The young man shrugged. “It’s Joshua, actually.”
Gaura felt his bottled-up emotions come close to brimming over. “Thank you, Joshua. From all of us.”
Joshua nodded shortly, the faintest blush colouring his cheeks. The woman beside him caught his discomfort and smiled secretively.
> Tiya said in satisfaction. >
Joshua introduced Sarha and Dahybi then apologized for the acceleration.
“But I had to stop us dead inside the ring,” he said. “If we had gone through, south of the ecliptic, the other starships would have seen us, and come after us. Their drives could burn through the particles just as easily as Lady Mac did, then we would have been sitting ducks for their combat wasps.”
“I wasn’t complaining. In fact, we’re really all rather surprised that we’re still alive.”
“How are your people holding out?”
“Liatri, our doctor, says none of us have acquired any fatal internal injuries. Melvyn Ducharme is helping her review my people in your surgery cabin. Metabolic scanning has revealed several broken bones and a lot of pulled muscles. She was most concerned about internal membrane damage, it could prove a problem unless treated swiftly. But Melvyn Ducharme is rigging up a processor block that can interface her with your medical nanonic packages.”
Joshua blinked, nonplussed.
“Our own medical packages all use bitek processors,” Gaura explained.
“Ah, right.”
“Liatri says we’ll pull through. Mind you, it’s going to take a long fortnight for the bruising to fade.”
“You’re not the only one,” Sarha grimaced. “And you should take a look at where my bruises are.”
Joshua leered. “Promises, promises.”
“That was an awesome piece of flying you pulled off back there, Joshua,” Gaura said. “Eluding two starships ...”
“It’s in the blood,” he said, not quite nonchalantly. “Glad to be of help, really. We certainly haven’t been much use to anybody else since we arrived in this star system.”
> Tiya urged. >
>
>
Gaura smiled awkwardly. “Joshua, exactly who are you? I mean, why come to Lalonde?”
“Er ... Good question. Technically, Lady Mac is part of the Lalonde government’s starship fleet, helping to restore civil order. The Confederation Navy squadron has other ideas, and according to them we’re under arrest.”
“Navy squadron?”
Joshua sighed theatrically, and started to explain.
The Edenists crowding the cabin in life-support capsule D, which doubled as the surgery, listened with a mixture of gloomy dismay and confusion.
“This sequestration ability sounds appalling,” Gaura said, summarizing the Edenists’ unified feelings.
“You should see the red cloud,” Joshua told him. “That really gives me the creeps. It’s an instinct thing with me, I know it’s wrong.”
Gaura gestured to the console they had been consulting; its holoscreen was alive with blue and yellow data displays. “What is our current situation?”
“I’m playing a waiting game,” Joshua said, and datavised an order into the console processor. The holoscreen switched to an image from an external sensor cluster, showing a very dark expanse of crinkled rock.
Scale was impossible to gauge. “See that? That’s the largest ring particle I could find at such short notice, near-solid stone about two hundred and fifty metres in diameter. It’s twenty-five kilometres inward from the northern surface. We’re keeping station directly underneath it, and I do mean directly; Lady Mac’s forward hull is about three metres away. Right now Warlow and Ashly are outside drilling load pins into the rock so we can tether Lady Mac in place with silicon fibre. That way I won’t have to use the thrusters to hold our position. Maranta and Gramine would be able to spot any ion plumes easily when the rings calm down. Our on-board electronic systems are designed for minimal emission anyway, but with that rock as a shield we’ll make absolutely sure we’re undetectable to their sensors. It can also absorb our thermal output as well; I’ve deployed the thermo-dump panels so that they’re radiating all our excess heat directly at the rock, it will take months to seep through. All the drive tubes and the five main fusion generators have been powered down, so our magnetic flux is negligible. We’re operating on one auxiliary fusion generator which is well screened by the hull. All in all, it’s a very reasonable position. As long as Maranta and Gramine stay north of the ring we’ll be invisible to them.”
“And if one of them moves to a southern inclination?”
“There is fifty-five kilometres’ worth of particles between us and the southern surface. It’s a risk I’m prepared to take, especially with the ring so electrically and thermally active right now.”
“I see. How long do you think we’ll be here?”
Joshua pulled a face. “Hard to say. Right now we’re only a hundred and seventy thousand kilometres above Murora, Lady Mac needs to be at least two hundred thousand out before she can jump. So if we want to leave, we either wait until Maranta and Gramine decide to call it a day and quit, or hang on until their search pattern carries them far enough away to allow us to make a dash for a jump coordinate. Whichever one it is, I think we’ll be here for some time. Weeks at least.”
“I understand. Do you have enough fuel and supplies to last that long?”
“Yes, fuel’s down to forty-seven per cent, those high-gee manoeuvres use up cryogenics at a hell of a rate, but what’s left can supply our present consumption rate for years. So that’s no problem. But we’ll have to monitor our environmental systems closely given there’s thirty-six of you. The limiting factor is going to be food; that’ll have to be rationed pretty carefully. All of which means I really don’t want you to take your children out of zero-tau just yet.”
“Of course. They will be much better off in the pods anyway. But what about your mercenary scout team?”
Joshua exchanged a significant glance with Sarha. “Not a damn thing we can do about that. They’re tough and they’re mean. If anyone can survive down there, they can.”
“I see. Well if the opportunity arises to go back, then please do not hesitate on our account.”
“We’ll see. It would be difficult jumping to Lalonde with Maranta and Gramine following us. Ideally I’d like to hang on until they leave Murora. Our major problem is going to be tracking them. When you came in we were discussing mounting a sensor cluster on the other side of the rock. Before we started hiding we caught a glimpse of their ion thrusters, so we know they’re still out there. But we have the same problem as them, this ring is pure hell to see through. Without reliable data we’re at a nasty disadvantage.”
“Ah,” Gaura smiled happily. “I think I may be able to help there.” >
> the habitat replied. >
An image formed in his mind, the dusky plain of the ring slicing across Murora, blanched of most colour. The habitat’s external sensitive cells could just sense a broad zone agitated by heat and electricity. Two dull specks were poised slightly above it, ion thrusters firing intermittent tattoos to maintain their attitude.
> “Aethra can see them.”
Joshua brightened. “Jesus, that’s great news. They’re both still here, then?”
“Yes.”
“How is Aethra?” he asked belatedly.
“The shell was extensively damaged. However, there is no catastrophic internal injury, its main organs remain functional. It is going to require a considerable amount of repair work before it can resume its growth. My colleagues, the ones who were killed in t
he attack, their memories have been stored by the personality.”
“That’s something, then.”
“Yes.”
“Can Aethra work out the exact spacial locations of the other starships for me? If we can keep updated I’ll know when we can risk breaking cover and flying for a jump coordinate.”
“I can go one better than that.” Gaura slipped a processor block from his breast pocket. The slim palm-sized plastic rectangle had produced a spectacular gold and blue bruise on his pectoral muscle during the flight. “Aethra can communicate through the bitek processor, and if you can interface this with your flight computer you’ll be able to receive the images directly. And the starships hunting us will never know, affinity is undetectable.”
“Wonderful.” Joshua accepted the block. It was slightly smaller than the Kulu Corporation model he used. “Sarha, get to work on an interface. I want Aethra tied in to our navigation processor array pronto.”
“Consider it done.” She plucked it from his fingers and datavised her systems memory core for appropriate electronic module specifications and adaptor programs.
Joshua thought the Edenist station chief still looked wrecked. “You know, we come from Tranquillity,” he said. “It’s Lady Mac’s home port.”
Gaura looked at him, a surprised light showing in his worn eyes. “Yes?”
“Yeah. I’ve lived there all my life, I was born there, so I know how beautiful habitats are, and I don’t just mean their physical structure either. So I suppose I can empathize with what you’re feeling more than most Adamists. Don’t worry. We’ll get out of this and bring help back for Aethra, and Lalonde too. All we need now is time, and we’re home free. Fortunately time is one thing we have plenty of.”
“So you’re not Confederation Navy marines then?” Horst asked, trying to hide his disappointment.
“No, I’m sorry, Father,” Reza said. “The LDC hired us to scout round the Quallheim Counties and find out what was going on down here. I believe you can say we’ve certainly done that.”
“I see.” Horst looked round the simplicity of the Tyrathcan tower house’s hall, its smooth curves illuminated by the light stick, solid shadows blending seamlessly with dark-grey arches. The red light outside was kept at bay, silhouetting the hole sliced into the doorway. In spite of the warmth he felt chilled.
“How did you know we were here?” Pat asked.
“I didn’t, not that you were in this particular tower. We saw the starships arrive yesterday morning, of course. Then in the afternoon there was an explosion on the river.”
“The kroclion,” Ariadne said.
“Could be,” Reza said. “Go on.”
“Young Russ saw it,” Horst said. “I thought it best that we keep a watch on the savannah; that morning was the first time the red cloud appeared, and with the starships as well—it seemed sensible. By the time I got my optical intensifier band on there was only the smoke left. But it didn’t look like anything the possessed do, so I rode out to see. I thought—I prayed—that it might have been the marines. Then that bedamned kroclion was skulking about in the grass. I just kept going up the river to keep ahead of it. And here we are. Delivered up to you by God’s hand.” He lifted his lips in a tired victorious smile. “Mysterious ways His wonders to perform.”
“Certainly does,” Reza said. “That kroclion was probably the mate of the one we killed.”
“Yes. But tell me of the starships. Can they take us off this terrible planet? We saw an almighty battle in orbit before the red cloud swelled over the sky.”
“We don’t know much about the events in orbit. But that was a fight between some of our starships and a Confederation Navy squadron.”
“Your starships? Why did they fight the navy?”
“Some of them. The possessed got into orbit on the spaceplanes which brought us down, they hijacked the starships and took over the crew.”
“Merciful Lord.” Horst crossed himself. “Are there any starships left now?”
“No. Not in orbit.”
Horst’s shoulders sagged. He sipped listlessly at the carton of hot coffee they had given him. This was the cruellest blow of all, he thought wretchedly, to be shown salvation shining so close and then to have it snatched away as my fingers close around it. The children cannot be made to suffer any more, merciful Lord hear me this once, they cannot.
Russ was sitting in Kelly’s lap. He seemed shy of the combat-boosted mercenaries, but was content to let her spray a salve on his saddle sores. She smoothed down the damp hair on his forehead, and grinned as she offered him one of her chocolate bars. “You must have been through a lot,” she said to Horst.
“We have.” He eyed Shaun Wallace, who had kept to the back of the hall since he had arrived. “The Devil has cursed this planet to its very core.
I have seen such evil, foul, foul deeds. Such courage too. I’m humbled, the human spirit is capable of quite astonishing acts of munificence when confronted by fundamental tests of virtue. I have come to believe in people again.”
“I’d like to hear about it some time,” she said.
“Kell’s a reporter,” Sewell said mockingly. “Someone else who makes you sign contracts in blood.”
She glared at the big mercenary. “Being a reporter isn’t a crime. Unlike some people’s occupation.”
“I shall be happy to tell you,” Horst said. “But later.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ll be safe enough now you’re hooked up with us, Father,” Reza said.
“We’re planning to head south, away from the cloud. And the good news is that we’re expecting a starship to come back for us in a couple of days. There’s plenty of room for you and Russ on our hovercraft. Your ordeal’s over.”
Horst let out an incredulous snort, then put the coffee carton down ruing his slowness. “Oh, my Lord, I haven’t told you yet, have I? I’m sorry, that ride must have addled my brain. And I’ve had so little sleep these last days.”
“Told us what?” Reza asked edgily.
“I gathered what children I could after the possession began. We are all living together in one of the savannah homesteads. They must be terrified. I never intended to be away all night.”
There was complete silence for a second, even the red cloud’s hollow thunder was hushed.
“How many children?” Reza asked.
“Counting young Russ here, twenty-nine.”
“Fucking hell.”
Horst frowned and glanced pointedly at Russ who was staring at the mercenary leader with apprehensive eyes over his half-eaten chocolate.
Kelly held him a fraction tighter.
“Now what?” Sal Yong asked bluntly.
Horst looked at him in some puzzlement. “We must go back to them in your hovercraft,” he said simply. “I fear my poor old horse can travel no further. Why? Have you some other mission?”
The combat-adept mercenary kept still. “No.”
“Where exactly is this homestead?” Reza asked.
“Five or six kilometres south of the jungle,” Horst replied. “And forty minutes’ walk east from the river.”
Reza datavised his guidance block for a map, and ran a search through LDC habitation records, trying to correlate. “In other words, under the red cloud.”
“Yes, that abomination spread at a fearsome rate yesterday.”
“Reza,” Jalal said. “The hovercraft can’t possibly carry that many people. Not if we’re going to keep ahead of the cloud.”
Horst looked at the hulking combat adept in growing amazement. “What is this you are saying? Can’t? Can’t? They are children! The eldest is eleven years old! She is alone under that Devil’s spew in the sky. Alone and frightened, holding the others to her as the sky turns to brimstone and the howling demon horde closes in. Their parents have been raped by unclean spirits. They have nothing left but a single thread of hope.” He stood abruptly, clamping down on a groan as his ride-stiffened muscles rebelled against the sharp
movement, face reddening in fury. “And you, with your guns and your mechanoid strength, you sit here thinking only of saving your own skin. You should run to embrace the possessed, they would welcome you as their own. Come along, Russ, we’re going home.”
The boy started sobbing. He struggled in Kelly’s grip.
She climbed to her feet, keeping her arms protectively around his thin frame. Quickly, before she lost all courage, she said: “Russ can have my place on the hovercraft. I’ll come with you, Father.” Retinas switched to high resolution, she looked at Reza. Recording.
“I knew you’d be trouble,” he datavised.
“Tough,” she said out loud.
“For a reporter you have very little understanding of people if you think I’d desert his children after all we’ve seen.”
Kelly pouted her lips sourly and switched her visual focus to Jalal. That exchange would have to be edited out.
“Nobody is going to leave the children behind, Father,” Reza said.
“Believe me, we have seen what happens to children driven away by the possessed. But we are not going to help them by rushing in blindly.” And he stood, rising a good thirty centimetres higher than the priest.
“Understand me, Father?”
A muscle twitched on Horst’s jaw. “Yes.”
“Good. Now they obviously can’t stay at the savannah homestead. We have to take them south with us. The question is how. Are there any more horses at the homestead?”
“No. We have a few cows, that’s all.”
“Pity. Ariadne, can the hovercraft carry fifteen children apiece?”
“Possibly, if we ran alongside. But it would put a hell of a strain on the skirt impellers. And it would definitely drain the electron matrices inside of six or seven hours.”
“Running like that would drain us too,” Pat said.
“I can’t even recharge the matrices, not under this cloud,” Ariadne said.
“The solar-cell panels don’t receive anything like enough photonic input.”
“We might be able to build some kind of cart,” Theo suggested. “Hitch it up to the cows. It would be better than walking.”
“It would take time,” Sal Yong said. “And there’s no guarantee it would work.”