The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [171]
‘The Vor and the Shyntanil, a pair of barbaric predatory species which you brought back from the brink of extinction … ’
‘Hardly relevant,’ Talavera cut in. ‘There are many subspecies and sophont offshoots performing a range of tasks for me, some of whom you would find highly commendable.’
Robert watched a soft billow of cloud pass through the towers and domes outside.
‘I do not doubt what you say – it’s just my experiences which raise these questions, but I’ll leave that one aside. Another thing which puzzled me was the vermax, which are apparently technivores, yet which are also your servants. Why would you use such creatures?’
‘Again, this is not relevant.’ Talavera stood, smile replaced by a dark look. ‘This strikes me as a technique of hesitation or even avoidance, Robert, this questioning and judging. Come now – I am offering you the ultimate prize, transcendence, an eternity of enlightenment, the chance to converse with those who have already ascended to a greater wisdom. My patience is wearing thin – you must choose!’
‘Oh fool, fool, powerful fool! – don’t you understand? He has already chosen!’
Snarling, Talavera turned towards the source of the voice. Robert looked also and laughed when he saw the drone Reski Emantes gliding smoothly across the empty auditorium, drawing near. The drone had returned to its original flattened ovoid shape, only now its exterior shimmered with a beautiful polychromatic, shifting aura.
‘He has already chosen,’ the drone went on, ‘because he’s seen through you. Despite your godling powers and near-limitless array of elaborate spectacle, he has discerned the cold death force that lies at the root of your every thought and deed.’
Anger burned in Talavera’s eyes. ‘Robert, take no notice of this prattling echo of nothing. You can come with me and leave all your pain and your guilt behind – for ever. Freed from burdens you never deserved to carry, you can move towards perfection and a supremacy unimaginable at this level of existence.’
Robert listened, swallowed, considered this offer which shook his self-belief to its foundations. There it was, liberation from the endless remorse, from the corrosive loss, from the shadow of mourning that followed him always. All he had to do was deny the ties that bind, the memories that coloured his inner world … deny that Rosa had ever existed.
‘No,’ he said. ‘I can’t pretend. I cannot give up even the memories of her … ’
Talavera glared at the flattened ovoid drone.
‘So this thing is yours after all, a puppet which cannot see or choose! I will not be diverted from my plans! There will be an end to you … ’
At this Talavera let out a deafening shriek that shattered the auditorium windows while she held out fire-wreathed hands towards Robert. A boiling wall of flame flew towards him. He staggered back, arm raised to shield his face in desperation, tripped on something and fell backwards …
And opened his eyes with a startled jerk, provoking a stab of pain from somewhere in his body. He was lying back at an angle and his vision seemed a little bleary – he could see some kind of tiled ceiling but it was indistinct, opaque. And his limbs were restrained, held down with cuffs, but he soon discovered that any attempt to struggle stirred up spikes of pain that twisted in his legs and burned in his torso from spine to innards. He gasped and moaned.
‘I’m sorry about the lack of painkillers – types suitable for Human biology are hard to come by.’
Robert tried to speak but there was something in his mouth.
‘Sorry, that’s just a feeding tube … ’
Something shifted overhead, a translucent canopy, he realised, and a nozzle was manipulated, tugged from the corner of his mouth. He felt a vague writhing in his gullet as the slender tube was retracted.
‘What’s hap … ’ His voice gave out, dry and hoarse. A straw was slipped into his mouth and he sucked down cold refreshing fluid.
‘What’s happened to me?’ he said at last.
‘When you crossed through the periphery portal, a vermax closed in after you, crashed into your craft and nearly destroyed both