The Evolutionary Void Read Free Page A

isolated.”
    “Of course, sorry.”
    “Thank you again for your assistance.”
    The Delivery Man sat upright as the call ended. “Damnit.” The deterrence fleet! This was getting serious, not to
mention potentially lethal. He ordered the cab to fly direct to the spaceport,
and to hell with procedure. The flight he was booked to depart on wasn’t due to
leave for another two hours. His u-shadow immediately tracked down the first
ship bound for a Central world: a PanCephei Line flight to Gralmond, leaving in
thirty-five minutes. It managed to reserve him a seat, paying a huge premium to
secure the last first class lounge cubicle, but the flight would take twenty
hours. Add another twenty minutes to that to reach Earth through the connecting
wormholes, and he’d be back in London in just over twenty-one hours.
    That’ll be enough time. Surely?

    Araminta had been so desperate to get the hell away from Colwyn City, she
hadn’t really given any thought to the practical aspect of walking the Silfen
paths between worlds. Ambling through mysterious woods dotted with sunny glades
was a lovely romantic concept, as well as being a decent finger gesture to
Living Dream and Cleric Conservator bastard Ethan. However, a moment’s thought
might have made her consider what she was wearing a little more carefully, and
she’d definitely have found some tougher boots. There was also the question of
food.
    None of that registered for the first fifty minutes as she strolled airily
down from the small spinney where the path from Francola Wood had emerged. She
simply marveled at her own fortune, the way she’d finally managed to turn her
predicament around.
    Figure out what you want, Laril had told her.
    Well, now I’ve started to do just that. I’m taking
charge of my life again .
    Then the quartet of moons sank behind the horizon. She smiled at their
departure, wondering how long it would take before they reappeared again. It
had been a fast traverse of the sky, so they must orbit this world several
times a day. When she turned to check the opposite horizon, her smile faded at
the thick bank of unpleasantly dark clouds that were massing above the lofty
hills that made up the valley wall. Ten minutes later the rain reached her, an
unrelenting torrent that left her drenched in seconds. Her comfy old fleece was
resistant to a mild drizzle, but it was never intended for a downpour that
verged on a monsoon. Nonetheless, she scraped the rat-tail strings of hair from
her eyes and plodded on resolutely, unable to see more than a hundred meters in
front of her. Boots with too-thin soles slipped on the now dangerously slimy
grass equivalent. As the slope took her down to the valley floor, she spent
more than half her time leaning forward in a gorilla-style crouch to scramble
her way slowly onward. That was the first three hours.
    She kept walking for the rest of the day, traversing the wide empty
valley as the clouds rumbled away. The orange-tinted sunlight helped dry her
fleece and trousers, but her underclothes took a long time. They soon started
to chafe. Then she reached the wide meandering river.
    The bank on her side of the valley was disturbingly boggy. Apparently the
Silfen didn’t use boats. Nor was there any sign of ford or even stepping-stones.
In any case, she didn’t like the look of how fast the smooth water was flowing.
Gritting her teeth, she set off downriver. After half an hour she conceded
there was no natural crossing point. There was nothing for it; she would have
to wade.
    Araminta stripped off her fleece and trousers and blouse, bundling them
together with her trusty tool belt—there was no way she was leaving that
behind, even though it was far too heavy should she have to swim for it. She
waded in, carrying the weighty roll above her head. The bottom of the river was
slippery, the water icy enough to make it difficult to breathe, and the flow so
harsh as to be a constant fear. In the middle the water came up almost