Mortal Remains by Christopher Evans

Author:Christopher Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780575102507
Publisher: Gateway
Published: 2019-12-19T16:00:00+00:00

Nine

I was in darkness again. I could feel Tunde’s cheek tingling, see the rage on Marea’s face, but the pain was receding, the scuttle gone, leaving me adrift in a featureless blackness.

“Nina?”

A silence. Then: “Nathan?”

I felt her approach—or rather it was as if her mind swam closer to me.

“I thought you might have stayed with Cori,” I said.

“We withdrew you both,” came the voice of Chloe. “It seemed prudent.”

“I don’t understand,” said Nina. “Weren’t we in real time with them?”

“Of course,” said Chloe.

“And now we’re back—where?”

“In the Noosphere. Or rather its Noospace.”

“How is this possible?”

It was Lucian who spoke: “Once you’re embedded in a mind through a prayer terminal, a permanent link is forged through the Noosphere. We can return you here at any time, and you’ll also be able to revisit Tunde or Cori because an imprint of your consciousness remains with them.”

“We can go back to them at any time?”

“With our help, yes.”

“We could return right now?”

“If it was necessary.”

This only served to deepen my suspicion. The darkness, the bodilessness, was infuriating. I wanted to be able to see them, to make my presence felt in every way I could.

“You didn’t tell us this before,” I said.

“We explained the necessity of proceeding slowly,” Chloe replied. “Isn’t it better that you gradually discover these capacities for yourself?”

“Why did you withdraw us?” Nina asked.

“Tunde and the others are safe for the time—”

“What about Vargo?” I interrupted. “You didn’t tell me he would be coming along with us until the last moment.”

Part of my anger rose from the feeling that we were being manipulated, part of it from the abrupt withdrawal. I had enjoyed participating in Tunde’s adventure; I had enjoyed my capacity to influence it.

Lucian said, “We only learned at the last moment that Marea had requested he be her mentor at the end. It would have been difficult to refuse her this final consolation. And, as it turned out, his presence is invaluable. The others will need his piloting skills now that the ship is crippled.”

“I don’t like this. How’s Tunde going to explain our sudden disappearance?”

“Tunde must wait. There have been new developments.”

Nina was close to me; had we been physical we would have held one another.

“Where are our bodies?” I demanded.

“They remain where they are,” said Chloe. “On the Noosphere. With us.”

It was hard to retain a proper sense of orientation, to decide where Nina and I truly “were”. This was not made any easier by Chloe and Lucian’s constant talk of “the Noosphere” and “Noospace” in different contexts. Sometimes they seemed to mean actual physical locations—the Moon and all the Settled Worlds—sometimes they obviously meant the transubstantial realm through which communions were conducted with ancestors, the dark void which we presently inhabited. It was empty to us, I assumed, because our ancestors had died long before the Noosphere was established.

“Can we return to them?” Nina was asking.

“If you wish,” said Chloe. “But we’d prefer it if you would allow us to let you dream again.”

“Bezile?” said Nina.

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