Or maybe they do. Who knows what they see from the Heart?

Of all the revelations Inigo had brought, knowing that the Void was a danger to life everywhere was the hardest to accept.

“I always hated that Ladydamned thing,” Inigo said, glaring at the six-sided mansion.

“The mansion?” Corrie-Lyn asked in surprise.

“No, the arcology in Kuhmo. It dominated every day of my life while I was growing up. That’s one of the reasons I offered the town council all that money to demolish the monstrosity, so kids wouldn’t be so blighted in future.”

“It did fill your mind,” Edeard confirmed. “I wasn’t really sure what genuine human architecture looked like, and I was in a hurry that day. It was the obvious choice.

“Thank the Lady you didn’t build it full size.”

“I saw the fane you replaced it with,” Corrie-Lyn said drily. “It wasn’t a whole lot better.”

Inigo grinned back at her. “There’s gratitude.”

Edeard sensed concern growing in Justine’s mind. He glanced over to see her standing close to Gore, whose golden face had hardened with worry.

“What?”

“Some events are outside our control,” Justine said. “I think you need to ask the Skylord now.”

The creature they were pursuing was still half a million kilometers away, a shimmering patch to one side of Nikran. Edeard eyed it reluctantly. If it declared he wasn’t fulfilled, Inigo would have to delve down into the memory layer and bring out a version of himself who was. There were few enough certainties for him right now, but encountering his future self was something he knew he didn’t want to endure. “I’ll try.” He felt for the Skylord, finding it on the edge of perception. Usually their thoughts were composed and content. He’d never known one to host such confusion before. It was grieving for its kindred that had succumbed to Ilanthe, and the colossal warship racing after it was also unsettling. There were ancient ancestral memories about such things: the time of chaos.

“You have nothing to fear from those I travel with, including the city,” Edeard assured it. “They are my companions as I seek fulfillment.”

“I know this city now,” the Skylord replied. “Its kind brought ruin to this universe. We have found no minds since they threw the planets of life down into the stars they orbited. None have emerged here other than your own species.”

“That time is over now. You know more of my species are already here. Minds are emerging again.”

“As is the other who kills.”

“That is why I wish to reach the Heart. I will carry the warning to it. I believe I am fulfilled. I believe the Heart will accept me. Is this right?”

The Skylord took a long time to answer. “You are fulfilled,” it acknowledged. “I will guide your essence to the Heart.”

“Guide me to the Heart as I am. This ship will take me. We will follow you.”

“It is the essence of every mind, my kindred guide.”

“Guide me to the Heart. It will decide if it accepts me as I am or if I abandon my body and become pure mind.”

“I will guide you.”

“Thank you.”

Beyond the crystal dome, the stars began to chase short arcs across space as Makkathran turned to follow the Skylord. Then they started to accelerate again. Edeard experienced a long moment of dizziness. When he looked straight up again, he could see a small clump of stars directly above the apex of the dome. They’d all become bright blue-white. The rest of the universe around them was black.

“That’s not fast enough,” Gore said. “Ilanthe has a week of Void time on you. Christ knows how close she is now.”

“We know this is as fast as the Skylords can travel,” Justine said.

“Yeah, but they’re not exactly swinging from the top of the IQ tree, now, are they? Ask Makkathran. It’s had millions of years to figure out what passes for spacetime in the Void.”

Justine gave Edeard a questioning look.

“I’ll ask,” he said.

“Faster?” Makkathran queried; its thoughts intimated curiosity. “We were designed for every conceivable quantum state except of course this one. Here the mind is paramount, helping to seduce so many inferior mentalities. Long ago, I observed the fundamental connections between rationality and the multidimensional lattice which incorporates this universe’s functionality. Speed is an aspect of temporal flow, which in turn is determined by thought. It is the application pattern which is the key, and those are actually quite simple to determine.”

Outside the dome, light exploded out of the emptiness. Stars began to streak past like rigid lightning bolts. Glaring nebula clouds formed hurricane curlicues, spiraling around and around as they streamed away in a resplendent blaze of color.

“I think that was a yes,” an awestruck Oscar mumbled as multicolored ripples of light flowed across his upturned face.

“So are we going fast or is the Void slowing down?” Corrie-Lyn asked tentatively.

“That’s not strictly relevant in here,” Inigo said. “All that matters is the end result.”

In parallel to his conversation with the Delivery Man, Gore was monitoring the data the infiltration software was surreptitiously accumulating. The elevation mechanism had started running internal scans as the filaments continued their invasion into its structure. He released the first batch of packages, a low-level torrent that swiftly insinuated itself into the scan interpretation routines, falsifying the results so the elevation mechanism would find nothing wrong with itself at a molecular level.

Dream-Makkathran went FTL amid a spectacular light storm.

Visual observation-Tyzak was bouncing its way over the plaza, taking care not to step on the glistening black webbing that was humming gently.

That’s all I need, a higher secondary segment of Gore’s mind thought. The Anomine translation routine in a storage lacuna went active.

“Others have come,” Tyzak said.

“From your village?” Gore warbled and whistled back.

“No. Others. Star travelers who are similar to you but very different. I do not know of their story.”

“Show me, please.”

Tyzak traced his way back across the plaza. One of his limbs extended, pointing down a broad street.

There were eight of them standing across the road a hundred meters short of the plaza. Pastel light from the buildings on either side glittered across their extravagant jeweled longcoats. One of them raised a long white spear and bowed slightly.

“Silfen,” Gore sighed, resisting the urge to give them the finger in return. Instead he inclined his head. “Just ignore them. They’re the galaxy’s greatest voyeurs.”

“Why should they come here?”

“To observe me.”

The infiltration packages flashed up a problem with the analysis routines they were trying to modify. There must have been hidden sentinels, because the analysis routines were resisting any attempt to subvert them. They had begun reformatting themselves with alarming frequency. It meant the packages couldn’t establish themselves; there was no stable configuration to match. And the sentinels were routing more advanced routines to the scans, examining why the resistance algorithms were being triggered. That might well alert the elevation mechanism’s principal consciousness.

Gore pressed his golden lips together. “Oh, shit; here we go.”

Hanging in transdimensional suspension two million kilometers above the Anomine star, Marius had directed his starship’s sensor readings to a constellation of semiautonomous secondary routines. Although the Delivery Man’s ship had performed a truly astounding feat by flying into the star’s convection layer, it wasn’t his main concern. He simply didn’t understand Justine’s dream.

That Gore had somehow maneuvered Inigo and Araminta-two into the Void was seriously impressive. But then the notion faltered. To rationalize with the Heart, as Gore claimed was their ultimate purpose, must be a misdirection. He was sure of it.