A bot whirred past overhead, and Nuri jerked in fright. She half expected the thing to pause, double back, but it was headed in the direction of the crash site. Which meant she’d better get moving, because it wouldn’t take the AI long to pick up the trail of devastation she’d left behind her.
Though her body felt as if it was weighed down with a pile of stones, she forced herself to keep going. It was so dark she didn’t see the start of the pool until she’d tumbled headfirst into the black water.
In the shock of the immersion, she swallowed a mouthful of the horrid liquid before figuring out which way was up. Desperate not to cough, Nuri did her best to swim silently across the pool. Another diagonal route. If the bots were on her trail, they’d calculate her route as being directly across. She hoped.
The water leached what little warmth was left in her body, and soon enough she couldn’t feel her extremities. Numbness. Was she paddling hard enough? When her head was almost submerged, she realised she’d slowed almost to a standstill. It would be so easy now to slip beneath the surface, wouldn’t it …
The siren call was a luminous thread that drew her on. She’d come so far now, it was absolute insanity to give up. The embankment came as a surprise, and at first all Nuri could do was clutch onto the roots protruding into the lake with hands that didn’t quite work as they should.
“C-c-come on, N-n-nuri,” she stammered.
Drawing on the last sparks of her reserves, she heaved herself up, hand over hand, until she flopped onto the embankment. The air almost felt warm against her skin compared to the water.
So tired. Maybe she should close her eyes for a short while and rest …
Stupid. That was how hypothermia set in. With a grunt she stumbled onto her feet and drunkenly made her way to where one of the forest paths started. Kinda stupid to follow a path now if the bots were on high alert, but speed was more important than stealth. Get there, to the hangar, before they could stop her. Nuri broke into a shamble; it couldn’t be called a jog or a trot, more like the movements of a zombie.
“Zombie needs bwaaainz,” Nuri said, more to cheer herself up rather than anything else. This was the sort of joke that F’Thr would crack. Ancestors, she missed him something fierce.
The good thing about moving faster was that her body warmed up to the point where she started shivering. Stars, she’d been so cold she hadn’t even been shivering! Every step brought sharp stabs from her ankle that drew tears from her eyes. She didn’t want to consider what sort of permanent damage she was doing to the joint. If she survived this, she wouldn’t be doing any free running for a long, long time.
Best to keep going, and die trying?
What an awful thought.
In the distance, an alarm started whooping.
Damn. That could only mean that the facility was now on high alert. They would be sending out teams in addition to the bots.
COME TO ME – the call was so loud, it vibrated through her with a pulse of psi that nearly dropped her.
Nuri clutched onto the smooth bark of the nearest pilaar tree. “I’m doing my best!” she choked out.
For nearly a minute, her legs refused to move, and all she could do was cling to the trunk, her pulse so rapid she feared her heart was about to burst.
Apart from her own ragged breathing, the forest was eerily quiet, as if it was holding its breath, watchful of the small drama unfolding among the trees. Not even the chirrup of a cricket. Leaves shivered with the slightest puff of a breeze, and then she heard them: voices, the crash of foliage as a patrol made its way to her.
“Scanners detected a large, warm-blooded life form headed from the swamp,” someone said.
“This is not the projected course,” another replied.
“Yes, but it’s the quickest path to the buildings.”
Panic had Nuri let go of the tree and she broke into a run. They were perhaps twenty, thirty metres behind her. If she got a head start now …
Even as she broke cover, she knew it was a mistake, but the mere thought of trying to hunker down without knowing whether their scanners would pick up her exact location was too much for her.
“There!” one of the guards cried.
Nuri didn’t bother trying to swallow the small squeaks she made every time she put down her left foot. Dear ancestors, that was the worst pain she’d ever felt. Even more so than that broken arm she’d had three years ago.
Trunks flashed past her and she nearly went down in an unexpected dip where hard-packed ground turned to soft sand. Instead she regained her footing and put on a fresh burst of speed she’d dredged up from the ancestors alone knew where.
This part of the forest was well known to her, and she once again blessed her excellent night vision. She’d never had to rely on the special contacts the others wore for night exercises. The lights of the facility were beacons, and Nuri was almost able to block out the pain and her exhaustion as she closed the distance between herself and the hangar.
The sudden change in terrain as she burst from the tree cover and began to sprint across the first training field made her stagger, and she weaved between the obstacle course. To her left came shouting, but she knew better than to turn and look. The hangar was her goal, and she’d keep running until –
Her feet snarled together and before Nuri could figure out what was happening, the turf rushed up to meet her and she bounced as she fell, then rolled. Usually, she’d tuck her legs and push herself right but instead she tumbled like a bundle of tossed twigs.
All she could do was lie there dazed, until the little squiggles had stopped swimming in her vision. By that time it was too late – her nose was pressed against a polished military boot, and she didn’t need to look up to know that at least half a dozen blasters were aimed at her.
“Don’t move!” a man yelled at her.
All the fight leaked out of her. She allowed her body to go limp.
What had she expected? That she could just run across the fields right into the hangar? They’d been expecting her. Hells, they’d probably flushed her out here because it was the most obvious route, and she’d been in such a rush she’d ignored her basic training.
“Call in the teams,” a woman said. “We’ve got the intruder in custody.”
Rough hands dragged her onto her knees, and she got to see the grim-faced guards who had her surrounded. They weren’t any she remembered – they had the insignia of Calan City their shoulders, and their uniforms were navy, not charcoal. So the city had a presence here tonight as well.
Nuri hung her head, so overwhelmed by exhaustion that all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep forever. Except for the star-jumper’s call. It was a low hum that made her teeth ache, made her head feel as if her skull was too small to contain her brain. She couldn’t wait for the emergence to finish; then she could get on with her life. If they didn’t lock her up in prison, she’d most likely be shipped off to one of the military facilities for training. Or mind-wiped. That would be a relief, actually.
“Sorry, Fadhil,” she whispered. There’d be no roaming between stars to find his daughter. Not that it mattered. Fadhil was beyond her reach. She’d never be able to fulfil his wish.
The guards began to haul her towards the admin block, and Nuri let herself go slack in their grip. There was no point fighting. She closed her eyes –
The flash was so sudden, so bright and hot, it hurt even behind her eyelids and heated her skin. The guards cried out and let go of her, and Nuri dropped to her knees even as an explosion shook the grounds. The very earth groaned, and her gaze was drawn unerringly to the hangar, which was wreathed in an actinic, unearthly light. Even as bits of roofing rained down around her, Nuri watched as a huge luminous form haloed in brightness shrugged past the debris.
The emergence. Of course.
Screams sounded in the distance; someone tugged at her, but she was immovable. Her pulse raced until the blood flowing through her veins became a deluge. A humming like taut wires san
g in her bones, and a tidal force of recognition crashed over her.
The nymph was almost impossible to look at; its oblong form burnt into her retinas so that a dark after-image remained whenever she blinked. The air around it buzzed with static, all the small hairs on Nuri’s skin prickling. She could only explain the sensation akin to whenever she took a leap of faith over a chasm that was almost too wide, too impossible, where one miscalculation would see her crushed many metres below.
The star-jumper made her think of the pictures she’d seen of armoured fish from ancient Terra, but its large, disk-like eyes were so fathomless, blacker than black, drinking in all light so that she felt as if she too was swallowed. Like light hitting the event horizon.
No going back.
The alien intelligence that had so often brushed against her awareness now pressed into her, tasting her, turning over her memories, mirroring them. And Nuri welcomed this, opened herself up as wide as possible, dropped all the barriers, because this was right, this was what she’d been born to. How she understood, she could not tell.
K’Lutri, spoke the other half of her, the voice resonant within her deepest being now unfettered.
“Nurimara,” Nuri replied, though she had no idea why this sounded right. “Nurimara tel an Nuisala.” The words tumbled out, as if they’d always been imprinted on her heart and her tongue. She’d only needed to unlock them.
Tel u Sjihami, came the greeting.
Daughter to the Sjihami.
The term “star-jumper” a poor substitute for the being of stars and void that hovered above her. K’Lutri was Sjihaam, came the understanding, a sense of infinity and intense concentration, and the eternal tension between the two states of being and nothingness.
Nuri lacked words to fully encompass the immensity of what she sought to understand. Tears sprang to her eyes and she wept with the unfolding joy, the passion that formed a bridge between her and the Sjihaam.
You are never alone now. We are never alone.
* * *
How long they communed, it didn’t matter. An eternity encapsulated in a few heartbeats. An eternity held in her palm.
You must deal with the kita, said K’Lutri. “Kita”, the non-Sjihami – and thus everyone else on the planet. I am here. I must rest. Soon, we go to the stars.
K’Lutri’s body dimmed, but she remained hovering above the remains of the hangar, and a bright ember stayed aware, lodged within Nuri. Not truly separate, but more, if there was any way to describe the sensation fully.
Gradually, Nuri pulled her gaze from the Sjihaam, fins laced with a tracery of webbing that even now shimmered and shivered with bioluminescence. Devastation surrounded the field littered with rubble and fragments of buildings that had come loose with the emergence. A dozen or so guards stood in a rough semicircle about, blasters drawn, faces pulled into grim masks of terror. Only a few heartbeats had passed, she supposed.
Slowly, so as to not alarm them, she raised her hands. “It’s okay, I don’t have any weapons.”
“On the ground!” a woman shouted.
Nuri grimaced, too tired to feel true concern for the human’s posturing. Her entire being ached, but she moved to comply.
Even as she pressed her hands to the turf, someone shouted. “Stand down!”
“But, sir –” the guard queried.
“Now!”
Nuri turned to Raphel and offered him a shaky smile. “I had to come back.”
He rushed to her, grabbed both of her hands in his. “Are you all right?” Raphel tried to help her up, but her ankle wouldn’t support her, and she ended up nearly hanging from him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t …” There was so much she had to say, but the words wouldn’t come.
“Medics!” Raphel cried.
Others came running from the hangar exits. The guards had the presence of mind to guide the majority of them away from where Nuri stood.
Then Raphel embraced her fiercely. “Damn, I thought you were lost to us.”
Nuri let out a shuddering sigh and squeezed shut her eyes to stop her tears from spilling. Her heart thudded so fast she was afraid it’d bounce right out of her throat. She had no words.
“I knew you were the one.”
The bitterness about the past few weeks surged to the fore. “Then why didn’t you look for me?”
He pulled back. “We did.”
“To have me arrested!”
“No. We only found out a day ago that – ” He glanced to either side of her. “Not here. Not now. I’ll tell you everything I’m cleared to when we’re in private.”
The medics arrived then and bustled around her, checking her vitals. At Raphel’s direction, she was lifted onto the anti-grav stretcher and hustled through to the clinic. The familiarity of the place that she’d pretty much given up on felt … strange. Everything looked so clean. Pristine, after weeks of running in the barrens.
People turned to stare as they passed, and Nuri shut her eyes. That didn’t stop her from hearing them.
“I can’t believe it.”
“How did she get in?”
“What a disgrace.”
“The city Elders won’t be pleased.”
“How’s this going to affect the economy?”
She’d always known that others had had a poor opinion of her, but in her peculiar current state, with K’Lutri’s presence in touching distance, so to speak, she couldn’t bring herself to care. The concerns of those who fancied themselves “elite” were nothing compared to what the Sjihaam promised her.
“Getting rid of your implant was really foolish,” Raphel said as they settled her into the ward. He sat next to her, in the armchair, while the bots fussed about. A drip was inserted, and a cool rush immediately flooded Nuri’s veins.
“I’d have been found so much sooner,” Nuri said.
“Exactly. Then all of this could have been avoided.”
“But it was a toss-up. Either you or the people who shot Fadhil out of the sky. And there were no guarantees.”
“Point made, but –”
“I am wanted for murder, in case you haven’t forgotten,” Nuri said. “What’s to say if I’d reached out that I wouldn’t immediately have been taken into custody and put on trial?”
Raphel massaged his temples. “All right. Here’s the thing. You were framed. Mei isn’t … Mei isn’t dead.”
“What?” Nuri choked out and tried to rise. Her world went a little brighter at the edges, and K’Lutri’s alarm spiked through her too.
Are you in danger? Must I step in?
The nearest bot straightened, and spoke in a calm tone. “Please, esteemed patient, be calm. We have yet to finish conducting the scans.”
“I’m fine,” Nuri said, more for K’Lutri than anyone else in the ward. She pressed her hand against her chest and concentrated on breathing slowly.
A frown creased Raphel’s brow, and when he looked up at Nuri, his eyes were so full of remorse that she almost pitied him.
“There was a conspiracy.” He licked his lips. “I’m not sure how much I can tell you, but I’ll see how far I get before Katha or the others interfere.” Raphel glanced across the bed towards the doorway, but there was no one there just yet.
“Tell me!” Nuri said, alarm spiking right through the exhaustion and whatever drugs the medical AI had already administered.
“Things ran a lot deeper than we expected.”
“You don’t say …” Nuri murmured. Deep enough that Vadith was involved.
“When Fadhil was killed, we were thrown into turmoil. We immediately sent search and rescue, only then the footage came out showing you –”
“I never even got to say goodbye!” Nuri spat.
Raphel held up his hand. “I know. We know now. At the time, the image of you arguing with Mei came from security footage. We took it for granted it hadn’t been doctored, until someone leaked a statement from Mei. She’s been held under duress by a clan that has had a long-term feud wit
h hers. They sought to not only harm her family but level the playing field a bit for their associates’ Chosen.”
“Who’s their Chosen?” Nuri asked, unable to mask the brittle tone to her words.
I’d never have bonded with Regan, K’Lutri said. He thinks of me as a thing.
“Oh,” Nuri said.
Raphel spread his hands in a gesture of apology. “I don’t need to tell you, do I?”
She shook her head as she gained a glimmer of her potential abilities. “No one wants the likes of me to have access to …” She didn’t want to say so much power, but Nuri could see from Raphel’s grim expression that he understood fully what she meant.
“They’ve got Mei,” Nuri continued, as K’Lutri offered up the facts. “A Merchanter family of the Arrandi clan.”
I know where they are located, K’Lutri added. It would be nothing for me to make them give your friend back.
Raphel nodded. “And by now they are deeply afraid.”
“Will they hurt her?”
He spread his hands. “I can’t answer that.”
“Ancestors! I must –” Nuri made to get up, but Raphel placed a restraining hand on her shoulder.
“You’re not going anywhere right now. You need to rest. Medical AI says you’ve a hairline fracture in your ankle. Avatar or no, you’re staying in bed until the nanobots have had a chance to do their thing.”
“But –”
“And call off your new friend. She is not an attack drone to do your bidding on a whim.”
“Mei is not a ‘whim’!” Nuri pulled out of his grasp, but she stayed put.
“We will send negotiators –”
Nuri opened her mouth, but Raphel held up a hand.
“On your behalf. They’d be fools to ignore an official request from an avatar.”
“What stopped you from doing this sooner?”
“We lacked the authority. The authority you as avatar can lend us.” He pulled the kind of face someone made when they’d accidentally bitten into a rotten fruit.
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