‘No. Nothing registering.’
Oscar slid up into the cabin to find the Dreamers and a miserable, shaking Corrie-Lyn giving him an anxious look. Troblum’s helmet almost touched the ceiling. His armour had reverted to shabby grey again. He still hadn’t opened it up.
Beckia arrived, swiftly followed by Tomansio. The cabin was feeling quite cramped even with the furniture withdrawn.
‘Up and out,’ Tomansio said. ‘Come on Oscar, let’s go.’
Oscar bit back any immediate comment and told the smart-core to take them back through the hole Finitan had created in the dome above. ‘We could make one flyover,’ he said.
‘They could have teleported him to any compartment on the Spike by now,’ Beckia said sadly. ‘Or even into a starship. He could already be ftl.’
‘No he’s not,’ Oscar said, reviewing the sensor records as they passed through the mini-hurricane surrounding the hole and emerged back into space. ‘Nothing’s gone ftl in the last ten minutes.’
‘Oscar, drop it,’ Tomansio said. ‘He’s gone, and hopefully he took a whole bunch of the Chikoya bastards with him. When we get back to Far Away you’re welcome to attend the ceremony of renewal. We’ll grow him a new body and download his secure memory store into it. He’ll spend the whole evening teasing you about worrying.’
Oscar wanted to hit something. ‘All right.’ But I know something is wrong. He concentrated on the starship’s sensors. The Mellanie’s Redemption had left its landing pad at the same time as the Elvin’s Payback. Now it was holding station five thousand kilometres on the Spike’s darkside. He told the smartcore to rendezvous with it.
‘Troblum, we’re safe now.’
‘Good,’ the armoured figure said.
‘You can take your helmet off.’
There was a long pause while the big figure did nothing. Then horizontal lines of malmetal on the helmet flowed apart, leaving three segments on each side. They swung open.
Oscar tried to be neutral. Troblum’s face was fat and heavy, his skin an unhealthy pallor, and dribbling with sweat. Patchy stubble coated his cheeks and chins. ‘Hello,’ he said sheepishly to his audience. He couldn’t meet anyone’s gaze.
‘Thank you for offering your help,’ Inigo said. ‘We appreciate it.’
Troblum gave a rough nod, but didn’t say anything.
Oscar didn’t like the idea of relying on him one bit, there didn’t seem to be any empathy. Troblum was not a likeable person, and he’d decided that from just the half-dozen sentences the man had spoken. Not that there was anything they could do about it. I’m committed. Again. Let’s hope I don’t have to die this time.
‘So how did the Chikoya find you?’ Liatris asked Inigo.
‘Plenty of people in Octoron would know where Ozzie lives,’ Aaron said. ‘I’m surprised it took them this long, actually.’
‘I’m just glad you arrived before they did,’ Corrie-Lyn said. She was still trembling, even though she’d got a chair to extend and was sitting all hunched up. ‘We wouldn’t have stood a chance otherwise.’
‘Don’t be so sure,’ Beckia said. ‘Whatever that Myraian had was more than they could deal with.’
‘Is she a Silfen?’ Tomansio asked.
‘No,’ Araminta-two said. ‘I would have known that. She was human.’
‘I think “was” is right,’ Oscar said. ‘She’s not post-physical, but she’s certainly more than Higher.’
‘Speaking of not being physical,’ Aaron said. ‘Ozzie?’
‘Lady alone knows,’ Inigo said. ‘My physics is centuries out of date, but whatever he did was seriously advanced.’
‘He transmuted his quantum state,’ Troblum said. ‘Somehow he went outside spacetime.’
‘Personal ftl?’ Corrie-Lyn asked incredulously.
‘Probably not. You have to time-phase to do that.’
‘So is he post-physical?’ Oscar asked.
‘I’d say not in the classical sense, but I don’t have any empirical evidence,’ Inigo said. ‘Normally, post-physicals don’t hang around afterwards. And he was dedicated to helping the human race in many ways. I know, we discussed it at length.’
‘Certainly did,’ Aaron murmured.
The Elvin’s Payback drew alongside Mellanie’s Redemption. The two starships manoeuvred for a few seconds before their airlocks touched and sealed. Troblum was the first through, moving surprisingly quickly. The others let him go without comment, though Oscar knew they were all a little perplexed by the enigmatic Higher.
He followed Troblum through the airlocks, emerging into a cabin that was almost the same size as the one he’d just left. A very attractive girl was waiting there, dressed in old-fashioned clothes; her hands pressed anxiously against the chest of Tro-blum’s armour as she asked if he was all right. Oscar frowned at the sight. There’d been no mention of a companion. And with the best will in the universe, he couldn’t imagine a girl like that partnered with Troblum. Perhaps she was his daughter? But there’d been no reference to a family in his file.
The others were crowding into the cabin; they all shared an identical mildly surprised expression as they saw the girl. Gaiamote emissions were hurriedly reduced.
‘This is Catriona,’ Troblum mumbled.
‘Hello,’ she smiled shyly.
Oscar saw Tomansio staring at an electronic device on the cabin’s lone extended table. It looked vaguely familiar. Secondary routines ran a comparison search through his storage lacunae. ‘Oh,’ he said softly. His retinas switched to infrared, which confirmed it. Catriona was a solido projection.
Then a trolleybot glided in carrying a medical chamber and everyone was suddenly busy making room. The next trolleybot appeared, and Oscar started to think some of them were going to have to go into suspension before they reached the Void. And given I’m just about redundant now . . .
Troblum opened a low hatch into a companionway. ‘We can stack some of the medical chambers here.’
‘Is this all the space there is?’ Inigo asked dubiously.
‘Once the planetary ftl has launched we can use the forward cargo hold. Until then, we’ll just have to squeeze in.’
The medical chambers kept coming. Two fitted into the narrow companionway. Troblum got the cabin bulkhead to extrude thin shelves. There was just enough height for the big dark sarcophagi to be stacked three high. That left everyone else with standing room only, and pressed uncomfortably close.
‘I’ll join you later,’ Catriona said, and faded away. Troblum pretended not to notice. His armour suit opened up and he stowed it in a broad luggage cylinder that telescoped up out of the decking. The toga suit he wore was about the shabbiest Oscar had ever seen.
‘Are there any sleep cubicles?’ Beckia asked.
‘Three,’ Troblum told her.
‘One for me,’ she said quickly. Corrie-Lyn claimed the second. Somehow no one asked to use Troblum’s personal cubicle.
It was still cramped in the cabin as the last medical capsule was secured and the airlock flowed shut.
‘So how does this work?’ Tomansio asked.
‘We need an uninhabited star system,’ Troblum explained. ‘Also, the radiation from a nova can sterilize neighbouring star systems. So we really need a star that’s fifteen lightyears away from any H-congruous planet to be safe. There are three candidates within fifty lightyears, an hour’s flight time.’
‘Closest one then,’ Inigo said.
‘That’s the one furthest from the Void.’
‘Oh. Well, how far to—’ He stopped in surprise.
Oscar was suddenly aware of a personal gaiafield emission. The emotional content alone was enough for him to identify Cheriton. A sensation of panicky urgency made his heart flutter in sympathy. The emission strengthened into a gifting. ‘Hello,’ Cheriton’s thoughts said softly. The need for reassurance was overwhelming.
Inigo and Araminta-two exchanged a meaningful look. ‘We’re here,’ their minds chorused.
‘No!?
?? Aaron yelled. He raised his fists in silent exasperation and glared at the two Dreamers.
The gifting had no sight or sound or scent, just Cheriton’s small befuddled thoughts. He was alone, unable to sense anything from his body. Only training and excellent self-control were keeping the fear at bay.
‘Ah.’ Another mind spoke with unnerving serenity. ‘I hadn’t thought of a gaiafield connection. I see you have an unusual number of gaiamotes, with some interesting little tweaks to their structure.’
Oscar thought the newcomer might not even be human. There wasn’t the slightest timbre of emotion to be found anywhere.
‘Go ftl,’ Tomansio told Troblum. The big man had a scared look on his face. He was trembling. Catriona rematerialized in the cabin, and hugged him tightly.
The gifting expanded as Cheriton’s eyes opened. He was staring up at some dark-grey ceiling. A head appeared above him, badly blurred. Focus was gradual, as his sluggish eyes responded to the pale oval shape. It was a woman’s face, framed by short dark hair, smiling benevolently.
‘Oh bollocks,’ Oscar groaned.
‘Hello, boys and girls,’ said the Cat. ‘I can feel you out there. How lovely, you care so much about your friend.’
‘I can’t move,’ Cheriton reported. His self-control was starting to crack. Little bursts of fear were interrupting the gift as if it was conveying electric shocks.
‘Sorry about that,’ the Cat said. One hand lifted up into view; it was drenched with blood. Drops splashed down off each fingertip. ‘But I couldn’t have you running away, now could I?’
‘Cheriton,’ Tomansio said very calmly. ‘You have to trigger your biononic overload. I’m so sorry. We’ll hold the ceremony of renewal when we return home. I swear it.’
‘I can’t,’ Cheriton’s wretched thought came back. ‘I can’t.’
‘We have your secure store. You will lose nothing.’
‘I can’t.’
A sleep cubicle door expanded. Corrie-Lyn ran out and clung to Inigo. She was fighting back tears.
‘Cheriton,’ Tomansio continued, his thoughts becoming stern. ‘You have to do this. She’ll infiltrate. The mission will be compromised.’
‘Help me.’
‘Oh my dears.’ The Cat’s smile hung above them, exuding an icy presence into the cabin even though she was nowhere close. Her lips widened into a mournful smile. ‘The poor boy is telling the truth. He can’t suicide. That’s a weakness, and we all know what I think about being strong, now don’t we? So I’m helping him. I took a nice big pair of scissors to his biononic connections.’ She looked at her glistening scarlet hand, as if puzzled by the colour. ‘I seem to have accidentally cut through a few nerves, too. Well, when I say cut I mean hacked. But on the positive side, nothing will hurt now, so that was kind of me, wasn’t it?’
‘Devil whore,’ Tomansio sent. ‘When this is over, I will find you.’
The Cat laughed. ‘Better than you have tried. But I’m curious, exactly what is “this”? It’s all very exciting, this gathering of yours. I’d like to be a part of it.’
‘Go ftl,’ Aaron said sharply. ‘We have to get a head start. She will find out.’
‘Yes,’ the Cat agreed. ‘Leave him. Leave him with me. All alone. We’ll have such a party together.’
‘Go,’ Cheriton said. ‘Just go. It will be over quickly. I’ll not survive what she’s done to me.’
‘Oh now, my dear, that’s just a big bad lie. I have a medical capsule and I’m not afraid to use it. The two of us will spend what seems like an eternity together. I might even make you Aaron’s replacement. How lucky can you get?’
‘Never.’
‘How lovely. You believe you are strong.’
The gifting was suddenly flooded by a sharply defined image surging up out of Cheriton’s memories. A startled Cheriton found himself seven years old and sitting at the table eating a meal with his parents and two sisters. It was a pleasant time, with his mother and father talking to their children, interested in their day, encouraging questions. A delightful period of his life, suffused by happiness.
Then his father stood up. ‘Come here,’ he beckoned to Cheriton. As the young boy got to his feet his father activated several weapons enrichments.
‘No!’ Cheriton’s frantic thoughts pleaded. ‘No, no, this is me, this is my life.’
‘It was boring, my dear. It makes you weak, and that’s no use to me. I’m going to make it so much more interesting, and a little bit dirtier.’
‘Stop this,’ Aaron said.
‘Or what?’ the Cat asked over the sound of young Cheriton’s distraught sobbing. The sizzle of weapons fire was deafening, blotting out the screams of his sisters. The stench made Oscar want to throw up.
‘Now they don’t exist any more, so let’s edit them out of the rest of your life shall we?’ the Cat said. ‘And while I’m doing that, I’ll have a think about what I can replace them all with. Something yummy, I feel. Something that is going to make you love me.’
‘They are real,’ Tomansio sent with a surge of conviction. ‘Believe it, Cheriton. Know the truth. They did not die like that.’
The gifting degenerated into a chaotic swirl of images and sounds and sensations. Flashes of Cheriton’s family slipped past them, draining to grey nothingness.
‘Bring them back!’ Cheriton wailed.
‘Troblum,’ Tomansio said. ‘Get us out of here.’
Troblum only tightened his hold around Catriona. ‘It’s me she wants. She’ll never stop, not ever. She never does. I know her. I studied what she is. Ask him.’ He pointed at Aaron.
‘I don’t know,’ Aaron said. ‘This is what was done to me.’
‘Bring who back?’ the Cat asked lightly, her mind radiating gentle concern. ‘Who, my dear?’
‘What?’ Cheriton’s thoughts were confused.
‘If she does want you there’s only one place you can go to be safe,’ Oscar said urgently to Troblum, worried by how distraught the big man seemed to be. He clearly wasn’t thinking logically. ‘Take us there,’ he urged.
‘Oh look,’ the Cat said enthusiastically.
Another memory was jerked out of Cheriton’s brain. This time Oscar found himself on a picnic by some small stream. Now Cheriton was the father. His wife and small son were with him.
A deep disquiet bubbled up into Cheriton’s thoughts. This was a lovely time, yet he instinctively knew something was wrong.
‘Stop this,’ Tomansio said. ‘You can extract what you need easily enough.’
‘But this way I get to play first,’ the Cat said. ‘If my Cheriton is to belong to me, he can’t have affections for anyone else, now can he?’
‘Don’t!’
‘Troblum,’ Aaron said with a menacing insistence. ‘Get us out of here.’
‘Please,’ Araminta-two whispered. Her emotional output was rising to a fearsome level as she responded to Cheriton’s terrible degradation. Oscar found the tears welling up in his own eyes at her distress.
‘Like father, like son,’ the Cat said.
Cheriton looked down to find himself holding a pump-action shotgun. ‘No!’ he screamed. ‘No no no no. Stop her, in Ozzie’s name, don’t let her do this.’
‘We can’t leave him,’ Corrie-Lyn sobbed. ‘Not with her. Nobody can face this alone, it’s inhuman.’
A ruby targeting laser stabbed out of Aaron’s fist. It splashed on the solido projector. ‘Now!’ he hissed.
‘Troblum!’ Catriona wailed.
Cheriton’s finger pulled the shotgun’s safety off. It produced a nasty snick that echoed round the starship’s cabin.
‘It’s not real,’ Inigo vowed. ‘Know this, Cheriton, and remember.’
‘Oh dear Jesus,’ Oscar moaned.
‘Do it, you motherfucker,’ Aaron yelled.
The Mellanie’s Redemption flashed into hyperspace.
Justine: Year Forty-Five
Justine eased herself up into a sitting position, for once feeling ev
ery year of her age. Suspension over such a long time was a killer. Every muscle ached. She swore she could hear her joints creak as she moved them. Hunger pangs battled against nausea.
Secondary routines told her it was fifteen years since she’d last been out of the medical capsule for a brief inspection of the Silverbird. Exovision displays and secondary routines gave her a fast review of the starship’s current status. Most on-board systems were functioning within acceptable parameters, though the degradation over the last forty years was noticeable.
Her u-shadow ordered the culinary unit to produce a banana-based protein drink. She grabbed the plastic cup with her third hand and hauled it across the cabin. A couple of minutes after she finished the gooey stuff she actually began to feel a bit better. Her muscles still ached, but with biononic support it was relatively easy to clamber out of the chamber. She wobbled her way over to the bathroom cubical, and ordered the cabin to extrude a shower compartment. Not a spore shower, but a decent original deluge of hot water that she could stand under and feel pounding on her skin. The heat soaked into her flesh, defeating the toxic stiffness that had built up during suspension. Then she rubbed on the gel, relishing the cleansing sensation – as if she really was washing away lethargy. Her skin began to tingle pleasurably. It was only after a while she realized she was probably broadcasting the whole soaped-up-girl-in-a-shower scene to most of the human race. Through Dad!
‘Aww crap!’
A quick sluice of cold water promptly blew away any possible sense of erotica. She stepped out and picked up a thick towel. This whole sharing the body thing was going to take some getting used to. Not that she was particularly prudish, but still, every sensation . . .
Dried and dressed in a decent semi-organic blouse and trouser set she settled back into her favourite chair and reviewed the external sensor images. They were still travelling at point nine lightspeed, streaking through a star system. Two lighthours ahead of them was the unnaturally vivid blue and white speck of an H-congruous world. She began to smile as the sensors found the desert planet Nikran, orbiting thirty million miles closer to the star, while Gicon’s Bracelet was almost on the opposite side of the star, showing as a bright cluster of lightpoints. No doubt about it, the Skylord was taking her directly towards Querencia.