Challenges of the Deeps Read online

The “difficulties” culminate with an assault by the Blessed on Gabrielle, who was supposed to be with Orphan; when a furious Ariane Challenges Sethrik, the Leader of the Blessed, it turns out to have been a setup; Amas-Garao emerges as the selected Champion for the Blessed. Orphan and Sethrik were both used by the Shadeweaver as they both owed the Shadeweavers debts. Moreover, Ariane herself had been subtly mentally influenced to become angry enough to give the Challenge without thinking the implications through. This is the second time the Shadeweavers have done this to her; their initial conflict with the Blessed on the side of Orphan had, it turns out, been partly the Shadeweavers’ doing as well.

  Ariane is forced to face Amas-Garao in the Arena in single combat, with the stakes being Ariane herself; if she loses, she must join the Shadeweavers. Despite some initial and startling success due to careful tactics and preparation, it becomes clear that the Shadeweavers’ inexplicable powers are utterly beyond Ariane’s ability to oppose, and she is beaten to near-unconsciousness.

  Then, hovering on the brink, Ariane suddenly sees a tenuous but just-possible connection between things she has witnessed or heard about, and invokes the same ritual she heard when attending the elevation of Mandallon—and the power of Shadeweaver, or Faith, or perhaps both, explodes from her with uncontrolled force, pushing Amas-Garao literally to the wall and leaving him no choice but to yield. Both Shadeweaver and Faith join together to seal her power away temporarily.

  Before she can demand a price from Amas-Garao, DuQuesne informs her that he made a bet—on her winning—which will now give them the energy needed to return. Thus, Ariane instead demands that from thence forward, no Shadeweaver ever be able to influence or affect the minds of humanity or its direct and close allies. The Arena agrees that this is a just and equitable demand, and Amas-Garao accepts.

  Even this victory is not without problems, however. Both the Shadeweavers and the Faith demand that the now-Awakened Ariane join one of them. The Faith see the Shadeweavers as wielding powers more demonic than heavenly, and while the Shadeweavers do not profess to having any holy ambitions or sources, they have little love for the Faith. Ariane has no intention of joining either faction, since she is the Captain—and, by default, the Leader of the Faction of Humanity. But the temporary seal is weakening and if it is not either renewed, or Ariane taken in by Faith or Shadeweaver and trained, her uncontrollable power could be incalculably destructive.

  Once more the Shadeweavers and Faith must join together, this time to create a permanent seal on Ariane’s powers, with the assistance of the other humans in a strange symbolic array that requires seven individuals of the target’s Faction to focus the seal on the target. This, of course, means that all members of Holy Grail’s crew must participate; the Arena agrees to temporarily allow them to empty their Sphere for this purpose, and this purpose only. During the sealing ritual, a momentary imbalance causes the powers of all three—Shadeweaver, Faith, and Ariane—to intersect on Simon, giving him a momentary vision that seems similar to the one Ariane experienced upon her Awakening.

  With the Sealing complete, things seem to be resolved; but the Molothos turn out to have closely observed comings and goings and have guessed that Humanity’s Sphere is currently unoccupied and that if they cannot return in time, they will lose their citizenship. The Molothos therefore have arranged for nearly all of Nexus Arena’s Inner Gateways to be in use—making the wait to return to Humanity’s Sphere be too long. A last-ditch inspiration by Steve Franceschetti, the design expert for Holy Grail, gives them one last chance and DuQuesne literally throws Steve over the heads of waiting sophonts through an Inner Gateway, just in time to return him to Humanity’s Sphere.

  The Holy Grail returns at last to the Solar System, carrying Ariane, Marc DuQuesne, Simon Sandrisson, and Gabrielle Wolfe …and evidence of the impossible. “Kanzaki-Three, this is Experimental Vessel 2112FTL, Holy Grail, reporting back.” She grinned at the others, as she continued, “Control, you will not believe where we’ve been!”

  In Spheres of Influence, the Space Security Council and Combined Space Forces (SSC and CSF) have just begun to absorb the enormity of the events of Grand Central Arena, but it is already clear that for the first time in a long, long time, politics are really, really going to matter …and there is a powerful and clever politician named Oscar Naraj who has been waiting for such an opportunity for decades.

  While Simon and Gabrielle prepare Holy Grail for a return to the Arena (including gathering trade goods worth bringing), Marc DuQuesne embarks on a mysterious, high-speed trip through the Solar System with Ariane—a trip to recruit, if possible, other Hyperions to the cause. His travels are roundabout, revealing that even Marc DuQuesne is afraid of something, something that may be following him.

  They reach his ultimate destination, and DuQuesne—after momentarily believing has failed—successfully reaches and reawakens Sun Wu Kung, the Hyperion version of the legendary Monkey King. With Wu Kung in tow, they return to join Simon and Gabrielle, who have just been informed by Saul Maginot that Oscar Naraj’s maneuvers have succeeded in ousting Saul as leader of the SSC, replacing him with Naraj, and putting Naraj’s chosen right-hand person Michelle Ni Deng in charge of the Arena Task Force which will soon send its own expedition to the Arena.

  At the same time, Simon and Gabrielle have detected another transition to Arenaspace that isn’t tied to either group; it is not long before DuQuesne realizes that this was the work of one of his compatriots, the Hyperion named Maria-Susanna …a Hyperion who is dangerously, unpredictably insane and who is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, including many Hyperions. She was the one DuQuesne was afraid had been pursuing them. Now she is loose in the Arena.

  This reinforces DuQuesne’s main reason for having recruited Wu Kung: he is to serve as a bodyguard to Ariane, something she accepts after a short period of protest. Ariane’s own AISage, Mentor, discusses the possibility that a Hyperion AI may have escaped containment, and Ariane gives Mentor permission to stay behind (which is, technically, illegal, as high-powered AIs are supposed to always be secured by human oversight) and search/watch for such a renegaded AI.

  With little time to lose, the main group returns to the Arena, finding that Maria-Susanna passed through quickly, gaining whatever information she needed without trouble and disappearing into Nexus Arena. She did visit Orphan and even offered to join his Faction, the Liberated; despite Orphan’s desperate need for recruits, however, Orphan declined her offer, as he found he simply did not trust her.

  Instead, Orphan makes an offer to Humanity: several fully-functional Arena vessels, including warships, in exchange for a trustworthy crew to accompany him on an expedition to the Deeps (the reaches of the Arena that lie beyond easy travel via Sky Gates). Ariane agrees, though she warns him that it may be some time before they can find such a crew.

  Meanwhile, Simon Sandrisson completes negotiations with the Analytic, hoping to obtain the information necessary to create sensors to locate the Sky Gates that will be now active around Humanity’s sphere, and which will give Humanity access to multiple other points throughout the Arena’s volume. Instead, the Conclave of the Analytic gives Simon what appears to be a priceless yet useless gift: complete free access to the Archives of the Analytic for a year and a half …but no access to the Index of the Archives. But Dr. Relgof, who sincerely considers Simon his friend, says he allowed this only because he has faith that Simon, who invented the Sandrisson Drive, can find those answers on his own, and access to the Archives itself might turn out to be more valuable in the long run.

  And then, on his first search of the Archives, Simon finds himself struck by a bizarre, phantom sense of familiarity …a sense that becomes stronger as he makes his way, without conscious understanding of how or why, to specific areas where the information he seeks is waiting. He realizes that something did happen to him in that ritual, something that is giving him understanding, guiding him without his own control, and he is both elated and terrified.<
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  Naraj and Ni Deng arrive, accompanied by their own bodyguard, Commander Oasis Abrams—a redheaded woman that DuQuesne and Wu appear to have some past history with. Oscar Naraj is taken aback to discover that there was one very important point left out of his briefings: that Captain Ariane Austin is, from the point of view of the Arena, the Leader of the Faction of Humanity—in essence, the ruler of the entire human species!—and that therefore his political ambitions are entirely at her mercy. He adjusts quickly (perhaps, some think, too quickly), however, and accepts that his current post will be that of Ambassador. Ariane emphasizes that she does want to find someone more suited for the job of Leader, but that she’s not relinquishing the position until she’s sure she’s found someone who really understands what they’re getting into.

  Simon, still unsettled but keeping his strange condition to himself for the moment, believes he has solved the problem of finding the Sky Gates; DuQuesne and Wu accompany him to the Upper Sphere to see that he is well situated. On the return, Wu breaks away and goes to investigate part of the Sphere, and DuQuesne catches up with him to find him, literally, talking to the local equivalent of wolves, something that as far as he knows is impossible.

  Sethrik, Leader of the Blessed, visits the Faction House of Humanity, along with his second-in-command, Vantak. Vantak is given the responsibility of talking with Naraj, freeing up the two Leaders to converse in private, which includes discussing Maria-Susanna’s apparent careful examination of all the major Factions.

  Wu Kung and DuQuesne, returning from their expedition with Simon, are returning with good news: Simon’s already found one Sky Gate and expects from that that they have quite a few such Gates. DuQuesne goes ahead to let the others know in person, allowing Wu to have some minutes to himself in the Arena. He is almost instantly visited by Amas-Garao, apparently just taking a look at the odd newcomer, but shortly thereafter Wu sees a being he recognizes from records as Tunuvun being harassed by a crowd, and can’t keep from intervening. This leads to a literal brawl on one of the Docks, which Tunuvun and Wu Kung win, but the fact of the brawl itself is a problem, and one Ariane is not pleased with. “Sun Wu Kung. Get your ass back to our Embassy right now.”

  Meanwhile, DuQuesne is diverted from his journey when he sees Oasis finally alone, travelling to the Grand Arcade. When he catches her, we finally discover that Oasis is actually the mysterious “K,” another of the Hyperions and one that DuQuesne obviously had a relationship with at some point. But she is not just “K;” she is also Oasis Abrams. The original Oasis had beaten one Hyperion but was ambushed by a Hyperion AI villain named Fairchild, who planned to escape Hyperion using her body and brain. “K” managed to intervene, and to save Oasis, took her mind into K’s body. The two share the body now and have grown very close, almost a unified mind, in that time.

  Ariane rips into Wu Kung for getting into that fight—which could have led to a true Challenge—and manages to extract his word of honor that he will never enter such a situation again without first discussing it with either her or DuQuesne. On the positive side, such a battle has given Tunuvun and his people a very good opinion of Wu, and thus Humanity, and as the Genasi have a chance to become true Citizens of the Arena soon, this could have long-term major implications.

  Simon goes to Laila Canning and discusses his problem, choosing her because he knows there has been unspoken wariness of her after her reawakening by Mandallon—and, Laila admits, not unjustified; she knows she has changed somehow and she is not sure what the change means. Simon, similarly, is afraid that he is becoming something else, as he has completed the designs of the Gate sensors without being even fully aware of what he did, although in retrospect he can understand it all. The two agree to go to Ariane together to address these issues.

  Ariane sees them after finishing a conversation with Naraj, which touches on both the fact that Maria-Susanna has apparently applied to become a member of the Vengeance, and on the difficulties of negotiations when one is already the target of the Molothos; Naraj has assigned Ni Deng to focus on negotiations with the Blessed, who claim to have been ordered to be more accommodating to Humanity following the Blessed’s role in setting up Amas-Garao’s Challenge.

  Ariane recognizes Simon’s fears, and points out that if she were honest the group should have the same fears about her—having been touched even more directly by the power of the Arena. The misgivings about Laila she addresses directly, by saying that whether or not something has changed her, Laila has done nothing but assist them, so whatever the truth might be, from now on she will be treated exactly as any other member of the team.

  Orphan begins the transfer of vessels to Humanity by first taking the group on board his flagship, Zounin-Ginjou, so they can bring him to Humanity’s Sphere. They learn something of the operation of such vessels, as well as about the diversity of life floating between Spheres in the Arena.

  Having returned to Nexus Arena, with the others now involved in ferrying the new ships, Ariane and Wu have an encounter with Amas-Garao, which is more educational than frightening; the Shadeweaver mentions that Maria-Susanna has also been exploring the possibilities of joining their group, and during that discussion gives some details of the way in which the Shadeweavers operate—including how they must eventually give up their powers to make way for the next generation.

  After another short meeting with Oscar Naraj, Ariane and Wu go with Sethrik to view the Thilomon, one of the Blessed’s major flagships. An assassination attempt causes Wu Kung to force both Sethrik and Ariane to take shelter inside Thilomon’s airlock, while he attempts to deal with the assassin. However, when Thilomon almost immediately begins to move away, Wu realizes this was a setup and manages—barely—to leap onto the departing Arena vessel.

  Simon, on Zounin-Ginjou, is observing vessels as they approach Nexus Arena after completing ship delivery, and notices Wu on Thilomon. It is not hard to deduce that Ariane must be inside—and not of her own accord, if her bodyguard is stuck on the outside! Orphan agrees that he will not permit his friend Ariane Austin to be taken by the Blessed, but they cannot precipitate war in the neighborhood of Nexus Arena and thus must not be noticed by the Blessed until they are well away.

  Within Thilomon, Ariane and Sethrik discover that Vantak has betrayed Sethrik …but at the direct instruction of the Minds, the artificial intelligences that control the Blessed to Serve. The Blessed believed that Sethrik might be becoming unreliable. They also have a specific use for Ariane Austin beyond merely demonstrating that the Blessed, and through them, the Minds, are not to be trifled with.

  Wu Kung has somehow survived the transition across the Arena at terrific speeds, and is making his way across the Thilomon’s hull, when he is suddenly flung off the vessel, to plummet away into the Deeps of the Arena, where the predatorial zikki begin to swarm around him.

  Seeing this, Ariane demonstrates exactly what Vantak and the Minds were hoping; in the extremity of rage, for a moment, the Seal on her powers slips, and shatters her bonds. The power re-seals itself too quickly to be usable, but that is still enough. The Minds believe that if they have Ariane to study, they will be able to eventually understand the powers …and be able to use them to allow the Minds themselves to enter the Arena, the only AIs to do so.

  Zounin-Ginjou follows Thilomon and eventually prepares to attack—only to find that there are twenty other vessels waiting, joining Thilomon at this point. While individually superior to any of the Blessed vessels, there seems no doubt what the ultimate outcome will be for Zounin-Ginjou and her crew.

  During the combat, both DuQuesne and Simon Sandrisson find themselves doing better using unknown technology than might have been expected, and when Zounin-Ginjou is heavily damaged, Simon finds himself running to repair a system he doesn’t even know …and does so. Though frightened, he also realizes this strange access to knowledge is also desperately needed now, so he allows it to grow, giving him a sense of what is, what could be, and he knows there is also a possible way
to improve their odds.

  The battle continues at a fever-pitch, but then both sides are distracted by the approach of numberless targets which burst from a cloudbank—an incredible assemblage of Arena lifeforms, ranging from tzchina to zikki and a gargantuan five-kilometer long predator called a morfalzeen. The creatures assault and harass Thilomon, culminating with an impact that shatters the forward viewport…

  …through which arrives Sun Wu Kung, who proceeds to defeat all the Blessed on Thilomon’s bridge, culminating by throwing Vantak out the port by which Wu entered.

  Meanwhile, Simon has been desperately trying to modify one of Zounin-Ginjou’s weapons, following that strange knowledge within him. He succeeds, allowing far more intense fire at the cost of needing to reload the focus and liner after each shot. But before he can continue reloading, he suddenly finds he is not alone: Vantak has managed to board Zounin-Ginjou during the battle. Simon manages, barely, to defeat Vantak with the help of that over-sense.

  Following the battle, Ariane refuses to simply wipe out Thilomon and its crew. Instead, after the others discuss the situation, it is decided to take them aboard Zounin-Ginjou inside of a subsection of living quarters from Thilomon, which will be in a cargo deck under weapons and scrutiny. They will then be deposited on the Upper Sphere of a currently untenanted Sphere, where they will be able to live but unable to travel from or contact any others.

  Ariane and the others then have Sethrik—who, with Vantak dead and the succession of Leadership still not officially carried out, remains Leader of the Blessed—carry a message to his Embassy to be delivered to the Minds. This is also part of a plan to uncover what they suspect to have been cooperation between someone on the Humanity side along with Vantak.

  The ruse works; Michelle Ni Deng goes to meet with Sethrik shortly after his arrival and her conversation reveals that Ariane’s …removal was quite intentional, all for the ostensible good of humanity. His job done, Sethrik returns and abandons his old faction, joining instead the Faction of the Liberated.