by Andrea Höst
Zan, just short of the Pandora platform, held her squad, waiting, and it was only a few moments before Tsur Selkie gave her the go-ahead. I asked Zee if it was possible for Ys, Rye and Sen to be brought home from school early, and then sat on the couch to stress while she arranged that. My main goal from that point onward was to not distract Kaoren, which meant I did breathing exercises and tried to keep my heart rate at relatively normal levels. When the kids arrived, I had to really work at it because Sen was extremely distressed – partly because Sight Sight was working overtime on her 'need to know'. I ended up describing parts of what was happening to her, which made it easier for both of us.
The first Setari, three of the Nurans, arrived at Atanra shortly after the Isadore's captain had opened the ship's exits. The massive was heaving itself into range of the ship, and there were hundreds of people scrambling over grass and rocks, trying to race a spiny octopus to Atanra's fortified walls. Korinal, in lead, set Selreven and Otarien to scoop up as many passengers as possible while she tried to draw the massive away and avoid a large flock of escort swoops.
Fourth arrived back in real-space just as they were starting this manoeuvre, and were flying as quickly as they could from the near-space gate to Atanra. As soon as he had a direct look at the towering bulk of the massive, Kaoren said sharply: "No elementals!" and Korinal, about to fire a few Light bolts, veered away, then picked up a man-sized rock and threw it instead.
And the thing caught the rock and threw it back at her, a response she barely dodged. I checked Zee's expression, and saw her frown deepen, and she only looked grimmer as the Setari squads made it through to Atanra and began collecting scattered passengers while struggling to draw the massive away from the Isadore. The massive would pause briefly to toss back rocks and snatch at any Setari who flew too close, while continuing to head slowly toward the Isadore, where more than two-thirds of the passengers were still trapped – and far less inclined to race out the exits when tentacles started trying to force their way in.
It was Mara, ever practical, who broke into the discussion of how to lure the massive away from the ship with: "Why don't we move the ship? Do we have enough lift between us?"
"Possibly when enhanced," Maze said. "Let's clear as many of these swoops as possible before making the attempt."
When Twelfth arrived with Lira, Kaoren had Fourth waiting at the gate from near-space. I blinked when I saw Lira emerge, since she was in a Setari uniform. Zan had had Sora Nels, Twelfth's Ena manipulation talent, give Lira her uniform harness and stay behind. Lira was white-faced and looked impossibly young, and Kaoren briefly stopped being captain and switched to Dad to hug her and tell her that he'd be with her the entire time. She hadn't had my slow progression into travelling through the Ena, and was being thrust into the deep end of Setari work, facing the most dangerous massive I'd seen so far.
"It will absorb elementals and gain strength from them," Kaoren said, as he bound his suit to Lira's and lifted her closer to the battle. "It may be possible to draw it with elemental attacks, at least so that it separates from the ship. After that, stone bombardment, sonics, and Atanra's weaponry, but we must be quick or its counterattack will be devastating."
The squads split into three groups – all the most powerful Telekinetic and Levitation talents with Lira, a lure group able to attack and fly, and a less mobile group trying to collect passengers between the ship and Atanra, and protect them from escort Ionoth.
For the Setari who couldn't enhance themselves, timing would be an issue for the ship lift. It was going to have to be a quick, hasty haul, and as soon as the ship was out of the way they would have to rush to bombard, overwhelming the massive's ability to play catch through sheer numbers.
The Isadore rocked and shifted with horrible groaning noise as the squads moved into position – the massive had a good grip on it and was trying to pry it open. The lure group began attacking immediately: Ice, Fire, Light and Lightning. Light and Lightning only seemed to sting the massive, but Fire and Ice were a little more effective, sending up a cloud of (calamari) smoke, while other tentacles were locked in mini-glaciers.
I'm not sure whether the massive even associated the attacks with the Setari, or if it just saw a cluster of people standing together unprotected by inconvenient metal shells. Whatever the case, it writhed toward them, leaving the Isadore free and suddenly flying, tilted somewhat, and trailing metal plating and the contents of its holds. It was a low, surging rush of a flight, the ship skimming barely above the ground, dropping as the first of the enhancements failed. But it was away, far enough for Atanra's weaponry – the kind of explosive missiles I'm familiar with from Earth – to be deployed.
Kaoren had shifted Lira to meet with Alay and the Nuran, Serray, to enhance their sonic attack, and the lure group hastily whizzed as far out of the way as possible. Bombs and sonics and fortunately KOTIS could make the bombs explode rather than be thrown back, and then a wave of rock hurled from above, the full force of gravity on our side.
And then Kaoren was shouting. "Counterattack! Cover or distance!" even as he was thrusting Lira, Alay and Serray down into the grass behind the nearest tumble of rocks. The massive was fairly thoroughly damaged by then, most of its spines broken, tentacles severed. Only a handful of the spines were able to fire, and I can't imagine what it would have been like if it had done that fully armed.
Each spine broke apart at the tip, then sprayed countless arm-length needles in every direction. Everyone on the ground had dived behind rocks, but all the Setari in the air had been able to do in the time was climb, gain as much distance as possible, and try to dodge what followed.
For the Setari with Combat Sight that was almost possible. For too many – for Zan – it was not.
No Setari died during this massive attack. But almost half of them were injured, and Zan was one of the worst, speared through the chest. Even those hiding behind rocks on the ground didn't all escape, as the low-travelling spines hit with such force that they produced stony shrapnel. Fifty-seven of the passengers of the Isadore died, most in the crush at the exits, or in the tentacles just outside them. The danger of massives in deep-space isn't going to go away, not so long as we continue to travel through it, and the days since then have been filled with discussion of how to deal with that. The suggestion which is carrying the most weight is using small conveys of more manoeuvrable ships, rather than ones as large and unwieldy as the Isadore.
My days have involved two main things: dealing with Lira's nightmares, and visiting Zan. Despite the wave of adoring comment which followed, and the knowledge that they would not have been able to lift the ship without her enhancement, Lira never wants to go near combat again. She particularly has trouble seeing so many people she knows in medical – not just Zan, but Glade and Par as well. Par's become a particular favourite of hers: his quiet consideration often defuses her temper, and since Lira hates it when anyone she cares about is sick, she's spent the past week wracked with uncertainty and lack of sleep.
We've been haunting the medical section of the Setari building, a place I'd been avoiding lately since the greysuits still can't resist scanning me at every opportunity. Tyrian just makes me more interesting to them. But I was there when she woke up, and had fun competing for bed-side space with half her squad. And Lara, the captain of Fourteenth.
Despite the real struggle Fourteenth had after being caught in the Ena during the post-blast storm, Lara's as sleepy and relaxed as ever. He doesn't say much to Zan when she wakes up, just checks on her, and then makes way for any other visitors. Zan's very strange about him in return – she looks to see if he's there, and almost seems to flinch at the sight of him. That worried me enough that I had to ask Kaoren what was going on, whether we needed to arrange for Lara to not bother her.
I don't usually ask Kaoren to tell me the more private things he sees with Sight Sight, and on the rare occasions in the past when I've hinted that I'd appreciate some goss he's quietly discouraged me. This time he
laughed.
"Guilt," he said. "Namara is too hard on herself."
I had a perplexed moment, trying to work out what Zan had to be guilty about.
"Because Fourteenth was caught in the Ena-storm," Kaoren said. He half-closed his eyes, considering the situation. "Lara has had an extremely difficult few years, and while Namara knows on a logical level that she is not responsible for that, she still does not forgive herself for failing to do the impossible. She struggles to deal with him."
"Then why doesn't Lara stay away from her?"
Kaoren just looked amused, giving me one of his fractional smiles, then left me to speculate.
Chapter 23
Another November
November 12
Tyrian
Tyrian arrived excitingly early, almost a full month ago. I do wonder if I triggered my own labour, since I was thoroughly sick of being pregnant by then. It at least came on very abruptly at lunchtime, without any hint for Kaoren's Sights to pick up before he left for the day. Mip had shed his collar and I was trying to hook it out from under the couch, and was so frustrated by my inability to simply crouch down enough and look to see exactly where it was. In a bit of a temper, anyway, and then pain, and mess.
My discussions with Alay and Mara had led me to expect a slow build, and I had myself a little panic attack while, bizarrely, getting a mop and bucket and cleaning up the floor. I think I was trying to convince myself that it was a mistake, that I'd just had some kind of super-cramp, and I had to clean up just because.
I calmed down at the second contraction, even though it was quite soon, and went to stuff important things into the bag I'd been planning to pack, then sent a text to Kaoren, despite him being in the middle of a scouting mission at Telezon.
"Tyrian's coming. I think it's going to be quick. Going to get Nils and Zee to take me to medical."
Kaoren immediately opened a channel to me, but only said: "Heading back. Keep the link open."
Mori tells me that he stopped in the middle of the ruined street they were exploring, and just stood still for an exceptionally long time, then ordered them back to Pandora in such a curt tone that she thought some major disaster was underway. But he seemed to remember himself after they'd started flying back to Telezon's platform, and said quietly: "Sorry, Cassandra's in labour." Mori says it's the first time she's ever heard him apologise.
I'd gone on to tell Zee and Nils, who were at the 'guard quarters', and they came around immediately, and took me back to the mainland and were calm and amused and Zee stayed with me till Kaoren arrived, while Nils went and collected the kids and kept them distracted and entertained. I did have a baby-focused doctor, but also Ista Tremmar, who is my favourite of the Setari medics. Taren drugs handily kept me aware that pain was happening without obliging me to truly experience it, and even though my labour was barely more than three hours, Kaoren arrived in plenty of time to suffer through it with me.
Tyrian was a tiny newborn, and is still undersized for his age, but his lungs were fine and other than keeping us in overnight for observation, the medics consider us problem-free. He's also not a touchstone, which gave me a great sense of relief. Today we took him back for baby's first brain scan, and found he has the same power set as Kaoren, but with Ice instead of Light, though I knew after the first few days that he was Sighted. If I watch anything upsetting while holding him, he gets distressed, so I have to make sure only to read happy books while feeding him.
Overall I guess Tyrian would be considered a quiet baby, but he still poops and pees and cries enough to leave me feeling ragged most of the time. Fortunately Kaoren's Sights effortlessly translate baby shrieking, so we can usually address the cause of the shrieking, except for the "shrieking because I want to" occasions. If I hadn't fallen so instantly and utterly in love with the little screamer, I'd be wondering why I'd gotten myself into this.
He looks so much like Kaoren. But there's just a little hint of me. I have a lot of trouble letting him out of my sight.
When not changing nappies, Kaoren has organised all the kids into doing a little project, creating The Book of Arcadia, which was meant to be a surprise for me until Sen told me all about it. Ys has done the maps, Lira and Sen have been pressing flowers and leaves, Rye has been contributing information about all the animals, and Kaoren has been doing illustrations. Once he realised that I knew, Kaoren roped me into the process, and I've added an ongoing history. After I'd kissed him rather a lot.
Chapter 24
The Last January
January 1
This is the year
In just over two months, my two families will meet properly for the first time. I hope. Five minutes seemed like a long time when I learned how long the gate stayed open, but now I'm convinced that our calculations will be off, that we'll be a day late, that the way Earth's years work, the way leap years work, means that I've told Mum the wrong day.
I've been stressing over it, enough that I went through a patch of not being able to eat well, and had Ista Tremmar giving me stern lectures and threatening to medicate me. Kaoren went over the comparative calendars with me, and then we had a visit to near-space to visualise Mum to do the same thing, and check that everything was going to plan on her end.
Aunt Sue is planning to come, but not Aunt Bet and Uncle Steve (Uncle Steve has a huge extended family and isn't keen on leaving them for another planet). And Dad.
I have a sister called Teresa, and a Step-Mum who thinks my entire family is insane and who wouldn't want to go to some alien planet even if she thought it was real. Apparently. Fake-Mum kind of avoided giving me any opinions about this, as she does whenever she has to talk about Dad, but she did point out that if the gate really does open once every year-and-a-bit, this won't be Dad's only opportunity.
I didn't tell fake-Mum about Tyrian. I want to see her real reaction.
After that, Kaoren turned what little energy Tyrian leaves me to planning a place for Mum and Aunt Sue to live. A pair of houses around past the guard quarters, with lots of room, and beds for gardens, though I decided not to have them planted out so Mum could pick what she wanted to grow. I got the kids involved in that, and we had a lot of fun designing it.
There's been a fair amount of adjustment adding Tyrian to the family. Sen wants to be with him all the time, and we ended up making up a little bed for her again in the baby's room. She's at least been relatively nightmare-free. Lira finds Tyrian a little annoying – babies are definitely an attention-suck, and she's a fairly finicky, cleanly creature, not accustomed to milky spew or drool. Rye, in the first few days, was painful to watch: some of the old uncertainty came back, the sense that now Kaoren had a 'real' son, he wouldn't be necessary any more. Fortunately the time off from active duty has given Kaoren the chance to spend more time with Rye, and along with the book project, he's been giving him plenty of one-on-one combat training, and is pleased with his progress. Ys showed no hint of being threatened. She's taken our measure now, and was simply pleased that Tyrian was healthy, and that I seemed to be coping. Tyrian always seems to quiet down when she holds him, too.
Have told Sen firmly that, no, no more babies just now.
Chapter 25
The Last June
June 10
Everyone
I was an absolute stress-bunny in the week leading up to Operation Move-to-Muina. I got so bad that I needed to prepare myself before picking up Tyrian, or I'd set him bawling. All the practice I've had with visualisation exercises came in handy, though Kaoren eventually had to resort to the pillow barrier in bed to allow one of us to get some sleep.
We'd decided, after much debate, not to take the kids with us, but to stream what we were seeing to them. This would satisfy Sen's overwhelming need to know, and also KOTIS' extreme reluctance to stand both of their precious touchstones in front of a gate to another planet. Siame, who finds Tyrian a strange and fascinating creature, agreed to be official adult-in-charge, with Jeh and Ketz as back-up. The rest of th
e First and Second, both those on active duty and those taking breaks, came along to watch me fret.
KOTIS has built a little observation station out near the Earth gate. It's usually unmanned, but the technicians go on day-trips out there to take readings from the gate, and it proved a good place for us to sit while waiting in the chill of late Winter. The gate was due to align about an hour after dawn Pandora-time, and in the late afternoon in Sydney. My Mum-projection had assured me that they'd arrive early and stay well past the time we'd predicted – and she promised to check the day before and the day after, but I was still this white knot of nerves.
KOTIS has decided not to send anyone through the gate to Earth – at least not until they've found a way there via deep-space – which I think may be due to my guesses as to how alien emissaries (without spacecraft) would likely be treated by the authorities. Two greensuits were standing at ready by the gate, and when it aligned they held long, thin poles with little triangles of cloth on the end through the gate to form a makeshift corridor since, while natural gates don't have the same issues about attracting Ionoth, it still isn't a good idea to run into the edges of them.
I was struggling not to dig my fingers into Kaoren's arm, holding on to him hard and occasionally remembering to breathe. Because for an achingly long time – at least THIRTY SECONDS – there was nothing, just some poles vanishing.
And then, Jules.
He was running, mad grin on his face, light brown hair sticking up in a Tintin crest, arms and legs everywhere. He almost crashed into one of the greensuits, spun to a halt and then bounced around in a circle so he could see acres of snow-dusted forest, observation post, and the numerous spaceshippy looking fliers we'd used to get there.