'You thought I was dead?
I watched you die. 'Tell me where you were before you started your groundwalk? Who your friends are? What did you spend last year doing? In fact, what were you doing this time yesterday?
'I… His thoughts churned desperately. 'It is difficult. I don't remember much. No wait, Bruce! Bruce is my friend.
'Kazimir, I'm sorry. Bruce was the one who killed you.
He recoiled. 'This is the Dreaming Heavens!
'I suppose in a manner of speaking, yes it is.
'Bruce would never kill me.
'He was captured by the Starflyer, who turned him against the Guardians of Selfhood. He became their agent.
'Not Bruce.
'Not the Bruce who was your friend, the Starflyer destroyed that part of him. Kazimir, you don't have any memories of your past because I don't know it, not as fully as I should do, not the details. We didn't spend enough time together to talk of such things in depth. The time we did have was too precious. I always regretted that, I'm so sorry. She looked away, trying to get her emotions under control. This is so painful. I don't have to put myself through this. I should just walk away. Then she glanced at him, seeing the hurt and confusion on his face, and she knew she couldn't do that to him, not her Kazimir, not even a shadow of him.
He reached out tentatively, fingers touching her shoulder, as if he was the one who should be offering comfort. 'We were… together?
'Yes, Kazimir. We were lovers.
A wide smile split his youthful face, and the universe wasn't so bad after all.
'I'm doing this really badly, she confessed. 'I wish I could be gentler to you.
'So I am what you dream of?
'Yes.
His smile was triumphant now. 'I am glad you dream of me. I am glad I am here for you.
Oh no. We're not going down that wad. It's not… right. 'I'm glad you're here, too; but I have a duty to perform.
Kazimir nodded seriously. 'What duty?
She pulled a face. 'Save the galaxy.
'How?
'Don't know, actually. Where we are, this place, it's wrong. I have to get to… whoever's in charge, try and convince them to stop their expansion. I'm sorry if that doesn't make much sense.
Kazimir's gaze turned to the Silverbird; there was a flash of longing in his mind. 'Will we fly there in your spaceship?
The first drops of rain began to fall out of the darkening sky as the stormhead found its way round the volcano. 'I'd like to, but I need to figure out how to make it fly again. And I don't know where the nucleus is or how to get there.
'Oh. His disappointment was tangible, shining through a weakly shielded mind.
Justine grinned. 'Would you like to look inside?
'Yes please!
He shot up the rope ladder with ease. But then, Justine recalled, Kazimir had always been very agile. That would account for why her own heart was racing as she clambered up after him. The airlock was small with the two of them in it. She told the smartcore to open the inner door, and led the way up the narrow companionway into the cabin.
Kazimir tried to be polite as he stared round the circular compartment, but he clearly wasn't adept at shielding his thoughts. Fortunately, she recalled several techniques Edeard had employed in Inigo's dreams.
'You travel in this? he asked cautiously.
Justine clicked her fingers as she told the smartcore to extrude a couple of chairs.
'Ah! Kazimir watched them rise up, happy again. She switched on a holographic projection, displaying status graphics in the air in front of him.
Seventeen is such an easy age, she thought with a pang of resentment at his fascination. 'I'd like to run some scans on you, she said. 'It might help me understand more about this place.
'Of course.
She used her biononic field function to examine him in detail, shunting the results into the smartcore. He was human, every organ where it should be. When she touched a sampler module to his skin he smiled at her again, emitting a strong sense of longing, of willingness.
Out of those two days an awful lot of the time had been spent in bed making love.
She raised an eyebrow in surprise as the sequencing results rose up into the holographic display. 'Your DNA is… Real? Proper? Fully human? 'Okay, she concluded. And how did the Void pull that stunt?
'I'm glad, he said simply.
The smartcore ran a comparison against a medical file she carried: her son's DNA. This Kazimir didn't share any genetic markers with the man whose child she'd borne twelve hundred years ago. She didn't know if she was disappointed by that or not. So it's not omnipotent, then.
'Shall we see if the culinary unit is working? she asked.
She didn't really have to ask what he wanted. Cheeseburger with bacon, fries, sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream. Chocolates and champagne. All part of the decadent life she'd corrupted him with first time round.
The culinary unit managed to produce them, though she thought some of the tastes were a bit strange.
It was all strange and good to Kazimir's palate, he wolfed the lot down.
'Have you seen anyone else here? she asked as she sipped her own champagne.
'I thought you said I didn't exist before today, he said, only half teasing.
'I don't know how long you've been here, actually. It took the Void four years to create this world. I think.
He sat back in the chair and thought hard. 'I have memories, or notions of my life before today. That life I had back with my clan isn't real, I see that now, nothing about that time is substantial. It is a notion of what should have been. And yet I remember setting out on my groundwalk a couple of weeks ago.
I'm sure the last few days were real. Today is. Today has you in it. I remember waking and enjoying the clear sky.
'So you didn't see anyone on your groundwalk?
'No. But the idea of the groundwalk is to be on your own.
'Of course.
He shivered, looking round the cabin again. Apprehension was creeping into his thoughts. 'I am nothing. I am a toy some alien has built to amuse you. What kind of being has such power?
'Hey, she said soothingly. 'You're certainly not nothing. You're you. It doesn't matter why you are, only that you're here now. Life is to be lived, I told you that the first time we met.
Kazimir sniffed suspiciously. 'Did I believe you?
'You took some convincing. You were just as stubborn then.
That seemed to satisfy him.
'What are you going to do now? he asked.
'I'm not sure. I came here to try and talk to the nucleus. That's looking quite difficult now. It thinks I want to be here with you instead. She reviewed the Silverbird's status again. None of the drives were operational, and the smartcore didn't know why. The generator was producing some power, enough to maintain basic life support. A majority of cabin functions were running, though she wasn't sure she'd want to use the medical cabinet. What vexed her most was the reason for the failures and glitches. There wasn't one.
Willpower, she thought, that's the governing factor in this universe. The power of mind over matter. Thoughts can affect reality. So the Void doesn't want the Silverbird to fly. It's as simple as that.
'And you don't want to be here with me? he asked.
'It's enjoyable, she told him. 'But it's not why I'm here. His face was so crestfallen she immediately felt guilty. 'Kazimir, I apologise, but there is an awful lot at stake. More than I expect you to believe. I have to do whatever I can to help.
'I understand, he said gravely. 'It is an honourable thing that