Eisenhorn Omnibus

there is no human alive who could explain why they make the choices they do. We just don't see things the way they do/

'Their greater lifespan gives them greater perspective…'

'It's partly that. Although orthodox thinking would say that greater perspective is their curse. The Ministorum believes the eldar are too resigned to destiny. That they are indolent and almost cruel, or else brutally manipulative/

'You don't think so?'

'I'll admit only a selfish fascination, Gregor. They interact with the fundamental structure of the universe. As you might well appreciate, any talent for living or perceiving beyond one's physical body is attractive to me. My work has-'

He broke off.

'Gideon?'

'I wanted to learn something of the way their minds witness reality independent of their bodies. Their farseers, for example, have a kinaesthetic sensibility that operates regardless of the restraints of time and space-'

We paused at the edge of a walkway and looked out across the misty nocturnal swamp. Glowing insects and airborne spores drifted in the air, their paths occasionally punctuated by the sudden swoops of aerial night hunters. Sinuous things moved through the glistening water below the floating walkways, barely disturbing the oily surface.

'I've said too much/ he murmured.

'Vou do not need to be guarded with me, Gideon. I will not judge you for seeking knowledge. I'm… not the puritan you once knew.'

'I know. I would tell you if I could. But in order to learn certain things, I have been forced to make promises.'

To the eldar?'

'I cannot even confirm mat. I am not proud of the promises, but I will honour them.'

'Then what can you tell me? You said that things had been revealed to you.'

'One of their kind has foreseen a great darkness ahead of us all. It is so abrupt and acute that it has twisted and altered the skeins of probability that the eldar read. It was revealed to him in a sequence of connected visions. One of those was the destruction of the Distaff. When that came true, I was shaken. It proved the visions were not fanciful.'

What else has he seen?' I asked.

'A living blade, a man-machine, bestriding a long-dead world and preparing to strike a blow that will spill human and eldar blood alike/ he said. 'After that… nothing.'

I looked down at him. 'Nothing?'

'Nothing. That vision is the most distant thing he is now able to see. It's no more than six months from now. Beyond that, he has been unable to glimpse anything at all/

Why?'

'Because there is no future left to see/

SEVEMTEEN

Psychoarchaeology.

Ghul.

The Barque of the Daemon.

Gideon's message to me proved that he already knew the name Khanjar the Sharp, but as we talked, I discovered he knew very little besides the name.

'Nayl and I tracked the janissaries after they fled Messina in an effort to discover who had hired them. It was well hidden. The Vessorine take great pains to protect the identity of their clients. There were false trails, payments from bogus accounts and via holding companies. But we wormed it out eventually. Khanjar the Sharp/

Which meant what to you?'

'Nothing… except that he was the individual who had ordered the systematic destruction of your operation… and that his name featured prominently in a number of the farseer's visions. We believe Khanjar and the man-machine from the climactic revelation are one and the same/

'Khanjar the Sharp is Pontius Glaw/1 said.

He was astonished and excited. The revelations had said nothing of Glaw. The Khanjar guise had masked his true identity from the eldar.

Why target you?' he asked.

'Self-preservation. I am one of the few people who knows he still exists. In fact, I'm sorry to say, he exists because of me. He was also searching for something that he believes I possess/

'Like what?'

I had no choice but to tell him everything. My dealings with Glaw, Maria Tarray, the Malus Codicium…

'You weren't joking when you said you weren't the puritan I once knew/ he said.

'Are you shocked?'

'No, Gregor, I'm not. I believe radicalism is inevitable. We all become radicals eventually as we appreciate that we must know our enemy in order to defeat him. The real dangers come from extreme puritans. Puritanism is fuelled by ignorance, and ignorance is the greatest peril of all. That's not to suggest the path of the radical is easy. Eventually even the most careful and responsible radical will be overwhelmed by the warp. The real judge of character is what good a man can do for the Imperium before he is drawn too far.'

'There is one other thing. In the mind of his daughter there was an image of a desiccated world that closely matches the one you describe from the eldar revelations. There was a name connected with it: Ghtil!

'Let me investigate that further/ he said, and turned his force chair back down the walkway towards the camp.

Ravenor had brought me to that remote jungle world because Promody had featured in another of the eldar visions. Khanjar the Sharp had been there recently, perhaps as little as six weeks before. Ravenor intended to find out why.

Ravenor's field team numbered about ten individuals – several technicians, six astropaths and an archaeologist called Kenzer, the grey-haired man I had seen earlier.

'But there are no ruins on Promody/ I remarked shortly after I had been introduced to him.

'Not any more, sir/ he agreed. 'But there is compelling theory that Promody was once one of several worlds inhabited by an ancient culture/

'How ancient?'

He glanced at me nervously. 'Pre-Dawn/ he said.

A culture from before the rise of Man. That was breathtaking.

'So this compelling theory/ I pressed, 'this comes from the eldar?'

He didn't want to answer but my rank gave him little option.

'Yes, sir. But this culture predates even them. And was quite dead long before even they came to the stars/

Ravenor's technicians had spent their time since reaching Promody conducting a survey with the assistance of the astropaths. They had studied the surface and atmosphere of the planet for signs of Khanjar's visit, looking for traces of landing sites, the residual pollution of vehicle exhausts, the echoes of human minds. They were certain now that the campsite on the bayou was close to the place where Khanjar made planetfall. Now the astropaths were preparing for an auto-seance on a scale greater than any I had ever