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

Zreyn Tramow’s stored mind-state had been woken up to tell her that her name at least had been used in the discovered conspiracy. The Sleeper Service had been uncertain about whether this was really necessary, but it was the sort of thing that extreme politeness dictated, and in the aftermath of the brief war, everybody was being almost exquisitely correct. Besides, it had a hunch that she might find the current civilisational situation interesting enough to be re-born, and it rather liked the idea of instigating such a response. The Sleeper Service had been right; Zreyn Tramow had thought the galaxy sounded like a place worth revisiting and had duly been grown a new body, but then, after the ship had stuck around, impatiently, while the various post-debacle inquiries and investigations had been carried out, she’d asked to go with it when it had announced it still intended to go on a rambling retreat.

Gestra Ishmethit, his mind-state plucked from his dying brain in the evacuated cold of the warship halls in Pittance by the guilt-stricken Attitude Adjuster, appropriated from that craft just before it destroyed itself by the attacking Killing Time and subsequently passed on until it came to rest in the restocked memory vaults of the Sleeper Service, had also been woken up and furnished with a new body by that time; death had neither improved his social skills nor sated his urge for solitude and he too had asked to remain aboard the giant ship.

He, Ren, Dajeil and Zreyn were its only passengers.

‘Yes, you’re being a hick; stop it at once,’ Dajeil told Zreyn, who shrugged. Dajeil glanced round at the dunes, the golden sand and the bright blue sky. ‘Anyway, it’s a long journey,’ she said. ‘Maybe we’ll get bored with all this and want it all changed back to the way it was.’

‘Just let me know,’ Amorphia said.

Dajeil took another look round. ‘I’m glad I let you talk me into remaking the old place like this, Amorphia,’ she said.

‘Pleased you like it,’ the avatar said, nodding.

‘Have you decided where we’re going yet?’ Zreyn asked.

The avatar nodded. ‘I think . . . Leo II,’ it said.

‘Not Andromeda?’ Zreyn said.

Amorphia shook its head. ‘I changed my mind.’

‘Damn,’ Zreyn said. ‘I always wanted to go to Andromeda.’

‘Too crowded,’ Amorphia said.

Zreyn looked unconvinced.

‘We could go there . . . afterwards?’ the avatar suggested.

‘Will we even live to see Leo II?’ Dajeil asked, opening her eyes and gazing over at the creature.

The avatar looked apologetic. ‘It will take rather a long time,’ it admitted.

Dajeil closed her eyes again. ‘You could always Store us,’ she said. ‘Think you could manage that?’

Zreyn laughed lightly.

‘Oh, I could give it a try,’ the avatar said.

Epilogue

Epilogue