Back at the Aberration Sphere. And it’s quiet in here. I almost wish it had been one of the damaged areas after the Consortium broke through the Singularity. It might not have changed my plans, but at least the chaos might have distracted me from thinking about that same empty slot that’s always haunted me.
I’m really going to do it this time, though. Really going to end it. At least my end will have true purpose now. And it won’t really be an end. If my soul, whatever that is, survives in some metaphysical form science has yet to identify, then I’ll find the others who went before me. If not, well, I’ll have a different kind of eternal life keeping the enemy gaoled. With Qod back, I can be confident my plan will work. But I’ll never really know. I’ll just have to hope that what I told Vieta is true—if I fail, others will find his creation and destroy it before it destroys everything else.
My stomach leaps at the sound of her voice. Qod’s here! “Good to have you back. Everything okay?”
“Yes, everything’s fine, but I’ve lost a lot of data. There’s only so much you can cram into a human brain, even an enhanced one.”
“And Keitus Vieta? Where’s he?”
“On his way in a small transport shuttle.”
“I don’t suppose destroying it will help?”
“It will only delay him. He’ll just reconstruct his form again.”
“Why doesn’t he do that anyway? Why not just deconstruct himself and reconstruct himself over here?”
“From what I found out during my investigations, my best guess is that doing so requires a lot more energy than conventional methods, and he has to leach it from the creature he created. He expended quite a lot of resources with that display of his on Castor’s World. He’ll do things the easy way if he can, which is why he’d rather see if he can get the abnormality back than have to start all over.”
“Is that why he doesn’t do his own killing to get the energy he needs?”
“No.”
I wait for more, but Qod says nothing. “And? You’re not going to tell me why it’s a no?”
“It’s better you don’t know.”
“Whatever the reason is, it can’t be worse than anything else I’ve seen recently. Just tell me.”
“Remember, I know you. Seriously, it might make you change your mind about what you’re about to do, and I’m not sure if I’m right. I don’t have all the facts yet.”
“But I’ll need to know—”
“For just once in your existence, please trust me.”
Though the thought of the secret itches like diseased skin, I hold back. “Okay, you win. For now.”
“Good.” I can almost hear the relief in Qod’s voice.
“So is there any chance that draining his power completely will make him vulnerable? Would it give us a way to stop him?”
“No. When he chooses to use it, the amount he needs is infinitesimal compared to the amount he has. You’d have to goad him into using it for millions of years to make a difference. He used a significant amount of it to remove me, but even then it was nowhere enough to weaken him. He could use his power much more than he does, but I think he sees every speck of energy as tremendously precious, as though he’s drawing the life-blood from his child.”
“All right, I get the idea. He can’t be weakened. Can’t be killed. The perfect incarceration is the only way to stop him.”
“Regrettably, yes.”
“You still don’t want to tell me why he won’t do the killing himself to get the energy he needs? He’s killed before. I watched him on Castor’s World.”
“And he did it to me on Castor’s World for a few seconds, but he only does it under what he considers extreme circumstances … and I told you to drop it, so drop it.”
“Okay, okay. How long until Vieta gets here?”
“A little over eight minutes.”
“That isn’t long.”
“It’s long enough.”
One last look at the slot. “Then we should get ready.”