Read Dark Space: Avilon for Free Online Page B

from the center of a high, dome-shaped glass ceiling.
    “Nice,” the girlish voice from before said. Ethan turned to see that it did in fact belong to the young Nova pilot he’d seen with Atton. She was holding his hand.
    The Peacekeeper turned to address them from the center of the foyer. His subtly glowing blue-white armor gleamed in the gilded light of the chandelier.
    “I’m sure you all have many questions, but it is almost time for us to . . . sleep , so I’ll try to be brief.”
    Ethan frowned at that, noting the way the blue-caped Peacekeeper hesitated on the word sleep, as if he’d been about to say something else.
    The Peacekeeper went on, “Night fall is somewhat different here than what you’ll be used to—at least it is in Etheria and Celesta. We don’t have the same requirement for sleep that you martales do. That, along with all the many other frailties of our species, has been engineered out of us.”
    “So why is night any different from the day? Why not carry on doing whatever it is you’d normally do?” Captain Caldin asked.
    “Because we all have to take a break from our daily routine in order to Sync . This is the closest thing we know to sleep. Sync is when we synchronize the data in our Lifelink implants with Omnius. Sync data serves as an emergency backup in case of a very sudden death, but it also gives Omnius the data he needs to make accurate predictions about the day to come.”
    Ethan’s eyebrows floated up. “Predictions?”
    “Perhaps I should start at the beginning. Over thirty thousand years ago, Neona Markonis, a renowned cyberneticist at the time, hypothesized that it would be impossible to create an intelligence any greater than the creator’s. Working on this assumption, she used Lifelink implants to network thousands of our greatest minds together. Using the collective power of their intellect, they created Omnius.
    “His test function was to study the data in His creators’ Lifelinks and tell them things about themselves that they couldn’t discover on their own. He began to predict what they would do next. The team realized they could use an intellect like His to predict the future and prevent crime. A logical extension of that was for Omnius to predict everything else, too, and create a true utopia. During Sync Omnius runs an internal simulation of Avilon with all of the variables in place. Like that, He is able to predict our actions for the day to come with near perfect accuracy.”
    Captain Caldin snorted. “If he already knows what’s going to happen, why not skip to the end? Tell us all what we’re going to do and save us the trouble of thinking about it. In fact, maybe he should just do it all for me, that way I can spend my time contemplating eternity.”
    The Peacekeeper turned to the captain and stared at her for an uncomfortably long moment. “Omnius does not control our actions simply by knowing them. He uses his foresight to warn us against taking any action that will harm us or others.”
    “What if I don’t heed his warnings?” Ethan challenged.
    “If your intended action is a minor offense, it may be allowed, but if the intended offense is grievous, you will be arrested before you can commit your crime, and then you will be rehabilitated.”
    “Rehabilitated . . .” Ethan nodded slowly. He’d spent enough time on Etaris to know a prison when he found one. Avilon looked orderly and pretty on the surface, but dig just a little deeper and something began to stink. No wonder his father had opted out. Preston Ortane would never let anyone tell him how to live his life.
    Ethan adjusted his footing and crossed his arms over his chest. Alara must have sensed his annoyance, because she shot him a quick look, her violet eyes wide and intent. The message was clear. Don’t say a word.
    “Hoi, cut the krak—you’re saying that Omnius doesn’t just see the outcome of the next day, he controls it, by telling us what not to do and then punishing us