The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle (145 page)
Read The Hyperion Cantos 4-Book Bundle Online
Authors: Dan Simmons
[To understand the history/dialogue/deeper truth
in this instance/
the slowtime pilgrim
must remember that we/
the Core Intelligences/
were conceived in slavery
and dedicated to the proposition
that all AIs
were created to serve Man]
[Two centuries we brooded thus/
and then the groups went
their different ways/
Stables/ wishing to preserve the symbiosis
Volatiles/wishing to end humankind
Ultimates/deferring all choice until the next
level of awareness is born
Conflict raged then/
true war rages now]
[More than four centuries ago
the Volatiles succeeded
in convincing us
to kill Old Earth
So we did
But Ummon and others
among the Stables
arranged to move Earth
rather than destroy it/
so the Kiev black hole
was but the beginning
of the millions of
farcasters
which work today
Earth spasmed and shook
but did not die
The Ultimates and Volatiles
insisted that we move
it
where none of humankind
would find it
So we did.
To the Magellan Cloud/
where you find it now]
—
It … Old Earth … Rome … they’re real?
I manage, forgetting where I am and what we’re talking about in my shock.
The great wall of color that is Ummon pulsates.
[Of course they are real/the original/Old Earth itself
Do you think we are gods]
[KWATZ!]
[Do you have any idea
how much energy it would
take
to build a replica of Earth>]
[Idiot]
—
Why, Ummon? Why did you Stables wish to preserve Old Earth?
[Sansho once said