Of the City of the Saved... (novel)

Of the City of the Saved, of its diverse citizenry and of its sundry divinities, with a disquisition on the protocols of history, most commonly called Of the City of the Saved..., was the third novel in the Faction Paradox series. It expanded upon concepts introduced in The Book of the War and featured Laura Tobin, the original version of the Eighth Doctor's companion Compassion.

Publisher's summary
For Humanity, the War is over...

We all remember Resurrection Day. Even now, three centuries later, we cannot forget that awakening: our bewilderment, our terror and our joy. Each of us had experienced death, imagining ourselves bound for oblivion, Heaven or Nirvana, according to taste. Instead, we found, each member of the many human species — from tool-wielding australopithecines to posthuman philosopher-gods — had been harvested, gathered here by the Founders’ unfathomable technologies.

Reborn in our countless immortal bodies, we were given the freedom of the City of the Saved. A single conurbation as broad as a spiral galaxy, she has been our sanctuary from the ravages of the War. That monstrous conflict between inhuman cultures cannot touch us here: we live our afterlives beyond the end of time, in perfect safety.

We may be certain, therefore, that these rumours of a murder (the brutal stabbing of a City Councillor, no less!) are nothing more than lurid fabrications. The supposition that the murder weapon is missing, or that it could have been — as hysterical conjecture has claimed — a "potent weapon", capable of injuring a Citizen within the haven of the City, is equally absurd. The idea that a guerrilla war has already begun in one of our less harmonious enclaves need not be dignified with refutation.

Please go about your business, Citizens, as normal. We are perfectly safe, here in the City. Humanity has never been safer.

''Of the City of the Saved... is not a novel of violence and political intrigue, set against the backdrop of humanity’s last resting-place. There is no evidence that it is the second in the series of original Faction Paradox novels.''

Note
A note is found for Laura Tobin on Resurrection Day from a friend who claims to have reconstituted her entire body, mind and soul, down to its finest details. It suggests to her that she pursue a new career in the City of the Saved, as a private investigator.

Voces Populi
A variety of comments are made, snippets of conversation are heard, some people talking about how they miss the stars and how the city exists in a massive dome, others how the architecture is hopelessly derivative of the prior universe, another talking about the note he found when he was resurrected, various religious ideas, racism is not extinguished in this new world, lectures in a university, and the idea that there are one hundred undecillion stories in the city, if each person only has one.

Book One
A parade of Romans proceeds through the Romuline District, past the Uptime Gate leading back from the city into the universe before, visitors stopping to watch as they honor Civitata, the goddess of the city, and the guests of honor, Scipio Africanus and Gaius Ignotus, the grandson of Cassius. A horse gets loose, and takes its rider, a small child, under the hoof of a rhinoceros like creature before someone pulls them out from under its hooves, unharmed. Moving into the arena, Urbanus Ignotus and his great grandfather, Lucius Cassius Ignotus watch a fight below between cloned humans and constructs, as Cassius remarks to Urbanus, one of his many relatives, that since he's heard that Urbanus has some skill at business, he's being sent to Kempes District to represent the interests of the Ignotian family in a business development taking place there.

Laura Tobin sulked around her Paynesdown office as Rick Kithred enters, telling her that someone is out back, suggesting it might be the antichrist. Rick rambles about how he's been getting information from the creator of the universe they inhabit, and how they created an entity identical to itself in every way, but now they're at war, and have taken incarnate forms, though things have become messy in the communication. As he says this, half listening, Tobin yanks the door open to find a figure in a dark cloak, a tricorn hat and antlers. Rick immediately identifies him as Godfather Avatar, and while Tobin orders him out, he offers her a job, telling her about a citizen of the City who has died within it, Councillor Ved Mostyn. He leaves his number, in case she changes her mind.

Julian White Mammoth Tusk, shaking off a hangover, begins to pull himself together, getting ready for his work for Councillor Mesh Cos, when members of the Great Detective Agency called him, stating they had a sighting of Councillor Cos' daughter, Lon Shel. However, also noting that Julian and Lon used to be romantically involved, they declined to provide further comment without payment from the Councillor, believing Julian to be acting alone. Julian traipsed over to the council house to find quite a commotion, before running into Mesh Cos, who informs him that, yes, Lon Shel has been sighted in the Hensile District, but she has to let him go as her researcher, before telling him that there's something else he can do for her.

Urbanus, as a young scion of house Ignotus, was a priest of Neptunus and Dis Pater, and so gave a brief prayer to each, before traveling to the temple of Civitata and asking the priests for a sacrifice for his journey. After the pig finished squealing, his old tutor, the hermaphrodite slave Tiresias caught up with him, and informed him that he would be accompanying him on his journey. The two traveled in a tube, as Tiresias explained to Urbanus how some of the teachings he had grown up on were foisted upon him by his great-grandfather, how the city was both a stranger place than he expected, and that the influence of the Romuline District was less than he might have expected.

Meanwhile, back in the Romuline District, the slave Dedalus woke up and began to yell at his fellow slaves, demanding to know where Tiresias was. Bloody man drugged him. Dedalus checked the time and roared, noting that he was supposed to be taking Urbanus to Kempes. The slaves laughed at him for letting Tiresias drug him.

Tobin rode a tube out of Paynesdown, on her way to her cover story as Councillor Mesh's new researcher, having bought a datafetch with her first payment for the job. The fetch quickly brought her up to speed on the case, such as the biodata analysis showing that it's most definitely a real person dead, and the Councillor was a pseudo masochist, enjoying faking pain being inflicted on himself. Tobin joined a meeting between Councillors Ignotus, who represents the Romuline District, a republic that has declared all former Emperors traitors to Rome that should be tried, and Cos, discussing the Manfolk, who are attempting to reconcile with the rest of the city, disagreeing on the issue. Tobin came to the conclusion quite quickly as the meeting progressed that Ignotus also was aware of Mostyn's death. Tobin then retired for lunch, where her datafetch told her that the security feeds at the restaurant had been fed a false image, and, while relaying alibis for various Councillors, also mentioned the rumor that her predecessor, the Neanderthal, had been fired under pretext. Tobin suspected that this was done to lure other groups to place people to fill the position, and had no qualms with it, before finishing her meal and heading to inquire about her attempts to contact Councillor Allisheer St Marx. St Marx's husband, Professor Anthony Fisher, suggested that if the matter was urgent it could be best handled at the reception St Marx was hosting the next evening, and he had no idea where she currently was, as her current Mayoral campaign was taking up quite a lot of time, let alone without Mostyn, a close ally getting himself killed. Tobin retired to sit in on a conversation between Mesh Cos and a delegation from a female faction of Manfolk, who attempt to convince her that they have the men under control, before departing for her apartments as a researcher.

Julian moved from hyperspace jump to hyperspace jump in RealSpace on assignment from Mesh Cos, headed towards the lost planet of Erath. He reaches it, and deploys probes down to the surface, which are promptly destroyed by the planet's defenses. Frustrated, he pulls out the code and frequency given to him by Mesh Cos and transmits down to the planet.

Alisheer St Marx met with a houseworlder named Handramit, welcoming him as a visiting researcher.

Tobin enters her apartment to find Godfather Avatar inside. Frustrated with his trespassing, she tells him her current theories when he asks for an update on her progress, discussing the close political relationship between Mostyn and St Marx, along with the lack of information from Mostyn prior to the city, and coming to the conclusion that he was a houseworld agent disguised through biodata technology as a human. Avatar laughed, explaining that Mostyn was a member of the Faction, and that he and St Marx were romantically involved. Enraged and embarrassed, Tobin ordered him out of her apartment. Her wallscreen flickered at an incoming call from Compassion III, who informed Tobin that people had been stalking her, believing that they were attempting to get to Tobin through her. Tobin, recognizing that her later iterations were the closest thing she had to a family, stated that she'd be over in a few hours to see what was going on. She walked out and thugs jumped her, shooting bullets. As someone got caught in the crossfire, Tobin quickly realized that the assailants had potent weapons

Urbanus, now in Kempes, records a message to send back to his great grandfather. He explains that he believes he has found what he has been sent to find, when he was in a tavern he observed a barfight between two individuals and one of them was actually harmed. Having been around the fights so long, he could tell that these were not automata, and they didn't seem to be outsiders. He concluded that since they couldn't possibly be citizens someone has figured out how to create vulnerable homunculi. He then recommends that the family attempt to buy out the technology as soon as possible. Back in his boarding house, the landlady brings him a letter from Tiresias.

Tiresias, or Keth Marrane, as he began once more to think of himself, walked towards the nearby district of Manfold, contemplating whether his people would have him back. Walking into the district, Marrane noticed something had was very off. It normally took quite a lot to scare the manfolk, but this area of the district was largely deserted, people darting around, cars driving solo. This terrified Marrane.

Elsewhere in Manfold, a minor war was going on. A group of college students had come under attack from unknown forces, some of them inexplicably being wounded, and one even dying. A counter offensive begins to be launched by Melicia Clutterbuck, a professor at the university and her students.

Mesh Cos remembers the end of humanity. How the last human race predicted their destruction at the hands of the Great Houses, and, fearful for the entire history of humanity being retro-annulled. So the last generation of humanity poured their collective genius into creating a final memorial to remember humanity. And then Cos stowed away on a timeship and stole the knowledge from the houseworld needed to finish the project, but not before alerting a member of House Mirraflex. In the end they created the Universal Machine, all human tools in one, as the House weaponry descended. And it spoke. "Mesh Cos, I will remember you."

Cousin Porsena realizes that he's dead, but hears a voice, taunting him, torturing him.

Urbanus stamped towards Manfold, having read the note from Tiresias which stated he was returning home and immediately interpreting it as a scheme by unknown actors to kidnap his tutor. However, as he enters the district, he is grabbed by some Manfolk and is kidnapped, put in chains, and treated to harsh conditions, for the first time in his life feeling real pain.

Across the city an infection spreads. Wherever it goes objects and people that are touched become those of the invader. Potent weapons move throughout the city bit by bit.

Book Two
To be added

Characters

 * Compassion
 * Laura Tobin
 * Invincible Man
 * Serendipity
 * Scipio Africanus
 * Gaius Ignotis
 * Philip K. Dick
 * Gally Redcross
 * Lief
 * Catriona
 * Krish
 * Godfather Avatar
 * Julian White Mammoth Tusk
 * Mesh Cos
 * Sherlock Holmes
 * Urbanus Ignotus
 * Lucius Cassius Ignotus
 * Handramit
 * Big Finnish Benny
 * Porsena
 * Melicia Clutterbuck
 * Self
 * Jezebel
 * Lo
 * Vittoria Cellini
 * Emblem Matchmark
 * Charles Dodgson
 * Konrad Lorenz
 * Krisztina-Judit Németh

Continuity

 * Laura Tobin previously appeared in PROSE: Interference - Book One and Alison Tobin previously appeared in PROSE: Ship Of Fools.
 * Laura occasionally recalls her previous interactions with Faction Paradox and her life on Anathema. (PROSE: Interference)
 * Laura has been told that the final remembrance of herself, Compassion V, was kidnapped by the Great Houses (PROSE: Interference, The Blue Angel et al) and transformed into a timeship. (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon et al) Laura notes that Compassion probably had an issue with the violation of privacy. (PROSE: The Fall of Yquatine)
 * Siloportem, the Thirteen-Day Republic, the Timebeast Assault, and House Mirraflex are mentioned. (PROSE: The Book of the War)
 * Various "corporate-cult" cliques of the 20th and early 21st centuries were headed by individuals wearing Avatar's distinctive antlered bone-mask. (PROSE: This Town Will Never Let Us Go)
 * The Universal Machine was nearly manifested on 21st century Earth. (PROSE: This Town Will Never Let Us Go)
 * Machines among the Universal Machine's resurrected human technology include "archaic wooden-looking automata with mask-faces" (AUDIO: In the Year of the Cat, TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang) and a "locomoting geodesic spheroid with integrated flame-throwing device". (TV: The Chase)
 * Faction Paradox: a Negotiable History by Selene Walmric reappears in PROSE: Weapons Grade Snake Oil.
 * The Great Detective Agency reappears in PROSE: Tales of the Great Detectives.
 * The Civil War is further explored in PROSE: A Hundred Words from a Civil War, Apocalypse Day, God Encompasses, and Tales of the Civil War.