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, M16.4, [email protected]]
xGSV Anticipation Of A New Lover’s Arrival, The
oEccentric Shoot Them Later
Is it just me, or does something smell suspicious about all this?
∞
[tight beam, M16.4, tra. @n4.28.856.6883]
xEccentric Shoot Them Later
oGSV Anticipation Of A New Lover’s Arrival, The
Oh good, an easy one; it’s you.
∞
I’m serious. This feels . . . strange.
∞
How dare you imply I’m not serious.
Anyway; what’s the problem?
This is the most important thing ever, by our understanding.
Naturally everything and everybody will seem a little odd after
such a realisation.
We cannot help but be affected.
∞
You’re right, I’m sure, but I just have this niggling feeling.
No; the more I think about it the more I’m convinced you are right
and I am worrying over nothing.
I’ll do a little checking for my own peace of mind, but I’m sure it
will only help lay my fears to rest.
∞
You should spend more time in Infinite Fun Space, you know.
∞
You’re probably right. Oh well.
∞
Still, keep in touch.
Just in case anything does turn up.
Of course.
Take care.
∞
Good checking, my friend.
You take care, too.

II

II

The drone Sisela Ytheleus 1/2 drifted, waiting. Several seconds had passed since the skein pulse had resonated around it and it was still trying to decide what to do. It had passed the time by throwing together the anti-matter reaction chamber as best it could in the short time available, instead of painstakingly putting it together bit by delicate bit. As an after-thought, it released all but one of its nanomissiles and stuck two hundred of them around its heat-scarred rear panel in two groups on either side of the reaction chamber; fortuitously, the panel’s damaged surface made it easy for it to embed the tiny missiles so that only the last third of their millimetre-long bodies protruded from the panel. It kept the other thirty-nine missiles ready to fire, for all the good that would do against whatever it was stalking it.

The gentle, buzzing vibrations in the skein had taken on a distinctive signature; something was coming towards it in hyperspace, with a sensory keel in real space, trawling slowly, well below lightspeed. Whatever it was, it was not the Peace Makes Plenty; the timbral characteristics were all wrong.

A wash of wide-band radiation, like a sourceless light, a final pulse of maser energies, in real space this time, and then something shimmering away to one side; a ship surfacing into the three-dimensional void, image flickering once then snapping steady.

Ten kilometres away; one klick long. Matched velocity. A fat, grey-black ellipsoid shape, covered with sharp spines, barbs and blades . . .

An Affronter ship!

The drone hesitated. Could this have been the ship that had been following the Peace Makes Plenty? Probably. Had it been taken over by the artifact/excession? Possibly. Not that it mattered in the end. Shit.