“I’ve heard this referred to as the first wave,” she said.

“Yes, Dreamer,” Cleric Taranse said cheerfully. He had the appearance of a man in his biological fifties, even down to thinning hair and wrinkled skin; the deliberate elder image, she suspected, was an attempt to give him an aura of experience and confidence. But then, a lot of Living Dream followers allowed themselves to appear to age because in the real Makkathran, everyone grew old. “Now that the production systems have been established, they can continue at remarkably little cost. Ellezelin can certainly afford to keep on producing them.”

“But won’t Ellezelin’s population be the first to leave? When they’ve traveled into the Void, who will keep the economy going?”

“We are ultimately hoping that some kind of bridge can be established between Void and Commonwealth,” Ethan said smoothly. “Such a thing can hardly be beyond the ability of the Heart.”

Araminta remembered the way the boundary had distended out to swallow Justine’s little ship. “Most likely.” She glanced up again as she moved through another clash of regrav waves. The sight of the starship was drawing the Skylord’s attention, building anticipation. One question she was never going to ask it was: Can you reach us here?

“I will need to be awake during the voyage,” she said.

Both Ethan and Taranse smiled an indulgent smile, not quite belittling her but close.

“The life-support section is in the center of the ship, Dreamer,” Taranse said. “Each will have a crew complement of three thousand. There are a lot of systems to maintain even with smartcore and bot support.”

“Of course. That’s very reassuring.”

“The cabins will be fully equipped with every luxury; your voyage will be spent in complete comfort and security. You have nothing to worry about.”

He wasn’t joking, she realized. “How do we stay in contact with Ellezelin during the flight?”

“The ships will be dropping relay stations at frequent intervals, just like the navy link with Centurion Station. As well as TD channels, ours will have confluence nests.”

Araminta felt very reassured by that; she’d been worried about what might happen if she passed out of range of the bulk of her followers. The ships would, no doubt, be crewed by Ethan’s loyalists. “So now we just need the ultradrives and force fields,” she said as she checked the timer in her exovision. There was only a couple of minutes left.

“I have every confidence,” Ethan said easily.

“Oh, I’m sure it wants us to get there, all right,” Araminta said.

He stopped and gave her a look of reluctant admiration. “You were correct in what you said to Ilanthe. The Void will always triumph. I was … gladdened by your faith in it.”

“Do you have any idea what that thing wants to achieve inside?”

“No. But it will be some soulless technocrat scheme to ‘improve’ life for everyone else. It is the kind of delusion of which her kind dream constantly. That is why I never really concerned myself about it.”

“Yes, I thought as much.” For several nights after her arrival in the Orchard Palace, Araminta had tried to feel for Ilanthe’s thoughts to gain a sense of what her intentions were. Bradley and Clouddancer had said the Silfen Motherholme had sensed whatever it was emerging from the Sol system, but either Ilanthe had somehow slipped from the Motherholme’s perception or the Silfen in their wisdom weren’t sharing. She thought the latter unlikely.

“They’re here,” Cleric Taranse announced happily.

Icons from Ellezelin’s civil spaceflight directorate were popping up in Araminta’s exovision. She’d never realized just how much information even a nominal head of state such as herself was supposed to absorb on a daily basis. How actual heads of state coped, she had no idea; expanded and augmented mentalities, presumably.

Thirty-seven large commercial freighters had just dropped out of hyperspace two thousand kilometers above the planet. A secure link to the Ellezelin defense force fleet headquarters informed her that five squadrons of Ellezelin warships were emerging around the freighters in a protective formation. This was the critical stage, the one window of vulnerability left to those who opposed the Pilgrimage. Until the freighters got under the construction yard’s force fields, they were dangerously exposed.

The freighters were given clearance to descend. Sure enough, eight craft lurking in orbit dropped their stealth effect and opened fire. Weird mauve and green light flooded across the ground at Araminta’s feet at the same instant the exovision displays reported what was happening. She tipped her head back reflexively to see what was going on, but the dome had opaqued above her. All she saw was rapidly expanding colored blotches in the grayed sky, like borealis storms as bright as sunlight.

More icons appeared, assuring her that the Greater Makkathran2 force fields were also up and protecting citizens from the terrible torrent of hard radiation slicing through the atmosphere. She even felt a start of anxiety leaking out of Ethan’s gaiamotes and smiled in sympathy. The pilgrimage fleet probably could make it with standard hyperdrives, but without the force fields the Raiel would reduce the ships to radioactive fog.

Though the Void might just be able to stop them, she thought. The Raiel could never beat it.

Her u-shadow told her the head of planetary defense, Admiral Colris, was opening a secure channel. “Dreamer, we’ve eliminated the enemy ships.”

“Are our ships all right?”

“Three badly damaged; eight took temporary overload hits, but they’re still flightworthy.”

“How badly damaged?”

“We’ll recover the crews. Don’t worry; it’s what we train for, Dreamer.”

“Thank you. Was there any damage to the freighters?”

“No. Lady be praised. It looks like those new force fields are as tough as advertised.”

The whole Greater Commonwealth that was gaiafield-attuned blinked at the burst of Araminta’s surprise. “The freighters are protected by Sol barrier force fields?”

“Yes, Dreamer.”

“I see. Please pass my thanks to your crews.”

“Of course. They’ll appreciate your concern, Dreamer.”

Ethan and Darraklan were both watching the force field overhead gradually clear. The sky beyond was reverting to its usual pristine blue. A few violet scintillations burned through the ionosphere as disintegrating wreckage hurtled downward. Ethan’s delight and relief were open. “Those would be the best ships our opponents could deploy,” the Cleric said.

“Yes,” Araminta replied, not quite knowing if she should be celebrating.

“We can begin installation at once,” Taranse said.

“How long until we’re ready?” she asked.

“If the systems function in accordance with the details they supplied, we’ll be looking at a week.”

“Excellent,” she said. Then I can finally try and stop this madness. I just hope there’s enough time left.

They waited in the construction yard as the freighters dropped down through the atmosphere. Taranse left them to organize the unloading. Araminta and Ethan watched the operation begin from the front of the big office tower where their capsule was parked. She was a little disappointed at how dull it all was. The units were all encased in smooth metal shells, providing no hint as to their function. For all she knew, they were just water tanks.

“Your moment draws near, Dreamer,” Ethan said.

She wasn’t surprised by the way he was studying her so intently. She’d felt his curious thoughts wiggling through the gaiafield, trying to gain a hint of her true feelings. She suspected that when they arrived in the Void, he would prove a formidable telepath.

“It does indeed,” she said levelly. “Where do you suppose all this came from?”

“It is irrelevant now. That it is here is what matters.”