“If you don’t mind ...” said Diva.
“I do.” The visitor scintillated. “And I think you are all being stupid. Why bother about a race which probably won’t even thank you for it?”
Tallen looked struck. “He has got a point, you know. Whatever else they may be, the Ammonites don’t seem particularly interested in other civilizations, do they?”
Bennel tried to tell the Namuri with a stern look that he would be better off keeping quiet and letting his elders and betters speak, but Tallen simply ignored him. Where he came from, all members of the clan were allowed to speak their minds. He wasn’t about to stop now, especially not just because a Coriolan sycophant ordered him to.
Six gave a small nod. “True, but we did give them our word, and it seems particularly unfair on the frozen animas. After all, they can know nothing about us; they have been frozen in time for thousands of years and the Ammonite animas who manipulated us back on Kintara are all dead now, along with their planet. The frozen animas may be completely different.”
Grace and Diva nodded, but Ledin seemed hesitant. “I just hope we don’t regret this,” he said. “It is a bit like altering the course of Nomus; we know where it starts off, but we have no idea where it will end up.”
A shadow seemed to pass all the way through Arcan. “I am tempted to leave them as stopped light forever,” he admitted. “We only escaped from the frame drag vortex because the canths helped us. The Ammonite animas knew that there was only the slightest chance anybody would survive when they decided to sequester the trimorphs.”
The visitor gave Six a flash of triumph. Six looked away.
Arcan wasn’t finished. “—But I have spoken to the canths about it, and we both think that we have a duty to recuperate what are probably our only living relatives. We wouldn’t be comfortable in leaving them where they are.”
“Good enough for me.” Six stood up, not without giving a victorious glance at the bimorph, who coloured.
“Then we should do something about it.” Ledin stood up too. “So, where do we have to go?”
The visitor shimmered. “Well, we examined the markings on the map the Ammonites gave you, and have managed to locate all of the remaining four planets. Unfortunately, the final planet of the four has suffered some sort of cataclysmic event. We transported close to its position, inside the Aurica constellation, but it seems that the entire system was irradiated by a collimated gamma ray burst thousands of years ago.”
“That can’t have been good for the indigenous wildlife,” said Six.
“We actually transported to an orbit above the planet. It was still there, but there will be no life on it for at least another billion years. The radiation must have been on a tight beam which was directly focused through the planet’s location, because the residual levels were so uncomfortable that we could only hover for a couple of seconds above the surface – and that was at a reasonably safe distance, and aeons after the original event! Whatever caused that burst of radiation, it blasted through the system with a flash of total destruction. Nothing could have survived, not even the ortholiquid itself.”
Grace nodded. “What does that leave us with, then?”
“—Three planets that are still in existence, and have maintained their ortholiquid. Unfortunately, none of them meet the criteria to become Enara, so the lost animas will have to be put in the boxes they gave you, and we will have to find their perfect planet later. So far, we have seen nothing even close to being a match to their requirements.”
Ledin nodded. “We have five boxes, so that should be no problem. Once we have recovered the lost animas, we can look for their ideal planet.”
The visitor went on, “The first is the second planet in a constellation the Sellites know as Tarboloreum. We have called the planet Tarboleus.”
“—From an ancient story about heroes who fought sabre-toothed tigers,” Diva told Grace. “Tarbol was a famous Cesan who was almost single-handedly responsible for making them extinct.”
“Some accomplishment!”
“Well, things were different then.”
“They sure were!”
One of the twins spun. “It’s a planet of surface pack ice on a sub-zero sea.”
“Ugh!” said Diva, looking very disappointed.
Six laughed. “It’ll be like coming home!” he said, nudging Ledin.
Diva gave him an irritated look. “You Kwaidians,” she said, “seem to think that anything cold and uncomfortable is home.”
“Now, don’t be snarky, duchess. We didn’t all have your start to life, remember. It will be great!” He beamed. “Nothing like a good chill day to get your blood flowing.”
“Cold could incapacitate us,” observed Bennel, in a disapproving tone.
“You would say that, sycophant!” snapped Tallen. “You are too old to enjoy things like ice. You should be sitting in front of a hearth inventing old battles to tell your grandchildren.”
“At least I am likely to have grandchildren, Namuri! You can talk when you have found a girl prepared to put up with your bad temper and nasty habit of stealing from people.”
“Why you—!”
Six stepped in between the two men, and stopped them from attacking one another. He was grinning though, which rather detracted from the gesture. Both the Coriolans turned against him with such a joint expression of indignation that he had a hard time not to laugh out loud.
“Stop it, will you?”
Tallen’s jaw jutted out ominously, before he decided to capitulate. “Very well, I take my comment back.”
“And I am sorry I forgot my place so much as to allow myself to reply.” Bennel hung his head.
Six turned back to the morphics. “What is the planet like?”
One of the twins turned darker. “Not very hospitable, I’m afraid. You are going to need mask packs all the time. There is an atmosphere, which is why that icy landscape exists, but the content of nitrogen and carbon dioxide makes it poisonous to you.”
Diva groaned again. “Oh no - cold, icy and toxic!”
“Sounds like you!” said Tallen, without thinking, and then clapped his hand to his mouth, and rolled his eyes. “I ... err ... I forgot!”
Diva’s eyebrows had gathered together. “Take that back!” She stamped one foot, reminding Six so unmistakeably of the first time he had met her that he started to laugh all over again.
She turned on him, furious. “And what on Lumina are you laughing at, no-name? I thought you would be on my side, now.”
He nodded insistently, although was unable to speak. Tears began to roll down his face, and Ledin seemed to have been infected with his mirth, for he was doubled over, too.
Diva stared at the pair of them with absolute disgust. “I think your brains have begun to disintegrate. I hear it happens often with rudimentary primates.”
Six bowed in her direction, and then gave a very exact imitation of a loquacious monkey. This only made them laugh even harder, and Grace was beginning to giggle now, as well.
Diva gave a haughty glare round the room, and then stalked over to one of the corridors leading off the bridge. “I am going to start the preliminary checks on the shuttles,” she said. “And I think you should all be getting things in motion instead of rolling around on the floor like children.”
She waited, and Six tried to stop laughing. Unfortunately, Ledin gave a snort at just that moment, which started Six off all over again, so Diva turned her back on them all with great dignity and walked majestically away.
Six elbowed Ledin in his ribs. “See what you have done?”
“Oh, sure. It’s all my fault now, I suppose?” Ledin rubbed at his ribs and raised his eyebrows accusingly. “If I remember correctly, it was the Namuri who started it all.”
Tallen spread his hands. “It just came out,” he said. “I couldn’t help it.”
“Well don’t do it again.” Six sighed, and straightened up. “She won’t be angry. Will she?” When he saw that no ans
wer was forthcoming, he sighed, and walked out into the corridor, disappearing in search of his wife.
He found Diva angrily checking the mask packs in one of the shuttles. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Her eyes flashed, but he saw no sign of her teeth. “You were laughing at me.”
He wriggled, uncomfortable. “Not at you,” he clarified, “with you.”
“With me?” Her eyebrows nearly reached the ceiling. “Did you see me chuckling?”
Six shook his head.
“—Because I wasn’t. You were all making fun of me.”
“You make it sound horrible.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Six walked up to her, and lifted her face, frowning. “Of course you didn’t. You were just being you. That’s what I like about you.”
She sniffed. “I don’t like being laughed at.”
“Come on, Diva! It never bothered you before.”
“Things are different now. I feel ... more ... exposed.”
“Because we are together?” It was Six’s turn to be surprised. “Why?”
She shook her head. “I thought that it would be like Ledin and Grace – that we would suddenly feel it was all meant to be, and that we fit perfectly together, like the legend about the split heart on Coriolis – you know, that could only beat when the two halves were placed side by side.”
Six nodded. He had heard of the legend.
“But it isn’t like that. I feel all jerky, and unsure. It is all just as hard as it was before. I thought it would be ... different.”
He grinned. “Happy ever after?” he suggested.
Diva flushed slightly, obviously embarrassed. “I suppose so ... in a way.”
“But were you ever the princess?” Six looked sideways at her.
She thought for a long, long moment, and then breathed out crossly. “You know I wasn’t.”
He smiled. “You were the warrior girl, the savage. You can’t expect to have a fairytale ending, like a princess. It doesn’t suit you.”
Her jaw dropped. “You just called me savage!”
“Well, let’s face it, Diva, you aren’t particularly civilized.”
“Look who’s talking!”
“Exactly my point,” he said, with a rueful smile. “Neither of us is likely to become a saint anytime soon. We can’t expect things to be all sweetfruits and honey when we are more pepper and spice, now can we? In any case ... I can hardly see you settling down in a house to be a good wife.”
Diva looked suddenly so utterly horrified that he began to laugh again. “Neither of us is suited to a peaceful existence, Lady Divina Senate Magmus of Coriolis, and you know it. I never expected things to suddenly snap into place. Not with your character, anyway.”
“What is wrong with my character, no-name?”
“You are feisty and difficult and bad-tempered. Hardly the settle-down-and-live-happily-ever-after type, are you?”
“No! You won’t try to stop me from being me, will you?”
“Perish the thought. I love you for your strength and determination. I wouldn’t want you to lost that, certainly not because of me.”
“You won’t try to change me?” Her clear eyes challenged him.
He grinned at her. “Not unless you continue to henpeck me, I won’t.”
She gave him a push, and he pretended to rebound off the bulkhead. Diva began to tussle with him.
“Is this another prelude to sex?” the visitor’s tones made them jump apart, almost guiltily.
“No! We were fighting.” Six realized how that sounded. “I mean, we were training for combat.”
“Carry on. Don’t mind me. Only the others sent me to find you.”
“We are coming. And we are not about to have sex.” The Kwaidian struggled unsuccessfully to correct the slight wistfulness in his voice.
The visitor looked disappointed too. “Never mind, it is not at all important.”
Six sighed. “Not at all.”
THE OTHERS WERE still waiting for them, and the visitor lost no time in explaining the next planet of the three.
“It is a very cold planet, and very dark. It must have migrated outwards from its sun since the Ammonites calculated its evolution. It is in the region of space known as the Decipus constellation, and, since the star is catalogued as being in the Yttrean system, we decided to refer to the planet as Yttrea.” They showed the others a mental picture of the planet.
“Why does it have that greenish tinge to the black?” Diva asked.
“There is a small amount of methane in the atmosphere, and it is absorbing what little light is reflected in the red.”
Ledin gave a whistle. “Even the sensors won’t be able to penetrate that atmosphere. Whoever takes the shuttle in is going to have to be a good pilot.”
Diva nodded. “Bringing the shuttle down in that is going to be tricky.”
“Yes,” said Grace, “but at least the chances of meeting anything alive down there are pretty slim.”
“There is that. Though you never know.”
Ledin looked over at the three morphics.
The visitor spun, but said that there were no visible lifeforms down on Yttrea. “We did find bacteria, but we can see no sign of anything else that might be alive. There is no vegetation at all, just solid rock and a lot of impact craters. The ortholiquid was in a small depression when the Ammonites sent the animas there, but over time it has cut its way through the crust, so it is now in a steep dip. I don’t think you will be able to get down.”
“We won’t have to. We can use the lasers from up above. A bit of a drop will make no difference.”
The visitor flashed. “We will have to try to guide you down to the surface when you reach Yttrea. That way we will be able let you know if you are coming down in a flat area or not.”
The picture in their minds suddenly changed, and showed them the last planet of the three. “Pyraklion,” said one of the twins. “The fourth planet in the Pyraklies system, part of the Vanex constellation, according to Sellite star maps. It is a much more habitable planet, though even so it has not evolved into the place the Ammonites called Enara, and we don’t think the lost animas will be able to live on it. The ortholiquid is half-way down a cliff.”
Six and Ledin glanced at each other. There wasn’t much doubt in their minds who would be liberating those animas.
“Right!” Arcan, having made up his mind, was eager to get started. “Where shall I take you first?”
“Let’s take them in that same order,” suggested Six. “First the ice planet, err ... what was it called ...?”
“Tarboleus,” said the visitor with a suggestion of pity in his voice. “You don’t have much recall, do you?”
Six ignored him. “Then the dark planet ... err ...”
“Yttrea.” The visitor made a sort of mental shiver, which they all took to be a further comment on Six’s ability to remember names.
“Then, finally, Pyraklete.”
“Pyraklion,” corrected the bimorph.
“Like I said.” Six smiled around at them. “Are we all ready?”
Ledin scratched at his head. “Well, we really could do with adding a few more stores, now that we know what the planets will be like, but I suppose ...”
“Good,” said Arcan, “The ice planet, then.” The familiar space around the orbital station blinked out.
Chapter 17
IT WAS NOT until the next morning that Diva, Six and Tallen managed to fit themselves and the machines into the shuttle, to make their way down to the surface of the planet, with Diva piloting. The morphics had returned the previous evening to the planet’s surface, with the promise to be waiting for them down by the ortholiquid lake, which was situated in a small basin on a tiny craterous island in the middle of the floating blocks of ice. It was about a kilometre away from the nearest possible solid ground that the shuttle could land on.
They had decided to split into groups for this task of releasing the tr
apped animas. There had seemed little point in them all going down to each planet. Diva and Six had expressed a desire to see Tarboleus and Tallen had volunteered to go with them. Grace had seemed quite happy to stay as pilot on the New Independence. Bennel had taken one look at the temperatures on the planet, given a slight shiver, and decided to volunteer his services on Yttrea, rather than this inhospitable place. Ledin was looking forward to spending more time with his wife, and had seemed equally unenthusiastic about the ice planet.
They stocked up the shuttle with enough material to make a sort of sled. It took them almost three hours to put the parts together, and to place the machines which the Ammonites had given them carefully in the centre. Six made sure that they were lashed tightly in place, added one of the small boxes, and then he extended two more ropes, one to Tallen and one to Diva.
“We need to be roped up,” he said. “If Diva slips, and falls into the water, she won’t be able to get out on her own.”
“Speak for yourself, no-name!”
Tallen was looking extremely dubious. “What happens if the sled falls into the water?”
Six was grim. “It can’t. If we lose the machines we have no way to bring the lost animas back to life.”
“That’s your answer? Just that it can’t?”
“We have to keep the machines safe, at all costs. We are going to need them again later.”
Tallen pointed to the icy waste in front of them. “Have you seen this place?” he asked.
Six stared in the direction the Namuri was pointing. From a distance it looked perfectly safe; it could have been a road paved with oddly shaped rocks, each fitting together. You really couldn’t see that the rocks weren’t rocks, but ice, and that the underlying layer beneath the ice was water, and not the solid dirt which made safe roads. His heart sank. It was going to be a nightmare to cross this expanse.
“We can do it,” he said. “We just need to keep the ropes taut at all times. I will go first, pulling the sled forwards. Diva, you and Tallen need to be situated towards the rear, but each of you to one side. Try to make an angle of 120º with each other, and with me. The sled is quite light, so if it looks as if it might overturn, we will just have to all pull, and hope that we can keep it from falling through the pack ice.”
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