Read Online Beyond Infinity by Gregory Benford - Free Book Online

thinned again, and he nodded. “All along the Library valleys they attacked new work and old alike. We could not divine what they were about—killing Originals—and when we did, it was too late.”
    Her anger, stilled for a moment by his vulnerability, returned like an acrid burn in the back of her throat. “We had nothing to defend ourselves!”
    “Did you think we had weapons?”
    “Supras have everything!”
    He sighed. “Few were useful. We protect through our laboring machines, leaning on the genius of our past. These failed.”
    “There was fighting in the past. I have heard—”
    “The far past. Well before your time. We—”
    “ They knew how. Why didn’t you ?”
    His expression changed again several times with a speed she found baffling. Then a grave sourness shaped his mouth with a sardonic twist. “Tell me who they were, and perhaps I can answer you.”
    “They?” She felt sudden doubt. “I thought you would know.”
    “I do not.”
    She dammed up the bitter torrent within her and said quietly, “I saw nothing that looked human.”
    “Nor we.”
    She studied him for a long moment. He was twice her size, with an enormous head. Yet his nose was stubby, like an afterthought. Kurani had been a variation on the Supra theme, taller and more muscled. This other variation she found less appealing, but the focused intelligence in this man was reassuring now. “We, we depend on you, we Originals—”
    “Ur-human,” the man corrected absently, distracted.
    “What?”
    “Oh, I am quite sorry. We term your particular kind Ur-human, since you are the earliest form available of all Originals.”
    Her lips whitened under pressure. “And what do you call yourselves?”
    “Ah, humans,” he said uncomfortably.
    “How can you tell which I am?”
    “Earlobes, teeth narrowly spaced. Those were later modified in even early Original forms, I gather from my studies with the Keeper of Records.”
    “Look, I—”
    “Large spacings prevent food from accumulating and decaying. Even we use that design, as you can see, but also regrow a set every century to compensate for wear. If—”
    “You don’t know what to do next, do you?”
    The man’s raptly studious expression vanished as he blinked. “I merely hoped to enlist your aid.”
    “You people run the world, not us.”
    Soberly he said, “No longer.”
    “What were those, those things , those Furies that killed my people, my…?”
    He paced, his energy barely contained. “We do not know. You possess mostly those skills appropriate to tending the forests. None of us has mastered warring technology—it is ancient beyond measure.”
    He gazed apprehensively at the sky, rubbing his shoulder as though he were stiff. She noticed that his light, loose-fitting jumpsuit was stained and torn.
    “You fought them how?”
    “As we could. We were surprised. Many died in the first moments. You say you saw humanlike forms in those fast geometric displays? It could be they were humans in warcraft. I saw only flame out beyond our shields—which soon dissolved.”
    Seeker spoke from beside them. “The lightning returned here, later, to burn the dead humans more thoroughly.”
    Both humans were startled. Blinking, the man said, “That fits.”
    Seeker shrugged. “You found no bodies unburned, anywhere?”
    The man frowned. “Not yet.”
    “I doubt you will,” Seeker said. “I believe they were crisping to destroy even the DNA.”
    They stood without speaking until Cley asked, “The, the Library?”
    “Come.” He gave the order without taking his eyes from the sky. His mouth echoed a quick flurry of emotion, and he held a palm up to Seeker. “We gather now, those who remain.”
    This seemed enough for Seeker; it had made up its mind to go, and told her so with an arched shrug, close enough to a human gesture to convey meaning. The brass-bright craft tilted momentarily on its electromagnetic cushion as the procyon boarded. Cley went through the wide