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18_the_end_of_the_circle-第4部分

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Dr。 Penn cleared his throat。 〃The truth is; son; we're not sure we can return。 We are; however; planning to execute a trial jump to lay all doubts to rest。〃

Scott nodded in prehension。 〃The Protoculture。 The one thing that's plaguing most of the mecha downside。 The reason I had to ride a damn chemical shuttle up here。 Nothing's working; is that it?〃

〃Yes and no;〃 Penn said quickly。 〃Some of the Veritechs are functional and fully capable of mechamorphosis。 Others have limited capacity for flight or bat maneuvering。 Now it this last is something I find disturbing。〃

Scott glanced at Vince before responding; if the general was willing to let Penn's ment slide; so would he。 〃I heard some talk: there's something different about the Flowers you harvested from Optera…〃

〃New Praxis;〃 Justine Huxley amended。

〃New Praxis; then。 But why would the older models suddenly shut down now?〃

At the viewport; Jean folded her arms。 〃We were hoping you might be able to tell us; Scott。〃

Scott touched his fingertips to his chest。 〃Me? What could I…〃 Then it occurred to him。 〃The Regis;〃 he snorted。 〃We've read your debriefing reports; Colonel;〃 Huxley said。 〃You claim you were inside the central hive just before the end; that you actually spoke with the Regis。〃

Scott swallowed and found his voice。 〃Yeah; it's true; but e on; it's not like she explained herself to me。〃

〃Then what did she say?〃 Jean asked。

Scott smoothed back an undisciplined ma of hair。 〃What did she say?〃 He laughed nervously。 〃I'm still not sure what I heard and what I imagined。 But I think we were; well; arguing。〃

〃Arguing?〃 Huxley said dubiously。

〃Yeah。 About 。。。 ethics。 About whether the Invid had a right to Earth after what the Masters had done to Optera。〃 Scott searched the faces appraising him。 〃It sounds crazy; I know; but she was just raving about what warlike beings we are; about how the universe would be better off without us。〃 No one said anything for a moment。

〃Anyway; I still don't see what all this has to do with the SDF…3。 The Invid are history; aren't they?〃

Jean turned to the viewport and thought of the phoenix once more; the transubstantiation of an entire race。 〃Maybe the ship went where she went;〃 she suggested softly。 Vince sent her a questioning look as she swung around。 〃The Regis; I mean。〃

Penn made a knowing sound。 〃It's a pity there are no Invid left to quiz as to just where she might have gone。〃

Scott put a hand over his mouth as though to bite back his words。 Somewhere below; in one of the burgeoning cities of the Southlands or wandering the waste of the Northlands; were two of the three children the Regis had conjugated in human form。 Sera and Marlene…clone…close in appearance to the Marlene lost to him over a year ago。 

Could he face them again? he asked himself。 Could he enlist the enemy's help in finding his friends?

〃What is it; Scott?〃 Jean said; watching him。

Scott clamped his jaws shut; then relented。 〃Not all the Invid have left;〃 he told them at last。


Above them rose crystal palaces and translucent spires; mansions of white…frost gingerbread and platforms of smoky blue glass; elfin halls and minarets; stately columns; onion domes; and ethereal towers。

Above them were alloy plains three hundred miles wide and burnished smooth as a looking glass; idyllic landscapes dotted with sea…green lakes; and skies of gold filled with conediers; hovercraft; and outsize magical carpets。 A dreamy world of perfect days and tranquil nights; of exotic biota and Eliding beings in high…collared robes whose silent speech was a gentle thought carried on the wind。

And below them 。 。_ 。 below them was that which had given shape to the illusion above: the ultratech plexities of a planet…sized artifact; birthed in the mind of an alien genius who had left his mark on half the far…flung worlds of the Fourth Quadrant。 A genius met in lore and legend or encountered in towering shrines that masked the being himself。

He had perhaps imparted his name to the artifact or left that for others to do; but that his very essence was there erected…in those spires and domes and artificial lakes…was not to be denied。

And suspended between…in the boundless chamber that confined them…was this place of instrumentality nodes and info…networks; the material interface with the Awareness…Haydon had set in place to mind his clever works。 So this place was neither one nor the other but a middle ground from which to know creator and created; sacrosanct; then; truly suspended。 For from; where else could one take the proper measure of things?

Exedore ceased his mystical musings even before he sensed the soft intrusion of Veidt's sendings。 This was what mingling with humans and Garudans had wrought; he told himself; a penchant for the metaphysical。 Questions mencing with why。

How far he had e from the directed; purposeful nature of the Imperative! he would catch himself thinking。 Feeling as remote from that now as his recontoured physical self was from the genetic vats that had conceived him。 Normalized in both size and aspect and drained of the conquering urge; the pulsion to obey without question。 Given to metaphysical ponderings。 How un…Zentraedi; indeed! And how Great Breetai would have mocked him!

〃A moment more and the requested correlations will be available;〃 Veidt sent from the data column。

Exedore swiveled in his chair to regard the limbless Haydonite…his partner these past years。 A response formed on the tip of his tongue; though there was little need of it。 An old habit; difficult to break。 〃I; um 。 。 。〃

Veidt hovered through a quarter turn to face him with what nearly approximated a smile。

〃I am well aware that my workings please you; Lord Exedore。 Your words are an echo; you understand…an unnecessary redundancy。〃

Exedore favored him with a genuine grin; as difficult to suppress as the habit itself。 This was as close as they came to jesting or arguing; he still was not sure which。 Veidt's face had already resumed its normal configuration; which was to say; blank。 As featureless as an unfinished mannequin's; a tech aboard the SDF…3 had once mented in Exedore's presence。

〃Featureless; yes;〃 Veidt sent; 〃but hardly unfinished; Exedore:〃

Early on Exedore had found it somewhat unnerving to have his thoughts scanned on a moment…to…moment basis; but he was long past concern or misgiving。 It was logical; in fact; that he open his mind to Veidt; if only to expedite the unraveling of the cosmic puzzles someone had seen fit to send their way。

And 〃baffling〃 only began to describe them。

The SDF…3 was missing; not merely disappeared into hyperspace but vanished from the Quadrant。 The ship had not emerged from fold anywhere in known space; nor was it trapped in the netherscape of the hyperdomain。 Haydon IV's Awareness had told them that much already。 But what the artificial sentience could not tell them was where the ship was or whether it existed at all。 The SDF…3 had simply ceased to be; and yet there were no indications that it had met with any of the thousand ills matter was heir to。

That the dematerialization had coincided with a reawakening of a myriad slumbering puter ponents; Exedore initially read as a sign that the artifact planet had been in some sense; responsible for the event。 Subsequent investigation; however; had led him to the conclusion that the Awareness had not been responding to the SDF…3's plight; after all; but to a concurrent phenomenon that had taken place clear across the Quadrant:

Along a spacetime curve that led to Earth。

Something originating there had sent an energy pulse through the fabric of the continuum; whose destination seemed to be the distant collapsed giant the Tiresians knew as Ranaath's Star。

Haydon…he has returned to our world! Veidt had sent at the time; and…novice astrophysicist that he was…Exedore had taken him literally。 But literalness was not something the Haydonites practiced with regularity; and the expression…for that was what it was…was best translated by the Terran self condemning phrase Well; I'll be damned!

The very one Exedore had used sometime later when he bad learned of the Invid's departure…months ago; Earthrelative; after a serie
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