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

The man looked out to sea, then at his right hand. He looked surprised to see he was holding a stone in it. He threw it as hard and as far as he could into the waves; it didn’t travel half the distance to the distant, invisible wall.

‘What are you supposed to do?’ the man asked the creature. ‘What is your mission?’

‘Get to the Excession,’ Amorphia said. ‘Destroy it, if that’s deemed necessary, and if it’s possible. Perhaps just draw a response from it.’

‘And what about the Affront?’

‘Added complication,’ the avatar agreed, squatting once more and looking around the stones around its feet. ‘I might have to deal with them too.’ It shrugged, and lifted a stone, hefting it. It put the stone back and chose another.

‘Deal with them?’ Genar-Hofoen said. ‘I thought they had an entire war fleet heading there.’

‘Oh, they do,’ the avatar said from beach level. ‘Still, you have to try, don’t you?’ It stood again.

Genar-Hofoen looked at it, trying to see if it was being ironic or just disingenuous. No way of telling. ‘So when do we get into the thick of things?’ he asked, trying to skip a flat stone over the waves, without success.

‘Well,’ Amorphia said, ‘the thick of things probably starts about thirty light years out from the point of the Excession itself, these days.’ The avatar stretched, flexing its arm far back behind it. ‘We should be there this evening,’ it said. Its arm snapped forward. The stone whistled through the air and skipped elegantly over the tops of half a dozen waves before disappearing.

Genar-Hofoen turned and stared at the avatar. ‘This evening?’ he said.

‘Time is a little tight,’ the avatar said with a pained expression, again peering into the distance. ‘It would be for the best for all of us if you’d talk to Dajeil . . . soon.’ It smiled vacuously at him.

‘Well, how about right now?’ the man said, spreading his hands.

‘I’ll see,’ the creature said, and turned abruptly on its heel. Suddenly there was a reflecting ovoid, like a giant silver egg stood on its end, where the avatar had been. The Displacer field vanished almost before the man had time to register its existence, seeming to shrink and collapse almost instantly to a point and then disappearing altogether. The process produced a gentle pop.

XI

XI

The Killing Time plunged intact through the third wave of ancient Culture ships; they rushed on, towards the Excession. It fended off a few more of the warheads and missiles which had been directed at it, turning a couple of the latter back upon their own ships for a few moments before they were detected and destructed. The hulk of the Attitude Adjuster fell astern behind the departing fleet, coasting and twisting and tumbling in hyperspace, still heading away from and outstripping the Killing Time as it braked and started to turn.