Ammonite Stars (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #4-5 (58 page)

THE MOUNTAIN TRACK leading back down to the plain was no longer static. Small blisters of magma were bubbling up along its path, and it became essential to have quick reactions to nimbly jump out of their way. Some of the blisters were only the size of pebbles, some were as big as a canth.

Yet still the canths seemed able to sense where, and when, these blisters of magma would appear, and they bent in and out of the rocks along the path with great concentration. The others tried to follow the hooves of the canths as best they could. Tallen strayed on one occasion, only to find a bubble of lava appear just under his foot. He gave a strangled squawk, and hastily moved back exactly behind Six’s canth.

The concentration of sulphur now in the atmosphere was making breathing more and more laboured, too. It bit down into their noses and mouths, making them choke. After a time, Six signalled to them all that they should put mask packs on. Things were much better after that, although they couldn’t help but notice that the number of mask packs hanging at the canths’ sides was meagre compared to the journey they had to make. They would have to ration their use.

So they put the mask packs over their faces for ten minutes, and then walked without them for thirty. This was almost a mixed blessing, because the relief of breathing without problem made the return to the planet’s sulphurous air even worse afterwards.

And there were no mask packs for the canths. Although they seemed less affected than the bipeds, they were beginning to show signs of some strain; their flanks were expanding out further and further at each breath, finding it harder and harder to gasp back enough oxygen to fuel their heaving lungs. But they didn’t stop; there was nowhere to go back to. Certain death was waiting for them on this planet, unless they were able to reach the shuttles. They fought their way on, ignoring the spattering lava projectiles, ignoring the pain which each breath caused them, ignoring the flames and the burning rocks which were falling next to them.

They crawled along the path which descended to the plain, every step an agony, every breath a reminder that they couldn’t find enough air.

At last they reached the foothills of the mountain range and were able to see again the huge plain in front of them. Yet the plain was now covered with large bumps, where lava domes had pushed up the rock, but not yet broken through.

They were stumbling through lack of sleep and physical discomfort, and there was a sensation of unreality about the whole journey, as if it were happening to somebody else, at some other time.

There was no question of rest, though. They gave the canths the remainder of the water they had brought with them, and drank the last of the waterpacks themselves. Then they unbuckled all the rest of the equipment from the saddles, letting it fall to the ground. They wouldn’t need it. If they didn’t get back to the shuttles within five hours, they wouldn’t need anything ever again.

Six caught Diva’s eye. “Ready?”

She put her chin up, although her chest was heaving. “Readier than you, Kwaidian!”

They both looked around at Bennel and Tallen, who gave grim nods. There was no point waiting any longer. They climbed up onto the backs of the canths, now bare of anything except the saddles, the artifacts which had appeared to them in the grotto, and the small bags containing the trimorphs. Each of them had one final mask pack, which would have to last until they reached the shuttles.

If the shuttles were still there.

It was an unspoken thought that all of them found weaving in and out of their minds.

If the shuttles were still there.

If the canths could make it.

If the air could sustain them that long.

The canths whinnied to each other; the whites of their eyes were spotted with red from the biting fumes. Then they leapt from the last slope of the foothills and down onto the plain, rings of white edging the black sweat of their coats and flecks of foam falling from their mouths.

This time the pace was mingled with utter desperation. The gallop which ate up the miles was at full stretch, and the gradual dehydration of the animals began to show. But the canths didn’t falter. They knew that their time had come, and they flew across the lethal sands, dodging instinctively each and every vent which appeared beside them.

Hour after hour went by, until at last they dared to hope that they might make it. Diva held on to the bridle of the seal brown canth, her head back in a glitter of determination, her back straight, an iron-hard control stopping her from giving up.

“We are going to make it, Namuri,” she shouted back over her shoulder, to the boy who was clinging on behind her. “Don’t let go!”

“I wasn’t planning on it, meritocrat!”

“I bet you never thought you would be racing to beat a black hole with someone like me!”

“I never thought I would even speak to someone like you!”

But talking took up too much energy and far too much air, so they both turned their attention back to the mad, wild race across the sands of the plain.

ANOTHER SIXTY MINUTES sped by, and they were feeling more and more light-headed. Breathing simply wasn’t enough any longer. The sparse oxygen left in the atmosphere couldn’t keep all their vital functions going, and was leaving them all in a cotton wool land where it was impossible to think or to do anything.

The canths were feeling the lack of air too. Although they kept moving, they seemed to sway from side to side and their gait slowed considerably.

And then Six spotted the shuttles, giving a shout loud enough to wake the long dead forests of Kintara. “THERE!”

He swiveled back in the saddle, yodelling and pointing. “The SHUTTLES! I can see the SHUTTLES!”

Bennel squinted past Six’s shoulder. At first he could see nothing but a mirage of water stretching out in front of them. Then his tired eyes made out the two small cylinders of metal, both miraculously still there, both waiting for their passengers. He gave a whoop of joy, and waved his arms.

Tallen spotted the movement, and dug his fingers into Diva’s ribs, causing her to jump with annoyance.

“WHAT?”

The Namuri pointed past her shoulder, showing her.

Her heart gave leap. “YES!” She punched the air. “We made it!” She bent forwards and clapped her canth on its withers, laughing and almost crying at the same time.

Even the canths seemed ready to make the last, supreme effort. They thundered on over the sand with a new lease of life, just wanting to get to the safe haven in front of them, to reach the only hope they had of survival.

Their riders threw themselves down onto the ground as they reached the metallic pods. Six took the one which would accommodate the canths and Tallen flung himself over to help load the animals. Both of the equines looked as if they might collapse altogether and have to be left on the planet.

“Just get the hatch down!” he told Six. “—As fast as you can. We have to get them aboard before their bodies have a chance to shut down.”

But Six was already doing just that. As the hatch came down, Tallen screamed into the ears of the first canth, which was quivering with complete exhaustion. Then the Namuri dug his heels into the equine’s belly and urged it forward with all his heart, dragging at the reins of the other as he did so.

Six moved swiftly behind them, and, as the first canth began to stumble up into one of the stalls, he vaulted on to the second, and chivvied it on as harshly as he could.

The animal teetered as it stepped onto the ramp up into the shuttle, and then paused. Six yelled at it again, aware that the animal was past anything less extreme. He felt it falter again, and then, to his great relief, the canth walked inside its stall.

Once in, the animals couldn’t collapse: the moveable walls soon held them upright. Tallen quickly clamped the side stalls and then moved to position the two back partitions which would immobilize the animals for transit. Six clambered up into the tiny bridge.

He threw himself at the control panel, only stopping to make sure that Diva and Bennel had reached the safety of the other shuttle. Once he saw that they were already inside, and that Bennel was only waiting for Tallen in order to close the hatch, he began to push buttons.

Outside, Tallen waited until the hatch closed securely on the canths, and then dived for the safety of Diva’s shuttle.

Six looked across. He saw, or perhaps imagined, an anxious look on Diva’s face, and then the engines of the shuttle fired. He pressed the start sequence of his own, heavy-duty shuttle, and closed his eyes. His heart was pounding, apparently still terrified that one of the volcanic vents would burgeon up even now, and stop their flight. He concentrated on the flight sequence, totally ignoring all the safety checks which came up on the panel. If it wasn’t ready to fly, then there wouldn’t be time to fix it, in any case.

Then the throaty engines of the big shuttle turned over, and began to pick up speed as they heated up. There was a huge eruption right in front of the cabin, and a volcanic vent opened up, lava spewing out in a molten river. He shook his head grimly, gritting his teeth together. No! He wouldn’t let the planet get them now! He would fly this thing by determination only, if he had to.

He forced the screaming engines to levitate the behemoth off the ground, listening to them squeal in resistance to his wishes. Then he poured on the thrust, slowly building it manually instead of waiting for the computer to come into its own. He knew that, for once, he would be faster than the computer. He knew that he was the only chance this shuttle had.

He deftly added the thrust, at first only able to keep the shuttle vertical, then gradually managing to achieve a slow sort of lift off from the surface, which was changing to molten lava right beneath the pod.

Action and reaction, he told himself. It didn’t matter that there was no longer solid land beneath them. The rockets didn’t need to push off anything, after all.

The shuttle hung there for long, long moments, as the sand around it disappeared, and molten magma took its place. Red and orange flames began to lick at the pod’s metal, angrily trying to snatch it back within their grasp.

But the rockets had stabilized now, and Six piled on more thrust. With a deafening roar, the metal rent itself out of the jaws of the volcano forming underneath it, and up, up into the air above, uncaring that it was now full of volcanic ash in suspension.

Six looked down at his knuckles, which were white. That had been a bit too close for comfort! He programmed the autopilot to follow Diva’s shuttle up towards the waiting New Independence, and put his head on his hands for a second.

“Nearly became a widow there, Diva!” he muttered to the distant energy trail his wife was leaving through the atmosphere. “Very nearly!”

Chapter 13

THEY WERE ALL waiting for Six and the canths when he finally managed to dock on the New Independence. The canth keeper bustled up to the partitions, an intensely worried look on his face. Diva had already told him about the desperate race to safety and the toll it might have taken on the equines.

With great tenderness, and assisted by Bennel and Tallen, the man who spoke to canths led each of the two extenuated animals out of the heavy duty shuttle, and down the long metallic corridors until they reached the hold. Once there, he patiently rubbed them both down as they drank and ate enough to keep their body functions going. Then he walked them around and around the hold, talking to them calmly, intent on bringing their fright down to a manageable level. He tutted as he found burnt patches on their skin, where burning lava had touched them, and fussed over their food as if they had been kings.

Neither Diva nor Six could stay long enough to see all this, because the main priority now was to get the trader as far away as possible. Six had no idea how they were to break free – first from the dying planet, and then from the grasp of the black hole itself. He started the engines, and looked at Diva.

“How are we going to do it?” he asked. “We haven’t anything like enough thrust to reach escape velocity from here; we nearly lost the ship coming in as it is.”

Diva bit her lip. She had no idea.

“There must be some way we can do it! Come on, Six! You’re the one who passed his quantum mechanics exam first time!”

“You’re implying there might be some remnant spark of intelligence inside this bonehead of mine?”

“Yes, knucklebrain, I am!”

He bowed. “Then I guess I shall have to come up with something.” He stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“Err ... you might like to hurry up? Only, we are about to fall into a black hole.”

He raised a stern hand. “Don’t interrupt – genius thinking.”

Diva’s response was somewhat mangled. He opened his eyes wide. “Please. I am trying to reason. Don’t nag, woman.”

After a sharp gasp of outrage, she fell silent, and limited herself to staring accusingly out of the visor, apparently prepared to take on the challenge of the Great Magnet single-handed.