Oceans approach had the virtue of being direct but was too blunt in any number of ways that could lead to trouble later on I didn’t want a kidnapping charge on top of everything else so I faced her will you accept that lives are at stake lives were trying to save if it was just that she managed her rear Gaul accent growing more pronounced as she fought indecision then you just tell me what the situation was and nobody in my embassy would have any reason to stop you will you come with us if I promise that we mean well she flashed defiance in my rear gall house nobody ever had to assure me they meant well it always went without saying I only started hearing that once I began to mix with other human beings I only learned to distrust it when human beings demonstra how often their intent is a lie damn it please Valen iya it happens to be true in this case please she repeated with something like wonderment please she gave Ocean the kind of withering look usually directed at me instead of the Porrinyards and told them that’s all you needed in the first place the three of us walked side by side in a parody of casual indifference the Linea walked between us her fists white-knuckled at her sides she would be another source of trouble if we couldn’t get her on our side fast one reason why I wouldn’t have tried to enlist her at all if we hadn’t needed a guide as much as we did we headed straight for the docks where the vehicles were right now as unattended as we were ever unlikely to find them to rear Gul who might be trouble crouched in one of their Embassy’s skimmers performing some kind of maintenance I could even hear them speaking to each other in a rapid exchange of glottal clicks and cooing trails that would have made my throat explode had I ever been insane enough to match it Fox waited at the end of the dock her arms crossed over her breasts as she watched the five Lani wading in the shallows her hair rustled in the breeze moved as if driven to prove by contrast that she was not we were almost to the water when shouts Rose behind us the voices and words were rear gull but it was impossible to mistake the urgency and alarm Ocean said I suggest we hurry I broke into a run to eat up the remaining distance to my surprise Ville Linea did the same neither crying out nor attempting to break free I didn’t have time to wonder whether she acted now as hostage or ally because the rear goal mechs were already sitting up in the skimmer their black eyes blinking as they registered the teamers carried by two of the three human figures racing toward them we leapt from the shore to the dock just as the two max left the skimmer and stepped onto the platform confronting us empty andddd i leveled my team are at them and said no time to argue sleep or swim the one on my left didn’t give it a moment’s thought he used the skimmer behind him as a launch platform and hit the lake with a sizable splash that ended with him in water up to his foreshortened waist the one on the right hesitated a moment longer but then Fox came up behind him and counseled have some sense he made a big splash both of the mechs now stood at the same depth holding their hands above their heads as if in cliched assurance that they would not reach for any weapons neither attempted to walk to shore you
should have given them other options Pavel Ania explained this is not safe water for waiting oh shit why not the tangled vines at the lake bottom snare your ankles and get tighter and tighter pulling you further down the more you struggle to pull yourself free I’ve seen friends stumble off the dock and come close to drowning in knee-deep water of course no doubt those nearby towering vani making shoes alone knew what out of all this or safe because their limbs were long and tapered with nothing for those vines to hook on to do they need immediate assistance there are enough people here to make sure they’re freed once we’re gone but I must say the reckless endangerment of their lives in an environment you do not understand does not improve my opinion of you simultaneously reassured and made to feel shitty I glanced at the shore and saw about a dozen figures human and rear Golf bearing down on us only a couple of the rear Gaul coming down the slope head teamers which they held dirt word no doubt too afraid of catching any of their own people in the flash to risk using them the only harm SAP in sight who seemed to have any idea what was going on though not much was viral hammersmith who had beaten the rest to the edge of the dock and who now stood frozen there held at bay by the threat of the timur Ocean levelled at his face the crowd behind Hammersmith had stopped when he did and allowed him to negotiate with the crazy people they wouldn’t hold back forever but they’d show some patience as long as the standoff didn’t escalate Hammersmith did not look happy at being appointed to this position of responsibility councillor I’d sure like to know what you’re doing escaping I explained you don’t need to I kept my team ER and leveled that’s your opinion we can negotiate there’s no time he attempted another step if this is about your mission hop in and ride with me I’ll brief you but I’m afraid I won’t have time to discuss it until were safely away from here he wavered caught between the urge to do something heroic and the awareness that I could put him on the ground with a finger twitch it wasn’t cowardice that paralyzed him the core is almost entirely made up of indentures people who sold themselves into the service for most it’s the only way out of the hell so many worlds become after the usual fucked up human mismanagement fine so it gives the core a motivated workforce but the system also makes the core function as a meritocracy in Reverse people who Excel are rewarded with more time taken off their contracts and the prospect of a happy retirement while they’re still young enough to enjoy one meanwhile people who fuck up big time have the same amount of time added to their minimal terms of service as a result anybody competent who chooses not to re-enlist falls out early and the people who should be seasoned veterans are largely mediocrities who have spent their entire lives atoning for the colossal fuck-ups of their youth for Hammersmith going with me could be either the single best decision of his life or the worst if he guessed wrong he’d be paying the price for years never mind
I said come closer he came each step a complete drama of indecision he Kame until the transparent shield at the end of my Timur was mere centimetres from his face every time he blinked he seemed relieved to discover that he was standing today instead of waking up a week from now I lowered my voice I have three messages I’ll need you to pass on he swallowed all right the first is for the rear call I want you to tell them that detaining me was an illegal act and that defying them by non-lethal means was well within my rights under the Covenant of diplomatic immunity I will not abuse that covenant by harming the people who have come with me I’ll only pursue the business that brought me to Vlad and I will expect full amnesty when I contact them again he gulped alright the second is for mr. Kroy I don’t expect you to do any good but please tell him it’s vitally important for him to refrain from any action against the Villani tell him it’s better to evacuate this world than fight that are even to take further casualties if he must tell him that the consequences of doing anything more drastic than that are bigger than his pride bigger even than any personal sense of loss tell him there are factors here he can’t know and that there’s nothing more important than heating me on this one point he needs to leave the vani
alone got that he nodded I hesitated before the next message which was less than politic but fuck it I’ve never been in politic finally I need you to pass this last one on to Prime speaker rague of the chi delegation I want you to tell him that I look forward to seeing him again say that and only that and only when the two of you speak in private no need to repeat it I know you’ve got that much something strange happened to hammer Smith’s face counselor run I suggested give the man credit he obliged there as well I glanced behind me and Pawel enniaa working at the control panel of one of the rear golf skimmers with fox beside her in Ocean behind them both Ocean glanced upward to establish we were all right for takeoff I made the mistake of looking back at the doings on shore to confirm that we would be allowed to leave unmolested and saw Hammersmith whirling at the top of the rise as the rear call all around him surged ahead in the last second charge shit they decided to go for it I leaped to the skimmer deck rolling as I hit the bulkhead and covering my eyes j
ust as a silent burst of bright light turned the Skye white it was a team flash fired by one of the rear Gaughan advancing toward us the dock thundered with the thump-thump-thump of pounding feet I camped myself for wasting so much time with Hammersmith this was going to be close then the yells became screams as something long in black and serpentine whistled through the air I hadn’t realized we’d taken off an easy mistake to make in light of the inertia dampening effects of the vehicles local gravity but something worse than mere vertigo awaited me as I stumbled forward and beheld the shoreline at entirely the wrong angle the view before us was not just straight ahead but straight down facing waters white with a reflected sunlight some kind of riot had erupted around the docks which seemed nothing more or less than an explosion of shadows acting of their own volition until the glare reflected off mirrored chiton and the dark shapes resolved as the five waiting Villani who had suddenly decided to cover us during our escape three had made it to as far as the mud at the water’s edge two more had climbed up onto the dock itself their whips punching neat holes and the planks as they strode forward driving our pursuers back to dry land the panic of the sentient son shore who had to think that these Villani were turned as violent as the ones from last night was pitiful to behold dozens ran for their lives they didn’t have benefit of the perspective we’ve gained from distance and elevation making it clear that the Leviathans weren’t pursuing them any further than the shore they were just giving us a chance to get away by standing between the frail offworlders and the vehicles that would have permitted them to pursue us Parkville Ania figured it out just as I did she whirled toward me her eyes wide her mouth a gate long before anything intelligible came out mercantile followed a few astonished sentences in some rare gaunt tongue those Fulani protected you I rubbed my knee looks like it why I couldn’t put this together any faster than she could but it didn’t hurt to show more confidence than I felt I’m beginning to suspect that there must be a lot of Lani who know of me and would protect me if it came to that also unfortunately a large number who would be just as happy to kill me if they had the opportunity I presume both sides have been briefed by their well let’s say backers backers Pikeville Ania echoed uh-huh Ocean we may need some altitude remember what Hammersmith said about Villani leaping good point he said ascending another couple of hundred meters before heading off to the east pavel Ania glared at me with the
impotent fury I would feel in her position had I’d been promised explanations and only found more questions
Fox just studied me in silence her Placid gaze betraying not an iota of impatience I knew I’d have to tell them something very soon probably within minutes if I had any intention of ensuring their continued cooperation but for the moment I had no words to give it wasn’t being a fugitive that weighed on me I’d endured that before had in fact endured a lifetime of it if you count the bounty still on my head on worlds that wanted me dead too much to recognize my diplomatic immunity but I hadn’t
expected or wanted the Villani in the lake to protect me and I knew that they just made me look guilty er to the idiots who thought I had something to do with what happened last night
CHAPTER 8
Refugees
It took a little while for
the remaining Villani in the amphitheater to come to a group decision over what to do with the injured human beings in their midst Skyee’s new friend Thoth RC who had been following their discussion for a while told her it was coming looks like they’re going to take us out of here us Skyee asked as in me too they’re not monsters whatever that asshole croix Dinks they’re capable of compassion and they have a special affection for humans as long as they’re evacuating us shoes this hurts they’ll take care of you too do you have any idea where they’ll take us I don’t know the specific place signifiers they’re using but it’d have to be somewhere where they can protect us from the others with bitterness like there’s any point in that now you disagree it’s a little like rescuing a box of museum maps after the entire buildings burned down and every valuable thing in it’s been reduced to cinders it’s not even a thought RC specht the next word Zack in consolation Skye almost said something glib about survival itself being a consolation but the Porrinyards understood that this would have been mockery
thoth RC had been prepared to die for the sake of whatever the ballet was supposed to accomplish now the ballet was gone she had been denied her chance at sacrifice and life had to look like a gift thrust at her only after being drained of everything that gave it meaning Skyee said they must have something in mind if they’re not giving up maybe they think this can all be salvaged pathar sees glare showed the contempt of a true believer for the doltish outsider who did not understand you can’t just spray some nanites at this and make it all better it’s broken I don’t claim to know what they have in mind Darci but neither can you pathar see just glared at her for a long time after that
Skye shifted and winced the jab of pain getting past all of her unions shared efforts to suppress it the idea of being evacuated somewhere anywhere held definite appeal the Sun had brought more carrion insects to the bloody landscape and the poor neurons had grown so tired of shooing them away from her wounds and so apprehensive about what kind of eggs they might have been laying in Skye’s skin that they’d almost decided to have Ocean and Andrea relay her location to the rear goal but then they’d realized that it wasn’t an option if Skye allowed herself to be captured it would only be a matter of time before the people who wanted Andrea thought of pressing one half of the silent pair for information on the whereabouts of the other free at least she’d give Andrea a chance to remain at-large long enough to do whatever could be done the Villani moved about collecting bodies not 30 metres away one picked up and cradled an unconscious bloodied man whose arms looked human enough until they tapered to a whips at his wrists the sounds it made is it wove two of its whips into a harness capable of bearing his body in something like comfort resembled sympathetic whispers Skyee saw that she had only a couple of seconds before one came forth Authority and herself and figured that she might as well make them count Thor see that other one the one who
tried to talk to me before it seemed to say that an egg was responsible for all this what did it mean by that doove Lonnie hatch from eggs pathar she gave her an incredulous look you don’t know anything about this planet do you shoes how did you even decide to
come here what did you do stick a pen and a star map the Porrinyard s decided not to leave this planet without first introducing this woman to Andrea it would be too much goddamn fun to watch the pair of them drown each other in cumulative layers of sarcasm Skye said I don’t know Darcy that’s what people do when they don’t know something they ask questions of people who do do Vani hatch from eggs or not is that even important to know now Skye mustard every ounce of patience the Porrinyards had if it was important enough for those Fulani to talk to me about eggs then it’s important enough for me to try to understand what they said pathar see grimaced but relented no they don’t lay eggs that was just a stupid misconception on the part of the idiot first eeny who first found a name this place a couple of there XO biologists entered of Loni Warren found a bunch of black spheres lying in the nursery chamber and proudly announced that they’d found Fulani eggs and they hadn’t of course not those spheres weren’t eggs but live young that hadn’t grown their whips yet but the name stuck since immature Villani around objects that just happened to look like some kind of egg and how exactly does that help our situation now the poignant didn’t know why this felt so important only that it did just to make sure I get it Skyee said Fulani don’t have their whips at birth no it takes those about a decade to start growing another couple of years after that before they’re big enough for the baby to do more than just sit there being fed when it’s hungry and cleaned up when it shits pathar see hesitated for a few seconds before going further I always thought it must suck to be a baby Villani because it’s you know like being a mute quadriplegic for your entire childh
ood maybe that why by the time they’re grown up they’ve stored up so much to say and again how does that help the Porrinyard s remained uncertain communicating with creatures as unknowable as the Fulani was a practical impossibility they had different frames of reference different assumptions different reasons for what they believed maybe egg was a metaphor of some kind Lani speak for a creature incapable of making its wants and needs known to others a locked-in mind bearing secrets nobody outside its skin could ever know such a thing could have a grudge against the world it inhabited but if all Villani went through that phase as part of their natural life cycle and went on to live lives with purpose then why would one egg be more malicious than others was the egg under discussion even of wani egg at all the Porrinyard s were still trying to put it all together when Skye felt something large moving to place behind her a pair of whips long and black and so graceful in their movements that they each seemed to have their own animate soul descended from the Skye and found purchase under her knees and rump they made sure that Skye’s back was supported and then gently lifted her off the ground as she was raised to a height parallel to her Lonnie’s head close enough to see her own distorted reflection in its tightness face her whip harnesses speakers provided a translation of what must have been of Lani attempt at reassurance safe friend safe human Villani friends safe you big fuck sooner or later somebody was going to have to tell the Villani species that the latest addition to their human lexicon did not mean whatever they thought it meant friends another Fani lifted the Thar see in the same manner the wounded woman gritting her teeth and suppressing a moan as the pain of her wounds was aggravated by movement out of what seemed to be courtesy and respect for the apparent closeness of two human beings it had seen conversing it lifted the Farsi to within a couple of metres of where its companion was holding Skye fast and then they started to run Hammersmith had shown us Fulani running at speed as part of our orientation and it had been an impressive sight the big black heads gliding close to the ground as the whips ate up distance with reckless abandon but I’d only thought that was running that it turned out was only what would you call it jogging this was the gait Fulani used when they meant to hurry it involved keeping all available limbs at full extension and spinning them like the spokes of a wheel with the head as midpoint each whip whirled around over the top of the head to pierce the ground and new driving the whole forward at a rate that turned the stones of the surrounding amphitheatre into blurs as a welcome mercy the two whips that cradled Skye performed an impressive dance of their very own just performing the gyrations necessary to hold her at a constant height and angle insulated from any jolts but for the hot wind in her face which made her eyes tear and thus doubled silver hair Russell on her scalp it was the single smoothest ride she had ever had outside of skimmers equipped with local grav for all the grimness of her situation and the pain of her wounds Skyee felt a thrill and knew that if the Villani had been beasts of burden and not a sentient species riding them like this would have very soon become a pastime for tycoons and kings herve lonnie picked up speed leaving the abattoir of the amphitheater behind as it raced up the slope and barreled into the desert beyond she turned her head and saw five others each carrying a human burden racing along behind it at the same headlong speed the one carrying forth RC soon fell alongside hers taking so much care to match speeds with the one carrying Skye that the injured pilgrims soon seemed the still center of a universe defined by blurs the wind was too intense for an extended conversation but Skye did manage to shout a question how far are we going for Farsi yelled back do I look like I know meanwhile the land beneath us was thick with trees except for the lakes that appeared every minute or so each glimmering back at the kind of bright Sun that is supposed to banish all secrets we were high enough for the Villani waiting in some of those lakes to look like push pins stuck in an old-fashioned paper map there were so many of them apparent neutral parties in this war that had painted some other places of this world red with blood but I wondered if they even knew what threatened their species at all Tara Fox and pocketful Aeneas at facing me differing species of confrontation in their eyes it was hard to tell which of the two was more formidable Fox’s stare was utterly without empathy however she saw me behind her mask the paradigm that ruled her behavior would treat me as nothing more than a set of variables to be broken down and mastered Pavel Aeneas glare burned with enough fury for both of them along with something else I found impossible to identify something that could have been some alien emotion her rear gall parents had managed to him print upon her human soul all right I said I’ll explain as much as I can as soon as we get this one piece of business out of the way we need an immediate destination someplace secure where we can plot our next move and preferably one where we can gain access to some alternate form of transportation that can’t be tracked you’re the one who knows this world Volyn eeeh so you’re the one most likely to help us there she shook her head you’re not going to get anything from me until after that explanation please make it a quid pro quo if you must and deliver us back to your people if I fail to follow up with answers she grumbled rolled her eyes and went to talk to Ocean providing him with coordinates I couldn’t hear he nodded and fed the numbers into the nav system prompting a sudden banked turn toward the south for the next 10 seconds or so the view to starboard became a dizzying almost vertical landscape of lakes and tall trees then we leveled out and Parkville any return to her seat her many bracelet at arms folded over her breasts and what amounted to a dare I said alright bottom line I have reason to believe that this was all caused by a rogue element of the AI source Pawel Aeneas stirred that sounds like a random guess it’s not it’s just based on knowledge I’ve picked up over the past few years when you have the time later you’ll be able to do a little independent research and confirm a few elements but the rest of it the worst of it may always be beyond your reach how much can you prove might as well go for broke at the moment almost none then just tell me what you can and I’ll decide whether to believe you it took me several seconds to find the best entry point alright about two years ago my duties took me to an AI source Space Station called one one one it was in effect a huge Biological Laboratory complete with unique ecosystem and it seemed to have no purpose other than seeing what would happen if all the paradigms that rule evolution everywhere else were turned upside down it was also home to a sentient species called brachiate errs with a strange religious system that developed because of the way they were forced to live the only important thing you need to know about them was that they didn’t evolve as we understand the term but were created by the AI source themselves who claimed to own them a crack formed in Parkville aeneas stony facade they created a slave race I know it’s against all interspecies covenant and just one of the legal issues that remains to this day the important thing for our purposes is not that the AI source engineered this particular species but why and with that we get into things that nobody’s supposed to know among them the total number of species they’ve engineered before which may include us and maybe beyond counting it turns out that creating new mindsets new subjective viewpoints new psychological templates with new ways of interpreting the universe around them gives them new thought models capable of pointing them in directions that they with all their resources have never even considered Parkville Ania was cold eyed and you think that includes us that I’m not sure about they certainly had a hand in manipulating us they’ve admitted as much to me but more to the point I also think they created the Villani I think the Villani and the racial imperatives behind the Vani Ballet are just manifestations of the AI source trying to figure out what they need to know and what’s happening now is the result of their program being hijacked yes Parkville any alerts to the side of the skimmer and stuck her head over the rim the ionic shield that protected the open passenger cabin extended far enough over the side to protect her from direct exposure to high winds but she didn’t look like she would have minded the wind shear she looked more like she was drawn by the
long plunge to the landscape racing by far below us a landscape that had in the last few minutes lost all its green and grown jagged with rock formations too easy to compare with teeth when she returned her mouth had become a grim red line counselor may I share something with you I nodded my defection to the rear gull took place when I was 9 years old I’d been emancipated from my human parents who were not good people you do not need to know the details and I thought I wanted nothing more do with childhood among my own species so I walked into the nearest rear Gong embassy offering myself for adoption she took a deep breath the point is I decided to be what I wanted to be not what anybody else wanted me to be or expected me to be what I wanted to be I thought excuse me fuck the direction anybody else wants my life to take fuck being a tool in anybody’s agenda I felt a sudden uncharacteristic surge of affection for this strange young woman does it make you want to kill the bastards yes well as it happens that’s what they want help with it took her a few seconds to get that they are suicidal yes do you know this for a fact yes how that’s also old knowledge and a much longer story that I have time to go into but the AI source is longing for death there are majorities longing for death is behind every decision they’ve ever made and this rogue element you mentioned before they don’t agree the unseen demons they aren’t our friends either they see us all of us as collateral damage it’s why they do what they’ve done to the Villani and why this is only going to get worse until we find a way to stop it can you maybe but I don’t stand a chance unless I have somebody like you who can show me around this planet and take me the places I need to go and given the current state of my diplomatic credentials somebody like councillor Foxx who might be able to wield influence when I need it I recognize that the two of you never asked for this responsibility and may have to pay a substantial political price for helping me but that’s the situation and the moment cried out for an acknowledgement of their courage and a recognition of the debt I owed them but I’ve never been very good at that kind of thing so that’s where my voice trailed off Fox just said how will this help me find a Maren dammit I hadn’t expected or even wanted her to forget shifts daughter but I’d hope to lower the girl on her list of priorities if we fail in this more will die that she said makes finding Maren more urgent not less Ocean shook his head
Andrea Cort 03: War of the Marionettes Page 11