The Pillars of Eternity

Whoever made that assessment was mistaken, or mischievous. It is here.

‘Let me see.’

From a purely rational point of view the ensuing images were confusing, but Boaz was used to the semi-diagrammatic way of representation his ship sometimes adopted. He saw Romrey reaching for the access tube, ridiculously waving his arms and legs as though swimming toward it (like most people, he had practically no experience of free fall). He saw the scattering, damaged cloud of space craft, as though from a different viewpoint imposed on the first. And imposed on that, he saw the fully armed econosphere cruiser, more than twice as large as Obsoc’s yacht, its form functional and ungainly – ugly, in fact – swiftly moving in to enforce the government edict which everyone here had defied.

The montage fused into one coherent picture as the cruiser darted sharklike among the still-disorganized crowd of ships, the official blazon – a starburst with eight glowing rays – clearly visible on its flanks. The servants of the econosphere were notoriously unfastidious about how they achieved their aims. The cruiser opened fire from the start, ruthlessly selecting targets with a view to chasing away anyone trying to land on the planet that loomed to one side of the scene. Its heavy-duty beams immediately vaporized three ships. Its staff was probably surprised, however, to see the eerie blue glow of a magnetic defense screen abruptly surround The Sedulous Seeker. The yacht returned fire and began to accelerate, sliding around the gorgeous curve of Meirjain.

The two ships that earlier had been firing on the assembly followed suit – presumably because Larry and the Hat Brothers were still aboard Obsoc’s yacht. They, too, opened up on the now pursuing cruiser. In seconds all four vessels had disappeared over the horizon.

But they would soon be back. ‘Seal the tube and haul it in quickly,’ Boaz ordered. ‘This is all a dead loss. We shall have to withdraw.’

It is being done, the ship said. Then: A message is coming through. Listen.

Once again a set of interpreted images impinged on Boaz’s consciousness. When the crowd of ships scattered in panic, one of them had gone plunging down toward the planet. Now, from within the atmosphere, an excited voice was broadcasting from that ship:

‘The screen is down. I’m getting through! The screen’s vanished, everybody! I’m going right on down!’

Wryly Boaz reflected that the broadcaster was doing himself little good by making this announcement. Probably he had been betrayed by a sudden excess of enthusiasm and a misplaced sense of camaraderie with his fellow prospectors. But whoever he was, Boaz felt grateful for his mistake. A note of triumph entered his feelings.

Your guest is aboard, the ship informed him.

‘Take us down,’ Boaz said. ‘We’re landing on Meirjain.’

5

The descent had been hasty, the need to escape the enforcer cruiser’s ravening beams overriding any interest Boaz felt in the enlarging landscape. The cruiser, shooting ships out of the sky as it came back round the curve of the planet, The Sedulous Seeker fleeing before it, had followed the mob as far as the troposphere – before returning again to orbit. The Sedulous Seeker and its two sudden allies, the armed ships belonging to Larry and the Hat Brothers, had soon abandoned their abortive attempt to put the cruiser out of action and, outgunned, had also dived into the atmosphere.

Vast patches of gold and silver, interspersing a less brilliant background of lavender and violet, had slid below. The prospectors, including Boaz, had all made an instinctive dash for darkness, zipping in a drove over the terminator before scattering. In fact the cruiser would be able to scan the night as well as the day, and for that matter probably had orders not to fire on the surface of Meirjain. But people felt safer in the dark. Boaz, like the others, sought cover, landing in what looked like the leeward side of a cliff.

No one would move until daylight came. Boaz calculated that the hours of waiting would be useful, putting the commander of the government cruiser in a more passive mode. He would probably take no further action until the prospector tried to leave the planet – then their problems would begin in earnest.

Boaz reminisced, skulking within his ship.

‘What you plan is quite impossible. Nothing can ever be changed.’