Ammonite Planets (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #1-3

by Gillian Andrews

  Six sighed. Even in paradise it seemed he was still to be blamed for everything. He thumbed his nose at her, and swam leisurely away, safe in the knowledge that neither of the girls would be able to catch up with him in the water.

  EARLY THE NEXT morning they contacted Arcan, telling him about the lake, and inviting him to bring the visitor and to join them on their holiday.

  “I am not sure that we should,” Arcan told them. “We are very close to finding an antidote for the orange compound, and Atheron may decide to act very soon. I would have to bring the visitor’s ship over, in order for the video camera to be useable, and that would leave him stranded in Xiantha if anything happened to me. I am worried that Atheron may be recruiting men from other planets for his cause.”

  “Naturally you mustn’t come if you are so close to a solution,” Grace told him seriously. “That is more important than anything else.”

  Arcan was silent for a few moments. “I suppose it isn’t going to make any difference,” he said eventually. “I shall only be sending a tiny part of myself, after all – not enough to delay any of our research, and I can contact the visitor just as well on Xiantha as on Valhai. In fact, I probably should have part of me on another planet. It would be a safeguard if Atheron does attack.”

  Within seconds Arcan arrived, bringing with him a video camera. It would save the time it would take for the visitor to send a new one down from his ship in low orbit about Xiantha, explained Arcan.

  The video camera whirred with delight at the canths. Upon being told that they synchronized their own death with that of their rider, however far away this might take place, he gave a crackle of surprise, and turned in Arcan’s direction.

  “That is anomalous,” he said.

  Arcan looked up, curious. “What is?” he asked.

  So Diva told them both about the history of the canths, and how they adopted riders, and how they met their timely end.

  Arcan shimmered, “That is unusual,” he agreed.

  “Why?” The ex donor apprentices all spoke together.

  “Because it would require knowledge at a distance, which is only possible through quantum non-locality. There is no conceivable way that a classical system could incorporate that possibility.”

  “And that would make the canths a species which uses quantum effects,” murmured Six, thoughtfully. “Which would mean …”

  “A 2a classification,” finished the visitor. “Higher than yours.”

  “—And mine!” said Arcan, darkening, a sure sign that he was not best pleased.

  “Here, hang on a minute, you glittering piece of metal! You can’t tell me that these animals – while very nice, of course – are more highly up the evolutionary chain than we are? Than Arcan is? Come on! That doesn’t make any sense.” Six threw up his hands, quite at odds with the visitor.

  “I am pleased I came here,” said the visitor. “This species will need some further study. It is impossible to say what category they belong to at this time. I will apply myself to their future classification.”

  Six thought he saw a way out. “Wait a minute! If they are 2a and they can feel the moment their riders die, then that would make their riders 2a too, as they transmit it to the canths! Hah!”

  The sphere clicked sadly at his logic. “That is not coherent, I am afraid. But I agree with the orthogel entity. It would be most unusual to find a category 2 species so under-evolved. This is going to be of great importance. It is possible that they are a missing link!”

  “Now I come to think of it, the canth keeper – the Xianthan – did tell us that they were thought to be descended from the lost animas of Xiantha,” said Grace.

  “Very interesting. Already I find this holiday of use,” said the machine.

  Six glared at it. “I think the whole point of holidays is that they are not supposed to be of use,” he said. “You are just supposed to enjoy yourself.”

  The machine let out a chirrup. “I can’t swim,” it said severely, “or eat food. I can’t sleep, or climb those trees, or smell the flowers or feel happy. I don’t think these ‘holiday’ things are for me.”

  Grace felt sorry for it. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “Perhaps we shouldn’t have asked you to come.”

  Six rolled his eyes. Grace was so predictable sometimes, he thought, waiting for the little machine to make some suitably sickeningly sugary reply. He was not to be disappointed.

  “I had to come, for the orthogel entity’s sake,” it whirred. “I feel it is my duty to defend it at all times.”

  Six put a finger in his mouth and made gagging sounds, causing the machine to fix its lens on him and increase the zoom with a high-pitched buzz. Six glowered back at it.

  Grace moved her eyes from one to the other, and managed to look cross. “If you two insist on rubbing each other up the wrong way, you are going to ruin this holiday!” she said.

  “Talking of ruining the holiday,” said Six, who had just thought of something, “where is the food around here? I know there are masses of sweetfruit – they are growing wild everywhere and it was enough last night, but I’m beginning to get awfully hungry. What if we want something else?”

  Grace gave a sigh. “Didn’t you read the brochure in your cabin?”

  Six stared at her as if she were mad. “No!” he said, “of course I didn’t!”

  “Well, if you had, you would have seen that there is a restaurant at the far end of the lake.” She sighed. Sometimes being around Six was hard work.

  “A restaurant? What’s that?”

  Grace opened her hands. “I think,” she said doubtfully, “that it is a place where you can eat.”

  “You need a special place to eat on this planet? First I’ve heard of it!”

  “And you have to pay.”

  Six snorted. “That will never catch on. Who on Sacras is going to pay to be able to eat! I ask you!”

  “But they give you the food, or something. I think we should try it. Diva can give them the money they want. She said she had brought plenty from Mesteta. Perhaps it is a necessary part of this … holiday thing?”

  “As long as we get to eat.”

  “We would have to take the canths – it is right up at the far end of the lake.”

  “That sounds fine. They are probably bored by sitting around doing nothing.”

  Actually the canths didn’t appear particularly keen on leaving the small paradise they had been brought to. They were found munching wild flowers, knee-deep in greenery, and were a little loath to leave this haven. Eventually Six managed to tack them up, and lead them to the cabin area, by the shore of the lake. Here he let them drink a little, and then called to the others.

  The visitor examined the canths carefully. “They certainly would seem to be category 3c,” he agreed. “If they are capable of using quantum non-locality then it is very deeply hidden – they appear normal work beasts.”

  “Are you coming, Visitor?” asked Grace. Six looked away.

  “Of course. I shall study the behaviour of these quadrupeds.”

  Six muttered under his breath.

  “Although, naturally, I shall not be able to eat.”

  “Ohhh!” Grace drew out the word for about three seconds, obviously feeling for the small alien, having to exist in his spaceship so alone, and only able to ‘live’ vicariously here, through a machine.

  Six pressed his heels against the flanks of his canth and waited no more. There were some things a man shouldn’t have to listen to, he felt.

  Soon the air gently refreshing his cheeks, and the stunning views blew away the resentment he was feeling, and he began to laugh. He was actually jealous of a couple of neurons! That made him seem pretty petty! He reined in, and waited for the others, rather sheepishly.

  Diva cantered up first. “Hey, nomus! You could have waited! Grace is way behind!”

  “I know. Sorry.” They got down, and left their mounts to forage for a short time by the lake. Diva flung herself onto the grass, pick
ed a yellow flower on a long stalk, snapped off the end of the stalk, removed the outer parts and began to nibble at the rest. They listened. There was the sound of the canths munching, and birds singing in the distance, with just the softest hint of water lapping gently at the shore. It was perfect, and they listened companionably in silence for a few minutes.

  Diva finally turned to Six. “You know, being here reminds me of Coriolis. Except on Coriolis there were always rules about what you could and couldn’t do. Here everything seems possible.”

  He nodded. “You feel free here. I understand.”

  “I don’t think I did. Not exactly. I think I have always carried around with me all the rules which were instilled into me when I was little.”

  “Lady privilege. I had noticed. Don’t let it bother you. It is a part of you. Is this an apology?”

  Diva lowered her head. “No-o. Not really.”

  Six smiled. “Thank you. I accept your apology.” He gave a laugh, and leapt to his feet. “Race you to that inlet!”

  Diva was up in a flash, and already running in front of him. They thundered down the shore of the lake, and he gradually overtook her. At last, and with no small effort, he flopped onto the sand just before she set foot on it. He panted, and waved a victorious hand, filled with happiness. “Now I know what a holiday is!”

  She flung herself down nearby, and made an angel pattern with her arms, luxuriating in the warm sand running through her fingers. “It isn’t bad, is it? We should do this more often!”

  “That is for sure!” And they smiled at each other, for once in perfect agreement, then watched as Grace approached on her canth, followed placidly by their own.

  THEY WERE ALL feeling extremely hungry by the time that the restaurant came into view. It turned out to be a group of buildings made out of wood on the shore, and a series of rafts floating anchored on the lake, which could be reached along long jetties.

  “Uh-oh,” said Six straight away. “That reminds me of my first sight of Valhai.”

  Diva shivered. “Ooh! Yes! Six, do you remember? When Xenon—” her eyes slid naturally to Grace, “—dropped us into the orthogel? I hope this ‘restaurant’ isn’t going to be anything like that!”

  A tall Xianthan swept up to them, dressed in very colourful raiment indeed. “Welcome,” he bowed. “ I am the manager of this humble establishment, your servant. My name is the man who knows food. Please to come this way.” He ushered them in the direction of one of the jetties, clicking his fingers to one or two minions, who immediately came up to unsaddle the canths.

  Diva and Six exchanged very doubtful looks as they approached the wooden jetty.

  “It would be the longest!” groaned Six.

  Diva nodded with dismay. The thing seemed to stretch off into infinity, she thought. Still, she wasn’t going to show her fear in front of Six. She stepped out onto the bobbing structure, behind Grace. Six put his chin up, and followed on.

  The whole thing seemed to roll and pitch with their steps, there were no railings, and they all felt slightly unwell as they traversed the insubstantial pier.

  “Not to worry,” smiled the manager as he escorted them to their destination. “—You will see. It is worth this minor inconvenience. Any discomfort will be merely transitory.”

  And see they did. The jetty stopped, and they negotiated some fifty steps down into a rexelene tank, which contained a table and chairs, also made of rexelene. The area was big enough for the sun to reach down and illuminate it, which made it bright and cheerful, yet they could see the lake surrounding them on all sides. Their mouths dropped open. There were fish all around them! Large, small, flat, bulging, toothed and toothless, the place was teeming with them. They stared and stared, absolutely overwhelmed by the aquatic sights all around them.

  “Please to sit down,” the manager said, pulling chairs out of the table and sliding people efficiently into them. “Now – will today’s special be to your liking?”

  Six nodded back, still unable to speak. They gazed at the activity in the lake all around them, and were silent for a long time.

  “Wow!” said Diva, finally. “Some place!”

  “Look at the fish!” Grace urged. “Look at those colours!”

  “I have never seen fish like these,” agreed Six. “The ones on Kwaide are generally a sort of silvery white colour. These are like miniature rainbows!”

  The manager had heard his words as he and many minions returned, loaded down with plate upon plate of tempting food, which they distributed around the table. “That is why this restaurant was built. On Xiantha we revere colour, and this is the most colourful place on the planet. This restaurant is considered to be one of the eight magnificents.” He saw that they had no idea what he was talking about, and relented. “One of the eight places all Xianthans should try to see at least once before they die. The others are—” He began to tick them off on his fingers, “—the Dark Xianthe; the Lost Valley; the Light Xianthe; the Black Sea – home of the legendary ten-legged decipus; Mount Kalatheia in the South; the Village of Gennaia in the lowlands – home of our most famous painters; and the Lost Animas.” He made sure that everything was exactly to his liking and then left, asking them to push a button set into the table if they should require anything else.

  Six regarded the table with delight. It was weighed down with more food than he had ever seen, he thought. Just looking at it made his mouth water. Multi-coloured fish were all very well, but food … food could never be overrated! He helped himself to generous portions, and began to eat, his small moans of content bringing the girls back to their senses, and making them taste some of the delights in front of them too.

  Two hours later they got gingerly to their feet. “You would have to be on holiday to come to this place,” said Six. “There is absolutely no way anyone could go back to work after eating here. In the uninhabitable zone on Kwaide I could have kept my sisters going for a whole month on this!”

  They negotiated the long jetty back to the shore. It seemed much easier and quicker on the way back than it had on the way out.

  The man who knew food glided up discreetly, with a small piece of paper in his hand. Diva held her hand out, opened the paper, raised her eyebrows nearly as high as Cian, and pulled out what seemed an inordinate number of bills. Grace felt guilty, and whispered to her as they left.

  “Diva! That cost a fortune!”

  “It did. Now we know why the Xianthans can only come here once in a lifetime, and why the man who knows food looks so happy, and wears so many colours!”

  “Can you afford it?”

  Diva grinned. “Sure. My mother put a mountain of money in that bank account. Don’t worry about that! But we can’t eat here twice a day, if that is what you mean – I didn’t bring that much with me on this trip.” She thought for a minute, and then her face cleared. “Though Arcan could always pop me over to the bank in Mesteta if we need more funds!”

  Arcan, who had been quiet for most of the meal, agreed immediately. “Of course, Diva, that would not be a problem.”

  Grace shook her head. “You won’t have to. I have eaten enough for two days at least, and we decided on a three day holiday, so we can just eat sweetfruits for the rest of the time. Although I would like to go back – one day.”

  Diva nodded. “Me too. It was a stunning place, wasn’t it?”

  Even Arcan and the visitor agreed to this. The trip back to the lakeside camp was undertaken in a spirit of relaxed and satisfied companionship. They were all feeling very content.

  When they got back to the camp, and once they had let the canths loose, they decided to show Arcan and the visitor around the lake, and persuaded Arcan to try his skill at swimming. It wasn’t very satisfactory, because his diaphanous shape simply floated on the surface, bobbing up and down, and causing the others to laugh, something the orthogel entity was not particularly happy about. He and the visitor were discussing hydrodynamics and hyperfluidity in superior tones when suddenly Arcan stopped
in mid-sentence.

  He seemed to be listening to a distant voice. Grace lifted her hands up to her face, realizing that something must be very wrong, but Arcan turned to her, and scintillated. “It is all right, Grace. I am being asked to go back to Valhai immediately, but I hope I shall be able to resolve the problem. I shall take the visitor with me too. Will you be all right here on your own?”

  All three nodded.

  “Call me if you need me.” Then he and the visitor disappeared abruptly from the lake, leaving a sense of abandonment behind him.

  “I think that is the end of our holidays,” said Six, stretching. “Pity.”

  Diva nodded. “Mmm. But I suppose we should be getting on our way to Eletheia, wouldn’t you say, Grace?”

  “I think so. Let’s sleep here tonight and then set off first thing in the morning.”

  Chapter 10

  ARCAN AND THE visitor arrived directly on the 21st floor of the 256th skyrise to find a distraught group of people waiting for them. As soon as Arcan saw the waiting committee he transported the visitor high up against the ceiling, to give him time to blend.

  Aracely was at the head of this group. Since she was shortly to start work for the orthogel entity, she had evidently been deputized as spokesperson.

  “Arcan! We need your advice! Mandalon 50 has disappeared. We think he might have suffered some kind of accident. Please help us!”

  Arcan looked around at the people in the room. He recognized some of them as belonged to the group of dignitaries he had held hostage over the tricks of Mandalon 49. These were important people on Valhai, he knew.

  “Of course I will help. What is it that has happened? Where did Mandalon 50 go?” As he was speaking he was scanning those present. He saw that neither Atheron nor Xenon were amongst the worried group. That, he found, was slightly odd.

  “He was supposed to be visiting the university building, when he vanished!” Aracely was very upset, and there were bright tears standing out in her eyes.