Space Magic Read Online Free Page A

a cache, I’m afraid. It’s a cascade bomb. But it’s still alive, and it responds to my codes. I think I can get it to give up its energies in a form we can use.”
    “This is all you found?”
    “Yes. I’m sorry.”
    “How much energy?”
    “A lot. More than we’ve seen in one place in... generations.”
    “That’s wonderful!”
    But he did not seem pleased. At last he spoke again. “The bomb’s brain is very old, and not working well. I’m going to have to perform some of its functions myself.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I’m going to have to go inside the bomb. I have to be in there to release the energies.”
    The ancient bomb was nothing but a shapeless lump of metal, cracked and dented. Yet it seemed to stare malevolently.
    “You’ll die.”
    “Probably.”
    “I can’t let you do that.”
    “You have to. This is the only known source of usable energy for parsecs. Without it, the tribe will starve here. And Teda will die.”
    “Let me do it. It was my decision to come here. The tribe needs your wisdom.”
    “You can’t. The codes are keyed to my neurotype. And it was my foolish whim that brought us all here.”
    The dying sun’s corona began to lick over the horizon. Its light made the stiff planes of Old John’s body seem to dance and flow like a modern person’s.
    “You won’t be talked out of this,” said Gunai. It was not a question.
    “No.”
    She fought to keep her form steady. “What can I do to help?”
    “Form the tribe into a hemisphere around the bomb. Maybe a tenth of a light-second in diameter. Spread yourselves out as thin as you can. Be prepared to let some of the energy through; if you try to catch it all, it may be more than you can take.”
    “Very well.”
    “And one more thing.” He stared at the dead planet for a long time. “Will you carry my child?”
    Gunai was speechless. Finally she sputtered out, “It would be an honor. I thought you could not, or I would have asked long ago.”
    “I can. But I never wanted to, because...” He paused, then began again. “I think of all of you as my children. With my tales, I have given you the good memories and kept the bad to myself. But a true child could receive any of my memories.”
    “Don’t be ashamed of your memories. They are what make you what you are.”
    “There are parts of what I am that I don’t like.” He glanced at the flaring corona. The star’s disk would be over the horizon soon. “No more time.” He pinched off a bit of himself, a packet of mass and memory, and Gunai took it into her body. “Go now. Remember what I told you.”
    “I will remember everything.”
    They entwined their fields briefly, then Gunai departed to instruct the tribe.
    Soon the flaring sun, mottled and spotted, appeared over the horizon. Its wind followed immediately, battering the loose hemisphere the tribe had formed. The members were spread out to molecule thinness, barely visible except edge-on. The open side of the hemisphere was toward the wasted planet below.
    There was a click in Gunai’s ears, then Old John’s voice came as though he were right next to her. “I’m connected to the bomb’s systems now. I can see everything. The whole system.” The battered old bomb began to turn, slowly. “I can even see inside of you. Fields and mechanisms. You are so beautiful... Of all humanity’s creations, you—our children—are the finest of all. We can be proud of you.” The bomb was spinning faster now, panels opening on its scarred surface. “Take good care of the universe.”
    A rush of energy came from the bomb, reducing the light and wind from the old sun to insignificance. A colorless torrent of power, an overwhelming sweetness, rich and savory... a flavor Gunai had nearly forgotten. Zeren! Zeren as it once had flowed! But a thousandfold more powerful. Too powerful! She tried to drink it all in, absorb all the energy for the sake of the new life that stirred within her, but finally, sated to