BooksBarbecue
Back Excession
Chapters (108)
  1. About the Author
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. 1 - Outside Context Problem
  6. I
  7. II
  8. III
  9. IV
  10. V
  11. VI
  12. 2 - Not Invented Here
  13. I
  14. II
  15. III
  16. 3 - Uninvited Guests
  17. I
  18. II
  19. III
  20. IV
  21. 4 - Dependency Principle
  22. I
  23. II
  24. III
  25. IV
  26. V
  27. 5 - Kiss The Blade
  28. I
  29. II
  30. III
  31. IV
  32. V
  33. VI
  34. 6 - Pittance
  35. I
  36. II
  37. III
  38. IV
  39. V
  40. VI
  41. 7 - Tier
  42. I
  43. II
  44. III
  45. IV
  46. 8 - Killing Time
  47. I
  48. II
  49. III
  50. IV
  51. V
  52. VI
  53. VII
  54. VIII
  55. 9 - Unacceptable Behaviour
  56. I
  57. II
  58. III
  59. IV
  60. V
  61. VI
  62. VII
  63. VIII
  64. IX
  65. X
  66. XI
  67. XII
  68. XIII
  69. XIV
  70. 10 - Heavy Messing
  71. I
  72. II
  73. III
  74. IV
  75. V
  76. VI
  77. VII
  78. VIII
  79. IX
  80. X
  81. XI
  82. XII
  83. XIII
  84. XIV
  85. XV
  86. 11 - Regarding Gravious
  87. I
  88. II
  89. III
  90. IV
  91. V
  92. VI
  93. VII
  94. VIII
  95. IX
  96. X
  97. XI
  98. XII
  99. XIII
  100. XIV
  101. 12 - Faring Well
  102. I
  103. II
  104. III
  105. IV
  106. V
  107. VI
  108. Epilogue

Eventually, the Sober Counsel asked, ~ . . . Is that it?

~ So it would appear, the Fate Amenable To Change replied. It felt terrified, elated, disappointed, all at once. Terrified to be in the presence of something that could do what it had just observed, elated to have witnessed it and taken the measurements it had - there were data here, in the velocity of the skein-grid collapse, in the apparent viscosity of the grid’s reaction to the links’ decoupling - that would fuel genuinely, utterly original science - and disappointed because it had a sneaking feeling that that was it. The Excession was going to sit here like this for a while, still doing nothing. Seemingly endless boredom, instants of blinding terror . . . endless boredom again. With the Excession around you didn’t need a war.

The Fate Amenable To Change started relaying all the data it had collected on the grid-skein links’ collapse to a variety of other ships, without even collating it properly first. Get it out of this one location first, just in case. Another part of its Mind was thinking about it, though.

~ That thing reacted, it told the other two craft.

~ To the Affront signal? the Appeal To Reason sent. ~ I was wondering about that.

~ Could this be the state in which the Peace Makes Plenty discovered the entity? the Sober Counsel asked.

~ It could indeed, couldn’t it? the Fate Amenable To Change agreed.

~ The time has come, the Appeal To Reason sent. ~ I’m sending in a drone.

~ No! You wait until the Excession assumes the configuration it probably possessed when it overpowered your comrade and then you decide to approach it just as it must have? Are you quite mad?

~ We cannot just sit here any longer! the Appeal To Reason told the Culture craft. ~ The war is days away from us. We have tried every form of communication known to life and had nothing in return! We must do more! Launching drone in two seconds. Do not attempt to interfere with it!

II

II

‘Well, we were going to have them at the same time; it seemed ... I don’t know; more romantic, I suppose, more symmetrical.’ Dajeil laughed lightly, and stroked Byr’s arm. They were in the big circular room at the top of the tower; Kran, Aist and Tulyi, and her and Byr. She stood by the log fire, with Byr. She looked to see if Byr wanted to take up the story, but she just smiled and drank from her wine goblet. ‘But then when we thought about it,’ Dajeil continued, ‘it did kind of seem a bit crazy. Two brand new babies, and just the two of us here to look after them, and first-time mothers.’

‘Only-time mothers,’ Byr muttered, making a face into her goblet. The others laughed.