‘That about covers it,’ Lambert said. ‘Do you see what I meant now, Nava Ward?’
‘I understand,’ Nava replied. ‘It might be possible. An ancient civilisation might have done it. But we have no idea how and only rumour to indicate that they did.’
‘But if you can crack the problem, you’ll be famous and probably fabulously wealthy.’
‘I don’t really want to be famous or wealthy.’
‘Well, you may be the only magician who doesn’t.’
~~~
‘I can’t believe you’ve never heard of the Harbingers,’ Melissa said.
‘Sheltered upbringing, remember,’ Nava replied. She was focusing on her dinner, but Melissa was not taking the hint. ‘I didn’t get read bedtime stories.’
‘The Harbingers aren’t fairy tales, they’re science. I mean, they’re scientific fact. We have archaeological sites and everything.’
‘It’s true,’ Rochester said. ‘We’ve never discovered the world they originally came from, but the Harbingers appear to have colonised a number of worlds in this part of the galaxy. In fact, many of the worlds colonised when humans left Earth have turned out to be old Harbinger colonies. They seem to have required conditions not unlike those we do. They also appear to have had the ability to terraform worlds more effectively than we do, probably utilising massive metaphysics projects which we can’t replicate.’
‘Essentially,’ Mitsuko said, ‘if we come across a world with a fully established alien ecosystem, it’s likely that it was a Harbinger colony. The development of multicellular life is extremely rare. In all the worlds we’ve surveyed, we’ve never found a world with complex organisms on it which cannot be explained by Harbinger activity. Except Earth, obviously. They imported modified versions of their home world’s flora and fauna.’
‘Was Shinden one of these Harbinger colonies?’ Nava asked.
‘No, it was a bare rock with some bacteria which produced oxygen living in the oceans. That’s why the genetic diversity is… lacking in diversity. We brought plants engineered to live in the conditions here, but few animals. A few more species have been introduced over time, but you couldn’t describe Shinden as having a fully developed ecosystem. There are a few Harbinger artefacts on the planet. SAS-squared is one of various institutions around the Clan Worlds which handles their analysis and the items make their way into museums once that analysis is complete.’
‘Huh. So how long ago were these Harbingers around?’
‘The sites we’ve found date to between two hundred and two hundred and forty thousand years ago,’ Rochester replied. ‘It’s speculation, but they probably began their spacefaring phase around three hundred thousand years ago. Humans had barely evolved at that point and the Harbingers were making journeys to other star systems. They knew things about metaphysics, and possibly physics, which we cannot comprehend. If we could only ask them…’
Nava gave a slight shrug. ‘If they were around to ask, I doubt they’d take kindly to another species taking over their colonies.’
‘That’s true,’ Mitsuko said. ‘I don’t subscribe to the idea that aliens would automatically be our enemies, but I don’t believe they would automatically be our friends either. If the Harbingers still existed, they would be our superiors in every way. If they wanted us gone, there would be no stopping them and, human nature being what it is, I’m sure we would mess things up royally before we even knew we were doing it.’
‘Still,’ Rochester said, ‘if we could… No, you’re right. If they were still around, we probably wouldn’t have made it off Earth.’
235/3/28.
Siegmar Tate was his usual, blustering self as he and a bunch of his cronies made their way along the refectory’s food counters. There were actually counters, more than one. Meat dishes were served on one, vegetarian dishes on another, and then there was a divided counter handling fruit, vegetables, and cheeses, though that latter option was only available at dinner time. Then you had the desserts and the drinks to round out the set. And Siegmar seemed to have a noisy and negative opinion about everything.
‘He’s on form today,’ Nava commented. She had come to the conclusion that he was actually being more obnoxious than usual. That was not an easy feat but he seemed to be pulling it off.
‘He’s been like that all morning,’ Mitsuko said. She was looking annoyed. She and Melissa had to get to a lunch meeting of the student council. The presence of someone slowing the queue down in front of her was not making things easier. ‘Maybe I’ll just grab some sandwiches and eat them in the council room.’
‘We could do that,’ Melissa agreed. She was looking a little crestfallen, however; if they ate in the council room, she would miss out on friendly conversation in the refectory.
‘I could shoot him in the head?’ Nava suggested. ‘That might speed up the line.’
‘First,’ Mitsuko said, ‘I would remind you that we can never tell when you’re being facetious. Second, I think that destroying half the refectory would slow the line instead.’
‘You may have a point. Besides, I’m not sure losing his head would stop him. He’d just run around causing trouble. Like a chicken. Or a cock–’ Nava cut herself off because Siegmar’s voice was not continuing its rant about lousy food.
‘Siegmar? Are you okay, man?’ The voice came from one of the cronies and Nava narrowed in on it. Siegmar was standing there, more or less. He was swaying, his tray held precariously in one hand while the other one was pressed to his chest.
‘Put a call in to the SSF,’ Nava said as she set her own tray down and started through the crowd. She was no more than two metres away when Siegmar collapsed, tray and dishes clattering to the ground and food splattering across the tiles. There were exclamations, some of them expletives, but no one had actually moved to check on their fallen friend until Nava got there. She pressed fingers against his throat, but she could see his chest moving. He
