Fuck, Dr. Okoye says, and the third man turns to her.
I would have reached out to you if you could help me. But even these broken vessels, glorious as they are, can’t support the work now. My work.
Okay. All right. What do you mean, “my work”？
What is an empire but all humanity under the direction of a single mind? I was right, but I dreamed too small. I have seen how much more we have to be.
Not following you.
The horned god breathes out blue fires that live and die in an instant that is an eon.
There are tools at our disposal, Dr. Okoye. Tools made to fight against the enemy on the third side of the gates. I am . . . learning about that. I have made some progress. It is a war we can win, but not without some changes.
I’m hearing you say that you’re responsible for stopping the consciousness blinks and the changes to basic physics that the ring gate entities were doing. Is that right?
We aren’t stronger than they were. But we’re base materials. We are made from clay, and that’s our power. They were fragile, and we are robust. They had a sword but lacked the strength to wield it. I will find the sword and the map they left behind.
I’m getting lost here. A sword?
They built but were unable to effectively use certain tools that prevent the enemy from intruding into what we mean when we say the universe. But those tools exist, and I believe we can make effective use of them.
I think I understood that. In broad strokes, anyway.
In order to fully access these tools, we have to become more like them. We have to be one thing instead of billions of different ones. I am learning how to do that as well.
Are you . . . saying we need to become a hive mind?
Yes. Interconnected, with our thoughts and memories flowing freely between nodes. All our illusions of division washed away. Empire was the closest I could imagine to it. But—the third man gestures at himself almost in apology—I can imagine more now.
It’s all right. We’ll be safe.
Will we be people?
We’ll be better.
And with a blue-black swirl of breath he blows out the light of mind and is elsewhere.
All right. I need all the sensor data. From the Falcon, from the BFE. The ring gate. Everything. Put it all in the system. I need to understand what just happened, and I need to do it now.
Another voice. A different voice. How strange to have different voices. Ladies and gentlemen, you heard the lead researcher. By the numbers now. This is no time to get sloppy.
The dreamers open their eyes, and nothing changes.
Chapter Thirty: Elvi
It’s all right,” Duarte said. “We’ll be safe.”
Elvi looked at the man carefully. He didn’t seem like a phantom. He was just as solid and present as everyone else on the deck. Thinner than he’d been on Laconia. A vein at his temple stood out like a bluish caterpillar just under his skin. He wasn’t wearing shoes, and his feet looked pale. She wondered, if she tossed him a hand terminal, would he be able to catch it? Interesting test, but also one that might disrupt the connection, and she wasn’t ready to do that.
“Will we be people?” Elvi said.
Duarte’s smile was almost melancholy. “We’ll be better.”
And he wasn’t there anymore. All around the deck, the technicians stared at the place where the high consul of Laconia had been with wide, frightened eyes. The silence was the hum of the air recyclers, the mutter of the instruments, and the tapping of her heartbeat in her ears. Elvi lowered her head, took in a deep breath, and barked out orders like a drill sergeant. “All right. I need all the sensor data. From the Falcon, from the BFE. The ring gate. Everything. Put it all in the system. I need to understand what just happened, and I need to do it now.”
For a long moment, no one moved. Everyone was too stunned to process simple human things like language. Lee was the first to come to himself. “Ladies and gentlemen, you heard the lead researcher. By the numbers now. This is no time to get sloppy.”
He clapped his hands, and like a spell had been broken, the technicians and science team turned to their stations with a speed and focus that seemed almost manic. Cara and Amos opened their eyes in the same moment. The smile on Cara’s lips was soft and relaxed and totally out of place in the rush and clatter. Amos scratched his head and looked around.
Jim’s face was pale. He tried a smile that didn’t quite succeed. “I guess that worked.”
“You saw him too, right? It wasn’t just me.”
“It wasn’t just you. And that is kind of weird. When it was Miller in my head, I was the only one who could see him.” He was talking fast, the words tripping over each other in the rush. “So maybe it’s the same kind of thing but with way more processing power, or it could be something else. I don’t know.”