The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [96]
‘Nice to see you again,’ he said. ‘I do like the new bodywork. Was it your own design?’
‘Sadly, Robert Horst, there was insufficient time to have my preferred configuration manufactured,’ said Reski Emantes. ‘So I had to take this off-the-shelf clunker instead. It is quite sturdy, though.’
Robert looked round at the battle for the Garden of the Machines, now receding, and nodded. What next, I wonder?
‘You seem to be quite atypically relaxed about this situation,’ said the drone.
‘And what situation is that?’
‘The gross differences in scale have not escaped me,’ Reski Emantes said. ‘Logic would lead to the observation that we are not occupying a conventional reality.’
‘What would you say if I were to tell you that we are passing through a meta-quantal synthesis of a hyperspace tier and the fringes of the consciousness of the Godhead?’
‘I would say how do I test this claim?’
Robert shrugged. ‘Good question – I can only go by what I was told by the Tanenth machine. You should ask yourself what you remember before you appeared in my boat.’
‘I recall taking part in the action against the Shyntanil interceptors,’ the drone said. ‘And as I was returning to my recharge niche my sensors registered anomalous gravity and inertial readings. When they returned to normal I was here in your craft. Is it your conjecture that the Garden of the Machines and the battle with the Vor and the Shyntanil is nothing but a creation of your overworked imagination? If so, I would have to reassess the mental capacities of Humans.’
‘You shouldn’t have to go that far,’ Robert said. ‘I think that your battle and its surroundings, and a previous one I saw depicting strife and fighting on the colony world Darien, are discarded scenario models, abandoned as some motivating force worked its way through a variety of initial conditions … ’ He smiled. ‘Or they could be complex simulacra set in motion for some other less fathomable reason.’
‘If your wild supposition is true,’ the drone said, ‘is it possible that the Godhead may become aware of our presence – if it isn’t already – and move against us in some way?’
‘For what it’s worth, I think that we are passing through a subconscious area of the Godhead’s mindscape, or maybe the periphery of its subconscious ponderings. Nothing here is connected. It all seems disjointed … ’
The light faded suddenly, like a swift dusk. To either side river banks were again visible, uneven lines of tangled brown-green foliage beyond which loomed dense, shadowy forests.
‘It appears that you spoke too soon,’ said Reski Emantes. ‘This all seems quite consistent.’
The boat was being carried steadily along by the current but just for a moment Robert thought that he felt a faint tremor pass through the gunwale where his hand lay. Then, movement on the river bank to the right, small figures dodging along the tree line, keeping pace with the boat.
‘I detect four humanoid lifeforms,’ the drone said. ‘No clue as to their intention. There is also another large creature in the water – it has passed close by twice so far.’
The small pursuers on the river bank seemed to be dressed in ragged clothing and although the light was poor Robert was sure that they had pointed ears and the wrinkled faces of old men. Peering at them, he felt stirrings of familiarity, long-buried memories of the fairy tales he heard from Great-Grandmother Hirsch.
‘Kobolds,’ he murmured. ‘That’s what they are … ’
On the river bank they seemed to be waving vigorously as they hurried along, so Robert waved back. Which made their gesticulations still wilder.
‘They seem anxious about something,’ he said.
‘So am I,’ said the drone. ‘That creature is back and it’s coming straight for us.’
Robert barely had time to grab hold of the side of the boat before a swollen wave raced out of the gloom and struck them side-on. Thrown into the water, Robert fought against the cold shock as he struggled to the surface. As he came up for air he caught sight of a large serpentine form as it smashed the boat to pieces in the course of its lunge towards