Read The Abyss Beyond Dreams for Free Online Page B

t-t-to
lanid.’
    ‘How’s that?’ Laura asked.
    ‘Because of the Skathl . . .’ A burst of anguish flowered in Joey’s mind as his traitor muscles distorted his words beyond recognition. ‘Thusss Skahh.’ He shut his
mouth forcefully. Began again. ‘Moih woold . . .’ His head bowed in defeat. ‘Because of the Skylords,’ his telepathic voice said clearly. ‘They brought us here for
whatever this ridiculous fulfilment kick of theirs is. If they wanted to kill us, the very least they had to do was just leave us drifting in space while all our systems glitched and crashed. But
they found us and guided us here, specifically here to this star which has an H-congruous type planet. On top of that, this whole place is artificial. Like Laura said, we’re here for a
reason. Death isn’t it.’
    ‘Makes sense,’ Laura said. ‘On the plus side, it probably means the
Vermillion
and the others will be able to land intact.’
    Ibu grunted in agreement. ‘And probably won’t be able to fly again.’
    ‘Fulfilment,’ Rojas said, as if hearing the word for the first time. ‘You’re making it sound like a sacrifice to a god.’
    ‘Best theory yet,’ Ayanna said. ‘The Void is the most powerful entity we’ve yet encountered. God’s not a bad description.’
    ‘Now you’re into infinite regression,’ Ibu said cheerfully. ‘If this is a god, what does that say of whoever created it?’
    ‘I’m not sure this qualifies as an entity,’ Laura said. ‘I’m sticking with my theory that the Void’s a more advanced version of ANA. Just a big-ass computer,
running a real-life simulation that we’re trapped in.’
    ‘Nothing so far disproves that,’ Ayanna said sympathetically. ‘But that still means there’s a reason for it existing, and there’ll be a controlling
sentience.’
    ‘My vote’s for a work of art,’ Joey told them. ‘If you can create this, you’re a long,
long
way past us on the evolutionary scale. Why not do it for
fun?’
    ‘Because it’s dangerous and going to kill the galaxy,’ Rojas said.
    ‘If you’re a god, that might be fun.’
    ‘Let’s hope we don’t meet Her then,’ Ibu said sardonically.
    Laura looked at the Forest again. ‘Well, I don’t think she’s likely to be in there.’
    ‘We might not get to find out,’ Rojas said. ‘The first Mk24’s telemetry feed is going weird on us.’
    ‘Weird, how?’ Ibu asked.
    Rojas was studying several displays. ‘The datastream is slowing down. I don’t mean there’s less information; it’s dopplering – the bit rate separation is
increasing.’
    ‘Temporal flow reduction,’ Ayanna said in satisfaction. ‘The quantum sensor data was right.’
    ‘Where’s the drone?’ Laura asked.
    ‘A hundred and fifty kilometres from the nearest distortion tree,’ Rojas said. ‘Approach rate, one kilometre a second. I’m reducing that now; I need more time to initiate
manoeuvres.’
    ‘How’s it responding?’ Joey asked. There was a lot of curiosity behind the question.
    ‘Sluggish,’ Rojas admitted. ‘Oh: interesting. The second Mk24’s data is speeding up.’
    ‘The effect is fluctuating?’ Ayanna asked. ‘Now that is odd.’
    ‘Okay, and now the second Mk24’s telemetry is dopplering back down,’ Rojas said.
    ‘Maybe it’s a variable threshold,’ Laura suggested. The lack of instant information was exasperating; this mission was like operating in the Stone Age. Once again, she
instinctively asked her u-shadow to connect to the shuttle’s network. Startlingly, the interface worked. A whole flock of icons popped up in her exovision. Secondary thought routines
operating in her macrocellular clusters began to tabulate an analysis on an autonomic level. The raw torrent of information suddenly shifted to being precise and edifying.
    Joey and Ayanna immediately turned to look at her, and she realized she’d let out a mental flash of comfort. ‘What’s the antonym of glitch?’ she asked. ‘I’ve