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Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. MARAUDER
  3. HISTORICAL ARCHIVES SUBSECTION C/5 category ALPHA
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. EPILOGUE
  46. TIME LINE
  47. SHOAL TRILOGY
  48. EVENTS FOLLOWING EMPIRE OF LIGHT AND PRECEDING MARAUDER
  49. Acknowledgements
  50. Also by Gary Gibson

In truth, she did not communicate in words. The Librarian instead leeched images and concepts from her conscious and unconscious mind as soon as they formed, presenting them directly to the Wanderer and filtering them through some kind of enormously complex syntax she couldnt even begin to grasp. The experience was both uncanny and unsettling.

The Wanderer clearly remembered her from their previous encounter. The small, bright ones, she soon understood, were humanity. Their lives and the lives of all mortal creatures were fleeting in comparison to that of the Wanderer itself, being here and gone in brief blink-and-miss-it spurts of furious activity.

WE will CONSIDER WILL (consult, contemplate) EVALUATE.

Megan opened her eyes once more and drew in a sharp breath. What next? she wondered.

And now we wait, said a voice in her thoughts but she could not be sure if it came from the Librarian or from herself.

THIRTY-FIVE

Gabrielle

Back when Gabrielle had dreamed of how her life might turn out following her escape from the Demarchy, becoming nurse to a fully grown man with the self-awareness of a baby would never have entered her thoughts. But, then, neither had she imagined that the father of her child would betray and kidnap her, participate in the murder of millions and essentially attempt to sacrifice her to an alien entity of unknown provenance.

She had been kept almost entirely isolated from the rest of the Ingersolls crew throughout the long months of their journey from Redstone. On those rare occasions when she did encounter unfamiliar faces on board the Ingersoll, she had no idea what to say to them or how to act. The only one who had even spoken to her so far was the woman she knew simply as Kathryn, who maintained a cool and professional distance whenever she came to check on the health of both Gabrielle and Bash.

Gabrielle still dreamed constantly of her last glimpse of Evie, clutched in the dazed and blood-spattered arms of Martha Stiles. During those first long weeks aboard the Ingersoll, she had regularly wept until her face was blotchy and raw. But even that emotion faded after a while, leaving her feeling as if she had been hollowed out, reduced to a paper-thin shell only superficially resembling the woman she had once been; a woman that had effectively died months before and uncountable light years away.

Bash remained as incommunicative as ever, so much so that Gabrielle began to wonder if she had hallucinated the one time he had stared directly at her, shortly after they boarded the Ingersoll. Apart from his regular medical checks, no one else aboard showed the slightest interest in actually taking care of him. Since she and Bash were forced to share the same quarters, Gabrielle had become his nursemaid essentially by default, feeding and cleaning him and even helping him with his toilet visits.