The Line of Polity Read Online Free PDF
Author: Neal Asher
his surroundings. It seemed to be all over. The Sparkind were herding prisoners out into the open — those of them that had hotsuits — and Cormac could hear no more shooting.
"What happened in there?" Gant asked, coming up behind him.
Cormac glanced round at him — and at Scar, who was following closely behind.
"It would seem that friend Skellor is going to be more of a problem than we thought."
"How so?"
"Well, from what I can gather, he is interfaced with a quartz-matrix AI," said Cormac.
"Shit, that's bad," said Gant.
"Is it?" said Cormac, slipping the memplant into one of his belt pouches. "Would it be as bad as him having got his sticky little fingers on Jain technology too?"
"Double shit," muttered Gant.
----
The silence of space should have made the destruction seem unreal, but the picture of the station — without atmosphere to spoil the clarity — brought reality home. With kin and clan, Apis Coolant hung in the air before the great screen and watched his world tearing itself apart. As he watched, he picked up snippets of the conversation from the rainbow crowd gathered around him, and they seemed a suitable commentary.
"... nanomycelium ..."
"... too much time. The counteragent too late ..."
One individual, with emerald skin and pure black eyes, pressed her thin fingers to the chrome aug she wore.
"Miranda just resorbed the subminds. The servers are getting cranky," she said.
"Confirmed... Miranda just transported out," said another.
"Where do we go now?" someone whispered.
The Outlink station Miranda seemed to be sparkling, but close-up views showed that each glint was either an explosion or where a misaligned gravity field collapsed part of the hull. The stalk of the station was twisting as well, and gaps were appearing in the structure. Debris orbited it in ring-shaped clouds, and beyond this the other ships that had helped take off the last of the survivors were poised like silver vultures.
"Ten minutes to fusion engage," a voice told them.
The clans ignored this and continued to watch the dramatic destruction of their home. For a moment, the screen blanked out. As it came back on, they saw a star-glare going out. Part of the station had disappeared.
"What was that?"
"It's where the runcible was," said someone knowledgeably. "Probably antimatter."
Others felt inclined to argue.
"No, foolish — not antimatter. Collapse of spoon."
"Rubbish. That was flare-off from the buffers. The energy had to go sometime."
An involved argument followed that Apis ignored. What would happen now that his home was gone? Another station? He did not know. All he did know was that he felt a deep anger at what had happened. A nanomycelium had been used, so there must have been forethought. Someone had deliberately destroyed his home. The room jerked and people looked around in confusion, before returning their attention to the screen and continuing their arguments. Talk was a shield against the reality of what had happened.
"Fusion drive engaging in ten seconds. Entering underspace in twenty-two minutes," the voice told them, but was ignored by all but Apis and the woman next him. She seemed confused and kept touching her aug as if probing a sore.
"Don't seem to be receiving anything on this ship," she said.
Apis agreed: there was something strange about this situation — the voice had sounded too mechanical to be the voice of an AI. It sounded more like the voice of a bored human. Peculiar job for a human to have. There was also a slight jerk as the drive engaged, as if something might be functioning a microsecond out — something that should not be.
The picture transmitted by the remotes at the Outlink station remained as good as ever. Apis could see that it had now twisted in half, and that the two halves were starting to revolve in the same direction, like the needles of a dial. They had completed three revolutions, and were upright on the screen and parallel to each other, when the ship entered
"What happened in there?" Gant asked, coming up behind him.
Cormac glanced round at him — and at Scar, who was following closely behind.
"It would seem that friend Skellor is going to be more of a problem than we thought."
"How so?"
"Well, from what I can gather, he is interfaced with a quartz-matrix AI," said Cormac.
"Shit, that's bad," said Gant.
"Is it?" said Cormac, slipping the memplant into one of his belt pouches. "Would it be as bad as him having got his sticky little fingers on Jain technology too?"
"Double shit," muttered Gant.
----
The silence of space should have made the destruction seem unreal, but the picture of the station — without atmosphere to spoil the clarity — brought reality home. With kin and clan, Apis Coolant hung in the air before the great screen and watched his world tearing itself apart. As he watched, he picked up snippets of the conversation from the rainbow crowd gathered around him, and they seemed a suitable commentary.
"... nanomycelium ..."
"... too much time. The counteragent too late ..."
One individual, with emerald skin and pure black eyes, pressed her thin fingers to the chrome aug she wore.
"Miranda just resorbed the subminds. The servers are getting cranky," she said.
"Confirmed... Miranda just transported out," said another.
"Where do we go now?" someone whispered.
The Outlink station Miranda seemed to be sparkling, but close-up views showed that each glint was either an explosion or where a misaligned gravity field collapsed part of the hull. The stalk of the station was twisting as well, and gaps were appearing in the structure. Debris orbited it in ring-shaped clouds, and beyond this the other ships that had helped take off the last of the survivors were poised like silver vultures.
"Ten minutes to fusion engage," a voice told them.
The clans ignored this and continued to watch the dramatic destruction of their home. For a moment, the screen blanked out. As it came back on, they saw a star-glare going out. Part of the station had disappeared.
"What was that?"
"It's where the runcible was," said someone knowledgeably. "Probably antimatter."
Others felt inclined to argue.
"No, foolish — not antimatter. Collapse of spoon."
"Rubbish. That was flare-off from the buffers. The energy had to go sometime."
An involved argument followed that Apis ignored. What would happen now that his home was gone? Another station? He did not know. All he did know was that he felt a deep anger at what had happened. A nanomycelium had been used, so there must have been forethought. Someone had deliberately destroyed his home. The room jerked and people looked around in confusion, before returning their attention to the screen and continuing their arguments. Talk was a shield against the reality of what had happened.
"Fusion drive engaging in ten seconds. Entering underspace in twenty-two minutes," the voice told them, but was ignored by all but Apis and the woman next him. She seemed confused and kept touching her aug as if probing a sore.
"Don't seem to be receiving anything on this ship," she said.
Apis agreed: there was something strange about this situation — the voice had sounded too mechanical to be the voice of an AI. It sounded more like the voice of a bored human. Peculiar job for a human to have. There was also a slight jerk as the drive engaged, as if something might be functioning a microsecond out — something that should not be.
The picture transmitted by the remotes at the Outlink station remained as good as ever. Apis could see that it had now twisted in half, and that the two halves were starting to revolve in the same direction, like the needles of a dial. They had completed three revolutions, and were upright on the screen and parallel to each other, when the ship entered
Similar Books
Reckless
Samantha Love
Highland Rake
Terry Spear
Everybody's After Love
Lyssa Layne
The Wrong Man
Matthew Louis
Where
Kit Reed
Paradise Lodge
Nina Stibbe
The Legend of Mickey Tussler
Frank; Nappi
Bette Midler
Mark Bego
