VERTHANDI'S RING 31 the In bri.lliant story that foilows, one with enough daz- zling idea content crammed densery into it to f*r;;;y ur- othe-r author2s eight-hundred-pageîovet, he shows uí tt ut total war between competing ìnierstellar races will be siow and bloody and vast, and, wélr-totar.withno ,oò* i"rt-^ io VERTHANDI'S RING the galaxy-or even the universe-for ttre tosin! siã;.

'N After thirteen subjective minutes and five hundred and IAN MCDONALD t^wenty-9ight years, the clade battleship Ever-Fragrant per- fyme of Divínity returned to rhe dying sotai ryit"* rrr" oort cloud^web pulled rhe crew off; õkat"ing *ouiã t¡" grav- ity wells of hot fat gas giants and the ,*ilirrg p¡*"ií, t¡" battleship skipped oy 9r t]re systgm at thirty"päLent iigtrt_ speed.into the-deepga+. Small, fast, cheap, tfre Uatitesñips were disposable: a football of constructiorì nanopro."*, and a pload crew of three embedded in the heart ór u.iÃ"t, a comet it would slowly consume over its half millennium of ritish author Ian McDonald is an ambitious and daring flight. So cheap and nasty was this ship that it was ónJy writer with a wide range and an impressive amount of *u.., a name because the crew got bored five (subjective) .nir.:rrt"t taient. His first story was published 1982, and since then in into the slow-time simulation of sofreendi desert'monasti- he has appeared with some frequency in Interzone, Asimov's cism that was their preferred combat interface. S ci enc e F íc tio n, N ew Wo rI ds,. Zenith, O the r Ed e n s, Am a1íng, The oort cloud web caught the crew, shied them to the and eisewhere. He was nominated for the John W. Campbell construction yards skeined through the long, cold ioops of Award in 1985, and in 1989 he won the Locus Best FirstNovel the cometary_halo, which flicked-them in aîtutter oiiilnt- Award for his novel Desolation Road. He won the Philip K. speed to the Fat Gas Giant relay point, where the eighrliun- Dick Award in 1992 for his novel Ring of Morning, of dred habitats Queen of the new-cradeãáughter fleet formeã u p"*r Day. His other books include the novels Out on BIue Síx and belly chain around the planet; then t-o the cladal Heart-õãrrd Hearts, Hands andVoices,Terminal Cafe, Sacrifice of Fools, basking in the coronat energies of the ,*if", giÃp Evolution's Shore, Kirinya, a chapbook noveila, Tendeleo's Fî:|f, rng, swollen sun, and finally into fresh new selves. Story, Ares Express, and Cyberabad, as well as two collec- glIS, we're back,', said the crew of Ev er_Fragrant per_ tions of his short fiction, Empire Dreams and, Speaking in ^."Hi as rhey srepped from rhe bronzË of Tongues. His most recent novel, fl*1of-Diviníty !át", River of Gods, was a finalist the Soulhouse, down t¡è mai¡te staircase into trt" tüon!"a for both the Hugo Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in passion. Maidan of All Luminous Irony was still a tradâble 2005, and a novella drawn from it, "The Little Goddess," was commodity on this innermost tier of thé hundred concentric a finalist for the Hugo and the Nebula. Coming up is another spheres of the Heart-worrd, even if not one woman new novel,'Brasyl. Born in Manchester, 1960, oiä* England, in or machine or beastli turned its head. Battleshþ .."*, McDonald has spent most of his Northern Ireland, to"* life in better th¿n to- expect raurers and accora¿es ritren and now trrey re- lives and works in Belfast. He has a website at souled after a hundred or a thousand 'word or ten thousaná yåá, on http : //www.lysator.liu. se/^unicorn/mcdonald/. the fro¡tline- of Ever-Fragrant perfu*" ijríiiníry', 32 IAN MCDONALD VEBTHANDI'S BING 33 victory had arrived almost three centuries before. A signal the steps of the Soulhouse to bicker victory; a triumph that would be studied and taught across ilrong themselves (as they had bickered the-entire tirne-sùwed the Military Colieges and Academies of the Art of Defense twenty-six minutes of the rransteilar fl.ight, un¿ ìÀÈ tlie_accelerared for millennia to come. A classic Rose of Jericho strategy. dred years rwo hun_ of the milsion ut irrË. urå"Lwanderer) Early warning seeds sown like thistledown across half about where to go and do and be and funk first: a light-millennium had felt the stroke of the Enemy across "'where's Rose?'where'.s the-nåser', said. their attenuated slow senses and woke. Communication whose Harvest Moon, rank aonroximated t"ori .iãr"ry to masers hastily assembled from the regoliths of cold moons of Captain. ^ ^ the historicar rore beamed analyses back to the Heart-world, deep in its centu- only two resouls stood on the marble steps overrooking ries-long task of biosphere salvation: eighty thousand habi- the Maidan of Alt Luminous pi;sur". tats on the move. The Clade battle fleet launched instantly. "shit," said 'srented coolabã, whose station corre- After two hundred and twenty years, there was not a nano- sponded to that of engineer. A soul]search returned no trace second to lose. Thirty-five ships were lost: systems malfunc- of their crewmare orit¡is f"uàf.ln tions, breakdowns in the drives that kept them accelerating thi, innar*ost level, the hearr of the hearr, a. sphery oi!oäio*-r""àptäï"rrfî, eternally, decades-long subtle errors of navigation that left kilometers ,"" in diameter, such a,ä*"t was far-reaching_the them veering lightaears wide of the target gravity well, equivalenr of every virru ar *ou rã når; loss of deceleration rnass. ;;äffi;'i'iTin"_ Sudden total catastrophic failure. and insrantaneous. And blank. Five hundred years iil d;-,"å;ì;i*'ir"* later, Ever-Fragrant Perfume of Divin- memb ers _ j4r of Ev e r F r a g r ant úr;;iä alone arrived behind the third moon of the vagrant gas too well what !_9 _úu;; Jr" o that méant. "wé't" "¡ to " "oå " giant, which wandered bètween stars, a gravitatioñal exile, meat-thing." loing rrí"" ïJää ,r," and began to construct the rain of antimatter warheads and set them into orbit around the wanderer. A quick plan, but Newly incarnated, Harvest Moon and Scented a brilliant one. A Rose of Jericho plan. As Ever-Fragrant stood upon coorabar - rhe Heaven plain of Hoy. Perfume of Divinity accelerated crouds ui".tãri"g*, away from the bright new bruised rhe uocurv_ed rro¡iãn.^ nebula, its hindward sensors ñíroú"g frened arone rhe observed eighty thousand edge of the wàrrd. H;ái rñoi'ãiriu.r" Enemy plow d. at afresh sãnsa- worlds into the bow wave of accelerated gas at tion; stringenr but not uopt"^*Ëiot forty percent light-speed in that brief frisson, and evaporate. Twenty trillion sen- though her. ne-w meat tord h". tirui iriexcess--' it might become tients died. V/ar in space-time is slow and vast and bloody. nojj$r painful, bur dangerous--- When the species fight, there is no mercy. "'what was that?" shã commented, observing the smarl In the dying echoes of the culture fleet, the three assassins pimples rising,on.her space-bla;i;;L". of Ever-Fragrant Perfume of Divinity caught a vector. The she wore a crose_ to-species-modar body: iemale io tÀìr fleet had not been aimed on a genocidal assault on the Clade incarnatiáì-; ãr"gìn' hairress' attenuated, tne nes' àÌ ilttril;iträäilr":"' Heart-worlds clustered around the worlds of Seydatryah, "I think it was the wind," ,uiJS..nted coolabar slowly becoming postbiological as the sun choked and pþV:¿ who, as againsr her Captainlq type and bloated on its own gas. A vector, and a whisper: Verthandí's ;ve1, so wore the fresh flesh of a Dukkhim, one of^tne Ring. ¿isíiãcûve humanesque sub_ species that had risen after ;;;;-;;rir;iir, But now they were back, huzzah! Harîest Moon and worrd ärãriîï,¡. of Kethrern" ¡ear-l0st "in tne Scented Coolabar and Rose Jericho, greatest sffata of cta¿e nisiory. of tactician of She was small and broad, her flesh generation. uif *JJ und .lirr, and possessed Except that when they turned around on of a great mane of etaborar"tt d;;red hair rhat grew to 34 IAN MCDONALD VERTHANDI,S the small of the back and down to the elbows. The crew of the RING 35 exercise joy Ever-Fragrant Perfume of Divinity was incarnate mere min- the of muscles, even and coulJ^o.ji;' on rhic ln,, ^-^,- prairie, utes, and already Harvest Moon wanted to play play play with u" found .ar e\ærv :,i*::_1"î-grav tightedry momenr de- her engineer's wonderful m¿urp. "Maþe yõu itrbuiOhaïe put studyins r,", åJnîä;ä,å#."'ä.T:Ír^^s!cv 'r think u, some clothes on." Now thunder spilled down the tilted bowl of thai's i-he idea.,l^ 'Broodv the world to shake the small stone stupa of the incarnaculum. Rose of iãii.t o," Scented. They lopé¿. coolabar grumbled. "I suppose we had better get started."ïh" Dukkhim had ever rhree meþr, ui dendro-èremire. u lo'e_timbed step,_toward been a dour, pragmatic subspecies. a lo¡e-;;lî.* a L ,*r" *uu"_rìr"pr grass, Harvest Moon and Scented Coolabar spent the night in a ;-"_*";1. bç; -Hoy. I i;|;.å#åT¡* ;tþ",Ë^^r' r *,, live-skin yurt blistered from the earth of The thunder r^ "' * o oy s "¡¡ñer n srr., f . cracked, the yurt flapped and boomed in the wind, and the i;;;'""r.';ñ;"ffJS PT: plain of Hoy lowed with storm-spooked grazebeastlis, rourineportrá,iLd"b.i"¡,;;;îî";ö:,ijiLii*ïrffi but with none so loud or so persistent as Harvest Moon's moans her. Verthandi';$;, and the iläi, * gatactið coordinate; groans that her long black limbs were vector upon whictt aching, burning; her tË'E #;'migration had body was dying dying. celerating' decade.upon à".ud". been ac_ ä the enforced communai- "Some muscular pain rty of tåe return nightjlräi'er'sonafities is to be expected in the first hours of inrersectine incarnation," chided the yurt merging-captain ana.ÈnginJ"t and gently. 'As muscle tone devel- äiit" t u¿ understooi ops these pains generally pass their Misrresiat Arms that within a few days." hud-å;;;ää *o." rhan jusr narion from the glo*ing-ãrnär;f a desti- "Days!" wailed Harvest Moon. "Pload me back up right ,h" annihilated now" euquefte forbade,nonconsensual fleer. Soul infring-emenß privacy "I can secrete general and Rose of Jericho of analgesiar" said the tent. So until h;il;ä ,ful'Jo"iut - her speculations. hiatus to ôoncear the lights came up all across the world on the sky roof ten ¡"ulour *ä-närffirrì. zealous divinities rwere nor so kilometers overhead, Harvest Moon suckled sweetly on as cladei:"1*;ã;', the Chamber d'ä'" Genrle Inquisitors of pain-numb milk from the yurt's fleshy teat, and, in the of Ev.er_Ren&il; rv;;".s that hidden had swepr a¡ound morning, she and Scented Coolabar set out in great, low- place ük;^;;;å,r"rå'ä ,""r. name, confirmadon A vector, and a glavity bounds across the Heaven Plain of Hoy in search of rhe hundred me;ù; ihey hao received th¡ee of Rose of Jericho. This innermost of the Heart-world meat years b"f*", V;;rü;"di f [t*. levels had long preserve Even before they saw been the of ascetics and pilgrim the fu."^tu*ed in the souls; the living wood' Harvest vulva of ever upcurving plain symbolic, perhaps, of the rvroon ãrãdå"*ed coorabar soul's qìlest for that their small ouest knew its innate spiritual manifestàtion,br maybe was en¿eã. W¡"n they first because of its proximity to the virtual the virtual deseri.of met on realms, aboveihe g"ñ;;;ïiàr',t. Chamber of sky roof, where the ploads constructed universe within yut"T,. Ever_ prercrnsI:::l'"9 T¡ñ;;ï;Jä_ (as dense and sour_ universe, each bigger than the one that contained yet as its debrief), a.ro*ãrï,"u it. that ii,"pl-ö this small grassy sphere was big enough they might orr."'Éuu"l;äìi"'same öJJr"o to contain tens of person; ploads thousands pelerines copied and recooied of and stylites, coenobites and saddhus, personalities.Empatr,y"r¿ùî"'-"-rä::iÍ:l"T"o:aná .ãiC îitn ,nurt _ups of adrift in the ocean of grass. ji:forher battlefronts ,ss parsecs and plain, "I'm sure we've been this way before," Scenfed an¿_särets. Coolabar "Does s_aid. They were in the third monad of their quest. Eighty that hurt?" sce¡ted coolabar crept down said. Greenwood days ago, Harvest Moon had discovered beyonã the pain of Rose of Jeri"fr"t Oröä".oss chin, her cheeks and slow and certarn as seasons. 36 IAN MCDONALD VEFTHANDI'S RING 37 "Hurt?'Why should it hurt?" Wind soughed in Rose of A quarter of the distance to the next star, the manufactories Jericho's twigs. Harvest Moón, bored with this small world and sysrem defeirses our in th;;;;p blue cord of grass, surreptitiously ran her hands down her muscled of rhe oort :tgu¿ warped orbirs to ralr intoinãä"art-*orJd,s thighs. chamber -wuìeïs, rrain. The of Ever-R.o"*iog the "I don't know, it just m'itary äincit, looks, well, uncomfortable." rogerher with the D_g.p sruË someuimä, #ËJ*ïio"r_ "Nq it's very very satisfying," Rose of Jericho said. Her mind that was the Hearr*".1ãt plticipæory democrac¡ face was now a pinched oval of greening flesh. "Rooted. had acted the moment:t u."u*" uil*" of Rose oi Jericho,s Slow." She closed her eyes in contemplation. small secret. rhe syri* gto*"d "Verthandi's Ring," Harvest Moon said suddenly. Scented masers'as levdatrr"¡ ,irh ãäiug" the cail went out down ttrË ¿eca¿es Coolabar seated herself squatþ on the grass beneath the to neighboring-Heart_ryorlds and centuries anã Ëuttur" clouds wise tree. Beastli things squirmed beneath her ass. meat planets: and even after-one hundred t¡ouran¿ years, "'What is this game?" With life spans measurable opporrunity we have an against to finally defear the Enemy. A,r"*'uiå-vo"ï the slow drift of stars, millennia-long games were the weft timatter torpedoes, ur_ Í9ur planet Èilers, your sun_guns of Clade society. "'What didn't you tell them, couldn't you quantum foam and destabilizers, and make alr haste tell us?" thandi's Ring. for ver- Rose of Jericho opened her eyes. The wood now joined "Yes, but what is-Verthandi,s Ring?,? Scented Coolabar across the bridge of her nose, her lips struggled against the a$ed.1et$ity. But allthat;;;;ü;f lignum. Rose of Jericho was a lignified smile, casr foreve, ilü;[. r,.À*trr" til;;;"o* "There was not one fleet. There are many fleets" Some set in her heart, like a tongue passing ãuer a lost, loved tooth, off thousands of years ago." she knew thar Rose of i;"i;i;;ãã"d "How -wìt"ii *o*.nts before rhe many fleets?" chamber of Ever-R.n"*ioã ird;;;ri"" ^ Rose of Jericho struggled to speak. Scented Coolabar slapped her with an unbreaiuur"-.uüpoena îvî"- leaned close. gecret from and sucked her her. Scented CoolaUar e^õ'rvs'sìekred. 'All of them. The Enemy. All of them." fAgain?" Harvest tvloon ud."J Then Rose of Jericho's sparse leaves rustled and Scented 'Again." Coolabar felt the ground shake beneath her. Unbalanced, Harvest Moon seized one of Rose of Jericho's branches to In alt the known udu"..r.":.Sery was only the steady herself. Not in ten reconfigurings was Clade. All life had either of them parr of it, it *?s life. Ten *rqtdrlË*.ä,îi* felt such a thing, but the knowledge was deeply burned into been 4 confined to a single rp*i* ä"äsrngte world_a every memory, every cell of their incarnated flesh- The Clade 'not forgouen, world for ngñi¡r'ïu. ioffi*n by the Heart-world had engaged its Mach drive and was slowly, slow world, Clade. That rhar sysrem, ,in"JUärn fansformed as a kiss, as an Edda, manipulating f?d io3g inro a the weave of space-time sphere of Hearr-worrd orbiti"ng ã *r:ii" to accelerate away from bloated, burning Seydatryah. Those enriries, but it sr'l- rememuer?J *rr"n the"r brighf ""ö"î"ä"r¿ blue unharvested must perish with the planet as the Seydatryah's of its home planet blþFed eye ,#ä, þn thousand times. family of worlds passed beyond the age of biolõgy. Catts Ships. Shipsì probe ,fripr, ";.;; ,áii ,t ip", f"r, ships, slow ships, flickered at light-speed across the system. Strung hke pearls ice ships; whote around the gas giant, lll :hpr, colonies, hollow_héad the eight hundred half-gestated daugh- comets, sent out on centuries_long"¡Ë.iiä f¿fs towãi^;rh;;,*r, ter-habitats left their birthing orbits: half-shells, hollow en- other worlds. Then, uft., tfr" ilrir?^Ëvotution, pload ships, vironment spheres; minor Heart-worlds of a handful of tiers, tiny splinters of quantum computation flicted into the dark. 38 IAN MCDONALD VERTHANDI'S RING In the first hundred thousand of the 39 leqs clade's history a in around the ste'ar thousand worlds were settle¿. tn ttre next e-mbers. Ìvhen the palaelogos hundre¿ t¡ousJn¿, Byzantine orthodoxy of the a hundred times that. And a hundred and a hundred ñt;;";åä¿ the armie-s *ã u crashing out of of Isram hundred; gglony seeded colony the sóuth, n" rraá imãgined jusr seeded herericar christian them another dwellers, the Heart-world habit¿ts "olo;t;;hiËìh"ano secl so nua tnå rru¡ain proËe fpace ørtuatJtoao then, as it searched ¿ouùte¿; intelligences, filled up the spaces in it, ;-em;.y:ir" between which,^hea¡t Clade folded into hisrory of the and truth, were the vasuy grêater part of ttre 11_spac;;;ä;å;arion."otir" There univeis;. ili"- other out there. was en_ tivistic pm¡hi¡s fast-tractéd pasr îumbering arc n"àts; iouot ships furled rheir sunsails and rp*y"õbiorptt"rãr ¡.epd. øtr, In the six monthr, il_r?o\.,he lifduice; terraforming squadrons rract<é¿ ¿ea¿ moòns fleet_one an¿ rvorld, eighty semi-ope-ratioo¿.S-eydaüyah Heart- hell-planets into nests fofüfe and intelligenc" rrãuiiuts, rwo u,'¿"iuil¿u- ancillary.crkr hundred rwerve tion. A¡d species, already broken by thJSecond S:y*9 *d-d"i;;i* sysrems_to and rhir¿ ate to close enough acceter_ Evolutions into space-dwellers and ptoads, shattered to right-sffiïor time-dilation into bry"+: siT3ifi effecrs dust. Subspecies, new species, evolutions, l9 ðant, ni*",írurooi and scenred :Fto.g. devolu_ searched the Tier coorabar uons; the race formerly'known as humanity blossomed of anchyses. 11rJ world-elevator, into ran from rhe oortals. which many-geraled chryianthemum of the *rã \ri"r"i R".ü, $e Cfa¿el;;;;i"ry;" nothing comoieal 9r Àä;t ü¡.r, the cosmological scale; freed from the deaths might il;*" iery of suns'and' Tier of Pterirnonde, ñ, to*"r! heavy_gee worlds, immune, immortal, growing a vast and boundless faster than it cout¿lom_ sailors ocean, took the sta¡- municate its gathere0.sgntngwþg_g" forty k'omet"t¡ *a rã;Ëä'd"r"" back to iæ i**ãorèfy Anchyses, to rhe Srcyport of ancient and powertul an inverred t¡ãt n*Ë TVpe + civitizationr; gtõJ* "ity Hk"; ffiäüä îr"u clusters turned to hiving,- howling quantum-nanoprõessors."ntirË N"ry species, subspecies, hybãd x¡r,:f ffiä .. species. f_if" *us piãf_ towertrËi bonoms äîþ niH ;:,1#"{t .*tsn ligate in the cosmos; even multicellular life.ihe ro toad, *¿"nËi, *ä rq;ã, ;ir".-åiuË.iur_ ði"¿ã^i"- sengers' Ten kilometers corporated DNA from a hundred thousand berow,'**ra c-imrs and alien biospheies the dread foresr nimbus, and grew in richness and diversity. Intelrig""." of KG ãi*rü"ã"í"i twined, ',r"oo*ãur, aàri"-*u, vicious, hooked-an¿-crawect u unique. In all its one Giant Leap, the ilñi"* that chãe na¿ nerrãr åo- over the Heart-world's had evorved countered another bright with sentience and trre knowtãoge m'rion-yã#nirto.y a¡ound the bodies of sþ dwellers. farlen of its own mortality that was the key to civilization. rhe Cladg was- utterþ alone. And rhus iníeligence b;;;" rh" *JH,:åî,å j'å*f watchword and darling of the clade: inteilïgenc", :iä."åäiiäiji"";i:::::;?,y"1i t¡uião* That Which We Ought terentropic c_ogjoined twin of information, ñusr ø n"ii-ione. The band úõ;; rh" parenr skin ran the of trans_ most powerful force in the universe, the energy enti¡e àr rÈ to *tri"t creature: in her "quul* kil"il;;Ë"g all other physicat laws must evenrualry sixmonths crearure,s tneel."íntetrijånce cognitive funcrion. higher- alone could defeat the heat-death s ge. nted ¿;"rbil;ithe ãr"#h"d of the univers", mJ¿*t and habits' wolf. at the long thin end of time. one of was ;;r"ilg "rú""ä"siläiìi". Intelligenc" ;as õrri"y, day from .which the birrh of a new manifest. rhe verv f"il*gñ;;"rhi dirigible. ing Salurarionists The Morn- thela Hujjajn reconnaissance rvïr."Tirg .'11d_ probe, no bigger than Coolabar "nJ*iräowñAeir**fta maß as Scenred me ütorn of a rook her pl19e UV rose but vastly more sharp, cruising-ãre edge and imagined her body cloaked in ski. str-e of a dull littre red dwarf, found a mitiion nãuir?tr^p"lL¿ h'1d ÃÄääbody for thi-s levet: tall' slightly hirsute male with y"iläringed a " skin, but she 40 IAN MCDONALD had VERTHANDI'S RING balked at taking the same transition as Harvest 41 Moon. closer Even no% she tooped and tumbled out ih";il;"îì"k than sisters, dee-per than rove¡s.-small and liiac needed each wonder tfiey morning, in aerobatic ecstasy with her no.t-ît", other, b_ p oi"t ìi,"*_r{og among billion senrients. _th" rÌ,;åränîrgrrry the indigo clouds. s-ull *olá"ì'ti"v coutd other. nèver esãape each Dawn.light gleamed from silver wing feathers. pain The light *ur Utigtiro*lllJonuu.yiog and and shadow strict ygnt a1d,-yes, jealousy clutched Scenteã stark on the woodãn ¿""t. Coolabar. H*u"rt wings HÀ"rt Moon flashed her Moon had been the one who bitched and .urp"aãuout tr* and rolled_ away, d;*g ;iä h", ;;H;ää""p muscle pain and the sunburn and the indige'siiãr irr" q#f necessity ro clean onets reeflh; the duties ãnd t¿fiUifiti",""ã i,lË#,1*11*l;,'"":ii:lá*ï":",nls;,ä,":,m of incarnation. yer she had fáten in love gf tg-"$ng alreadv ;lrposeã.;;iì"ositl,e *irrrãiîåËa- perattuned, becomins su_ nþsicaliry of winã in her swinsing hkè a ai"io"ri iryiït_'."1:,t:l ruggrng llat rhell" ti;ù"ü;;"_ l"J;rä:"HîiT*, shapely curve of her ass; ùhile scãnted ägiñ ;ö;äs, ih",, ñã;;;. R"r. coolabar remained soti¿, stolid, retuctani-fl"rt. î¡Ë'"*r¿ :itÍ"iff]"*,,t no longer remember the lasr time they t"¿tãã *., pfrîri Twenty gally virtually. Games. And war was just another subiective minrles rater, rhe 9r. gíme Iight-years Çlade flee't was eighty to entities hundreds of thousands of yeãrs old, for ,ího- into its twe]ve fru"¿.ø-objective_year death intercepr the fliehi to v/as a sleeo and. a forgetting, uno u *o*itig lit" i'ùr, Enemy u¿"*""i*iià fresh and filte¿ witr lieÌ,r. sî;;;fieäbere¿ trre aõtions itrey jåî !a$ pugtrt the reduciion of yorrrt, the defense ;l ih;"_ ;##HîiËii,HiïffiË:iffi Pek-sat, where Rose of Jericho had ffiËîifare on the move in two nun¿re¿ annihilated * enËày nrilùon habitat-ships, each strike-fleet with a brizzard,of micro-brack fifty times the diameter of hores ,"**ào"¿ the SåV¿at yat Hea¡t_worid. Of out of the universal quantum foam, couise the sevdatryah cruster ir exploding ;l*"; ir_ witt ão-tou*uered, of course it ¡lantly in a holocausiof Hawking ia¿iåtion. Snr *át.rr"¿ be destroved äo*n ," ,il ñîor""uËiii Harvest Moon's.gtider-thin wingsîeep down i"ìrr. üiiehr bil tüilö Bj'qlËå'rå* "îîåg".îih" ening clouds, thin as dreams uoä *uni. s"* *u, q*Ji;i* HÏ",ru iffÍf""' was i^ä"ä,LJi'iåo'îTÏîs;rå'ffi easy, even sacÍamental,-among the many peòples'and-n*" :!at#l'å#"fl sects that temporarily formed claws closer roward Ugfrt J:¡ the cõnsciourn"rr'oi-fr" gpäãrio';ug"eric shield turled Left Undone That Whích We around it like an auroi4 Ought to Have Done. She tiÊ. u;Ë.k of fi¡e, as it absorbs qighed and felt the breath energies thar would instantry shudder ii trer flat, muscreJ.n"rt. i*i"ãät" a[ carbon rife in Startled by a many levels and its reaction as sensarional àì pnyri.ur,ì; .ül;_ ships. a"¿, ,*ã_*t¿ i"ro o.Ë*iäo._ melman or slow loop perf-ormed nithopter, Scented by Harïeit Moôn, S.änæ¿ ðo"húã;;pr'nï" r.o_", the coolabar felt Left Undone That We Have tears flll and roll. Manory, a frail yr:! * Have faculty *ãtri.trì", ,..ffi iltg Done,staunch among the incarnare, took her-back to gighg H:1r"1: otem-iry"o;;;r^;; uirpu"". *ðthli ürdy, abar Scented Coot_ a womar's body, a woman of the Tereshgathu sh¡ieks, then the orni_thopterk rutiår;^¿tã*, ø_gu scrape and cup and uog.trgpg and young 11**.d"t excire;ént up rhe siace et_ evator to f":"::ï,nbecomesooohas'theúiäräei""rd*ilî"ääp, the clade habitat that had warped ln^to oruiïuroun¿ to repair and restore and ieconstitute "where avtav?- Scented coorabar lo Io.¿.¿. its radia_ unfolds shouts. The ornitho'ter rlon snrerd trom the endless oceans of her a teresõooe u.-r-Jioe world. From that ä;ö ìi*t"¿ coorabar såies woman of a parochial waterworld the balloon clustêr iow andãreakíng had sprung three entities, i* u clot of cumúlus. A tull rhird of rhe t¿iåãîì^äÍ"i"u¿, ""t "¿ puncrured, black 42 IAN MCDBNALD VERTHANDI'S RING 43 and.rotting. The ornithopter reads her intention memory and dives. A only one had ever been recorded within flash of sun-silver: Harvèst Moon rises verticuri/ãrloi o{ g{axy. ..tiedìnto the body in" lry Unril now. ã loop,,, Rose cloud, hangs in the.air,-impossibty added. of Jericho elongated *irrgr: Scented C99laþar an¿ ftarvest Moon ,l",qoTilg light, then turns ând tuäbl., "ãt"n once' only understood at in_g ,o,räfir", the hand of the Enemy-if tnJú!äy p"ïr.rr"¿ Scented Coolabar's manically beating wings. such things,' no communicationhud her?" been made with "That them, no phvsicar rrace ever "u, "That's found f.ä ñï.äËtigå her." You are very lovely, thought Scented Coola_ theil shjns or their vaporizeaìot,ony bar Lovely and alíen. crusrers-courd have"r But not so alien ãs Rose of Jericho, attained such a thing.-And that waí incarnated as a colony why the chamber of of tentacled balloons tethered in a Ev,er-Rene{1nS Wqteis had tauncteãthe veil of garTze, Heart_world. Such orgic now terminally sagging toward the rliiq:oqq onty be an ultimaæ claspers and " **po". bone blades of þce. Thé ornlíhoit", *ut"rr"¿ but what does ít do? scented speed; wind cooraËar and Harvest Moon whipped Scented coolabar's ron¡iyettow iråir. asked at once, but the p."r"n."- io jyng., a sense of the world t¡"i, b;;,-;;;^;r_ ô dropping away, óiat least her manesque, one man__bat_glider, was gone. belly, and then the ornithopter's Game o1".. À n"* ciäwiwere hooked into the roulf beginning. wirh ã shriek of"àra.m, mesh. The stench the ornirhopter of rotting balloon flesh assailed Scented cast free jusr in time ro avoid trr" coolabar's senses. A-soft póp, t"JnrHõ_g^ö"j"* a rush of reeking gas, a iãiti- the canopies of the.few survivin! uãiroonr. drop closer The rentacres of ivilg to the fañgèa mourhs of the fõrõst:'anoth", forSs¡ claspe-d-those of the-bäroon balloon had failed. Èarvesi $e cluster and hauled it Moon, incarnated without feet down. Then the blades came out. or wheels, for her species was never intended to touctr ttre ground, turned lazy circles in the sky. How do wars begin? Through afflront, "lury" again?" Scented Coolabaiasked. through bravado, Rose of Jericho ò, ou"r"onûdence, through spoke through radio-sense $ough,sgpidity sacred purÞose into her head. o1g¡eed. Bur when galactic cutture; "Of course." ñgtl,'iì i,ä"i"äi"rl tability, our of a senie of cosmic r"g¿ov. i;i Foolish of scented coolabar to imagine a Rose derstanding iñg_î;_ of Jericho of a rTpl: there game being ended so simply or so sooìr. one exproirpr "uotutlorury-Ëuth: bî;;y of an ecologicar nichá even if that ni"h;;r-rh""il .l]he Deep Blue Something has worked it out." size of a universe wirhñ *iliir;"d. 'rl^should. hope so." The balloon quisitive ;ilätdil; . cruster was failing, sink- touch of rhe Hujjain p.oul, trt" En.*y;"uri""Jrrri, ing fast. with rhe unaided eye scenred coorabat rulh' Thg -v3porizing or tiìe prou" *âr tr," ¿""iíãti*ïi**, the lash-worms and bladed dashers racing aton! "ãirã-."" and would have sivén rhtilk". the.Ènemy centuries of a head studded tentacles of the forest canopy. it ir ioorr¿ oiit had not the Huiiän start game craft in it, nnJ-m[seconds squirted was almost ended. she hoped-her ornithopter was" off a burst of co'imunicarion i" ii, *",Ë, äii;;ä:#in';h"r¡¡ L sTlrt gtgugh to reaiize the imminènt danger. .oîe!a.y system -yr 'And on the.edge_of intersteff*,fuÉ". Verthandi's Ring?" Harvest Moon asked. In th9 opening centuriesäf 'fls ^ rhJ"ü slow war, the Clade,s aremnant supersti_ing." A subquantal fragment of the expansion was checked original and turned b;t. Trillions died. pran_ -big-bang firebail,ìaught by cosmic inflation and ets were cindered; populations stretched sterilized b"*"ih;-b"*;g to macroscopic, thenio coimologicat scatà. R;. uttraviolet skv. their.ð1o.n" than hy;;; ;;ã p.;;;;,i.. ïää"Ëi,. virtue or phoenixes, remnant supe-rstrings truunte¿ fields stripped away; the galacric habitat by induced fringe¡ and.the vasr spaceó ¡"t*ãË" J*-rpi_ solar flares or reduced.rg "ti;õü;crnerared rals; tens, ,t"g b;"näopro""ssor plagues; hundreds of right-yeats iong. In alr tt" ctiãà', Dyson spheres shatrered ¡v uüiiori, äi'un r-urrer warheâds. 44 IAN MCDONALD VEBTHANDI'S Ë The clade was srow to rearize RING 45 Ft what the Enemy understood from the start: that a war for avanserai hundreds i the ,årou.".* that intelliqence long. Ships, worlds, re qui re d-enlrg y,. mas s, gravity_¡i* been under wav fo¡ cenhfües'b"io.à$ liglry..ars had i ú! *"iîi _ Ever_Fragrant perfume nation.In the first two of Divinity located ttro-urun.ív"uir of the" war, the"üËi*r clade,s *J d;;óäiq9 or the iosses equared The order must pirgrim fieets. rhe total biomasJ oiìts original presrarflighr have:b."J ät.*iu u!fJ*;^rtor,rv solar system. But,its afrer rhe clade turngd Èä fecundity, trtå ri".tïrr.prã*îuiîirî trr" tiå" oiuunr* in its life, was the Run away. Bur favor.'Retreat. clade's strengttrl'rl iougrrt back. Across "r rhe pr"*y;;j;å"."" turies it fought; ðen- of its strength and across distãnces-so uurt the_light of victory wave or ttre cheap, rurt,ìlv-üättr"- or defeat would be pale, distani *int, in the night skv of 'f;äfi#.å'"ffii"*ï: far furure geneiations. rn the Scented Coolabar and heãrt, åì^trou;i;; äffi:rJih.y Harvest Moon and Rose of fought, and the radianr huddted rogether Jericho ãinîuîtae; through the roop- in trre-*ö ;ä'; ing fire brfdges onrhe "up"r theoceanilËbottomói'*;;"ffi:rf"i'*:¡.t:.'ff# skins along the evenr ho- rizons of black ho]:q. "iil;;;"d of s quid ; many-tentacledãäi1säo, rneir wããpãÅ *o" gas giants and oío_uoi.'åàog the energies of supernovae; uv they turned asteroid berts into " shotguns and casually flung riìín!¡unets into the eternar dier:iï:'r,Ëïåi:lîîiîî"ïî,,ft ri#*irfti+i:"ffi :'ñ* ice of intersteilar spáôe. Flðets t"í tioururrd rime ufte, rime.our rheè. rì a side clashed had íås.rl

46 IAN MCDONALD VERTHANDI'S "The RING chamber of Ever-Reneying waters courd 47 regard it deal. But she as treachery," Harvest Moon said. É.ose was, an Engineer, not of Jericho rñiðrre¿ tentacles a.Mistress of Arms. He¡ the transparency with a tentacle. caressed no.rãïJ"îi"t sexual äfJtou"¿ claspers a warm "Do I not serve them thrill pulsea tnroult, ; with heart and mind and rife?" The 'jStay t"îñui"ut* body. soft fireworks were fewer now; . wirh^us, sr.ay wjrh"m;,,; one uy one tttey-ìá¿"i to crslon riäî"r, Moon said. Her 'And anyway, what was made- thó reluctanii*ãäution; de_ lgftilg. woutd tliry love she had fallen Handing the Clade with the flesh un¿ in the universe on a plate?,,"t*!J-ã-*ìtr,l roil¿Ëäi" exproring rhe "or condemning concenffic ti"^ Heart- the clade to deatú," said scented coora- i' ir,ä;ää: il;ü,ä;åil,s bar. #älilJ "f ' "Not "No' I have to go." Rose our Clade." - of Jericho briefly brushed She had Harvest been brilriant, scented coolabar rearized. To Håfl""'r'J':in$;i:{î,"":tpü#:ïf"iiä;' have worked ir out in those few minutes of subjËcü"ã nignt, and known Scenred Coolabar what to do to save the crade. But she hao atrvlys lq*.d in the i?,gr, Her fins rþpled, l"rn^ the grearest srrategic mind of her g"n"iuiiòn. ñãl ro, the first rime scented Õoolabar wonderãd abour i{,i!iäT,1î#ilî"f ,#t"rrli:î,,,[Hr:trilå:ä$i-:,ij ii,Lii-rôrt of Harvest Moon's forebear, that extraordinary female who had birt¡eJtne* farewlü,åõäli"n ,t" red her love, and all rhar warmtñ of from her ploaded intellect. ¡emain"d;; t]hl centuries_deep of the starbow beyond shine What is Verthandi's.Ring? A closed cosmic string. And the wall of the world. what is a closed cosmic string? A time machine. A"fortat to the past. But not the_past oi thß universe. e"V truãrii of a closed timelike roop lèd inevitabry to a parallér universe. In that time-stream, ihere too was war; Clade and nneay, locked in Darwinian combat. And in tfiat ;;ir;;, ;;-Ver_ rh. En.Ty was driven b¿ck to gaze into annihilation, *Tji", Ring opened and a-second Enemy, ãupfi.ut. 1ne[y y e]!ry way, came our of the sky. They had" handed the clade rhis universe; the prize for drivingir pãrãir"r i, the alternafe time-stream to èxtinction. cold=blooded beneath millions of tons of deep cold ores- sure, scented coolabar shivered. Rose oiÉriðr,á-ir;ã^;r- sessed the tactical implications and made trr. oniy porriui. choice: dela¡r the Chamber of Ever-Renewing Wuiár'*ã tt Dg.p Blue Something.so-they could not prevent the Enemy" exiting this universe. A bloo