Ammonite Stars (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #4-5 (40 page)

“He did, though to be fair he didn’t know what would happen to the donor apprentices.”

“But he did order us to be thrown to the Tattula cats, didn’t he?”

“True.”

“So what on Almagest are you moaning about? We should have foreseen it, is all. Move on.”

Diva glared again, and then suddenly began to laugh. “You are the limit, Six. Won’t you ever tell me I am right about anything?”

“Huh! You have to earn that.”

The atmosphere lightened suddenly, and they all began to giggle. Diva’s fury had evaporated into a sort of strange euphoria. She got up to hug Grace.

“He’s right, I should have remembered what Coriolis is like,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

Grace hugged her back. “I would have been beside myself too.”

“I suppose I am free now. I don’t belong anywhere.”

“You can always be a citizen of New Kwaide,” Six told her. “They take anybody.”

This turned out to have been an unfortunate thing to say, for Diva took the comment as a personal affront, and threw herself at him in retaliation. It took the Kwaidian some time to subdue her, partly because he was laughing too hard to put much effort into it. Finally they subsided onto the console bench amicably, panting slightly.

“So,” said Six. “Where are we going? Where to?”

ARCAN SUBJECTED THE bimorph to an incredulous stare. “Disappeared?” he echoed. “What do you mean, disappeared?”

The bimorph shifted rather uncomfortably. He had not been looking forward to arriving on Valhai. Although he felt – quite keenly – that none of it had been any of his fault, he was loath to explain to the orthogel entity exactly what had happened. “How am I supposed to know? One minute they were there, and the next they were gone.” He gave a rather half-hearted shimmer.

“Gone? Gone where?”

It was the bimorph’s turn to give Arcan a considering look. “I don’t know. That is what I am trying to tell you. If I did know, I wouldn’t have had to come over here all by myself to ask you about it, would I?”

Arcan darkened. He didn’t like the way this conversation was going. “Tell me again,” he said.

The visitor sighed. For all Arcan’s enormous size, he felt that the orthogel entity could sometimes be very obtuse.

We ...” the visitor almost hung his head in shame, “... we wanted to surprise you all.” He coloured up defensively. “We discovered a few weeks ago that the ortholiquid wasn’t limited to Pictoria. There are lakes of ortholiquid all over the Ammonite Galaxy, on hundreds and hundreds of planets. The ortholiquid itself doesn’t seem to know that these are separate planets; it travels between them quite freely.” The small bimorph darkened. “We thought we would surprise you. We were exploring all the new planets we could travel to. We were making a map to bring you: a map of new worlds. We wanted to do something extraordinary for you all. We didn’t tell you, because we thought it would make a nice surprise.”

A slow rumble came from where Arcan was listening. It appeared he wasn’t in agreement with such secrecy.

The visitor hurried on, “On this occasion we found ourselves on one of the planets quite a long way away from Pictoria. Everything was just as usual; we had arrived on the planet’s surface quite safely, and we were just about to get started on a preliminary examination of the terrain when the twins suddenly stopped dead, and began to spin wildly on their own axes.”

Arcan made as if to speak, but the bimorph sparkled angrily. “Let me finish, please!”

The orthogel entity clearly didn’t appreciate being spoken to so peremptorily, but subsided and continued to listen to the story.

“—I asked them what was the matter, and they said that they could hear something, that something was tugging at them, trying to pull them away from the planet. They said that, although it was very frightening, it felt somehow familiar.” The visitor flashed again. “Of course, I told them to take no notice, but they said that whatever it was had been waiting for a very long time to find them, and that it was really important. I was just in the middle of saying that it would be better if they took me with them, when they both disappeared.” The visitor gave a desultory spin. “And that,” he finished sadly, “was that. I can tell you nothing further.”

“They didn’t make use of the ortholiquid then? They traveled quantically?”

“They did. And I got no sense of where they were going, or how far away it was. I waited ... and waited ... and waited, expecting them to come back for me, or at least to tell me where they were, but that was days ago, and I have heard nothing more. So I thought I had better come over to see you. I thought you might be able to feel where they are.”

Arcan clouded. “No. I have no sense of them at all. Are you sure you got no hint of direction when they disappeared?”

The small bimorph bristled. “Quite sure. Are you suggesting I could somehow have avoided this?”

The orthogel entity relented. “No, I suppose not. But I can’t quite see what you expect me to do about it.” He thought for some long moments. “There is one thing we could try, though.”

The visitor spun hopefully. “What?”

“The canths. They seem to be able to sense things that none of the rest of us can. It is just possible that they might be able to feel where the trimorphs have been taken.”

A shiver of colour passed across the bimorph. “Yes,” he breathed, “of course. Can we go straight away? I have the strangest feeling that something is very wrong with the trimorphs. I am sure they would have come back for me if they could have.” He looked at Arcan anxiously. “Don’t you think?”

Arcan examined him again, as if trying to understand a book written in a foreign language. “Probably. You seem to travel together, as a general rule.”

“We do. We always stay together. They wouldn’t have just left me. They have always stayed close by me, ever since the Dessite attack. They know that I have limited defenses against the Dessites; the trimorphs have protected me ever since the attack. I just know that they would never have left me on a strange planet of their own accord.”

“No, I think that you are right. But it seems strange that they had no time to tell you where they were going.”

“I don’t think they knew themselves. They just said that something seemed to ‘pick up on them’ shortly after they arrived on the planet. They said it was tugging at them, trying to make them go there, pulling at them. One of the twins was trying to tell me more, when they both disappeared.” He coloured and looked defensively at Arcan. “I couldn’t have stopped them. One moment they were there, and the next they had disappeared.”

“Very well. Then I think that the best thing we can do is to visit the canths. They are the only hope we have of finding out where they have gone.” Both Arcan and the visitor shimmered slightly in the slate-grey light of the dark side of Valhai. Then they both vanished.

THEY DECOHERED ON the canth farm on Xiantha, giving the man who had watched the alien quite a nasty surprise. He still worked as the ticket collector on the Xianthe, but was on a visit to the canth keeper, having been invited to spend a couple of weeks on the farm as thanks for his part in saving the visitor, two years before. He had been immensely gratified by the invitation, and after a stroll around the area where the corrals met in a centre circle, had been overcome by the soporific desire to curtail all movement in order to let his digestion deal with the rather nice lunch he had been treated to by the canth keeper. He had been gently nodding off under the shade of one of the Eletheian trees in a nearby corral.

The appearance, rather precipitate, of Arcan and the visitor brought him scurrying to his feet.

“Sirs! Your honours!” The portly man mopped at his face with a large handkerchief. “You bring me much colour! I was ... I was ... err ... examining this remarkable tree. The Eletheian trees are quite beautiful, you know.” He reddened as he saw that the two quantum entities were regarding him steadily. “However, you will not wish to talk to me, I know. Should I run to fetch the man who speaks to canths?”

The visitor moved closer to the ticket collector. “I remember you. You are the Xianthan who covered my ship. You saved my life. I am indebted to you.”

The ticket collector looked so happy that it almost seemed as if he might burst. “Thank you, Alien sphere from far away. Can I be of any help now?”

Arcan and the visitor glanced at each other. “Perhaps you
should
tell the man who speaks to canths that we are here,” agreed the orthogel entity. “He might like to know that we have arrived.”

The man who had watched the alien nodded several times, and then launched himself towards the distant house. Arcan could hear the land tremble slightly as the ticket collector desperately tried to get his short legs to move more quickly. As he ran, he was shouting to get the canth keeper’s attention. “Aliens to speak to you, Canth keeper! Aliens to see you. ALIENS!” His face had gone bright red with the exertion and he looked as if he might not even reach the house before his heart categorically refused to pump so much blood around his stout little body.

The visitor watched him go. “Perhaps we should have called the canth keeper ourselves,” he said. “That small being looks as if he is about to suffer heart stop.”

But the diminishing figure finally reached the house, and they could see that the shouts had been effective, for it was joined by the more familiar silhouette of the man who spoke to canths. They both hurried back over, but the ticket collector fell behind, and on one occasion was forced to stop altogether, bending over heavily to catch his breath.

The canth keeper seemed pleased to see them. “Arcan, Visitor, you are both very welcome.” He inclined his long body in their direction. “To what do we owe this honour?”

Arcan explained that the trimorphs had disappeared, and the canth keeper’s face changed. “In that case, we had better see what the canths have to say about it.”

They were about to open the gate to the nearest corral when Arcan paused. “Wait! Six is calling. They have finished their business on Coriolis, and want me to transport them over to Kwaide. I will bring them here instead. They should know about this.”

AS SOON AS Arcan set the others down some ten metres away, the man who spoke to canths bustled up to them, and bowed low to welcome his new guests. He was wreathed in smiles. He inclined the middle of his body. “This is a great honour.” Then he embraced Grace. “You are looking well.”

But any further comment was unnecessary, for there was a thudding on the hard ground, and the sound of hooves approaching. The ticket collector stared as several large canths danced up to them, whinnying and nickering softly.

The man who spoke to canths looked at the ticket collector, obviously rather unhappy about not being able to take him into his confidence.

“Man who watched the alien ship,” he said, using the ticket collector’s more recent name, “do you think you could go back to the house and bring out some refreshments for our guests?”

The ticket collector beamed. “With great pleasure.” His whole demeanour showed willingness to help, and they all smiled back at him. It was impossible not to like the rotund figure as he scurried back towards the farmhouse to prepare some food and drink.

The canth keeper’s eyes followed the stout figure. “I lose colour by not telling him, and others, all I know.”

“Yes.” Grace was quick to understand. “It must be hard on you. But it is what the canths have asked, isn’t it?”

“Even so, what right have I to know about all the marvelous things that can happen in the galaxy, yet keep such things to myself?”

“Perhaps things will change, with time.” She touched him on the shoulder. “After all, it is the canths’ secret to tell, not ours.”

He nodded. “As always, Girl who found the past, you are right. I shall wait to see if I am allowed to share my knowledge.” Then the canth keeper turned to his visitors. “The canths are upset. They can feel that something is wrong.”

He tipped his head on one side, and fell silent, holding up a hand to stop them from interrupting. “The canths say that they can follow the trail,” he told them. “But they need to be closer to the trimorphs. They say that we will have to take the New Independence again. But that is not the whole reason for their nerves. There is something bigger happening, something that they can sense, but I am unable to grasp. All I can feel is that the trimorphs are somehow part of it, and that they are afraid.”

“They can feel where the trimorphs are?”

“They say there is a great sensation of heaviness, that they are unable to break free. They say it will be extremely dangerous to go.”

“Even so,” said Ledin. “We have to help.”

The canth keeper held up his hand again. There was another long silence. Then he looked surprised, rather taken aback.

“They say only two canths must go. They say that this is to be a journey of colour, both for the canths, and for their linked partners.”

Ledin and Grace looked at each other. They had just finished their journey of colour.

The man who spoke to canths smiled. “Not you,” he told them. “This is a journey only the
Valhais
can undertake. It is to be their journey of colour.”

Diva caught her breath. Her eyes flashed with excitement, and Six looked elated.

“We’re ready,” he said.

“I am instructed that there is no immediate hurry. In any case, you must be married by a Xianthan before you undertake your journey of colour.”

Six gave an audible groan. “Not
again
!” he muttered.

Before Diva could react to that, Grace stepped forward, and Ledin followed her lead. “We will go with them,” she said. There was a mutter of agreement from Bennel, and the two Namuri. Even Cimma looked eager. Tallen’s voice was determined, and he was muttering convincingly about duty.

The tiny bimorph was quite indignant. “I think
I
would be rather more use than Six would be.”

Six gave a laugh, which caused the bimorph to spin angrily. “Well, what could you do, Kwaidian, that I can’t? As far as I know,
you
can’t travel quantically, or communicate over light years, can you?”

“No, but I can walk and pick things up, which is more than you can do, Visitor!”

The canth keeper spread his hands wide, and addressed the angry bimorph. “It is strange,” he agreed, “for I know that you contain part of Arcan. But the canths are telling me that your friends are so far away that many of them are needed to feel their presence, that one single entity would find it impossible.”

“I must go too. They are my companions.”

The canths tossed their heads. “You may not go,” repeated their keeper. “The canths are quite adamant.”

“And who are you to tell me where I might and might not go?” demanded the tiny bimorph, spinning so furiously that small vortices appeared in his body.

Arcan darkened, and his tone was rebuking. “We will do as the canths suggest. They saved our lives on Pictoria, and we owe them that much.”

The bimorph buzzed angrily. “You are not a morphic,” he accused.

Arcan went nearly black. “You will stay. In any case, you will need to get back to Pictoria soon, to rest.”

The visitor seemed to be communicating privately with Arcan, for streaks of colours rippled through both of them. Finally the visitor settled down, and turned a more normal colour.

“I will stay,” he promised, although he still sounded most reluctant and very resentful.

“Good. Then everything is settled,” said the canth keeper. “Except for one small thing. The canths insist that they must travel all the way to the planet. They say they must have a way to reach the planetary surface. They are adamant that they need to go bare planet with you, and that Arcan must leave the second he has dropped the trader into the system.”

Everybody was quiet; that would not be an easy thing to accomplish.

“There is no way of transporting the canths from the New Independence to the surface of the planet,” said Diva. “They would hardly fit in a shuttle!”

But Ledin didn’t agree. He was looking thoughtful. “You never saw them, Six,” he began, “but we have dealt with Coriolis for some time now, and they have several larger shuttles for the transfer of large quantities of rexelene to and from the surface of Kwaide and Coriolis. I have had some experience of piloting them and if we had one of those, then I think I could take the canths down in that, providing they were quiet and didn’t panic.”

The canth keeper communed with the canths, and then smiled. “That would be a good solution, Man who witnessed the future, although the canths will have to put their trust in the
Valhais
as pilots.”

“But ... But will one of those attach to the New Independence?” asked Cimma.

Ledin nodded. “Quite easily. It will make the trader very hard to navigate, but if Arcan transports us reasonably close to the planet, it shouldn’t make very much difference.”

Arcan gave his equivalent of a nod: a sort of shimmery dipping of his ‘head’. “That would be fine. If the canths are in agreement, then so am I.”

“What is the planet like?” Six asked the visitor.

“Like?” The morphic didn’t seem to understand very well.

“Oh, you know, hot or cold, big or small, can we breathe or not? Those unimportant little details. We know how wrong you can get that, don’t we?”

“I do not get them wrong!” The bimorph turned a nice shade of puce.

“Yeah. Tell that to Grace. You nearly killed her the first time Arcan took us to Pictoria. Remember?”

“That was not my fault!” Then the visitor flushed again. “Well, maybe just a little.”

Six opened his mouth, but Diva stood on his foot, and he closed it again, turning a now-what-have-I-done-wrong grimace on her. She pressed her lips together, and he subsided.

“All right then, I suppose we can take your word for it. So what is the planet like?”

“I don’t know.” The visitor buzzed angrily. “I already told you, I couldn’t go with the twins, they transported without telling me where they were going. They were dragged away by something or somebody. I do wish you would listen more attentively, Six! You miss half of the information we give you.”

“At least I don’t manage to lose contact with my friends because I was looking the other way,” said Six, making the visitor darken angrily. “Now, pay attention, please! Cimma won’t be able to come because she is needed back on Kwaide.”

Cimma looked disappointed, but gave a reluctant nod of agreement. Six went on, “Tallen, Petra and Bennel will go with her.”

There was an instant outcry from all those mentioned.

“We will come with
you
,” said Bennel firmly.

“Our blood oaths require that we accompany you,” shouted Tallen, not quite accurately.

“We are your bodyguards. You cannot go without us,” said Petra.

Six held up one stern hand. “You will go back to Kwaide with Maestra Cimma. That was our agreement, and that is what we will do.”

Bennel looked worried. “But, First Six ...”

Six glared around at them all. “I wish people would stop calling me that! I am not first anything.”

Bennel inclined his head. “As you wish,
Valhai
Six, but I beg you to reconsider. My job is to protect you and
Valhai
Diva.”

Six didn’t look too happy to be called
Valhai
, either, but he decided not to mention it. “That is true, Bennel, but—”

“That is what my assignment is.” The man bowed his head, and fell silent.

“Oh, very well. I suppose you can com—”

“If he goes, we go!” shouted Tallen. “Why should he have all the fun? This is meritocratic discrimination!”

Everybody stared at him at that. He went slightly pink. “Well, it is. We swore a blood oath to protect Fir—, I mean
Valhai
Six. The agreement to protect Maestra Cimma was only temporary.”

“It was until you both graduated the highest level class in combat training.”

“Maybe. But what we just did on Pictoria is equivalent.”

Six gave a sigh. He looked towards Cimma, who seemed to be appreciating this interchange. “Oh, all right,” he said finally. “But if we have to take a heavy-duty shuttle, then there will only be one shuttle available for the others. We should limit our number to four at the very most, just in case. I suppose one of you Namuri can come with us, if the other stays with Maestra Cimma.”

Tallen looked askance at Diva. “With
you
,
Valhai
Six,” he said, emphasizing the second word carefully. He glared around at them all, and then exchanged some sort of unspoken communication with his sister. Petra’s eyes flashed at first, and she appeared ready to debate, but then her face saddened, she nodded slightly, and looked down at the floor to hide her disappointment.

Tallen pushed his chest out. “I shall be the one to accompany you.”

Diva bristled, and the look she gave Six promised retaliation. She had no wish to go traipsing across the galaxy in company of a Namuri rebel who hated her very existence. Six gave a shrug which expressed his total indifference, and it was her turn to blow out air.

Cimma smiled around at them all. “Well, I wish that I could come with you, but apart from not being on top form, Six is right. It’s time I should be getting back to Kwaide.”

Ledin nodded. “I have to return to work too,” he told her. “They must think that I have dropped off the face of the Xianthes. I will go with you as far as the orbital space station above Kwaide.”

Six smiled at his friend. He knew very well that if Ledin was with the orthogel entity nobody on Kwaide would think twice about him not reporting for duty, but he appreciated his friend’s effort to make everything seem inevitable.

“Make sure they are behaving themselves, then. And try to keep the Elders in order, between you.”

Both Cimma and Ledin nodded, and then Ledin went on, “I will organize the rental of one of the Coriolan transport shuttles for you. Then Arcan won’t need to buy one. You can stop off at the Coriolan orbital station to pick it up.”

Cimma walked up to her sorrel canth, and stroked its neck with tenderness, before turning back to the others. “I am ready.” She smiled her warm smile at Grace and then at the rest.

Ledin walked over to hug his wife. “Take care on Valhai, will you? I’ll come over for a visit as soon as I can.”