Helix Wars (54 page)
Olembe gestured to the hatch in the flank of the carriage. “This time, my friends, the journey will last for less than one hour.”
“Where are we going?” Kranda asked as they climbed inside and took their seats.
Olembe smiled as he said, “To the very
end
of the Helix, my friends.”
They took their seats, and were instantly enveloped in the soft padding.
2
T
HE PADDING WITHDREW
, releasing them, and Olembe led the way from the carriage.
They were standing before a bulkhead constructed of the same material as the floor, a white cliff-face that extended upwards for as far as the eye could see. Olembe stepped forward, touched something in the wall, and Ellis watched as a thick, cylindrical plug withdrew itself with a hiss from the bulkhead and hinged outwards. Revealed was an illuminated corridor. Olembe stepped forward and gestured at them to do the same.
Calla gripping his hand, Ellis entered the bright tunnel and hurried after Olembe.
Seconds later they emerged onto a gallery, crossed to a rail, and looked down.
Beside him, Kranda exclaimed in her own language, and all Ellis could do was laugh in stupefied amazement. Calla whispered, “I do not understand, Jeff. Where are we? What is it?”
Ellis just shook his head, attempting to find the words that would adequately describe what was before them.
Olembe said, “We are at the end of the Helix, my friends. What we see before us is just one level, one deck, of a thousand – and beyond, through the viewscreen, is the star-specked darkness of deep space.”
Ellis gripped the rail and stared down on kilometre after kilometre of ranked starships of every conceivable shape and design. “And which is ours?” he asked.
Olembe pointed to the largest ship, a blunt-nosed behemoth directly below where they stood. “We call it the
Phoenix
,” he said.
An elevator carried them down to the deck and they crossed to the starship.
“You will be part of a crew of over one hundred personnel of varying specialisms selected from the many races of the Helix,” Olembe explained as they approached the
Phoenix
. “Your training will begin shortly, and our estimated time of departure is approximately one year from now.”
“
Our
?” Kranda asked. “You mean, you’re coming too?”
Olembe smiled. “This is an adventure I wouldn’t want to miss out on. Gina Carrelli will be joining us, too.”
Ellis smiled. To meet Carrelli, to talk to her and Olembe about their parts in the exploits of the First Four... It was almost too much to take in.
He looked at Olembe and asked. “But what about Joe Hendry and Sissy Kaluchek? Are they still alive?”
Olembe smiled – sadly, it seemed to Ellis. “They were approached by representatives of the Builders, but they declined the offer. They said they had experienced enough adventuring for one lifetime, and wished to settle down. But that seems like a long, long time ago now, Jeff.” He laughed. “Come, inspect the ship and meet the rest of the crew.”
They stepped into what looked like an ovipositor and were sucked up into the belly of the ship. From there they took an elevator to the flight-deck. Other humans moved about the deck along with Mahkans, a Jantisar, two or three races Ellis did not recognise and even a diminutive Agstarnian. They were all, he thought, smitten by wonder, like children in Aladdin’s cave.
And then he saw a familiar, dark-haired figure across the deck, and his heart began a laboured pounding.
He looked at Olembe, who shrugged. “She is, after all, one of the best medics on New Earth,” he said.
Calla squeezed his hand. “Go to her,” she exhorted.
Ellis nodded, and dry of mouth left Calla’s side and made the long walk across the deck towards where Maria was standing, staring through the vast viewscreen, with her back to him.
He cleared his throat and said, “Maria.”
She turned quickly, and smiled, and her smile seemed genuine. “Jeff,” she said “Friday said you’d been... chosen.”
He tried to make sense of the mix of emotions whirling through his head. “I didn’t know you’d be here...” He laughed. “I’m sorry, this is something of a...”
“A shock? She smiled, reached out and took his hand. “Welcome aboard, Jeff.”
He said, “But... what about Dan?”
She made a bitter face. “History. I’ll tell you about him, some day.” Then she said, “We’ll have plenty of time to talk, in the years ahead.”
In silence, side by side, they stared out through the viewscreen at the stars massed beyond the Helix.
At last he said, “Come on, Maria. I’d like to introduce you to my friends.”
They turned and crossed the deck to where Calla, Kranda and Friday Olembe were waiting.
A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR
Eric Brown’s first short story was published in
Interzone
in 1987, and he sold his first novel,
Meridian Days
, in 1992. He has won the British Science Fiction Award twice for his short stories and has published forty books: SF novels, collections, books for teenagers and younger children, and he writes a monthly SF review column for the
Guardian
. His latest books include the novels
Engineman
and
The Kings of Eternity
, for Solaris Books.
He is married to the writer and mediaevalist Finn Sinclair and they have a daughter, Freya.
His website can be found at:
www.ericbrown.co.uk
Five hundred years from its launch, the colony vessel Lovelock is deep into its sub-lightspeed journey, carrying four thousand humans in search of a habitable planet. When a series of explosions tear the ship apart, it, it is forced to land on the nearest possible location: a polar section of the Helix - a vast, spiral construct of worlds, wound about a G-type sun.
While most of the colonists remain in coldsleep, the surviving crew members of the Lovelock must proceed upspiral in search of a habitable section. On their expedition they encounter extraordinary landscapes and alien races, meet with conflict and assistance, and attempt to solve the epic mystery that surrounds the origin of the Helix.
Helix combines engrossing scientific mystery, high adventure, and a depth of moving characterisation, written by one of the true talents of the genre.
Available to buy from the Kindle Store
1999, on the threshold of a new millennium, the novelist Daniel Langham lives a reclusive life on an idyllic Greek island, hiding away from humanity and the events of the past. All that changes, however, when he meets artist Caroline Platt and finds himself falling in love. But what is his secret, and what are the horrors that haunt him?
1935. Writers Jonathon Langham and Edward Vaughan are summoned from London by their editor friend Jasper Carnegie to help investigate strange goings on in Hopton Wood. What they discover there - no less than a strange creature from another world - will change their lives forever. What they become, and their link to the novelist of the future, is the subject of Eric Brown's most ambitious novel to date. Almost ten years in the writing, The Kings of Eternity is a novel of vast scope and depth, full of the staple tropes of the genre and yet imbued with humanity and characters you'll come to love.
Available to buy from the Kindle Store
Once the Enginemen pushed bigships through the cobalt glory of the nada-continuum. But faster than light isn't fast enough anymore. The interfaces of the Keilor-Vincicoff Organisation bring planets light years distant a simple step away. Then a man with half a face offers ex-Engineman Ralph Mirren the chance to escape his ruined life and push a ship to an undisclosed destination. The nada-continuum holds the key to Ralph's future. What he cannot anticipate is its universal importance - nor the mystery awaiting him on the distant colony world.