“Of course.”

“Did anything get out?”

“No, nothing,” the SI said. Its oscillations deepened to purple for a moment. “The navy can’t break in. The President has asked High Angel if it can get through.”

“What was the answer?”

“The Raiel said probably not. The Sol barrier seems to be based on Dark Fortress technology. Is that right?”

“Yeah,” Troblum said reluctantly; he couldn’t actually see how admitting that would make things any worse.

“You were there at the Dark Fortress. I know that, and so does Paula; she interviewed your old captain, Chatworth. You were part of this project, a large part.”

“I liked what the Accelerators were doing. It’s the faction I shall join.”

“Only if the Sol barrier gets lifted,” the SI said. “There’s no way to reach ANA now, and the deterrence fleet is trapped inside the barrier as well. The Commonwealth is completely exposed to the rest of the galaxy, and there are worse things out there than the Ocisen Empire, believe me.”

“Not after Fusion. Humans will become postphysical, and such things will be an irrelevence.”

“I don’t wish to become postphysical, nor does a huge proportion of your own species. Troblum, this is wrong and you know it. There are many ways to achieve postphysical status without forcing it upon those who don’t wish it.”

“It won’t be forced,” he said sulkily.

“Are you familiar with the Fusion concept and how it will be enacted?”

“Not really.”

“And you were trying to stop the Fusion, if I’m not mistaken?” The SI’s tone became sympathic. “You and the Accelerators have parted company.”

“I don’t agree with them using the Cat. I still hold with postphysical elevation.”

“Will you transcend, Troblum? Is that your plan?”

“I … don’t know. Maybe. Yes, ultimately.”

“I hope you achieve your goal. Why are you still on your ship? Why not join the Pilgrimage and travel into the Void?”

“Because they’ll kill me if they find me.”

“That’s not very enlightened of them. Do you want creatures with that kind of behavior profile to be the gatekeepers to human evolution?”

Troblum sank down into his chair, trying not to scowl at the fluctuating lines. “What do you want?”

“We both know why they’ll kill you now, Troblum. Because you know how to switch off the barrier, don’t you?”

“Actually, I don’t. Only a code can deactivate it, and I don’t know it. I never have.”

“But you understand the fundamentals behind the Swarm technology. If anyone can get through, it’ll be you.”

“No. I don’t know how. That force field is unbreakable.”

“Have you thought about that? Have you analyzed every aspect?” the SI urged.

“Of course. We had to be sure its integrity was perfect.”

“Nothing is perfect, Troblum, not in this universe. You know that. There will be a flaw.”

“No.”

The colorful projection of waving lines shifted to blue. “You have to let ANA out, Troblum. You have to find a way.”

“It can’t be done.”

“Think about it. Look at the problem from fresh angles. Find the solution, Troblum. You owe your species that much.”

“I owe you nothing,” he spit. “Look at the shitty way everyone treats me.”

“Indeed, yes. You have-or had-your personal collection of war memorabilia, the greatest there had ever been. You have the EMAs to indulge yourself in any way you want. Higher society gave you all that. On a personal level there are friends out there if you want them, lovers, wives.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Nobody wants me.”

The SI’s voice softened. “Have you ever reached out for people, Troblum? They would be amenable if you did that, if you wanted to do that. You’ve devoted decades to nurturing I-sentient personalities. Are they people?”

Troblum glanced at Catriona, who gave him an encouraging little smile. “Really, what do you want?” he asked. “Why are you even fucking talking to me?”

“Because I want you to do the right thing, of course. Before the Sol barrier went up, you were trying to reach Paula Myo, offering information that would stop the Swarm, stop Ilanthe and Marius and the Cat. You can still do that. Carry on with what you were doing; it was right. Talk to Paula; give her the information she needs to take down the Sol barrier.”

“I don’t have it! It doesn’t fucking exist.”

“You don’t know that,” the SI said persuasively. “Not for certain, for nothing is certain. Keep going as you were before the imprisonment, Troblum. Oscar Monroe is on Viotia; he’s worthy of your trust. He sacrificed himself so the universe you were born into could exist.”

“I can’t. If I expose myself, they’ll kill me. Do you get it now? The Cat will come after me, and she’ll kill me again and again and again.”

“Then don’t expose yourself. Simply call Paula or Oscar, or I will be happy to discuss the physics of the Swarm.”

“I don’t trust you. I don’t even know what you really are.”

“Troblum, you have to decide what you truly believe in. You will have no peace until you do.”

“Yeah, right. Whatever.”

“Very well. I will ask you to consider one thing.”

“What?” he asked grouchily.

“What would Mark Vernon do in this situation?”

The writhing morass of fine lines shrank to nothing. Troblum’s u-shadow told him the SI had withdrawn from the TD link. “Fuck off, then,” he grunted at the empty space above the chair.

“I’m sorry,” Catriona said. “It shouldn’t speak to you like that.”

All he could do was wave a hand at her in irritation, hoping she’d shut up. Mark Vernon. His ancestor. The man who’d actually fired the quantumbuster that allowed the Dark Fortress to establish the Dyson Alpha barrier again, winning the war. Popular history always overlooked that, always gave Ozzie the credit. A true hero. The one Troblum looked up to more than anybody.

Stupid psychological manipulation bullshit, he thought angrily. Like I’m going to give in to that.

He picked the coffeepot up, only to wrinkle his nose in dismay when he realized how much it had cooled. He instructed the culinary unit to produce some more.

“What are you going to do?” Catriona asked guardedly.

“Nothing,” he said. “I don’t care, not anymore. There is no way through the Sol barrier. Why can’t they just accept that?”

She smiled and sank down on the floor beside his chair. Her hand stroked his face adoringly. “Then it’s just you and me. We’ll be okay. I’ll never let you down.”

“Yeah.” He couldn’t help checking the smartcore’s navigation function. Secondary routines promoted the exovision display to primary, drawing a bright orange line through the starfield. Mellanie’s Redemption was a hundred thirty lighty-years from Viotia and closing fast.

The Delivery Man’s ship dropped out of hyperspace fully stealthed. Ten AUs away the blue dwarf Alpha Leonis shone brightly against the starfield. Directly on the other side of the sun from the ship was Augusta, once the greatest of all the Big15 planets. As Compression Space Transport’s (CST) primary base of operations it had been the hub for wormholes to dozens of worlds; along with its financial and industrial prowess, that made it a critical component of the first-era Commonwealth. Even after the development of Higher culture and ANA, the wormhole network was maintained, giving it a strategic importance above most Inner worlds. As such, eight River-class and two Capital-class warships were patrolling the star system. Planetary defenses were at condition-one alert, with powerful force fields covering the wormhole generators and transfer stations along with the megacity.

After waiting for three minutes to confirm that no sensors had located the ship, the Delivery Man ordered it to fly in to the Leo Twins. They were the companions to Alpha Leonis: Little Leo, an orange dwarf, around which a red dwarf, Micro Leo, orbited. Scanning them with passive sensors, he found something else there. There was an asteroid in a long elliptical orbit around the Twins; at over a hundred miles in diameter it almost qualified as a moon in its own right. Its cylindrical shape was unusually regular. Right away he knew it wasn’t natural. The sensors revealed it was rotating fast around the long axis, and there was no wobble, which was just about impossible for a natural object. It also had an infrared emission; the dark wrinkled surface was radiating more heat than the little stars were shining on it. The Delivery Man wasn’t at all surprised when mass analysis showed it was hollow.