Heaven's War (57 page)

Zhao was not a toucher, but he couldn’t help reaching for Yvonne’s hand.

Then he forced himself to stand up, addressing the Architect directly. “Who are you?” he said. “Can you understand me?” He said it in English, in Mandarin, in Hindi.

“Lighten up,” Pav said. He had likely understood two of Zhao’s three statements. “He already said.”

“
She
said, you mean.” Rachel pointed at Yvonne.

Zhao was about to repeat his demand in French, when Yvonne went rigid and started to rise. She looked fearful. “He says that he can’t engage on a verbal level, even with the proper translation device. Says it’s a scaling problem—”

“Whatever that means,” Zhao said.

“His processes are…slower?” Yvonne seemed to be having a conversation with herself. Then she laughed out loud. “Okay, yes.” She turned to Zhao, Pav, and Rachel. “If you need to use a name, call him ‘Keanu.’”

“But that’s the NEO,” Rachel said.

“I think that’s what Keanu is trying to tell us,” Yvonne said. “This body is just a way for Keanu to communicate—”

The railcar came to a gentle stop.

“Everybody out,” Yvonne said. “Hurry.”

They emerged into another tunnel much like those they had visited earlier…during what was proving to be a day without end.

Beyond the railcar, however, the tunnel opened into what, on Earth, would have been a giant underground station worthy of the Paris or Moscow metros. And covering one wall of the station…a shimmering curtain of bubbles. “What on Earth is that?” Zhao said, pointing to the curtain.

“The way into the Skyphoi habitat,” Yvonne said. And just like that, the former order was restored: Zhao would question, Yvonne would answer for the Architect.

Yvonne turned to Rachel. “Your father called it a Membrane, I think.”

“My father.”

Zhao found that revelation interesting. “Did our friend Keanu tell you that?”

“No. During the first EVA, Zack sent video of something that looked just like that, only smaller, when he and Pogo and the others made that first ingress.” Zhao noticed that Yvonne was again blinking away tears. “God, that was only a week ago.”

“Or another lifetime,” Zhao said.

He and Pav and Rachel were following Yvonne and the Architect. The giant lumbered along like the drunks Zhao remembered seeing in the streets of Shuandong, though a more charitable explanation might be that its head kept brushing the top of the tunnel…and its legs appeared to be unsteady.

The dog trotted along happily, flanking them while taking momentary detours.

Zhao was fascinated by this big Membrane. “What’s on the other side?” he asked.

“The Skyphoi habitat.”

“So you said. Are we going in there?”

The lag between question and response was longer than expected. “No,” Yvonne said. “Keanu says you wouldn’t like it.”

“Can we be the judge of that?”

“He means, it will kill you. Atmospheric pressure too high, too toxic.”

“Is he going in?” Pav said.

“No,” Yvonne said. Before she could say anything more, the Architect slowed to a stop.

They were looking at what appeared to be an accident scene at a balloon festival…if you allowed for the fact that the festival was taking place indoors.

Three large spherical objects floated in the “station” area, occasionally bumping up against the Membrane. They were mostly blue in color, ranging from desert sky to almost aquamarine, with flickers of other shades, too. The creatures weren’t perfectly spherical; their shapes kept changing with a regular rhythm.
It’s as if they’re breathing,
Zhao thought—and why wouldn’t they?

The trio hovered over a fourth balloon, this one crimson in color, that lay half-deflated on the ground emitting clouds of nasty-smelling gas.

“Are these the Skyphoi?” Rachel said.

“Yes,” Yvonne said, “and that one is badly injured.”

Keanu the Architect approached the scene, stopping some distance away and freezing into near-immobility. Zhao caught Yvonne a handful of meters from the Keanu, with Pav and Rachel and Cowboy joining, too. He hoped this was a respectful distance.

He also hoped something would happen, because he felt even more paralyzed and helpless than at any time since being sluiced through the tunnels.

As they watched, the three Skyphoi barraged the Architect with colors. “They’re talking to him,” Yvonne said, “but he doesn’t understand. He needs a Skyphoi Revenant.”

Pav pointed to the dying Skyphoi. “What about that one?”

“That was the Skyphoi Revenant,” Yvonne said quietly. “We didn’t get here in time.”

The dog suddenly began barking furiously, startling the Architect and causing the Skyphoi to rise and bump against each other.

“What is it?” Pav asked.

Cowboy took off down the tunnel beyond the accident scene.

“God, I don’t like this,” Rachel said. Pav put his arm around her, a gesture Zhao appreciated. Even Yvonne seemed apprehensive.

Four figures emerged into the faint light of the “station,” one
notably taller than the others and looking like an image from a dark ages nightmare.

The other three, however, were undeniably human, though as ragged as refugees. Zhao squinted…. Who were they? And what was that thing they were with?

Rachel Stewart suddenly broke free from Pav and ran toward them, screaming, “Daddy! Daddy!”

Makali Pillay had endured many shocks and surprises since being scooped up in the Bangalore vesicle. But nothing prepared her for the sight of a teary teenage American girl running toward them. What was Rachel Stewart doing here? The last she knew, Zack’s daughter was in the human habitat with 180-plus others!

And Pav was with her. And the Chinese spy, Zhao.

And the dog!

And a human woman she recognized as Yvonne Hall, the dead
Destiny
astronaut.

Followed by the Architect, and three giant jellyfish creatures.

It was good that she’d barely eaten or slept in the past forty hours. Emotional numbness and nearly paralyzing fatigue allowed her to be objective. This wasn’t happening to her, this was some kind of lucid dream, one in which she knew what was happening, but was powerless to change it.

She feared for Zack Stewart’s mental health. He had been reunited not only with his daughter—he hadn’t even known she was missing!—but with Yvonne Hall. He was openly weeping, visibly confused, thoroughly shaken.

She realized that she was crying, too.

And so was Dale Scott. To Makali’s astonishment, he slid an arm around her and pulled her close. She could feel him trembling. “God,” he said. “We’d better get it together.”

Makali agreed, because they weren’t the only actors on this stage.

The Skyphoi had surrounded Dash. The Sentry stood impassive, almost immobile, as the giant balloon creatures bumped and floated above him, their colors flickering through the visible spectrum in what had to
be deliberate patterns. “What do you suppose they’re saying?” Makali said.

The three-way reunion between Zack and Rachel and Yvonne had settled down to the point where Makali felt she and Dale could join in. Rachel did the introductions, ending with the giant creature that could have knocked Dash the Sentry over: “This is the Architect.”

“You mean, an Architect,” Zack said.

“Aren’t they the same?” Rachel said. Zack’s tired nod confirmed it.

Makali noted the
Destiny
commander’s body language: tense and wary. He had one hand on Rachel’s shoulder, the other on Yvonne’s. Now he subtly pushed his former crew member forward. “Does he remember me?”

“Yes,” Yvonne said.

“And my wife?” Zack said.

“Yes.”

“Why did she die again? Can he answer that?”

“I can,” Yvonne said. “Because the stress of being reborn, becoming a Revenant, is so great that adult bodies often don’t last long. They are created to serve as bridges between two races…once communion and understanding is established, they begin to fail.” A look passed between Yvonne and Zack, who was about to offer consolation or commiseration, Makali felt. But Yvonne stopped him. “Information persists,” she said. “Take that for what it’s worth…. If you’re asking me, I don’t know that I’d
want
to go through this again…. Remember what I’m looking forward to: dying for the second time. It wasn’t that much fun the first time through.”

“It seems really mean,” Rachel said.

“Maybe,” Yvonne said. “But I don’t think they know. Or care.” She considered it further. “They’re really not like us.”

Makali looked at Dale, who simply stared at the hard-packed ground. She felt that she was eavesdropping on a moment of great intimacy, like a confession to a priest. Of course, there was no intimacy. There were other creatures and other activities all around them.

But the idea of confession suddenly caused her to wonder, perhaps stupidly, what a priest would make of this Revenant business, or how certain knowledge of life after death would affect religious thought—

At that moment the power died again, the
thrum
of the railcar—which Makali had been hearing without recognizing the source—died, and so did the lighting in the tunnel.

The only illumination was from the three Skyphoi, lit up like lanterns with their own power…and now showing impressive collections of internal organs.

Before Makali could make sense of what she was seeing, Dash joined them, the Sentry almost a ghostly voice in the dark. It said, “If my people emerge and find us, there will be casualties.” It wasn’t clear to Makali whether Dash was addressing the Architect or Zack.

“More casualties, you mean,” Dale said. “Who killed Valya?”

“The Skyphoi have a history of conflict,” the Sentry said.

“Not with us,” Dale said.