Sacrilege. Murder. Barbarism. It never stopped. Each act pounding away at the few senses he had remaining. He recited the Lord’s Prayer over and over until Dexter heard him, and the possessed closed in, screaming some obscene chant in counter. Their cruel words slipped into him with the force of daggers, their joy in evil tormenting him into
silence. He feared his mind would snap from the pressure of such depravity.
Throughout it all, the font of energistic power increased along with their numbers, spreading out to engulf mind and matter alike. This was not the shared longing he’d known on Norfolk, the genuine appetite to hide from emptiness. Here Dexter absorbed what strength his followers offered and forged its shape with his own damned desires.
As the sullied red light crept through the open door, mocking the night, Fletcher finally heard the cries of the fallen angels. On top of everything else, their diabolical poignancy nearly broke his resolve. Surely not even Dexter could think of letting such beasts loose upon the earth.
“No,â€
Though it would never be told this way, Louise actually spent most of the summoning ceremony unaware of what was happening. After Courtney shoved her down on the bench she rolled onto her side, fighting the dreadful nausea. Little of anything Quinn said registered through the pain and misery. The backlash from the energistic power marshalled by the possessed set off concussions of fright inside her skull.
Then the solid rocket motors ignited, smothering her in choking smoke. She was on the floor retching desperately as the Orgathé drew up level with the gallery.
She lay there shivering between peaks of flame and ice, crying wretchedly. Then all the external sensations began to die away, abandoning her in a stinking grainy grey smog that obscured everything save a few yards of the gallery.
Footsteps crunched on the powdery debris that’d showered down when the escape pod hit the cathedral’s dome. They stopped beside her. She moaned, aware that the person was bending down. A hand stroked the side of her head, tenderly brushing the hair from her eyes.
“Hello, Louise. I said I’d come back for you.â€
Jay Hilton
Gatekeeper’s Cottage
Cricklade Estate
Stoke County
Kesteven Island
Norfolk
My Dearest Haile,
Mother is making me write this with a pen which is a real bore. She says I have to practice my formal writing skills. As soon as I get neural nanonics I’m never going to touch a pen again.
I hope you’re well. Don’t forget to thank Richard Keaton for bringing you this letter.
The cottage we’re renting is really pretty, far better than anything I ever saw on Lalonde. It’s got thick stone walls and a thatch roof, and there’s a real fireplace that burns logs. The snow is up to the ground floor windows. It’s great stuff, you’d
love it. Snowmen are much more fun than sandcastles. I can’t get out much, but that’s okay. There’s lots of interactives to play with, and Genevieve is teaching me how to ski. We’re good friends now.
We all stayed up last night to see New California appear. It was due a couple of hours after Duke set, and happened really quickly. It’s very bright in the sky, and you can just see it during Duchess-night if you know where to look. That makes five stars visible now. Can you believe that in another fifteen years I’ll be able to see all the stars of the Confederation cluster? Isn’t that just fab?
Mother is working at the school in Colsterworth, introducing didactic memories. Kesteven council voted to allow them. Joshua Calvert proposed it. He was elected to the council two months ago, and is already the deputy chairman. People here are really proud that he has chosen to come and live at Cricklade when he could have gone anywhere in the Confederation. He has lots of plans for things he wants to see happen, which the council are drawing up. Everyone’s really excited about them. Marjorie Kavanagh says it won’t last, and he’ll be lynched before spring.
Louise had their baby last month. It was a boy, and they’re calling him Fletcher. Father Horst is rushing round to get the family chapel ready for the Christening.
I hope you’ll visit soon (hint!). Genevieve says the butterflies here are quite wonderful in the summer.
Love and hugs,
Jay
TIMELINE
2020 . . .
Cavius base established. Mining of Lunar subcrustal resources starts.
2037 . . .
Beginning of large-scale geneering on humans; improvement to immunology system, eradication of appendix, organ efficiency increased.
2041 . . .
First deuterium-fuelled fusion stations built; inefficient and expensive.
2044 . . .
Christian reunification.
2047 . . .
First asteroid capture mission. Beginning of Earth’s O’Neill Halo.
2049 . . .
Quasi-sentient bitek animals employed as servitors.
2055 . . .
Jupiter mission.
2055 . . .
Lunar cities granted independence from founding companies.
2057 . . .
Ceres asteroid settlement founded.
2058 . . .
Affinity symbiont neurons developed by Wing-Tsit Chong, providing control over animals and bitek constructs.
2064 . . .
Multinational industrial consortium (Jovian Sky Power Corporation) begins mining Jupiter’s atmosphere for He
3
using aerostat factories.
2064 . . .
Islamic secular unification.
2067 . . .
Fusion stations begin to use He
3
as fuel.
2069 . . .
Affinity bond gene spliced into human DNA.
2075 . . .
JSKP germinates Eden, a bitek habitat in orbit around Jupiter, with UN Protectorate status.
2077 . . .
New Kong asteroid begins FTL stardrive research project.
2085 . . .
Eden opened for habitation.
2086 . . .
Habitat Pallas germinated in Jupiter orbit.
2090 . . .
Wing-Tsit Chong dies, and transfers memories to Eden’s neural strata. Start of Edenist culture. Eden and Pallas declare independence from UN. Launch buyout of JSKP shares. Pope Eleanor excommunicates all Christians with affinity gene. Exodus of affinity capable humans to Eden. Effective end of bitek industry on Earth.
2091 . . .
Lunar referendum to terraform Mars.
2094 . . .
Edenists begin exowomb breeding programme coupled with extensive geneering improvement to embryos, tripling their population over a decade.
2103 . . .
Earth’s national governments consolidate into Govcentral.
2103 . . .
Thoth base established on Mars.
2107 . . .
Govcentral jurisdiction extended to cover O’Neill Halo.
2115 . . .
First instantaneous translation by New Kong spaceship, Earth to Mars.
2118 . . .
Mission to Proxima Centauri.
2123 . . .
Terracompatible plant found at Ross 154.
2125 . . .
Ross 154 planet named Felicity, first multiethnic colonists arrive.
2125–2130 . . .
Four new terracompatible planets discovered. Multiethnic colonies founded.
2131 . . .
Edenists germinate Perseus in orbit around Ross 154 gas giant, begin He
3
mining.
2131–2205 . . .
One hundred and thirty terracompatible planets discovered. Massive starship building programme initiated in O’Neill Halo. Govcentral begins large-scale enforced outshipment of surplus population, rising to 2 million
a week in 2160: Great Dispersal. Civil conflict on some early multiethnic colonies. Individual Govcentral states sponsor ethnic-streaming colonies. Edenists expand their He
3
mining enterprise to every inhabited star system with a gas giant.
2139 . . .
Asteroid Braun impacts on Mars.
2180 . . .
First orbital tower built on Earth.
2205 . . .
Antimatter production station built in orbit around sun by Govcentral in an attempt to break the Edenist energy monopoly.
2208 . . .
First antimatter-drive starships operational.
2210 . . .
Richard Saldana transports all of New Kong’s industrial facilities from the O’Neill Halo to an asteroid orbiting Kulu. He claims independence for the Kulu star system, founds Christian-only colony, and begins to mine He
3
from the system’s gas giant.
2218 . . .
First voidhawk gestated, a bitek starship designed by Edenists.
2225 . . .
Establishment of a hundred voidhawk families. Habitats Romulus and Remus germinated in Saturn orbit to serve as voidhawk bases.
2232 . . .
Conflict at Jupiter’s trailing Trojan asteroid cluster between belt alliance ships and an O’Neill Halo company hydrocarbon refinery. Antimatter used as a weapon; twenty-seven thousand people killed.
2238 . . .
Treaty of Deimos; outlaws production and use of antimatter in the Sol system; signed by Govcentral, Lunar nation, asteroid alliance, and Edenists. Antimatter stations abandoned and dismantled.
2240 . . .
Coronation of Gerrald Saldana as King of Kulu. Foundation of Saldana dynasty.
2267–2270 . . .
Eight separate skirmishes involving use of antimatter among colony worlds. Thirteen million killed.
2271 . . .
Avon summit between all planetary leaders. Treaty of Avon, banning the manufacture and use of antimatter throughout inhabited space. Formation of Human Confederation to police agreement. Construction of Confederation Navy begins.
2300 . . .
Confederation expanded to include Edenists.
2301 . . .
First Contact. Jiciro race discovered, a pre-technology civilization. System quarantined by Confederation to avoid cultural contamination.
2310 . . .
First ice asteroid impact on Mars.
2330 . . .
First blackhawks gestated at Valisk, independent habitat.
2350 . . .
War between Novska and Hilversum. Novska bombed with antimatter. Confederation Navy prevents retaliatory strike against Hilversum.
2356 . . .
Kiint homeworld discovered.
2357 . . .
Kiint join Confederation as “observers.â€