Valhai (The Ammonite Galaxy)

by Gillian Andrews

  “. . . and so, fellow Sellites, I would ask you to vote on this temporary treaty, which would be in effect from the present date, until such time as a full agreement can be reached to include the Cian and Sacran planets as well as the Sell government.”

  There was a momentary silence, and all Sell saw Mandalon give a signal of some sort to somebody off-stage. Then the metallic automated voting voice came up on the tridi.

  “Voting will now commence,” it said. “Sellites, please cast—”

  A huge ripping sound cut off the machine. Vion, who happened to be focused on Mandalon at the time, saw the man give a satisfied smile.

  “They are attacking!” Vion’s father stood upright in his chair, and raised a fist. “I knew they would never allow us to be sold out like this!”

  Vion was frantically swiveling the buttons on his chair, trying to focus again on his friends. He saw a look of understanding dawn on Six’s face, who then yelled a warning to Diva and to Grace. Grace looked up at the tridi, and for a second it seemed that her gaze met his. A moment later his friends and the bubbles containing them had vanished into thin air.

  Almost at the same time the explosions began. Vion’s skyrise was further from the lake than Grace’s was, but even so he could feel the rexelene foundations tremble, not once but again and again and again. The Sellites had thrown everything they had at the lake made of orthogel.

  “Whatever is happening?” screamed Aracely, who was terrified by the noise.

  “Get down from your chair!” Vion told her. “We need to keep at floor level. They are attacking the lake.”

  Aracely climbed down from her chair, and Vion went to help his mother descend from hers. His father was still jubilant. They heard thud after thud pound into the lake. They huddled in the centre of the voting room, watching as the chairs crashed down and shattered around them. Aracely screamed again and cowered closer to her brother. They heard another sally of missiles zip over their heads, and the building shuddered all the way up to the 48th floor.

  After what seemed like an eternity, a dark silence crept over them all. They looked at each other, wondering if the attack had concluded, if it were safe now to stand up.

  The tridi suddenly came back on. They turned. Mandalon was smiling into the camera. “Fellow Sellites, I am pleased to tell you that the attack on the orthogel entity has been carried out according to our orders, and we are confident tha—”

  A worried looking minion hurried up to him, and whispered something in his ear.

  “What?” He paled. Then he took a few steps back to consult with his ministers. There was total astonishment on their faces. They exchanged words for a few moments, and then Mandalon walked slowly back up to the centre platform again.

  “I . . . err . . . it appears . . . I must tell you that the orthogel entity has err . . . disappeared. It seems that shortly before the warheads landed, the whole lake vanished, taking with it the orthotubes and the ortholifts. You are advised that no Sellite may move from their current position until further notice. They have crippled the planet. This is a dastardly move of cowardice and we will respond.”

  Vion noticed that his father was staring fixedly at him, and immediately moderated his expression. It was becoming more and more difficult to have one foot in each camp.

  The new candidates had been sitting in the eating room of the 21st floor when they heard the rushing sound as the missiles zipped past. They looked at each other in fear. The sound was deafening, and very threatening. What on Sacras was going on now? As of one accord, they slipped from their chairs and under the table, covering their ears and automatically curling up into smaller targets.

  A bubble appeared in front of them, and paused for a second, apparently disconcerted to find them all pressed together under the table. Then it wafted over, enveloped them and the skyrise vanished. It was replaced only seconds later with brightness. They covered their eyes, unaccustomed to so much light.

  They looked around them in astonishment. Those of them from Coriolis gave a shout of glee as they recognized where they were. They had been brought to Coriolis. By some sort of instantaneous travel! Their bubble was on the edge of an enormous lake of dark orthogel, but they recognized Coriolis.

  Diva, who had appeared with Six and Grace in a nearby bubble, also gave a shout as she recognized where they were. She jumped up and down.

  “Coriolis! Coriolis! We are on Coriolis!”

  “Do you have to screech like that in my ear?” said Six, trying to move away.

  “This is your planet?” Grace opened her eyes wide. “Arcan? How did—?” Then she remembered. “Oh, I forgot, I have to sign him.”

  “No you don’t Grace.” A voice, yet not a voice, sounded in her head.

  “Arcan? How are you doing all these things? How are you in my head all of a sudden? How did you manage to bring us all as far as Coriolis?”

  “I learned something new, and I remembered something old,” the voice in her head told her. She looked at the others, and saw from their expressions that they were receiving this too. “Six, do you remember about quantum coherence?”

  Six’s voice sounded in her head too, answering, “Sure.”

  “Well, it started me thinking about how I move things around within me, and then I began to remember some very old things that I hadn’t needed to use for a long time, and well . . . one thing led to another, and here we are!”

  “You could have made it Kwaide!” Six told him.

  “We can go to Kwaide next,” said Arcan. “We have to wait a few days until the Sellites find out what hunger is, and become more sensible about the treaty, so I thought we could go to both places.”

  “I can go back to Kwaide?” Six was speechless. Grace could ‘hear’ his spluttering in her head.

  “If you want,” Arcan said mildly.

  “If I want!” Six exclaimed. “I want to go now!”

  “I’m sorry Six. I decided to come here first,” Arcan said.

  “Trust Diva to get first pick!”

  “Hey!” that lady replied. “I didn’t even know! What happened back on Sell, Arcan?”

  Arcan explained about the missiles. “I can make all my atoms act in step when I want,” he told them, “They act like one big atom. So I just told them where to decohere, and they did. It is only necessary that you are all completely enclosed inside a bubble, so that you are . . .” he searched for a word, “. . . squeezed into nothing, and treated like just another part of me. It is really quite simple.”

  “Piece of cake!” said Six. “And now you can talk to us in our heads, too. Is that quantum too?”

  “Yes. It’s all a combination of what the Sellites call hyperfluidity and quantum decoherence. It’s just the way I developed. Natural selection I suppose.”

  “Not very natural to us!”

  “Lots of animals use quantum properties,” Arcan said. “I just do it better. I am the peak of the evolutionary process!”

  “And where are we?” asked Six.

  “You are an evolutionary dead end,” Arcan told him. “You don’t even possess superfluidity. Your species took a wrong turn.”

  “Oh thanks!” Six said. “You make it all so worthwhile. All this struggle to survive, and we forked left instead of right! Diva, did you hear that? Your lot took a wrong turn!”

  “You couldn’t help it,” said Arcan politely. “And I think you have reached a surprisingly high level – considering. I find you all very stimulating.”

  “But we are at a standstill – as a species?”

  “Not at a standstill. I would put it more like going around in circles?”

  “You make my life sound so important.”

  “You are important to me, Six,” said Arcan. “And that makes you important, because I am currently the only fully evolved species.”

  “Like a pet dog,” said Six morosely. “Glad to be of service.”

  “Thank you Six. I am glad I can ‘hear’ you now. It is much more efficient to communi
cate this way, don’t you think?”

  “Quicker, for sure. And a whole lot easier on the fingers. Can you talk to everybody like this?”

  “Probably. As long as I can completely surround them in a bubble. At the moment that is the limitation. I have been working on this, and on the transference, ever since Vion warned me. I was worried I would not dominate the technique in time.”

  “So we have Vion to thank too?” Diva asked.

  “Indeed. He told me what was being planned. So I knew what I would have to do, it was just a case of preparing.”

  “And what made you choose this spot?” asked Diva.

  “I looked into your mind. I needed somewhere with a valley I could occupy without harming anything or anybody. This place was in your head.”

  Diva looked embarrassed “I wasn’t aware that I thought very much about it.”

  “It is natural Diva. Just as Six thinks about his sisters, and Grace about—”

  “Sell,” finished Grace firmly.

  “Sell,” repeated Arcan, with a shimmer. “By the way, Six, will you tell the four Kwaidians that if they stay here and make no fuss for the next few hours we will take them to Kwaide with us. The five Coriolans can go.”

  “Why don’t you tell them yourself?”

  “I don’t necessarily want the whole world to know all my abilities.”

  “Fine. You’re the boss.” Six carried out the request, shouting across to the other bubble, and the Kwaidians nodded their agreement. Another shout went up from the Coriolans. They were looking warily at each other, clearly glad to be back but they hadn’t forgotten just how a breach of contract would be regarded on Coriolis. They were wondering if they would be held to blame or not.

  “Right,” said Diva. “Let’s go! I am just dying to introduce you to my family.”

  “Err . . . Diva?” said Six.

  “What?”

  “Don’t you think you’re forgetting a couple of things?”

  “Such as?”

  “Well, I’m a no-name for a start. Plus we have broken our indentures, and . . . and so on.” He didn’t want to bring up her operation. She was so excited to be back on her home planet that it hadn’t even occurred to her. She just wanted to go back home, to see her family.

  “That won’t matter.” Diva waved her hand airily. “You are with me, and there were good reasons for breaking the indentures. Don’t fuss.”

  “Whatever.” Six shrugged. “Lead on. Arcan? You coming? Or is part of you coming?”

  “In a way. I will leave a small part of me on each of you, enough for a bubble of protection should it become necessary. Try to keep people away from here if you can, please. I am not feeling a hundred percent. The strain of moving from Valhai has left me very depleted of energy. I need to rest. Please do not use the rings unless you have to.”

  “Will do. Thanks Arcan. Make sure you get enough rest.”

  “I know.” The bubbles containing the two groups disappeared. They were left standing on green grass, under a blue sky with white clouds moving lazily against it. The five Coriolan candidates they had saved took off at a run. Diva spun in a circle taking in deep breaths of the Coriolan air.

  “Oh, how wonderful this air smells. I had forgotten.”

  Grace gave her a sideways look. She found the plush vegetation hurt her eyes, the atmosphere was so charged with oxygen it caused her head to spin, and the extra gravity made her cumbersome. Still, she thought, no doubt it would improve on her. At the moment she couldn’t find much to like on the garish planet.

  The three of them turned and started to make their way in the same direction that the five Coriolans had taken. Each became aware, as they were walking away, that a slim ring of orthogel had appeared. It was light and smooth, hardly noticeable. On Grace, it was round her neck. On Diva it was around her wrist. On Six, he felt it fasten lightly around his ankle.

  It took them only about an hour to walk into Mesteta, and find the palace where Diva had been brought up. It was a beautiful white low building, totally alien to anything Grace had ever seen. She had been intrigued by the whole town, almost able to forget her own problems for a while.

  Diva marched right past the main gate, taking no notice of the shouts that followed their progress up to the house. Many men could be heard scuttling into action around them. Still, Diva took no notice. Arms were raised menacingly in their direction, but she swept on. Then they found their way blocked by three enormous servants, each carrying firearms.

  “Let me pass!” Diva said. Six grinned. He knew that imperious tone well.

  “Who has . . . by Sacras! It is the Lady Divina. Move, you fool! Sound the return bell. Run, bonehead!” He nearly prostrated himself in front of Diva. “My lady. My lady. Welcome back!”

  A dull, sonorous tone began to sound off to one side. The bell had been found. People began to pour out of the building, until there were about fifty of them standing gaping. Diva didn’t move, simply standing in front of them all, upright. Waiting.

  Finally a man and a woman came out of the building. The crowd parted, and they glided through them in a stately manner.

  “Mother. Father.” Diva inclined her head.

  “Diva.”

  Some welcome, thought Grace.

  “Welcome to you and your friends. May Sacras illuminate your way.”

  “And Lumina protect Coriolis,” replied Diva. They all moved towards the door. Diva and her parents in silence, only stopping to nod regally to one or two of the attendant group.

  “Wow!” whispered Six to Grace. “You can really tell they are glad to see her!”

  “Shut up!” retorted Grace. “I don’t think we’re supposed to talk!”

  “I don’t think we’re supposed to exist!”

  “Shh!”

  “I keep expecting to see Atheron appear at any moment.”

  “Shh! I tell you!”

  “Stop shushing me! You just wait until they find out they have the three blackest sheep in the whole system in their palace. I bet we come out a whole lot faster than we’re going in.”

  “She is their daughter! What do you know about it, Six?”

  He preened. “I just have a feeling for these things. It comes from a long life of being an untouchable.”

  “Anybody ever tell you how irritating you are?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Huh!” At last they fell into silence, bringing up the rear of the procession as ceremoniously as they were able.

  The room they were finally led into was opulent, covered with velvet shrouds on the upholstered chairs and tapestry hangings on the magmite walls. The floor, also magmite, was littered with Xianthan carpets, a real luxury for a race still without the capacity for space travel. It meant that Diva’s family had ordered them through the Sellites. Six gave a silent whistle. That was real money!

  “And how is the apprenticeship progressing?” inquired Diva’s father in a soft voice.

  “It is not,” Diva said bluntly. She went on to explain some of the things that had happened, and her father’s face grew steadily blacker and blacker.

  “You have broken your indentures?” It appeared that this was the one part he had grasped. Six gave Grace a meaningful glance.

  “Well, of course.” Diva was indignant. “They tried to kill me.”

  “Yes, yes, but what will this mean to Coriolis?” her father said. “You have served us a poor turn, Divina. I expected more of you.”

  Diva bristled. “I was supposed to lie down and die for Coriolis, was I?”

  “I am simply saying that you should never have broken your apprenticeship vows. This will be considered a grave fault of conduct by the population.”

  “And I suppose your altering my score and fiddling the results of the test wasn’t a grave fault?”

  “How do you . . . that is . . . I have no idea what you mean.”

  “I think you know exactly what I mean, Papa. That is partly what caused all the fuss. That is what made them operate on
me—” She broke off in consternation.

  Her mother stood up. “What is this? What operation are you talking about?”

  Diva put her shoulders back and looked both parents in the eye. Now the moment was here she would not shirk it. “I am sterile. They removed all my genetic material.”

  There was a gasp from her father, and her mother put a hand over her mouth. “Barbarians!” she whispered to herself. But her eyes went to her husband, and they were white with fear.

  “You can no longer have descendency?” His whole body was rigid with distaste.

  “No, Papa. Your daughter can no longer have descendency.” Diva’s voice was icy-cold. “Does that make me one of the untouchables? Are you going to disinherit me?”

  “I have no choice. The laws are clear.”

  Diva got to her feet. “It seems you were right, Six.”

  “Six?” Her father was scandalized. “You have brought a no-name into my house? How dare you! You have dishonoured your family. This cannot be tolerated!”

  Six slid another glance at Grace. “What did I tell you?” he said. “I never make a mistake about humiliation. I am an expert in the subject.” He got to his feet and began to make discrete steps towards the door.

  Diva’s father went to the wall, where he tugged at an ornate rope. A bell sounded, and instantly the room was filled with guards.

  “These are tainted people. Imprison them.” The Elder ordered, averting his gaze from his now tainted daughter. “Get them out of my sight. Quickly, I tell you!”

  “You never do listen to anybody else, do you Diva?” Six blew a sigh. “As stubborn as a Cesan mule! Now look where you’ve landed us. They will probably toast us for breakfast.”

  “Then whoever ate you would be sure to get indigestion!”

  “Look who’s talking! You aren’t exactly a pot of honey yourself.”

  “Fool!”

  “Cretin!”

  “Moron!”

  They both felt a bit better after that, until Grace pointed out that they seemed to be in a bit of a tight corner. They had been marched into the nether parts of the palace, and locked firmly into a room with metal bars as thick as a wrist across all possible exits.