She turned on Pirius. “I want to make sure you understand what you have done, Pilot. For better or worse, you have broken open the strange madness that gripped humans for so long. Now the iron law of the Druz Doctrines will weaken, and mankind, scattered over a billion worlds, will begin to explore the limits of the possible. You have brought on us a new age, Pirius, an age of bifurcation. Perhaps you think that’s a good thing—I know this fool Nilis does.
“But at least we were united in our madness. You see, we will never again be strong enough, never united, never determined enough, to strike as you could have struck.” She pointed her finger at Pirius. “You could have destroyed it—destroyed that monstrous thing at the center of the Galaxy—but you turned back.”
Pirius frowned. “Do you believe the Xeelee will return?”
“Of course they will. It’s only a matter of time. And we will not be able to push them out again. They will be back—just as the photino birds have returned, and another ancient conflict resumes. And you turned back.”
Torec asked, “Where will you go now, Luru Parz?”
“To Earth, of course.”
“Why?”
“To prepare its defenses.” With that she walked away, small, closed in, unimaginably ancient.
Hope gasped, and pointed up. “The flyby!”
Pirius looked up. Far above the surface of the asteroid, the surviving ships of Exultant Squadron sailed across the sky, their graceful human engineering silhouetted against the glare of the Galaxy’s heart.
Do not remember heroes. Do not speak their names.
Remember my words, but do not speak my name.
I have a vision of a Galaxy overrun by mankind from Core to rim. Of four hundred billion stars each enslaved to the rhythms of Earth’s day, Earth’s year. I have a vision of a trillion planets pulsing to the beat of a human heart.
And I have a vision of a child. Who will grow up knowing neither family nor comfort. Who will not be distracted by the illusion of a long life. Who will know nothing but honor and duty. Who will die joyously for the sake of mankind.
That is a hero. And I will never know her name.
Always remember: a brief life burns brightly.
—Hama Druz
Also by Stephen Baxter
Also by STEPHEN BAXTER
Manifold: Time
Manifold: Space
Manifold: Origin
Evolution
Coalescent
With ARTHUR C. CLARKE
Time’s Eye
Sunstorm
Copyright Page
Exultant is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Del Rey® Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 2004 by Stephen Baxter
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.