Randall.
He reached his hand through the jelly-floor and touched matted hair. Then, he plunged his other hand down and hooked his hands under the mercenary’s shoulders. He began to pull, but his face sank below the surface and his mouth filled. Panicking, he rolled onto his back and lay there, panting and spitting, until the floor stopped moving.
The surface tension was fragile, and he needed to move more carefully if he wanted to stay on top. This time, when he rolled back onto his stomach, he only thrust one hand down. Feeling his way past Rast’s forehead to her nose, he touched a waxy seal like the one that had been over his. He scrabbled at it until it began to peel. When he’d ripped it off, he rolled carefully away and waited.
Why didn’t Latourn have one? he wondered.
Too many long moments later, Rast erupted from the floor in much the same way he had. He grabbed one of her flailing arms and croaked out, ‘Stop struggling, or you’ll go under again. I’m right next to you.’
Immediately she stilled. After a while the floor ceased to move.
‘Josef?’ she coughed.
‘Right here,’ he said.
‘We’re alive.’
‘For the moment. Open your eyes.’
‘I won’t ever forget that you got me out of there.’ Her voice was strangled and dead serious.
‘We’re not out yet.’
Rast tried to sit up, but her sudden movement sent her partially slipping back beneath the floor.
Jo-Jo reached across and grasped her arm. When the floor stopped moving again, he gave her some instructions: ‘Move real slow, palms flat. Make your body surface as wide as possible.’
‘Gotcha. Now what?’ Her voice sounded stronger with every word she spoke.
‘Look over your left shoulder. See that mark on the wall? I reckon that’s where the ‘zoon was connected. Somehow we gotta get that open.’
‘And what? Get sucked out into the vacuum?’ Her confident tone diminished a bit.
‘I listened to a bunch of conversations when I was spreading my rumour. I can’t be sure, but I think we’ve landed on Araldis.’
‘You can’t be sure? Are you nuts? What if you’re wrong?’
‘Well, we could stay here. Sink back underneath and become Extros for good.’
He felt the floor vibrate as she craned her neck around.
‘How about we try sliding in different directions? See what we come up against?’ she suggested.
‘I prefer to try the door idea first.’
‘First? There won’t be a second, if you’re wrong.’
‘I’m not wrong.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Something’s different. There’s no vibration. And the Extros were all talking about quixite and transformation. They’re expecting something to happen soon.’
‘Not convinced,’ said Rast stubbornly.
Jo-Jo felt a rising annoyance. They didn’t have time for a difference of opinion. The Extros would already know they were no longer submerged. ‘We hang around here exploring and we’ll end up like your crew.’
Rast rolled slowly onto her side so she could see Jo-Jo’s face. Her blue eyes were bloodshot to hell and her face and hair were glazed with floor goo. ‘Where—are—they?’
‘On the other side of me. I’ve felt down there. I think it’s Latourn. Long hair.’
She began to turn over. ‘Lemme past you.’
‘Wait,’ he ordered. ‘I’ll move first. Both of us at once will cause waves.’
Surprisingly, she listened.
With painfully slow movements, he slid his body around behind hers in a semicircle until their heads almost touched. ‘Now you go.’
She rolled more slowly this time, until she was positioned above the spot where Lat’s body was encased.
Jo-Jo closed his eyes, not wanting to see her reaction. He felt the surface tremor as she plunged her hand below.
‘I can’t get him to move,’ she gulped, struggling to keep her own face from being pulled beneath.
‘I know,’ said Jo-Jo, still studying the inside of his eyelids. ‘I checked him.’’
‘What’s that mean?’
‘Means his lungs are full of goo.’
‘And?’
‘Unless they’re set up like the tubercles in a biozoon, I’m thinking he’s dead.’
‘But the floor was solid before. I don’t get it.’
‘I bet Medium’s capable of changing lots of things internally.’
‘Medium?’
‘That’s what it’s called. Maybe it transforms into something more liquid when it’s in travelling mode. Maybe sound travels better through the goo.’
‘Well that shoots down your theory about it being planetside already.’ Rast’s calm reaction told Jo-Jo that she didn’t believe him.
‘Maybe,’ he conceded. ‘Whatever. But if I’m right, best to be on top than underneath it, I reckon.’
She made a disgruntled noise. ‘How did you get me out?’
‘I pulled a plug off your mouth and nose seal. You started to drown and reacted by swimming to the top.’
‘Why didn’t Lat do the same?’
‘His mouth and nose seal was already gone when I found him. He had no breathing reflex.’
‘What about Catchut?’ Her voice sounded grim now.
Jo-Jo opened his eyes and turned his head to try and look at her, his eyes widening. ‘Dunno. But he was making noise down there, so maybe he’s...?’
Her blue eyes blinked and fixed him with a fierce look. ‘Find him,’ she said.
They began to move away from each other, taking turns to roll; Jo-Jo towards the scar, Rast in the opposite direction.
Jo-Jo found the movement getting easier, as if the surface tension had increased. Just short of the scar, he saw something opaque below the surface. ‘Over here.’
With a single, careful movement he delved downward. The resistance was definitely greater, but he touched something solid. ‘Randall! Hurry over.’
‘I know, I can feel it.’ She was sliding back toward him quickly.
Jo-Jo felt the seal over Catchut’s nose. It was intact but moving his fingers had become an effort, and he felt pressure building up around his arms.
Rast was able to balance on her knees by the time she reached him. The jelly-floor was solidifying. ‘Get him out,’ she cried.
Jo-Jo ripped the seal off and forced his other arm under. It was like reaching into a vat of cold honey.
Rast was doing the same.
Even though the surface gave them more purchase, the pulling was harder. Catchut started moving of his own accord but not with the vigour that Jo-Jo or Randall had been able to. He was asphyxiating in the hardening gel.
‘More,’ gasped Randall.
Jo-Jo strained his muscle-weakened shoulders until he thought his arms would dislocate.
Between them, they dragged Catchut’s head and shoulders out. The layers of drying Extro fluid cracked into shards as soon as his skin reached air. He clawed at his nose and mouth to clear them.
‘Again!’ Rast hauled with strength she shouldn’t have had. The rest of Catchut’s body cracked free, his clothes tearing from it, boots left behind underneath.
They let go of him and he fell onto the surface, shivering and mostly naked.
Rast’s eyes were wild now, pumped with survival adrenalin.
Jo-Jo figured his looked about the same.
‘Josef.’ She pointed to the mark left by the biozoon’s abrupt departure.
‘You game?’ he said.
She nodded and gave a mad, almost unhinged grin. ‘You’re a persuasive man. Now, how do we get the fuckin’ thing open?’
MIRA
Mira’s heart contracted. She glanced back and forth between Thales and Samuelle. ‘Thales,’ she said. ‘What confession?’
The young man flushed with emotion. ‘I-I—’ But his answer was cut short by a noise at the door. Before any of them could react, it was thrust open an
d the room filled with armed Station Sec.
One of the guards opened his combat hood. ‘Here,’ he commanded.
A figure crept up to stand next to him; a small woman, older than Samuelle and gaunt with it. Her face crinkled with pleasure. ‘Thet’s him orright. Damn terrorist. Wanted to git up here without bein’ seen.’
Thales’s mouth opened helplessly. He shut it again. Mira saw the hopeless defeat in his eyes from being betrayed again.
‘What’s yer beef, sergeant?’ demanded Samuelle. She seemed composed, but her eyes were narrow with concentration.
‘That’s the Stationmaster’s concern, ma’am.’
Landhurst. Mira felt the blood rushing away from her head.
‘But I’m due at the summit meeting,’ argued Samuelle. The Sec sergeant didn’t blink as he raised his weapon.
* * *
Mira walked next to Thales and behind Samuelle. Guards both led and flanked them. Curious glances followed them as they were taken down-station.
‘What did you tell Samuelle?’ whispered Mira.
‘She refused to see you. Said it was too dangerous. I told her I would confess and set Fariss free, if she changed her mind,’ he replied in a low voice.
‘Do you know what that means?’
He nodded. ‘I would have done it anyway. I couldn’t let Fariss... I just needed time to think it through. I panicked on the ship, but now I know what to do.’ He was silent for a moment. ‘At least this way something was gained from it... or would have been if the old woman hadn’t betrayed me.’
Mira did something she’d never done before. She reached across and squeezed his hand. She didn’t let go. ‘We’ll be in detention together.’
‘That will,’ he said, with a shaking intake of breath, ‘make it infinitely more bearable.’
Mira kept looking ahead, her heart heavier than it had ever been.
The guards took them through a contortion of corridors that seemed to get narrower. The last one they entered was wider, and long, and the lining was worn, the floor scuffed. Most detainment modules were adjoined to the larger station, not part of it, in case the Stationmaster chose to disconnect it—in times of emergency.
The thought made Mira sick. Landhurst could vac them if he wanted to. She tried to stay in the present, concentrating on the light whispering noise of Samuelle’s suit and the sticky moisture of Thales’s palm.
The Station Sec guards stopped at the detention module junction, waiting for it to cycle open. Then they instructed Mira, Samuelle and Thales to move through.
Mira stepped over the junction lip after Samuelle, and felt the blast of cooler air.
The detention processing chamber was bulb-shaped, and crowded with different kinds of soldiers. These ones were clothed in matt black uniforms that bore the OLOSS insignia. They stood, alert, as Station Sec filed in behind Thales.
‘What’s this?’ said the Sec sergeant, pushing his way to the middle of the room.
An OLOSS captain matched his position. ‘OLOSS sanctions the release of the prisoner Fariss O’Dea and the three you’re about to process: Mira Fedor, Thales Berniere and Samuelle Sansarin.’
‘What do you mean, OLOSS?’
The captain handed him an audio-plant.
The Sec sergeant fitted it. in his ear, authenticated the voice and listened. His face tightened into disapproval, but he ordered his guards to stand away.
Mira’s heart quickened. What had happened? Where were they to be taken now?
The two groups of guards waited in a tense silence as the detention administrator arranged for Fariss’s release.
Samuelle filled the quiet with accusations and demands. ‘What in Crux’s name is goin’ on, Captain? Landhurst’s got some nerve bringing me down here. Wait till Commander Farr hears about this.’
‘Commander Farr already knows, Ms Sansarin. That is why you’re returning to the station with us, not being detained.’
‘Sammy?’ The tallest woman Mira had ever seen was stooped in the low doorway into the containment area. Samuelle nodded reassurance, and the tall woman’s eyes flew to Thales. ‘What’s goin’ on?’ Her stare shifted to Station Sec, the OLOSS guards and then Mira.
‘Not sure,’ Samuelle frowned. ‘But I say we find out. Captain?’
The Sec sergeant accompanied the OLOSS contingent back the way they’d come and up a short escalator. After passing a series of checkpoints they entered the ante-room of a large chamber.
‘Commander Farr has permitted these witnesses access to the summit meeting,’ the captain informed the door guards, and produced another audio-plant.
Witnesses? Mira glanced at Thales, but his eyes were riveted to Fariss.
They were all scanned and physically searched, before the door guards disarmed the door. Samuelle entered first, followed by Fariss, then Mira and Thales. Only the captain and the Sec sergeant followed them in.
And for good reason. The room was already filled with ‘esques and aliens, mostly seated, in a semicircle around a liquid translator hub.
They fell silent as Samuelle walked directly around the outside to stand near Landhurst.
The Stationmaster had changed little since Mira had seen him last, his hooked nose still like a badly drawn line down the middle of his face, his bow legs and wiry torso encased in blue station overalls. Only the matt comm-patch above one ear distinguished him from any other station worker; that and his arrogant air.
In fact, the entire room was thick with confidence.
Lasper Farr sat to the right of Landhurst, but not next to him. Mira recognised other faces around the semicircle from newscasts. Lutinous the skieran ambassador, the Lostolian President Gan, the uuli Convenor, Balol Butnik, and numerous other dignitaries. Between Landhurst and Farr was JiHaigh, the OLOSS All-Prime. JiHaigh was said to be the most powerful individual in OLOSS Orion. Her physical presence in this chamber was a testament to the gravity of the summit. Like Samuelle, JiHaigh wore a protective skin suit, though hers was a subtle skin tone and lay underneath her clothes. It gave her face an unusual shininess. Mira imagined that most of the others wore some kind of physical safeguard, too—protection that she couldn’t see.
Landhurst’s eyes flicked from Samuelle and Fariss straight to Thales, then settled on Mira. It took only a moment before she saw recognition light in them.
‘Baronessa Fedor?’ his and another voice said simultaneously.
Landhurst leapt up from his chair and a second figure lifted on a float-form that supported his partially paralysed body.
‘Sophos Mianos,’ hissed Thales through his teeth.
Mira took in the livid expression of the Scolar Pre- Eminence who had tried to imprison her and Insignia. Was his injury her fault? Had the paralysis occurred because of Insignia’s abrupt detachment from the OLOSS ship?
Mira straightened her back, bracing herself against a wave of anguish. What would Landhurst do? Would Mianos blame her?
‘Who allowed this?’ Landhurst spluttered.
Lasper Farr rose. ‘I did,’ he said in a mild voice. ‘I believe that these witnesses are in possession of crucial information that should be heard.’
‘Witnesses? This is not a court of law, this is a security summit,’ said Landhurst.
‘This is,’ said Commander Farr more pertinently, more dangerously, ‘a dialogue about the continued survival of our species. Now, Samuelle, before we begin, explain to me what you’re doing in the company of Baronessa Fedor and Thales Berniere.’
‘I see you do know her, Lasper. Proves that part of her story, at least,’ Samuelle said with relief.
Landhurst interjected. ‘Baronessa Fedor will be placed under arrest and taken immediately to confinement. Sergeant, do as—’
‘Wait!’ ordered Farr.
The Sec sergeant hesitated, not sure whom to obey.
‘Commander?’ Landhurst’s face reddened with fury.
The tension between the two charged the room. Mira saw glances and subvocalisations fly betwee
n the other participants. Eges danced close to the ceiling, recording and relaying to the common-casts. This was Landhurst’s station, but Farr was a hero. Billions of people would be watching.
Landhurst swallowed down a lump of pride and said in more emollient tones, ‘What is it that you’d like to hear, Commander Farr, before I detain this woman?’
‘First, what’s her supposed crime?’
‘The woman incited decommed assailant ships to act in an aggressive manner towards my station, inside shift-space.’
‘Which decommed warships?’
‘Captain Dren from Audacity.’ Mira found her own lips and tongue forming and speaking the words. ‘I did not incite him—he chose to protect me when Stationmaster Landhurst tried to appropriate my bonded biozoon.’
Farr’s head whipped in her direction. ‘Dren you say? Can’t imagine veteran Dren getting involved in something for no good cause.’ He glanced around the rest of the room. ‘Dren was one of my forward scouts in the war.’
‘It’s the war that brings me here, Command—’ began Mira.
‘She’s not a reliable source,’ interrupted Landhurst. He had not sat down and now he leaned across his comm-sole with undisguised threat.
‘Landhurst.’ Farr again. Not loudly, but with clear intent. ‘Let the woman speak.’
‘This is the woman who evaded my investigation and nearly cost me my life,’ Mianos hissed. ‘She is from Araldis. Or so she says. I believe that she killed the royal family and stole their biozoon.’
The soft murmuring around the room increased to a loud discussion. All the participants, it seemed, had heard at least one of the stories.
Mira caught snatches of their comments, some 4 enraged, and others curious. Lutinous’s dialect was incomprehensible, but the Balol Butnik was openly admiring. ‘The woman is a warrior,’ he bellowed above all of them. ‘Let her speak.’
His declaration quieted the room long enough for Thales to find his voice. He’d stood behind Mira as they’d entered the room. Now he stepped in front of her. The summit participants seemed to hold their breaths. This young man looked so worn and damaged, yet he bore himself with quiet dignity.
‘I am Thales Berniere, from Scolar. Sophos Mianos tried to imprison the Baronessa unlawfully, as he did me back on Scolar. I was married to his daughter, a fact that he could not accept. When I questioned his staid and reactionary philosophies he incarcerated me with the prophet Villon.’
The Sentients of Orion Page 89