The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page A

Bring. It had been a long, arduous flight, straining even the blackhawk’s power reserves, testing
     manoeuvrability as seldom before. But now
Iasius
was calling for a mate again, and
Udat
glided across the gap until their distortion fields merged and the hulls almost touched. It sent
Iasius
its own compositional pattern through the affinity bond, swept away by a fervent gratification.
    I thank you,
Iasius
said at the end. I feel this one will be something special. There is a greatness to it.
    The egg cannoned up from its ovary, sending out a cascade of polyp flakes, and Udat was left to exert its distortion field
     to brake the intrigued, eager infant as
Iasius
departed. The puzzled blackhawk had no chance to ask what it had meant by that last enigmatic statement.
    I welcome you to life,
Udat
said formally, when it had finally stopped the seven-metre globe from spinning.
    Thank you,
Oenone
replied. Where are we going now?
    To a higher orbit. This one is too close to the planet.
    Oh! A pause as it probed round with immature senses, its giddy thoughts quietening down. What is a planet?
    The last egg was
Priam
, ejected well below the meagre lip of the B-ring. Those voidhawks remaining in the flight, now down to some thirty strong,
     peeled away from
Iasius
. They were already dangerously close to the cloudscape which dominated a third of the sky; gravity was exerting its malign
     influence on local space, gnawing at the fringes of their distortion fields, impairing the propulsive efficiency.
    Iasius
continued to descend, its lower, faster orbit carrying it ahead of the others. Its distortion field began to falter, finally
     overwhelmed by the intensity of the gravitational effect five hundred kilometres above the gas giant.
    The terminator rose ahead, a black occlusion devouring the silently meandering clouds. Faint phosphene speckles swam through
     the eddies and peaks, weaving in and out of the thicker ammonia-laden braids, their light ebbing and kindling in hesitant
     patterns.
Iasius
shot into the penumbra, darkness expanding around it like an elemental force. Saturn had ceased to be a planet, an astronomical
     object, it was becoming hugely solid. The bitek starship curved down at an ever increasing angle. Ahead of it was a single
     fiery streak, growing brighter in its optical sensors. The darkside equator, that frozen remote wasteland, was redolent with
     sublime grandeur.
    Ring particles were falling alongside
Iasius
, a thick, dark rain, captured by the gossamer fingers of the ionosphere, a treacherously insistent caress which robbed them
     of speed, of altitude. And, ultimately, existence.
    When they had been lured down to the fringes of the ionosphere, icy gusts of hydrogen molecules burnt around them, emitting
     banners of spectral flame. They dipped rapidly as atmospheric resistance built, first glowing like embers, then crowned by
     incandescent light; sunsparks, stretching a hundred-kilometre contrail behind them. Their billion-year flight ended swiftly
     in a violent spectacle: a dazzling concussion which flung out a shower of twinkling debris, quickly extinguished. All that
     remained was a tenuous trail of black soot which was swept up by the howling cyclones.
    Iasius
reached the extremity of the ionosphere. The light of the dying ring particles was hot on its lower hull. A tremulous glow
     appeared around its rim. Polyp began to char and flake away, orange flecks bulleting off into the distance. The bitek starship
     began to lose peripheral senses as its specialist receptor cells grew warm. Denser layers of hydrogen pummelled the hull.
     The desent curve began to get bumpy, vexatious supersonic winds were beginning to bite.
Iasius
flipped over. The abrupt turn had disastrous consequences on its avian glide; with the hull’s blunt underside smashing head
     on into the hydrogen, the starship was suddenly subjected to a huge deceleration force. Dangerous quantities of flame blossomed
     right across the hull