by Shannah Jay
We're in a short alignment, our Brother be thanked.'
'You understand what they mean by alignment, then?'
'I understand a little. What I can't decide is whether the High Council are alive or dead.'
' Dead? How can that be?'
'How indeed? They are dead, I think, in our terms, but yet, they're still accessible, still able to share their wisdom and to guide their people. It's important to learn more about that. I wonder how they manage it . . . '
She blinked, as if emerging from a trance. 'Bear with me, Davred. I'm becoming as enigmatic as they are. But I can't explain yet. I don't understand much, myself. And I need to learn from them just as much as they need to learn from me.' She walked wearily over to join Benjan, then turned back to call out, 'Cheral! Increase the endurance exercises.'
Benjan stepped forward, his expression sombre.
'Well, my Kinsman,' Herra said with a smile, 'I'm afraid you'll have to carry me most of the way.'
'Lady, you weigh less than nothing. And it’s an honour to carry you.'
'Please!' hissed a voice. 'Iss little time. Must bathe.' The SS'Habi led the two of them away.
This time, it was a brief session only and Herra took less time than they’d expected to recover from her visit to the High Council. And when she did begin to move around, the others observed an enigmatic smile hovering on her lips. But somehow, not even Cheral liked to ask her about it. And somehow, everyone knew to leave her alone, to allow her time to think about and analyse what she was learning from the deleff.
It was some days before Herra volunteered any information. They spent those days in gruelling exercises and did a lot of brisk walking around their level of the great Vale, increasing their capacity for long stretches of physical activity.
On the third day, Herra bade them rest. 'You've worked hard. Today we'll have a nice long bathe, then we'll focus on restful things. See!' She pointed down to the lake. 'Even the deleff like to relax sometimes.'
'Never seen so many at once,' observed Jonner. 'Look like children playing in the water, don't they?'
'An excellent simile, friend Jonner. And that, if I’m not mistaken, is exactly what they are. Children.
Playing. It's the first few days out of alignment, so they’re released from their duties to the High Council, released from their lessons with those who have gone on before.'
Herra had everyone's full attention now, but she merely smiled and asked gently, 'Shall we bathe, then?'
And not until they were in what they hoped was the privacy of the water would she volunteer any more information.
'Katia, let me help you wash your hair. Such a heavy mass!'
In between washing and frolicking around, she managed to inform them that they would try to escape the following night, by which time she hoped to be strong enough to lead them. They should try to save some food for the journey. Some of the little grain cakes would keep well, and the dried fruit and nuts which accompanied every meal. There was always an excess.
'How do we get out of the valley?' Davred asked her.
'The only way I know is the way we came in, so we must try that route.'
'But the portal, lady?' Benjan worried. 'How shall we pass through one of their portals?'
'Leave that to me. I think I can manage the transition now.' Again, that enigmatic smile hovered on her lips.
'But they haven't given us back our things!' Jonner protested. 'We'll need some weapons, Elder Sister. We can't go out there helpless! Who knows what we'll be facing?'
'We must. They won't free us, so we must take them by surprise.'
'That means I'll have to leave my knives behind. Lovely set, they were, best I've ever had.'
'You'll find others.'
'Are you sure you're strong enough for this, Herra?' Cheral eyed her narrowly. 'You've grown too thin for my liking.'
'I was never one to carry much excess weight. You'd be the better yourself if you lost a little.'
'Not me! I'm comfortable like this. And there are times when it comes in useful, lends me an air of venerable authority.' There was a hint of a grin on Cheral's face. 'But I suppose you'll go your own way, as you always do. When did you ever listen to me?'
'I always listen to you, Sister mine. I just don't always agree with what you say.' She hesitated, then grasped Cheral's shoulder. 'In this, you’re right. I am still tired and I, too, would prefer to wait. But the choice of time isn’t mine. We must go between alignments, when the power of the High Council is at its weakest.'
The following night they lay down as usual, but no one slept. They watched the SS'Habi guards unobtrusively, until new ones came to take the night watch. When the old guards had had time to get back to their cave-homes, Herra attempted to still the new ones. The sensation was different to stilling a human, slightly unpleasant, and she had to exert more power than she’d expected, but at last the SS'Habi subsided in a tangle of legs very unlike their usual neat coils.
She signalled to the others and they rose silently, gathering together their few possessions and the supplies they’d saved. Benjan went to scout around, to check that there were no more SS'Habi on their level, and returned to say the way seemed clear. They filed from the grove, avoiding the faint glow of the ceremonial pathway, and began to make their way up to the level where the caves lay.
They saw no sign of SS'Habi and concentrated on making the best possible speed, slowing only to climb up the rough steps between one level and another.
It was nearly an hour later when they paused outside the outer cave. No guards were evident and there were only a few animals in the stone stalls. Herra moved across to talk to Benjan, who was frowning slightly as he looked around.
'Do you sense danger, my friend?'
'I do feel uneasy, lady. Let me go first.'
'No. I must lead.'
'Be careful. There's something wrong . . . not danger, exactly, but . . . ' he shrugged.
'I know. I feel something, too. But we can only continue. The SS'Habi guards fought against me when I stilled them. They knew what we were doing. We can't return, whatever happens.'
Jonner bent to pick up a few pebbles. Unknown to Herra, he’d managed to fashion a sling. Not a very good one, but better than no weapon at all.
Katia clasped Davred's hand briefly, then they followed Herra, each holding the clothing of the person in front as they entered the darkness of the first of the caverns.
The animals stirred and shuffled as they passed, and one thrust its snout over the wall of its pen, breathing deeply and sniffing at them. But though it grunted softly to itself, it made no real noise.
As they entered the second cavern, Benjan's unease deepened, and he signalled Herra to stop while he listened. But nothing was moving, no heads showed at the spiders' holes. Even his sense of danger was not strongly aroused, and what he felt was more a vague uneasiness. In the end, he shook his head helplessly and nudged Herra to continue.
The darkness was almost total in this cavern and they had to move very slowly and carefully, trusting in Herra's enhanced senses to guide them.
At the exit from the cavern, where the ramp led downwards to the third cavern, was the square alcove Herra had noticed before, bare and massive in the rocky wall. Its rear wall appeared to be made of solid rock, and felt cold to Jonner's touch. Herra led them into the alcove and stopped.
Before she could attempt the transition, a voice cut through the darkness. 'Please do not try, Elder Ssisster.
Iss forbidden to return to Twelve Claims. Pleassse accept this world. Ssstay with us!' It was the Elder SS'Habi, and the sibilance in her speech was even more exaggerated than usual, perhaps through agitation.
Jonner whirled towards the sound, fumbling for his sling.
The voice sharpened. 'No violence! Musst not!'
Jonner yelped as the pebble grew hot and burned his fingers. He flung it away from him with a curse.
'Please, Elder Ssisster! Stay!'
'We cannot
forsake our Quest, Elder SS'Habi. You should understand that by now. Only death can stop us. Shall you use violence on us?'
'Must not! Giver of Words forbids violence.'
'Why can you not let us go? We must return to our Quest! We serve our Brother as you serve the Giver of Words.'
'Cannot leave. Iss - not possible.'
'How shall you stop us, then?'
There was no reply, but it felt as though the darkness rippled around them.
'Quickly!' snapped Herra. 'Hold on to each other! Don't let go, whatever happens!' She began to focus her powers on the portal, and as the rock started to shimmer, she let out an involuntary 'Ah!' of relief. She hadn’t been completely sure of her ability to apply her new knowledge.
'Pleasse. Iss sstill time to sstop.'
Herra didn’t bother to answer, but kept her attention focused on the rock. A blue light started to flicker.
'Move forward!' shouted Herra. 'Now! Hurry!'
As the Kindred moved towards it, the shimmering rock flickered out of existence and a dark tunnel yawned before them, so that Herra and Cheral had to make a glow of light with a snap of their fingers. Behind them, the rocky wall re-formed with startling abruptness, cutting off the pulsating blue glow.
'Straight ahead,' commanded Herra. 'We're through.'
* * *
On the satellite, Soo and Mak had just woken up. Reluctant to leave the safety of her own quarters and face Robler's barbed remarks, Soo snuggled up against Mak. 'Hold me for a few moments longer, beloved. I don't want to get up today. He's taken to turning up without warning, finding faults and staring at me as if - as if I were naked. I suspect he's losing his reason.' There was no need to say who 'he' was.
'I'm inclined to agree with you on that. He grows daily more irrational. I've sounded out the others, but they insist there's a need for strong leadership and they consider Robler fills that need better than anyone else could. Anyone would think the interplanetary wars were on our doorstep, instead of at the other end of this sector! I think, Soo, that we can rely only on ourselves now. We need to start making contingency plans, may have to follow Davred's example. Can you get together an emergency kit, and some long-range personal communicators?'
'Yes. In fact, I've already started.'
'Where's Davred at the moment?'
'I'm not sure. I think they were trying to escape from that place, but you know what the picture's been like lately. And with no sound, I couldn't really understand what was happening. Then Met came to see me in the middle of it all, so I couldn't continue to watch. I've had no time to check the recordings since, but I'll try to catch up on what's happened as soon as I have a minute free. They don't leave me alone for long at the moment, though. Mak - '
'Yes?'
'Mak, let's not wait too long to leave the satellite. I feel a sense of danger. I can't explain it.'
'It'll take us a while to get ready. I think we should hang on here until the last minute. For one thing, I haven't your fluency with the language. I need a few more sessions on the teaching machines, and I can't do that openly.'
She shivered. 'I'm not sure we should wait, even so. Robler terrifies me lately. I never know what he'll do next.'
CHAPTER 9 THE GREAT DESERT
Herra led the way forward in the darkness along a tunnel that seemed to go on for ever. This time the portal hadn’t rendered them unconscious, just given them a few moments of dizziness, perhaps because it had been a brief transition, or perhaps because it was Herra who had caused them to move.
The only sounds were the faint scraping of their feet on the hard rocky floor, their soft inhalations and exhalations, and the occasional mutter from Jonner, who could do nothing in complete silence. Then, at last, they saw a faint light ahead.
'You've done it, Herra! You've done it!' shouted Jonner. Davred smiled to himself in the darkness as he heard Herra sigh in irritation, and sensed Katia sharing his amusement.
Benjan frowned. He still felt that sense of disquiet. 'Shut up, Jonner, and stay in line! We don't know what's waiting for us out there.'
'Still uneasy, Benjan?' asked Herra.
'Yes, Elder Sister. And you?'
'I'm apprehensive too, though there's nothing definite I can put my finger on.'
'Let me go first here, Elder Sister.'
'Very well.'
Behind them, Jonner, who had been eavesdropping unashamedly, sighed in disappointment. He was longing to get back to civilisation again. What faced them now? If Herra and Benjan were both worried, then there must be yet another danger ahead. He’d had enough danger and excitement to last him his lifetime.
How had an honest trader - well, as honest as was reasonable if one wanted to make a profit - landed himself in this situation? He sighed again, took out a pebble, then eased the sling down his sleeve. Best to be prepared.
It took longer than everyone had expected to reach the tunnel's end, and the light there was so blinding after the darkness that they all stopped instinctively at the edge of the shadows to wait for their eyes to grow accustomed to it.
'Stay where you are until Benjan has checked the area,' said Herra.
Benjan stepped forward through the opening. A rising slope of sand was all they could see through the entrance. As he vanished from sight, the others could hear the sound of sand slithering beneath his feet, then nothing.
'It doesn't look at all familiar,' said Cheral dubiously. 'And I've never heard of anywhere with such white sand.'
Benjan soon returned. He stood quite still in the entrance, his massive silhouette framed ominously black against the glory of the setting sun. 'Come and look. It's quite safe. There's nothing out there, absolutely nothing.'
'Nothing? What do you mean? Nothing!' demanded Jonner, pushing forward to scramble up the sandy slope alongside Herra. The others followed, and at the top of the rise they all stopped and stared around them.
As usual, it was Jonner who voiced their disappointment. 'But - Elder Sister - it's not the same place we came from! It's - it's nowhere that I've ever seen, and I've been to all the claims. It's just a white desert. Where are we?'
* * *
When a slightly clearer image blinked on to the com-unit, Soo was alone. She stared at it in astonishment.
Where were Davred and Herra now? The computer-enhanced image showed a group of people surrounded by a vast expanse of sand, its undulations as softly sculptured as waves in the sea. She adjusted the image a fraction, then frowned in puzzlement.
Surely those dark smudges in the far distance were hills? And in the foreground, there was nothing but the blinding stretch of white sand, the purest of whites, as the micro-scans showed. The sand sparkled in the hot sunshine with not a trace of beige or yellow to soften its brightness. Only the mouth of the tunnel broke the symmetry of the undulations. There was not a tree or plant, no sign of life anywhere. Even on the smooth sandstone that arched across the low mouth of the tunnel there was no hint of lichen. The stonework was as pristine as the day it had been cut and fitted in place, though who could have cut it so carefully and placed it here in the midst of a barren waste, she couldn’t think - nor why anyone should bother.
Soo switched the focus back to the group of people and tried every range until she found a faint whisper of sound coming through.
'Davred!' she called urgently. 'Davred, can you hear me?'
'Soo! Yes, we can hear you, though not very clearly. Why haven't you been in contact with us recently?'
'I couldn't. Something was interfering with the com-links. All we could get were faint blurred images. It's a terrible link now. I'm having to use maximum enhancement on both sound and picture. But it was worse before - we could only get the faintest of images, just enough to know that you were alive, and little more. It was as if you weren't quite in alignment with the rest of the world.'
'Ah,' murmured Herra, nodding her head.
'Soo, can you tell us where we are?' Davred asked. 'We've just gone through another portal.'
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'Wait a moment!' She pressed a few controls, then gaped at the reading. 'Davred!'
'What?' There was silence. 'Soo, are you still there?'
'Sorry, I was just so surprised. Davred, you've moved even further to the west, about five hundred kloms from the last fix we took. Only, Davred, the analysis of the image you're sending doesn't match any analysis of the deserts on this planet. How can that be possible?'
Herra moved to Davred's side. 'Why did you use the word "alignment", Soo?'
'I beg your pardon, Herra?'
'Why did you use that word, why did you say "not quite in alignment with the rest of the world"?'
'Well, something was affecting our com-systems in a way strange to me. It was as if we couldn't quite get through to where you were. As if you were physically out of synchronisation with the rest of the planet.'
Herra sighed in a satisfied way. 'Soo, I think you've summed up the problem. We were out of alignment with the rest of the world, and in alignment with something else. The land of the deleff doesn't seem to be fixed in a location on our planet. It's as if it touches occasionally, but doesn't rest here. That's the only way I can explain it.'
Soo blinked in surprise. Was this a primitive person speaking, discussing, as if she saw nothing strange about it, a theory which had fascinated scientists of the Confederation for years, but which they’d never been able to prove or disprove?
'Our people have theorised about that possibility, Herra. They call it alternative universes, or other planes of existence. Are you telling me now that this is possible on your planet?'
'I think, Soo, that we may be talking about the same thing,' said Herra thoughtfully. 'Dsheresh Vale, the home of the deleff, is a very strange place. And the deleff and SS'Habi talked openly of alignments - "the next alignment", "a short alignment".'
'It sounds like a most inhospitable spot,' said Robler from the doorway of the com-room. 'What's all this about alignments, Soo?'
Soo jumped in shock and turned to face him, moving in front of the image, as if to protect it from him.