A Night Without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton

Author:Peter F. Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2016-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

BOOK FIVE

SAFE HAVEN

1

For three thousand years it had been called Walton Boulevard—a wide straight thoroughfare in the center of Varlan, stretching from Bromwell Park all the way up the incline to the Captain’s palace. Although the capital’s later residents had long forgotten its origin, it followed the giant furrow that the Vermillion had plowed upon its chaotic landing. Big ten-story government buildings flanked the broad road, each with its own neat skirt of grass and trees.

That was two and a half centuries ago. The statues and fountains that had once graced most of the intersections had been taken away after they’d been smashed and defaced during Slvasta’s revolution. They’d never been replaced, thus allowing the new democratic city council to run modern tramlines straight and true up the center of the cobbles of what was now Bryan-Anthony Boulevard—named after some forgotten hero of the Revolution.

Stonal watched the long burgundy-colored tram carriages slide past as his official armored Zikker limousine drove up Bryan-Anthony Boulevard’s gentle slope, leading a convoy of unmarked PSR cars, five Varlan Regiment troop carriers, and two big regiment trucks. The passengers inside the tram barely glanced through the long grimy windows at the government vehicles as they passed.

Typical of the capital’s citizens, he thought. Stoic and jaded. Government officials were always racing around on some important mission. Who cares? Nothing changes. Life goes on. He gave the bovine tram passengers a disgruntled sigh. If only you knew.

A glance in the Zikker’s wide wingmirror confirmed that the vehicle carrying the Commonwealth space machine was still moving. That was a mild surprise. He had no idea of the thing’s capabilities, but he was fairly sure that if it wanted to stop the transport, it could. He’d spent the plane journey from Opole in a numb fear, thinking they would tumble out of the sky at any moment. The Air Defense Force people had thought him mad when he insisted they give him a parachute, which spent the whole flight on the seat next to him. Stonal ignored their poorly concealed amusement at his paranoia. In his profession, you didn’t live to 132 if you didn’t possess a very healthy suspicion, coupled with an exceptional political aptitude.

The Zikker arrived at the colossal People’s Palace. Before the revolution, the wide parade ground in front of the palace had been protected by a fence of tall iron railings, allowing tourists and Varlan residents alike to watch the spectacle of ceremonial palace guards dressed in their splendid uniforms marching with amazing precision between their posts. Those rails were gone now, replaced by a thick four-meter-high wall. Steel-reinforced gates opened to allow the convoy through.

They drove through a huge archway in the palace’s façade to the main courtyard, then under another archway to the smaller rose courtyard. The Zikker stopped there, while the transport vehicle slowly backed down a cobbled ramp to a set of open wooden doors and disappeared inside.

Stonal walked down the ramp to the old stables. Faustina was already waiting there at the head of a small team of assistants.

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