“Yes, I know. I understand.”
“You do?”
“Lola explained while we were waiting for you to break through the security wing.”
I looked to Shari, who shrugged.
“Oh. I’m still sorry.”
There was nothing left to do but wait.
* * * *
All was still. We were blind and deaf, just sitting there in the mud. Our only hope was to try to outwait and outwit our pursuers. We hoped that after a few hours they would assume we’d gotten away and expand their search area. That gave us the best opportunity to slip through gaps in the net.
But, damn, waiting is hard on the nerves.
The tension grew with every passing minute. Surely someone would pass over this spot and see us here, despite the seaweed. If not now, then now.
Or now.
Or now. Every minute was worse than the one before. I couldn’t swallow and my stomach churned like it was trying to make butter. I had an arm around Shari for comfort, but I doubt I helped much. No one spoke, not even Korr. I guess the tension was getting to him, too, but for the opposite reason. We were afraid we’d be found; he had to be afraid we wouldn’t be. With every passing minute the tension intensified. Something had to happen soon, didn’t it? I almost wished we would be found, just to break the tension.
My mind started to wander. I thought of those WWII movies where a submarine crew held its breath while ships above blanketed the area around the U-boat with depth charges. That’s what it felt like, even though no one was actually shooting at us. Ten minutes turned into twenty. Thirty minutes into an hour. One hour into two.
After three hours of agonizing, I finally began to think that perhaps playing possum would get us out of this mess after all.
I was a lot more confident about our chances at this point. “It looks like your superior forces aren’t so superior after all, Korr.”
He snorted. “You have not escaped yet. It is merely taking longer than I anticipated to effect your capture.”
“It’s only a matter of time. A few more hours—”
We all heard it, or perhaps felt it—a rumbling transmitted through Galla’s exterior. What the hell? I didn't have to be psychic to tell that everyone was straining to identify the sound. The tension that had dissipated somewhat over the past hour was back, and worse than ever.
“Um, Karsh. Maybe we should boogie on out of here, slowly—just in case.”
“I agree, Sunrise. Allara, please have Galla proceed away from Grambala on a heading of one-four-five, as slow and low as possible without disturbing the sea bottom and vegetation.”
Although we didn’t know what the noise was, I couldn’t think of anything that would be good for us.
After several minutes of inching ahead, we heard it again. This time the rumbling continued longer and—was it louder?
“Karsh?”
“I hear it.” The strain was evident in his mental voice. “Allara, change to a heading of one-seven-zero.”
The course change seemed to work; we heard nothing for another twenty minutes. Then the rumbling returned, even louder this time. We changed course again and soon the rumbling was back, louder yet, and more frequent.
“What the hell is that?” I wondered out loud.
“I know what the sound is,” Korr said softly, “but not why we are hearing it.”
That was puzzling. “What do you mean?”
“What we are hearing are depth bombs.”
“Depth bombs?” I echoed. “Do you chase ships with nullifiers aboard often? Why would you need depth bombs?”
“You are correct that normally we do not. Azarti with the ability to create a dampening field are rare. Normally we can sense the presence of ships and those aboard. However there are several species of large predator that can generate their own dampening fields, to make it easier for them to approach their prey unawares. If we cannot sense them, we cannot go after them with ships. Instead, we saturate the area surrounding a city with depth bombs to kill or scare them away. However, what I do not understand is why they are using them now. I am their leader. They know I am aboard this ship. Why would they risk my life like this?” He sounded genuinely puzzled.
I could only think of one reason. “It sounds to me like there’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s none too fond of you.”
“Perhaps.” He paused to mull over the idea. “It must be Kintuno. I cannot think of anyone else who would risk a coup with me still alive. He may indeed want me dead; however, do not rejoice in my misfortune just yet. If he kills me, he kills you, too.”
“It wouldn’t break my heart to see your own people bump you off. If we go, I’d rather take you with us. Still, you raise a valid point. We stand a better chance of getting out of this alive if we work together.”
“Agreed. However, it does me no good to escape death at the hands of Kintuno only to be executed later by rebels in a mockery of a court trial.”
I snorted. “You’re a fine one to talk about mock trials. Remember Karsh’s fictional ‘jury of his peers’ before you imposed a death sentence on him?”
“Be that as it may, before I help you I will need some assurances.”
I looked at Karsh and then back at Korr. “Assurances? Assurances of what?”
“I want Karsh’s word that if I help you escape I will be set free.”
“No!” Karsh shouted. “That is out of the question! You must pay for your crimes!”
I shrugged at Korr. “I’m afraid that option’s off the table.” I sure as hell wouldn’t have agreed to that demand, even if Karsh had been willing.
“Very well. Then I absolutely insist that at a minimum you spare my life. No execution for any crimes, real or imagined.”
I looked back at Karsh and sent him a private thought before answering. “Very well. We agree. You will not be executed.”
That was actually an easy concession. Knowing Karsh’s aversion to violence, I suspected that he would be uneasy about the notion of having Korr executed for war crimes, even if others insisted. I’d pointed out the worrisome issue of creating a martyr for Korr’s supporters to rally around. Instead, holding him as a defeated prisoner of war weakened his position. I think Karsh was actually relieved to have a compelling reason to resist the expected demands for execution.
“Good. I ask one last consideration.”
“More? Let’s hear it, but don’t get greedy.” I was starting to get annoyed. Didn’t we just agree to save his miserable life? How much more did he think he could extract from us?
“It is quite simple. I wish to be housed separately from common criminals.”
“I think we can accommodate that wish.” I didn’t think Karsh would want Korr mingling with and corrupting the minds of the criminals in whatever prison he would be housed. The last thing Karsh would want is a massive prison break, instituted by Korr, followed by a counterrevolution.
Karsh indicated agreement.
“Very well, then,” Korr said. “You will have my complete cooperation until such time as we are safe.”
“Good. How far away do you think the other ships are?”
Korr listened for a moment. “Judging by the sound, within a mile of us.”
“That’s close enough that I should be able to stun them all. Poton would only have to drop the dampening field for a few seconds, long enough for me to locate all the ships in the area and sledgehammer them.”
“That would work for the unshielded ones,” Korr replied, “but not the two with dampening fields of their own. If I were running the operation, I would have those ships positioned near the middle of the cordon. Then when you dropped your own dampening field to attack the other ships, I would triangulate on your position and have the two shielded ships close on your position. Right now, the fleet is operating blindly. Sledgehammer those ships and you give away your position.”
I sighed. “I knew it sounded too easy. I guess it’s back to stealth mode and keeping our fingers crossed.�
��
* * * *
We changed course several times in the next hour. Unfortunately, no matter which way we turned, the rumblings got closer and louder and more plentiful.
We were boxed in, and this time the bad guys weren’t worried about bruising Korr. It looked like it was going to be a long and scary evening.
Or, even worse, a short one.
The noose continued to tighten around our necks. The rumblings of depth bombs grew to a non-stop, headache-inducing roar as the evening wore on. It conjured up images of fire-breathing dragons on the rampage. The tension in the ship was palpable and unceasing. Before, we were worried that the searchers might find us. Now we knew they would, and soon.
But, naturally, that wasn’t enough for us to worry about. No, we had to have more.
“Don,” Shari thought to me, privately, “Poton is about at the end of his strength. He’s never tried to keep a dampening field up this long before. Without a partner to share the load with him, he can’t keep going much longer. It’s like a battery that runs full out and then dies abruptly. The field won’t just gradually weaken. It’ll quit on us suddenly. He’s keeping up a brave front, but I think we’re down to a matter of minutes at most.”
As if to punctuate her point, several depth bombs exploded near enough to Galla to jostle us inside. It wouldn’t be long. If Poton’s field failed, they’d zero in on us in seconds. Even if it didn’t fail, it wouldn’t take much longer for the bombs to find us.
“Shit. Isn’t there anything we can do?”
She shrugged. “I can’t imagine what. None of us has his nullification ability.”
“I know, but...but maybe we don’t need to. Is there any way we can transfer some energy to him, sort of recharge his battery?”
“Hmm. I...don’t know. Let’s ask Karsh.”
We approached Karsh, also privately. We didn’t want to worry the others more than necessary. Besides, I wasn’t totally sure I trusted Korr—even with his promise of full cooperation.
“Karsh,” I began, “I know that several nullifiers can link their minds and share the workload to amplify their power. Do you know if there is any way for several Azarti to link together to share energy? We’re looking for a way to bolster Poton’s reserves before he collapses from exhaustion.”
“Interesting notion,” he said. “I have never heard of anything like that being done. I should think that if it were possible, healers would use that technique to augment their ability to heal the most critically ill. Still, I suppose there is no harm in trying. Perhaps adding humans to the network would change things.”
I looked at Shari and shrugged. “It’s worth a shot, anyway.”
She nodded. “Sure, why not?”
Two more rumbles sounded, the closest yet. We didn’t have much time left.
We went to Poton with the idea. He was alone in a quiet chamber near the control room. The stress of his task radiated off him like heat shimmer on an asphalt highway. Shari and I spoke softly to him, not wanting to risk startling him or distracting him unnecessarily.
“I-I do not think that will work. However, I am willing to try. I cannot go on much longer as I am.”
“Okay,” I said, “how do we go about this?”
“Let us all hold hands.”
Shari and I intertwined the fingers of one hand as we each took one of his with the other. “Now what?”
“Now open your minds. Let me intertwine your thoughts with mine.”
We did as he asked. It was a bizarre feeling. Shari and I had opened our minds to each other before, but having a third mind mingling with ours was like having sex with a third person in the middle. It was awkward at first, with our thoughts tripping over one another’s, words and images becoming confused, sensations of one another’s limbs combining with our own so that it seemed like we had six arms, six legs, and three heads.
Then something…clicked into place and we were one, a gestalt. But something was different this time. I—we—saw in all directions, as an Azarti does, through his skin. How? Why? I have no idea. Maybe Shari and I had gotten good enough at this stuff that together we’d reached a sort of “critical mass” enabling us to do more than before—to be more. Before, we always joined in as part of the Azarti gestalt. But now, for the first time, we added a new element that only telepathic humans could contribute, to create a human-Azarti gestalt. All I know is, for the first time I saw myself and Shari, distorted, through Azarti perceptions. Likewise, Poton saw himself through our eyes. We each experienced both sides of the equation. Shari and I were human and Azarti, and Poton was Azarti and human. We were one being, one mind.
All at once, I felt exhilarated and exhausted, powerful and weak, recharged and drained. Together, we could nullify, eavesdrop, and sledgehammer. The limitations we faced individually when trying to punch through the dampening field disappeared when we were the dampening field.
The three of us—no, the one of us—left the mundane matters of the flesh behind us. We soared beyond the sea, beyond the sky, beyond the universe. When we merged, we became one mind, one body, one power. No one could stop us.
Together we were as gods.
From our vantage point outside of time and space, the drop of water that was Lasharr was insignificant, submicroscopic. It was tempting, so very tempting, to stay in that beautiful, peaceful place, where no one could harm us and where we saw everything, knew everything, controlled everything. But there was work to do, and no one else could do it.
The moment of euphoria passed and we returned to Galla. But not for long.
We viewed the ocean outside the ship, with points of light representing the other, unshielded ships. We sensed the concussions from the hundreds of depth bombs being released from ships all around us. Some were uncomfortably close and getting closer by the second. We listened in on the discussions among the ships’ captains and between the ships and Grambala.
Before, I’d hoped to reinforce Poton’s energy reserves. Now we had a better idea. A much better idea.
Chapter Twenty-Five
We expanded our consciousness and took in the whole of the sea for miles around, enough to encompass Ballan and every ship in the local fleet. First, we located and absorbed all the other nullifiers: the four on the two ships nearby and the four in Grambala who were protecting the Council chambers. Distance no longer mattered; physical contact was irrelevant. We wanted them and we took them. They had no choice in the matter; they became part of the gestalt and increased its power.
Then, we absorbed Karsh and Korr, followed by Keldor in his cell in Grambala. We knew everything they knew. We were no longer worried about Korr. He was insignificant alone, and as part of the gestalt he was but one of many.
Next, we dropped all of the dampening fields and sledgehammered everyone inside Grambala and everyone aboard the other ships—all of Korr’s troops; his lieutenants; the Council members; Kintuno, the would-be dictator; everyone. Then we sledgehammered everyone in Ballan who wasn’t part of the rebellion. All of this was accomplished in minutes.
We added the rebel troops to the gestalt and had them move in and take possession of Grambala, the armories, the ships, and all other military and government facilities in Ballan. It took hours to secure everything and disarm all of the troops, but that was not a problem. We ensured that everyone stayed unconscious for as long as it took.
Then we expanded our consciousness further, encompassing first the hemisphere and then the entire globe, repeating the procedure. The Brotherhood no longer ruled Lasharr. Not a shot had to be fired, not a life was lost.
By then, the gestalt was too powerful to resist. It circled back and absorbed the Brotherhood and all other Azarti that had been omitted the first time around. By dawn, every conscious entity on the planet was part of the gestalt. That included not only the Azarti, but also the palashi, the rismal, and every other creature that was to one extent or another telepathic. Lasharr now was the equivalent of Gaia, the mythical living Mother Earth. The
Azarti consciousness then expanded further, absorbing the inhabitants of the other colony worlds, until every Azarti, everywhere, was part of the gestalt.
The petty concerns of power, greed, and hatred dispersed like a mist in a freshening breeze. Once every Azarti knew the mind of every other, fear vanished, ignorance evaporated, differences no longer mattered. The tyranny of the Brotherhood ceased to exist. The rebellion was over.
Lasharr was free.
* * * *
There was no need for Karsh to campaign to be the new Prime Minister of Lasharr. He was already first among equals in the gestalt for leading his people from the shadow of oppression. Although he was but a small piece of the gestalt, he was a beacon, outshining all others. They knew his heart and he knew their minds. No leader ever truly knew the will of the people as he did. His soul was their soul. Karsh would lead the Azarti into an enlightened future.
As part of the gestalt, Shari and I shared in the joy that universal peace brought to the Azarti. Yet, even as we rejoiced, even as we were welcomed into the Azarti family, we felt like interlopers. We were not truly part of the family—we were the adopted stepchildren who were welcomed, yet never truly belonged.
The Azarti treated us like family, but we knew we were outsiders, and that made all the difference.
At first, Shari and I were afraid that as the original catalysts for the gestalt, our departure might cause the entire web to collapse. Fortunately, once the gestalt emerged, it was self-sustaining.
Although our absence had little effect on the gestalt, the reverse could not be said. Ripping ourselves free of the warm bosom of the Azarti family was traumatic. Worse, there was a lingering hunger, like withdrawal cravings, pulling us back. But we knew that if we didn’t leave now, we never would. If we stayed, we would never feel fully one with the gestalt.
A part, yet apart.
Perhaps it was simply that I prized my individuality, or my privacy, too much to fully embrace the gestalt. Or perhaps humans were not yet ready for such unity.
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