Free Mallow by Robert Reed Page B

voice. 'It's an anomaly, granted. But doesn't that feature . . . doesn't it seem . . . unlikely . . . ?'
    'Which was why I thought it was nothing,' the Master concurred. 'And my most trustworthy AI - part of my own neural net - agreed with me. This region defines some change in composition. Or in density. Certainly nothing more.' She paused for a long moment, carefully watching her captains. Then with a gracious, oversized smile, she admitted, 'The possibility of a hollow core has to seem ludicrous.'
    Submasters and captains nodded with a ragged hopefulness.
    But they hadn't come here because of anomalies. Washen knew it, and she stepped closer. How large was that hole? Estimates were easy, but the simple math created some staggering numbers.
    'Ludicrous,' the Master repeated. 'But then I thought back to when I was a baby, barely a century old. Who would have guessed then that a jovian world could be made into a starship, and that I would inherit such a wonder for myself?'
    Just the same, thought Washen, some ideas will always be insane.
    'Madam,' Miocene said with a certain delicacy. 'I'm sure you realize that a chamber of these proportions would make our ship considerably less massive. Assuming we know the densities of the intervening iron, naturally . . .'
    'But you're assuming that our hollow core is hollow.' The Master grinned at her favorite officer, then at everyone. Her golden face was serene, wringing pleasure out of her audience's confusion and ignorance. Calmly, she reminded them, 'This began as someone else's vessel. And we shouldn't forget that we still don't know why our home was built. For all we can say, this was someone's cargo ship, designed for moving things other than people, and here, finally, we've stumbled across the ships cargo hold.'
    Most of the captains shuddered.
    'Imagine that something is hiding inside us,' the Master commanded. 'Cargo, particularly anything substantial, has to be restrained, protected. So imagine a series of buttressing fields that would keep our cargo from rattling around every time we adjusted our course. Then imagine that these buttresses are so powerful and so enduring that they can mask whatever it is that's down there—'
    'Madam,' someone shouted.
    After a pause, the Master said, 'Yes, Diu.'
    'Just tell us, please . . . what in hell is down there .. . ?'
    'A spherical object,' she replied. And with a slow wink, she added, 'It is the size of Mars, about. But considerably more massive.'
    Washen's heart began to gallop.
    The audience let out a low, wounded groan.
    'Show them,' the Master said to her AI. 'Show them what we found.'
    Again, the image changed. Nestl ed inside the great ship was another world, black as iron and distinctly smaller than the surrounding chamber. The simple possibility of such an enormous, unlikely discovery didn't strike Washen as one revelation, but as many, coming in waves, making her gasp and shake her head as she looked at her colleagues' faces, barely seeing any of them.
    'This world — and it is a genuine world — has an atmosphere.' The Master was laughing quietly, and her quiet voice kept offering impossibilities.'Despite the abundance of iron, the atmosphere has free oxygen. And there's enough water for small rivers and lakes. All of those delicious symptoms that come with living worlds are present here—'
    'How do you know?'Washen called out. Then, in reflex, 'No disrespect intended, madam!'
    'I haven't visited the world, if that's your question.' She giggled like a child, telling everyone, 'Yet fifty years of hard, secret work have paid dividends. Using self-replica ting drones, I've been able to reopen one of those collapsed tunnels. And I've sent curious probes to the chamber for a first look. That's why I can stand here, assuring you that not only does this world exist, but that each of you are going to see it for yourselves.'
    Washen glanced at Diu, wondering if her face was wearing the same wide smile.
    'By the way, I named this