Read Online The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Peter F. Hamilton
Ads: Link
hide his worry. ‘You seem . . . troubled. I’m concerned.’
She started to rub the water off her legs. ‘It’s been a big week. I’m all right, just didn’t sleep well, that’s all. I’ll take some kind of pep infuser when I get home.’
‘Home?’ he frowned.
‘I’ve still got to get the apartments finished. We both know I need the money.’
‘Right.’ He scratched at his hair, looking perplexed. Araminta wasn’t used to that. Whenever they had serious conversations Mr Bovey always preferred to use his middle-aged black-skinned body, the one she’d had their very first date with, who almost qualified as the father figure. She never had worked out if that was deliberate on his part.
‘Look,’ he said. ‘I hate to be the one with the bad news, but you clearly haven’t accessed the unisphere this morning.’
Just the way he said it made her heart sink. She had told her u-shadow to suspend any unisphere contact before they went to bed last night; now it reconnected her and began pulling out priority news items. ‘Oh, great Ozzie,’ she gasped. It was all there. The invasion by Ellezelin forces down by the docks. Paramilitary troops moving across the city. Large capsules patrolling the skies, halting any civilian traffic.
When she rushed over to the window she could make out several of the capsules floating passively above the River Cairns, insidious dark ovoids set against the dusky dawn-lit clouds. Colwyn’s weather-protection force field was on, covering the entire city. It wasn’t any storm the invaders were interested in, they were preventing any capsules from leaving.
And worse, much much worse, the message from Director Trachtenberg at Centurion Station about the Void starting to expand. A devourment phase all the commentators were calling it. And they were equally clear that it was the fault of the Second Dreamer for rejecting the Skylord. No such thing as coincidence was the phrase that kept reverberating round her head. Everyone was using it.
‘I can’t stay here,’ Araminta moaned.
‘You’re not serious? It’s dangerous out there. They’re restricting the reports, but our fellow citizens are not taking this lightly. There’s been several clashes already, and it’s not even breakfast time yet.’
They’re here for me , she realized. A whole world invaded, violated because of me. Ozzie, forgive me .
‘I’ll just go straight home,’ she said stubbornly. ‘I have to get to the apartments. They’re all I’ve got, you can see that, can’t you?’ She felt shabby saying that, it was emotional bullying, but all she wanted to do was get away from him. It was completely wrong, this was the person she was planning to marry, hes should be trusted. She just couldn’t risk trusting him with something of this magnitude. He’d agreed to marry a girl struggling to make it as a property developer, not some walking galactic catastrophe.
‘I do understand,’ he said, so very reluctantly. ‘But they’ve shut down all the capsule traffic. Half of mes are stuck all across town.’
Araminta started to pull her clothes on. There was a whole closet in the bathroom which was hers, so at least she could dress practically with dark jeans and a blue sweater. ‘My trike pod is in the garage. I left it here a couple of weeks back.’ Her u-shadow was hurriedly checking travel restrictions in Colwyn City. The traffic management net carried a full proscription on non-official air vehicles, backed by the certificate of the Mayor’s office and the Viotia Federal Transport Agency. However, ground vehicles were still permitted to operate in the city precincts, with an advisory caution that citizens should only use them for essential trips. There were a great many links to official Viotia government bulletins about their inclusion in the Free Trade Zone at core planet level, and how after a brief transition period everything would return to normal and a strong economic growth phase would begin,
She started to rub the water off her legs. ‘It’s been a big week. I’m all right, just didn’t sleep well, that’s all. I’ll take some kind of pep infuser when I get home.’
‘Home?’ he frowned.
‘I’ve still got to get the apartments finished. We both know I need the money.’
‘Right.’ He scratched at his hair, looking perplexed. Araminta wasn’t used to that. Whenever they had serious conversations Mr Bovey always preferred to use his middle-aged black-skinned body, the one she’d had their very first date with, who almost qualified as the father figure. She never had worked out if that was deliberate on his part.
‘Look,’ he said. ‘I hate to be the one with the bad news, but you clearly haven’t accessed the unisphere this morning.’
Just the way he said it made her heart sink. She had told her u-shadow to suspend any unisphere contact before they went to bed last night; now it reconnected her and began pulling out priority news items. ‘Oh, great Ozzie,’ she gasped. It was all there. The invasion by Ellezelin forces down by the docks. Paramilitary troops moving across the city. Large capsules patrolling the skies, halting any civilian traffic.
When she rushed over to the window she could make out several of the capsules floating passively above the River Cairns, insidious dark ovoids set against the dusky dawn-lit clouds. Colwyn’s weather-protection force field was on, covering the entire city. It wasn’t any storm the invaders were interested in, they were preventing any capsules from leaving.
And worse, much much worse, the message from Director Trachtenberg at Centurion Station about the Void starting to expand. A devourment phase all the commentators were calling it. And they were equally clear that it was the fault of the Second Dreamer for rejecting the Skylord. No such thing as coincidence was the phrase that kept reverberating round her head. Everyone was using it.
‘I can’t stay here,’ Araminta moaned.
‘You’re not serious? It’s dangerous out there. They’re restricting the reports, but our fellow citizens are not taking this lightly. There’s been several clashes already, and it’s not even breakfast time yet.’
They’re here for me , she realized. A whole world invaded, violated because of me. Ozzie, forgive me .
‘I’ll just go straight home,’ she said stubbornly. ‘I have to get to the apartments. They’re all I’ve got, you can see that, can’t you?’ She felt shabby saying that, it was emotional bullying, but all she wanted to do was get away from him. It was completely wrong, this was the person she was planning to marry, hes should be trusted. She just couldn’t risk trusting him with something of this magnitude. He’d agreed to marry a girl struggling to make it as a property developer, not some walking galactic catastrophe.
‘I do understand,’ he said, so very reluctantly. ‘But they’ve shut down all the capsule traffic. Half of mes are stuck all across town.’
Araminta started to pull her clothes on. There was a whole closet in the bathroom which was hers, so at least she could dress practically with dark jeans and a blue sweater. ‘My trike pod is in the garage. I left it here a couple of weeks back.’ Her u-shadow was hurriedly checking travel restrictions in Colwyn City. The traffic management net carried a full proscription on non-official air vehicles, backed by the certificate of the Mayor’s office and the Viotia Federal Transport Agency. However, ground vehicles were still permitted to operate in the city precincts, with an advisory caution that citizens should only use them for essential trips. There were a great many links to official Viotia government bulletins about their inclusion in the Free Trade Zone at core planet level, and how after a brief transition period everything would return to normal and a strong economic growth phase would begin,
Similar Books
