Read Online The Evolutionary Void by Peter F. Hamilton - Free Book Online

approved of.
    No, forget probably; it just won’t be .
    Not that she had a lot of alternatives.
    Once they were under way, the Silverbird ’s
smartcore plotted their course vector. Justine examined the projection, which
extended a sharp green line past a purple and scarlet nebula shaped like a
slipper orchid. The nebula was eleven light-years distant, and wherever they
were heading for beyond that was invisible, blocked by nebula light and pyres
of black interstellar dust.
    After breakfast and a bout of exercise in the ship’s gym, Justine sat
back on the couch and longtalked the Skylord.
    “How long will it take for us to reach the solid world we’re traveling
to?”
    “Until we reach it.”
    She almost smiled; it really was like talking to a five-year-old savant.
“The world orbits its star at a constant rate. How many times will it have gone
around by the time we arrive?” Then all she had to worry about was if the
Skylord even had a concept of numbers; after all, why would a spaceborne
creature need to develop math?
    “The world you seek will have gone around its star thirty-seven times by
the time we arrive there.”
    Crap! And a Querencia year is a lot longer than an
Earth year. Don’t their months last for something like forty days? “I
understand. Thank you.”
    “Will others of your kind come into the universe soon?”
    “The one your kindred spoke to, the one who asked you to let me in; she
will lead them here. Listen for her.”
    “All of my kindred do.”
    That sent a slight chill down Justine’s spine. “I would like to sleep for
the rest of the flight.”
    “As you wish.”
    “If anything happens, I will waken.”
    “What will happen?”
    “I don’t know. But if anything changes, I will be awake to talk to you
about it.”
    “Change in this universe is finding fulfillment. If you are asleep, you
will not reach fulfillment.”
    “I see. Thank you.”
    She spent a further half day getting ready, checking various systems,
loading in a whole series of instructions about what constituted a reason for
the smartcore to bring her back out of suspension. In the end she acknowledged
she was just killing time. The last thing she did as she got undressed was shut
down the confluence nest, ensuring that there would be no more of her amplified
dreams leaking out to warp reality with such unexpected consequences. That
brought back the one thought she’d been trying to avoid. Her mind lingered on
the Kazimir she’d abandoned on the slopes of the ersatz Mount Herculaneum. All
that was left of him now was a pattern in the Void’s memory layer. It wasn’t
fair to have lived for such a short time only to be unmade.
    I will make you real again , Justine promised
her poignant recollection of him. She lay down in the medical cabinet and
activated the suspension function.
     

TWO
    H UNGER AND A NAGGING pain woke Araminta. At first she was
woefully drowsy as she lay on the motel bed. Bright daylight was shining around
the window blinds, warming the still air. Her stiff muscles protested as she
tried to shuffle herself to a sitting position. Every part of her ached. Her
feet throbbed. When she pulled the duvet aside to look at them, she actually
winced at the sight.
    “Oh, Ozzie.”
    Well! It was no good just lying about feeling sorry for herself; the
first thing was to get her feet cleaned up a bit. She eased her legs over the
side of the bed and slowly stripped off her filthy clothes. Without doubt, they
were ruined; she’d have to get rid of them.
    The room had a cybersphere node beside the bed so old that it was
probably the one installed as soon as the drycoral had finished growing into
shape. Araminta started tapping away on its small keyboard, using the new
account she’d opened at the Spanish Crepes office. Miledeep Water didn’t have a
touchdown mall, but Stoneline Street at its center had a plethora of small
stores that sold everything she needed. One by one she accessed their
semisentient