Ammonite Stars (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #4-5 (21 page)

UP AT THE shuttles, Diva and Grace found that they couldn’t speak. No words were wanted or needed. The day had broken sometime previously, so together, with white, stunned faces, they began to set up the two big missiles they had brought down. Diva did lean over to Grace once, but it was only to help her with a particularly difficult catch, which the Sellite girl’s own hands had been unable to unfasten. Their eyes, deadened by the shock, met. Both girls were in agonizing pain from the task they had been set, both horribly aware that there could be no going back.

The seconds passed like years, the minutes like centuries. Their heartbeats stuttered and once or twice seemed to stop, unable to cope with the thought of what they had to do. But they were not to be lucky enough to escape into death; their destiny was to watch the consequences of their actions, to know what they had done. Grace could feel her soul falter, but the rest of her went on grimly with the task she had been given. The touch of Ledin’s consciousness still lingered in her own mind, a trace of sensation that was slowly dissipating, a memory that was sadly leaving her.

Then she was ready. She looked over at Diva, only to find the Coriolan girl was already looking at her, having finished her preparations earlier. Diva gave a sort of sob, and then a nod, holding up a hand, and beginning to countdown from five, one finger disappearing behind the back of her hand with each number.

“Five—” One finger disappeared.

“Four—” Another followed.

“Three—”

But she got no further. There was a sudden whoosh and the sky was at that moment full of avifauna – the original kind with large wings and beaks. They were coasting in on the girls, and squawking at the top of their lungs. The first two birds thudded directly into the girls, knocking them feet away from the missile launchers. Others thumped to ground nearby, and then hurried over to surround the girls, both of whom had been winded by the first thundering blow, and were struggling to get their breath.

The launchers were displaced from their targeted position, and then knocked over into the dust; the girls were smothered by feathered wings, and then dragged away from the shuttles by knife-sharp claws which they were unable to avoid. The avifauna systematically did their best to pound the smaller weapons and the two missile launchers into the dry Pictoria sand, and then sat back and cackled at each other.

Diva was the first to open her eyes. The scene around her was chaotic, and the only thing that was abundantly clear to her was that there would be no weapons fired on the cavern. Everything they had brought down from the shuttle had been rendered temporarily useless. She felt something hot and sticky running into her eyes, and put up a hand to find that she had been sliced by one of the wicked claws. She tried to wipe aside some of the blood, but it still flowed freely into one of her eyes. Diva looked around. Grace was some metres away, lying prone on the sandy ground. Her eyes were open, and for one ghastly moment Diva’s heart leapt into her throat, warning her that Grace might be dead. Then the Sellite girl moved and blinked in the light, and Diva breathed a sigh of relief.

“Are you all right?” she whispered.

“I think so. What happened?”

“The avifauna have gone mad, and are acting as if they were intelligent.”

“What does that mean?”

Diva shrugged. “I guess it means that the Dessites have managed to take over the avifauna amorphs’ minds, and they have somehow been able to pass that on to the avifauna themselves.”

“What about Six and Ledin, and the twins and the visitor? Do you think they will be all right?”

Diva blew a ragged sigh. “Better than they would have been had we fired those missiles. I never thought I could be glad and so sad at the same time. What about us? Are you up to escaping from this lot?”

Grace moved slightly, testing various parts of her anatomy. “I’m all right,” she said, wincing slightly at certain movements. “What do you want to do?”

“Our job has to be to get out of here. Our only chance is to get to one of the shuttles and then up to the Independence. From there we might have a chance of doing something about this.”

Grace considered, and looked cautiously around her. “There are an awful lot of avians here,” she said doubtfully. “And the nearest shuttle is twenty metres away.”

“But they are slower on the ground. And they are bigger than we are. It is bound to take them longer to get into motion.”

“Ye-e-s. On the other hand, they can probably reach us in one single pounce from ten metres away.”

Diva blew another sigh. “True. What else can we do?”

Grace thought again. “Nothing. Unless we get into a shuttle and manage to close the hatch we are stuck with the avifauna. And we don’t know what the Dessites are planning for us. We are only 3b’s, remember. They don’t think very much of category three beings, as I recall.”

“And we were about to blow up all the amorphs in the cavern. I don’t suppose we are the flavour of the day.”

“No. So we might as well try it, don’t you think?”

Grace closed her eyes for such a long time that Diva wondered if she was about to pass out. When she reopened them there was a fierce determination that Diva hadn’t expected to see.

“No,” the Sellite girl said quite resolutely. “I don’t. I think we should divide. Divide and conquer, they say, don’t they? Well, let’s do that.”

Diva stared at her. “What on Sacras are you talking about?”

“You are the fastest of us, and you still have all your fingers. If I let myself lag slightly behind, there is a faint chance that they will go for me first, and that I can give you that extra couple of seconds you might need.”

“I won’t leave you,” Diva said flatly.

“Diva, think about it, please. Somebody has to get away, and you will be far more use than I would. If you wait for me to get to the shuttle they will be on us before we can close the hatch. You know that they will! Please be sensible. You are stronger than me, braver than me. You will stand a much better chance of saving us. Please, Diva!”

“You are wrong about one thing. You are one of the bravest people I know.” Diva sniffed.

Grace pressed home her advantage. “I’m right, and you know it. This is the same as the missiles, Diva. You can’t think about what you want. You have to think about what is best for Arcan.”

Diva gave her friend an agonized look, and tears started in her eyes. “I … I …”

“You have to, Diva. It is the only way.”

Diva kept miserably silent, and then reluctantly nodded her head.

“Good.” Grace breathed in slowly. “On my mark, then. And Diva—”

“What?”

“—Don’t look back, and don’t hesitate, will you?”

Diva pressed her teeth together. Then she nodded her head again, not trusting her voice to speak. It was Grace who had to start the countdown.

“Ready ... Aim ... FIRE!”

Both girls hurled themselves towards the nearest shuttle as fast as they could. Grace flapped her arms and fell in directly behind Diva, still running almost as fast as she could. All that was necessary was that she protect the Coriolan girl’s back as she raced to safety. She didn’t want to get too far behind, because then the avians might be able to attack both of them separately.

Sand particulates sprayed up behind them as they flung themselves towards safety. Grace could hardly move her legs fast enough to keep up with her body. She gulped back a breath of the icy air of Pictoria and for a moment glanced up at the green and blue streaks against the yellowish atmosphere. The emerald green streaks reminded her of Ledin, and she smiled to herself. He was still with her. Always would be, she thought.

And then she didn’t have time for any more thought. Two enormous talons sank into her back, tearing at muscle and bone alike. As if in slow motion, she saw herself tumbling down onto the ground, felt another heavy blow as a second avian smashed into the first, and then all her breath was pulverized out of her lungs as she landed and the combined weight of both avifauna hammered into her.

As she desperately but unsuccessfully tried to suck in air, she twisted her head to the left and looked behind her. Another two avians were in mid air above her, leaping for Diva. But that small fraction of time that Grace had been able to give her friend had been enough. Diva was already hurling herself through the hatch. Grace felt a shaft of triumph pierce right through her, and a smile lit her battered face. She watched with shining eyes as the avifauna crashed against the hatch. One succeeded in pushing its long neck and head right through the opening, but Diva must have already activated the hydraulic mechanism, for there was a loud squawk as the creature realized that it was about to be decapitated, and then it wrenched itself back, just in time to safeguard its own existence.

The engines of the shuttle roared into life, and avians scattered in all directions, the two that had landed on top of Grace pulling her hastily out of danger. Then they stared, their long necks drooping, as Diva piled on the thrust and the shuttle powered up into the atmosphere. It tore through the air, rending it apart thunderously, deafening them with the sound of its departure. Grace, still unable to catch her breath, covered her ears with her hands. The avians, unable to do that, screeched in discomfort and shied further away from the scene, leaving Grace sprawled alone on the red ground.

Grace doubted that Diva would be able to see her, or would even be looking, but she raised one fist above her head, and bore the deafening sound for a few seconds. Clouds of particulates flurried around her, but still she held her stance.

Diva peered down at the ground through clouds of dust. At first she could see nothing, and then the dust cleared as the shuttle began to climb, and she could see the prone figure of Grace. She narrowed her eyes, peering to see if the Sellite girl was still all right. Then she saw that the girl was holding one fist straight up in the air; one victorious fist. Diva closed her eyes and covered her nose and mouth with both hands, trying to force her mind away from the spectacle of her prostrate friend. Then she made herself breathe calmly. There wasn’t time for regrets now. It was up to her now to get them out of this disaster. Her lips moved behind her fingers. I won’t let you down, Grace. I promise.

BACK IN THE cavern, their minds still part of the mindmerge, Six and Ledin had been waiting for annihilation. Time was not exactly passing very quickly. They had said nothing since the two girls had withdrawn from the union – there was really nothing to say.

Ledin was thinking back to the first time he had ever seen Grace. He had been one of the trainee pilots transported over to Nomus, to the spaceship where Six had been held for so long by Atheron. His eyes must have been as large as saucers, he thought with a wry grin to himself. He had been a Kwaidian no-name, untrained in anything except survival. He had never even been to Benefice, let alone traveled in a spaceship. And he had been transported half way across the system by the orthogel entity! No wonder he had been so bemused by the whole process. One day he had been practicing hand-to-hand combat with Cimma, and the next he had been seated in front of a console taking instruction from a Sellite girl on how to pilot a spacecraft. He had taken one look at her and a feeling of longing had stolen over him. He grinned again. He wouldn’t take even one minute back. He had enjoyed every second. He was sorry to be dying, but at least he had got to spend time with the person he loved. So many of his friends hadn’t. All the same, there were things he regretted, too. His thoughts turned to his sister, as well as Grace.

Six’s attention was introspective too. He was angry with fate. Just when he thought that Diva was beginning to come around! It was a cruel twist of destiny. He was reliving that first moment on the orbital station above Coriolis, when he had first seen the pampered, unbearably arrogant and absolutely untameable girl. She had stamped on his foot, he remembered, refusing to stay in the same room as an outcast from Kwaide, and demanding a room of her own from the now dead Xenon 49. For Six it had been a clash of cultures and upbringing. How he had hated that privileged girl, so full of herself, so certain of her place in the world. He gave a faint smile. Even at that first meeting he had half admired her spirit and her grit. She had been at the same time unbearable and unforgettable. He gave a sigh. Still, he had been lucky enough during his lifetime. One couldn’t expect everything. As things had turned out it was just as well that he had agreed to have the children with Diva. At least he would be leaving something behind, some genetic trace of his ever having walked through the mountains of Kwaide and the Great Plain on Xiantha. He hoped Diva would survive to know her children; that Almagest would spare her to let her know some happiness. He sighed again. There were things he would have done differently.