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PROLOGUE
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In the center of the galaxy, known for centuries as the Milky Way, though no one remembered where or when the name originated, a supernova exploded. Billions of charged particles hurtled through space. The galaxy's heart flickered—like the unimaginably vast eye of God suddenly awakened from sleep. In several places, time stood still.
People living in this and neighboring galaxies didn't consider this unusual. The universe is astonishing; a supernova doesn't explode all that often. Furthermore, galactic cores are so dense that it's difficult to observe what's actually happening there. They disregarded an event that would decide the existence or nonexistence of an entire race, moreover—life itself.
In a period of time that, on a cosmic scale, is shorter than a heartbeat, other supernovae exploded in other galaxies. Strange things were happening to Destiny and Time, but only those who knew how to see, those who had long awaited the opportunities that were about to arise, saw them. Many sought to profit from the situation, others simply feared what was to come, so they sought control over the beings legends call the Supernova Children.
Among the well-informed, however, were those whose sole purpose was to preserve life and ensure the balance necessary for existence in worlds known and unknown. They called themselves Librarians, and few knew what they truly did. They resolved to protect the lives of those Supernova Children they could find until they were sentient enough to decide for themselves. Using their knowledge and extraordinary abilities, they located them as infants and influenced their fates. A few managed to hide.
Years passed, and the Universe waited.
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CHAPTER 1
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The shuttle had de-orbited and was slowly approaching the landing site, like the world's largest turtle. Gavin Kilpatrick checked his seat belt again, unable to contain his impatience.
Home. A few more hours and he would be home again, after a year away.
The shuttle was entering the atmosphere. It shuddered slightly. A few of the more sensitive passengers gripped their seats tighter. Gavin snorted dismissively. "What a miserable shudder to be afraid of! He hadn't seen anything like this before. After all, he was in the Fleet. So what if it had all been test flights, endless training and practice, and battling stubborn simulators? He might not have fought for real yet, but he had already landed on a planet in an escape pod—as part of the training exercise, of course—which was small, round, and had walls the thickness of a walnut shell. His skin still prickled with heat whenever he thought about it, and his teeth ached at the mere memory of the G-forces he'd endured.
He relaxed, settled deeper into his seat, and activated its internal shock absorbers, designed to mitigate turbulence. The shuttle belonged to the largest corporation operating in the Celeborn system, SAFI. While Gavin wasn't a fan of corporate life—a consequence of his unconventional upbringing—even he was impressed by the luxurious conditions on the shuttle: individual cabins equipped with literally everything one might need for a multi-week voyage, the excellent quality of the meals, and those luxurious seats on the evacuation deck, which passengers were obliged to occupy during takeoff, landing, hyperspace jumps, and any other "dangerous" situation.
He closed his eyes and imagined Julie's face when he told her he'd been to Marrajar and seen the wonders of the Federation of Worlds' capital. Or when he showed his younger sister a video of one of his sojourns in open space, not his first—that one didn't fill him with any pride—he was so fascinated by the emptiness surrounding him, dotted here and there with bright pinpricks of stars, that he'd forgotten not only the task at hand but even basic safety precautions. As a result, the mechanics who were with him outside had to pull him down with a magnetic harpoon. The commander had then dragged him through the mud, and Gavin had to spend the next week cleaning various strange places on the ship, all of which had two things in common: until then, the young cadet hadn't known of their existence and hadn't expected him to, and they were incredibly, horribly, simply unimaginably dirty. But even without punishment, Gavin would have known that his family had almost received his body in a hermetic gray bag. No, he wasn't about to tell Julie that, let alone his parents. That was his only major failure; aside from that incident, he had done quite well at the Academy, even exceptionally well. He was top of his class in terms of grades. Maybe next year he'd even get into the most exclusive unit in the Grand Army and become a fighter pilot?
He smiled at the thought of how happy his parents would be when he showed them his results. He knew they were already monitoring his progress, receiving regular monthly reports. But only now would they have the opportunity to put everything into perspective. Even Shandra would be proud of him.
The smile vanished at the thought of his older sister. Shandra. With her, you never knew. How was it possible that a twenty-two-year-old young man understood eighteen-year-old, scatterbrained, flighty Julie better than he did with the serious, year-old Shandra? He knew it hadn't always been this way—when all three of them were children, they'd stuck together and kept no secrets from each other. When had they grown so distant? How had it happened?
He hadn't thought about it in a long time, perhaps not since he'd entered the Academy a year ago. But before that, he'd often thought about it, even discussed it with Shandra herself. But Sha, being her usual self, instead of taking the matter seriously, laughed rather forcefully, asked what the hell he was talking about, and then left without giving him a chance to continue. He got the impression then that she'd left on purpose to end the conversation, that something was bothering her, something she didn't want to discuss, even with her brother, to whom she'd once confided her every thought. He was convinced of this when she brushed him off every time he tried to question her. He went to Julie, who told him that Sha was a foolish lunatic and that he should leave it alone.
He followed her advice, but the matter still nagged at him. When had Shandra become so surly, aloof, and withdrawn? He couldn't, for the life of him, reconcile her present self with the image of the cheerful, mischievous child she once was. He hadn't counted on anything having changed in the past year. Sha's probably still locked in her room, or wandering around the house, unavailable and silent.
He sighed. Sha, little sister, what happened to you...
As Gavin pondered his family, the shuttle inexorably approached the ground. The shaking became more intense, and someone behind him lost his temper and vomited. The clunky, immobile robot rushed to the unfortunate man's aid. Gavin grimaced in disgust, but didn't turn away. Unlike most of the passengers, he found the spectacle uninteresting and refused to watch it.
Finally, the captain announced that contact with the surface was imminent. Gavin tensed instinctively. Training in simulators and real fighters had accustomed him to hard landings, to feeling the plane's position with every nerve, so he was surprised when the shuttle landed quite gently on the station prepared for him. In fact, the only way to tell they were no longer flying was by the absence of the low, humming sound that had previously been emitted by the maneuvering engines. A tall, pretty stewardess entered the compartment and, beaming, helped those passengers who were having trouble unfastening their seat belts or, like the man in the back, had had a hard time landing and were unsteady on their feet. Fortunately, Gavin didn't belong to either group, though for a moment he considered pretending a little to get the pretty stewardess to take notice, but eventually impatience got the better of him. He knew his parents and sisters were waiting for him in the public part of the spaceport. But nothing stopped him from flashing the alluring staff member one of his most effective smiles. She winked at him and smiled back.
Full of glee, he boarded the elevator and then hurried down the tunnel that had been brought to the ferry. He smiled at every member of the opposite sex he passed, and they glanced back at the tall, slender, blond boy in uniform.
Life was good.
Just beyond customs, his parents were waiting for him. Suzana and David Kilpatrick were easy to spot in the colorful crowd: both tall, elegant, and dressed in dark, simply cut outfits. This elegance was only slightly disturbed by David's slightly protruding belly.
As they stood side by side, holding hands, Gavin realized how lucky he was.
"Mom! Dad!" he shouted. They waved. He knew from his mother's expression that she'd gladly shove aside the customs officers standing in her way to her son, whom she hadn't seen for a long time
, and throw her arms around his neck. His father saw it too – he had that special, tender glint of amusement in his eyes, the one he always saw when his mother did exactly what he expected. Gavin finally made it through the security checkpoint, barely noticing his own data cube, which the customs officer had pressed into his hand.
Suzana Kilpatrick could finally do what the spaceport staff had been preventing her from doing: she gave her son a big hug.
"Oh, it's so good to have you back, Gav!
" "I'm glad too, Mom. Where are the girls? "
Suzana sighed.
"In the car. Julie and Sha couldn't wait, but you know Julie. If I'd let her out into the crowd, I wouldn't have even blinked before she'd have found some way to get lost.
" "And get lost," David added.
Gavin laughed. They headed for the car, pushing through the crowd.
"You know, we were surprised when you told us you were taking the passenger shuttle." David elbowed his way through the crowd for himself and his family. Somehow, he did it politely enough that no one got angry with him.
Gavin laughed.
"Normally, I'd take the military shuttle, but the next one wasn't leaving for Celeborn for another month, and I couldn't wait to see you again.
" "Oh, Gav..." Suzana sighed with exaggerated affectation.
"Okay, you're right, Mom. I just couldn't resist spending a few credits and trying out one of those fancy corporate jewels. You saw right through me.
" "So, weren't you disappointed?" his father demanded.
"Oh, no! Besides, anything's better than those military clunkers." For such undemanding tasks as transporting young cadets, the Army assigns its most dilapidated ships, those that can't be used anywhere else and would normally have been scrapped long ago. The wreck I was in last time almost fell apart when we first entered hyperspace. Most of the guys puked—he didn't add that he did, either. "Every subsequent jump was worse. When we reached Fightfinger Station, Matti—remember, I told you about Matti—he said it was a miracle we made it to our destination in one piece and that we should thank God for that. As it turned out a little later, he was wrong. We didn't make it in one piece at all: the maintenance crew said parts of the external cooling systems were missing. Somewhere along the way, we lost them, and no one noticed.
" "Oh my God!" Mrs. Kilpatrick blurted out.
"Anyway, we're okay," Gavin added quickly, seeing his mother's expression. "It would be different if we were landing on a planet..."
Suzana opened her mouth to voice her opinion about the Army commanders allowing such negligence, but fortunately they finally reached the hall exit, which was so crowded that it was impossible not only to talk, but even to breathe. With a few strategically placed nudges, David cleared a path for them outside. They stepped out into the parking lot.
"Our car is parked nearby, on the fifth level."
Gavin nodded and looked around. Parked in front of him on level one, small, rounded, yellow-and-red taxis were packed like sardines in a can. Beside them stood blasé drivers, patiently waiting their turn. Gavin and the Kilpatricks passed them indifferently and headed toward the symmetrically arranged support pillars. Another minute or two, and after a short ride in a crammed elevator, they reached level five. As always, Gavin kept as close to the railing as possible, fascinated by the height. The draft whipping through the parking lot ruffled his blond hair and blew into his eyes as he leaned over the railing, watching the small people through the glass roof of the spaceport hall and the distant silhouettes of ships taking off, landing, or resting in their service bays. The airport stretched as far as the eye could see, and Gavin knew he was incredibly lucky his shuttle had landed so close to the concourse and hadn't had to use ground transportation to get there. Today, it would simply take too long.
"Careful, Gav," his mother admonished, "don't lean out like that.
" "Mom!
" "I know, I know, you're a big, fearless soldier now, and you've seen more than this. But even fearless soldiers die from falling thirty meters onto concrete!
" "Okay, okay!" Gavin laughed and hugged Suzana.
"I forgot how tall you are!"
"Yeah, if I'd known it was biologically impossible," David confirmed, "I'd have said he'd grown another two inches in the past year.
" "Ha! Not true! I've been two inches taller than you for a good few years now! You just don't want to admit it!
" "Don't argue, guys! I see our car."
Gavin looked in the direction his mother was pointing and also spotted a blue-green, somewhat clumsy Primavera 3005 HT, a car of local, Keleborian manufacture. The HT might be a bit outdated, but Gavin wouldn't dare suggest his parents upgrade to something more modern, like the latest Harpoon with gravity drive and a truly amazing stereo. The Kilpatricks were too attached to things; they treated their Primavera almost like a member of the family, accepting all its pros and cons. It didn't matter to them that the boxy car couldn't even get airborne and had to use congested surface highways, or that the automatic steering constantly malfunctioned, leaving David always having to drive himself. He considered the latter a plus, in fact. He enjoyed driving.
Before they even got close enough to the car to read the license plate number on the side, the car door flew open and a small figure in a bright pink setter and hideously clashing light green trousers shot out and lunged at Gavin with a nerve-wracking squeal.
"Oh, Gav, Gav, Gav!
" "Julie!
" "Gav! I thought I'd never see you again! What the hell were you doing there!? Sha ate two whole boxes of strawberry jelly candies, the third one fell apart, and now the whole backseat is sticky!
" "Screechers. It fell apart because you tried to snatch it from me."
Gavin managed to dodge another of Julie's hugs and smiled encouragingly at his other sister.
"Hi, Sha.
" "Hi, Gav." Sha hugged him sparingly, but with genuine affection. It somehow made his heart feel lighter. "How was your trip?
" "Great! It was my first time flying a corporate shuttle." But they serve food there, you won't believe it, but there were even oo'pi'ran, those little, white, wriggling Kambayan worms. Of course, I didn't touch it, it looked disgusting, but two Kambayans were practically gorging on them, it was hard to watch…
"Are you kidding," Julie interrupted excitedly. "Have you seen real Kambayans?
" "Yes. And Multans, Perlesians, and Krupps. There was even a Plizmik flying with us, and the co-pilot was a human-human hybrid…
" "Gav, you know I'd love to hear about your experiences too," David interrupted with a smile, "but I'm running out of parking time, so get in!
" "It's done!" Julie squealed.
"Yes, Daddy!" Gavin said with mock seriousness.
"As ordered," Sha muttered, amused, something she hadn't seen often lately.
David shook his head pityingly.
On the way home, Gavin was the center of attention, and he was very happy about it, especially since even Sha seemed interested in what he had to say, though, as usual, she remained silent and answered any questions with indistinct grunts. He talked about how he and Matti had been terrified piloting a damaged fighter and had somehow managed to land without being killed. Then Major Iryana, known to all her subordinates as Juno because of her distinctive stature, had told them it was a setup, that they were completely out of danger, and that the whole thing was just a test for everyone in their unit. He talked about how it felt to be out in the open, about the pranks he and his friends had played on the guys in their rival group, about the teachers' strange habits and the army's rules, about how he wanted to apply for the Air Force…
"Why not just go to the airborne?" Suzana groaned.
"Because if I landed in the airborne, you'd be worried sick." At least this way you'll know I chose the safer alternative.
- Safer!
- You see, Gav, your mother would prefer you to be in the supply service, or at worst, in the engineering field.
- But that's utterly boring!
"I'd rather you be bored than 'fallen,' as they say in military parlance, on some forgotten planet millions of light-years from home in the Zulla War or whatever it is we're fighting these days!
" "Mom!
" "Gavin's right," Sha interrupted suddenly, "it's his choice."
His mother fell silent and seemed to shrink. He looked at his sister gratefully. Shanda didn't return his gaze, staring at the sights passing by, once again locked in her own world, to which no one else had access. The conversation had lost its flow, but she didn't seem to care.
After fifteen minutes of depressing silence, occasionally interrupted by Julie's artificially cheerful voice, trying to interest the family in her and her friends' school adventures, they finally reached the house. David pressed a button on the dashboard, and the sliding garage door obediently opened. His parents got out first. Julie continued to block the doorway for a moment, as if unintentionally, until they were out of earshot.
"See what you've done," she hissed, "you've upset Mom!"
Shandra looked at her impassively with her inscrutable, dark violet eyes. She remained silent, as if answering the accusation was beneath her dignity.
Gavin handed it to her.
"Stop it, Julie. She said what needed to be said, what I didn't have the courage to do. If it weren't for Sha, this topic would have hung over us the entire time I was here, and Mom will just sidestep for an hour or two, think about it, and get over it.
" "But did she have to right from the start—"
"Julie…!
" "Oh, you always defend her!"
Gavin and Julie glared at each other.
"Kids! What are you doing up there so long? Dad's making dinner. Come here and make yourself useful!"
The argument was over. Gavin and Julie looked like mortal enemies for a moment longer, but when Shandra passed them without a word, they gave up. Because what was the point of arguing when the person who should theoretically be most interested made it clear she didn't care a damn about the outcome?
They turned away from each other and, in unison, followed their sister into the kitchen, where their father was heating a frying pan and their mother was preparing vegetables.
"Why," Julie groaned reproachfully as her mother pressed a fragrant milk jug and a peeler into her hands, "like a normal, decent, modern family, can't we buy a cooker? Hell, we can afford it!
" "Don't swear, honey," her mother admonished. "Cooking together..."
"…brings people closer and strengthens family bonds. We know, we know," Gavin interrupted. "And I have to admit, I've missed it terribly this year. Especially since the autochef in our cafeteria is a twenty-year-old model and has a habit of confusing vegetable roast with Marraya leek. Brr," he shuddered.
His father looked at him with sudden interest. Cooking was his passion.
"Do they really add—" "
Really."
"Oh."
Julie became irritated, as she always did when she didn't know what he was talking about.
"What are you—
" "Will Mr. Daile be dining with us?" Gavin hastily changed the subject.
Julie didn't give up.
"But—"
David eagerly supported his son in his efforts to keep the secret dish secret.
"No, Kristian's out. He claims he didn't want to disturb us in this, and I quote, 'sublime family celebration.'
" Gavin chuckled.
"No, he really did?"
"Dad..." Julie tried unsuccessfully to interrupt them. It didn't work.
"Yes. He was mocking me, of course, you know him.
" "He probably has something more interesting to do in town," Shandra, who had been silent until now, interjected.
"I guess so," Gavin sighed. "And I wanted to talk to him anyway. Although he never said it directly, I got the impression he'd traveled quite a bit. I think he'd even been to Marrayar. I'd like to ask him a few things, get his opinion...
" "So why the excuses?" Julie snorted, finally abandoning the topic of Marrayar ale. "Wouldn't it be easier to just admit you just want to show off?"
"Don't worry," David laughed, vigorously stirring the contents of the pan. "You'll have plenty of time to tell him about your breathtaking adventures."
Gavin calmed down, though he regretted that he'd have to wait a little longer to talk to Kristian Dail. He liked Daile, even admired him, even though he was only seven or eight years younger. The Kilpatrick security chief was like the older brother he'd never had. Gavin was desperate for his approval, even though he knew Sha, for example, disapproved of his pseudo-battery feelings. But Sha disapproved of many things, especially when it came to Mr. Daile. She simply didn't like him, which, considering Kristian's manners and rather pleasant appearance, seemed incomprehensible to him. As for Julie, she had a completely different attitude toward Daile, though in this case, as in many others, she went to extremes. For six years, from the moment Kristian had entered their lives, she had been madly in love with him, an all-consuming, ridiculous, and feline love, a love that was only intensified by the fact that Daile lived with them. Julie's determined attempts to reciprocate seemed embarrassing and deeply out of place to Gavin, even more so than Shandra's blatant reluctance, but Daile seemed unconcerned, and neither did her parents. They agreed that Julie's childhood crush would fade with time, sooner than anyone expected, considering her success with the boys at the Daniel Kropfmayer Transitional School in Sartre I. Other parents would probably have worried, but not the Kilpatricks. They weren't bad parents, far from it, quite the opposite, but this was about Kristian Daile, whom, for some incomprehensible reason, they trusted implicitly.
It was strange, actually, Gavin thought. Daile had suddenly appeared when Gavin was fifteen, and his parents had hired him overnight, without the weeks of deliberation and weighing the pros and cons that went into every major decision the Kilpatricks made. Even buying a washing machine took longer. Besides, Gavin had never heard Kristian provide any references, or talk about his work before he started working for them. He was a very mysterious figure. He rarely, if ever, talked about himself, and almost never about what he did in his free time. His duties were also strange – roughly speaking, it could be described as "watching over" his parents' home and business, or rather, supervising several people who were responsible for the watchdogs, who changed from time to time for no apparent reason, though Gavin had no idea what "watching over" would entail. When he asked, his parents explained rather vaguely that their work put them in the crosshairs of various corporations, and that some of them might want to take revenge on them, their company, and their family. It was hard for Gavin to fathom how a pair of investment and legal advisors, small, gray minnows living in an ocean full of big fish, could fall foul of such giants as SAFI or ARRE, but apparently his parents knew better. And this turn of events even suited him, because he was very fond of Kristian.
"Mhmm... but the smell..." he sighed.
"Yes, no autochef could make ragja like yours, honey.
" "Did I mishear you, or did that sound like a compliment?
" "You didn't mishear me, Daddy," Julie interrupted impatiently. "Now let's eat!"
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