The Namura Stone (35 page)

“Bet you can’t catch me now!”

His hand snatched at her in the open air, but he was too slow. She had already darted out of reach, pulsating with laughter.

“See, no-name? Your reaction time is too slow.”

“I’ll give you reaction time,” he promised. “Just wait and see.”

“Bah! I’m morphic now. There is very little I can’t beat you at.”

“Make the most of it, then! We may all be like you at some stage. You are just a bit ahead of the rest of us.”

For a moment, even Grace could tell that a wave of fear had swept through Diva. The thought that she might have to live out life alone for hundreds of thousands of years, had been almost too much for the new morphic. Grace bit her lip.

Diva was silent for a moment, and then pulled herself back together again. “We had better call Arcan. He will be furious if we don’t tell him I have come over.”

Grace signed on the bracelet of orthogel she now wore all the time, and there was an almost immediate swishing sound as Arcan appeared.

He and Diva stared at each other for a long time. Six wondered if they were communicating on some other level, it went on for so long.

Then he realized that they weren’t. It was just such a huge moment for both of them that they were taking their own time about saying anything to break the silence.

Finally, it was Diva who spoke first. “Quantum decoherence is awesome,” she told Arcan.

“You are a category 2, like me, now.”

She nodded. “I feel there is a part of you in me, Arcan. Can you tell?”

“Yes. I am aware of … a … bond between us. It is quite remarkable.”

“I can sense the canth part of me too, and the lost anima, and even the ortholiquid. Yet I am still completely myself. I still have the same body – to my perception, anyway, and I haven’t retained any of the other memories. At least, I don’t think I have. I just feel the same as I used to: like Diva always did.”

Arcan scintillated “I will have to study the process, see what the factors are. We need to know how the transformation takes place. This will require much study.”

“We will all help,” Six told him. “Well, Grace, what are we to call this new form of life? Quadrimorphs?”

Grace wrinkled her nose. “Sounds a bit clumsy, especially for someone like you, Diva. Err… there are other words for four in the binary system, you know: ‘fier’, ‘fire’, ‘tesa’, ‘tetra’ … any of those would do.”

“I like the second: ‘firemorph’,” said Diva, flashing. “Or ‘tesamorph’, if you prefer.”

Six didn’t hesitate. “If Diva has anything to do with it, there will be plenty of fire about whatever morphic she is in, so my vote goes to ‘firemorph’. I like it.”

Grace stretched out her hands. “Firemorph it is, then.” She grinned at Six. “I bet she causes just as much havoc as a firemorph as she did as a Coriolan!”

Diva gave an indignant shimmer, but Six nodded.

“More. Much, much more.” He looked suddenly sad. “I just wish I could be a firemorph too.”

Arcan darkened. “There is much to discover before we can be sure that we know how to make morphics,” he said. “It would be very dangerous to try to make another just now. I need to understand the process fully. It may take me years to gain the necessary knowledge.”

“It’s a start, anyway,” said Six. “And if anyone can do it, you can.”

“It is a pity that the original Arcan amorphs were unstable, that the presence of the canths and even of you flimsies in the mix seems to stabilize it.”

“Yes. It must be hard for something as timeless as you to realize you need the help of feeble creatures like ourselves.”

“Indeed.” Then Arcan caught Six’s raised eyebrows. “Why are you looking at me like that? As transients, you
are
weak. I did not make you so. You can’t help it, I know.”

“Do you think you will be able to find out what conditions are necessary to form morphics?” asked Grace. “Because, if you could, it means that everybody who is linked to a canth might, in principle at least, become a firemorph, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t know,” said Six with a straight face. “I mean, Ledin might not want to spend millions of years with you. That is an awful long time to put up with anybody, especially you, Gracie.”

“Of all the …!” Grace gave him a hard push and he took a couple of half-steps to keep his balance, laughing.

“Stop! I give up!”

Grace was so happy to see him laughing again that she did as he asked.

Arcan had ignored their antics.

Six realized that he was in a sort of mental waiting room. He would have to live his life here, as best he could. She would be there for him when his time came. What more could he ask? If Arcan could find out how to safely create the morphics, that would make him – Six – one of the luckiest people in the universe! Providing the orthogel entity found the physics behind the transformation during his own lifetime, he would be able to join her. Arcan was right; they couldn’t continue to rely on fate to produce the firemorphs, and there was a part of Six which was absolutely determined to become one – he wasn’t about to lose Diva without a struggle, not now, not ever.

Arcan was explaining to Diva how the namura stone seemed to be able to break the carbon nanographite trap, and Diva shimmered.

“Then you can use that to escape if they try to pull you over again! That is terrific news!” She danced around the edge of the lake, spinning and changing colour.

Arcan scintillated too. “I heard this morning from the sibyla; they have already collected enough namura dust. I am going over to the Namuri village after I have transported some students from Kwaide to an immersion course on Cesis. I have to pick them up from the Kwaide Orbital Space Station in a few moments.”

Diva looked up quickly. “The space station above Kwaide? I was going to stay here with Raven and Six for a little while, but I think I will come with you to Kwaide first, just for a few minutes. I don’t want to go back to Pictoria without seeing Ledin – and this way you can keep an eye on my transporting. I am not too confident about this quantum decoherence thing yet. I don’t want to end up in the middle of a blizzard in the mountains north of the black peak.”

Arcan said nothing, though Six got the impression that the orthogel entity was not particularly keen on being a nursemaid to morphics.

The new firemorph hovered for a moment over Raven’s head. “Stay with your father, Raven. I will be back again in a few minutes, all right?”

The little girl nodded solemnly.

Arcan vanished. Diva gave a flicker before she, too, disappeared. There was a slight wobble in the firemorph; she clearly didn’t quite dominate this way of travel yet.

Six sighed. He had the distinct feeling that having a morphic wife was going to prove wearing. He took Raven’s hand. His daughter was still staring at the space Diva had occupied only seconds before, her mouth gaping open. “Come on, princess. Lannie will give you something to eat.”

Raven took her father’s hand happily. “Mummy came home!” she said, skipping along the beach beside him.

Six smiled down at her. “Yes. Mummy came back to us. Just as soon as she could. Now, what do you want to do until she gets back?”

“Sandcastle!” the little girl said happily. “Temar can play, too.”

DIVA AND ARCAN appeared in the Kwaide Orbital Space Station just as Ledin was escorting Tartalus and a party of Kwaidian Elders towards the shuttles.

As soon as Diva saw who was with him she gave a hiss of disapproval and stopped dead in her tracks. Tartalus turned around at once, but didn’t notice the firemorph, who was so much smaller than Arcan.

“Ah,” he said, walking towards them and addressing the only creature he could see. “You must be the orthogel entity. I have heard much about you. I believe some exchange of ideas could be of mutual interest.”

Diva had ducked quickly behind Arcan, even though she knew that she ran no risk of being recognized by the Coriolan meritocrat. She found she was actually shaking with dislike for the man. It seemed that becoming a firemorph had not changed her reaction to her cousin.

Arcan shimmered, having picked up her opinion, which she was not attempting to dampen. He gazed at the Coriolan.

“I do not think we could have anything in common.”

“No? Well, your loss. I would have thought there might be quite a lot I could … show you.” Tartalus smiled condescendingly at the alien in front of him. “Although, if I remember rightly, you are not allowed down to the surface of Kwaide, are you?”

Arcan swelled, rather menacingly, and the Coriolan meritocrat moved a step or two backwards. Diva giggled to herself. He was still a coward, she thought.

Tartalus gave one of his smiles, obviously under the impression that it made him more attractive. He was wrong. “A pleasure.”

Arcan stared at this biped. He was aware of the intense dislike emanating from Diva, behind him, but also that Ledin was devoutly hoping there would be no incident on the space station. He turned a vague brown. “I will remember you,” he told the Coriolan.

Tartalus looked gratified. “Most people do,” he said, repeating the broad smile, which did not reach as far as his eyes. “I find most people do.”

There was another slight buzz from behind Arcan, but this time Tartalus didn’t hear it. He moved into the shuttle, together with the Elder who had come to the space station to meet him, and the pilot.

As soon as the hatch closed on them, Diva erupted from behind Arcan.

“That rat! I just wish I had killed him when I had the chance! He doesn’t deserve to live!”

Ledin raised his eyebrows and regarded the new morphic which had just appeared in front of him.

“Diva? Is that you?” Then he grinned. “Though, talking like that, it couldn’t very well be anybody else, could it?”

“Hello, Ledin. Yes, it’s me. How can you bear to deal with somebody like that? He makes my hair stand on end!”

Ledin was staring at her.

“What now?”

“It’s just that …err … you may not have noticed, but you … err … don’t have hair anymore.”

Diva quivered. “I know that, but I still feel like I have, and anyway, if I did, it would stand on end.”

Ledin gave a sage nod. “Tartalus has that effect on many people. But he is an ambassador now, and unfortunately that means we have to treat him with respect.”

Diva hissed, and spiky bumps appeared all over her body.

“Respect! Sacras knows what he is doing down there with the Elders! Probably turning Benefice into his own private hunting arena.”

A nerve tensed in Ledin’s jaw. “I did hear that he and the Elders have resurrected the old hunting parties.”

Diva looked dismayed to be proved right. “Oh, Ledin, I am sorry.”

“There is nothing we can do about it, unfortunately.”

“Are they still hunting p-people?”

Ledin bowed slightly. “I believe so, yes. The story is that they pay willing sycophants a great deal of money to be the prey, and that they are never violent, but I have heard other versions which are not quite so … so … benign.”

Diva knew that he would be remembering the hunting party which had been responsible for Hanna’s death, and felt for him.

“You think they may be killing people?”

“My own skin crawls whenever that meritocrat is near me. I know that feeling, and it bodes no good.”

“Then I hope we can stop him.”

“One day. I shall look forward to it, although I believe Six would like to be first.”

“So would I. So would Tallen.”

Ledin nodded again. Then he looked at her. “Except you can’t carry a sword anymore.”

“I keep forgetting I am a morphic now! You are right. This whole thing is going to take more getting used to than I thought. How often does my second cousin come over here to Kwaide, Ledin? Is he here every week?”

“Nearly. He comes over for four or five days at a time, then usually seems to return to Mesteta on Coriolis for about a week, before coming back. He is certainly a regular visitor.”

“And he comes alone?”

Ledin shook his head. “Very rarely. Normally he brings a party of young bloods from Mesteta with him. They stay somewhere in the semi-desert in the Elder flatlands around Benefice, and appear to find enough … entertainment.” The last word came out so loaded with disgust that Arcan went dark.

“Why can nothing be done?” he demanded.

“Tartalus has ambassador status. He is protected by international agreement. If we act at this time, we could ourselves be accused of trying to start another war. That would be playing straight into the Elders’ hands. We have no choice but to wait.”

Diva still seemed ready to pounce. “Meanwhile Tartalus is getting stronger and stronger on Coriolis and corrupting more and more young meritocrats.”

“I’m afraid so.” Ledin looked anxious and stared vacantly out of the visor for a moment. Then he looked up at the new morphic form, one eyebrow raised. “Have you seen Grace?”

“Just come from Xiantha.”

“Did … did she say anything?”

“Say anything about what?”

“She … she … I don’t know if I should be the one tell you, because she might want to herself, but we … she is expecting another baby.”

“Ledin!” Diva threw herself at him, as if to hug him. Ledin reared back, startled to see a small, shining globe hurtle towards him. She seemed to realize at the last moment that she couldn’t physically hug him anymore, and just flew a few circuits of triumph around his head. He laughed.

“You are making me dizzy!”

“A second child! Congratulations! When is she due?”

“In five months. Thank you. We are very happy.”

“Of course you are. It will be a little girl, this time, just like Grace. Wait and see!”

Ledin raised his eyebrows. “Is the new Diva clairvoyant too?”

Arcan made a dismissive sound. “I don’t think anything could foresee the future,” he said. “The arrow of time is unidirectional. There is no symmetry.”