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

[tight beam, M8, tra. @4.28.891.7394-]
xGSV Sleeper Service
oGCU Grey Area

What has happened? Why are you doing this? Has your integrity been compromised?

∞

[wide beam, Mclear, tra. @4.28.891.7394]
xGCU Grey Area
oGSV Sleeper Service

No! I’m fine!

The Sleeper didn’t have time for another signal. The Grey Area dived into the energy grid, flickered once and then vanished far, far below in a tiny scintillating flare of radiations.

The GSV inspected the resulting shell of energies. It certainly looked like destruction. The Sleeper studied that final flicker the GCU had given just before it had encountered the grid. It still looked like it had been destroyed, but there was just a hint . . .

A human would have shaken her or his head.

When the Sleeper returned its attention to the Excession, it had gone. There was nothing present on the skein of real space, and no sign of even the merest disturbance on either of the energy grids.

No! thought the Sleeper Service, experiencing a terrible sense of frustration. No! Damn you! Don’t just go, not without some sort of reason, some explanation, some rationale . . .

A few seconds later, the GCU Fate Amenable To Change, as the nearest available craft, was persuaded that it might try approaching the Excession’s last known position. When it did so and passed over the thirty-light-year limit, its engines worked normally and continued to do so all the way in. However, it refused to go any further than the original closest-approach limit it had set itself, over a month earlier.

The Killing Time was more than happy to oblige; it raced in at maximum acceleration and at the very last moment instituted a crash stop, finally coming shuddering to rest exactly where the Excession had been. It reported, disappointedly, that there was absolutely nothing to be seen.

XIV

XIV

Ulver Seich sat on the parapet of the tower, swinging her legs. From the roof, it looked like you could see out over an ocean in one direction and a landscape of sea marsh, water meadow and cliffs in the other. It was perfectly convincing but it was just a projection; the bird had tried flying out in a spiral and only got a couple of metres out from the tower’s edge before one of its wings had encountered the solid boundary of the screen field. It was perched on the parapet at the girl’s side now, looking gloomily out at the troubled waves of the sea.

‘Bugger,’ Ulver said, half to herself. ‘It’s gone.’ She kept a watch on developments outside through her neural lace while she looked down at the bird. ‘The Excession,’ she told it. ‘It’s just disappeared.’

‘Good riddance,’ the bird said grouchily.

‘And the Grey Area flew into the grid,’ Ulver said, her voice trailing off for a moment while she inquired what had happened to Churt Lyne. ‘Ah,’ she said, discovering the old drone was safe aboard the GSV.