"You're compelling it upon every sentient. At least the gaiafield had a provision for individuals to withdraw. This doesn't. Its mental fascism, and the worst of it is you think it's benevolent, for our own good. Blanket the galaxy with minds.p.a.ce and you'll turn us into the kind of society I found in the Last Dream. Don't you get it? Utopia is boring; ennui is our true enemy. You and the Void both have to be stopped. You were wrong about sharing thoughts just like Edeard in his dark phase. Both of you were seduced by the Heart's version of perfection, which is nothing more than taming and enslaving the human soul."

Aaron sat down next to Oscar, holding a plate of waffles. Oscar leaned over and whispered. "Liatris says the replicator will be finished in eighteen minutes."

"Maybe there's something to be said for the Void's time acceleration, after all," Aaron muttered back.

"Have they been like this all the time?"

"Five days, nonstop. I encouraged them to explore options."

"So what do you make of our big silent friend?" Oscar nodded gently at the hulking armor suit.

"Neutral for the moment. I can accept his concern about the Cat. If he keeps it on inside his own starship, then I'll have to make some decisions."

"Yeah. And you really don't know what's going to happen once we reach Makkathran?"

"No. But I like your optimism."

Oscar gave him another look. He liked to think he could tell. But Aaron had this human sh.e.l.l wrapped over something very odd indeed-almost a void in itself. He mimicked personality rather than possessing one of his own. And Corrie-Lyn hadn't been subtle about the near breakdowns.

"Individuality cannot stand as it has always done," Ozzie protested. "The human race has to become collective. For f.u.c.k's sake, we have novabombs, M-sinks, quantumbusters, enough weapons to smash the galaxy to s.h.i.t without the Void even having to wake up. That power has to be restrained. Ask the Mutineer over there. Don't you ever stop and think what'll happen if someone like the Cat gets hold of them and goes on a rampage? For fun! There has to be an inbuilt protection mechanism in a society as technologically sophisticated as ours. And that is trust trust, man. It's all it ever can be. Minds.p.a.ce will make trust inevitable. You really will be able to love your neighbor."

"Minds.p.a.ce is exactly the same as giving a psychopath a Commonwealth Navy warship. There are aliens out there who have thought processes so utterly different from ours, they'll think you're trying to take them over or evangelize and alter their culture."

"That is a serious bunch of c.r.a.p. What do you know about-"

A red exovision tactical warning sprang up over Ozzie and Inigo; secondary thought routines supplied Oscar's mind with a definition of the problem. A T-sphere was establishing itself all around Ozzie's house. "s.h.i.t!"

His integral force field came on. As it did, he saw Troblum's suit blacken to deepest night. Son of a b.i.t.c.h, that's Sol barrier technology Son of a b.i.t.c.h, that's Sol barrier technology.

Full field function scan showed seventeen Chikoya teleporting onto the gra.s.sy slope just above the lakesh.o.r.e. A quick follow-up scan revealed they were heavily armored, weapons active.

"Liatris, come get us. Now."

"On my way," Liatris replied.

Another twenty-three Chikoya teleported in, completing their encirclement of the house. A six-strong squad charged forward across the front lawn. Oscar was about to ask Tomansio what attack formation he wanted to use when his field scan reported something very odd happening to Ozzie's quantum structure. Accelerant-flooded nerves reacted fast, spinning him around, and targeting graphics swept across the abnormality zone, focusing on Ozzie, who was already becoming transparent as his body's molecules changed changed, attenuating. There was just enough of him left to reveal an apologetic expression on his spectral face. He raised a hand in a halfhearted wave.

"Wait!" Oscar yelled. "You're leaving?" It came out as sheer disbelief.

"This kinda thing really isn't me anymore," Ozzie replied faintly.

"Yes, it is! You're Ozzie. Help us."

"You dudes have it pretty much covered. But hey, one day I might join in again. Don't hold your breath." And with that his outline vanished. Some kind of disturbance stirred the underlying quantum fields, something way beyond Oscar's field function scan to a.n.a.lyze.

"f.u.c.k me!" Beckia gasped. "Where's he gone?"

"Irrelevant," Tomansio said. "Mutineer, you safeguard the Dreamers. Everyone else, let's meet and greet. Compa.s.s point deployment, beat them back from the house."

Oscar crunched his way straight through the kitchen wall and leaped from the veranda, flying a good fifteen meters over the dark gra.s.s. He landed on the lawn that sloped down to the lake. Tomansio was on his right, heading for the spinney that bordered the garden. Beckia was on his left, where the land started to curve upward before breaking into rough terrain. Oscar was gratified to see how well he fit into the team, knowing at an automatic level how to position himself.

He'd never seen a Chikoya before, never mind six at once. It was a shock, but all he was concerned about was a tactical a.n.a.lysis of the armor, weapons, and maneuverability. A small traitor section of his mind wondered what Dushiku or Jesaral would make of something that big in k.n.o.bbly black armor rampaging toward them with husky weapons swinging around to shoot. All he saw was the exovision targeting structure, with secondary routines coordinating fire control for his enrichments. Electronic warfare emissions hammered the Chikoya suit circuits, hashing and confusing their sensors. Energy beams and distortion pulses blasted through the air. Two Chikoya went tumbling backward, their armor smoldering, spraying jets of dark purple blood from gaping wounds. The others went for cover, firing as they went.

Masers slashed across Oscar's integral force field, which deflected them easily. Then his macrocellular cl.u.s.ters warned him of a targeting scan, and he jumped again as an electron laser detonated the ground where he'd been standing half a second before. He somersaulted at the top of his jump trajectory, twisting left, landing at a crouch and sending a ma.s.sive distortion pulse at the Chikoya who was hefting the enormous beam gun.

On either side of him the Knights Guardian were hopping between cover points, their speed amplified by accelerants and biononic muscle reinforcement. A range of suppression fire lashed out, forcing the Chikoya back from the house.

Oscar was sprinting along the scorched gra.s.s as one of the aliens followed his movement with some kind of neutron beam that was gouging through the soil and stone, creating a fantail of lava and flame in his wake. He dispensed a hail of micromissiles at the origin. Something exploded. The shock wave buffeted him. There was no more neutron beam.

"Anyone know what they want?" Beckia asked as she rolled over a clump of boulders. A flight of smartmines arched out to bombard the Chikoya squad slithering through the boulders on the slope above her.

"The Dreamer," Aaron told her.

"Why?" Oscar asked. Two Chikoya were charging right at him, masers and machine guns firing enhanced explosive grenades, pummeling the ground and air all around as he dodged along a narrow drainage gully that led down to the lake. He sprang up and got a clean electron laser shot at the magazine on an opponent's underbelly. The explosion shredded most of the alien. Steaming lumps of gore and fragments of armor rained down.

"Never quite got that far into the conversation," Aaron said.

A tactical display showed Oscar how the Knights Guardian were pressing the Chikoya away from the house in a rough expanding circle. However, some were still close to the other side of the house, creeping forward. Cheriton was having a hard time prizing them free from their cover on the steep forested slope. "Liatris, where are you?"

"Two minutes," Liatris promised.

The Chikoya were starting to regroup along the sh.o.r.eline ahead of Oscar. Several of them splashed through the shallows. Oscar began to designate targets for his smartseeker munitions. Then his field scan showed him Myraian dancing across the smoking remains of the lawn toward them. He risked sticking his head out from the gully to watch her. She was skipping and twirling as if she were in some elaborate ballet performance. Her gauzy blouse with its wing sleeves spun around her as she waved her arms, creating serpentine loops in the air. Chikoya targeting lasers converged on her.

"What the f.u.c.k-" Oscar grunted. His field scan couldn't detect any kind of integral force field. "Get down!" he screamed at her. The crazy woman must be doped up on something; she seemed totally unaware of what was going on.

Myraian sang as she danced, the kind of warbling verse Oscar would've expected to hear from a Silfen, not a human. The ground around her feet rippled as tatters of loam and gravel were churned up by the storm of kinetic projectiles missing her. And they kept on missing her. The Chikoya simply couldn't get anything to hit. The armored aliens began to fall back as she approached. Their weapons fire stopped. Myraian finished her madcap dance directly in front of one of the ma.s.sive aliens. She giggled and swept her arms out wide to bow gracefully, bodylight glowing an exotic orange through her flimsy clothes. The Chikoya didn't move; its extended suit sensors tracked her carefully. Then she raised herself on her tiptoes, looking pitifully small and weak compared with the armored monster towering above her. She kissed the alien on the tip of its helmet.

The Chikoya collapsed on the ground. Dead.

Myraian pirouetted away as the rest of the Chikoya squad opened fire. Again they couldn't get a fix. She was almost invisible behind a blaze cloud of grenade detonations and stark purple ionization contrails.

Oscar realized he needed to breathe again.

"Let's give her some support," Tomansio ordered.

A cascade of smart weapons fell on the Chikoya squad. They broke and ran, leaving the sh.o.r.e strewn with fatalities. Myraian skipped gaily through the shallows, following them like some demented pixie storm trooper, kicking at the spume as she went. Her fluffy plimsolls were stained gray-blue with alien blood.

Oscar jumped up out of the long drainage gully and stared in disbelief. Two of the Chikoya being chased by Myraian teleported out. "Holy c.r.a.p," he murmured. What is she? What is she? Exact definitions didn't really concern him at that moment; he was just relieved she was on their side. Exact definitions didn't really concern him at that moment; he was just relieved she was on their side.

Five kilometers overhead, the Elvin's Payback Elvin's Payback arrived in a burst of sharp violet light as it decelerated hard. Above it, Oscar could just make out a ragged black hole punched through the compartment's dome; crumpled metallic shards tumbled silently through the tortured air on their long fall to the ground. Thin strands of mist grew in density around the rent, stretching and curving up to pour out into the vacuum beyond. The glowing cometary sphere suddenly flared, shoving out eight vivid pseudopods of dazzling flame. They separated from the starship and accelerated downward toward the beleaguered house. His biononics felt the combatbots' first sensor sweep. arrived in a burst of sharp violet light as it decelerated hard. Above it, Oscar could just make out a ragged black hole punched through the compartment's dome; crumpled metallic shards tumbled silently through the tortured air on their long fall to the ground. Thin strands of mist grew in density around the rent, stretching and curving up to pour out into the vacuum beyond. The glowing cometary sphere suddenly flared, shoving out eight vivid pseudopods of dazzling flame. They separated from the starship and accelerated downward toward the beleaguered house. His biononics felt the combatbots' first sensor sweep.

The Chikoya must have known what was coming. Another three teleported out.

"Ozzied.a.m.ned monsters," Cheriton exclaimed. Seven of them on higher ground were targeting him with a barrage of energy beams and a ferocious kinetic broadside, pushing his integral force field dangerously close to its limit.

"Priority target," Tomansio ordered Liatris. "Take out the hostiles surrounding Cheriton."

A ma.s.sive spear of incandescence lanced down out of the turbulent sky to strike the incline behind the house. Parts of Chikoya spewed upward. Aggressive flames swirled over the trees and bushes populating the slope. Cheriton was still being targeted by four Chikoya.

Oscar's scan showed him a T-sphere locus establishing itself around his teammate. "Counterprogram," he yelled.

"Can't," Cheriton replied.

Oscar, Tomansio, and Beckia immediately launched a volley of smartmissiles over the roof of the house. While he was fending off such an intense attack, Cheriton's biononics wouldn't be able to counterprogram the T-sphere as well as maintain his integral force field. The combatbots fired again, eliminating more Chikoya. This time the energy impact kicked up a long wildfire line across the forest, the formidable heat igniting whole trees. Thick smoke billowed up, cutting off all visual observation. But Oscar's field function scan could still slice clean through. He watched his exovision display showing Cheriton being teleported away.

"f.u.c.k it! Liatris, where did they take him?" Oscar demanded. "Where's the T-sphere center?"

The combatbots were barely five hundred meters overhead. They fired down continuously, adding to the conflagration now burning around half the house. The surviving Chikoya were teleporting out as fast as they could.

"It's centered in the Farloy compartment, about twelve hundred kilometers along the Spike. That's one of the major Chikoya settlements."

"Are you getting any kind of signal from him?" Tomansio asked.

"Negative. Shall I fly over there and run a detailed sensor sweep?"

"No," Tomansio said.

Oscar eyed the wall of fire that was creeping down the slope to consume the trees closest to the house. Thermal imaging was showing him some alarming temperatures blossoming across the walls. The T-sphere shrank to zero. He admitted Tomansio was right. Not that it was easy.

"Land by the house," he told Liatris. "I need the Dreamers safe on board before we get an entire Chikoya army teleporting in. Aaron, bring them out, please."

"Confirm," Aaron said.

Oscar turned around and ran a sweep along the sh.o.r.eline. There were nine dead Chikoya scattered across the blackened lawn and two of them lying in the water. His biononics couldn't find any trace of Myraian. He shook his head in bemus.e.m.e.nt at the fantastical woman. In a strange way he was rather glad she'd disappeared; it meant he didn't have to think about her.

Elvin's Payback thumped down out of the sky, sending out a shock wave that shattered the house's remaining windows and brought roof slates skittering down. It hovered five meters above the ruined garden. Oscar and the remaining Knights Guardian closed in, ready to provide cover as Aaron led the two Dreamers, Corrie-Lyn, and Troblum out across the veranda and underneath the starship. Its airlock bulged upward, and Inigo rose into it. Corrie-Lyn was next. thumped down out of the sky, sending out a shock wave that shattered the house's remaining windows and brought roof slates skittering down. It hovered five meters above the ruined garden. Oscar and the remaining Knights Guardian closed in, ready to provide cover as Aaron led the two Dreamers, Corrie-Lyn, and Troblum out across the veranda and underneath the starship. Its airlock bulged upward, and Inigo rose into it. Corrie-Lyn was next.

A couple of large trolleybots floated out of the house, each one carrying a medical chamber. Flames were flickering along the roof, gaining hold on the rafters. Smoke curled out of the gaping first-floor windows.

"What do we do?" Oscar asked Tomansio as they backed toward the starship. "Do we go after him?"

"No. He's true Knights Guardian; he's not expecting us to. That would jeopardize the mission."

"Jesus. What will they do to him?"

"If I was a Chikoya, I'd worry about what he'll do to them. Human biononics are a d.a.m.n site meaner than anything they've ever built."

The medical chambers were lifted smoothly up into the starship. It was just Oscar, Tomansio, and Beckia left. The starship's force fields came on around them.

"But they targeted him," Oscar said; even inside the protective shields he couldn't relax. "It was deliberate. They must have known he wasn't a Dreamer."

"Maybe they thought he was me," Aaron told them. "I had quite a run-in with the Chikoya before you arrived."

"Irrelevant," Tomansio said. He gestured at Oscar to step under the open airlock. "We have a job to do."

"Not irrelevant," Oscar insisted as he began to float up into the fuselage. He knew he was missing something, and it was making him very cross. "Surely he can get some kind of signal out. Liatris, are you seeing any sign of a firefight in the Farloy compartment?"

"No. Nothing registering."

Oscar slid up into the cabin to find the Dreamers and a miserable, shaking Corrie-Lyn giving him an anxious look. Troblum's helmet almost touched the ceiling. His armor had reverted to shabby gray again. He still hadn't opened it up.

Beckia arrived, swiftly followed by Tomansio. The cabin was feeling quite cramped even with the furniture withdrawn.

"Up and out," Tomansio said. "Come on, Oscar, let's go."

Oscar bit back any immediate comment and told the smartcore to take them back through the hole Liatris had created in the dome above. "We could make one flyover," he said.

"They could have teleported him to any compartment on the Spike by now," Beckia said sadly. "Or even into a starship. He could already be FTL."

"No, he's not," Oscar said, reviewing the sensor records as they pa.s.sed through the minihurricane surrounding the hole and emerged back into s.p.a.ce. "Nothing's gone FTL in the last ten minutes."

"Oscar, drop it," Tomansio said. "He's gone, and hopefully he took a whole bunch of the Chikoya b.a.s.t.a.r.ds with him. When we get back to Far Away, you're welcome to attend the ceremony of renewal. We'll grow him a new body and download his secure memory store into it. He'll spend the whole evening teasing you about worrying."

Oscar wanted to hit something. "All right." But I know something is wrong But I know something is wrong. He concentrated on the starship's sensors. The Mellanie's Redemption Mellanie's Redemption had left its landing pad at the same time as the had left its landing pad at the same time as the Elvin's Payback Elvin's Payback. Now it was holding station five thousand kilometers on the Spike's dark side. He told the smartcore to rendezvous with it.

"Troblum, we're safe now."

"Good," the armored figure said.

"You can take your helmet off."

There was a long pause while the big figure did nothing. Then horizontal lines of malmetal on the helmet flowed apart, leaving three segments on each side. They swung open.

Oscar tried to be neutral. Troblum's face was fat and heavy, his skin an unhealthy pallor and dribbling with sweat. Patchy stubble coated his cheeks and chins. "h.e.l.lo," he said sheepishly to his audience. He couldn't meet anyone's gaze.

"Thank you for offering your help," Inigo said. "We appreciate it."

Troblum gave a rough nod but didn't say anything.

Oscar didn't like the idea of relying on him one bit; there didn't seem to be any empathy. Troblum was not a likable person, and he'd decided that from just the half dozen sentences the man had spoken. Not that there was anything they could do about it. I'm committed. Again. Let's hope I don't have to die this time I'm committed. Again. Let's hope I don't have to die this time.

"So how did the Chikoya find you?" Liatris asked Inigo.

"Plenty of people in Octoron would know where Ozzie lives," Aaron said. "I'm surprised it took them this long, actually."

"I'm just glad you arrived before they did," Corrie-Lyn said. She was still trembling, even though she'd gotten a chair to extend and was sitting all hunched up. "We wouldn't have stood a chance otherwise."

"Don't be so sure," Beckia said. "Whatever that Myraian had was more than they could deal with."

"Is she a Silfen?" Tomansio asked.

"No," Araminta-two said. "I would have known that. She was human."

"I think 'was' is right," Oscar said. "She's not postphysical, but she's certainly more than Higher."

"Speaking of not being physical," Aaron said. "Ozzie?"

"Lady alone knows," Inigo said. "My physics is centuries out of date, but whatever he did was seriously advanced."