“Of course.”
“You expected that?”
“Look Grace. You are a small, vulnerable animal. It is quite normal that you should be scared of me. I am VERY big.”
“Yes, we are totally different.”
“No. Not so. I am just much bigger.”
“But you are different!”
“In what way?” The lake darkened threateningly.
Grace swallowed. “I can move around and you can’t. I can eat and you can’t. I have a skeleton and you haven’t. I—”
“You are a total waste of space.”
“ I am not!”
“Certainly you are. Think about it. You have legs because you have to run around after food. So you need more food to feed the legs. You have arms to catch the food. Those need more food too. Nearly all the space you use is dedicated to eating. Very wasteful! No, there is really only one difference between us – you have a shell and I don’t need one.”
“A shell?”
“A skeleton, then. Another waste of space. I manage perfectly well – better, in fact – without one. You only need one because of all that running about after food. Otherwise we are just the same – an agglomeration of specialized cells. Of course you are far more primitive.”
Grace frowned fiercely. “Who are you calling primitive? You make me sound like a Cesan trogling! I am much more than that!” she asserted. “Much!”
The lake heaved in front of her. “Actually, Grace, it is I who am much more than that. You are, I am sorry to say, only a very underdeveloped being. But even so, you have some interesting characteristics – for a transient life form.” There was a noticeable pause. “—And I like you,” he added kindly.
Grace decided that would have to do, even if he did seem to regard her as some sort of amusing pet. “Listen, Arcan, the great news is that you can move me around the lake.”
“I know.”
“Do you think it will be more difficult with Diva?”
“I think I must practice a little with the old bubbles first, but I do not anticipate any difficulty.”
Grace’s face fell. “We will have to do something with the old bubbles – those donor apprentices deserve a proper interment.”
“And I am not to be used as a rubbish dump!”
“That is what I mean. You will have to move them to the shore where we can perhaps bury them … though in this terrain it isn’t going to be very easy.”
“I am thinking that all this must be done later. Now there is only a little time. For Diva, and maybe for the others.”
“You are right.”
“Naturally.”
“How are the rest of your studies going?” Grace asked politely.
“Most acceptably. I took a test with Six yesterday, and found it quite within acceptable parameters.”
“I bet Six was pleased with that!”
“Indeed. He complimented me on my progress.”
“I bet!”
“What do you bet?”
“Nothing. Just an expression. Keep on with the progress, Arcan. Can I speak to Six? or Diva?”
There was a palpable pause as Arcan checked, “Six is in class and Atheron is watching him,” he said. “And Diva seems to be sleeping. I do not want to wake her, because she has not been sleeping very much recently. Your species appears to require inordinately long periods of comatose rest. Most inconvenient. I don’t know how you organize yourselves.”
“How is she?”
“Recovering. She is eating more now. I think she will be all right.”
“OK then. I had better get back. My mother is bound to miss me if I spend any more time down here.”
“Make sure you are ready, Grace. I do not think that they will be long.”
“I will be ready,” Grace promised. She hoped she could fulfill her promise to the others.
Chapter 16
VION WAS CONCERNED about Grace; he hadn’t heard from her for several weeks now. Cimma must have responded well to the treatment, if his presence in the 256th house had not been necessary. He decided to check up on them, this time via tridiscreen.
“Hello.” Grace gave him a tremendous smile, which made him feel very glad he had taken the time out of a busy day.
“How is everything over there, Grace?”
“Magestra seems to be a bit more … more …”
“Stable?”
Grace nodded gratefully. “Exactly. More stable. She is still insisting on resting in the sarcophagus, and that we both practice self-defense, but I feel she is more balanced.”
“I’m glad, Grace. I understand where all this aggression is coming from, of course. You can hardly expect her to be cross with her dead husband, now, can you?”
Grace was surprised. “You mean she wants to be, but can’t?”
Vion nodded. “There is an empty hole inside her, she doesn’t want to cope, and she is absolutely furious with your father for leaving her alone. Then she looks at the world, and it appears to be continuing as usual, so she is furious at it for not recognizing the gap he left.” He shook his head. “She will come around, in time, I hope. It is positive that she is exercising at all. Any energy at the moment is good. With luck it will stimulate her appetite. Just try to ignore anything too strange. The loss of your father has shifted her very foundations. She doesn’t know how to exist without him. She cannot be with him. It is an impossible situation for her …” his voice softened, “… and for you.”
Grace considered. “I see. I really hadn’t understood her at all then. I will try to do better.”
“Try, but don’t be too hard on yourself either. You are in mourning for your father too.”
“I don’t … that is … I didn’t …”
“No. Rather a difficult person, wasn’t he? Of course you don’t feel like your mother does. That would be very odd, wouldn’t it? You are in mourning all the same, and you should give yourself a few treats now and then. Little things. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Grace. You are doing a good job with Cimma. You deserve to spoil yourself a little.”
“Thank you.” Her face cleared. She had been feeling so guilty about her trips bare planet.
“It’s just my job.” But he smiled. “I’m here for you, if you need me, Grace. Just remember; don’t try to shoulder absolutely everything yourself. I would be offended if you didn’t call me if you needed me. And let your mother turn into a different person if that way she begins to feel better. I never did adhere to the view that we all have to stay exactly the same person for our whole life. As long as she doesn’t become destructive.”
“I will. Thank you, Vion.”
“Cutting the connexion.”
A LOW WHISTLE caught Grace’s attention as she was trying without too much success to concentrate on some overdue schoolwork. Her – rather Vion’s – interscreen was trying to talk to her!
“Hello …” she said, rather dubiously.
An earsplitting crackle made her jump back, and then the static disappeared, allowing her to hear a tinny voice which could only belong to one person.
“Six!”
“The one and only. Sorry it took so long, I think I rather overestimated my ability as a hacker.”
“But you managed it! Well done!”
“Well, of course I managed it. Does Xiantha go round Cian? I suppose you thought somebody born as just a number wouldn’t be able to keep his word? That it?”
“No, not at all. I can’t see what all the fuss is about names and numbers, frankly. What does it matter if you are a name or a number? Big deal.” She shrugged.
He was mollified. “Hmm. Perhaps a Sellite like yourself would not place much importance on it. First good thing I’ve heard about the Sellites, if so.”
“We have lots of good qualities,” she retorted.
“Name ten.”
“Now? Well, err … well, we are … err …”
“Name two?”
“This is silly. I am not playing this stupid game.”
“Quite right.” He was laughing at her!
“Oh shut up, Sacran!” she snapped, glaring at his face in the screen.
“Sure thing, Sellite! Can’t mess about at this long, in any case. If Atheron catches me with my spanner in his works, as you might say, I will be in big trouble. I will contact you again as agreed.”
“OK.”
“Cutting the connexion. And be ready – we might need you fast!”
XENON STOOD IN the ortholift uncomfortably. He didn’t see why a non-virtual visit was necessary. He was too busy to waste time like this. He wished he hadn’t left everything to Amanita, who was insisting on this physical presence.
“We need only stay for a few minutes,” Amanita was explaining, “but you wouldn’t want people to say that you were lax concerning your mother. Caesar’s wife, you know, must be seen to be above suspicion.”
“And Caesar himself?” asked Xenon drily.
“Of course. You know everything I do is for you and the good of the family,” she said virtuously.
“I hope Vion hasn’t been hanging around here causing gossip,” he said.
“I believe not,” Amanita replied. “And the age is wrong. Bear in mind he must be at least twenty-five; much too old for your baby sister, and much too young for your mother.”
“He would be a good connection for Grace,” mused Xenon.
That was not at all a part of Amanita’s plan, and she hastened to place his mind somewhere else. “I took Xenon 50 and Genna outside again yesterday.”
“Did they enjoy it?”
“Very much, 50 had his first ride on a vaniven, and loved every second of it!”
“They didn’t show any of the signs?”
“Of exophobia? Some, though they were too interested in visiting the zoo to let it stop them. They managed nearly fifteen minutes before I had to get them back inside.”
“And how did you feel?”
“I took an exostop two hours before going out so I felt perfectly comfortable. A little woozy, perhaps, but only to be expected under the circumstances. If the next two visits outside go as well I shall take the orthotube to the bright side, and show them the Neartown Farm Fields. They really ought to see where all their food is coming from.”
“Excellent. You can’t start their outdoor acclimatization too soon, in my opinion. You have done well.”
Amanita shone under this unaccustomed compliment.
The lift hissed to a stop at the 48th floor, and the couple disembarked with due ceremony. Cimma and Grace were waiting for them, as protocol demanded.
“May the perfect triangle remain stable.” Xenon made a bow to his mother, not quite as low as custom required.
“Almagest, Cian and Valhai – the three apexes,” Cimma replied solemnly, following the words by the briefest of brief curtseys. Xenon’s eyes narrowed. Grace, who could feel her brother’s tension in every fibre of her body, hurried to break his attention.
“How are the children, Xenon?” And she gave a very low curtsey, double that required of a sister. He turned to her, and smiled.
“They are well, thank you, Grace. Amanita was just telling me that they went outside yesterday. And with only mild side effects!”
“That is excellent news, brother. Xenon 50 will need to be able to walk tall on Kwaide or Coriolis, of course.”
“It is a very necessary part of his training,” Xenon 49 agreed. “Our house is one of the few where off-planet encounters are essential parts of our job.”
Amanita, who had been listening with an expression of interest which did not reflect her thoughts, broke in. “Cimma, you must show your head of house the respect due to his position, you know. Allowances cannot always be made for your newly widowed status. Xenon deserves the recognition required by his position.”
Grace’s heart sank. Just what she had wanted to avoid. She knew her brother well enough to feel the tension retake his body. She gave a small sigh.
“I didn’t ask you to come,” retorted Cimma. “It is still my floor!”
“You live here because Xenon permits it,” Amanita reminded her, with what she considered to be a gentle smile. “You must never forget that.”
“My husband lies here, and here I will stay!” Cimma raised her chin, and her dagger.
“If my husband permits it,” agreed Amanita.
“Your husband is my son!” Cimma snapped back.
“But he is head of house now; you must acknowledge that fact.”
“I suppose you’re happy now!”
“I don’t understand you.”
“You always did want to queen it over all of us.”
Amanita took a step back. “Xenon! Are you going to let her speak to me like that?”
Xenon’s face had taken on a hunted expression. He looked from his wife to his mother. Grace took a deep breath, and then stepped in.
“We have laid out some sweetfruits for you both. If you would like to come through to the viewing chamber?” She led the way without stopping to find out if she was being followed. Luckily they all fell in line, and the subject, at least for the time being, was dropped.
The calm didn’t last long, however, and the next target turned out to be Grace herself.
“Have you decided on a career yet, Grace?” her sister-in-law asked.
“Err …”
“You know, Grace, you really can’t leave it much longer,” Xenon pointed out. “You have been given far too much leeway to make up your own mind. If you can’t do so, then your mind will have to be made up for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Simply that I … as head of house … will have to take that decision for you. I think that you would be accepted on the house management program – if I use my influence of course.”
“Over my dead body!”
His brows snapped together, and the tension rushed back into his voice and his body. “You will have to do as you are told.”
“Not going to happen!” Grace mumbled.
“I see no reason why not. Amanita here studied house management herself, and look at her! ”
“I am!”
“If that is meant to be an insult, Grace, you would do well to remember just who’s who around here. I can have you sent to Cesis tomorrow, if I so choose.”
Grace paled. “I wouldn’t go!” she said unconvincingly.
“Oh, I rather think you would!”
“You wouldn’t send me!”
“Try me.” He stood glowering at her.
Grace moved from foot to foot, considering. “All right,” she finally conceded, “I will make a decision this week. But please don’t make me take house management.”
“You have a week.” He nodded, and turned to his mother. “Now, Magestra, what is this nonsense I hear about you sleeping in your sarcophagus! It is going to have to stop!”
Chapter 17
“WHAT?” GRACE HAD been in a heavy sleep; it was hard to wake up all at once.
“You have to come! Now!”
She lay with her eyes closed as the words gradually sank in. Then … Cian! – that must mean that Diva was at this moment gasping for breath. She leapt off the divan and struggled to get her bodywrap on.
“I’m coming, Six. Tell Arcan I will be there as fast as I can. And tell Diva to breathe slowly, not to use up all the air at once. I’m coming!” Her feet fell over each other in her haste, and she hissed at them through her teeth. “come on, come ON!” Then she was ready. Stopping only to grab the six mask packs she had put to one side, together with a spare bodywrap, she raced out to the back lift.
She had no hands free to try to reach Arcan in the lift, so she didn’t bother. He would presumably be pretty busy trying to help Diva. Grace spared a thought for her brother Xenon. This had to have been his order. How could he have ordered the death of another being? How could she ever, ever talk to him again? What was going to be the end of all this? She could see no long-term solution to any of it.
She nea
rly fell off the stairs trying to get bare planet. Again she hissed at herself. Then her boots touched the sand, and she was on her way to the lake. The stars were urging her on, it seemed. Her mask pack was working at the limit of its efficiency, but she couldn’t spare the time to stop and regulate her breathing. She just hoped that the valves wouldn’t go into autoblock.
As she came stumbling over the crest of the hill and saw the lake she was amazed. Arcan had moved the whole bubble to the shore, and was supporting it securely on the sand by a wall of lake. It was an impressive sight.
Not so impressive was the sign of an inanimate body slumped inside the bubble. She was going to be too late!
Grace threw herself down the slope to the lake, scattering sand and particulates to all sides. Please don’t let me be too late. Please don’t let me be too late, she intoned.
She reached the bubble; to her great relief she could see the thin body inside was still moving, the eyes were open, watching her. She waved a hand at the prone and gasping Diva, and then came up to a complete stop. How was she to get into the bubble? The walls must be too thick to let her through.
Not so. As she put one tentative hand to the surface of the bubble it thinned out and gave way, allowing her to push inside to where Diva was striving to breathe. First she put a mask pack on the girl.
“Here! Breathe normally. I have got you now. It’s all right!”
Diva nodded weakly, unable to talk.
“That’s all right. Don’t try to speak now. Just try to get a steady breathing rhythm back.”
Diva gradually began to regain some colour in her skin as the new source of oxygen kicked in. Then Grace carefully helped her into the bodywrap – she wouldn’t last even a minute without it in the unprotected slight atmosphere of Valhai. When they were ready Grace helped Diva to her feet, and the two girls touched the side of the bubble again. This time it burst, leaving them standing on the shore. The wall of lake retreated and sank slowly back into the inky surface. A shiver of iridescence propagated slowly along the surface.
Ammonite Planets (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #1-3 Page 13