Poseidon's Wake - Страница 81

‘Is that what you did?’ Nissa asked.

‘We tried. They gave us tools — a ship full of sensors and instruments, all of it copied from our own technology. They made us understand what they expected of us. And of course we tried to do as we were asked, because we saw it as an extension of the Covenant, a necessary act for continued non-intervention. Also, of course, because we were curious. To begin with, we approached Poseidon slowly, coming a little closer each time, gathering more and more data. Finally, though, we had to go deeper. And that’s when we were tested.’

‘In what way?’ Kanu said.

‘Examined, scrutinised, our nature probed — the test the Watchkeepers failed. By some miracle, we passed and were permitted to go deeper. But we could not. The Terror had touched us. Something got into our heads — a kind of final warning for the curious. It is difficult to put into language, something more easily felt than expressed — but as near as I can phrase it, it was an invitation to proceed if we dared. Come nearer and learn something of our secrets — how we changed our fate. But know that from this moment, you will be judged. Not just us — not just the Trinity — but our entire species, our entire flowering, from people, to Tantors, to hybrids like Eunice. That was the Terror — we were about to take that responsibility on our shoulders for the sake of increasing the knowledge base of another civilisation entirely. So we refused. We had come this far, acted for the Watchkeepers — done their bidding without complaint. But no more, not until we had a better understanding of the risks.’

‘You stood up to them,’ Kanu said, smiling in admiration. ‘You had the brazen nerve to do that. That took real courage.’

‘The Watchkeepers knew they could not coerce us too forcefully,’ Chiku said. ‘We had to be free agents, not the zombie puppets of a zombie civilisation. So they tried to barter with us, and that’s when they bestowed the gifts. Increased longevity for Dakota. Turning Eunice into a living woman. These boons were granted with the willing consent of the subject. They tried to offer me immortality, as well — they said it was a trivial thing.’

‘You took it?’ Kanu said.

‘I refused. That didn’t go down well, but there wasn’t much they could do about it. The other two weren’t capable of functioning as an expedition team on their own. So: stalemate. Who knows what might have happened if Zanzibar hadn’t appeared? None of us was expecting that — not even the Watchkeepers.’

‘Was there any warning?’ Nissa asked.

‘Not much. A brief, powerful surge of energy from the Mandala on Paladin across every electromagnetic band we could measure, hard gamma all the way down to ultra-long baseline radio waves. And then it was over, and Zanzibar was hanging over Paladin. It should have come crashing down! But somehow it had retained the orbital angular momentum it had at the moment of the Crucible event, and that was enough to send it looping around Paladin. We had no idea what had happened, to begin with. We barely recognised what we were looking at as being a chunk of the old holoship.’

‘Did you attempt contact?’ Nissa asked.

‘Rescue, more like. We picked up emergency transmissions from the survivors. Confused, panic-stricken — they had even less of a clue about what had happened than we did. At least we knew we were in another solar system after the Watchkeepers transported us. All they knew was that there’d been a massive explosion and half their world was gone. They were only starting to come to terms with that when we boarded. Of course, we were something of a shock to them — but not as much of a shock as what had just happened. Yes, you are orbiting a new planet now. Yes, we are the Trinity. Yes, you appear to have followed us across seventy light-years.’

‘The Watchkeepers allowed you to interact?’ Kanu said.

‘They kept their distance. The three of us were all highly regarded by the original colonists and the survivors readily accepted our guidance, even our leadership. I was invited to coordinate the human survivors, while Dakota — the cleverest, wisest of the Tantors — assumed her former role as matriarch. Eunice, being neither machine nor human nor elephant, didn’t command quite such ready loyalty from either faction, but her expertise was invaluable in knitting Zanzibar’s broken systems back together. Even the harshest of her sceptics came to see her value. But then things began to change. We thought we were over the worst of our difficulties, but in truth they had barely begun. Our little rock was simply not big enough to sustain humans and elephants simultaneously.’

‘Swift,’ Nissa said. ‘Might I ask a question?’

Swift adopted his usual camouflage. ‘By all means.’

‘How much of this did you suspect the first time we saw the recording?’

‘Had I suspected any of it, Nissa, I would have voiced my concerns immediately.’

‘Yet you’re the one who wanted another look at the recording. That was your idea.’

‘Indeed.’

‘Then you had some idea that encrypted data was there, whether or not you’re prepared to admit it now.’

‘It was clear to me that the recording had been edited, Nissa. But then, did we not all reach that conclusion?’

‘Only you were capable of detecting that embedded data,’ Kanu said, struck by a powerful sense that he was arguing with himself. ‘Neither Nissa nor I saw anything suspicious in those numbers. You saw the alphabetical cipher — we didn’t. And if you saw nothing the first time, why were you so keen that I not blink the second time?’

‘He knew,’ Nissa said. ‘All of it, or part of it, at least.’

‘Is this true, Swift? Did you withhold your suspicions?’

‘I rather resent the thrust of that question.’

‘Just answer it.’

‘We were in the midst of delicate negotiations with Dakota. It would have been counterproductive of me to raise doubts on the basis of incomplete data.’

‘Counterproductive to you,’ Nissa said.

‘She has a point, Swift,’ Kanu said. ‘When we debated remaining aboard Icebreaker or taking it inside Zanzibar for repairs, you raised no objections.’

‘You were at liberty to take whichever course of action you thought the wisest, Kanu. Please do not blame me for failing to find fault in your own argument.’

‘You slippery little…’ Nissa said.

Kanu raised a calming hand. ‘It’s too late for recriminations.’

‘Is that you speaking, or Swift?’

‘It’s me, and we’re in this situation now, so there’s no point arguing about it. Maybe Swift could have spoken up sooner, but he’s helping us now, isn’t he?’

‘Now that we’re committed. Now that our ship is locked inside Zanzibar.’

‘May I continue?’ Swift said, becoming Chiku again.

‘Provided you promise to be a little less devious from now on,’ Nissa said.

‘Gradually it became clear to me that it’s not human assistance the Watchkeepers need, but organic assistance. The species doesn’t really matter. From the perspective of an alien robot, a Tantor is just another warm-blooded organism with a central nervous system. The Tantors are already on the cusp of human intelligence — we did that ourselves, through generations of genetic intervention. All the Watchkeepers had to do to achieve their purposes was give them the final push. Extreme longevity was only the first of the gifts bestowed on Dakota. The next was human-level intelligence, perhaps something beyond that, even. It was not hard for them. They had a good understanding of how our minds worked, given how deeply they’d already looked into my head. When they took Dakota from us the second time, I still felt I knew her. When she returned, I wasn’t sure.’

‘What had changed?’ Kanu asked.

‘She’s become something new — something formidable and clever. And whatever mix of genes produces that cognitive enhancement, it’s inheritable. Her offspring are significantly smarter than the Tantor baseline. It’s unevenly distributed — they don’t all get the same package of enhancements — but across all her children, and their children, Dakota’s genes are slowly raising the intelligence of the entire Tantor population. More of them speak like her, more of them use tools the way she does — more of them can plan and strategise and out-think us. And I don’t know quite what to make of that. I don’t want to be frightened of it. I don’t want to overreact against a development that could be wonderful. But all of a sudden, the Tantors are no longer ours. We neither control nor understand them — and we have no idea what they are going to do next. Something good and wise, I hope; something that serves all our needs. But I fear it may not play out that way. We have remade Zanzibar and given them the means to run it on their own. I think they could become totally autonomous, in time.’

‘They did,’ Nissa said.

‘We don’t know that for sure,’ Kanu said.

‘Look around, Kanu. Have you seen another living human soul since we arrived? The worst did happen, just as Chiku feared — a war between the Risen and the people. And now we know who won.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

It was a challenging thing, Goma reflected, to remove one’s own helmet under near-vacuum conditions, and Dr Nhamedjo had given it his best shot. He must have retained his conscious faculties long enough not only to undo the neck-ring fastenings — supposedly fail-safe under reduced pressure, although there were loopholes in any design — but also to lift the helmet away from his head even as the air and heat surged from his body, stealing life and awareness in the same explosive gasp. A final few seconds of lucidity, and then darkness ink-blotting in from all sides. Goma wondered what had been the worst part of it: the inexpressible cold, shocking as a helium bath; or the airlessness, his lungs attempting to draw sustenance from vacuum? Both, perhaps, equal in their viciousness, their absolute promise of imminent death. Nor would it have been instantaneous. But he was a physician, and must therefore have had a shrewd idea of what to expect.