Seeds of Earth (14 page)

'Remain seated,' Weynl said quietly. 'Be calm, there is nothing to fear.'

As the Listener got to his feet, Chel smiled reassuringly at the other two Uvovo, whose eyes were wide and bright with alarm.

'Greetings, offworlder,' Weynl said, hands clasped at his chest. 'I am Listener Weynl of the Warrior Uvovo and these three are my companions. Please be welcome.'

The Ezgara came to a halt and swept them all with an invisible gaze.

'Warriors?' The words were in Anglic, spoken in a flat, slightly buzzing voice. 'I see no weapons.'

'I likewise see none about your person, honoured guest, yet I am not sure I would recognise them if they were there.'

The Ezgara gave no reply for a moment, seeming to stare at Weynl as if studying him. The creature stood with its major arms hanging loosely at its sides while its lower, lesser arms were crooked back, hands resting in pockets. That dull blue armour, which covered every limb, on closer inspection appeared to consist of a worn, scored surface over a layer of thumbnail-sized platelets just discernible through the outer material.

'One amongst you spoke the name of my master, the High Monitor Utavess Kuros,' the commando said at last. 'Why?'

'We were only discussing . . .' began Tesobrenilor, abruptly falling silent when the Ezgara quickly turned on him.

'It is my duty to protect the High Monitor,' it said. 'Why were you discussing him?'

The Ezgara took a step towards Tesobrenilor, who backed away in fear. At the same time, Weynl moved in the commando's direction, one hand starting to reach out, and the moment he saw this Chel knew what was about to happen.

'Honoured guest,' the Listener said. 'There has been a misunderstanding ...'

The commando reacted with a speed so blurring that afterwards Chel had difficulty recalling the exact sequence of movements. Listener Weynl had reached out to the soldier's lesser arm on the right side and an instant later he was hurtling backwards through the air. Chel caught a glimpse of the Ezgara's right-side arms and leg lowering but it was the Listener who drew every eye. In mid-flight he somehow twisted his body, robes fluttering, and flipped over to land on his feet, legs crouched. Smiling, he straightened and calmly walked back to where the others stood, staring in astonishment.

'As I explained, honoured guest,' Weynl said, spreading his long-sleeved arms, with his bony hands open and empty. 'There has been a slight misunderstanding. My young companion was puzzled as to the meaning of your exalted superior's title and so, despite my scant knowledge, I attempted a doubtlessly inaccurate interpretation.'

Silence. For several seconds Uvovo stared at Ezgara, who seemed also to stare back, both perfectly immobile. Just when Chel thought he could no longer bear the tension, the Ezgara raised a hand to the side of its helmet as it looked downslope to where a second commando was standing. Then without a word it turned its back and retraced its steps to join the other one. Moments later both were moving away, patrolling the site perimeter along the foot of the western crags, as if nothing had happened. Glancing at Tesobrenilor and Kolumivenur, Chel saw his own puzzlement mirrored in their features, along with a certain relief.

Listener Weynl, on the other hand, seemed quite unperturbed, even as he guided Chel off to one side, a little way down the incline from the others.

'Once this ceremony is over,' Weynl said in low tones, 'you will be leaving for the Tapiola daughter-forest in the north. A floating craft shall be waiting for you at the zeplin station.'

Chel bobbed his head in respect, suddenly excited and apprehensive. 'I am prepared, Listener.'

Weynl smiled. 'Yes, I thought I was too, when my own time drew near. My advice would be to put aside all you have learned and read because your husking will be unique to you. Which is as it should be.' He breathed in deep and nodded. 'Now I must depart for Hammergard I have an important meeting to attend.'

'But Listener Weynl - who will represent our people to the Sendrukans?'

'A straightforward task, Scholar, which I am confident you can undertake. Besides, you are far more knowledgeable about this delving site than I. A word of caution, however - should anything unforeseen take place here, resist any temptation to become involved.'

'Unforeseen?' Chel said. 'Is something bad going to happen?'

'I do not know,' Weynl said with a kind of sombre puzzlement. 'The event itself is provoking a sense of anticipation, but the instinctive violence of that Ezgara . . .' He surveyed the site's ruins with brooding eyes. 'Something else is approaching, something nascent . . . but whatever happens stay focused on your duty and the work to come. The first aspirants are already gathering down in the Glenkrylov daughterforest, so when you return in a few days we will be ready to begin confirmations for the Artificer Uvovo.'

He gave Chel a fatherly pat on the shoulder and went to bid the other two goodbye. Chel thought about the many sheets of notes he had made on the ancient Uvovo ruins, the ones the Humans knew about as well as the ones they didn't, and wondered how much use they would be after he had gone through the husking.

Weynl waved to them all and Chel watched him hurry across the uneven floor of the site's western stretches. A little further on he paused to wave once more before disappearing behind one of the main walls. Chel already knew that the most obvious change wrought by the husking was the physical, a lengthening of certain bones, including the skull. Was he really ready for such an alteration? Those Listeners he had got to know seemed to be mostly sane most of the time, even Faldri, which was slightly reassuring.

Then these thoughts were chased away by a repetitive chiming sound coming from one of his waist pouches. It was the signal from Gregori that all senior duty staff were to meet outside the site office hut - Kuros was due soon. Moments later, the three Uvovo scholars were hastening back to the prepared gathering place, careful to avoid the Ezgara commandos, who were still doggedly patrolling the perimeter.

15

GREG

From the moment he got out of bed, nearly an hour before dawn, the whole day had just been one damned thing after another. Crates of seating and modular gazebos had been delivered overnight, and while he was organising the carriage and assembly teams, two grey-uniformed OG officers arrived with Institute authorisation countersigned by Petrovich himself. By the time he had given them a brief tour of the site and left them to their own devices, the caterers had turned up with a variety of containers and the need for somewhere reasonably clean to get ready. The only halfway suitable place was the recreation hut, so there they were sent, much to the annoyance of a group of Uvovo scholars who were just back from the mountains and enjoying a leisurely game of hexadominoes.

It was then that the Ezgara commandos had appeared, three quad-armed humanoids in worn, dull blue battledress, their heads enclosed by black-visored helmets. Trailing after them was one of the interns, a young Rus called Pyotr.

'So sorry for this, Mr Cameron,' he said, slightly out of breath. 'But these gentlemen...'

'That's all right, Pyotr - now that they're here, I'll see to them.'

Pyotr nodded, shot a glare at the oblivious newcomers and headed back to the site entrance. Greg smiled at the Ezgara, taking in the details of their armour, their identical stances and those extra arms.

'Well,' he said. 'You all look very intimidating, I must say. Are you here in advance of our honoured guest?'

He broke off as one suddenly stepped up close, bringing them face to face. Greg could see his own breath lightly fogging the commando's faceplate, but he neither flinched nor backed away.

'I am Juort,' the Ezgara said in a low, rasping voice that sounded synthetic. 'I command.'

The commandos all appeared of similar height, and up close Greg could see that he was a little taller than the one confronting him. If anything this made them more daunting, not less, but Greg was determined to hold his ground.

'By an amazing coincidence,' he said, smiling broadly, 'so do I. I command this site and its personnel -
1
am in command here, which means that I have the power to permit you to enter ...'

'I command you ...' began Juort.

'Ah, wait, I don't think ye've got it quite right. Y'see, you're supposed to ask me if you can ...'

'Mr Cameron? A word, if you please.'

Greg turned to see Ingerson, one of the Office of Guidance men, giving him a look that said,
Are you completely out of your mind?
while beckoning to him.

'Mr Ingerson, how can I help you?'

'The Ezgara commandos are here to assist with the security arrangements, Mr Cameron,' he said. 'Their access is covered by our authorisation.'

'I see,' Greg said. 'If only I'd known earlier . . .' He turned to the Ezgara, but they were already following Ingerson in single file while ignoring Greg altogether. 'In that case, welcome to Giant's Shoulder! - enjoy your visit. . .'

Not a head turned in his direction, so he shrugged and went back to trying to cope with chaos.

The seating was done and three of the gazebos were up: he'd left the others in their packaging since the latest forecast was predicting dry, bright conditions for the rest of the day. The gazebos, however, were serving as shelters for three groups of exhibits - flora and fauna of Darien, ruins and remains, and ancient Uvovo culture. But the flora and fauna cases were empty since the ecologist and his materials (both on loan from the university) had so far failed to appear. Hastily, Greg persuaded one of the Russian researchers, Andrei, to assemble a small exhibit from the archive store - figurines, glyphs, decorated artefacts of any kind. It was going to cost half a bottle of Glenmarra single malt, but at least the cases would not be bare.

Then the first zeplin-load of guests arrived, bringing with them a clutch of reporters both local and offworld. With ruthless ease they bypassed the guides and attendants and tracked Greg down to the supply hut, where he was checking the water-tank level. Amid a barrage of brash, bizarre and often fantastical questioning he maintained a look of amused tolerance while giving vaguely surreal one- or two-word answers: it seemed that news of his encounter with Lee Shan had got around. Before long they realised that there would be no verbal fireworks, so off they wandered to hunt other quarry, and Greg headed for his quarters to shower and change.

But less than ten minutes later he was back outside, trying to calm down one of the Norj research teams, who had discovered an Earth reporter in their hut, opening drawers and recording everything in sight. In an effort to reach some kind of understanding, Greg gathered the senior reporters together with Olsen, Ingerson's colleague: the OG officer briefly outlined the case for security and propriety, and casually mentioned that the Ezgara commandos now patrolling the perimeter were very keen to ensure the Hegemony envoy's safety from any threat and were fully capable of doing so.

At the mention of the Ezgara, glances were exchanged and Greg noticed a certain shared nervousness.
Hmm, so they do have a reputation,
he thought.
Or should it be notoriety}

After that it was a hectic rush to get ready for the presentation, to finalise the programme of events, negotiate a compromise between Andrei and the university ecologist who had turned up at the last minute, and arrange for some of the excavations to be roped off, since some reporters were still poking their noses where they shouldn't. In between all that he managed to meet some of the VIP guests, shaking hands and exchanging the usual pleasantries, and made sure that his mother and Uncle Theo knew where their seats were. At one point he caught sight of Catriona through the crowd, just after she had sent him a comm-note to let him know that she had arrived.

Then came news that High Monitor Kuros had disembarked from his official zeplin and was about to ascend the cliffside path in one of the electric visitor cars. Greg alerted Catriona and Chel with prearranged signals and hurried over to the central plaza area. Catriona appeared seconds after he got there, looking tense in a formal, high-collared kirtle suit made from some dark brown ridge-textured material. After an awkward, smiling pause they shook hands, a clasp which Catriona seemed to break first - or maybe it was because he was holding her hand for a moment too long.

'It's good to see you again, Catriona,' he said. 'I hope this PR exercise isn't interrupting your work the way it is mine, though I understand our guests specifically requested that you take part.'

She gave a wry half-smile, tucked a few stray dark hairs behind one ear, at which Greg felt a tiny thrill. He kept smiling.

'Well, I can't deny that there's other things I'd rather be doing,' she said. 'But they asked for me so here I am.'

A thought occurred to him. 'You don't think it's anything to do with your Enhanced past?' 'Why should it?'

He shrugged. 'Perhaps they're curious about why the Enhancement project came about.'

She regarded him. 'Hmm. Do you ever wonder why, Greg?'

Before he could answer, the Uvovo scholar Chel arrived. He had an anxious, slightly jittery air about him but he seemed otherwise alert and ready for the task ahead so Greg launched into a summary of the programme.

'Okay, this is the plan. The Underminister for Culture will give the official welcome to the Sendrukans and the other guests, then Catriona will deliver a short presentation on the early discoveries made here on Giant's Shoulder and later on Nivyesta. After that, I'll give an overview of the various archaeological sites and the main finds, and Chel will finish with the Uvovo perspective on themselves and Humans, past and future. How does that sound?'

Catriona nodded. 'I'm happy to lead off - gets it over with.'

'I too am satisfied,' said Chel. 'I shall learn from both your performances.'

Greg laughed. 'Good things, I hope.'

After that, the demands of the occasion took over as all the guests went to their seats and Greg and the others waited by the low podium. Two of the peculiar Ezgara bodyguards came into view from the right, stalking through the ruins in advance of the Sendrukans.