Infinite Day
Authors: Chris Walley
Tags: #FICTION / Christian / Futuristic, #FICTION / Fantasy / Contemporary
Visit Tyndale's exciting Web site at www.tyndale.com
TYNDALE
and Tyndale's quill logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc.
The Infinite Day
Copyright © 2008 by Chris Walley. All rights reserved.
Cover illustration copyright © 2008 by Mel Grant. All rights reserved.
Designed by Dean H. Renninger
Edited by Kathryn S. Olson
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walley, Chris.
The infinite day / Chris Walley.
p. cm .â (The lamb among the stars ; bk. 3)
Summary: As evil Lord-Emperor Nezhuala prepares to launch a mighty fleet towards Earth, the fate of the human race lies in the hands of heroic Merral D'Avanos, who must first journey throught the deeper parts of Below-Space to rescue hostages taken from his world.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4143-1468-6 (hc)
ISBN-10: 1-41413-1468-X (hc)
[1. Christian lifeâFiction. 2. Science fiction.]I. Title.
PZ7.W159315In 2008
[Fic]âdc22 2008000066
For Alison,
who believed in this,
with love
There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign.
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.
There everlasting spring abides,
And never-with'ring flow'rs;
Death, like a narrow sea, divides
This heav'nly land from ours.
âIsaac Watts,
Hymns and Spiritual Songs
, book II, hymn 66
Acknowledgments
As the history of these books goes back over twenty years, too many people to be named individually ought to be thanked. Two general groups can be mentioned with gratitude. The one believed it was possible and openly encouraged me, and the other thought it was madness but graciously kept silent. Thank you both!
More specifically, I need to thank various editors at Authentic in the UK and Tyndale in the US for their belief in this project. I hope this concluding volume vindicates their faith. Finally, thanks must be given to my wife, Alison, for both her patient encouragement and her persistent editing.
Table of Contents
Prologue
W
e have followed the fortunes of Merral D'Avanos and his friends on Farholme in the first battles between the Assembly of Worlds and the Dominion of Lord-Emperor Nezhuala and have glimpsed how, in very different ways, both sides are preparing for all-out conflict. As we pick up the story again, the key parties in the tale are widely scattered.
On Earth, Dr. Ethan Malunal, Chairman of the Council of High Stewards, is trying to hold increasingly fractious groups together and prepare the Assembly for a war against unknown forces.
Over three hundred light-years away, in the Farholme system, two ships are accelerating in opposite directions. One, the former Dominion vessel
Dove of Dawn
, bearing former Advisor Lucian Clemant, Prebendant Delastro, and others, is heading earthward with all the speed that its inexperienced crew can muster. The other vessel, the
Nanmaxat's Comet
, with Commander Lezaroth and the thirty hostages that are the only spoils of the disastrous assault on Farholme, is speeding back to the Dominion worlds. On Farholme itself, Merral is urgently preparing to recover the hidden ship of Sarudar Azeras and use it to try to rescue the hostages.
But let us turn first to Lord-Emperor Nezhuala, ruler of the Freeborn and master of all in the realms of the Dominion.
1
T
he lord-emperor Nezhuala stared at the Blade of Night through the porthole of the tiny autoshuttle.
“It is finished,” he said, his words barely audible above the vibrating rumble that enveloped him. He found himself held spellbound by the scale of the structure. Even riding at four hundred kilometers an hour, it would take him nearly sixty minutes to travel from the facilities at the summit to Way Station Nine, the lowest level the craft could safely reach. From there he would take the elevator to the base.
I need to make this journey. There are issues I have to raise with the powers. I do not trust the high priests, and my commanders are little better.
He heard himself give a small groan
. And I need advice on the war. I have to be sure that the powers will act on our side. They all need to put forth their strength, and especially the One
.
He looked out of the porthole again. It was not just the scale of the Blade that overpowered him; it was also its complexity. While at a distance it looked like a smooth needle, this closeâbarely a kilometer above itâhe could see that the surface was interrupted by a varied array of immense struts, tensioning devices, and thrusters. Far from being a static structure, the Blade of Night was a dynamic construction. He passed over a vast towing point.
And, when the time is right, it will be moved.