN EMISSARY FROM SUCH A TREACHEROUS CULTURE?

“It’s the
only
way we can get your attention,” she defended quickly. The moral question of her mission had never been satisfactorily resolved beyond the kill-or-be-killed argument. “If we don’t, then—”

PLEASE, the Nexus cut in. ALLOW ME TO FINISH. YOU REGARD THE STARFISH MIGRATION AS A GREAT DESTROYER, SWEEPING ALL LIFE BEFORE IT. DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS HOW WE SEE OURSELVES? YOU HAVE REASONS FOR WANTING TO BETRAY A BENEFACTOR: PERHAPS WE HAVE REASONS, TOO.

“But you said you didn’t know what the motives of the Starfish were.”

WE DON’T. BUT WE CAN SURMISE: WE CAN PROJECT. AND WE CAN PROPOSE NEW THEORIES AND TEST THEM AGAINST NEW DATA, AS I HAVE DONE WITH THE DATA YOU HAVE GIVEN ME. WHAT YOUR DATA HAS TOLD ME DOES NOT CONTRADICT THE STANDING MODEL OF OUR SUPERIORS’ BEHAVIOR, EVEN THOUGH THAT MODEL STANDS IN CONTRADICTION TO YOUR OWN. PERHAPS I AM GUILTY, AS ARE YOU, OF CHOOSING MODELS THAT SUPPORT MORAL DECISIONS I MUST TAKE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE. THIS IS A REAL POSSIBILITY. BUT I OFFER YOU AN ALTERNATE MODEL FOR YOUR APPRECIATION. THEN I WILL GIVE YOU YOUR CHOICE.

A chill wind swept through the orchard. She hugged her arms around herself. The idea of what her choice might entail made her uneasy.

THE GALAXY IS AT WAR, the Nexus said. IT IS A PLACE OF CONSTANT CONFLICT ON A THOUSAND FRONTS BETWEEN MILLIONS OF SPECIES. YOUR SPECIES IS FAMILIAR WITH WAR; YOU HAVE AN APPRECIATION OF THE WASTEFULNESS OF IT, OF THE CHAOS THAT ATTENDS IT. IT IS FREQUENTLY POINTLESS, DESTRUCTIVE, AND TIME-CONSUMING—BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT CAN GENERATE CHANGE, DRIVE EVOLUTION, AND ENCOURAGE PROGRESS. IT IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD THAT BALANCES HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF STARS ON ITS POINT. IT IS THE ONLY UNIVERSAL BEHAVIOR THAT WE HAVE DISCOVERED.

I THINK, THEREFORE, THAT YOU WILL APPRECIATE THE PROPOSAL I HAVE FOR YOU. I WANT YOU TO IMAGINE A RELATIVELY SMALL SKIRMISH IN AN OUT-OF-THE-WAY CONFLICT. WHO THE ANTAGONISTS ARE IN THIS SKIRMISH IS UNKNOWN TO US, NOR IS IT IMPORTANT WHO WINS. BUT ALL IS NOT LOST FOR ONE COMBATANT. SHE BREAKS AWAY AND FLEES. SHE MIGHT BE THE
AGGRESSOR IN THE CONFLICT; SHE MIGHT BE THE VICTIM. EITHER WAY, SHE RUNS. ONE OF HER ENEMIES FOLLOWS, SEEKING TO BRING HER DOWN. THE CHASE IS LONG AND HARD. THEY RUN THROUGH TANGLED FORESTS, ACROSS BLASTED BATTLEFIELDS; THEY SKIRT OTHER CONFLICTS AND NEVER RETRACE THEIR STEPS. THEY ARE LOCKED IN A CHASE TO THE DEATH. ONLY ONE WILL RETURN.

THIS, THEN, IS THE SPINNER/STARFISH MIGRATION—THE AMBIVALENCE, AS THE CREATURES YOU CALL THE PRAXIS AND THE YUHL REFER TO IT. THEIR NAME IS A GOOD ONE. IT SUMS UP THE UNCERTAINTY OF OUR POSITION WELL. TO YOU THE STARFISH ARE VICIOUS PREDATORS, INTENT ON THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL THE SPINNERS’ GOOD WORKS. TO US, THE SPINNERS ARE FUGITIVES FLEEING JUSTICE, TO THE QUEST OF WHICH WE DEDICATE OUR LIVES. WHICH OF US IS RIGHT? WE MAY NEVER KNOW.

“This doesn’t make sense,” she said, holding a hand to her forehead. “Why would the Spinners help us if all they want to do is get away?”

THEY’RE
NOT
HELPING YOU.

“But the gifts—”

—ARE DIVERSIONS SOWED BY THE FUGITIVE TO DISTRACT HER PURSUER. SHE GIVES YOU JUST ENOUGH TO ATTRACT OUR ATTENTION BUT NOT ENOUGH TO DEFEND YOURSELVES OR EVEN UNDERSTAND YOUR FATE. WE CANNOT IGNORE YOU BECAUSE THERE IS AN OUTSIDE CHANCE THAT THE SPINNERS WILL ONE DAY FALL BEHIND, INTO OUR PATH: SHE COULD MASQUERADE AS ONE OF YOU, IF WE CHOSE TO BE LENIENT. SHE SLOWS US DOWN BY FORCING US TO BE THOROUGH, TO LET NOTHING PAST US. THE SPINNERS HAVE USED YOU, CARYL HATZIS, AND BETRAYED YOU TO YOUR DEATHS.

“Why would they waste so much energy on us?” she asked softly. “It doesn’t make—”

YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT ENERGY FROM YOUR OWN NARROW DEFINITIONS. WERE YOU THE FUGITIVE, YOU WOULD EXPEND A LITTLE ENERGY IN STOPPING TO AGITATE AN INSECTS’ NEST, INCITING THE COLONY INTO A FRENZY TO DISTRACT THOSE FOLLOWING.

Tears of frustration sprang to her eyes as images of burning colonies filled her mind. The sound of excited scientists switching on their ftl communicators for the first time and inadvertently igniting a conflagration that would eventually consume the human race...

IT IS AN OBVIOUS TACTIC, THE NEXUS WENT ON, BUT AN EFFECTIVE ONE. IT IS HOWEVER, NOT AS ELEGANT AS HIDING OUT IN ONE OF YOUR EMPTY SYSTEMS AND MASQUERADING AS DEAD AS THE STARFISH SWEPT BY. FOR TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YOUR YEARS THEY HAVE CONTINUED ALONG ONE PATHWAY, SO MUCH SO THAT ONE MIGHT BELIEVE THEY WOULD CONTINUE THIS WAY ALWAYS. BUT NOW THEY HAVE CHANGED, AND BY A CURIOUS TWIST OF FATE—AND INDEED LUCK—YOU HAVE NOTICED THEM DOING SO. THEIR TRAP TURNS AGAINST THEM: THE INSECTS RISE TO BITE THEM AS THEY HIDE. THE VOICE OF THE NEXUS TOOK ON A RISING PITCH. THIS IS INFORMATION THAT COULD WORK TO OUR ADVANTAGE; IT IS INFORMATION THAT NEEDS TO
BE FORWARDED SO THAT OTHER NICHE DWELLERS MIGHT HEAR AND APPRECIATE IT.

She took a deep breath. “This is where I have to make a decision, I guess.”

YES, CARYL HATZIS, IT IS, said the Nexus. YOU SEE, THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY I CAN BRING THIS MATTER TO THE DIRECT ATTENTION OF THE ONES YOU SEEK. CENTURIES OF EXAMINATION OF THE MIGRATION HAVE CONVINCED ME AND OTHERS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PLACE THE NICHE DWELLERS REFER TO AS THE SOURCE OF ALL. YOU HAVE SEEN IT; YOU THOUGHT IT WAS A SMALL STAR. IF THE STARFISH REMAIN AMONG US, THEN IT IS IN THERE THAT THEY RESIDE.

“So what do I have to do to get their attention?”

NO ONE KNOWS THAT. ALL I CAN DO IS GET YOU THERE. A warm light blossomed at the end of the row of apple trees beneath which she sat. It seemed for a moment as though the sun was rising. But this sun was smaller, denser, hotter, its light was hard and piercing. She braced herself as it rose higher in the sky, but there was nothing she could do to withstand its heat. Beneath her, the grass browned and withered; leaves and fruit fell like ash to the ground. Her nostrils filled with smoke, and it took her a second or more to realize that she herself was burning.

NO ONE HAS ENTERED THE SOURCE AND RETURNED, the Nexus continued, IF YOU DECIDE TO GO, YOU WILL MOST LIKELY NOT COME BACK.

“So if I go, I’ll die,” she said. “But if I stay, you’ll deactivate this illusion, and I’ll die anyway. Not much of a choice, really, is it?”

There was no pain, but she could feel herself being consumed, millimeter by millimeter. She did not resist. There didn’t seem any point.

THAT ISN’T THE DECISION I ASK YOU TO MAKE, said the Nexus. THE DECISION YOU MUST MAKE IS THIS: I CAN SEND YOU INTO THE SOURCE AND TO YOUR CERTAIN DEATH, OR I CAN REACH INTO THE MINDS OF ONE OF YOUR COMPANIONS, PUT YOU IN THEIR PLACE, AND SEND THEM INSTEAD.

Her breath caught in her throat, not just from the heat. “Inari or Gou Mang, you mean? One of the engrams?”

NOT JUST THE ENGRAMS: I COULD PUT YOU IN
ANY
OF YOUR CREW. I COULD MAKE YOU PETER ALANDER OR FRANK AXFORD. I COULD MAKE YOU CLEO SAMSON. AND I COULD DO IT WITHOUT
ANYONE
KNOWING. EVEN THE ONE YOU CALL SOL.

The fire of the Source licked at her bones as she considered her options. Near-certain death at the hands of the Starfish, or the chance to live inside the body of someone else. And more than that: a chance to become the original Caryl Hatzis, the one everyone looked up to and admired, and to whom they turned to for leadership and advice. She could be the one person in the universe she wanted to be, just by telling the Nexus that that was what she wanted.

But even as she considered the possibility, she doubted that it could be so simple. Why would the Nexus go to so much trouble just to soothe her ego? Wasn’t it more likely that this was some sort of elaborate moral test designed to see which way she’d jump? If she made the wrong choice, she would be unworthy of any help at all, let alone the attainment of her overseer’s deepest desire.

Perhaps, she thought, the entire mess was part of the test. What if everything from the Spinners to the Starfish was nothing more than a deadly filter, a wringer through which new civilizations were squeezed to see if they’d make it out the far side—a cosmic litmus test designed to weed out the weak? That the final outcome of that test might crucially hinge on the decision she now had to make left her feeling more than a little uncomfortable.

The Source rose over her until it seemed to hang directly overhead. She wasn’t sure if she had a body in the illusion anymore. She was aware only of the Source and a vague impression of creeping branches around the edges, as though a forest were overtaking the orchard. Her mind was perfectly clear, though. She couldn’t claim disorientation as an excuse for whatever decision she wanted to make.

Was the alien mind laughing at her as she wrestled with the decision? She didn’t want to die, and she
did
want to be the superior Hatzis. But at the same time she was the leader of the team sent to save humanity. How could she turn her back on that mission, on her duty and her crew? What right did she have to shun that responsibility and send another in her place?

She remembered the conversation from which the Nexus had chosen its name. “We’re going to need to find some sort of command nexus or communications conduit,” she had told Inari. “If we can tap into either of those without getting ourselves killed...”

As always, it was the last part that was proving the most difficult. But it wasn’t impossible. With the Nexus’s help, she could become that conduit. And who knew? Maybe she wouldn’t die in the process. Or maybe it was craven to hope for life when the lives of so many others were at stake. But she had to give herself some chance. Otherwise the decision was literally taken out of her hands. The mental model that Sol had given her—the sense of self that craved originality and perpetuity—simply would not let her kill herself.

But if on such a craven decision the worth of humanity hung, then she couldn’t find it in herself to think that a bad thing. Humanity wasn’t noble or proud. It would happily sell out its benefactors in order to stay alive even a day or two longer. It would accept a halfhearted sacrifice, made under extreme duress.

“Very well,” she said. “I accept your deal. What do I have to do?”

NOTHING, CARYL HATZIS. IT IS BEING DONE TO YOU AS WE SPEAK. YOU WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN TO THE OTHERS WHAT IS HAPPENING, THEN YOU WILL BE ON YOUR WAY. BUT MAKE IT BRIEF, CARYL HATZIS. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE.

The faintly amused tones of the Nexus carried her down a slippery slope of unconsciousness. The branches closed around her; darkness spiraled inward. Barely did she have time to be afraid when
she
was gone and only the conduit remained.

2.2.5

The rapier-thin, silver skewer slid through Thor’s head as
cleanly as a hypodermic needle. Alander could only stare in shock, trapped as he was in the anti-impact fields and half-deafened by the sound of
Eledone
’s electronic screams of protest at the intrusion. A fine mist of blood erupted from the entry and exit wounds, spraying the cockpit and those around. The impossibly sharp tip of the skewer glinted evilly in the white light of the cockpit, wavering slightly as Thor’s body spasmed and flailed as though receiving a powerful electric shock.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the skewer withdrew and disappeared through
Eledone’
s hull boundary. The hole in the wall quickly sealed, but Thor wasn’t so lucky. Blood and gray matter bulged out of her head wounds, kept grotesquely in place by her I-suit. Everyone stared helplessly at the android as her eyes rolled back and her limbs sagged limply at her side.

“
Eledone!
” Sol yelled. “Let us go so we can help her!”

The keening hole ship obeyed, although it shuddered around them as though revolted. Thankfully it had the presence of mind to keep Thor afloat as the rest of them dropped to the floor. She hung between them, to all appearances dead. Alander approached her warily, aghast at Thor’s bloodied head and face. The lightning-fast plunge and retreat of the skewer had the same callous impetus as someone testing a roast turkey to see if it was done.

The screens around them began to flicker. The hole ship was slowly recovering. The images were still hazy and ill defined, but he could make out the branchlike appendages of the attacking ship retreating. The warped stars reappeared, the light of alien suns returned.