Poseidon's Wake by Alastair Reynolds Read Free Book Online Page B

soul.’
    ‘Soul. Listen to you.’
    ‘Soul, spirit, state of mind – whichever term you prefer. The point was, Goma gave Ndege something else to think about. The government allowed her to have the child and to raise her while remaining in detention. It was an odd upbringing for Goma, I’ll admit – very cloistered. But it did her no harm, and Ndege is still with us.’
    ‘And now this Goma becomes a thorn in your side.’
    ‘She wasn’t supposed to find out about any of this. But on the face of it, Goma is the better candidate – young and strong enough that there is no question she can endure the skipover interval. It means I won’t be sending Ndege to her almost certain death.’
    ‘Then your conscience can be clear. I do not see the difficulty.’
    ‘Goma’s safety is hardly guaranteed. She might survive the skipover, a hundred and forty years of it, but then what? What will she find around Gliese 163? For all we know it’s a trap of some sort – maybe a fatal one.’
    ‘It sounds like a very long-winded way of killing someone.’
    ‘That’s my hope.’
    ‘Then you must send Goma. She consents, and she is an Akinya. Why do you ask me?’
    ‘I want to know that I am doing the right thing. Regardless of whether I back Ndege or Goma, I’ll still be separating a mother from her daughter.’
    ‘You are an inveterate meddler, Mposi. Always have been, always will be. You Akinyas can never leave well enough alone, none of you. You meddled in Ocular, you meddled in human technological development, you meddled in the fates of elephants, you meddled in first contact, you meddled with Mandala. Is your sister’s happiness really any of your business? You didn’t cause her incarceration – she did, by being rash. And yet you made her bring a daughter into the world because you thought it was what she needed. And now you meddle again – mother, daughter, who shall you send? Whose life shall you cast to the winds?’
    ‘I’m just trying to do the right thing,’ Mposi protested.
    ‘You can’t. It’s not in you. The only thing you Akinyas can be relied on to do is make new mistakes, over and over. The more you try to do right, the worse your choices. You’re a corrupting influence. It’s what the universe made you to be.’
    ‘Is that really what you think of us?’
    ‘Give me a reason to form a different opinion. Give me a reason to think there’s a single one of you who doesn’t have their eye on the main chance. Even you, Mposi.’
    ‘I didn’t ask to be placed in this position. If Goma insists on taking her mother’s place and has a better chance of surviving the trip, who am I to stand in her way?’ But then a sudden, shivering insight overcame him. If Arethusa wished to doubt his good intentions, his hopelessness in the face of an impossible choice, he would give her pause for thought. ‘I’ll go,’ he said, simply and quietly, as if it were the smallest thing.
    ‘In her place?’
    ‘No. I’m not much stronger than Ndege, and besides – I’m not her daughter. But I can be there for her.’
    ‘Brave intentions, Mposi. I know what this world has come to mean to you. But you won’t stand by these words. The moment you’re out of the water, out of my presence, you’ll pretend they were never spoken.’
    ‘I won’t. I’ll talk to the doctors. They’ll find me fit enough. I’m swimming with a sea-monster, aren’t I?’
    ‘Be careful with your words.’
    ‘And you be careful who you doubt, Arethusa. I came to you for your wisdom, not your scorn. You’re wrong about us, especially Goma, and especially me, and I mean every word I just said.’
    ‘Go on, then, Mposi Akinya.’ She uttered his name with sneering condescension. ‘Prove me wrong about you and your kind. I’ll be here, waiting to hear what becomes of you.’
    ‘If you’re still sane by the time we get back, I’ll be glad to tell you. But frankly I have low expectations.’
    He turned from her without another word,