Темное, кривое зеркало. Том 5 : Средь звезд, подобно гигантам

little, as if that station had been his greatest and only contribution to the future.

And now it was going to be bettered.

'Babylon Five,' he said again.

It was Sheridan's idea, devised by him and Delenn. A new place, unbound by the symbols and memories and imagery of all the old. A completely new centre for the galaxy.

A dream, given birth by people who had long ago forgotten how to dream.

'Dreams are for people who sleep,' he whispered, trying remember who had once told him that. The answer came to him soon enough. Londo, of course. 'And where are you now, old friend? On the throne you always professed to hate, sending us diplomats and spies in your stead. Why do you not come in person?

'What do you fear so, Londo?'

He looked at the early drawings for Babylon 5 and shivered suddenly. He started and looked around. Kazomi 7 was a hot world, almost as hot as Narn itself. There were no draughts here.

But if not a breeze, then what?

A feeling.

'What do any of us fear?' he asked, his words as hollow as the grave.

There were only graves to answer him.

* * *

The existence of ancient races with vastly superior technology had long been rumoured among the younger races. Humanity's own love of myths and legends and conspiracies had given rise to numerous stories, most of which were expansions into space of old Earth legends such as the Bermuda Triangle, the Loch Ness Monster and the Abominable Snowman.

Other races had similar stories. Young Drazi warriors would go 'hunting the First Ones' as a rite of passage and a display of bravado. The Markab had numerous legends based on the events of the last Shadow War. The Narns had witnessed many inexplicable occurrences on their border at Sigma 957, and believed it to be a haunted world.

Some of these stories had a basis in fact. Others were no more than corruptions of old legends. The Shadow War, however, led to a resurgence of interest in First One myths, as many of the stories could be explained by connections to either the Shadows or the Vorlons.

2262, however, saw the rest of the legends become reality. Slowly at first, but with increasing frequency, awesomely powerful ships were sighted in forgotten areas of space. Initially these were ignored or disbelieved, but over time even the Alliance itself had to take action.

One of the first accepted sightings occurred in February 2262, at the Narn world of Sigma 957….

GOLDINGAY, D. G. (2293) Stalkers on the Rim. Chapter 4 of The Rise and Fall of

the United Alliance, the End of the Second Age and the Beginning of the

Third, vol. 3, 2262: The Missing Year. Ed: S. Barringer, G. Boshears, A. E.

Clements, D. G. Goldingay & M. G. Kerr.

* * *

Captain Jack could be described in many different ways. He himself often used the words 'entrepreneur' or 'wheeler — dealer' or 'a bit o' this, a bit o' that'. Others used the words 'rogue', 'criminal', 'nuisance' and 'a right shifty bastard'. He was, however, definitely a man with an eye on the main chance.

Which had brought him here, to a dead world whose name he could not remember — usually a good thing as far as his employers were concerned — for a rendezvous with a group of Narns even shiftier than he was, on a mission that was both very illegal and very highly paid.

There were numerous political issues involved, which he did not even pretend to understand, it usually being safer that way. Despite having met and — sort of — befriended individuals as powerful as the Blessed Delenn, Emperor Londo Mollari II, Minister Lethke zum Bartrado and General John Sheridan the Shadowkiller, Captain Jack had a profound lack of interest in politics except where it related to his personal solvency.

However, he did understand that some Narns were very unhappy about the Kazomi Treaty that had sealed the peace between them and the Centauri, and wanted to make clear to everyone just how displeased they were. Certain…. artefacts needed shipping to certain Centauri worlds where certain things might be done to make that clear. And for obvious reasons, a non — Narn courier was needed.

Jack preferred not to think of these things as politics because if he didn't, he tended not to think of them as involving real people either. It was a lot easier that way.

And so all this was why he was at Sigma 957, waiting alone in his ship for a Narn ship that was very very late.

That was when he began to pick up the signal.

His communications equipment was specially modified to receive signals across a much wider band than that carried by most ships of his size, but this was nothing he had ever come across before. Muttering to himself, he started trying to tune into it, wondering if the Narns had had to resort to extraordinary measures to get in touch with him.

There were words in there, he was sure of it, even a conversation, but the language, the voices…. all these were beyond him. He felt like an ant trying to understand the words of angels. Falling silent, something touching what remained of his soul, he tried to tune in more clearly, working at the limits of his equipment. All thoughts of his mission left his mind. All he could think of was discovering the nature of this conversation.

He could pick up a little of one of the parties now. It seemed like countless voices speaking through one mouth. Or was it countless mouths speaking with one voice?

Everything stopped, and in one instant all the lights in his ship went out. He started, and began frantically trying to restore power.

Then he looked out at the scene before him.

There was a ship moving across the ecliptic, something so big and so vast it blocked out everything, space and light and stars and all. It glided through the planet's atmosphere, ignoring him utterly, an insect beneath the feet of giants.

Jack hardly dared to breathe, a wise move. As the alien ship moved forward a rent opened in the fabric of space, a vast jump point, bigger than anything he had ever imagined. The image of hyperspace beyond flickered with countless colours, very different from the usual red. Clouds of mist shimmered through the gap in space, and there were flickers of lightning.

Something was waiting in there, in hyperspace. Smaller than the vast alien ship, it was still huge, much bigger than Jack's diminutive shuttle. It looked slightly familiar, almost like a….

A castle?

The vast ship moved slowly into hyperspace, its every manoeuvre beautifully graceful. The gateway closed, and Jack was alone once more.

Alone in a dying ship above a dead world whose name he could not remember.

Fortunately, after a few hours of creative engineering with life support, a squadron of ships from the Narn fleet arrived and picked him up. Jack was so grateful to be rescued that he only had a few seconds to think up some suitably inventive lies.

* * *

After we joined the Alliance, affairs on Centauri Prime grew, not better, but slowly and steadily worse. With the death of Lord Kiro the riots had ended and the Shadow Criers fallen apart, but their legacies remained. There was widespread famine and hunger, the cost of the war and the reparations had almost bankrupted the Republic, and the costs of the repairs to the homeworld and to the regained colonies were almost impossible to meet. The Centarum eventually swallowed its pride and borrowed vast sums of money from the Alliance.