“Do you have sufficient evidence now?” he asked ANA:Governance.

“I do. The Accelerators have acted recklessly. In supporting the Ocisens and manipulating Living Dream, they have violated the principles under which I was established. I will convene a suspension conclave.”

“They will know the deterrence fleet has intercepted the Ocisen fleet even though they remain unaware of my nature. They must assume the worst, that I have uncovered their exploitation of the Primes.”

“That would be logical. However, there is little their agents can do. Once suspension is enacted, their operations will be exposed to full scrutiny and neutralized.”

Kazimir reviewed the starships as they drifted passively. “Nonetheless, I still don’t see what the Accelerators hoped to achieve, outside crude political manipulation. Ilanthe is smarter than that. I would feel more comfortable being on hand during the hearing. I will return immediately.”

“What about the Ocisen fleet? I thought you were going to monitor them.”

“They are incapable of causing any harm. When the commander realizes that, they will have no option but to return home. Our Capital-class ships can assume observation duties.”

“The defeat to the commander’s pride is considerable. It may not want to return to the empire.”

“That will be something for the Capital ships to determine. I am coming back to Sol.”

“As you wish.”

Kazimir manifested a communication function and broadcast a simple message to the ships. “Attention the Chatfield personalities, this is the Commonwealth Navy deterrence fleet. We know what you are and what you intended. Do not attempt any further suicide bids. Capital-class ships will rendezvous with you shortly. You will be taken into navy custody.”

With that, Kazimir withdrew his manifested functions and headed back toward the Sol system.

EXOIMAGE MEDICAL ICONS leaped out of the darkness to surround Justine Burnelli’s consciousness. She’d seen the exact same set of readouts once before.

“Oh, man,” she grunted in shock and delight. “It worked.” She tried to laugh, but her body was resolutely refusing to cooperate, insisting it had just spent three years in suspension rather than … Well, actually she wasn’t sure how long it had taken to reset the Void back to this moment in time.

The medical chamber lid peeled back, and she looked around the Silverbird’s cabin again. Really, again. She sat up and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Status?” she asked the smartcore. A new batch of exoimage icons and displays sprang up. They confirmed that the Silverbird had been under way for three years and was now decelerating hard. Something was approaching.

“Ho yeah,” she murmured in satisfaction as the starship’s sensors swept across the visitor. It was the Skylord, vacuum wings fully extended.

As it drew close, she examined the weird ovoid core once more, still unable to decide if the fantastic folds of crystalline fabric were actually moving or if she was seeing surface refraction patterns. The Silverbird’s sensors couldn’t get an accurate lock on the substance.

As before, she settled back down in the lounge’s longest couch and reached for the Skylord with her longtalk.

“Hello,” she said.

“You are most welcome,” the Skylord replied.

So far, so the same. Let’s see- “I have come to this universe to achieve fulfillment.”

“All who come here strive for that moment.”

“Will you help me?”

“Your fulfillment can be achieved only by yourself.”

“I know this. But humans such as myself reach fulfillment by participating in our own society. Please take me to Querencia, the solid world where my kind live.”

“My kindred are not aware of any thoughts akin to your species anywhere in the universe. None are left.”

“This I also know. However, I am simply the first of a new generation of my species to reach this place. Soon millions of us will be here. We wish to live and reach fulfillment on the same world humans matured on before. Do you know where it is? There was a great city there, which was not of this place. Do you remember guiding human souls from that world to the Heart?” Justine tensed up on the couch. This was the critical question.

“I remember that world,” the Skylord said. “I guided many from that place to the Heart.”

“Please take me there. Please let me reach fulfillment.”

“I will do so.”

Justine was acutely aware of the gravity in the cabin changing somehow. The smartcore reported an alarming outbreak of glitches right across the starship. She didn’t pay attention; she was feeling horribly dizzy. Her mouth was watering as a prelude to being sick, and she couldn’t focus on the curving bulkhead wall, it was moving so fast. She hurriedly jammed her eyelids shut, which only made the effect worse, so she forced her eyes open again and concentrated hard on the medical chamber directly ahead of her. Secondary routines in her macrocellular clusters began to edit the erratic impulses her inner ears were slamming into her brain, countering the appalling vertigo. The sensation began to abate a little. She checked the sensor images. “Holy crap.”

The Silverbird was rolling as its trajectory curved around; it was caught in the wake of the Skylord like a piece of flotsam. The curving patterns contained within the Skylord’s crystalline sheets were undulating wildly as its vacuum wings swirled like an iridescent mist across the gentle glow of the Void’s nebulae. All she could think of was a bird flapping frantically. Then the course alteration was over. The Silverbird’s sensors reported a noticeable Doppler shift in the light from the stars. They were accelerating at hundreds of gees, just as the Skylord had on their first encounter.

This first encounter, she corrected herself. Or should that be … In the end she decided human grammar hadn’t quite caught up with the Void’s abilities.

Whatever strange temporal adjustment the Skylord had made to facilitate their acceleration ended soon afterward. Ahead of them, the few stars shining amid the nebulae had acquired a blue tinge to their spectrum, and those behind stretched down into the red. The Silverbird’s smartcore determined that they were now traveling at about point nine three lightspeed. On board, glitches were reducing to acceptable levels, and her vertigo faded away.

She let out a huge sigh of relief, then grinned ruefully. “Thanks, Dad,” she said out loud. Trust him to figure out what to do. Her good humor faded as she acknowledged that others would be coming into the Void; that damned Pilgrimage would also go a-hunting for Querencia. So has the Second Dreamer agreed to lead them? And how the hell are they ever going to get past the Raiel in the Gulf?

Gore had told her to concentrate on getting to Makkathran, so she’d just have to trust that he knew what he was doing, which didn’t exactly inspire her with confidence. He’d have a plan of some kind, but it probably wouldn’t be one she approved of.

No, forget probably; it just won’t be.

Not that she had a lot of alternatives.

Once they were under way, the Silverbird’s smartcore plotted their course vector. Justine examined the projection, which extended a sharp green line past a purple and scarlet nebula shaped like a slipper orchid. The nebula was eleven light-years distant, and wherever they were heading for beyond that was invisible, blocked by nebula light and pyres of black interstellar dust.

After breakfast and a bout of exercise in the ship’s gym, Justine sat back on the couch and longtalked the Skylord.

“How long will it take for us to reach the solid world we’re traveling to?”

“Until we reach it.”