The Abyss Beyond Dreams (89 page)

‘Wrong question. What we should now ask is: how did we get here? This is undoubtedly our universe, so I think I know what happened in the Great Transition. Consider this: both planets in
the Void knew of the Heart, that it was the place where the fulfilled go. And both of you also knew of the other place as well; that consistency is highly significant. On Querencia, they called it
Honious. To Bienvenido, it was Uracus. The gateway to hell – or worse. And we’re on the other side of it now. This is where the Void’s rejects and badasses are banished. And the
Void doesn’t do anything by halves; it’s flung us somewhere deep into intergalactic space. So far away we cannot possibly pose a danger to it ever again.’

Kysandra stared, entranced at the innocuous phosphorescent blob. ‘Is that our galaxy? The one with the Commonwealth?’

‘No. But now I know what I’m looking for, I can write the appropriate search algorithms for the telescope. We can locate other galaxies and start to assemble a map. Galactic
supercluster distribution is a known quantity; we have them in
Skylady
’s duplicate files. Once we start plotting them, we can work out where we actually are in the
universe.’

Kysandra gazed at the telescope, trying not to let too much optimism bloom. ‘So do you think you can find our galaxy?’

‘In time, yes.’

‘And then we can fly there? We can go home?’

‘Yes. It might take a while.’

THE END . . .

. . . of
The Abyss Beyond Dreams
.

Bienvenido’s story will be concluded in:
Night Without Stars

First published 2014 by Macmillan

This electronic edition published 2014 by Macmillan,
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-0-230-76947-2

Copyright © Peter F. Hamilton 2014

Jacket illustration © Larry Rostant
Author photograph by Neil Lang

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Map artwork by ML Design

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