Now anger swelled as well.
*
“Sarganian scouts are now reporting that the effects of the Eye have expanded further,” Jaime Cenntl barked at the listening personnel on the Andromedea.
“Aren't they, what do they call them, Sagatar? They can withstand the Eye?” Austine asked, frowning.
“No, Tesirax sent two craft with Imperial Kadirs aboard; they're Mahotar, telepaths,” Jaime retorted. “This thing has ramped up... it's expected to reach Sarga in ten hours! So far, Tessie has kept a lid on this, but there have been inquiries from Sudon. Can't you tell Vekta to speed up dealing with this? I'm holding hands here and can't pull away to contact him telepathically.”
Austine opened her mouth and closed it again. They were technically close enough that she could manage to menttrans to the Tysona, but she was afraid she could be drawn into their merge. Rand had not called in to report, so who knew what was going on there? I should have opted for the relaxant... or drank all the whiskey... “Starguard Cenntl, I'll contact the Tysona,” she replied finally.
“You do that, sister,” Jaime snapped.
Rand jumped when the Sixtheye crackled to life. “Tysona here, Lieutenant Vorclif.”
“Starguard Cenntl says the Eye is expanding closer to Sarga,” Austine reported. “What's going on there?”
The Level 7 glanced at the medbeds. The three other Dracons appeared normal, relaxed. “Er, I'm not sure,” he murmured. “Zena, are you here?” But he could not sense the entity. And could not sense the composite mind at all, but he expected that. “Everything is normal here,” he finished, feeling fairly helpless.
“Normal? What's normal?” Austine fairly screeched.
“I don't think Zena is here anymore... and the others I think have been under some duress. I don't know, I think I might have blacked out for a little while. But right now they seem fine. The displays on the medbeds are showing all greens.” Rand took a deep breath, trying to steady his own nerves. They should have sent Kren along after all. I'm no medic!
“Aren't you affected by the Eye?”
“Well, yes...” Rand dialed up the aroma on the respirator a little more. “The aromatherapy is helping.”
“I want to move the Andromedea in,” Austine growled. “It can't be worse than when we were at Gozgazel before, right? I'll just alert the crew.”
“But Major Aurand said—” Sabella tried to counter.
“Crater, let's do this,” the acting commander barked, jumping up from her seat. But she overbalanced and teetered a little.
I'm not willing to risk anyone else, Crater thought, watching Austine regain her footing with alarm. She's compromised, isn't she? The alcohol... He was about to contact Major VanderKirche when a third person appeared on the control deck.
“Let's all just calm down here,” Zena murmured. He stood over by the entrance to the Pit, wearing a Fleet uniform, but his long black hair was loose instead of tied back. “You're not planning to do something to make Rentclifv mad at me again, are you, Tauscher?”
Austine glared at the manifested entity, holding onto the back of her chair for balance. I must be drunk after all... he can't have autoported here... Then she blanched, remembering he was a Level 8. Well, damn! “What do you want, Scorpa? Bored and needing new playthings?”
Zena flicked his hair over his shoulder and regarded the woman curiously. “Play with you? I wouldn't dare. And the name is Zena. Apparently you didn't get the memo that said I've turned over a new leaf. Weird saying, that... Anyway, you do not want to move the Andromedea.”
“You were listening? Why are you not on the Tysona?” Austine threw back.
“Scary there,” Zena murmured. “But they're holding their own, I think, though that pilot-kid is a little spacey right now. Right, kid?”
There was no response from the Tysona. “Yeah, it's just not somewhere I care to be right now,” Zena added. “Austine Tauscher, you've got trust issues, don't you? The three top telepaths in the entire USC are handling this, and you want to risk everyone on this ship.”
“You have no authority here,” Austine murmured. “Crater, activate the Starlock to move the Andromedea to where the Tysona is!”
Crater did not reply. Privately he contacted the Chief Medical Officer to come to the control deck.
Zena chuckled. “I don't think you're in your right mind, chickie. And I have no authority here because I am not Fleet personnel, but that also means I'm not bound to follow your orders. I do choose to follow the directives of those two Attitudinals, however.” He sobered, seeing much in her demeanor and body language. She's been drinking? Whoa...
“Crater, what are you doing?” Austine asked the cybernism, trying to ignore the alien entity.
“My job,” Crater sighed just as the zg shaft door opened and VanderKirche entered. In two steps, the doctor had reached the acting commander and slapped a medunit around her wrist.
“What the... Karol??” Austine tried to pull away, but the man had a firmer grip.
The unit beeped and the display appeared. There was a lot of red. “Damn, I should have realized. Austine, you were drinking before Kren sent up that whiskey, right?”
She pulled away finally, stripping off the medunit. “Just to steady my nerves. Can you.. can you just not tell Vekta? Or Stander, don't tell Stander...”
“When this is over, you, me, and the Colonel will be having a little visit,” Karol murmured. “For now, please remove yourself from command and return to your quarters.”
She glanced over at the entity. “Would you have intervened anyway? Could you?”
Zena shrugged, then nodded toward the viewport. “I might have, but it looks like your cybernism was ahead of me. Good call, buddy.”
Note to discuss with Kviatha, Crater considered to himself. Suggest all personnel wear medical field disks at all times, or perhaps redesign the insignia to include an interface to pick up basic physical readings...
Austine sighed deeply. “Major Daro, the command is yours,” she murmured, then autoported to her quarters.
Where she would finish the container of whiskey.
*
“So you left the Tysona... why?” Sabella asked Zena before he could disappear as well.
He shuddered. “I've got a low tolerance for terror. Something I guess I should work on if I'm going to hang around you guys more.”
“Are you?” Crater asked suddenly.
Zena raised his eyebrows. “Well, I have nothing better to do, and I have a debt to pay, so...” He shrugged again. “Why did you know to call your ship's sawbones?”
“What did you call me?” Karol asked, baffled.
“Where did you learn your Englang vernacular?” Crater asked, equally stymied. “And I'm a pretty fair observer, too, if you didn't know that already.”
“Trade secret.” He winked at the violet light of the viewport. And an extensive peak at your own impressive store of strange words in that messy language of yours...
*
“How are we to communicate with the Mind?” the three in the merge3 asked the Pelan — and themselves. “Now it's radiating frustration and no little ire!”
Abruptly the tenor of the contact changed. The compulsion, useless now, shifted to a strong impulse that they could not identify at first. But the effect was like an agonized battering as if it was trying to scramble their minds. Fortunately it let off quickly.
“It is trying to communicate,” Thho observed. “It wants to know how the grief compulsion was broken.”
For a moment they were puzzled; had the Mind been toying with them after all? Though still feeling rattled, they attempted to project concepts to explain. GRIEF IS ONLY FEAR OF LOSS... DEATH IS BUT A TRANSLATION TO ANOTHER PLANE OF EXISTENCE. They were concepts embraced by Dracons and many other belief systems among the Humans in the Perseus Arm.
The Vekta-Aspect considered his love for his children and his fondness for his creation, Crater
— his passion for cybernetic engineering and design — and his ache to resolve conflicts in the USC and work for the benefit of all, the itch that made him the Starguard he was truly born to be.
The Novella-Aspect considered her love for her family and her work in cybernetics with mechanoids — and admittedly her admiration and love for Vekta Rentclifv and her dedication to the Fleet and to justice in the USC.
The Stander-Aspect considered his deep love for the Tryker ideals and his work both in the Fleet and his future hopes to join the Guard... and his fondness, as yet unexpressed, for all his shipmates — and his growing admiration for these two Attitudinals, especially Vekta Rentclifv.
LOVE IS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE. They tried to communicate with the wholly alien Mind, not in words, but in emotions.
They were answered with a rush of outrage, the Mind returning that GRIEF IS THE ONLY ETERNAL, ALL THINGS DIE, DEATH IS FINAL!
Then it broke contact completely, withdrawing from them, still apparently bewildered and upset. The composite mind demerged, the three Dracons also withdrawing from each other's minds completely. Stander fell asleep immediately, succumbing to merge depletion. The Attitudinals felt weary but not deplete as they might otherwise have, were it not for the Attitude of Vitality.
*
A while later, Vekta ventured to speak. “Novella.”
“It's good to be alive,” she responded, staring up at the ceiling, wearing a little wry smile. She'd decided, going into the merge3, that she would not hide her feelings for him, that if they were revealed, she would own them yet not demand any response from him. If he never did — if he never could — it was all right with her. For now, her love was her own, and it made her happy to feel what she felt. Reciprocation was not required.
Novella was quite aware of the emotional turmoil Vekta Rentclifv had had to endure over the past year, and possibly longer. She accepted that he was unable to feel anything romantic for anyone else and might not for years. It's all right; it has to be. I can do this, I can be this.
“I...” Vekta took a deep breath. “Right now, I—”
“I know,” she murmured, still smiling. “It's enough that you know. I knew that would come out in the merge3. Even with Powerlessness, it was going to come out.”
“I—” He hesitated, biting his lip. Despite the grief compulsion having been broken, he still felt the hollow sickness it left behind. Despite knowing the impermanence of life, it still hurt. “Thank you,” was all he was able to say.
“Well, we don't know how long we have until that thing contacts us again, so I'm going to get to work,” Novella said abruptly, getting up from the medbed. “Rand seems a little out of it.” She went to check on the pilot.
She's amazing, even wonderful, Vekta mused, sitting up slowly. Maybe someday. I don't know...
“Are you all right, Lieutenant Vorclif?” Novella asked, touching the man on the shoulder.
Rand twitched, then blinked up at her. “I think so. I was mostly out of it until Major Tauscher called. She, ah, wanted to bring the Andromedea here, I think, but apparently that didn't happen. Then I sort of blacked out a little.”
“When the compulsion was happening,” Novella related to Vekta, “Rand lost consciousness, or was dazed. Even though Powerlessness shielded him and Zena from it!”
“Zena is gone,” Vekta observed suddenly. “I think I'd better call in. I'm sure Austine is a hot mess right now.”
*
Leaving Stander to sleep off merge depletion, the Attitudinals joined the pilot in the Tysona's little control room. Vekta opened the Sixtheye communications link. “Major Colonel Rentclifv to Major Tauscher on the Defender Andromedea,” he began with the format Fleet announcement.
“What a relief to hear from you, Colonel,” came the answer, but it was not Austine's voice. “This is Major Daro... ah, acting commander. Major VanderKirche, um, relieved Major Tauscher from command for...” She trailed off.
“For?”
“Uh, intoxication on duty.”
The Dracons were stunned, and had no response for a moment. Then Vekta said quietly, “Very well. What's the latest assessment of the Eye, do you know? Has Starguard Cenntl said anything?”
“Indeed,” Sabella responded, sighing. “He says it's growing... and for you to do something quickly. Apparently Imperial Khagan Tesirax is having a great deal of difficulty and it appears Sudon may get involved.”
Vekta coughed. “We do not want Imperial Khagan Raskogg anywhere near Sarga right now. All right. Well, we've been through a lot here but we're all right. And still very much working on this situation. We'll have to go back into a deepmerge soon. The Mind in this alternate dimension has no symbology we can use to communicate with. It's apparently only able to emote strongly.” He exchanged a glance with Novella. “I cannot say whether we'll be able to affect the Eye. Sorry I don't have better news for the Starguard right now. Please do update him and the Commander General.”
“Yes, sir,” Sabella replied, sagging with relief.
*
Within the universe where the Mind resided, another entity had noticed the encounter with a mind on the other side of the dimensional breach. It had stayed carefully invisible and undetectable within a bubble of its own since the Tragedy had occurred. This entity was a solitary one, unlike the others in this localized sector of the universe who had been accidentally terminated by the universe's Mind some considerable time-parts ago. The others had been designated as Two, Three, Four, and up to thousands more. Their composite nature had lent them vulnerability that had been unable to withstand the Mind's sudden blast of frustration. The One had endured, but could no longer bear to subject itself to the Mind's abject grief in what it had done.
Until, scanning the band of frequencies of mental energies as it sometimes did, it came upon a strong Three bearing a completely alien frequency that did not terminate immediately upon experiencing the Mind's grief compulsion. Shocked, One shifted down to their frequency, a surprisingly low one. It received a further shock to discover that Three was not only on the other side of the barrier, but could perceive across it and was also physical in nature instead of solely mental as it was. One's own language was rather more mathematics than symbology, which baffled One who realized it had to try to contact Three if it was ever to be able to come out of the bubble again.
But it was risky to expose itself to the grief compulsion and it might not be able to find any point of reference with which to communicate with Three.
Then it noticed another mental presence in the vicinity of the Three. Both were radiating similar mental frequencies, though distinctly different — both seemingly energetic instead of manifest physically. It was startled to realize these were solitary! Investigating further, it cepted others in proximity, also solitaries, but not possessing anything like the power of the Three or the two Ones.
Somehow the purely mental entity designated as One was going to have to summon a considerable amount of courage.
*
“I don't know what else to do but merge again, try to communicate again,” Novella said to the other two Dracons four hours later when Stander awoke. “With the Attitudes, we can probably sustain a merge5 for... maybe three minutes. It could make a difference.”
“Maybe we only need to go as far as merge4,” Vekta murmured, but he knew better. Merge4 was only a waystation to merge5. Once a composite mind rose to merge4, the draw to complete the merger was a powerful one, almost impossible to resist. A normal merge5 only lasted about ten to thirty seconds at the most; any longer and insanity could be risked.
“There is no need to resist going to merge5,” Stander said calmly. “Vekta and I have already merged5 before. And you have the Attitudes now. I concur that it could make a difference.”
Novella widened her eyes, regarding the solemn Tryker with awe. “I'd forgotten you said you had.” Though she was a Level 8 High telepath, a merge5 was not something she'd experienced very often.
In fact, it had been only once, during training and with an instructor. Never after joining the Fleet. She never once considered she'd ever need to actually participate in that.
He's merged5 before, likely many times, she thought, glancing at the ex-Starguard. And Stander, as a Tryker. Is that something they do a lot? Part of their discipline? Did that not change them, bring them closer? Certainly the two men seemed comfortable with one another.
Then she realized both were watching her, waiting for her response. “Oh, ah, sure, I suppose it will make a difference!” Novella took a deep breath, shaking off her wariness. I'm an Attitudinal now. I can no longer rest in the relative comfort of the Fleet. Is this where I'm going? Are we all going to be Guard now? Then she put aside even that thought. “Let's do it.”
“But just to be safe,” Vekta murmured as they returned to the medbeds, “I'd like to bring one more on board...”
*
After his intervention on the Andromedea, Zena had returned to the Gozgazel Primary Alpha base, but even with the bodies of the terminated Taree personnel gone, it still felt creepy to be there. He wasn't sure what to do. Rentclifv will fry me for leaving the Tysona, he thought. I've traversed to a new universe and played around with telepaths who could have been more powerful than me, and I'm in a mindblitz just because things seem a little dicey.
“What are you doing?” abruptly came the laser-thought of Vekta Rentclifv.
“Oh! Ha...” Nervously the entity returned energetically to the little Nebulae-class starcraft. “Hey, things were really wild here, and I got scared, okay?”
Vekta was not amused. He was waiting with the other two, lying in the medbeds while a newly-retrieved Captain Krendan Miischel checked them over before the merge. “Scared? It was scary, true. But I'm afraid I need you to do something with us here, no matter how terrifying it could get.”
“Er... what's that?” But Zena knew.
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