Mirror Space (Sentients of Orion)
Page 30
‘What took you to Rho Junction, Baronessa?’ asked the uuli Convenor.
She was careful not to look at Farr. ‘I was promised help for my world, in return for a favour. That required that I travel to the Saiph system. Upon our arrival, there appeared to be much Post-Species activity around the station.’
‘Our reports have also said so,’ agreed the Convenor.
‘I was abducted from the docks by host Siphonophores.’ As she spoke an image of them appeared on the central screen. Her mouth dried at the vivid reminder. She licked her lips, plunging on with a recount of her time on the Hue world.
‘All very fascinating, Baronessa,’ said President Gan. ‘And it would seem that the Post-Species are responsible for the Saqr adaptation. But what is the significance?’
‘I have sought to build a picture, President Gan, so that you understand the gravity of what I am about to tell you next. As Insignia approached the shift sphere leaving Post-Species space, we came across a terrifying sight. Millions of Geni-carriers. Shifting.’
The room buzzed with reaction.
‘Millions, Baronessa?’ Even Lasper Farr had paled. ‘An exaggeration surely. There were only three in the Stain War. Manufacturing on such a large scale in the time since then is impossible.’
‘My biozoon can verify this.’
‘Then instruct it to do so,’ said JiHaigh.
‘I do not instruct my biozoon,’ said Mira quietly. ‘But I will request.’
Mira heard Thales exhale next to her as the OLOSS All-Prime frowned.
Insignia? Will you show them? Please.
Silence.
Insignia, so much is at risk. Don’t let your anger at me prevent us from warning our species.
You have warned mine. Perhaps we would be better off without humanesques. They are untrustworthy.
Do you think the Post-Species would spare you in a mass invasion?
Your Innate speaks the truth, Tasy-al.
Ley-al? The Omniarch’s voice was almost as strong as Insignia’s.
Yes, Mira Fedor. Tasy-al, the Omniline wishes that you support your Innate and reveal the images you have stored.
But you don’t wish to be associated—
We have reconsidered.
‘It appears that the Baronessa has no evidence to substantiate her wild claims.’ Landhurst was standing again. ‘Sergeant, arrest her.’
The sergeant strode past the OLOSS captain and seized Mira’s hands, forcing them into a restraint.
‘No!’ cried Thales. He grabbed the sergeant’s arm but the guard discharged a stun into his side. He fell to the floor, quivering.
Mira heard shouts of condemnation. Saw the big woman, Fariss, run to Thales’s side.
The sergeant dragged Mira towards the door, wrenching her arms with unnecessary force. Cramps tore at her abdomen, and she felt a gush of wetness between her legs.
Insignia! Mira cried.
Tasy-al! said the Omniarch.
‘Wait!’ Lasper Farr’s voice drowned out the ones in Mira’s mind.
The sergeant stopped and allowed Mira to straighten. The wetness had spread down the legs of her borrowed pants, but no one noticed the embarrassing stain of body fluid. All eyes were back upon the hub-screen as a series of images began to project.
The Geni-carriers, as seen through the corduroy filter of Insignia’s vision; from the seeming, asteroid collection on the edge of the Post-Species shift sphere, to the more intimate vision of the ammunition carriers. Millions of them.
Lasper Farr leaned, white-knuckled, onto his comm-sole while JiHaigh fell back in her chair as if stabbed in the chest. Each of the summit participants was as aghast as the next.
All except one.
Landhurst’s expression was grim, but not surprised.
A terrifying thought entered Mira’s mind. Wanton had told her that there were Post-Species who still chose the humanesque form. And what was it that Insignia had said? Landhurst had offered his station as a venue for the summit; a noble gesture for an ignoble man.
Had he deliberately drawn all the OLOSS leaders to one place at one time?
Was Landhurst an Extro?
The summit meeting erupted into shouts and arguments, and guards poured through the door, recalled by their various leaders. Suddenly the crowded room was too congested to move in. The Sec sergeant let go of her and plunged into the melee.
Mira, there is a rumour that the Dowl station is operational again. The Omniline believes we may be under immediate threat. The anger and resentment had gone from Insignia’s tone. Mira heard only undisguised concern. You should return to me quickly.
How?
Ley-al has rerouted the transportation shuttle to me. The same one that brought you to the station. The Omniarch wishes that you hasten. As do I.
Which dock?
Sub-25. A level below the quarantine deck.
I’m coming. And there will be others.
Mira pressed through the throng of bodies to Thales. Fariss had lifted him to his feet and was holding him with one strong arm. With the other, she fended off the buffeting crowd.
There was drool on the young scholar’s face and his body trembled and jerked with the after-effects of the stun.
Mira grabbed his chin and stared into his eyes. ‘Come with me now,’ she said fiercely. Then, to Fariss, ‘Both of you.’
‘I can’t leave Sammy.’ Fariss’s response was clipped and automatic. Her eyes roved the chaotic milling. ‘There.’
Samuelle’s nano-suit stood out amongst the formal robes and uniforms. She was closer to the door than them.
‘Stay with me,’ said Fariss. Still holding onto Thales, she forced a path over to Sammy using her strong, wide body to push others aside.
Mira followed closely in her wake and found herself face to face with the old woman again.
Samuelle grimaced at her. ‘You made your point, Baronessa.’
Over Samuelle’s shoulder Mira saw the Station Sec sergeant trying to reach her.
‘There’s room on my ship,’ said Mira. ‘I’m leaving now.’
Samuelle shook her head. ‘I’ve got my own battles to fight. We all have now.’
‘Sammy, can I take Thales there?’ said Fariss.
Samuelle gave the big woman a keen stare then nodded. ‘It’s best. Macken was Lasper’s favourite. He won’t forget.’
‘Security’s coming,’ Mira said. ‘We have to—’
‘Go!’ said Samuelle. She turned her back on them and planted her body in a direct line to block the sergeant.
Fariss pushed on, but the guards in the doorway had their weapons out.
‘Stop. No one leaves,’ ordered one of them.
Fariss shoved her huge hand into his face and sent him sprawling with a violent push. It set off a chain reaction of falling bodies and shouting. She lifted Thales clear of the confusion and lent a free hand to pull Mira along until they were outside the ante-chamber.
The corridor was eerily deserted. So were the escalators. The three of them moved unhindered to one of the subsidiary lifts. The only people Mira glimpsed were gathered around a public screen, riveted to the events unfolding in the summit room.
‘Where’re we going?’ asked Fariss, as the lift door closed. Thales straightened and tried to take his own weight. Colour had returned to his face and he wiped the saliva from his chin.
‘Sub-25, below quarantine. A shuttle will be waiting,’ said Mira. Insignia?
Fariss nodded and pressed the button. She stared at the moist patch on Mira’s pants.
‘You piss yourself?’
‘M-my waters. I think...’ Insignia? Is the shuttle here?
Fariss’s eyebrows shot up. ‘You having a fuckin’ baby? Now?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Shit.’
Mira dropped her hands self-consciously in front of her. Insignia? she pleaded.
It is waiting.
Thank Crux.
* * *
When Ley-al’
s shuttle attached seamlessly to the egress scale, Mira stepped on board first. As she hurried along Insignia’s ribbed stratum to the buccal, cramps bit into her lower belly. Fluid soaked steadily down her legs onto the pants of her borrowed soldier garb.
The baby couldn’t be coming now? It couldn’t be. It was only a few months old in her womb; too young to be born. Too young for a humanesque bambino. Too—
The biozoon’s buccal pucker was already dilated, waiting for her. She heard Fariss close behind, swearing under her breath, while Thales moaned with effort.
‘Put him in the second vein,’ Mira gasped, as she fell into Primo. The biozoon’s symbiosis function folded around her in a loving embrace. Nano-sensors slipped in through the pores in her skin, reading electrolyte levels, gauging dehydration and trauma. She felt the flush of replenishment.
Fariss staggered across to the Secondo vein and laid Thales in it.
Mira?
See to the scholar.
I will see to you both. Our baby is distressed.
My amniotic fluid has ruptured. Can you repair it?
I can slow the fluid loss but I cannot prevent the birth. This is what I feared.
No! Anguish tore right through Mira and turned her mind inside out.
She’d warned OLOSS about the Extropists’ amassed weaponry. She’d risked everything to bring them news of the great threat. Wasn’t there some grace in that? Some balance that should swing in her favour? Some universal justice?
Insignia, please. Please. My baby must not die.
SOLE
bring’m home/pretty pretty
bring’m baby/know’m all
bring’m baby/burn’m others
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Marianne de Pierres
Cover design by Open Road Integrated Media
ISBN 978-1-4976-2673-7
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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