The Dying Light (Evergence) - Softcover

Sean Williams And Shane Dix

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0732267145 ISBN 13: 9780732267148

Publisher: Voyager, 2000

Synopsis

Morgan Roche discovers that Adoni Cane may not be the last of the genetically enhanced warriors called the Sol Wunderkind - a planet has vanished, and word spreads that the Wunderkind has returned. Roche finds herself at the centre of the coming conflict and the even deeper mystery concerning "The Box"...

About this title

Review:

"A personal story told on a galaxy-sized canvas. Filled with action as well as intriguing ideas." -- New York Times bestselling author, Kevin J Anderson.

"I thought of Niven, modified by Bester, or, better yet, of Iain Banks' similarly layered Against a Dark Background." -- Locus.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

PART ONE: PALASIAN SYSTEM

PROLOGUE

Words could not describe what he saw; they could only approximate. And therein lay the terrible irony of his situation: that he, of all beings in the galaxy, who could see things as (perhaps) they truly were, was utterly unable to convey all but the vaguest of impressions to those few who wanted to know.

>Find<

Thoughts flew at him from all directions--thoughts tangled with emotions, sensations and subconscious associations. So entwined were they, so hopelessly meshed, that by the time they reached him it was often impossible to disentangle a single thought from the rest. Sometimes one stood out, or several in concert, but he was rarely their intended recipient. Only occasionally did they demand a response, and when they did, he tried his best. Even so, his efforts rarely satisfied the demands of the Cruel One's servant.

>Find me<

He looked.

All beings perceived the galaxy by their own unique light--brightest in the young, flickering as age increased, ultimately extinguished with death. It was this light he saw, not what it revealed, and the more these individual lights overlapped the clearer his vision became. Perceived reality reached him from so many perspectives, some of them conflicting or downright contradictious, that the overlap took on its own life and became a thing unto itself. The essence of reality dominated his world. Not what a rock looked like to one person, or what it was called, but what it meant to everyone who encountered it--what it was in the larger weave of minds.

Through his eyes the galaxy was unrecognisable: densely populated planets hung like bright galaxies spinning in gulfs of impenetrable dark. As attention wandered across the void, his all-pervading sense followed, lighting up a place, a person, an artefact, then moving on. What it did not touch was irrelevant, for according to the rules of his Universe anything not sensed did not exist. Yet even at the very fringes of his senses, the void was speckled by fleeting glimpses of life. Every experience was there for him to harvest, no matter how exotic, or how hidden.

Normally, at least, that was so. But the Cruel One had taken the galaxy away from him, and left only darkness in its place. The infinite abyss pressed in upon him, making him feel like he was suffocating. Only a handful of minds occupied the space surrounding him. One major clump represented the installation that contained him, accounting for almost ninety percent of the impressions he gathered--maybe a thousand minds in all. The rest were scattered, their lights weak, solitary and frightened. All except one--the one the others wanted him to find.

>The Shining One<

Sometimes the void would part and allow him a glimpse of the being he sought. Just for a second--but in that briefest of moments its brightness and elegance outshone all else around. Whenever the mind appeared to him, he received an impression of something magnificent and wondrous. Something that was almost ... chilling.

>Respond!<

The Cruel One's servant was persistent. The voice hammered at him, wearing down his resistance. He struggled to orient himself within his body, fought the outward urge that tugged him into the void. His limbs trembled--unseen directly by himself, but registered by the people watching him. Even in this much reduced form, his influence extended many thousands of metres.

>Find me the Shining One!<

The muscles of his distant body twitched. Electrodes recorded the minuscule currents of electrons and fluid through his brain. Powerful computers dedicated to the task took these vague data and translated them into words.

: ANOTHER
: RESONATES

A moment passed while the listeners absorbed his response. He could feel their minds turning, reacting in a dozen different ways--some with surprise, others relief, even a few with ill-disguised fear. None held the object of his quest in awe, as did he.

Then:

>Where?<

That question. Always the same question: where?

How should he know? Spatial orientations were things he barely understood; they were too easily confused with temporal or emotional impressions. What was space when measured against the combined input of so many disparate minds?

But he did his best. The Cruel One was impatient for results, and that made her servants anxious. They regarded their master with contempt, yet they feared her also, and when they feared her most, their contempt found an outlet in those further down the chain.

The watcher in their midst absorbed their feelings without rancour. He knew his place; he knew where he fitted into the Cruel One's schemes. His usefulness was defined solely by his ability to locate the Shining One. If he failed to do so, then his usefulness was at an end. The Cruel One was not known to be tolerant of anyone who failed, especially those who did not belong to her own Caste.

Every being sees the Universe in their own unique light, but very few see themselves with such acute honesty.

>Find me the Shining One!<

He did his best. He always did his best. And if his reply displeased the Cruel One's servant, he was never to know for certain.

>Where?<

: HERE
: SOON

About this edition

• Publisher: Voyager
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0732267145
• ISBN 13: 9780732267148
• Binding: Paperback