Some of the glimpses he had snatched through the scouts defied physics. Either that or physics had advanced beyond all reasonable expectations during his exile. That was conceivable, he reasoned, weapons science was always kept very close to the governments chest, receiving the most funds and the least publicity.
Memory: of a man looking up at the sky and seeing the affinity bonded kestrel. The man laughed and raised his hand, snapping his fingers. Air around the kestrel solidified, entombing it in a matrix of frozen molecules, and sending it tumbling from the sky to dash its body against the rocks two hundred metres below. A snap of the fingers ...
Memory: of a frantic terrified villager from Kilkee firing his laser hunting rifle at one of the usurped. The range had been fifteen metres, and the beam had no effect whatsoever. After the first few shots the rifle had died completely. Then the vennal Laton was using to scout with had curled up and sunk into some kind of coma.
The villages throughout the Quallheim Counties had been conquered with bewildering swiftness. That more than anything convinced Laton he was up against some kind of military force. There was a directing intelligence behind the usurped, expanding their numerical strength at an exponential rate. But what really baffled him was why. He had chosen Lalonde because it fitted his long-range goals; other than that it was a worthless planet. Why take control of people out here?
A test was the only explanation he could think of. Which begged the question what was it a preliminary to? The potential was awesome.
Laton?waldseys mental tone was fearful and uncertain, not like him at all.
Yes,laton replied equitably. he could guess what was coming next. After sixty years he knew the way his colleagues minds worked better than they did. He was only mildly surprised that it had taken them so long to confront him.
Do you know what it is yet?
No. I have been considering some kind of viral nanonic, but the number of demonstrated functions it possesses would be orders of magnitude above anything we even have theories for. And some of those functions are difficult to explain in terms of the physics we know and understand. In short, if you have a technology that powerful, why bother using it in this fashion? It is most puzzling.
Puzzling!tao said angrily. Father, it is bloody lethal, and its right outside the tree. To hell with puzzling , we have to do something.
Laton let the glimmer image of a smile penetrate their shared affinity. Only his children ever dared to contradict him, which pleased him after a fashion; obsequiousness was something he disapproved of almost as much as disloyalty. Which gave everybody a narrow, and perilous, balance to maintain. No doubt you have an idea as to what we should do.
Yeah. Load up the landcruisers, and head for the hills. Call it a strategic withdrawal, call it prudence, but just lets get out of this tree. Now. While we still can. I dont mind admitting Im frightened, if nobody else will.
I would imagine that even this planets chief sheriff will know that something odd is happening in Aberdale and the other Quallheim villages by now,laton said. he sensed the others coming into the conversation, their minds carefully shielded from leaking too many emotions. The LDCs surveillance satellite may be in a deplorable condition, but I assure you it would be quite capable of spotting the landcruisers. And it will be focused on the Quallheim Counties with considerable diligence.
So? We just zap it. The old blackhawk masers you brought down can reach it. Itll be weeks before the LDC replace it. By that time well be long gone. Theyll see the track we made breaking through the jungle, but once we reach the savannah theyll lose us.
I would remind you just how close to success our immortality project is. Are you willing to sacrifice that?
Father, unless we get out of here, we arent going to have a project left, or a life to immortalize. We cant defend ourselves against these usurped villagers. Ive watched what happens when anyone shoots them. They dont even notice it! And even if somebody does manage to beat them, the Quallheim Counties are going to be searched a centimetre at a time afterwards. Either way, we cant stay here.
The lads got a point there, Laton,salkid said. We cant cling on here simply out of sentiment.
You always told me knowledge cant be destroyed,tao said. We know how to splice a parallel-processing brain together. What we need is a secure location in which to do it. The tree certainly isnt it, not any more.
Well argued,laton said. Except Im not sure anywhere on Lalonde can be classed as safe any more. This technology is fearsome.he deliberately allowed his emotional shield to slip, and felt the shocked recoil of their thoughts that he who never demonstrated weakness was so deeply perturbed.
We can hardly walk into Durringhams spaceport and ask for a lift outsystem,waldsey said.
The children can,laton said. They have been born here, the intelligence agencies have no record of them. Once in orbit they can secure a starship for us.
Bloody hell, you mean it.
Indeed. It is the logical course. At the ultimate extreme, I am prepared to contact the Intelligence agencies in Durringham and report the situation to them. They will take me seriously, and that way a warning will get out.
Is it that bad, Father?salsett asked anxiously.
Laton projected a burst of reassuring warmth at the fifteen-year-old girl. I dont think it will come to that, darling.
Leaving the tree,she said wonderingly.
Yes,he said. Tao, that was a good suggestion of yours; you and Salkid take a blackhawk maser out of storage, and be ready to eliminate that observation satellite. The rest of you have ten hours to pack. We start for Durringham tonight.
He couldnt detect a single whiff of dissension. Minds retreated from the affinity contact.
In the hours which followed, the gigantea tree was subject to the kind of coordinated activity it hadnt seen since their arrival. Orders were flung frantically at the incorporated and the housechimps as the residents attempted to dismantle the work of thirty years in the short hours they had left. Heartbreaking decisions were made over what could go and what must stay, several couples arguing. The landcruisers had to be checked over and prepared after thirty years unemployment. Latons younger children scampered about getting in the way, nervous and elated at the prospect of leaving; the older members of the fellowship started thinking about the Confederation worlds again. Thermal charges were set throughout the rooms and corridors, ready to obliterate all trace of the giganteas secrets.
The hectic activity registered as a background burble amid Latons steely thoughts. Occasionally someone would intrude into his contemplation to ask for instructions.
After designating the few personal items he wanted to accompany them, he spent his time reviewing the memory of what happened in the clearing when Quinn Dexter killed Supervisor Manani. That strange lightning was the start of it. He ran and re-ran Camillas memory images, which were stored in the trees sub-sentient bitek processor array. The lightning seemed to be flat, almost compressed, some sections darker than others. As he ran the memory again the dark areas moved, sliding down the glaring streamers of rampaging electrons. The lightning bolts were acting as conduits to some kind of energy pattern, one which behaved outside the accepted norm.