The Evolutionary Void Read Free

flight to Trangor and caught the
next starship to Fanallisto. At least he wasn’t part of the active operation.
The other agent didn’t even know he was there.
    The commercial starship fell through the sodden atmosphere to land at
Rapall spaceport. The Delivery Man disembarked along with all the other
passengers, then rendezvoused with his luggage in the terminal building. The
two medium-size cases drifted after him on regrav and parked themselves in a
cab’s cargo hold. He ordered the cab to the commercial section of town, a short
trip in the little regrav capsule as it flitted around beneath the force field
dome. From there he walked around to another cab pad and flew over to the
Foxglove Hotel on the east side of town, using a different identity.
    He booked in to room 225, using a third identity certificate and an
untraceable cash coin to prepay for a ten-day stay. It took four minutes to
infiltrate the room’s cybersphere node, where he installed various routines to
make it appear as though the room were occupied. A nice professional touch, he
felt. The small culinary unit would produce meals, which the maidbot would then
empty down the toilet in the morning when it made the daily housekeeping visit.
The spore shower would be used, as would various other gadgets and fittings;
the air-conditioning temperature would be changed, and the node would place a
few calls across the unisphere. Power consumption would vary.
    He slid both cases into the solitary closet just for the sake of
appearance and activated their defense mechanisms. Whatever was inside them, he
didn’t want to know, though he guessed at some pretty aggressive hardware. Once
he’d confirmed that they were operating properly, he left the room and called a
cab down to the front of the hotel’s lobby. It wouldn’t be he who came back to
collect the cases—that would set a pattern. He was grateful for that
operational protocol. After Justine’s last dream, all he wanted to do was get
back to his family. He’d already decided he would be turning down any more
Conservative Faction requests over the next couple of weeks, no matter how much
warning they gave him and how politely they asked. Events were building to a
climax, and there was only one place a true father should be.
    The lobby’s glass curtain doors parted to let him through. The taxicab
hovered a couple of centimeters above the concrete pad outside, waiting for
him. He hadn’t quite reached it when the Conservative Faction called.
    I’m going to tell them no , he promised
himself. Whatever it is .
    He settled in the cab’s curving seat, told its smartnet to take him to
the downtown area, and then accepted the call. “Yes?”
    “The deterrence fleet is being deployed,” the Conservative Faction said.
    “I’m surprised it took this long. People are getting nervous about the
Ocisens, and they don’t even know about the Primes yet.”
    “We believe the whole deployment was orchestrated by the Accelerators.”
    “Why? What could they possibly gain from that?”
    “They would finally know the nature of the deterrence fleet.”
    “Okay, so how does that help them?”
    “We don’t know. But it has to be crucial to their plans; they have risked
almost everything on manipulating this one event.”
    “The game is changing,” the Delivery Man said faintly. “That’s what
Marius told me: The game is changing. I thought he was talking about Hanko.”
    “Apparently not.”
    “So we really are entering a critical phase, then.”
    “It would seem so.”
    Immediately suspicious, he said, “I’m not undertaking anything else for
you. Not now.”
    “We know. That is why we called. We thought you deserved to know. We
understand how much your family means to you and that you want to be with
them.”
    “Ah. Thank you.”
    “If you do wish to return to a more active status—”
    “I’ll let you know. Has my replacement taken over following Marius?”
    “Operational information is kept