Sufficiently Advanced Technology (Inverse Shadows) (43 page)

“You no longer have access to magic,” the AIs said. “We have tested the spells on Ancient worlds. They do not work.”

“That is understood,” Dacron said. They might not have him, but they’d have his memories. It might help them discover the key to unlocking the quantum foam. “However, I would prefer to remain in human form for the moment.”

“Your wishes will be honoured,” the AIs said, after a pause so slight that a normal human would have missed it. Dacron knew that it was a precisely modulated act. The AIs, capable of predicting vast tracts of the future, would have hardly needed to think for more than a nanosecond before speaking. “And we will wait for your return.”

“Enjoy my memories,” Dacron said, as he strode out of the chamber. “And don’t forget that you have other people to study now too.”

He smiled.
Hamilton
had been joined by
Hope
,
Faith
and
Charity
, three cityships that dwarfed the survey ship. Right now, most of the population of Darius was being invited onboard, where they would start the long process of adapting to Confederation life. The AIs – and the rest of the Confederation – would be studying them intensely, particularly their genetics. Now that the boosted quantum foam field was gone, who knew
what
their children would be able to grow into?

“You destroyed the Darius Machine,” the AIs said, flatly. “There is little left for us to study.”

“There was no choice,” Dacron reminded them. They had all of his memories, after all. “And besides, the alternative was letting it prey on the planet.”

He stepped into the transport tube and was whisked through the ship, emerging near the conference room. Inside, Elyria, Joshua and Captain Thor were waiting for him, along with holographic representations from the Confederation Security Council. The large compartment was almost empty, a stark reminder of how many people had died on the planet’s surface. At least a handful of bodies had been recovered and consigned to the heart of the local star. Their brain-patterns would be downloaded into clone bodies and allowed to resume their lives.

“Thank you for coming,” Captain Thor said. Dacron nodded. His memories would already have been scanned and analysed by the AIs, after which they would be entered into the record for the post-mission debriefing. “Admiral?”

The Grand Admiral smiled, humourlessly. “The real question is simple,” he said. “What did we learn from this mission?”

***

Elyria placed one hand on her chest at his tone, even though it would be months before her body showed a bulge. She’d considered having the baby transferred to an external womb, but careful analysis had suggested that it might be dangerous, at least for the child. The baby was linked to her body in a way that made it very difficult to transfer her without complications. Like so much else about Darius, it was inexplicable.

She frowned, thoughtfully. “The most important thing we learned, I think, is that our procedures need to be revised,” she admitted. The Interventionists had already suspended two other operations, at least until they digested the condensed report from Darius. On the other hand, it was unlikely that any mundane world would pose the same problem. “We also learned a great deal about the Darius Machine.”

“Although we have learned nothing about its builders,” Dacron added. “It was very definitely not the product of human technology. Other than that...”

He shrugged. “There are too many unanswered questions,” he said. “Why did they want to breed humans with a link to the quantum foam? Why didn’t they give it the intelligence to prevent said humans from going insane and being butchered? Why did it keep knocking down civilisation on Darius? Why didn’t it find a more effective response to our arrival?”

The Admiral leaned forward. “You cannot pull those answers from the rubble?”

“We have analysed every single component of the remains,” the AIs said. “We believe that most of the device was composed of crystal lattice, programmed to serve as a repository for the machine’s thoughts and datafiles, but we have been unable to be more specific. The machine’s storage cells were wiped and then disintegrated. We may locate a surviving component elsewhere on the planet...”

“We can’t rely on that,” Dacron said. “It didn’t have the imagination to try to outwit its own self-destruct system.”

“Leaving the planet in chaos,” Elyria said. At least the Confederation had been able to help. Darius would fall back into the wild – apart from the teams crawling all over the
Clarke
and the remains of the Darius Machine – and would eventually be resettled, or start producing an intelligent race of its own. “I don’t think we can assume that the device’s makers were friendly.”

It had stored human mental patterns in its crystal lattice, she knew. What if it had also stored mental patterns from its own creators? One theory suggested that the creators had intended to transfer their mental patterns into the magical children, once there were enough of them, and that was why the machine had been working towards their creation. With the machine’s destruction, there was no way to know for certain. The researchers would just have to speculate wildly.

“We believe that we are working towards a comparable understanding of the quantum foam,” the AIs said, after a long moment. “Our research always suggested that hyperspace would provide the key to advancing into the Sixth Age. Instead, the Darius Machine relied upon tiny black holes – and the singularities within. It may be possible for us to duplicate its success and gain control over a limited section of the quantum foam.”

“We were told that by the Elders,” the Admiral said, calmly. “Are you suggesting that they mislead us?”

“That wasn’t exactly what they told us,” the AIs countered. “We feel that we heard what we wished to hear.”

Elyria gave the Admiral a sharp look. What was he talking about?

“Classified,” the Admiral said, and ignored her glare. “How much more do you think we can learn from Darius?”

“We are unsure,” the AIs admitted. “We will continue researching the planet, now that the Dead Zones are gone. It may be possible to learn more about the magic – the manipulation of the quantum foam – through their books, and we may locate more of the Darius Machine.”

“At least we can help the population,” Elyria said, firmly. It was early days yet, but most of the planet’s population seemed overwhelmed by the Confederation’s largesse. The only real objections had come from the former Pillars and Scions, who had to adjust to a world where they couldn’t click their fingers and turn their enemies into toads. “And there is the genetic legacy of Darius to consider.”

She patted her belly meaningfully. The CSC had already debated her child, she knew, even though she hadn’t been invited to join
that
discussion. Indeed, she suspected that some of the Conservatives and Isolationists had argued that her daughter should be aborted, just in case she would pose a later danger to the Confederation. Eventually, she’d been asked to have her child on an isolated platform, well away from the rest of humanity. She’d agreed, after some haggling. And Joshua had insisted on accompanying her.

“Yes, there is,” the AIs added. “Overall, this mission was a success. We learned a great deal more about the quantum foam than we knew before we started. And we have ensured that the Darius Machine will not fall into unfriendly hands.”

“And yet we still don’t know who built it,” the Admiral mused.

“It may remain a mystery,” the AIs agreed. “We have managed to recover some memory chips from
Clarke
. The colony ship was heading for a star much closer to Earth when they found themselves transported across half the galaxy. Quite how that happened is uncertain; they don’t seem to have realised that they travelled forward in time as well as in space. There are some similarities between the crystal lattices and the Jewelled Boxes on Essence, but nothing to suggest a link between the two worlds.”

“Let’s hope not,” Elyria said. “Although it may lend support to the theory that the improved children were meant to serve as hosts.”

“We may never know,” the AIs said. “Overall, the mission was a success.”

“Sure it was,” Elyria muttered. “And yet the patient died.”

***

“This is fantastic!”

Joshua allowed himself a smile. Julius and Rose had been among the first to be brought up to the cityship when the Confederation had openly revealed itself and they
loved
it. Their parents still thought it was a trap, or a way to deprive them of their hard-earned cash, but their children were delighted at the possibilities. And they would never have to do what anyone else wanted ever again. The old biddies who cast a long shadow over young lives would have no power in the Confederation.

“Yes, it is,” he said, quietly. He had no magic any longer – apart from the niggling sense that the magic field was still there – but it hardly mattered. “You can be whatever you like out here.”

Master Faye had betrayed him. Joshua wasn’t sure what to make of that, or of Dacron, who had killed him. And yet Master Faye clearly hadn’t been acting of his own free will. Joshua had been controlled by the Darius Machine, forced to do its bidding, and he knew how hard it had been to fight. Master Faye hadn’t
meant
to betray the Confederation and try to kill his apprentice.

And Joshua was going to be a father. He wasn’t sure what to make of that either.

He shook his head as he looked down at Darius, turning slowly below the vast starship. The planet would never be the same again, not when half of the population had already departed, boarding the giant starships. His mother and father had come when he’d urged them to join him, but they’d been stunned at what they’d seen and retreated to their cabins. The younger ones seemed to find it easier to adapt to the ships, while the elders complained about losing their world. It didn’t seem to occur to them that there was a better way to live.

And besides, they would never be at the mercy of the Pillars ever again.

He watched Julius and Rose walking off and smiled inwardly. There were all sorts of possibilities opening up now. He would learn to fly an aircraft, and then a spacecraft; he would find a place in the Confederation... he would have a better life than he would have as either a Scion or a Pillar. And even if they couldn’t fix the damage he’d inflicted on his brain, at least the absence of magic should stop any further damage. The future looked bright and full of promise.

And who knew where their child would lead the Confederation, in the future?

E
PILOGUE

Nine months after Darius, Elyria lay on the bed and relaxed, feeling her enhanced body slowly repairing itself after giving birth. The whole procedure had been uncomfortable even
with
the enhancements, explaining why so many women preferred to use external wombs rather than gestate their children naturally. A strange sense of pleasure suffused her as she recovered, just before the midwife held the child up in front of her. The baby looked... like a baby.

“Thank you,” she breathed, as she took her daughter into her arms. The baby felt delicate to her, despite the enhancements that had been a core part of her genetic inheritance. “Were... were there any complications?”

“None,” the AI drone reported. “The birth was textbook perfect.”

Elyria allowed herself a moment of relief. The child she had been carrying – the child in her arms – was perhaps the most famous person in the entire Confederation, even though she’d done nothing. Ever since the news about Darius had spread across the datanet, the entire universe had been speculating on what her child might become – and some of their speculations had been nightmarish. One group had suggested that her child would become a minor god, a being with the power of an Elder and the body of a human; another had suggested that she would be an eldritch abomination and Elyria herself would die in childbirth. It hadn’t been very reassuring.

“Good,” she said, finally. Despite her enhancements, she still felt tired. “Have you registered the birth with the Confederation’s datanet?”

“You have yet to select a name,” the AIs reminded her. The child would carry her birth-name until she reached maturity, whereupon she would be able to change her name if she wanted to be called something different. “And there is a more important matter.”

Elyria looked up, alarmed. “We have been unable to send nanites inside her body,” the AIs added. “They just die the moment they enter her skin.”

“Just like the snoops on Darius,” Elyria said. She looked down at her daughter’s bright green eyes. “Is she generating a portable Dead Zone,
instinctively
?”

“We are uncertain,” the AIs admitted. “It is possible that her abilities are defending her body from intrusion, even though we mean no harm. In the long run, she may be unable to accept rejuvenation if we cannot use nanotech inside her.”

Elyria shook her head in disbelief. None of the former magicians from Darius had ever been able to do more than sense the quantum foam, even on an Ancient world. There was no longer any magic, until now. Her daughter was minutes old and she was already stunning the AIs with powers that she simply shouldn’t be able to have. The entire Confederation would be astonished when they found out.

But she was still Elyria’s child.

She pulled her daughter to her breast protectively and looked up, at the drone. “But what can cause this?” she asked, plaintively. Might her child never be anything more than an experimental subject? “What did the machine do to her? How did it even
happen
?”

“Sufficiently advanced technology,” the AIs said. “Magic.”

The End

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