This is a fan translation of Line of Dreams (Линия грёз) by the Russian science fiction and fantasy author Sergei Lukyanenko. The novel can be considered a fan fiction of the original Master of Orion game.
Chapter 14
Curtis van Curtis had been waiting for this moment for four years. Since the very first time, when Arthur, then really twelve years old, had departed to Grail via aTan. He was accompanied by a man superior to Kay Altos in every way. A genetically modified assassin, capable of beating a Bulrathi in hand-to-hand combat and faster than a Meklar. They died at the Kulthos spaceport, immediately after buying a ship. An act of terrorism, with Arthur as an accidental victim.
Then the accidents turned into a consistent pattern, just like on the Evil Lands, where the unworthy couldn't go. If not for Curtis's certainty that God didn't interfere in the events of the universe, he would have had taken it as a sign from on high and attempted the journey himself. If there had been even a tiny chance that there were no enemy agents in aTan facilities, he would have ignored his own rules and had Arthur resurrected on Grail.
All that became impossible after the first attempt to kidnap the boy, after the resurrected body had turned out to have been subjected to mind erasure. Someone had found out about his plans, Curtis's only hope was random chance, since it was impossible to predict on which planet a person who had died on Terra would be resurrected. It was impossible to cut off all paths, so he continued to hire new guards. Altos was good but no more than that. Curtis was waiting for failure after discovering that they had been brought back to life on Incedios. But, as time went by, the signals of their neural networks weren't being interrupted. Then there were Altos's strange actions: renewing aTan and sending a letter to Curtis. Then there were three zombies. And Grail.
Curtis van Curtis was standing on the planet he hadn't visited in over a century. Not by the Doorway itself, but still at the Threshold. Then again, he still needed to make it to the Doorway. Kay Altos, the luckiest of his employees, was pointing an old plasma carbine at his employer. Two boys were sitting nearby, looking like two prints from the same negative film. With identical scratches on their faces and wearing cheap rags… as if Curtis was back in his own childhood. One was looking at him seriously and calmly, and the other was smiling, as if waiting for his reaction.
"Don't do anything stupid, Kay," Curtis said.
"I have no intention of doing that." Altos shifted the carbine away, but only a little.
Curtis van Curtis switched his gaze to the boy with the serious face and said, "Hello, son. I see we're in a bit of trouble."
It was the other boy who answered, "Hello, Dad. I was curious to know if you'd recognize me."
Curtis sat down next to Arthur. He threw a sideways glance at Kay, who seemed to be more interested in the flowing river.
"You've changed," Curtis admitted and gave an encouraging smile to the second boy, "You must be from Sigma-T. The Arthur with a wiped memory."
"Bravo," Kay said. "His name is Tommy, but he's also your clone."
"Did you tell him much?" Curtis asked his son.
"Everything. It was necessary."
Kay Dutch waited for Tommy's reply. But he was silent. Curtis was the one to speak, "Well then, you've outdone yourself. I assume you wish to discuss new terms."
"I do. I want to know two things."
"Go ahead."
"What's beyond the Threshold?"
"God."
"Just because a machine has created the world, that doesn't make it God."
"Kay, you would understand me if you went through the Doorway. But only Arthur, Tommy, and I are able to go through it."
"Do you really need me?" Tommy spoke for the first time since Curtis's appearance.
"Of course." Curtis seemed to have lost all interest to Altos. "Are you worried about your future, boy? I understand. Kay probably had a number of discussions with you about my cynicism. I need you. Even if your new personality is completely different from before, it doesn't change anything. You are my flesh and blood. You're more than just a son to me. I need allies."
Tommy nodded, and Curtis patted his shoulder. He asked, "What else, Kay?"
"Why do you wish to destroy humankind?"
Curtis frowned.
"Don't look at me like that. A hundred years ago, when the Empire was falling apart, the border planets were burning, and children were being sent on suicide missions, you refused the greatest gift in history. You rejected a world embodying all your dreams. Obviously, I would have gone through the Line of Dreams. But you went back into the Imperial Forces, concealing the planet's coordinates and, overcoming your fear, continued going on combat missions."
"Altos, you're contradicting yourself."
"I don't think you were being patriotic. You would have gone back for the Line of Dreams after the founding of the Alliance. But even now you only want to sell it, not for yourself."
"I have already created a world of my dreams," Curtis replied seriously. "That's all there is to it. I don't need the Line, but if there an opportunity to make money on it and bring happiness to millions—"
"Don't make me laugh, Curtis. The best of humanity will leave this universe through the Line of Dreams. Science will end, art will vanish, and stupid generals will be in command of moronic soldiers. Maybe then you will leave. After that, all the aTan and Line of Dream devices will probably fall apart. And then our Bulrathi friends will remember their old ambitions, the Psilons will end their self-imposed isolation, the Alkari will no longer be interested in another galaxy but the planets we've taken from them. The Empire, the entire human race, will die. Why?"
"You won't get an answer, Altos," Curtis said quickly. He glanced at Arthur, as if looking for confirmation, but the boy seemed too confused.
"I have to try…" Kay said, raising the carbine. Curtis's face twitched, he started to rise, and Dutch pulled the trigger.
It was a very old model, and the discharge of the plasma bolt rang out like an explosion. A flaming flower blossomed on Curtis's chest, and he was thrown against the rocks.
Dutch was more amazed than anyone. Arthur merely jerked his head, glanced at this prone father, and asked, "Is it my turn now?"
"I'm sorry," Kay said.
"Go ahead," the boy encouraged him. "We've discussed this eventuality, and you're free from all promises."
Curtis van Curtis started moving, rose up on all fours, and then stood straight. His face was white as chalk, and his tie was crumpled. That was it.
"You didn't wait long enough, Dad," Arthur noted. "I didn't have time to figure out if Kay would kill me."
Dutch carefully placed the carbine by the fire and stood. Curtis had already recovered, but his ire was directed more towards Arthur than his failed killer.
"You… you knew that we were protected… you snot-nosed experimenter…"
"Dad, I've been shot hundreds of times. It's an interesting feeling, I just wanted to share it with you."
Tommy reached for the carbine and picked it up.
"Give it to me!" Curtis said harshly. The boy handed him the weapon obediently, and Kay Dutch decided that the boy had chosen his role. Curtis probably thought the same thing. He patted Tommy on the cheek. Then he aimed the weapon at Kay.
"No." Arthur stepped between Kay and the carbine.
"Arthur, I have two sons now," Curtis noted dryly. "And I'm noticing that one of them is a lot more obedient."
"And the other one is more grateful. Kay got me here, Dad. That's the important thing, isn't it?"
Curtis lowered the carbine. He stared at Kay pensively. The anger on his face was starting to dissipate.
"Altos, are you willing to continue working for me? I know how to forgive."
"If God makes you gifts like that, then I'd rather worship the devil."
"That's your right." Curtis turned away, losing all interest towards Kay. "Let's go, boys, we're wasting time."
"I know why you want the Empire to die," Kay said. "It embodies someone else's dream, doesn't it?"
There was no reaction, but Kay hadn't been expecting one. Curtis van Curtis had nerves of steel. He waited for at least a single glance from Arthur. A goodbye, compassion, or encouragement. But Arthur wasn't turning around.
Kay shrugged and started watching them leave. At the bank, Curtis paused and shouted, "Have fun walking back, Altos!"
"Don't get your feet wet," Kay replied.
Curtis didn't. He started walking on the water. Arthur and Tommy, holding each other's hands in a touching way, followed him.
Kay Dutch was standing in the middle of the Evil Lands and waited. If he still had his aTan, he would've shot himself. But he was now just as poor as at the beginning of his career.
The poor didn't get aTan. Or the future Line of Dreams.
That was why Kay Dutch preferred to hope.
In the middle of the river, all three stopped. Kay couldn't hear their words, but he saw van Curtis's hand gestures. The conversation was brief, then Curtis raised his hand.
Kay heard the sound of a slap. While one of the boys was walking back, Dutch was gathering firewood. He stirred the waning fire, then pinned what was left of the meat on some branches. He didn't trust the quality of the local canned meat and wanted to, at least, roast it a little.
The boy stopped a few steps from him.
"I knew you'd be back," Kay said.
"You did?"
"I had no doubt… almost none. To be honest, I was expecting Arthur to disappoint Curtis, but he hates me too much. I deserve it, though. Plus, his new status is very enticing… Let's eat and go. Kal couldn't have caught up to us on foot, her vehicle should be somewhere nearby."
The boy was silent.
"Curtis didn't realize that you'd grown up," Kay went on. "He doesn't see the difference between the two of you."
"There isn't any."
Kay Dutch threw his improvised kebab aside. He approached Tommy and took him by the shoulders.
"Why did you come back?"
"If I tell you that I felt pity for you, will you believe me?"
"No."
"And rightly so. I also realized why Curtis wants to screw over all of humanity. I don't like it."
"Have you figured out how to screw over Curtis?"
"That's your job."
Dutch burst out laughing. In the distance, Curtis van Curtis and Arthur were talking towards the Doorway, no longer atop the surface of the water but on dry land. Kay even thought he could guess which rock would be the end of their path.
"Tommy, you haven't chosen the best of partners. And your goal is too difficult. Why?"
"If I'd have stayed, then Arthur and I would've become enemies."
"And you're friends now?"
"Now, yes."
Two people were walking on a rocky plateau on the planet Grail, lost on the outskirts of the Human Empire. Kay Dutch, a Super from Shedar's Second Planet, and Tommy Curtis, a clone of the master over life and death, whose memories had been taken from him. They hadn't taken Kal's flyer; it stank of death and shit too much. After all, it wasn't the most difficult path, but merely its beginning.
A hundred parsecs from Grail, Admiral Lemak's squadron entered Darlok space and was escorting Bulrathi troop transports. It was good and honest work. Marjan Mohammadi, formally listed as an ISS officer, had remained aboard the flagship. She possessed the patience of the late Nomachi, and her mind was far stronger than Kal's had been.
Isabella Kal, dressed in gray oversized pajamas, was sitting in a small ward of Grail's only mental hospital. The doctors hadn't yet lost interest in her, even though they already had time to lose faith in the success of her treatment. Kal simply didn't wish to return to the real world. She felt good in the world of her own dreams, where Arthur Curtis and his double lay on the riverbank, dead, dead forever.
Kas/s/is and T/san, separated by a transparent barrier, were looking at one another. Maybe they were speaking with one another. But no one had yet managed to listen in on a conversation of two Meklars using a line-of-sight beam. An Alliance interspecies court awaited one of them, while the other one was to report to the ISS Home Office. It didn't seem as if either one was bothered by it.
Lyka Seiker stood before a mirror. Andrey, indifferent to her cosmetic efforts or her naked body, was holding the thin web of her silk dress. The Family was about to meet with their Mother. Many of the Sons wished to become orphans.
The off-road vehicle was waiting for its owners, since the edge of the Evil Lands wasn't known for having many loiterers. It took half a day for Kay to get back on the road, but everything went much more smoothly after that. By evening, they made it to the hotel.
Kay killed the engine, then he and Tommy exited the vehicle. In the fading light of day, the motel even seemed attractive: the gloom had covered up the rough boards and doors with slits, turned the dirty windows blue, and placed deep shadows onto piles of trash. Someone's pleasant voice was coming from an open window; someone was listening to the Imperial station.
"…tritanium decay has been averted, and the number of victims of the sabotage has not exceeded fifty thousand. Endoria is continuing to receive humanitarian aid from the Bulrathi Democratic Union. In his address, Emperor Gray said…"
"All this was someone's dream," Kay said. "I would very much like to know who went through the Line of Dreams and created our world. I want to tell him about the Three Sisters. About Incedios and the Darlok prisons."
"And I want a bowl of soup and a pile of sandwiches."
"Let's go, you glutton." Kay placed a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "I should be able to find enough money in my pockets for dinner…"
He turned around at the door and glanced at the lights of the small city that was Grail's capital. Everything was calm and quiet here; Imperial ships were dying far from this planet that no one wanted. Cities were already burning somewhere, while Bulrathi troops, born to kill, were rushing into battle.
If Curtis van Curtis gave human the Line of Dreams, then all this would be repeated millions of times. Tauri would burn instead of Shedar, humans would exterminate the Meklar instead of the Sakkra. The essence wouldn't change, though. God bestowed His gifts, but people thought of only one thing.
Strength and power. Life and death. Love and vileness.
No matter who went through the Line, the new world would be a happy one only to them. Just like this world hadn't become a happy one, having embodied someone's dreams.
"I'll get you to stop dreaming," Kay Dutch said.
