Salvation Lost by Peter F. Hamilton;

Author:Peter F. Hamilton;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House LLC
Published: 2019-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

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When they got back to the privacy of their quarters Dellian flopped onto the sofa directly in front of a broad black fusuma with a monochrome dragon print that stretched right across it; Yirella had been in a traditional Japanese phase for seven months now. The fusuma slid away to reveal a balcony that had a perfect view of Mount Fuji. Air from a garden full of blossoming cherry trees gusted in. “I’m not sure I can keep this farce up,” he admitted.

A smaller fusuma across the other side of the room was painted with a ukiyo-e style flying island. Yirella slid it aside and went into the bedroom. “I found Uret’s reversal interesting,” she said.

“No you didn’t.”

“Excuse me?”

“You were on the verge of braining the poor dumbass. I saw you.”

“All right. After busting a gut on the Actaeon design for two years I think I’m entitled to be a little peeved.”

“Leaving aside a little peeved as the understatement of the mission since we left Juloss, his change of attitude is actually quite complimentary.”

“You mean the whole subterfuge is working? The Leavers are reconsidering?”

“I thought that was the whole point.”

“It is, but I need to know if Uret is only folding thanks to peer pressure, or if the rest of the Leavers are having equal doubts.”

A remote rolled over to the sofa and proffered a chilled glass of beer for Dellian. “You’re going to make me go out there and schmooze again, aren’t you?”

“ ’Fraid so. Spread the pain. If the Actaeon project folds now, people will revert to being moody, and we’ll be right back where we started, watching for potential suicides. Kenelm was right when sie said we have to fully commit to it.”

“You know Uret was part of the biogreen faction?”

“What are you saying?”

“The majority of Leavers want to load the Actaeon with refineries and initiators so they can continue this life when they find a terraformed planet. But Uret’s faction wants to go superpastoral, so the land can provide them with everything. Trees that grow into houses, meat crops, metallic crystaloids, medicine tubers. All so they can live as one with the environment.”

“That’s dumb. Without a modern digital infrastructure, they’ll lose their knowledge base within three generations. The survivors will have to climb the industrial path again.”

“Survivors? Wow, you really don’t approve, do you? The biogreen goal is to have a balanced life so you don’t need to start building things. That way, keeping things simple, they get to avoid discovery by the Olyix.”

“If they’re going to be that sedentary, they’ll need to lower their IQs to make that culture stable and sustainable. Their ideology is worse than our Strike mission. It’s a prison.”

“Tolerant much? If that’s how they want to live their lives, especially ones that don’t interfere with us, then help them live it.”

“Ideologues are welcome to live with the values they admire, I have no problem with that, but you have to give the next generation the freedom and ability to go their own way.

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