OrphansoftheHelix by
DanSimmons
The great spinship translated down from Hawking space into thaendr-ewdh-ite double light of a close binary. While the 684,300 peoplethoef Amoiete Spectrum Helix dreamt on in deep cryogenic sleep, the five AIs in charge of the ship conferred. They had encounteurnedusuaanl phenomenon and while four of
the five had agreed it important enough to bring the huge spinship out of C-plus Hawktihnegrespace, was a lively debate—continuing for several microseconds—abwohuat t to do next.
The spinship itself looked beautiful in the distant light of the two stars, white and red light bathing its kilometer-long skin, the starligfhltashing on the three thousand environmental deep-sleep podsg,rothueps
of thirty pods on each of the one hundred spin hubs spinning past so quickly that the swing arms were
like the blur of great, olvaeprping fan blades, while the three thousand pods themselves appteoarbeed a
single, flashing gem blazing with red and white lightA. eTnheeans had adapted the ship so that the hubs of the spinwheelsalong the long, central shaft of the ship were slanted—the firsstptihnirtayrms angled back,
the second hub angling its longer thirty-apromds forward, so that the deep-sleep pods themselves passed betweeneach other with only microseconds of separation, coalescing isnotloidablur that made the ship under full spin resemble exactly wihtsatname implied—Helix. Anobserver watching from some
hundredsof kilometers away would see what looked to be a rotating dhouumbalen DNA helix catching the light from the paired suns.
All five of the AIs decided that it would be best to call inpotdhse.
sFpiirnst the great hubs changed their
orientation until the gleaimng helix became a series of three thousand slowing carbon-csapribnonarms,
each with an ovoid pod visible at its tip through the slowing blur of speed. Then the pod arms stopped and retracted against the long ship, each deep-sleep pod fitting into a concave nesting cusp in the hull like an egg being set carefully into a container.
TheHelix, no longer resembling its name now so much as a long, slender arrow with command centers at the bulbous, triangular head, and the Hawking drive and larger fusion engines bulking at the stern, morphed eight layers of covering over the nested spin arms and pods. All of the AIs voted to decelerate toward the G8 white star under a conservative four hundred gravities and to extend the containment field to class twenty. There was no visible threat in either system of the binary, but the red giant in the more distant system was—as it should be—expelling vast amounts of dust and stellar debris. The AI who took the greatest pride in its navigational skills and caution warned that the entry trajectory toward the G8 star should steer very clear of lt1heRoche lobe point because of the massive heliosphere shock waves there,
and all five AIs began charting a deceleration course into the G8 system that would avoid the worst of the heliosphere turmoil. The radiation shock waves there could be dealt with easily using even a class-three containment field, but with 684,300 human souls aboard and under their care, none of the AIs would
take the slightest chance.
Their next decision was unanimous and inevitable. Given the reason for the deviation and deceleration into the G8 system, they would have to awaken humans. Saigy?, AI in charge of personnel lists, duty rosters, psychology profiles, and who had made it its business toanmd ekent ow each of the 684,300
men, women, and children, took seversaelconds to review the list before deciding on the nine people to awaken.
Dem Lia awoke with none of the dull hangover feel of the old-fashioned cryogenic fugue units. She felt

rested and fit as she sat up in her deep-sleep creche, the unit arm offering her the traditional glass of orange juice.
"Emergency?" she said, her voice no more thick or dull than it would have been after a good night's sleep.
"Nothing threatening the ship or the mission," said Saigy?, the AI. "An anomaly of interest. An old radio transmission from a system which may be a possible source of resupply. There are no problems whatsoever with ship function or life support. Everyone is well. The ship is in no danger."
"How far are we from the last system we checked?" said Dem Lia, finishing her orange juice and donning her shipsuit with its emerald green stripe on the left arm and turban. Her people had traditionally worn desert robes, each robe the color of the Amoiete Spectrutmhe thdiaftferent families had chosen to
honor, but robes were impracticaflor spinship travel where zero g was a frequent environment. "Six thousand three hundred light-years," said Saigy?.
Dem Lia stopped herself from blinking. "How many yearslastncaewakening?" she said softly. "How many years' total voyage shtimp e? How many years' total voyage time-debt?"
"Nine ship years and one hundred two time-debt years since last awakening," said Saigy?. "Total voyage ship time, thirty-six years. Total voyage time-debt relative to human space, four hundred and one years, three months, one week, five days."
Dem Lia rubbed her neck. "How many of us are you awakening?" "Nine."
Dem Lia nodded, quit wasting time chatting with the AI, galraonucnedd only once at the
two-hundred-some sealed sarcophagi whehreer family and friends continued sleeping, and took the main shipline people mover to the command deck, where the other eight bwe ogualtdhering.
The Aeneans had followed the Amoiete Spectrum Helix people's request to construct the command deck like the bridge of an ancient torchship or some Old Earth, pre-Hegira seagoing vessel. The deck was oriented one direction to down and Dem Lia was pleased to onnotitche ride to the command
deck that the ship's containment fiheeldld at a steady one gee. The bridge itself was about twenty-five meters across and held command-nexus stations for the various specialists, as well as a central table—round, of course—where the awakened were gathering, sipping coffee and making the usual soft jokes aboutcryogenic deep-sleep dreams. All around the great hemisphere ofcothmemand deck, broad windows opened onto space: Dem Lia stoomdinaute looking at the strange arrangement of the stars, the view back along the seemingly infinite length ofHtheelix itself where heavfyilters dimmed the brilliance of
the fusion-flame tail that now reached back eight kilometers toward their destination—and the binary system itself, one small white star and one red giant, both clearly visibwlein. dTohwes were not actual windows, of course; their holo pickups coubled changed and zoomed or opaqued in an instant, but for now theillusion was perfect.
Dem Lia turned her attention to the eight people at the table. She had met all of them during the two years of ship training with the Aeneans, but knew none of these individuals well. All had been in the select group of fewer than a thousand chosen for possible awakening during transit. She checked their
color-band stripes as they made introductions over coffee.

Four men, five women. One of the other women was also an emerald green, which meant that Dem Lia did not know if command would fall to her or the younger woman. Of course, consensus would
determine that at any rate, but since the emerald green band of the Amoiete Spectrum Helix poem and society stood for resonance with nature, ability to command, comfort with technology, and the preservation of endangered life-forms—and all 684,300 of the Amoiete refugees could be considered endangered life-forms this far from human space—it was assumed that in unusual awakenings the greens would be voted into overall command.
In addition to the other green—a young, redheaded woman named Res Sandre—there was: a red-band male, Patek Georg Dem Mio; a young, white-band female named Den Soa whom Dem Lia knew from the diplomacy simulations; an ebony-band male named Jon Mikail Dem Alem; an older yellow-band woman named Oam Rai whom Dem Lia remembered as having excelled at ship system's operations; a white-haired blue-band male named Peter Delen Dem Tae whose primary training would be in psychology; an attractive female violet-band—almost surely chosen for astronomy—named Kem Loi;
and an orange male—their medic, whom Dem Lia had spoken to on several occasions—Samel Ria Kem
AH, known to everyone as Dr. Sam.
After introductions there was a silence. The group looked out the windows at the binary system, the G8 white star almost lost in the glare ofHtehleix's, formidable fusion tail.
Finally the red, Patek Georg, said, "All right, ship. Explain."
Saigy?'s calm voice came over the omnipresent speakers. "We were nearing time to begin a search for earthlike worlds when sensors and astronomy became interested in this system."
"Abinary system?" said Kem Loi, the violet. "Certainly not in the red giant system?" The Amoiete Spectrum Helix people had been very specific about the world they wanted their ship to find for them—G2 sun, earthlike world at least a 9 on the old Solmev Scale, blue oceans, pleasant temperatures—paradise, in other words. They had tens of thousands of light-years and thousands of years to hunt. They fully expected to find it.
"There are no worlds left in the red-giant system," agreed Saigy? the AI affably enough. "We estimate that the system was a G2 yellow-white dwarf star . . ."
"Sol," muttered Peter Delen, the blue, sitting at Dem Lia's right.
"Yes," said Saigy?. "Much like the Old Earth's sun. We etshtiamt ait became unstable on the main sequence hydrogen-burning stagaebout three and one half million standard years ago and tphaended to its red giant phase and swallowed any planets that haidn bseyesntem."
"How many AUs out does the giant extend?" asked Res Sthaendoreth, er green.
"Approximately one-point-three," said the AI. "And no outer planets?" asked Kem Loi. Violets in the Helix werededicated to complex structures, chess, the love of the more coamspelecxts of human relationships, and astronomy. "It would seem tthhearte would be some gas giants or rocky worlds left if it only expandeda bit beyond what would have been Old Earth's or Hyperion's orbit."
"Maybe the outer worlds were very small planetoids drivenbyawtahye constant outgassing of heavy particles," said Patek Georg, trheed-band pragmatist.
"Perhaps no worlds formed here," said Den Soa, the whited-ibpalonmd at. Her voice was sad. "At least

in that case no life wasstdroeyed when the sun went red giant."
"Saigy?," said Dem Lia, "why are we decelerating in toward this white star? May we see the specs on it, please?"
Images, trajectories, and data columns appeared over the table. "What is that?" said the older yellow-band woman, Oam Rai.
"An Ouster forest ring," said Jon Mikail Dem Alem. "All thAisllwtahye.se years. And some ancient
Ouster Hegira seedship beat tuos it."
"Beat us to what?" asked Res Sandre, the other green. "Thneorepalarneets in this system are there, Saigy??"
"No, ma'am," said the AI.
"Were you thinking of restocking on their forest ring?" saidLiaD. eTmhe plan had been to avoid any
Aenean, Pax, or Ouster worlodrs strongholds found along their long voyage away from human space.
"This orbital forest ring is exceptionally bountiful," said SthaiegyA?I, "but our real reason for awakening you and beginning the isny-stem deceleration is that someone living on or near the tranngsmisitting a
distress signal on an early Hegemony code band.veIrtyisweak, but we have been picking it up for two hundred andtwenty-eight light-years."
This gave them all pause. THheelix had been launched someieghty years after the Aenean Shared Moment, that pivotal event hiunman history which had marked the beginning of a new meroastfoorf the human race. Previous to the Shared Moment, the Chmuracnhi-pulated Pax society had ruled human space for three hundreydears. These Ousters would have missed all of Pax history and prombaobsltyof
the thousand years of Hegemony history that preceded the Pax. In addition to

Hthealti,x'tshetime-debt

added more than four hundred years of travel. If these Ousters had been part of thHeeogirriaginfraolm
Old Earth or from the Old Neighborhood Systems in the earliest days of the Hegemony, they may well have been out of toucwh ith the rest of the human race for fifteen hundred standard years
or more.
"Interesting," said Peter Delen Dem Tae, whose blue-band trainincilnugded profound immersion in psychology and anthropology.
"Saigy?, play the distress signal, please," said Dem Lia.
There came a series of static hisses, pops, and whistles witmhigwhht aht ave been two words electronically filtered out. The accent wearsly Hegemony Web English.
"What does it say?" said Dem Lia. "I can't quite make it out."
"Help us," said Saigy?. The AI's voice was tinted with anacAcesnitanand usually sounded slightly amused, but his tone was flat saenrdious now.
The nine around the table looked at one another again in Tsihleinrceg.oal had been to leave human and
posthuman Aenean space fbarehind them, allowing their people, the Amoiete Spectrum Helixtucrue,l to

pursue their own goals, to find their own destiny free of Aenean intervention. But Ousters were just another branch of humasntock, attempting to determine their own evolutionary path by aidnagptto
space, their Templar allies traveling with them, using gtehneeirtic secrets to grow orbital forest rings and even spherical startreescompletely surrounding their suns.
"How many Ousters do you estimate live on the orbital forest ring?" asked Den Soa, who with her white training would probably be their diplomat if and when they made contact.
"Seven hundred million on the thirty-degree arc we can resolve on this side of the sun," said the AI. "If they have migrated to all or most of the ring, obviously we can estimate a population of several
billion."
"Any sign of Akerataeli or the zeplens?" asked Patek Georg.thAe llgroefat forest rings and startree spheres had been collaborative efforts with these two alien races, which had joined forces with the Ousters and Templars during the Fall of the Hegemony.
"None," said Saigy? "But you might notice this remote view of the ring itself in the center window. We are still sixty-three AUs out from the ring . . . this is amplified ten thousand times."
They all turned to look at the front window where the forseesetmreindgonly thousands of kilometers
away, its green leaves and yelloawnd brown branches and braided main trunk curving away out of sight, the G8 star blazing beyond.
"It looks wrong," said Dem Lia.
"This is the anomaly that added to the urgency of the distress signal and decided us to bring you out of deep sleep," said Saigy?, his voice sounding slightly bemused again. "This orbital forest ring is not of
Ouster or Templar bioconstruction."
Doctor Samel Ria Kem Ali whistled softly. "An alien-builtrifnogre. sBt ut with human-descended
Ousters living on it."
"And there is something else we have found since enterisnygstetmhe," said Saigy?. Suddenly the left window was filled with a vioefwa machine—a spacecraft—so huge and ungainly that it almost defied description. An image of thHeelix was superimposed at the btootm of the screen to give scale. The

Helix was a kilometer long. The base of this other spacecraft was at least a thousand timTesheas long. monster was huge and broad, bulbous and ugly, carbon blackinasnecdtoidal, bearing the worst features

of both organic evolution ainnddustrial manufacture. Centered in the front of it was what appetoarebde
a steel-toothed maw, a rough opening lined with a seemingly endless series of mandibles and shredding blades and razor-sharrpotors.
"It looks like God's razor," said Patek Georg Dem Mio, the cool irony undercut slightly by a just-perceptible quaver in his voice.
"God's razor my ass," said Jon Mikail Dem Alem softly. As an ebony, life support was one of his specialties, and he had grown teunpding the huge farms on Vitus-Gray-Balianus B. "That's a threshing machine from hell."
"Where is it?" Dem Lia started to ask, but already Saigy? had thrown the plot on the holo showing their deceleration trajectory itnoward the forest ring. The obscene machine-ship was coming in afbroomve the

ecliptic, was some twenty-eight AUs ahead of them, was decelerating rapidly but not nearly as aggressively as theHelix, andwas headed directly for the Ouster forest ring. The trajectory plot was clear—at its current rate of deceleration, the machine would directly intercept the ring in nine standard days.
"This may be the cause of their distress signal," the otherRegsreeSna,ndre, said dryly.
"If it were coming at me or my world, I'd scream so louydoluy'dthhaetar me two hundred and twenty-eight light-years away withoaut radio," said the young white-band, Den Soa.
"If we started picking up this weak signal some two htuwnednrteyd-eight light-years ago," said Patek
Georg, "it means that eiththerat thing has been decelerating in-systevmery slowly, or . . ."
"It's been here before," said Dem Lia. She ordered theopAaqIuteo the windows and to dismiss itself from their company. "Shawlle assign roles, duties, priorities, and make initial decisions?s"aisdhesoftly.
The other eight around the table nodded soberly.
To a stranger, to someone outside the Spectrum Helix ctuhleturnee,xt five minutes would have been
very hard to follow. Toctaolnsensus was reached within the first two minutes, but only apasrmt aolfl
the
discussion was through talk. The combination of hgaenstdures, body language, shorthand phrases, and silent nods that haedvolved through four centuries of a culture determined to makseiodnescithrough consensus worked well here. These people's parents garannddparents knew the necessity of command structure and discpiline—half a million of their people had died in the short buwt anr awstyith the Pax remnant on Vitus-Gray-Balianus B, and then anohthuenrdred thousand when the fleeing Pax vandals came looting througthheir system some thirty years later. But they were determineleedcttocommand through consensus and thereafter make as many sdioecnis as possible through the same means.
In the first two minutes, assignments were settled and thetiesusbatlreound the duties dealt with.
Dem Lia was to be in command. Her single vote could ocvoenrsreidnesus when necessary. The other green, Res Sandre, preferred mtoonitor propulsion and engineering, working with the reticenntamAeId Basho to use this time out of Hawking space to good advinantagkeing stock.
The red-band male, Patek Georg, to no one's surprise, acctheeptpedosition of chief security
officer—both for the ship's formidabdleefenses and during any contact with the Ousters. Only Dem Lia couldoverride his decisions on use of ship weaponry.
The young white-band woman, Den Soa, was to be in charge of communications and diplomacy, but she requested and Peter Delen Dem Tae agreed to share the responsibility with her. Peter'sin training psychology had included theoretical exobiopsychology.
Dr. Sam would monitor the health of everyone aboard andthsetuedvyolutionary biology of the Ousters and Templars if it camecotontact.
Their ebony-band male, Jon Mikail Dem Alem, assumed comomf alnifde support—both in reviewing and controlling systems in thHeelix along with the appropriate AI, but also arranging for necessary environments if they met with the Ousters aboard ship.
Oam Rai, the oldest of the nine and the ship's chess mastert,oagcoreoerdinate general ship systems and to be Dem Lia's princiapdavl isor as events unfolded.

Kem Loi, the astronomer, accepted responsibility for all rlaonngge- sensing, but was obviously eager to use her spare time to stuthdey binary system. "Did anyone notice what old friend our whaitheeasdtar resembles?" she asked.
"Tau Ceti," said Res Sandre without hesitation.
Kem Loi nodded. "And we saw the anomaly in the placing of the forest ring."
Everyone had. The Ousters preferred G2-type stars, where they could grow their orbital forests at about one AU from the sun. This ring circled its star at only 0.36 AUs.
"Almost the same distance as Tau Ceti Center from itms ususend," Patek Georg. TC2, as it had been known for more than a thosuand years, had once been the central world and capital of the Hegemony. Then it had become a backwater world under the Pax until a Church cardinal on that world attempted a coup against the belegauered pope during the final days of the Pax. Most of the rebuhilatdcibtieeesn
leveled then. When thHe elix had left human space eigyhetyars after that war, the Aeneans were repopulating and repopularizingthe ancient capital, rebuilding beautiful, classical structures on broad estates and essentially turning the lance-lashed ruins into an ArFcaodriaA. eneans.
Assignments given and accepted, the group discussed the oopftiaownakening their immediate family members from cryogenic sleepS. ince Spectrum Helix families consisted of triune marriages—eointheer male and two females or vice versa—and since most had chaibldoraernd, this was a complicated subject. Jon Mikail discussed the lifseu-pport considerations—which were minor—but everyone agreed itthat
would complicate decision-making with family awake only as speansgers. It was agreed to leave them in deep sleep, with the oenxeception of Den Soa's husband and wife. The young white-bandmdaitplo admitted that she would feel insecure without her two loved wointhes her, and the group allowed this exception to their decision with the gentle suggestion that the reawakened mates would stay off the command deck unless there was compelling reason for themthtoereb.e Den Soa agreed at once. Saigy? was summoned and immeadtiely began awakening Den Soa's bond pair. They had no children.
Then the most central issue was discussed.
"Are we actually going to decelerate to this ring and invoslevleveosurin these Ousters' problems?" asked Patek Georg. "Assuminthgat their distress signal is still relevant."
"They're still broadcasting on the old bandwidths," said DenwhSooah, ad jacksensed into the ship's communications system. Thyeoung woman with blond hair looked at something in her vviisritouna.l "And that monster machine is still headed their way."
"But we have to remember," said the red-band male, "thgaotalouwras to avoid contact with possibly troublesome human outposts on our way out of known space."
Res Sandre, the green now in charge of engineering, smibleldi.ev"eI that we made that general plan about avoiding Pax or Ousoterr Aenean elements without considering that we would meet up with humans—or former humans—some eight thousand light-years outside the known sphere of human space."
"It could still mean trouble for everyone," said Patek Georg.
They all understood the real meaning of the red-band secchuierift'sy statement. Reds in the Spectrum

Helix devoted themselves
ptohysical courage, political convictions, and passion for art, but they also
were deeply trained in compassion for other living thingso. thTehre eight understood that when he said the contact might meatrnouble for "everyone," he meant not only the 684,291 sleepingabsoaurlsd the ship, but also the Ousters and Templars themselves. Tohrpesheans of Old Earth, this band of
self-evolving human stock, had been beyond history and the human pale for at least a miplleernhnaipusm, much longer. Even the briefest contact could cause probfloermtshe Ouster culture as well.
"We're going to go in and see if we can help . . . andfrreesphlepnrioshvisions at the same time, if that's possible," said Dem Lihae, r tone friendly but final. "Saigy?, at our greatest deceleration cfoignusirsetent
with not stressing the internal containment fields, lhoonwg will it take us to a rendezvous point about five thousand klicksfrom the forest ring?"
"Thirty-seven hours," said the AI.
"Which gets us there seven days and a bit before that uc
ilnye,m" asaid Oam Rai.
"Hell," said Dr. Sam, "that machine could be something theersObuusitlt to ferry themselves through the
heliosphere shock fields
thoe red-giant system. A sort of ugly trolley."
"I don't think so," said young Den Soa, missing the oldeirromnya.n's
"Well, the Ousters have noticed us," said Patek Georg, whjaockwseanssed into his system's nexus. "Saigy?, bring up the windowagsain, please. Same magnification as before."
Suddenly the room was filled with starlight and sunlight arnedfletchted light from the braided orbital
forest ring that looked linkoething so much as Jack and the Giant's beanstalk, curving out of sight around the bright, white star. Only now something elsebeheand added to the picture.
"This is real time?" whispered Dem Lia.
"Yes," said Saigy?. "The Ousters have obviously been watocuhrinfgusion tail as we've entered the system. Now they're coming otout greet us."
Thousands—tens of thousands—of fluttering bands of lightlehftadthe forest ring and were moving like brilliant fireflies or radiagnot ssamers away from the braid of huge leaves, bark, and atmosTpheere. thousands of motes of light were headed out-system, totwhearHd elix.
"Could you please amplify that image a bit more?" said Dem Lia. She had been speaking to Saigy?, but it was Kem Loi, who was already wired into the ship's optic net, who acted.
Butterflies of light. Wings a hundred, two hundred, five hundred kilometers across catching the solar
wind and riding the magnetic-field lines pouring out of the small, bright star. But not just tens of thousands of winged angels or demons of light, hundreds of thousands. At the very minimum, hundreds of
thousands. "Let's hope they're friendly," said Patek Georg. "Let's hope we can still communicate with them," whispered young Den Soa. "I mean . . . they could have forced their own evolution any direction in the last fifteen hundred years."
Dem Lia set her hand softly on the table, but hard enough to be heard. "I suggest that we quit speculating and hoping for the moment and get ready for this rendezvous in . . ." She paused.
"Twenty-seven hours eight minutes if the Ousters continue sailing out-system to meet us," said Saigy? on

cue.
"Res Sandre," Dem Lia said softly, "why don't you and ypoulrsiporno AI begin work now on making sure that our last bit of decaetlieorn is mild enough that it isn't going to fry a few tens of thousands of these Ousters coming to greet us. That would be a bad overture to diplomatic contact."
"If theyare coming out with hostile intent," said Patek Georg, "the fusion drive would be one of our most potent weapons against . . ."
Dem Lia interrupted. Her voice was soft but brooked no argument. "No discussion of war with this Ouster civilization until their motives become clear. Patek, you can review all ship defensive systems, but let us have no further group discussion of offensive action until you and I talk about it privately."
Patek Georg bowed his head.
"Are there any other questions or comments?" asked Dem Lia. There were none. The nine people rose from the table and went about their business.
A largely sleepless twenty-four-plus hours later, Dem Lia stood alone and god-sized in the white star's system, the G8 blazing away only a few yards from her shoulder. The braided worldtree was so close
that she could have reached out and touched it, wrapped her god-sized hand around it, while at the level of her chest the hundreds of thousands of shimmering wings of light convergedHeolnix,thwe hose
deceleration fusion tail had dwindled to nothing. Dem Lia stood on nothing, her feet planted steadily on black space, the alien forest ring roughly at her belt line, the stars a huge sphere of constellations and foggy galactic scatterings far above, around, and beyond her.
Suddenly Saigy? joined her. The tenth-century monk assumed his usual virreal pose: cross-legged,
floating easily just above the plane of the ecliptic a few respectful yards from Dem Lia. He was shirtless and barefoot, and his round belly added to the sense of good feeling that emanated from the round face, squinted eyes, and ruddy cheeks.
"The Ousters fly the solar winds so beautifully," mutteredLiDa.em
Saigy? nodded. "You notice, though, that they're really surfing the shock waves riding out along the magnetic-field lines. That gives them those astounding bursts of speed."
"I've been told that, but not seen it," said Dem Lia. "Could you . . ."
Instantly the solar system in which they stood became a maze of magnetic-field lines pouring from the G8 white star, curving at first and then becoming as straight and evenly spaced as a barrage of laser lances. The display showed this elaborate pattern of magnetic-field lines in red. Blue lines showed the
uncountable paths of cosmic rafyloswing into the system from all over the galaxy, aligning themwseitlhves the magnetic-field lines and trying to corkscrew their way ufipeldthleines like swirling salmon fighting their way upstream to spawinn the belly of the star. Dem Lia noticed that magnetic-fiepldoulriinnegs
from both the north and south poles of the sun were kaindkedfolded around themselves, thus deflecting even more cosmiwc aves that should otherwise have had an easy trip up smooth polar-field lines. Dem Lia changed metaphors, thinking of sperm fightthinegir way toward a blazing egg, and being cast aside by vicious solarwinds and surges of magnetic waves, blasted away by shock wthaavteswhipped out along
the field lines as if someone had forcesfuhlalkyen a wire or snapped a bullwhip.

"It's stormy," said Dem Lia, seeing the flight path of so mthaenyOuosfters now rolling and sliding and surging along these shocfkronts of ions, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays, holding their powsiittihons wings of glowing forcefield energy as the solar wind propafgirasttedforward and then backward along the magnetic-field lines, anfdinally surfing the shock waves forward again as speedier burssotlsarofwinds crashed into more sluggish waves ahead of them, cretaetminpgorary tsunami that rolled out-system and then flowed backwardlike a heavy surf rolling back in toward the blazing beachG8ofsuthne.
The Ousters handled this confusion of geometries, red lines onfetimc-afgield lines, yellow lines of ions, blue lines of cosmic rays, aronldling spectra of crashing shock fronts with seeming ease. DegmlanLciead once out to where the surging heliosphere of the redmgeitanthte seething heliosphere of this bright G8 star and the storm of light and colors there reminded her of a multihued, phosphoocreeasncecnrtashing against the cliffs of an equally colorful and powceornfutilnent of broiling energy. A rough place.
"Let's return to the regular display," said Dem Lia, and inthsteansttlayrs and forest ring and fluttering
Ousters and slowingHelixwere back—the last two items quite out of scale to show them clearly.
"Saigy?," said Dem Lia, "please invite all of the other AnIoswh."ere
The smiling monk raised thin eyebrows. "All of them
ohnercee?a"t
"Yes."
They appeared soon, but not instantly, one figure solidifying into virtual presence a second or two before the next.
First came Lady Murasaki, shorter even than the diminutive Dem Lia, the style of her
three-thousand-year-old robe and kimono taking the acting commander's breath aWwhaya.t beauty

Old Earth had taken for grantetdh,ought Dem Lia. Lady Murasaki bowed politely and slid her small hands in the sleeves of her robe. Her facepawinatesd almost white, her lips and eyes were heavily

outlined, and herlong, black hair was done up so elaborately that Dem Lia—who had worn short hair most of her life—could not even imagine the work of pinning, clasping, combing, braiding, shaping and washing sucha mass.
Ikky? stepped confidently across the empty space on the other side of theHevliirxtua second later.
This AI had chosen the olpdersona of the long-dead Zen Poet: Ikky? looked to be about seventy, taller than most Japanese, quite bald, with wrinkles of concern ofonrehesad and lines of laughter around his
bright eyes. Before the flighhtad begun, Dem Lia had used the ship's history banks to read about the fifteenth-century monk, poet, musician, and calligrapher: it seemed that when the historical, living Ikky?
had turned seventy, he had fallen in love with a blind singer just forty years his junior and scandalized the younger monks when he moved his love intotemthpele to live with him. Dem Lia liked Ikky?.
Basho appeared next. The grehaatiku expert chose to appearaasgangly seventeenth-century Japanese farmer, wearing the coned haantd clog shoes of his profession. His fingernails always had somuendsoeirl them.
Ry?kan stepped gracefully into the circle. He was wearing fbuel aruotbi es of an astounding blue with gold trim. His hair was long taiendd in a queue.
"I've asked you all here at once because of the complicatedofnathtuisrerendezvous with the Ousters," Dem Lia said firmly. "I unsdtearnd from the log that one of you was opposed to translatingfrodmown Hawking space to respond to this distress call."

"I was," said Basho, his speech in modern post-Pax English but his voice gravel-rough and as guttural as a Samurai's grunt.
"Why?" said Dem Lia.
Basho made a gesture with his gangly hand. "The programming priorities to which we agreed did not cover this specific event. I felt it offered too great a potential for danger and too little betnrueefit in our goal of finding a colony world."
Dem Lia gestured toward the swarms of Ousters closing sohnip.thTehey were only a few thousand kilometers away now. They had been broadcasting their peaceful intentions across the old radio band- widths for more than a standard day. "Do you still feel thatrisitk'sy?t"ooshe asked the tall AI.
"Yes," said Basho.
Dem Lia nodded, frowning slightly. It was always disturbing when the AIs disagreed on an important issue, but that was why the Aeneans had left them Autonomous after the breakup of the TechnoCore. And that was why there were five to vote.
"The rest of you obviously saw the risk as acceptable?"
Lady Murasaki answered in her low, demure voice, almost a whisper. "We saw it as an excellent possibility to restock new foodstuffs and water, while the cultural implications were more for you to ponder and act on than for us to decide. Of course, we had not detected the huge spacecraft in the system before we translated out of Hawking space. It might have affected our decision."
"This is a human-Ouster culture, almost certainly with a sizable Templar population, that may not have had contact with the outside human universe since the earliest Hegemony days, if then," said Ikky? with great enthusiasm. "They may well be the farthest-flung outpothset oafncient Hegira. Of all humankind. A wonderful learning opportunity."Dem Lia nodded impatiently. "We close to rendezvous within a few
hours. You've heard their radio contact—they say they wish to greet us and talk, and we've been polite in return. Our dialects are not so diverse that the translator beads can't handle them in face-to-face conversations. But how can we know if they actually icnompeeace?"
Ry?kan cleared his throat. "It should be remembered that for more than a thousand years, the so-called Wars with the Ousters were provoked—first by the Hegemony and then by the Pax. The original Ouster deep-space settlements were peaceful places and this most-distant colony would have experienced none
of the conflict."
Saigy? chuckled from his comfortable perch on nothing. "It should also be remembered that during the actual Pax wars with the Ousters, to defend themselves, these peaceful, space-adapted humans learned to build and use torchships, modified Hawking drive warships, plasma weapons, and even some
captured Pax Gideon drive weapons." He waved his bare arm. "We've scanned every one of these advancing Ousters, and none carry a weapon—not so much as a wooden spear." Dem Lia nodded. "Kern Loi has shown me astronomical evidence which suggests that their moored seedship was torn away from the ring at an early date—possibly only years or months after they arrived. This system is
devoid of asteroids, and the Oort cloud has been scattered far beyond their reach. It is conceivable that they have neither metal nor an industrial capacity."
"Ma'am," said Basho, his countenance concerned, "how can we know that? Ousters have modified their

bodies sufficiently to generate forcefield wings that can extend for hundreds of kilometers. If they
approach the ship closely enough, they could theoretically use the combined plasma effect of those wings to attempt to breach the containment fields and attack the ship."
"Beaten to death by angels' wings," Dem Lia mused softly. "An ironic way to die." The AIs said nothing.
"Who is working most directly with Patek Georg Dem Mio on defense strategies?" Dem Lia asked into the silence. "I am," said Ry?kan.
Dem Lia had known that, but she still thoTuhgahtn,k God it's not BashoP.atek Georg was paranoid enough for the AI-human interface team on this specialty.
"What are Patek's recommendations going to be when we humans meet in a few minutes?" Dem Lia bluntly demanded from Ry?kan.
The AI hesitated only the slightest of perceptible instants. AIs understood both discretion and loyalty to the human working with them in their specialty, but they also understood the imperatives of the elected commander's role on the ship.
"Patek Georg is going to recommend a hundred-kilometer extension of the class-twenty external containment field," said Ry?kan softly. "With all energy weapons on standby and pre-targeted on the three hundred nine thousand, two hundred and five approaching
Ousters."
Dem Lia's eyebrows rose a trifle. "And how long would it take our systems to lance more than three hundred thousand such tgarets?" she asked softly.
"Two-point-six seconds," said Ry?kan.
Dem Lia shook her head. "Ry?kan, please tell Patek Georg thaantd yIouhave spoken and that I want
the containment field not at a hundred-klick distance, but maintained at a steady one kilometer from the ship. It may remain a class-twenty field—the Ousters can actually see the strength of it, and that's good. But the ship's weapons systems will not target the Ousters at this time. Presumably, they can see our targeting scans as well. Ry?kan, you and Patek Georg can run assimmaunlaytions of the combat
encounter as you need to feel secure, but divert no power to the energy weapons and allow no targeting until I give the command."
Ry?kan bowed. Basho shuffled his virtual clogs but said nothing.
Lady Murasaki fluttered a fan half in front of her face. "You trust," she said softly.
Dem Lia did not smile. "Not totally. Never totally. Ry?kan, I want you and Patek Georg to work out the containment-field system so that if even one Ouster attempts to breach the containment field with focused plasma from his or her solar wings, the containment field should go to emergency class thirty-five and instantly expand to five hundred klicks."
Ry?kan nodded. Ikky? smiled slightly and said, "That will be one very quick ride for a great mass of
Ousters, Ma'am. Their personal energy systems might not be up to containing their own life support

under that much of a shock, and it's certain that they wouldn't decelerate for half an AU or more."
Dem Lia nodded. "That's their problem. I don't think it will come to that. Thank you all for talking to me."
All six human figures winked out of existence. Rendezvous was peaceful and efficient.
The first question the Ousters had radioedHtehleix twenty houresarlier was, "Are you Pax?"
This had startled Dem Lia and the others at first. Their assumption was that these people had been out of touch with human space since long before the rise of the Pax. Then the ebony, Jon Mikail Dem Alem,
said, "The Shared Moment. It has to have been the SMhoarmedent."
The nine looked at each other in silence at this. Everyone understood that Aenea's "Shared Moment" during her torture and murder by the Pax and TechnoCore had been shared by every human being in human space—a gestalt resonance along the Void Which Binds that had transmitted the dying young woman's thoughts and memories and knowledge along those threads in the quantum fabric of the universe which existed to resonate empathy, briefly uniting everyone originating from Old Earth human stock. But out here? So manthyousands of light-years away?
Dem Lia suddenly realized how silly that thought was. Aenea's Shared Moment of almost five centuries ago must have propagated everywhere in the universe along the quantum fabric of the Void Which Binds, touching alien races and cultures so distant as to be unreachable by any technology of human travel or communicationwhile adding the first self-aware human voice to the empathic cosantvioern that had been
going on between sentient and sensitive species for almost twelve billion years. Most of those species had long since become extinct or evolved beyond their original form, the Aeneans had told Dem Lia, but their empathic memories still resonated in Vthoeid Which Binds.
Of course the Ousters had experienced the Shared Moment five hundred years ago.
"No, we are not Pax," Htheelix had radioed back to the three-hundred-some thousand approaching
Ousters. "The Pax was essentially destroyed four hundred standard years ago." "Do you have followers of Aenea aboard?" came the next Ouster
message.
Dem Lia and the others had sighed. Perhaps these Ousters had been desperately waiting for an Aenean messenger, a prophet, someone to bring the sacrament of Aenea's DNA to them so that tahlesyo could become Aeneans.
"No," theHelix had radioed back. "No followers of Aenea." They then tried to explain the Amoiete
Spectrum Helix and how the Aeneans had helped them build and adapt this ship for their long voyage.
After some silence, the Ousters had radioed, "Is there anyone aboard who has met Aenea or her beloved, Raul Endymion?"
Again the nine had looked blankly at each other. Saigy?, who had been sitting cross-legged on the floor some distance from the conference table, spoke up. "No one on board met Aenea," he said softly. "Of

the Spectrum family who hid and helped Raul Endymion when he was ill on Vitus-Gray-Balianus B, two
of the marriage partners were killed in the war with the Pax there—one of the mothers, Dem Ria, and the biological father, Alem Mikail Dem Alem. Their son by that triune—a boy named Bin Ria Dem Loa Alem—was also killed in the Pax bombing. Alem Mikail's daughter by a previous triune marriage was missing and presumed dead. The surviving female of the triune, Dem Loa, took the sacrament and
became an Aenean not many weeks after the Shared Moment. She farcast away from
Vitus-Gray-Balianus B and never returned."
Dem Lia and the others waited, knowing that the AI wouldn't have gone on at such length if there were not more to the story.
Saigy? nodded. "It turns out that the teenage daughteAr,mCberse, presumed killed in the Pax Base Bombasine massacre of Spectrum Helix civilians, had actually been shipped offworld with more than a thousand other children and young adults. They were to be raised on the final Pax stronghold world of St. Theresa as born-again Pax Christians. Ces Ambre received the cruciform and was overseen by a cadre
of religious guards there for nine years before that world was liberated by the Aeneans and Dem Loa learned that her daughter was still alive."
"Did they reunite?" asked young Den Soa, the attractive diplomat. There were tears in her eyes. "Did
Ces Ambre free herself of cthrueciform?"
"There was a reunion," said Saigy?. "Dem Loa freecast there as soon as she learned that her daughter was alive. Ces Ambre chose to have the Aeneans remove the cruciform, but she reported that she did not accept Aenea's DNA sacrament from her triune stepmother to become Aenean herself. Her dossier says that she wanted to return to Vitus-Gray-Balianus B to see the remnants of the culture from which she had been kidnapped. She continued living and working there as a teacher for almost sixty standard years. She adopted her former family's band of blue."
"She suffered the cruciform but chose not to become Aenean," muttered Kem Loi, the astronomer, as if it were impossible to believe.
Dem Lia said, "She's aboard in deep sleep." "Yes," said Saigy?.
"How old was she when we embarked?" asked Patek Georg.
"Ninety-five standard years," said the AI. He smiled. "But as with all of us, she had the benefit of Aenean medicine in the years before departure. Her physical appearance and mental capabilities are of a woman
in her early sixties."
Dem Lia rubbed her cheek. "Saigy?, please awaken Citizen Ces Ambre. Den Soa, could you be there when she awakens and explain the situation to her before the Ousters join us? They seem more interested in someone who knew Aenea's husband than in learning about the Spectrum Helix."
"Future husband at that point in time," corrected the ebony, Jon Mikail, who was a bit of a pedant. "Raul
Endymion was not yet married to Aenea at the time of his short stay on Vitus-Gray-Balianus B."
"I'd feel privileged to stay with Ces Ambre until we meet the Ousters," said Den Soa with a bright smile. While the great mass of Ousters kept their distance—five hundred klicks—the three ambassadors were

brought aboard. It had been worked out by radio that the three could take one-tenth normal gravity without discomfort, so the lovely solarium bubble just aft and above the command deck had its containment field set at that level and the proper chairs and lighting adapted. AHlleolifx tpheople
thought it would be easier conversing with at least some sense of up and down. Den Soa added that the Ousters might feel at home amongst all the greenery there. The ship easily morphed an airlock onto the top of the great solarium bubble, and those waiting watthcehesdlow approach of two winged Ousters
and one smaller form beintgowed in a transparent spacesuit. The Ousters who breathed air on the ring, breathed 100 percent oxygen so the ship had taken care to accommodate them in the solarium. Dem Lia realized that she felt slightly euphoric as the Ouster guests entered and were shown to their specially tailored chairs, and she wondered if it was the pure 02or just the novelty of the circumstances.
Once settled in their chairs, the Ousters seemed to be studying their five Spectrum Helix counterparts—Dem Lia, Den Soa, Patek Georg, the psychologist Peter Delen Dem Tae, and Ces
Ambre, an attractive woman with short, white hair, her hands now folded neatly on her lap. The former teacher had insisted on dressing in herrofbulel and cowl of blue, but a few tabs of stiktite sewn at
strategic places kept the garment from billowing at each movement or ballooning up off the floor.
The Ouster delegation was an interesting assortment of types. On the left, in the most elaborately constructed low-g chair, was a true space-adapted Ouster. Introduced as Far Rider, he was almost four meters tall—making Dem Lia feel even shorter than she waSsp, etchtreum Helix people always having
been generally short and stockyn,ot through centuries on high-g planets, just because of the genetics of their founders—and the space-adapted Ouster looked far from human in many other ways. Arms and legs were mere long, spidery attachments to the thin torso. The man's fingers must have been twenty centimeters long. Every square centimeter of his body—appearing almost naked under the skintight sweat-coolant, compression layer—was covered with a self-generated forcefield, actually an
enhancement of the usual human body aura, which kept him alive in hard vacuum. The ridges above and beneath his shoulders were permanent arrays for extending his forcefield wings to catch wthiendsolar
and magnetic fields. Far Rider's face had been genetically altfearredfrom basic human stock: the eyes
were black slits behind bulbous, nictitating membranes; he had no ears but a gridwork on the side of his head that suggested the radio receiver; his mouth was the narrowest of slits, lipless—he communicated through radio-transmitting glands in his neck.
The Spectrum Helix delegation had been aware of this Ouster adaptation and each was wearing a subtle hearplug, which, in addition to picking up Far Rider's radio transmissions, allowed them to communicate with their AIs on a secure tightband.
The second Ouster was partially adapted to space, but clearlyhummoarne. Three meters tall, he was thin and spidery, but the permanfeineltd of forcefield ectoplasmic skin was missing, his eyes and face
were thin and boldly structured, he had no hair—and he spoke early Web English with very little accent. He was introduced as Chief Branchman and historian Keel Redt, and it was obvious that he was the chosen speaker for the group, if not its actual leader.
To the Chief Branchman's left was a Templar—a young woman with the hairless skull, fine bone structure, vaguely Asian features, and large eyes common to Templars everywhere—wearing the traditional brown robe and hood. She introduced herself as the TrueoVf othicee Tree Reta Kasteen, and her voice was soft and strangely musical.
When the Helix Spectrum contingent had introduced themselves, Dem Lia noticed the two Ousters and the Templar staring at Ces Ambre, who smiled back pleasantly.

"How is it that you have come so far in such a ship?" asked Chief Branchman Keel Redt.
Dem Lia explained their decision to start a new colony of the Amoiete Spectrum Helix far from Aenean and human space. There was the inevitable question about the origins of the Amoiete Spectrum Helix culture, and Dem Lia told the story as succinctly as possible.
"So if I understand you correctly," said True Voice of the Tree Reta Kasteen, the Templar, "your entire social structure is based upon an opera—a work of entertainment—that was performed only once, more than six hundred standard years ago."
"Not theentire social structure," Den Soa responded to her Templar counterpart. "Cultures grow and adapt themselves to changincgonditions and imperatives, of course. But the basic philosophicalrobcekd
and structure of our culture was contained in that one performance by the philosopher-composer-poet-holistic artist, HalpuAl moiete."
"And what did this . . . poet . . . think of a society being built around his single multimedia opera?" aske the Chief Branchman.
It was a delicate question, but Dem Lia just smiled and said, "We'll never know. Citizen Amoiete died in a mountain-climbing accident just a month after the opera was performed. The first Spectrum Helix communities did not appear for another twenty standard years."
"Do you worship this man?" asked Chief Branchman Keel Redt.
Ces Ambre answered. "No. None of the Spectrum Helix people have ever deified Halpul Amoiete, even though we have taken his name as part of our society's. We do, however, respect and try to live up to the values and goals for human potential which he communicated in his art through that single,
extraordinary Spectrum Helipxerformance."
The Chief Branchman nodded as if satisfied.
Saigy?'s soft voice whispered in Dem Lia's ear. "They arecabsrtoinagd both visual and audio on a very tight coherent band whichbiesing picked up by the Ousters outside and being rebroadcast to the
forest ring."
Dem Lia looked at the three sitting across from her, finallyhererstginagze on Far Rider, the completely space-adapted Ouster. Hihsuman eyes were essentially invisible behind the gogglelike, polarainzded, nictitating membranes that made him look almost insectoid. Shaiagdy?tracked Dem Lia's gaze, and his voice whispered in her eaagrain. "Yes. He is the one broadcasting."
Dem Lia steepled her fingers and touched her lips, better to conceal the subvocalizing. "You've tapped into their tightbeam?"
"Yes, of course," said Saigy?. "Very primitive. They're broadcjausstitngthe video and audio of this
meeting, no data subchannels roerturn broadcasts from either the Ousters near us or from
ethset rfionrg."
Dem Lia nodded ever so slightly. SinceHtehleix was also carryinogut complete holocoverage of this meeting, including infrared studmy,agnetic-resonance analysis of brain function, and a dozen othedrenhid
but intrusive observations, she could hardly blame the Ousters for recording the meeting. Suddenly her

cheeks reddened. InfraredT. ightbeam physical scans. Remote neuro-MRI. Certainly the fully space-adapted Ouster couldsee these probes—the man, if man hewsatisl,l lived in an environment where he could see the solar wind, stehnesemagnetic-field lines, and follow individual ions and even cosmicrays as they flowed over and under and through him in hard vDaceumumL.ia subvocalized, "Shut down all of our solarium sensors exctheept holocameras."
Saigy?'s silence was his assent.
Dem Lia noticed Far Rider suddenly blinking as if someosnheuthaodff blazing lights that had been
shining in his eyes. The Ousthteern looked at Dem Lia and nodded slightly. The strange gap of a mouth, sealed away from the world by the layer of forcefielcdlearndectodermal skin plasma, twitched in what
the Spectrum womatnhought might be a smile.
It was the young Templar, Reta Kasteen, who had been speaking. ". . . so you see we passed through what was becoming the Worldwaenbd left human space about the time the Hegemony was establishing
itself. We had departed the Centauri system some time after thnealorHigeigira had ended. Periodically, our seedship would drop into rsepaalce—the Templars joined us from God's Grove on our way so t—
we had fatline news and occasional firsthand information of what the interstellar Worldweb society was becoming. We continueodutbound."
"Why so far?" asked Patek Georg.
The Chief Branchman answered, "Quite simply, the ship matilofunnecd. It kept us in deep cryogenic fugue for centuries while its programming ignored potential systems for an orbital woErvldetnrteuea.lly, as the ship realized its mistake—twelve hundred of usalhreaaddy died in fugue creches never designed for
such a lengthy voyage—the ship panicked and began dropping out of Hawking space at every system, finding the usual assortment of stars that could not support our Templar-grown tree ring or that would have been deadly to Ousters. We know from the ship's records that it almost settled us in a binary system consisting of a black hole that was gorging colonseitsred-giant neighbor."
"The accretion disk would have been pretty to watch," saiSdoaDewnith a weak smile.
The Chief Branchman showed his own thin-lipped smile. "Ythees, wineeks or months we would have
had before it killed us. Instead, working on the last of its reasoning power, the ship made one more jump and found the perfect solution—this double system, with the white-star heliosphere we Ousters could
thrive in, and a tree rainlrgeady constructed." "How long ago was that?" asked Dem Lia.
"Twelve-hundred-and-thirty-some standard years," broadcast FRaidr er.
The Templar woman leaned forward and continued the story.fir"sTt htehing we discovered was that this forest ring had nothing to do with the biogenetics we had developed on God's Grove toowbunild our beautiful, secret startrees. This DNA was so alien in its alignamndentfunction that to tamper with it might have killed the entire forest ring."
"You could have started your own forest ring growing in and around the alien one," said Ces Ambre. "Or attempted a startree sphere as other Ousters have done."
The True Voice of the Tree Reta Kasteen nodded. "We had just begun attempting that—and diversifying the protogene growth centers just a few hundred kilometers from where we had parked the

seedship in the leaves and branches of the alien ring, when . . ." She paused as if searching for the right words.
"The Destroyer came," broadcast Far Rider.
"The Destroyer being the ship we observe approaching younrowrin?g" asked Patek Georg. "Same ship," broadcast Far Rider. The two syllables seemed to have been spat out. "Same monster from hell," added the Chief Branchman.
"It destroyed your seedship," said Dem Lia. So that was why the Ousters seemed to have no metal and why there was no Templar-grown forest ring braiding this alien one.
Far Rider shook his head. d"eIvt oured the seedship, along with more than twenty-eight thousand kilometers of the tree ring itselfe—very leaf, fruit, oxygen pod, water tendril—even our protogene growth centers."
"There were far fewer purely space-adapted Ousters in those sdaaiyds,R" eta Kasteen. "The adapted
ones attempted to save the others, but many thousands died on that first visit of the Destroyer . . . the
Devourer . . . the Machine. We obviously have many names for it."
"Ship from hell," said the Chief Branchman, and Dem Lia rtehaaltizhede was almost certainly speaking literally, as if a religion had grown up based upon hating this machine.
"How often does it come?" asked Den Soa.
"Every fifty-seven years," said the Templar. "Exactly." "From the red giant system?" asked Den Soa.
"Yes," broadcast Far Rider. "From the hell star."
"If you know its trajectory," said Dem Lia, "can't you know far ahead of time the sections of your forest ring it will . . . devastate, devour? Couldn't you just not colonize, or at the very least evacuate, those areas? After all, most of the tree ring has to be unpopulated ... the ring's surface area has to be equal to more than half a million Old Earths or Hyperions."
Chief Branchman Keel Redt showed his thin smile again. "About now—some seven or eight standard days out—the Destroyer, for all its mass, not only completes its deceleration cycle, but carries out complicated maneuvers that will take it to some populated part rionfg.thAe lways a populated area. A hundred and four years ago, its fintraaljectory took it to a massing of 02pods where more than twenty million of our non-fully space-adapted Ousters had made their hocmoems,plete with travel tubes,
bridges, towers, city-sized platforms aanrdtificially grown life-support pods that had been under slow construc tion for more than six hundred standard years."
"All destroyed," said True Voice of the Tree Reta Kasteesnorwroiwth in her voice. "Devoured. Harvested."
"Was there much loss of life?" asked Dem Lia, her voice quiet.

Far Rider shook his head and broadcast, "Millions of fully space-adapted Ousters rallied to evacuate the oxygen breathers. Fewer than a hundred died."
"Have you tried to communicate with...thme achine?" askePdeter Delem Dem Tae.
"For centuries," said Reta Kasteen, her voice shaking with emotion. "We've used radio, tightbeam,
maser, the few holo transmitters we still have, Far Rider's people have even used their wingfields—by the thousands—to flash messages in simple, mathematical code."
The five Amoiete Spectrum Helix people waited.
"Nothing," said the Chief Branchman in a flat voice. "It comes, it chooses its populated section of the ring, and it devours. We have never had a reply."
"We believe that it is completely automated and very ancient," said Reta Kasteen. "Perhaps millions of years old. Still operating on programming developed when the alien ring was built. It harvests these huge sections of the ring, limbs, branches, tubules with millions of gallons of tree-ring manufactured water . . . then returns to the red-star system and, after a pause, returns our way again."
"We used to believe that there was a world left in that red-giant system," broadcast Far Rider. "A planet which remains permanently hidden from us on the far side of that evil sun. A world which built this ring as its food source, probably before their G2 sun went giant, and which continues to harvest in spite of the misery it causes uNs.o longer. There is no such planet. We now believe that the Desatcrotsyearlone, out
of ancient, blind programming, harvesting sections of the ring and destroying our settlements for no reason. Whatever or whoever lived in that red giant system has long since fled."
Dem Lia wished that Kem Loi, their astronomer, was there. She knew that she was on the command deck watching. "We saw no planets during our approach to this binary system," said the green-banded commander. "It seems highly unlikely that any world that could support life would have survived the transition of the G2 star to the red giant."
"Nonetheless, the Destroyer passes very close to that terrible red star on each of its voyages," said the
Ouster Chief Branchman. "Perhaps some sort of artificial environment remains—a space habitat—hollowed-out asteroids. An environment which requires this plant ring for its inhabitants to survive. But it does not excuse the carnage."
"If they had the ability to build this machine, they could have simply fled their system when the G2 sun went critical," mused Patek Georg. The red-band looked at Far Rider. "Have you tried tothedestroy machine?"
The lipless smile beneath the ectofield twitched lizard-wide on Far Rider's strange face. "Many times. Scores of thousands of true Ousthearsve died. The machine has an energy defense that lances us to ash at approximately one hundred thousand klicks."
"That could be a simple meteor defense," said Dem Lia.
Far Rider's smile broadened so that it was very terrible. "If so, it suffices as a very efficient killing device. My father died in the last
attack attempt."

"Have you tried traveling to the red giant system?" asked Peter
Delem.
"We have no spacecraft left," answered the Templar.
"On your own solar wings then?" asked Peter, obviously doimngaththein his head on the time such a round trip would take. Years--decades at solar sailing velocities—but well within an Ouster's life
span.
Far Rider moved his hand with its elongated fingers in a horizontal chop. "The heliosphere turbulence is too great. Yet we have tried hundreds of times—expeditions upon which scores depart and none or only a few return. My brother died on such an attemopft ysoixur standard years ago."
"And Far Rider himself was terribly hurt," said Reta Kasteen"Ssoixfttlyy-.eight of the best deep spacers left—two returned. It took allwohfat remains of our medical science to save Far Rider's life, and that meant two years in recovery pod nutrient for him."
Dem Lia cleared her throat. "What do you want us to do?"
The two Ousters and the Templar leaned forward. Chief Branchman Keel Redt spoke for all of them.
"If, as you believe, as we have become convinced, there is no inhabited world left in the red giant system, kill the Destroyer now. Annihilate the harvesting machine. Save us from this mindless, obsolete, and
endless scourge. We will reward you as handsomely as we can—foods, fruits, as muacsh ywoauter need for your voyage, advanced genetic techniques, our kendogwel of nearby systems, anything."
The Spectrum Helix people glanced at one another. FinallyLiDaesmaid, "If you are comfortable here,
four of us would like to excuosuerselves for a short time to discuss this. Ces Ambre would be delighted to stay with you and talk if you so wish."
The Chief Branchman made a gesture with both long arms and huge hands. "We are completely comfortable. And we are more thdaenlighted to have this chance to talk to the venerable M. Ambre—the woman who saw the husband of Aenea."
Dem Lia noticed that the young Templar, Reta Kasteen, lvoiosikbeldy thrilled at the prospect.
"And then you will bring us your decision, yes?" radioed FarhiRs iwdearx, y body, huge eyeshields, and alien physiology giving Dem Laiaslight chill. This was a creature that fed on light, tapped eenneoruggyhto deploy electromagnetic solar wings hundreds of kilomewteirdse, recycled his own air, waste, and water, and lived in an envirmonent of absolute cold, heat, radiation, and hard vacuum. Humahnakdindcome a
long way from the early hominids in Africa on Old Earth.
And if we say tnhoo,ught Dem Liat,hree-hundred-thousand-some angry space-adapted Ousters just
like him might descend on
sopuirnship like the angry Hawaiians venting their wrath on CJaapmtaeins
Cook when he caught them pulling the nails from the hhiusllshoifp. The good captain ended up not only being killed horriblyb,ut having his body eviscerated, burned, and boiled into cshmuanlkls.As soon as she thought this, Dem Lia knew better. ThOeusesters would not attack thHeelix. All of her intuition told her that. And if they dsoh,e thought,our weaponry will vaporize the lot of them in two-point-six

seconds. She felt guilty and slightly nauseated at her own thoughts as she made her farewells and took the lift down to the command deck with the other three.

"You saw him," said True Voice of the Tree Reta Kasteenbraealtihtltelessly. "Aenea's husband?"
Ces Ambre smiled. "I was fourteen standard years old. It was a long time ago. He was traveling from world to world via farcaster and stayed a few days in my second triune parents' home because he was ill—a kidney stone—and then the Pax troopers kept him under arrest until they could send someone to interrogate him. My parents helpheidm escape. It was a very few days a very many years ago." She
smiled again. "And he was not Aenea's husband at that time, remember. He had not taken the sacrament of her DNA, nor even grown aware of what her blood and teachings could do for the human race."
"But yousaw him," pressed Chief Branchman Keel Redt.
"Yes. He was in delirium and pain much of the time and handcuffed to my parents' bed by the Pax troopers."
Reta Kasteen leaned closer. "Did he have any s.o..rtaoufra . . a.bout him?"
"Oh, yes," said Ces Ambre with a chuckle. "Until my parents gave him a sponge bath. He had been traveling hard for many days."
The two Ousters and the Templar seemed to sit backapipnoidnitsment.
Ces Ambre leaned forward and touched the Templar woman's knee. "I apologize for being flippant—I know the important role that Raul Endymion played in all of our history—but it was long ago, there was much confusion, and at that time on Vitus-Gray-Balianus B I was a rebellious teenager who wanted to leave my community of the Spectrum and accept the cruciform in some nearby Pax city."
The other three visibly leaned back now. The two faces that were readable registered shock. "You

wanted to accept that . . . thatpa. r.as.ite into your body?"

As part of Aenea's Shared Moment, every human everywhere had seen—had known—had felt the full gestalt —of the reality behind the "immortality cruciform"—a parasitic mass of AI nodes creating a TechnoCore in real space, using the neurons and synapses of each host body in any way it wished, often using it in more creative ways kbilyling the human host and using the linked neuronic webitwwheans at
its most creative—during those final seconds of neural lduitsisoon before death. Then the Church would use TechnoCore technology to resurrect the human body with the Core cruciform parasite growing stronger and more networked at each death and resurrection.
Ces Ambre shrugged. "It represented immortality at the timea. Achnadnce to get away from our dusty little village and join the rweaolrld—the Pax."
The three Ouster diplomats could only stare.
Ces Ambre raised her hands to her robe and slipped it open enough to show them the base of her throat and the beginning of a scar where the cruciform had been removed by the Aeneans. "I was kidnapped to one of the remaining Pax worlds and put under the cruciform for nine years," she said so softly that her voice barely carried to the three diplomats. "And most of this timaeftewr asAenea's shared
moment—after the absolute revelation of the Core's plan to enslave us with those despicable things."
The True Voice of the Tree Reta Kasteen took Ces Ambre's older hand in hers. "Yet you refused to become Aenean when you were liberated. You joined what was left of your old culture."

Ces Ambre smiled. There were tears in her eyes, and those eyes suddenly looked much older. "Yes. I felt I owed my people that—for deserting them at the time of crisis. Someone had to carry on the Spectrum Helix culture. We had lost so many in the wars. We lost even more when the Aeneans gave us the option of joining them. It is hard to refuse to become something like a god."
Far Rider made a grunt that sounded like heavy static. "This is our greatest fear next to the Destroyer. No one is now alive on the forest ring who experienced the Shared Moment, but the details of it—the glorious insights into empathy and the binding powers oVfotihde Which Binds, Aenea's knowledge that
many of the Aeneans woulbde able to farcast—freecast—anywhere in the universe. Well, the Church of Aenea has grown here until at least a fourth of our population would give up their Ouster or Templar heritage and become Aenean in a second."
Ces Ambre rubbed her cheek and smiled again. "Then it's obvious that no Aeneans have visited this system. And you have to remember that Aenea insisted that there be no 'Church of Aenea,' no veneration or beatification or adoration. That was paramount in her thoughts during the Shared Moment."
"We know," said Reta Kasteen. "But in the absence of choice and knowledge, cultures often turn to religion. And the possibility of an Aenean being aboard with you was one reason we greeted the arrival of your great ship with such enthusiasm and trepidation."
"Aeneans do not arrive by spacecraft," Ces Ambre said softly.
The three nodded. "When and if the day ever comes," broadcast Far Rider, "it will be up to the individual conscience of each Ouster and Templar to decide. As for me, I will always ride the great waves of the solar wind."
Dem Lia and the other three returned.
"We've decided to help," she said. "But we must hurry."
There was no way in the universe that Dem Lia or any of the other eight humans or any of the five AIs would risk theHelix in a direct confrontation with the Destroyer or the Harvester or whatever the hell the Ousters wanted to call their nemesis. It was not just by engineering happenstance that the three thousand life-support pods carrying the 684,300 Spectrum Helix pioneers in deep cryogenic sleep were
egg-shaped. This culture had all their eggs in one basket—literally—and they were not about to send that basket into battle. Already Basho and several of the other AIs were brooding about the proximity to the oncoming harvesting ship. Space battles could easily be fought across twenty-eight AUs of
distance—while traditional lasers, or lances, or charged particle-beam weapons would take more than a hundred and ninety-six minutes to creep that distance—Hegemony, Pax, and Ouster ships had all developed hyperkinetic missiles able to leap into and out of Hawking space. Ships could be destroyed before radar could announce the presence of the incoming missile. Since this "harvester" crept around its appointed rounds at sublight speeitd,seemed unlikely that it would carry C-plus weaponry, but "unlikely"
is a word that has undone the planning and fates of warriors since time immemorial.
At the Spectrum Helix engineers' request, the Aeneans had rebuHilteltihxeto be truly modular. When it reached its Utopian planet around its perfect star, sections would free themselves to become probes and aircraft and landers and submersibles and space stations. Each of the three thousand individual life pods could land and begin a colony on its own, although the plans were to cluster the landing sites carefully after much study of the new world. By the timHeetlhixe was finished deploying and landing its pods and modules and probes and shuttles and command deck and central fusion corwe,ouliltdtlebe left in orbit

except the huge Hawking drive units with mtaeinnance programs and robots to keep them in perfect condition for centuries, if not millennia.
"We'll take the system exploratory probe to investigate this Destroyer," said Dem Lia. It was one of the smaller modules, adapted more to pure vacuum than to atmospheric entry, although it was capable of some morphing. But compared to most of Htheelix's peaceful subcomponents the probe was armed to
the teeth.
"May we accompany you?" said Chief Branchman Keel Redt. "None of our race has come closer than a hundred thousand kilometers to the machine and lived."
"By all means," said Dem Lia. "The probe's large enough to hold thirty or forty of us, and only three are going from our ship. We will keep the internal containment field at one-tenth gee and seaadtainpgt the
accordingly."
The probe was more like one of the old combat torchships than anything else, and it accelerated out toward the advancing machine under 250 gravities, internal containment fields on infinite redundancy,
external fields raised to their maximum of class twelve. Dem Lia was piloting. Den Soa was attempting to communicate with thgeigantic ship via every means available, sending messages of peaceeveorny band
from primitive radio to modulated tachyon bursts. Twhearse no response. Patek Georg Dem Mio was meshed into the defensec/ ounterattack virtual umbilicals of his couch. The passengers sat at the rear of the probe's compact command deck and watched. Sahigayd? decided to accompany them, and his
massive holo sat bare-chestedand cross-legged on a counter near the main viewport. Dem Lia made sure to keep their trajectory aimneodt directly at the monstrosity, in the probability that it had simple
meteor defenses: if they kept traveling toward their current coordinates, they would miss the ship by tens of thousands of kilometers above the plane of the ecliptic.
"Its radar has begun tracking us," said Patek Georg when they were six hundred thousand klicks away and decelerating nicely. "Passive radar. No weapons acquisition. It doesn't seem to be probing us with anything except simple radar. It will have no idea if life-forms are aboard our probe or not."
Dem Lia nodded. "Saigy?," she said softly, "at two hundred thousand klicks, please bring our coordinates around so that we will be on intercept course with the thing." The chubby monk nodded.
Somewhat later, the probe's thrusters and main engines changed tune, the starfield rotated, and the image of the huge machine filled the main window. The view was magnified as if they were only five hundred klicks from the spacecraft. The thing was indescribably ungainly, built only for vacuum, fronted with metal teeth and rotating blades built into mandible-like housings, the rest looking like the wreckage of an old space habitat that had been mindlessly added onto for millennium after millennium and then covered with warts, wattles, bulbous sacs, tumors, and filaments.
"Distance, one hundred eighty-three thousand klicks and clossianigd,"Patek Georg. "Look how blackened it is," whispered Den Soa.
"And worn," radioed Far Rider. "None of our people have ever seen it from this close. Look at the layers of cratering through the heavy carbon deposits. It is like an ancient, black moon that has been struck again and again by tiny meteorites."
"Repaired, though," commented the Chief Branchman gruffly. "It operates."

"Distance one hundred twenty thousand klicks and closing," said Patek Georg. "Search radar has just been joined by acquisition radar."
"Defensive measures?" said Dem Lia, her voice qSuaiiegty. ? answered. "Class-twelve field in place and infinitely redundant. CPB deflectors activated. Hyperkinetic countermissilesready. Plasma shields on
maximum. Countermissiles armed and under positive control." This meant simply that both Dem Lia and
Patek Georg would have to give the command to launch them, or—if thepahsusmenagners were killed—Saigy? would do so.
"Distance one hundred five thousand klicks and closing," said Patek Georg. "Relative delta-v dropping to one hundred meters per second. Three more acquisition radars have locked on."
"Any other transmissions?" asked Dem Lia, her voice tight.
"Negative," said Den Soa at her virtual console. "The msaecehminse blind and dumb except for the
primitive radar. Absolutely nsoigns of life aboard. Internal communications show that but not true AI. Computers more likely. Many soefriepshysical computers."
.i.t.inhtaeslligence...
"Physicacl omputers!" said Dem Lia, shocked. "You mseialincon . . . chips . . . stone axe-level technology?"
"Or just above," confirmed Den Soa at her console. "We're puipckminaggnetic bubble-memory readings, but nothing higher."
"One hundred thousand klicks . . ." began Patek Georg, anindterthruepnted himself. "The machine is firing on us."
The outer containment fields flashed for less than a second.
"A dozen CPBs and two crude laser lances," said Patek Georhgisfrvoirmreal point of view. "Very weak. A class-one field could hacvoeuntered them easily."
The containment field flickered again.
"Same combination," reported Patek. "Slightly lower enseertgtiyngs." Another flicker.
"Lower settings again," said Patek. "I think it's giving us all it's got and using up its power doing it. Almost certainly just a metedoerfense."
"Let's not get overconfident," said Dem Lia. "But let's seeitsaldlefoefnses." Den Soa looked shocked. "You're goingattack it?"
"We're going to see if cwaen attack it," said Dem Lia. "PaSteakig, y?, please target one lance on the top corner of that protuberanctheere . . ." She pointed her laser stylus at a blackened, cratered, fin-shaped projection that might have been a radiator two klicks high. ". . . and one hyperkinetic missile . . ."
"Commander!"protested Den Soa.

Dem Lia looked at the younger woman and raised her fihnegrerliptos. "One hyperkinetic with plasma warhead removed, targeteadt the front lower leading edge of the machine, right whereotfhethalitp aperture is."
Patek Georg repeated the command to the AI. Actual target ncaoteosrdwi ere displayed and confirmed. The CPB struck almost instantly, vaporizing a seventy-meterinhothle radiator fin.
"It raised a class-point-six field," reported Patek Georg. s"eTehmast
to be its top limit of defense."
The hyperkinetic missile penetrated the containment field
bliukleleat through butter and struck an instant
later, blasting througshixty meters of blackened metal and tearing out through thefeefrdoing-orifice of
the harvesting machine. Everyone aboard watchtheed silent impact and the almost mesmerizing tumble of vaporizedmetal expanding away from the impact site and the spray offrdoembritshe exit wound. The
huge machine did not respond.
"If we had left the warhead on," murmured Dem Lia, "andfoarimitsedbelly, we would have a thousand kilometers of exploding harvemstachine right now."
Chief Branchman Keel Redt leaned forward in his couch. Dtheespiotnee-tenth g field, all of the couches had restraint systems. Hwisas activated now.
"Please," said the Ouster, struggling slightly against the harnaensdseasirbags. "Kill it now. Stop it now." Dem Lia shifted to look at the two Ousters and the Templyare.t,"Nsohte said. "First we have to return
to theHelix."
"We will lose more valuable time," broadcast Far Rider, huisnrteoandeable.
"Yes," said Dem Lia. "But we still have more than six sdtayds abrdefore it begins harvesting." The probe accelerated away from the blackened, crateredn, eawnldy scarred monster.
"You will not destroy it, then?" demanded the Chief Brancahsmthaen
probe hurried back to Htheelix.
"Not now," responded Dem Lia. "It might still be servingpoasepfuorr the race that built it."
The young Templar seemed to be close to tears. "Yet yoiunrstrouwmnents—far more sophisticated than our telescopes—told yotuhat there are no worlds in the red giant system."
Dem Lia nodded. "Yet you yourselves have mentioned the piotyssiobfil space habitats, can cities, hollowed-out asteroids . . . our surwveays neither careful nor complete. Our ship was intent upon
enteringyour star system with maximum safety, not carrying out a csuarvfeuyl
of the red giant system."
"For such a small probability," said the Chief Branchman Ouster in a flat, hard voice, "you are willing to risk so many of our people?"
Saigy?'s voice whispered quietly in Dem Lia's subaudio c"irTchueit.AIs have been analyzing scenarios of several million Ousters using their solar wings in a concentrated attackHoenlixth."eDem Lia waited, still looking at the Chief Branchman.

"The ship could defeat them," finished the AI, "but there irseaslompreobability of damage."
To the Chief Branchman, Dem Lia said, "We're going to taHkelitxheto the red giant system. The three of you are welcomeactocompany us."
"How long will the round trip last?" demanded Far Rider.
Dem Lia looked to Saigy?. "Nine days under maximum bfouosisotn," said the AI. "And that would be a powered perihelion maneuver with no time to linger in the system to search every asdteerboriids foireld
for life-forms."
The two Ousters were shaking their heads. Reta Kasteen drehwoodhelrower, covering her eyes. "There's another possibility," said Dem Lia. To Saigy?, she ptowntaerdd theHelix, now filling the main
viewscreen. Thousands of energyw-inged Ousters parted as the probe decelerated gently through the ship's containment field and aligned itself for docking.
They gathered in the solarium to decide. All ten of the humans— Den Soa's wife and husband had been invited to join in the vote but had decided to stay below in the crew's quarters—all five of the AIs, and the three representatives of the forest-ring people. Far Rider's tightbeam continued to carry the video and audio to the three hundred thousand nearby Ousters and the billions waiting on the great curve of tree
ring beyond.
"Here is the situation," said Dem Lia. The silence in the solarium was very thick. "You know that the

Helix, our ship, contains an Aenean-modified Hawking drive. Our faster-than-light passage does harm

the fabric of the Void Which Binds, but thousands of times less than the old Hegemony or Pax ships. The Aeneans allowed us this voyage." The short woman with the green band around her turban paused and looked at both Ousters and the Templar woman before continuing. "We could reach the red giant system
in . . ."
"Four hours to spin up to relativistic velocities, then the jump," said Res Sandre. "About six hours to decelerate into the red giant system. Two days to investigate for life. Same ten-hour return time."
"Which, even with some delays, would bringHtehleix back almosttwo days before the Destroyer
begins its harvesting. If there is no life in the red-giant system, we will use the probe to destroy the robot harvester."
"But. . ." said Chief Branchman Keel Redt with an all-too-human ironic smile. His face was grim. "Buitt is too dangerous to use the Hawking drive in suchbainatirgyhtsystem," said Dem Lia, voice level.
"Such short-distance jumpsare incredibly tricky anyway, but given the gas and debris the red giant is
pouring out . . ."
"You are correct. It would be folly." It was Far Rider broadocnashtiinsgradio band. "My clan has passed down the engineering from generation to generation. No commander of any Ouster seedship would make a jump in this binary system."
True Voice of the Tree Reta Kasteen was looking from ffaaccee. "toBut you have these powerful fusion engines . . ."
Dem Lia nodded. "Basho, how long to survey the red-giant ussyisntgemmaximum thrust with our fusion

engines?"
"Three and one-half days transit time to the other systemt,h"e sahiodllow-cheeked AI. "Two days to investigate. Three and one-hadlfays back."
"There is no way we could shorten that?" said Oam Rai,lotwhe. "yCelut safety margins? Drive the fusion engines harder?"
Saigy? answered. "The nine-day round-trip is posited upon iniggnoarll safety margins and driving the fusion engines at one hundrtewdelve percent of their capacity." He sadly shook his bald head.it"No, cannot be done."
"But the Hawking drive . . ." said Dem Lia, and everyonreooimn tahpepeared to cease breathing except for Far Rider, who had nebveeern breathing in the traditional sense. The appointed Spectrum Helixcommander turned to the AIs. "What are the probabilities of diifsawsteertry this?"
Lady Murasaki stepped forward. "Both translations—into and out of Hawking space—will be far too close to the binary system's Roclohbee. We estimate probability of total destruction ofHtehleix at two percent, of damage to some aspect of ship's systems at eight paenrdcenspt,ecifically damage to the pod
life-support network at spixercent."
Dem Lia looked at the Ousters and the Templar. "A six cphearncceentof losing
hundreds—thousands—of our sleeping relatives anfdriends. Those we have sworn to protect until arrival at our destination. A two percent chance that our entire culture will daietteimn ptth."e
Far Rider nodded sadly. "I do not know what wonders your fArieendasn have added to your
equipment," he broadcast, "but I would find those figures understated. It is an impossible binary system fora Hawking drive jump."
Silence stretched. Finally Dem Lia said, "Our options are to destroy the harvesting machine for you without knowing if there is life—perhaps an entire species—depending upon it in the red giant system, however improbable. And we cannot do that. Our moral code prevents it."
Reta Kasteen's voice was very small. "We understand."
Dem Lia continued, "We could travel by conventional means and survey the system. This means you will have to suffer the ravages of this Destroyer a final time, but if there is no life in the red giant system, we will destroy the machine when we return on fusion drive."
"Little comfort to the thousands or millions who will lose their homes during this final visit of the
Destroyer," said Chief BranchmaKneel Redt. "No comfort at all," agreed Dem Lia.
Far Rider stood to his full four-meter height, floating slightly in the one-tenth gravity. "This is not your problem," he broadcast. "There is no reason for you to risk any of your people. We thank you for considering . . ."
Dem Lia raised a hand to stop him in mid-broadcast. "We're going to vote now. We're voting whether to jump to the red giant system via Hawking drive and get back here before your Destroyer begins destroying. If there is an alien race over there, perhaps we can communicate in the two days we will have

in-system. Perhaps they can reprogram their machine. We have all agreed that the odds against it accidentally 'eating' your seedship on its first pass after you landed are infinitesimal. The fact that it constantly harvests areas on which you've colonized—on a tree ring with the surface area equal to half a million Hyperions—suggests that it is programmed to do so, as if eliminating abnormal growths or pests."
The three diplomats nodded.
"When we vote," said Dem Lia, "the decision will have to be unanimous. One 'no' vote means that we will not use the Hawkidnrgive."
Saigy? had been sitting cross-legged on the table, but now he moved next to the other four AIs who were standing. "Just for the record," said the fat little monk, "the AIs have voted five to zero against attempting a Hawking drive maneuver."
Dem Lia nodded. "Noted," she said. "But just for the record, for this sort of decision, the AIs' vote does not count. Only the Amoiete Spectrum Helix people or their representatives can determine their own
fate." She turned back to the other nine humans. "To use the Hawking drive or not? Yes or no? We ten will account to the thousands of others for the consequences. Ces Ambre?"
"Yes." The woman in the blue robe appeared as calm as thlienrglsytacrlear and gentle ey"eJso. n Mikail
Dem Alem?"
"Yes," said the ebony life-support specialist in a thick voice. "Yes." "Oam Rai?"
The yellow-band woman hesitated. No one on board knew the risks to the ship's systems better than this person. A two percent chance of destruction must seem an obscene gamble totohuecr.heSdheher
lips with her fingers. "There are two civilizations wedeacrieding for here," she said, obviously musing to herself. "Possiblythree."
"Oam Rai?" repeated Dem Lia. "Yes," said Oam Rai.
"Kern Loi?" said Dem Lia to the astronomer. "Yes." The young woman's voice quavered slightly. "Patek Georg Dem Mio?"
The red-band security specialist grinned. "Yes. As the ancieinntgsagyoes, no guts, no glory."
Dem Lia was irritated. "You're speaking for 684,288 sleepinpglepewoho might not be so devil-may-care."
Patek Georg's grin stayed in place. "My vote is yes." "Dr. Samel Ria Kem Ali?"
The medic looked as troubled as Patek had brazen. "I m.u..stthesraey are so many unknowns . . ." He

looked around. "Yes," he sa"idW. e must be sure."
"Peter Delem Dem Tae?" Dem Lia asked the blue-bapnsydcehdologist.
The older man had been chewing on a pencil. He looked at it, smiled, and set it on the table. "Yes." "Res Sandre?"
For a second the other green-band woman's eyes seemed todesfhiaonwce, almost anger. Dem Lia steeled herself for the veto and lethcteure that would follow.
"Yes," said Res Sandre. "I believe it's a moral imperative." That left the youngest in the group.
"Den Soa?" said Dem Lia.
The young woman had to clear her throat before speaking.Le"tY'sesg.o look." All eyes turned to the appointed commander.
"I vote yes," said Dem Lia. "Saigy?, prepare for maximum aatciocenletroward the translation point to Hawking drive. Kem Loi, yaonud Res Sandre and Oam Rai work on the optimum inbound titorannsla point for a systemwide search for life. Chief Branchman FRaerdRt, ider, True Voice of the Tree
Kasteen, if you would prefer to wbeahitind, we will prepare the airlock now. If you three wish to come, we must leave immediately."
The Chief Branchman spoke without consulting the others.w"iWsheto accompany you, Citizen Dem
Lia."
She nodded. "Far Rider, tell your people to clear a wide wake. We'll angle above the plane of the ecliptic outward bound, but ofusion tail is going to be fierce as a dragon's breath."
The fully space-adapted Ouster broadcast, "I have already doMneansyo. are looking forward to the spectacle."
Dem Lia grunted softly. "Let's hope it's not more of a sptheacntacwlee've all bargained for," she said. TheHelix made the jump safely, with only minor upset tooaf tfheew ship's subsystems. At a distance of
three AUs from the surfaocfe the red giant, they surveyed the system. They had estimateddaytsw, obut
the survey was done in less than twenty-four hours.
There were no hidden planets, no planetoids, no holloweads-toeruotids, no converted comets, no artificial space habitats—no sigonf life whatsoever. When the G2 star had finished its evolutioanreindto giant at least three million years earlier, its helium nuclei bbuergnaing its own ash in a high-temperature second round of fusiorneactions at the star's core while the original hydrogen fusion uceodntin a thin
shell far from that core, the whole process crecaatirnbgon and oxygen atoms that added to the reaction
and ... presto
t.h..e short-lived rebirth of the star as a red giant. It was obvitohuesrethhaatd been no
outer planets, no gas giants, no rocky worldysonbde the new red sun's reach. Any inner planets had been swallowedwhole by the expanding star. Outgassing of dust and heavy radhiaadtioanll but cleared the solar system of anything larger than nicirkoenl- meteorites.

"So," said Patek Georg, "that's that."
"Shall I authorize the AIs to begin full acceleration towarerdturtnhetranslation point?" said Res Sandre. The Ouster diplomats had been moved to the command dectkhewiritshpecialized couches. No one
minded the one-tenth gravity tohne bridge because each of the Amoiete Spectrum specialists—thweith exception of Ces Ambre—was enmeshed in a control couchin atnoduch with the ship on a variety of levels. The Ouster diplomahtsad been silent during most of the search, and they remained silent now as they turned to look at Dem Lia at her center console.
The elected commander tapped her lower lip with her knuckle. "Not quite yet." Their searches had brought them all around the red giant, and now they were less than one AU from its broiling surface. "Saigy?, have you looked inside the star?"
"Just enough to sample it," came the AI's affable voice. "Typical for a red giant at this stage. Solar luminosity is about two thousand times that of its G8 companion. We sampled the core—no surprises. The helium nuclei there are obviously engaged despite their mutual electrical repulsion."
"What is its surface temperature?" asked Dem Lia.
"Approximately three thousand degrees Kelvin," came Saigy?'s voice. "About half of what the surface temperature had been when it was a G2 sun."
"Oh, my God," whispered the violet-band Kem Loi from her couch in the astronomy station nexus. "Are you thinking . . ."
"Deep-radar the star, please," said Dem Lia.
The graphics holos appeared less than twenty minutes later as the star turned and they orbited it. Saigy? said, "A single rocky world. Still in orbit. Approximately four-fifths Old Earth's size. Radar evidence of ocean bottoms and former riverbeds."
Dr. Samel said, "It was probably earthlike until its expanding sun boiled away its seas and evaporated its atmosphere. God help whoever or whatever lived there."
"How deep in the sun's troposphere is it?" asked Dem Lia.
"Less than a hundred and fifty thousand kilometers," said Saigy?.
Dem Lia nodded. "Raise the containment fields to maximum," she said softly. "Let's go visit them." It's like swimming under the surface of a reDd esmea,Lia thought as they approached the rocky world.
Above them, the outer atmosphere of the star swirled and spiraled, tornadoes of magnetic fields rose from the depths and dissipated, and the containment field was already glowing despite the thirty micromonofilament cables they had trailed out a hundred and sixty thousand klicks behind them to act as radiators.
For an hour thHeelix stood off less than twenty thousand kilometers from what was left of what could once have been Old EarthHoyrperion. Various sensors showed the rocky world through the sinwgirl
red murk.

"A cinder," said Jon Mikail Dem Alem.
"A cinder filled with life," said Kem Loi at the primary nseexnusisn.gShe brought up the deep-radar
holo. "Absolutely honeycombed.Internal oceans of water. At least three billion sentient entities. I have no idea if they're humanoid, but they have machines, transport mechanisms, and citylike hives. You can even see the docking port where their harvester puts in every fifty-seven years."
"But still no understandable contact?" asked Dem Lia.HTehliex had been broadcasting basic mathematical overtures on every bawndidth, spectrum, and communications technology the ship had—from radio maser to modulated tachyons. There had been a return broadcast
of sorts.
"Modulated gravity waves," explained Ikky?. "But not respontodinogur mathematical or geometrical
overtures. They are picking
ouupr electromagnetic signals but not understanding them, and we can't
decipher their gravitonic pulses."
"How long to study the modulations until we can find a caolmphmaboent?" demanded Dem Lia.
Ikky?'s lined face looked pained. "Weeks, at least. Months more likely. Possibly years." The AI returned the disappointed gaze of the humans, Ousters and Templar. "I am sorry," he said, opening his hands. "Humankind has only contacted two sentient alien races beforet,heayndboth found ways to communicate withus. These . . . bein..g. sare truly alien. There are too few common referents."
"We can't stay here much longer," said Res Sandre at her engineering nexus. "Powerful magnetic storms are coming up from the core. And we just can't dissipate the heat quickly enough. We have
to leave."
Suddenly Ces Ambre, who had a couch but no station or duties, stood, floated a meter above the deck in the one-tenth g, moaned, and slowly floated to the deck in a dead faint.
Dr. Sam reached her a second before Dem Lia and Den Seoray.on"eEvelse stay at your stations," said
Dem Lia.
Ces Ambre opened her startlingly blue eyes. "They adrieffesorent.Not human at a..l.l
oxygen breathers
but not like the Seneschai empaths . . . modular . . . multip.l.e.
msoinfdibs rous . . ."
Dem Lia held the older woman. "Can you communicatethwemith?" she said urgently. "Senthdem
images?"
Ces Ambre nodded weakly.
"Send them the image of their harvesting machine and the Ousters," said Dem Lia sternly. "Show them the damage their machine does to the Ouster city clusters. Show them that the Ou..s.tehrusmaaren . . . sentient. Squatters, but not harming the forest ring."
Ces Ambre nodded again and closed her eyes. A moment labtegr asnheweeping. "The.y.. are... so...

sorry," she whispered. "The machine brings back...npoictures . . . only the food and air and water. It is programmed... as you suggested, Dem L...iato eliminate infestations. They .a..reso... so... sorry for the

loss of Ouster life. They offer the suicid..e. of their specie..s. if it would atone for the destruction."
"No, no, no," said Dem Lia, squeezing the crying woman's hands. "Tell them that won't be necessary." She took the older woman by the shoulders. "This will be difficult, Ces Ambre, but you hthaevme to ask
if the harvester can be reprogrammed. Taught to stay away tfhreomOuster settlements."
Ces Ambre closed her eyes for several minutes. At one lpoooiknet ditas if she had stopped breathing. Then those lovely eyes openewd ide. "It can. They are sending the reprogramming data."
"We are receiving modulated graviton pulses," said Saigy?. "Still no translation possible."
"We don't need a translation," said Dem Lia, breathing deeply. She lifted Ces Ambre and helped her back to her couch. "We just have to record it and repeat it to the Destroyer when we get back." She squeezed Ces Ambre's hand again. "Can you communicatethaonukrs and farewell?"
The woman smiled. "I have done so. As best I can."
"Saigy?," said Dem Lia. "Get us the hell out of here and acfuclellesrpaeteed to the translation point." TheHelix survived the Hawking space jump back into the G8 system with no damage. The Destroyer
had already altered its trajectory toward populated regions of the forest ring, but Den Soa broadcast the modulated graviton recordings while they were dseticllelerating, and the giant harvester responded with
an indecipherable gravitonic rumble of its own and dutifully changed course toward a remote and unpopulated section of the ring. Far Rider used his tight-beam equipment to show them a holo of the rejoicing on the ring cities, platforms, pods, branches, and towers, then he shut dborwoandchaist
equipment.
They had gathered in the solarium. None of the AIs was present or listening, but the humans, Ousters,
and Templar sat in a circAlell.
eyes were on Ces Ambre. That woman's eyes were closed.
Den Soa said very quietly, "The be.i.n. gosn that world . . . they had to build the tree ring before their star expanded. They built the harvesting spacecraft. Why didn't they just . . . leave?"
"The planet wa..s. is... home," whispered Ces Ambre, her eyes still shut tight. "Like c.h..ildnroetn wanting to leave home ... because it's dark out there. Very dark . . . empty. Thehyolmovee." .T.he. older woman opened her eyes and smiled wanly.
"Why didn't you tell us that you were Aenean?" Dem Lia said softly.
Ces Ambre's jaw set in resolve. "Inoamt Aenean. My motheDr,em Loa, gave me the sacrament of Aenea's blood—through her owno, f course—after rescuing me from the hell of St. Theresa. But I de cided not to use the Aenean abilities. I chnooste to follow the othebrsu,t to remain with the Amoiete."
"But you communicated telepathically with . . ." began Patek
Georg.
Ces Ambre shook her head and interrupted quickly. n"oItt itselepathy. It .i.s. being connecte.d.. to the
Void Which Binds. It is hearing the language of the dead and of the living across time and space through

pure empathy. Memories not one's own." The ninety-five-year-old woman who looked middle-aged put
her hand on her brow. "It is 50 tiring. I fought for so many years not to pay attention join in the memories. That is why the cryogenic deep slee.p.. irsesstfoul."
.t.o. toe voices
"And the other Aenean abilities?" Dem Lia asked, her voivcerystislol ft. "Have you freecast?"
Ces Ambre shook her head, with her hand still shielding he"rI
secrets," she said. Her voiscoeunded very tired.
edyides.not want

lteoarn the Aenean

"But you could if you wanted to," said Den Soa, her voice awestruck. "You could take one step—freecast—and be back on Vitus-Gray-Balianus B or Hyperion or Tau Ceti Center or Old Earth in a second, couldn't you?"
Ces Ambre lowered her hand and looked fiercely at the young womanw. o"Bn'ut.t"I
"Are you continuing with us in deep sleep to our destination?" asked the other green-band, Res Sandre. "To our final SpectruHmelix colony?"
"Yes," said Ces Ambre. The single word was a declaratioanchaanldlenge.
"How will we tell the others?" asked Jon Mikail Dem Alemin. g"HanavAenea.n.. a potential Aenea..n. in the colony will change . . . everything."
Dem Lia stood. "In my final moments as your consensus-elected commander, I could make this an order, Citizens. Instead, I ask for a vote. I feel that Ces Ambre and only Ces Ambre should make the decision as to whether or not to tell our fellow Spectrum Helix afabmouiltyher . . . gift. At any time after
we reach our destination." She looked directly at Ces Ambre. "Or never, if you so choose."
Dem Lia turned to look at each of the other eight. "And we shall never reveal the secret. Only Ces
Ambre has the right to tell the others. Those in favor of this, say aye." It was unanimous.
Dem Lia turned to the standing Ousters and Templar. "Saigy? assures me that none of this was broadcast on your tightbeam."
Far Rider nodded.
"And your recording of Ces Ambres's contact with the aliens through the Void Which Binds?" "Destroyed," broadcast the four-meter Ouster.
Ces Ambre stepped closer to the Ousters. "But you still wanotf smomyeblood . . . some of Aenea's sacramental DNA. You still want the choice."
Chief Branchman Keel Redt's long hands were shaking. "It would not be for us to decide to release the information or allow the sacrament to be distrib.u..tetdhe Seven Councils would have to meet in .s.e. cret
the Church of Aenea would be consu.l.t.edor..." Obviously the Ouster was in pain at the thought of millions or billionosf his fellow Ousters leaving the forest ring forever, freecasting awhauymtaon-Aenean
space or elsewhere. Their universe would never be the same. "But the three of us do not have the right to reject it foerveryone."

"But we hesitate to ask . . ." began the True Voice of Rthetea TKreaesteen.
Ces Ambre shook her head and motioned to Dr. Samel. Thehamndeeddic the Templar a small quantity of blood in a shockproof vial. "We drew it just a while ago," said the doctor.
"You must decide," said Ces Ambre. "That is always the waiys. aTlwhaatys the curse."
Chief Branchman Keel Redt stared at the vial for a long moment before he took it in his still-shaking hands and carefully set it away in a secure pouch on his Ouster forcefield armor. "It will be interesting to see what happens," said the Ouster.
Dem Lia smiled. "That's an ancient Old Earth curse, you know. Chinese. 'May you live in interesting times.' "
Saigy? morphed the airlock and the Ouster diplomats were gone, sailing back to the forest ring with the hundreds of thousands of other beings of light, tacking against the solar wind, following magnetic lines of force like vessels of light carried by swift currents.
"If you all don't mind," said Ces Ambre, smiling, "I'm going to return to my deep-sleep creche and turn in. It's been a long couopfledays."
The originally awakened nine waited untilHtheelix had successfully translated into Hawking space
before returning to deep sleep. When they were still in the G8 system, accelerating up and away from the ecliptic and the beautiful forest ring which now eclipsed the small, white sun, Oam Rai pointed to the
stern window, and said, "Look at that."
The Ousters had turned out to say good-bye. Several billion wings
of pure energy caught the sunlight.
A day into Hawking space while conferring with the AeInsowugahs
to establish that the ship was in
perfect form, the spin armansd deep-sleep pods functioning as they should, that they htuardnerde to course, and that all was well. One by one, they returtnheir tcoreches—first Den Soa and her mates,
then the others. Finalolynly Dem Lia remained awake, sitting up in her creche in the to be closed.
"Saigy?," she said, and it was obvious from her voice that it was a summons.
The short, fat, Buddhist monk appeared.
"Did you know that Ces Ambre was Aenean, Saigy??" "No, Dem Lia."
bsefornedsit was
"How could you not? The ship has complete genetic and med profiles on every one of us. You must have known."

"No, Dem Lia, I assure you that Citizen Ces Ambre's med profiles were within normal Spectrum Helix limits. There was no sign of post-humanity Aenean DNA. Nor clues in her psych profiles."
Dem Lia frowned at the hologram for a moment. Then she said, "Forged bio records then? Ces Ambre or her mother could have done that."
"Yes, Dem Lia."
Still propped on one elbow, Dem Lia said, "To your knowletodgaen—y of the AIs' knowledge—are there other Aeneans aboard the
HelixS, aigy??"
"To our knowledge, no," said the plump monk, his face earnest.
Dem Lia smiled. "Aenea taught that evolution had a directiodnetearnmdination," she said softly, more to herself than to the listening AI. "She spoke of a day when all the universe would be green with life. Diversity, she taught, is one of evolution's best strategies."
Saigy6 nodded and said nothing.
Dem Lia lay back on her pillow. "We thought the Aeneans so generous in helping us preserve our culture—this ship—the distant colony. I bet the Aeneans have helped a thousand small cultures cast off from human space into the unknown. They want the diversity—the Ousters, the others. They want many of us to pass up their ogfiftgodhood."
She looked at the AI, but the Buddhist monk's face showed only his usual slight smile. "Good night, Saigy?. Take good care of the ship while we sleep." She pulled the top of the creche shut and the unit began cycling her into deep cryogenic sleep.
"Yes, Dem Lia," said the monk to the now-sleeping woman.
TheHelix continued its great arc through Hawking space. The spin arms and life pods wove their complex double helix against the flood of false colors and four-dimensional pulsations which had replaced the stars.
Inside the ship, the AIs had turned off the containment-field gravity and the atmosphere and the lights. The ship moved on in darkness.
Then, one day, about three months after leaving the binary system, the ventilators hummed, the lights flickered on, and the containment-field gravity activated. All 684,300 of the colonists slept on.
Suddenly three figures appeared in the main walkway halfway between the command-center bridge and the access portals to the first ring of life-pod arms. The central figure was more than three meters tall, spiked and armored, four-armed, and bound about with chrome razorwire. Its faceted eyes gleamed red. It remained motionless where it had suddenly appeared.
The figure on the left was a man in early middle age, with curly, graying hair, dark eyes, and pleasant features. He was very tan and wore a soft blue cotton shirt, green shorts, and sandals. He nodded at the woman and began walking toward the command center.

The woman was older, visibly old even despite Aenean medical techniques, and she wore a simple gown of flawless blue. She walked to the access portal, took the lift up the third spin arm, and followed the walkway down into the one-g environment of the life pod. Pausing by one of the creches, she brushed ice and condensation from the clear faceplate of the umbilically monitored sarcophagus.
"Ces Ambre," muttered Dem Loa, her fingers on the chilled plastic centimeters above her triune stepdaughter's lined cheek. "Sleep well, my darling. Sleep well."
On the command deck, the tall man was standing amovnigrtutahleAIs. "Welcome, Petyr, son of Aenea and Endymion," said Saigy? with a slight bow.
"Thank you, Saigy?. How are you all?"
They told him in terms beyond language or mathematics. Petyr nodded, frowned slightly, and touched
Basho's shoulder. "There are too many conflicts in you, Basho? You wished them reconciled?" The tall man in the coned hat and muddy clogs said, "Yes,
please, Petyr."
The human squeezed the AI's shoulder in a friendly embrace. Both closed their eyes for an instant.
When Petyr released him, the saturnine Basho smiled broadly. "Thank you, Petyr."
The human sat on the edge of the table, and said, "Let's see where we're headed."
A holocube four meters by four meters appeared in front oTf htehesmta.rs were recognizable. The Helix's long voyage out from humanA-enean space was traced in red. Its projected trajectory proceeded ahead in blue dashes—blue dashes extending toward the center of
the galaxy.
Petyr stood, reached into the holo cube, and touched a small star just to the right of the projected path of theHelix. Instantly that
section magnified.
"This might be an interesting system to check out," said the man with a comfortable smile. "Nice G2 star. The fourth planet is about a seven-point-six on the old Solmev Scale. It would be higher, but it has evolved some very nasty viruses and some very fierce anVimearyls.fierce."

"Six hundred eighty-five light-years," noted Saigy?. "Plus forty-three light-years course correction. Soon."
Petyr nodded.
Lady Murasaki moved her fan in front of her painted fascme.ilHe ewr as provocative. "And when we arrive, Petyr-san, will the nasty viruses somehow be gone?"
The tall man shrugged. "Most of them, my Lady. Most of them." He grinned. "But the fierce animals will still be there." He shook hands with each of the AIs. "Stay safe, my friends. And keep our
friends safe."
Petyr trotted back to the three-meter chrome-and-bladed
mniagrhet in the main walkway just as Dem
Loa's soft gown swished acrothsse carpeted deckplates to join him. "All set?" asked Petyr.
Dem Loa nodded.
The son of Aenea and Raul Endymion set his hand agaminostnsttheer standing between them, laying his palm flat next tofifateen-centimeter curved thorn. The three disappeared withosuotunad.
TheHelix shut off its containment-field gravity, stored itsturanier,d off its interior lights, and continued on in silence, making tthineiest of course corrections as it did so.