The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page A

round the unusual ovoid resting on the sandy seabed were subjected to the ancient melody repeated dozens of times, interrupted, and begun again with relentless determination.
    A day later, when she was playing with a lot more confidence, Paula had to admit Troblum’s ship was extremely well shielded. She was caught off guard by the large figure in a shabby old toga suit riding a small scooter out of the forest on the far side of the Florac estate. None of her sensors had caught the Mellanie’s Redemption coming down out of orbit. Her fingers hung motionless above keys of vat-grown ivory as she waited to see what would happen.
    The scooter stopped just outside the estate boundary posts. It wobbled oddly as Troblum opened a link to Florac. Then the perimeter disarmed, and Troblum flew on unsteadily to the villa.
    Soon after he arrived at the front door and went inside, a force field came on over the villa. The leading edge of the monsoon had arrived.
    Troblum called ANA:Governance security division, who relayed the call to Paula. Her remote sensors couldn’t quite get close enough to the villa boundary to give her a clear image of him standing beside the pool, but she could certainly see the line of exotic yellow and green flowering plants that hedged in the one open side of the pool area as she talked to him. She didn’t lie. She would definitely be at the villa within two hours.
    Paula told the smartcore to retract the piano back into its alcove, climbed into her armour, activated three of the combat-bots stowed in the starship’s forward hold, and stepped out through the airlock. The suit’s regrav lifted her straight to the surface, emerging into driving rain as the heavy storm clouds raced overhead. She flew in a low fast curve to the top of the cliff above the white beach, landing beside one of the estate boundary’s silver pillars. The three combatbots hovered protectively overhead, difficult to detect in the deluge. Lightning flashed constantly. Sensors locked on to her, and the villa’s smartcore demanded she identify herself.
    ‘You are expecting me. I am Paula Myo, an ANA representative on official business. Let me in now.’
    There was no reply. The boundary posts remained active, so she used a proton laser to kill the eight nearest to her. Her suit flew her towards the villa, keeping five metres above the ground. Ahead of her, the force field was hardening. She curved around until she was facing the open end of the three-sided building. Water rippled down the force field, blurring direct visual observation. However, she saw three Amazon-like women in bikinis hurrying round the pool to take up positions behind the waterfall boulders. The small intelligence file on Florac had mentioned the kind of bodyguards he favoured.
    ‘Oh, come on ,’ she muttered. They weren’t even wearing armour. Stupid amateurs.
    Their formation was a standard one, protecting access to the centre of the villa. Paula guessed that would be where their boss was cowering, along with Troblum.
    Two of the combatbots dropped a flock of energy-dumps onto the top of the villa’s force field dome. The small dark spheres skidded and slithered down the curve. Bright energy flares whipped out around each contact point, and the dumps began to slow as if the dome had somehow become tacky. Lightning flashed out from the clouds overhead, attracted by the brawny spray of ions fizzing out from each dump to slam into the force field. The darkness surrounding the dumps began to expand and slowly sink through the force field, which was now sparkling a dangerous stressed crimson.
    Hot, steaming water began to seep through the force field to splatter the pool area. The villa’s protective force field shone like a red dwarf sun that was being eaten by black cancers. Paula’s full field function scan was burning its way through the faltering dome. She could make out several weapons enrichments powering up in the Amazon women. But there was no sign of