Poseidon's Wake (46 page)

‘Do your best,’ Vasin said. ‘We can’t expect the impossible. Equally, we’d be fools not to try to use the mirrors. Could we . . .’ But she abandoned the thought with a sudden distasteful expression, as if she had bitten into something sour.

‘What?’ Eunice asked.

‘I was wondering if we might use them as a weapon, if it came to that?’

‘No!’ Peter Grave said, Goma shaping the word in the same moment, sharing his exact repugnance.

‘I’m not talking about inflicting deliberate loss of life, just making a statement. If that ship powers up again, could we focus the mirrors onto it, cause enough damage to prevent its departure?’

‘Not with several minutes of time lag thrown into the pot,’ Eunice responded. ‘We can steer the mirrors, but not in real-time. Provided the ship doesn’t follow a predictable path, it can always stay out of harm’s way.’

‘Maybe not the ship, then. But
Zanzibar
won’t be going anywhere in a hurry, will it? If we steer the beams off their power grids, we could inflict structural damage on the other parts.’

Goma had believed there was steel in Gandhari Vasin before; now she had proof of it.

‘This isn’t war,’ Goma said.

‘Not yet,’ Vasin said. ‘But we’d be idiotic not to think ahead, wouldn’t we?’ Then she clapped her hands once, making a jangle of jewellery. ‘Continue your work, Eunice – do everything you can to lock Dakota out of the mirrors, but take no action she might notice. In the meantime, we will continue preparing the lander. It will make no difference to your work – if you can control the mirrors from
Travertine
, you will also be able to do so from the smaller ship, and the time lag will be reduced as we close in.’

‘When we do we leave?’ Goma asked.

‘Three days, maybe two if things progress well.’

‘It won’t be war, Gandhari. We need to understand that. Tell her, Eunice.’

‘What would you like me to tell her?’

‘That it can’t come down to violence. That nothing’s so serious that it has to end that way.’

‘I’d love to,’ Eunice said.

Then she returned to her work, as if the matter was settled.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Nothing remained for Kanu but to return to
Zanzibar
, knowing he had failed. Swift had intervened promptly enough to prevent
Icebreaker
suffering severe additional damage – certainly nothing that would prevent an imminent departure – and such slight damage as had been done could be rectified during normal operations.

‘Why?’ he asked as they assumed station, floating just beyond
Zanzibar
’s polar door.

‘Why did I not allow you to kill yourself?’ Swift’s figment asked, striking an ironic, chin-stroking pose. ‘Does that even require an answer, Kanu?’

‘It was our only way out.’

‘You mean it was
your
only way out. It would have absolved you of any further involvement in this unpleasantness, that is true. But it would not have begun to resolve the larger problem, or left Nissa with a hope of saving herself.’

‘I had to take the ship from Dakota. I couldn’t just run.’

‘And I could not allow a good man to sacrifice himself, no matter how much he might resent my intervention.’ Swift leaned in, both hands on the console, his face looming before Kanu. ‘We have
work
to do here – there is knowledge for the gathering. The potential for a meeting with intellects beyond our experience! Dakota is an opportunity, not an obstacle.’

‘To you, maybe.’

‘Our goals are not dissimilar, Kanu.’

‘I’m starting to wonder about that. I’ll admit I came here to find some answers. So did you. But that was before we knew about Poseidon, about the Terror, about all those dead Watchkeepers. About Dakota, and what they’ve turned her into. That’s enough for me for now. I’ve seen the pitfalls – seen what’s at stake. But you want to keep pushing – you want ultimate contact with the M-builders or the Watchkeepers, whichever presents itself first.’

‘In which case, forgive me for not wishing to revel in ignorance.’

‘This isn’t about ignorance, Swift – it’s about you putting the interests of you and your robot friends ahead of the rest of us.’

‘I shall pretend I did not hear that.’

‘Pretend what you like. I had a chance to stop this and you interfered.’

‘I am expected to apologise for saving your life?’

‘It was my choice. You took that away from me. If Dakota’s the Watchkeepers’ puppet, what does that make me? Just another puppet, except I’m serving the interests of the Evolvarium instead?’

‘I believe we are both serving the interests of reason and enlightenment. And our relationship is one of mutual benefit, Kanu. Individually, we are ineffective. Together, we at least have a chance of outflanking Dakota.’

‘This is your idea of outflanking her?’

‘One way or another she will have her ship, Kanu. If it is not this one, then she will lure
Travertine
in for the same ends. We have an obligation to spare our new friends that particular difficulty.’

At last Kanu felt something inside him give way. He still felt violated, his trust in Swift damaged. But at the same time, he was only able to air these thoughts because his friend had not permitted him to kill himself.

‘Damn you, Swift. How do you manage to make everything you do feel like the only honourable course of action?’

‘Because I have learned well from a master.’ Swift moved to his side and patted his shoulder. ‘Strong heart, Kanu. Our day is far from lost.’

‘One promise.’

‘If I may oblige.’

‘Should I ever try to take my own life again, you will do me the honour of not intervening.’

‘But my own life would also be at stake.’

‘That’s true. But this is the deal you signed up to. If I choose to end my existence, I don’t want a parasitic machine intelligence from Mars deciding it knows better than I do.’ Swift tapped a finger against his lip. ‘Good that we can speak plainly.’

‘Yes.’

‘Might I add a reciprocal condition of my own?’

‘If you insist.’

‘Do nothing in haste, Kanu. I had a taste of non-existence during skipover. Death is all very well – doubtless it has its benefits – but I am not quite done with living yet. I think the universe still has some surprises in store for both of us.’

*

At the household, Nissa was silent. She had programmed the projecting wall to show a moving image from Earth, the view from a beach as the old sun made its way to the ocean’s flat horizon. The light was bright, but also nearly colourless – a line of chrome breakers against the darkening platinum of the water, the sky a perfect shimmer of silver, the sand like snow, the trees in the foreground black silhouettes.

‘I couldn’t tell you,’ he said.

The wall made the sound of the waves. They crashed and broke in an endless series of static roars, each the birth of a miniature universe, each drawn back into a slow, hissing death.

‘Never,’ she said, ‘do that to me again.’

‘I don’t intend to.’

‘You thought that was the answer, Kanu? After all this time? Are you really that stupid?’

‘The people aboard the other ship warned me,’ he replied. ‘I received a message from them saying I should not cooperate with her.’

She was still facing the ocean, not Kanu. ‘They came all this way to tell you that?’

‘I don’t know. I’d have liked the opportunity for a longer conversation but it was difficult even with only a few minutes of time lag. Do you want to know the odd thing?’

‘I’m being held prisoner by talking elephants. I’d say my capacity for oddness is somewhat overloaded.’ A breaker surrendered itself to entropy; in the interval between that wave and the next, she said, ‘What was it?’

‘They sent one of us, another Akinya, on that other ship. Her name is Goma, and I don’t even know who she is.’

‘Do you think she means well?’

‘I think we all mean well.’

‘Not my question.’

‘It’s the best answer I have. We do mean well – all of us, not just Akinyas. But doing well is the hardest thing of all. Our minds aren’t up to it. The machine’s too big. We can’t see how any one of us fits into it, how any given action shapes the final outcome.’

Nissa turned from the ocean. At last he sensed the promise of forgiveness, or at least a willingness not to withhold it for eternity. He would take that.

‘Then we have to get better,’ she said.

‘Yes.’

‘Much, much better.’ She rose and faced him, taking his head in both her hands, fingers like a vice. ‘I almost dare not ask. One of you decided not to go through with it. Who should I thank?’

There were still a number of short-range service taxis aboard
Zanzibar
– Kanu and Nissa had noticed them on their first arrival – some of which had been adapted for the use and transportation of Tantors. Over a course of days, a small expeditionary force boarded
Icebreaker
, together with all the supplies and equipment Dakota deemed necessary. The shuttle
Noah
had been mated via a docking connection that allowed humans and Risen to pass from one ship to the other.

There were three Risen, including Dakota. The others were a pair of males, both adults, but younger and smaller than their matriarch. Their names were Hector and Lucas, and from the similarity in their manners and build, Kanu was quick to decide they were siblings, or perhaps cousins. He had expected these newcomers to flounder in the unfamiliar weightless environment of the ship, but nothing could have been further from the truth. The Risen all had elephant-shaped spacesuits, enabling them to move from ship to ship even without the use of connecting airlocks, and their trunks proved surprisingly handy during weightless operations, serving as both anchor and counterbalance. No: this was a well-trained crew, unfazed by the challenges that lay ahead.

Clearly they were among the elite of the Risen, perhaps the matriarch’s direct offspring. Their dedication to her appeared total, and utterly without question.

‘I thought Memphis would be coming with us,’ Kanu said.

‘Memphis would not cope well with the rigours of spaceflight,’ Dakota explained. ‘It does not come naturally to us. These younger Risen have prevailed over their instinctive fears with exhaustive training and dedication to the cause. They have learned to use spacesuits and manage weightless operations inside
Zanzibar
’s central core. They understand physics and the rudiments of astrogation. But Memphis is older, and consequently his ways are less easily altered. Besides, he is my most loyal and dependable ally. Were I required to entrust the safety and security of
Zanzibar
to anyone other than myself, it would be to wise and slow Memphis.’

‘And you, Dakota – are you prepared for the rigors ahead?’

‘I have faced the Terror already, Kanu. Faced it with it my deepest, boldest threat rumble. It is nothing to me, and neither is the idea of leaving
Zanzibar
.’

‘And when we reach Poseidon – your nerve will hold?’

‘When the chasing moons single us out, there will be fear. Anything less would be unnatural. But we will stand our ground. Why? Do you lack confidence in yourself?’

‘I’d feel more confident if I had a choice in the matter.’

‘Ah, but you
do
have a choice. You’ll always have that. There will never be a time when we are beyond reach of
Zanzibar
, and there will never be a time when I cannot dictate my commands to Memphis. Consequently the choice will be simple enough: cooperate, or think of the harm you are doing to the Friends.’

‘That’s no choice at all.’

‘Perhaps not. The truth is, I would much rather we see each other as friends engaged in a mutual adventure. But at the back of your mind, remember that you have a powerful disincentive to turn against me.’

Kanu and Nissa boarded before the last of the Risen. Within the ship, they had all the liberty they desired – no part of the ship was barred to them, not even those spaces into which only a human could squeeze. The centrifuge sections had been spun back up to normal gravity and they had ample privacy – their old sleeping quarters were untouched despite the modifications. They could also access all the normal shipboard functions, from communications to navigation.

‘Despite our earlier conversation,’ Dakota said, standing at one of the control pedestals, ‘it is vital to me that we conduct our expedition in a spirit of mutual cooperation. It is true that we have had cause to doubt each other’s better intentions. Such difficulties are to be expected in an enterprise such as ours. But let us not lose sight of what we have achieved, and of what lies within our reach. Human
–
Tantor symbiotic exploration – people and the Risen united in a spirit of scientific and cultural enlightenment. What have we to fear if we stand together?’

‘You stood with Chiku and Eunice once,’ Kanu said, ‘until they had the poor sense to disagree with you.’

‘We have all made mistakes. The mark of intelligence is to learn from them, and not be bound by the errors of the past. I regret everything that came between Chiku, Eunice and I. But they were not steadfast in the face of the unknown.’

‘Are you still Dakota, or have the Watchkeepers made you into something else?’

‘I know my own nature, Kanu.’

She was cycling the main viewer through display options, learning her way around the controls. The tip of her trunk, splayed like an open hand, was a thing of dexterous wonder.

‘I think I know it, too,’ he said. ‘You imagine you have free will, and maybe you have just enough to fool yourself into believing that. The fact is, though, you’re doing the work of those zombie machines – mindless automata that became so clever they forgot how to be conscious. It’s not too late, Dakota. Abandon this expedition – or at least delay it until we’ve made contact with the other ship.’

‘The
other ship
, yes. I will admit I have some interest in it – but only insofar as it spurs me to even more decisive action. They are on the move, did you know?’

‘Are they?’

‘Not the main vessel, but a smaller craft – a vehicle about the size of our
Noah
. Nothing escapes the Watchkeepers’ scrutiny, and there is nothing I need to know that they will not bring to my attention.’

‘You think they care about you?’ Nissa asked.

‘I concede that theirs is a detached sort of interest – clinical, you might say. I am realistic enough to think of myself as an instrument in the service of their enquiry. If a better instrument were to present itself, I might cease to be their favoured subject. But for now they are invested in me, and this other ship is no more than a distraction. I would like it to remain that way. Might you show me how to project a schematic of the entire inner solar system? I appear to be unable to zoom out from the immediate neighbourhood of Paladin.’

‘Access that sub-menu, then select the logarithmic scale factor,’ Nissa said.

‘Thank you – I should have seen that.’

The schematic showed Gliese 163, then its family of worlds – at least out to the orbit of Paladin, the eighth world from the star. Dakota called up a set of curving paths which showed options for their own trajectory depending on start time, gee-loads and fuel consumption. The coloured paths fanned out like peacock feathers, annotated with numbers and symbols, but all commenced at Paladin and ended at Poseidon.

‘Our course is simple – we have but one objective. They have commenced their journey from Orison, but at the moment their trajectory can’t be extrapolated with any precision, other than to say that it remains bound to the ecliptic, so it is very unlikely that they mean to leave the system. More likely, they have a world in mind. Paladin is one possibility, but it would not cost them much in additional time to divert to Poseidon, or indeed towards three or four other objectives. What do you make of this smaller vehicle, either of you?’

‘You’re the one with the Watchkeepers whispering in your ear,’ Nissa said. ‘Why not ask them?’

‘Oh, I have – or rather, they have tried to present me with the information in a way suitable for my comprehension. But they are not good at that sort of thing, and frankly I don’t have time to be swallowed up and dismantled by them again. The small ship does not strike me as having interstellar capability, but I would not like to bet against it if it came down to speed and agility within a solar system. Do you concur?’