Vintico sneered. "Not just them. The Colshire regiment is marching against us, as is the Bural. Three provinces seek to attack Makkathran. You will have to decide which side you're on, Waterwalker. Ours or theirs, which is it to be?"

A grimace of pain crossed Edeard's face. Those closest to him took a nervous half step backward as a terrible anger rose through his mind, spitting out flares of misery and depression that made flesh judder and tenacity waver in even the most stalwart in the square.

"In the Lady's name, what do you want from me?" Edeard yelled furiously. They were backing off fast now. "Every time, every Honious-f.u.c.king time I do whatever I can to make things right, this is what happens. Every time, something or someone comes out of the darkness to screw things up."

Vintico's mouth twitched uncertainly. "Waterwalker, we simply wish that our own children have the chance to-"

"Shut! UP!" Edeard bellowed. "I have lost my grandchild to bring you this world today. My beautiful lovely little boy who brought no misery and suffering. Unlike you and your wretched kind who generate nothing else. I unmade him to give you a chance. And now I must do it again, because clearly I'm not allowed to go off voyaging around the world. Because when I do, you appear and ruin what peace and hope there is. The militias can't be stopped now that they're on the march, just as you oh so cleverly intended. They have to be stopped before they leave, have to be stopped from leaving; in fact, they must never have a reason for leaving. And the only way to do that is prevent your Lady-d.a.m.ned Our City from being formed. Do you understand what that means, you piece of s.h.i.t? They have been born but two days! Why should I unmake them for you? Eh? Answer me that? Why should I just not exterminate every one of you here and now? That would have the same result. They'll never be born again, for sure as a genistar s.h.i.ts in the forest, that voyage won't happen next time around because I can't leave Makkathran before the stopover problem is solved. So they'll never meet Marvane, and he'll never be crowned Luckiest Man. Will he?"

Vintico took a defiant step forward even though he didn't understand what was being said to him. "You can never exterminate all of us. Together we are strong." To prove it, the minds of those in the square began to combine their telekinesis, strengthening a broad shield to ward off whatever terror the Waterwalker would unleash.

"Yeah," Edeard barked. "Don't I f.u.c.king know it." With a final snarl of anguish he reached back for a memory- -to land on the ground at the foot of the Eyrie tower. The crowd exclaimed in admiration; several people applauded. More cheered at the resurgence of the Waterwalker.

He stared around in a daze. It was as if the sights and sensations of the city were muted somehow, as if this time lacked the solidity of true life. I don't take part in life anymore. I just respond to the old events as I believe I ought. What kind of existence is this? I don't take part in life anymore. I just respond to the old events as I believe I ought. What kind of existence is this?

Kristabel scowled at the flamboyant display of his ability.

"Daddy," Marilee scolded.

"That was so bad."

"Teach us how to do that."

He gave the twins a weary look. They had never looked happier than holding their babes barely a day ago in his own personal time. Now that is never to happen, not even if I engineer a meeting with Marvane for them Now that is never to happen, not even if I engineer a meeting with Marvane for them. "The Skylord comes," he told them dully, hoping that would be enough to silence them for a while. It always had before.

Out across the Lyot Sea the ma.s.sive shimmering bulk of the Skylord had risen above the horizon. Far above, on the tower platform, Finitan's astonishment at the arrival was echoed by the whole city. Awe turned to trepidation as the size of the Skylord became apparent to everyone.

So no voyage, he mused as the great creature flew effortlessly above the choppy sea. And Kristabel said I had become almost intolerable at this point. So now, instead of alleviating that with the voyage, I must do something about the ma.s.s of stopover visitors. Lady, please understand, I cannot take much more sacrifice in my life. Truly, I cannot And Kristabel said I had become almost intolerable at this point. So now, instead of alleviating that with the voyage, I must do something about the ma.s.s of stopover visitors. Lady, please understand, I cannot take much more sacrifice in my life. Truly, I cannot.

SIX.

THE DELIVERY MAN spent the flight accessing what information the smartcore had on the Anomine. There wasn't much. They were an advanced race who had traveled along the standard evolutionary development route for biological species, zipping from agricultural age to industrial age right up to a benign civilization with FTL starflight and a kind of cellular-based replicator technology that meshed with their own forms. That development allowed for a lot of diversification before their various blocs and genealogies eventually reunited and they elevated themselves to postphysical status. From the small snippets of true history the navy expeditions had uncovered, it seemed that the trigger factor for reunification was the threat posed by the Prime.

Sitting in the antique styling of the Last Throw Last Throw's cabin with an uncommunicative Gore, the Delivery Man couldn't help but wonder if the Anomine had found the Prime a little too much like looking into a mirror for comfort. Bodies that had merged into machinery? Albeit the Prime capability was set at a more primitive level. There but for the grace of G.o.d go I, grace in this case being the Prime's biogenetically embedded xenophobia. The Anomine were only too well aware of what would happen if the paranoid, aggressive, and heavily armed Prime ever escaped their home star system, as they were already attempting in slower-than-light starships. Their concerns were vindicated by their observation of the first Prime ships to reach the existing civilization of the closest star system, Dyson Beta. The peaceful aliens of that world never stood a chance.

Within ten years of the genocidal invasion, the Anomine had thrown up force field barriers around the stars humans came to know as the Dyson Pair. Where the Dark Fortress generators had come from-indigenous construction or borrowed from the Raiel-was a point still much argued over by a small specialist section of human academia. But it was that effort which had brought the diverse Anomine back together. Barely a hundred fifty years after the barriers went up, the majority of the Anomine went postphysical.

"There's nothing about the elevation mechanism," the Delivery Man said as the Last Throw Last Throw streaked toward the Anomine star at fifty-five light-years an hour. They were fifteen minutes out, and the starship's sensors were starting to obtain high-resolution scans of the system with all its planets. streaked toward the Anomine star at fifty-five light-years an hour. They were fifteen minutes out, and the starship's sensors were starting to obtain high-resolution scans of the system with all its planets.

"Cla.s.sified," Gore replied smartly. "Some aspects of government never change no matter how benevolent and transparent they strive to be. Secrecy is like oxygen to politicians and defense forces; there's always got to be some of it to keep them going."

"But you've got the files, right?"

"I've accessed the summaries."

The Delivery Man gave Gore a suspicious look. "I thought you had this all planned out."

"I do, sonny, so stop with the panicking."

"Have you got those summaries?"

"Not actually with us here today, no, but I remember most of the critical stuff."

"But ... You do know how to get it working again, don't you? You said that."

"I said that we think it's intact."

"No!" The Delivery Man sat forward abruptly, almost ready to fly out of the chair and go nose to nose with Gore. "No, no, you said, and I quote, they went postphysical and left their elevation mechanism behind."

"Well, obviously they didn't take the f.u.c.ker with them." Gore gave a chirpy grin. "If you're postphysical, you can't, because the mechanism is physical. We saw that with the Skoloskie; their mechanism was still there rusting away on their abandoned homeworld. Same goes for the Fallror. It's what happens. Jeezus, relax, will you; you're acting like a prom virgin who's made it to the motel room."

"But. You. The. Oh, s.h.i.t! Tell me the navy has seen the Anomine mechanism; tell me you know it's on their homeworld."

"The navy exploration parties that did manage to get through communicated with the old-style Anomine left on the planet. They had legends of their ancestral cousins leaving. The legends are quite specific about that; they departed the homeworld itself. QED, that's where the mechanism must be."

"You don't know know! I trusted you! Ozzied.a.m.nit. I could be making progress; I could have opened the Sol barrier by now."

"Son, Marius would have shredded you like a puppy stuffed into a food blender if I'd let you go off after him. You're good at what you do, delivering stuff to my agents and the odd bit of observation work. That's why I recruited you, because everyone knows you're basically harmless, which puts you above suspicion. Face it, you've just not got the killer instinct."

"My family is trapped back there. I would do anything-"

"Which has made you angry, yes, which is driving you on. But that's bad for you. It would mean there comes a point where you hesitate or get a nasty dose of doubt and remorse and decency when you were sawing off Marius's fingers and making him eat them."

The Delivery Man wrinkled his nose up in revulsion. "I wasn't going to-"

"Son, you just said you'd do anything. And that would be the least of it. These people don't roll over because you ask them nice. You'd have to strap Marius down on the dungeon table and make make him tell you how to take down the barrier. And I'll lay you good odds the only person who can actually deactivate the barrier is Ilanthe, and she's not available. No. The only way for you to achieve anything right now is by helping me. So will you please stop the f.u.c.k whining and let me work out how to find the mechanism." him tell you how to take down the barrier. And I'll lay you good odds the only person who can actually deactivate the barrier is Ilanthe, and she's not available. No. The only way for you to achieve anything right now is by helping me. So will you please stop the f.u.c.k whining and let me work out how to find the mechanism."

"c.r.a.p!" The Delivery Man slumped back down, furious at being taken in again and even more furious that Gore was right. Somewhere in his mind was an image of himself threatening Marius, maybe firing a jelly gun close to his head, which would make anyone capitulate. Right? He shook his head, feeling foolish. Then he gave Gore a sharp look. "Wait a minute. You said the ones that got through."

"What?" Gore paid him little attention. His eyes were closed as he lounged back in his orange sh.e.l.l chair, a.n.a.lyzing the smartcore's data.

"The navy exploration ships that came here. You said some some got through?" There was no reply. The Delivery Man requested the raw sensor data, building up a coherent image of what they were approaching. The star's cometary halo seemed to have active stations of some kind drifting through it, large stations with force fields protecting them from a detailed scan. got through?" There was no reply. The Delivery Man requested the raw sensor data, building up a coherent image of what they were approaching. The star's cometary halo seemed to have active stations of some kind drifting through it, large stations with force fields protecting them from a detailed scan.

"Oh, yeah, them," Gore said eventually. "The borderguards are a good security team. They're left over from the last of the high-technology-era Anomine, and they don't like anyone contaminating the old homeworld."

"The whats?" It didn't sound good, not at all. But Gore never had time to answer him. That was when the Last Throw Last Throw dropped out of ultradrive, and the smartcore was showing him an image of the borderguard not a kilometer away. It measured over five kilometers across, though most of it was empty s.p.a.ce. The primary structure was of curving strands arranged in a broad ellipsoid, but they bent around sharply in the thick central section, forming three twisting cavities that intersected in the middle. Each strand appeared to be transparent, filled with a thick gas that hosted a mult.i.tude of dazzling green sparks. They swarmed along the strands as if there were a gale blowing inside. Floating in the heart of the cavities was a shape identical to the one formed by the green strands; this one was barely a tenth of the size, filled with a sapphire gas complete with swift sparks. At its center was a crimson shape; inside that was a yellow version that had a lavender speck nestled within. Pa.s.sive sensors couldn't make out if there was another miniature version contained by its haze, and a strong force field prevented any active examination. dropped out of ultradrive, and the smartcore was showing him an image of the borderguard not a kilometer away. It measured over five kilometers across, though most of it was empty s.p.a.ce. The primary structure was of curving strands arranged in a broad ellipsoid, but they bent around sharply in the thick central section, forming three twisting cavities that intersected in the middle. Each strand appeared to be transparent, filled with a thick gas that hosted a mult.i.tude of dazzling green sparks. They swarmed along the strands as if there were a gale blowing inside. Floating in the heart of the cavities was a shape identical to the one formed by the green strands; this one was barely a tenth of the size, filled with a sapphire gas complete with swift sparks. At its center was a crimson shape; inside that was a yellow version that had a lavender speck nestled within. Pa.s.sive sensors couldn't make out if there was another miniature version contained by its haze, and a strong force field prevented any active examination.

"Now what?" the Delivery Man whispered.

"We talk very f.u.c.king quietly in case they're listening in," Gore snapped back.

The Delivery Man actually cringed from the look of contempt Gore gave him. He cleared his throat. "All right. Is it going to shoot at us?"

"I hope not."

"So what do we do?"

"We ask permission to go through."

"And if it says no?"

"Pray it doesn't. We'll have to kill all seventeen thousand of them."

"Can this ship actually-" He broke off and kept silent. The smartcore shot a simple communication pulse at the borderguard. Sensors showed another five of the gigantic stations appearing out of odd spatial distortions a few thousand kilometers away.

"Why are you here?" the borderguard asked.

"We are representatives from the human race; two of us are on board."

"What type?"

"Higher. You have dealt with us before and were favorable. I ask for that consideration to be shown again."

"Your species has withdrawn all information valid to you from those who stayed behind."

"I understand. We seek data on those who left. We are a subsect of our species which believes we should try to evolve as the final Anomine did. We seek information on their society."

"You carry weapons; they are of a sophisticated nature. Those of your species who came before did not carry weapons."

"There is an active conflict among our species and the Ocisen Empire. Other species are emerging who are hostile. Interstellar travel is a dangerous endeavor right now. We reserve the right to protect ourselves."

"We have detected no conflict."

"It is coming. The Void underwent a small expansion recently. Species across the galaxy are becoming alarmed by its behavior."

"We detected the Void expansion."

"In which case we would ask that you grant us permission to try and emulate the ultimate success of your species."

"You may have access to those items left behind by the final Anomine. You may examine them with any means except physical alteration or destruction. You may not remove any item from our ancestral world. All items must be left in place when you leave."

"We thank you for the generosity you show us."

The Last Throw Last Throw fell back into hypers.p.a.ce and raced in for the Anomine homeworld. The Delivery Man observed its course display with some curiosity as they performed a wide arc around the G3 star. The starship started to drop the confluence nest satellites one at a time. They finished up s.p.a.ced equidistantly in an orbit two hundred million kilometers out from the primary. fell back into hypers.p.a.ce and raced in for the Anomine homeworld. The Delivery Man observed its course display with some curiosity as they performed a wide arc around the G3 star. The starship started to drop the confluence nest satellites one at a time. They finished up s.p.a.ced equidistantly in an orbit two hundred million kilometers out from the primary. Last Throw Last Throw headed in for the Anomine homeworld. headed in for the Anomine homeworld.

There was a lot of junk in high orbit out beyond the geosynchronous halo. All of it was ancient, inactive: vast s.p.a.ceship docks and habitation stations that had slowly been battered by micrometeorites and larger particles, subjected to solar radiation for millennia coincident with thermal extremes. Consequently, they were no more than brittle tissue-thin hulls now, drifting into highly elliptical orbits as their atmosphere leaked out and tanks ruptured. Chunks had broken off, tumbling away into their own orbit, bashing into one another, fracturing again and again. Now millions of them formed a thick gritty gray toroid around the old world.

The Last Throw Last Throw darted gracefully through the astronautical graveyard and flew down to a standard thousand-kilometer parking orbit above the equator. From there, the starship's optical sensors showed a planet similar to any H-congruous world, with deep blue oceans and continents graded with green and brown land, depending on the climate. Huge white cloud formations drifted through the clear air, their fat twisted peaks greater than any of the mountain ranges they blanketed. darted gracefully through the astronautical graveyard and flew down to a standard thousand-kilometer parking orbit above the equator. From there, the starship's optical sensors showed a planet similar to any H-congruous world, with deep blue oceans and continents graded with green and brown land, depending on the climate. Huge white cloud formations drifted through the clear air, their fat twisted peaks greater than any of the mountain ranges they blanketed.

"So now what?" the Delivery Man asked.

"Find a haystack, then start searching for its needle."

The Delivery Man deliberately didn't glare at the gold-faced man sitting in the sh.e.l.l chair opposite him. There was no point. "This planet is bigger than Earth," he read from his exovision displays. "Surface area nearly eighty million square miles. That's a lot of land to search with any degree of thoroughness."

"What makes you think it's on land?"

"Okay, what makes you think it's even here? Was that in the summary? The Anomine had settled in eight other star systems that we know of."

"And they're all deserted. That's a G.o.dd.a.m.n fact. They came back here, every type of them. Another dumba.s.s pilgrimage. This is where they elevated from."

"Oh, Great Ozzie," the Delivery Man moaned. "You don't know, do you? You've no b.l.o.o.d.y idea. You're hoping. That's all. Hoping there's an answer here."

"I'm applying logic."

The Delivery Man wanted to beat his fists on the chair. But it wouldn't be any use, not even as emotional therapy. He'd been committed from the moment he left Gore's asteroid. "All right. But you must have some idea how to find the d.a.m.n thing, right?"

"Again, we're going to apply logic. First we perform a complete low-orbit mapping flight and scan every inch of the place for exotic activity or gravity fluctuations, power generation, quantum anomalies-anything out of the ordinary."

"But that'll take ..."

"Several days, yes."

"And if we don't find anything?"

"Go down and talk to the natives, see what they can tell us."

"But they're an agrarian civilization, human equivalent to the mid-nineteenth century. They're not going to know about machines that can turn you into an angel."

"They have legends; we know that. They're proud of their history. The navy cultural anthropology team did some good work. We can even talk to them direct. And they're more advanced than our nineteenth century-that I do remember from the files. Not that the comparison is entirely valid."

"Okay. Whatever."

Gore gave the briefest of nods and issued orders to the smartcore.

"Why did you bring me?" the Delivery Man asked. "You and the ship can handle this."

"Backup," Gore said flatly. "I might need help at some point. Who knows?"

"Great."

"Get yourself some rest, son. You've been wired tight for days now."

The Delivery Man admitted he was too tired and edgy to argue. He went over to his private cubicle and rolled onto the small but luxurious cot that expanded out of the bulkhead. He didn't expect to sleep. He was still wound up tight about Lizzie and the children. The ship's TD link to the unisphere remained connected, so he could access all the news from back home.

High Angel had arrived at the Sol system. After six hours Qatux had diplomatically announced to the President that there was nothing the huge arkship could do. The force field the Accelerators' Swarm had deployed was too strong to break with any weapon they had. had arrived at the Sol system. After six hours Qatux had diplomatically announced to the President that there was nothing the huge arkship could do. The force field the Accelerators' Swarm had deployed was too strong to break with any weapon they had.

After switching through several ill-informed news shows, the Delivery Man fell into a troubled sleep.

Corrie-Lyn woke up with a start, disoriented and unsure what had hauled her up out of such a deep sleep. She glanced around the small darkened cabin, listening intently, but there was nothing. Sometimes the Lindau Lindau's poor battered systems would produce odd sounds. Pipes gurgled and bubbled, and the servicebots hammered away as they worked through their repair schedule; then there was that one time when she swore she'd heard the hull itself creak. But tonight it was silent aside from the constant hum of power, which was vaguely rea.s.suring even though it shouldn't be that loud. At least they still had power.

Inigo stirred briefly beside her, and she smiled down gently at him. It was so good good to have him back, physically as well as emotionally. Even though he wasn't quite the messiah of yore, he was still her Inigo, concerned about different things now but still as determined and focused as before. She felt so much happier now that he was here to help, despite still being unable to escape Aaron. to have him back, physically as well as emotionally. Even though he wasn't quite the messiah of yore, he was still her Inigo, concerned about different things now but still as determined and focused as before. She felt so much happier now that he was here to help, despite still being unable to escape Aaron.