The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [215]
The eulogies were just beginning when the Construct’s emissary arrived. As the four spiraleaf saplings were lowered by willing hands into newly dug holes, Greg Cameron stood up before the invited audience and gave a warm and witty speech about his uncle, Theo Karlsson. He was followed by his mother, Karlsson’s sister, Solvjeg, who was dignified and only tearful at the end. Then one of the Tygrans came forward, Franklyn Gideon, looking vaguely uncomfortable without either uniform or combat armour; he spoke briefly about Karlsson’s grit under fire and how he had saved Gideon’s life during Becker’s attack on Tusk Mountain, then ended with that rarity, a piece of Tygran verse –
‘Fold him into the earth,
Lay him down low,
Trust him to peace,
Send him to eternity,
Close at last those eyes,
His work is done.’
After Gideon, a half-drunk Rory McGrain got up to toast Theo’s memory with a hip flask of something potent, and an old Darien marching song, accompanied by several others in the gathering. Representatives from the new Pyre settlements lit small candles and said short prayers.
When they moved along to the next tree, Greg Cameron spoke again about the Uvovo Seer, Cheluvahar, who had died when Legion cyborgs finally broke through to the underground burrow where he had taken refuge. After him, two Uvovo Listeners, Weynl and Faldri, eschewed speechmaking in favour of a sad song in the Uvovo tongue. The quietly sung syllables, repeated back and forth, had a profound effect on some of those present.
At the next planting, an Enhanced by the name of Konstantin then stepped up and said a few halting words about Julia Bryce. It was she who helped Konstantin to switch the missile targets from 500 suns to the Godhead, and it was she who launched them and destroyed the Godhead. ‘She was proud of her intellect, which lit up the different ways of being Human as well as the path to her own Humanity,’ he said. ‘She saved hundreds of worlds, their civilisations and their billions of lives, but she couldn’t save herself.’ There was great sadness in his delivery, and a certain bitterness when he mentioned Catriona Macreadie, who had decided not to attend the ceremony.
The last to be eulogised, as the fourth sapling was planted and bedded into the hillside, was Robert Horst. The Construct’s emissary took a couple of hesitant steps upslope but paused when a middle-aged Human with receding hair came forward. He introduced himself as Ben Tanner, Horst’s chief of staff from a few years ago, then paid tribute to the man’s talents and his warmth of character, a sensibly brief address. When he stepped down the emissary took his place.
‘I come as a messenger from the Construct, who some of you may know played a significant role in the twin struggle so recently resolved. Robert Horst was well known to the Construct, who has directed me to say these few words:
‘Robert Horst was a remarkable Human. He exhibited the finest characteristics of his species – a resolute determination, intelligence, wit, and a compassion that led him to a self-sacrifice which he willingly embraced. His was the essence that stood in the way of hate and havoc and destruction. The fire of his being shall never go out.’
After that most of the guests wandered away in small groups, twos and threes. The emissary noticed the reporter Kaphiri Farag talking with a few people down by the road. A lone piper up on the crest of the hill played a slow lament, its plaintive voice sounding out across the dales and fields below. Waiting behind, the emissary saw that Greg Cameron was crouched next to the sapling dedicated to his uncle.
‘Mr Cameron,’ he said. ‘May I ask why Ms Macreadie did not attend?’
Greg Cameron gave a half-smile as he got to his feet. ‘Aye, well, there’s a question.’ He shrugged. ‘She says that the memories are too painful and that she canna stand funerals anyway,