Cass found herself back in her Armor, in the fortress at the heart of Francisco-1. Her first impression was relief: the mental weight of the After's interfaces had gone silent, and the Armor's support AIs were now handling her unconscious routines. The psychic song of the world once again radiated softly toward her. She needed sleep, but had the energy and desire to celebrate her round trip to the After with an energy bar from the living quarters of the Sanctum.
The Dark Unit opened in curls of water vapor, a red light indicating that the antimatter charge needed replacing. The Wau walked slowly, almost clumsily, across the main platform. AIs alerted her: a red alert. As if not fully awake, she consulted them with a mix of deep seriousness and unsettling detachment: two Endymions had allegedly crashed on Earth. What? There was talk of an attack on Origin. She forgot her fatigue for a moment and made her way toward the Halcyon with a stumbling step-but darkness fell on her fortress, like an ink stain in a glass of water. She found herself in total darkness and sensed a psychic force unlike any other: an Everest that reduced hers to a breeze. She crouched, ready to leap at the creature prowling around her, whose strength rivaled that of the Transients.
- "So here you are, little Wau," murmured the shadow, before a vast, pitch-black clawed hand seized her and carried her off into quantum void.
The Wau rematerialized in that same darkness, but in a different place, one she sensed was larger. She was held kneeling, arms to the ground, by a colossal force. There were indeed massive metal chains at the ends of her arms, but they were decorative: the force was invisible and irresistible.
The Wau pulled. Moderate force, 800 kilonewtons-the power of a locomotive. She couldn't move. Cass exhaled. And to think she was already exhausted. This was the worst timing. Amplified force: 50 meganewtons-the thrust of a fusion-powered spacecraft capable of interstellar flight. The Hyperchalque hummed and groaned, but did not move. She ramped up to the high limit: 1 giganewton. The Wau pulled with the equivalent of a million tons. Billions of nanomechanisms in the armor multiplied their output, unleashing a force only used in celestial mechanics-and still the chains held. What was happening? Had the balance of planets been altered? Was it a mental illusion? What if Cass had been in Pax all along?
A man appeared before her. She didn't know him. The AIs in her armor analyzed him and identified him as Garen Antor, but were then abruptly severed from the EV network, leaving her with only his birth date-over 150 years ago. He didn't look 150, more like 40. He was tall and broad, naked, and as human in his eyes as in his demeanor. He challenged the Wau with a tilt of his chin, waiting for her to speak.
Wanting to defuse a confrontation, the Wau spoke:
- "These restraints are quite unnecessary. I mean you no harm, Garen Antor."
- "They're here to test you."
His voice was warm. He was nothing like a human possessed by a Xeno or a Empty-Eye.
- "Did you give it your best?"
- "More or less. I can push further, but I'm not sure the Armor's under warranty."
- "I appreciate your humor, Wau. You see, I spent much of my previous life studying the Wau. All I had were military AI analyses, and I progressed through hypotheses. So you can imagine, having you within reach is a long-held dream come true."
A titanic psychic wave crashed over the Wau, who was already badly weakened. But inside the armor, Cass noticed that while the psychic power was vast-so vast as to defy measurement-it was raw. Garen, whoever he was, had never been trained. The Wau became a draft before the mountain. Garen was probing her, body and soul... except for certain hidden corners-mental caches where the real secrets were stored. Cass layered mental boxes for all sensitive subjects and improvised false information as needed. And, supreme reversal of power, the strong weakened before the weak: she could brush against his sensitivity and extract information.
- "A woman? I never would've guessed. I thought you were a melted brain in a suit of armor... I feel like I have access to all your secrets and yet I'm getting nothing. Maybe we all made a mountain out of a gang of guys in fancy armor."
- "You know what they say: first impressions matter."
- "Oh, I've certainly taken that lesson to heart. How many of you are there, Wau?"
- "I'm not hiding anything when I say: I have no idea."
- "I believe you. Fair enough. You're a Psi of major strength, an Alpha Empty-Eye. And this body, biologically modified. Clearly, we were on the wrong path. That will be corrected. Even if the era of the Wau is over, you know?"
- "You mean it'll be replaced by you?"
- "Temporarily. I have a question, Wau. You fight for humanity's freedom, is that right?"
- "On the days we manage to, yes. I'll admit, I'm going through a dry spell lately."
- "You're funny."
The Wau felt powerful emotions radiating from Garen. This man had clearly been alone for a long time, and the warmth of humor moved him to the point of tears-tears he then repressed violently, giving rise to hatred and disgust toward himself and toward everyone. There was guilt, too, for this weakness, and then guilt for many recent deaths he believed to be his fault. That guilt became inner panic, until another voice within him-calm and repressive-declared that all of this was the fault of the Transients, and that his goal was just. A surge of honor and pride, of righteousness, washed over all the negative emotions, and a new power flowed into him, one that bordered on the sensual and even the sexual. At last, he said:
- "I like you. But I will kill you."
- "That was your question?" asked the Wau.
Garen felt a fury unlike any he'd known in the face of the Wau's calm. He let none of it show and held himself back from striking her dead.
- "Yes. But I have another. Have you ever thought that the Wau, like the Transients, exert control over humanity-and therefore rob it of freedom?"
- "Of course. But there is a difference between the Transients and the Wau: we're human. And you?"
Garen smiled and turned around. The shadow was swept away like dust in the wind, and the Wau-without changing posture-found herself at the base of the great throne atop the Origin tower. She understood her location instantly and pieced together the events previously shared by the AIs.
Garen sat on the throne. His eyes became light.
The image of Garen on the throne, high atop Origin, towering above a chained Wau, appeared instantly on all HS terminals: the screens of the PanHS, personal terminals, holographic projections, ship control panels. Even in the After, everything went dark to make way for this vision, regardless of the activity of the virtualized. The scene remained frozen for a solid five minutes, ensuring that absolutely every human being within the universe bubble under his control was paying attention. The message spread even farther: relayed by the drift of every vessel to the edges of the universe, wherever a man or woman might be.
Then Garen spoke. Somehow, his voice sounded sovereign.
"To all humans, of the HS or not, this message is for you.
A few hours ago, a series of accidents took place on Origin, on Earth. The Transients unleashed forces greater than those of humanity and caused the deaths of thousands of our kind, along with immeasurable material loss.
I want to reassure you: the situation is now under control and will not happen again.
I am a humble human, like you, and I encountered the Blind Gods at the edge of the universe. They entrusted me with their power and wisdom, and with a mission: to free humanity.
Yes, many of you live happy lives and don't want them to change. But the people of Earth's Antiquity believed themselves happy, even though they could not ease their suffering or cure their diseases. Our ancestors of the early computer age had to work to eat and thought themselves perfectly content. Our ancestors of 2100, who died and vanished into the void without the After, believed it was the natural order of things and that life was good.
Just like them, you don't know it, but you are suffering.
There is a better world where you will be freer.
Free already from an administration neither efficient nor truly dedicated to the service of all, that craves power for power's sake. That problem is solved. I am on Origin, and I have the power to manage everything without that indolent and proud mass that holds you in contempt. Tomorrow, the prefectures will no longer exist, but daily life will be unchanged for all. It was time.
Free from the Waus: an independent force led by individuals with no public agenda, who set their own missions and control us."
He opened his hand toward the chained Wau. Throughout the HS, viewers held their breath.
"Tomorrow, they will all be gone. We are studying the possibility of creating the A-Wau: Wau born of the HS, serving the HS-the elite force it should always have had, one that will be accountable to you, as I will be.
Free from the Transients. Yes, it is undeniable that the Transients have brought us many benefits. I also know that many of you revere them as gods. But I also know that, like me, you have wondered what they were buying in return for their constant gifts. And you know the answer: we were their dogs. The Blind Gods have entrusted me with power far greater than that of the Transients and given me a title: the Aleph."
He opened his hand on the other side of the throne, opposite the Wau. A sphere of light appeared. The Wau could hardly believe her eyes: Garen contained the power of a Transient and was holding one of those quasi-gods captive. Perhaps he really had met the Blind Gods.
"Tomorrow, the Transients will no longer exist where humans thrive. And as for their gifts, do not worry: I will give you as many, if not more.
Free from everything. You were promised the stars, but ships are shockingly expensive, even those from public shipyards. You were promised distant planets, but one had to follow xenobiology protocols, administrative formalities, and a diplomacy inherited from the time when humanity still languished on a single little world. You are trillions, living and dead, and there are trillions of worlds waiting for you in the galaxy. Tomorrow, you will be free to harvest whatever you wish, without any barriers. This will truly be the golden age of humanity.
Free from me, at last. I will be your Guide to the Infinite, and I will show you the path to the stars and omnipotence-where each of you will be master of your destiny, lord of whatever you dare to take, and finally a god. But once that task is done, I will disappear, my mission complete.
Thus have spoken the Blind Gods, through my voice."
Garen stood, a satisfied smile on his lips, turning his gaze to the Wau. The latter said:
- "I don't think you met the Blind Gods, Garen."
- "You, little one-enjoy your last hours. There will be no After for you."
Thousands of kilometers away, in a communal habitat on Ur Prime, on Ur-3-a longhouse built of bronze-colored earthen bricks beautifully decorated with multicolored plants-a band of star vagabonds, both human and Xeno, had just witnessed the scene on a large screen. Ada had spat at Garen's holographic image before saying, "Who is this pompous clown?"-and was struck immediately by a psychic attack from the Aleph himself.
Not far away in drift-space terms, in an unknown and subterranean location, an Android clad in the armor of an ancient Roman centurion was watching the broadcast projected by the LE. Seated upon his own throne of ancient Xeno stone, he looked out upon a crowd of pirates from the Brotherhood of the Two Worlds, two of whom had just been freshly murdered-their corpses, pierced by royal molecular daggers, now sprawled across the old stone floor. The Android burst into an artificial, emotionless laugh. It was time, he thought, for a true Lord to return to the Far Throne. Perhaps this world was not so boring after all.
And even farther still, drifting between two spiral arms of the galaxy, its drift maps wiped clean, the Alecto wandered. Andreï watched the broadcast gravely, surrounded by his entire crew-officers and deckhands alike. He made no comment, even as every eye turned toward him, but Pallas, his Psi officer, felt absolute terror rising within him-the terror of long years of torture resurfacing, wounds never healed. A wound that was slowly killing him.
Andreï knew this man-this Aleph-and he was a man of evil. With remarkable force of will, the Captain wrested back control over himself and focused on the situation as if it were a chess game.