Ammonite Stars (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #4-5 (20 page)

Two people on the same rope was a nightmare, but both knew that it would only be necessary until the swirling backlash of the wind couldn’t penetrate any further into the pothole. From that point on, they could take their time.

At last Ledin reached a ledge some twelve metres down into the cavern, and managed to wedge himself inside it. As soon as he let go of the rope, Six’s job was much easier, and he was able to make it down to the ledge relatively quickly. Once there, they were able to take off their mask packs, and discuss the next move.

“I’m already wedged in here, so you go on down and I will wait.”

“That makes sense. You sure?”

Ledin grinned. “There isn’t much room in here for both of us, so there isn’t much choice about it.”

Six peered into the rocky shelf. He recognized it – he had taken refuge here from the rampaging avians, the previous year. Sure enough, there was barely room for one of them. In fact, he didn’t know how Ledin had managed to cram himself so efficiently into it. There wasn’t much choice; Ledin was right.

Six began the rest of the descent, having hung the mask pack back from his belt. It was cold and damp down in the cavern entrance, but at least the wind was non-existent. He felt for Ledin, having to lie hunched up and crammed into a freezing cold crack in icy and sharp rock. He found himself giving a shudder. Hopefully the scorpions and spiders would stay away from the ledge, at least in the next few minutes.

Six let himself down as quickly as he dared, but even so it was a slow job, made even more difficult by the appearance of the bats, who clearly didn’t appreciate being disturbed by such a large and clumsy being. They periodically dive-bombed him, and it was hard to ignore their sharp teeth and claws. The last ten metres he simply let himself down hand over hand, willing to risk a fall at that distance.

At last he could signal Ledin with a shout back up the dark chimney that he was down. He swung the rope into the cliff face so that his friend would be able to hook it into the cleft in the rock. Then he waited, waving his hands to scare away the occasional incursion of an angry bat. At least, this time, they had not attacked in mass. He hoped that they would leave Ledin reasonably alone too. He still had scars on his own back from the time when he had come down here with Diva to find the Arcan amorphs.

The movement of the rope told Six that the Kwaidian above had managed to extricate himself from his hiding place, and had initiated his descent. Six peered up the dark cliff face above him, but could see nothing. Even the small patch of sky at the very top had disappeared, obscured by the fall of night on Pictoria. Only a shower of rock fragments raining down on him told him that Ledin was making progress. He removed himself hastily from the base of the cliff, taking refuge in a small dip about three metres away. He waited there, ducking occasionally as a flying mammal the size of a small monkey swirled past him.

At last the shards of rock stopped, and Six was able to look up and see that Ledin was also finalizing the descent hand over hand. With a heavy clunk, the Kwaidian landed beside Six, and they exchanged back slaps. The going from here was much easier, and they would be able to make better time.

Six led the way down the scree part of the slope, taking it almost at a run, his feet sinking through the loose shingle on the surface of the rock, almost to his knees in some places. It was a dangerous way to go down the harsh incline, but by far the quickest. He could hear by the crunching which followed him that Ledin was following his lead quite fearlessly. Six grinned to himself. He liked Grace’s choice of a life-partner. Even when the scree gave way to harder rock, they both kept up the pace.

At last they came to the bottom of the slope. Six indicated downwards with his forefinger. “Nearly there,” he said. “All we have to do now is get down this last cliff.”

Ledin peered cautiously over the edge. “Doesn’t look too bad,” he hazarded.

“No. It is much easier than the first stage. The rock down here is smoother, and the handholds are much better.”

They both let themselves over the edge and began to make their way down to the floor of the immense underground cave. The run down the intermediate section had given their hands time to thaw slightly, and they both found this climb down much easier. Ledin was relieved that Grace had not had to face any of this. It would be daylight on the planet soon, he thought. Even going as fast as they could, it had taken him and Six hours to get safely down here. It would have been quite impossible for her to manage, not with her hands as they were now.

ONCE ON THE floor of the cavern, they looked around. They needed to find some of the amorphs, and Six was not exactly keen to go back into the ortholiquid if there weren’t any. He knew that he had been lucky last time, and had no wish to be transported to somewhere even further away. So he examined his surroundings intently.

At first they could find nothing, but then Ledin gave him a small nudge, and pointed to a vague smudge of colour right up under an overhang in the rock.

Six peered. Sure enough, there seemed to be a pile of amorphs in the recess below the overhanging rock. He took a slow step forwards. They were amorphs, but he had never seen them piled on top of one another before. Something was definitely wrong. He took another step, and another, gradually approaching the small beings.

As they got closer they became aware of a humming sound – a high pitched keening – which was emanating from the group. Ledin raised his eyebrows at Six, asking a silent question. Six gave him a shrug back. He had no idea what was going on.

At last they were close enough to make physical contact with the amorphs. Six reached down very gently to touch the one nearest to him. It seemed to shiver at his touch, and morphed slowly away from him. He frowned, and exchanged glances with Ledin again. They both leant forward to touch other amorphs, but none of the small creatures did anything more than cringe away from the touch, and turn a dark colour. In the end, Six grasped one of the small beings in his hand, and pulled it away from the seething mass of creatures in front of him. It turned instantly black, and waves of displeasure traveled up and down the small body. Then it lay still for a few seconds, as if assimilating the knowledge of where it was and who was holding it, before beginning to spin rapidly, until Six was forced to drop it. The amorph edged quickly back into the pile.

Just when he was considering picking up a second creature, there was a movement inside the heap of amorphs. They seemed to part slightly, and one in particular made its way through the gap and hovered in front of the two men. They realized it was one of the trimorph twins.

“Six,” it acknowledged. “You came. Thank you. Ledin, how are you?”

“How can we help?”

“We cannot keep the Dessites at bay. They have formed a mental link, not only over the whole of their own world, but with all their travelers as well, and they are bombarding us with wave after wave of thought patterns. They want Arcan, of course, but they now know about the avifauna amorphs, and we are trying to protect those too. It is impossible; the amorphs are not aware enough to know what is going on, and the Dessites are able to manipulate their brains easily. We are only just hanging on.”

“We can help!”

The twin scintillated. “I doubt that very much. However, if you could try to link with us …”

“Of course. Like we linked with the visitor when Arcan contacted the Dessites?”

“Yes. We think we can integrate you in the group.”

“We will do our best.”

“It is dangerous for you – your brains are not designed for this type of transference.”

“Don’t worry about it. We have to do something.”

“Good. Then sit down, and try to think of nothing. We will pick you up into the rest of the group.”

Six and Ledin did as asked, and tried to make their minds completely blank.

AT THE BEGINNING, there was no change. Neither of the Kwaidians were able to trace any type of contact whatsoever. Then, gradually – so gradually that it was almost imperceptible – there
was
a difference. The emptiness of their minds was replaced by senses. Taste, smell, colour were activated in that part of the brain where they were normally processed. The two men began to feel their minds falling, as if let drop down a hole. But in this case the hole was the group itself. Slowly, they lost their sense of individuality and began to become part of a larger consciousness. It was finally an extension of them; they were part of it themselves.

At that moment, they were no longer in contact with their own bodies. The two empty shells were motionless, away from the buzzing attempts to turn back the Dessites, no longer part of anything, no longer belonging to any higher consciousness.

Six could feel Ledin beside him; a sense of wood, and a deep emerald green. The presence was solid, reassuring, and dependable. Beyond Ledin were the two twins, full of depth and colour. Since they were only small parts of Arcan, they were much less imposing than the full Arcan presence would have been; he found he was able to contemplate them without damage to his senses. Then he became aware of the visitor. The visitor still had the same tinge of temaris on a damp, cool Kwaidian night and appeared as colourless. Six was again intensely aware of his benign presence.

The two new minds slipped in behind the rest. Now they were inside the mindmerge, they could sense the presence of the minds of the avifauna amorphs. These were light and scared; a sea-grey presence with the smell of salt water. Six could feel them acutely; they were trapped in the mindmerge, but trying to pull away.

And behind them was the solid wall of the Dessite minds. It was made up of a seething barrier of individuals, each so tiny that the whole appeared solid. Dimly, he was aware that each individual was marked by its own smell, but that there were so many billions of them that it would be impossible to differentiate between them. The wall was gigantic, unstoppable.

The wall was pressing down on the avifauna minds, and gradually imposing its will upon them. The avifauna amorphs were petrified with fear, and totally unequipped to deal with the threat. They twittered helplessly, pinned in the focus of the Dessite minds, struggling frenetically to free themselves, but not conscious enough to know where to begin. Six and Ledin threw their own minds against the wall, mentally pushing at it as hard as they could, two more ineffectual shimmers of hope against the monumental infinity of the Dessites.

As they pushed, they were aware that Diva and Grace had joined the fight. The twins had managed to find them in the shuttles, then. The cobalt-blue sheen of Diva and the shimmering pearl tinge that was Grace were suddenly alongside the two men, adding their own insubstantial weight against the oppressive wall of Dessite intention.

And there was something else. For off to one side, unconnected to the mixing of minds that Six was in, was the kaleidoscope of colours that was Arcan. He was on his own, surrounded by the wall, which had curved in around him. It seemed to be threatening to engulf him completely. Six gave a mental cry as he saw the huge difficulties of the orthogel entity. The others snapped around, and automatically knew where to look. There was a wave of worry which swept through them all. Six thought about the weapons they had brought down with the shuttles, and found himself shimmering with ironic laughter. What use would they be here? There was no target to acquire. It was hopeless. They could only kill the friendly amorphs. The Dessites would simply disappear.

As the thought came to him, he forced himself to consider it carefully. It might be a welcome release for the avifauna amorphs; he could feel their hysterical fear of the Dessites. If their minds were to be taken over by the distant sea dwellers, they would probably prefer to be dead. But some of these creatures were a million years old! How could they destroy something like that? He pondered their situation with one small part of his mind which had thankfully remained isolated from the chaotic confrontation going on with the attacking consciousness.

Of course, there was the additional disadvantage that if the girls opened fire on the avifauna amorphs from the surface, they would coincidentally rid the world of two Kwaidians who would really rather not depart this life just yet, plus two trimorphs and one rather irritating but quite nice bimorph.

Six pondered. Nothing gave him the right to put his own life above that of Arcan. He and Ledin had spoken about that only a short time ago. They had both known that they might be required to lay down their own lives for a cause that was far more important than any one person’s existence. As he was considering all this, he realized that three of the identities in the mix of the mindmerge had moved closer to him. Suddenly they were touching his mind directly; he could feel the essence of each of them as they did so. And as they touched him, he became sharply aware of the core of each. Diva was crisp and sharp, cobalt and fiery. Grace was pearl, and clarity, soft and hazy. Ledin seemed to match Grace. His emerald blended with her pearl, his patience with her clarity. He was also somehow firm and solid; his was a comforting presence. Six could feel them with the same overwhelming sensory perception he had once felt back on the spaceship with Arcan, when he and the girls had tried to make mental contact with the visitor. He was also aware of how they felt and thought, and it was unnecessary to comment on his idea of firing down into the cavern. They reached an effortless agreement. The sight of the wall towering over Arcan, gradually reducing him to a virtual prisoner within its confines left them no choice. While the shell bodies left behind were motionless, the awareness that made up the four of them made its irrevocable decision.

The whirlpool of colours which was Arcan felt their determination. “NO!” he shouted inside their thoughts. “YOU CANNOT DO THAT!”

But it was the only thing they could do. There was nothing else that could save Arcan from being sucked across the intervening light years between Pictoria and Dessia, nothing else that could save the avifauna amorphs from the Dessites, nothing else that could save their own Binary System. There was, they were all in sad agreement, absolutely no other course of action possible. They let their thoughts touch each other briefly, one last time, before the two girls withdrew from the mindmerge to prepare the charges. They went back to bodies which had streaks of tears running out of their eyes, bodies which were bowed down by the terrible thing that had become necessary.