She passed too close to one of the Ammonites, which spun so fiercely that it scored a long burn along one side of her. She shied away from that direction, overcorrected, and then found herself surrounded again on all sides.
She checked her body quickly. There was a deep black mark where she had been burnt, and it hurt terribly. She felt as though her legs were on fire. She wondered how it could hurt when she no longer had legs. Where were the nerves that transmitted pain? Then she realized that it didn’t matter. All that did matter was that she was finished. She was done. She had to transport away from here before they came any closer. Already she could feel the heat they were transmitting, and they were still all of ten metres away.
Diva concentrated on Pictoria and tried to visualize the thin layer which overlay everything, the one that would enable her to find her way home.
It wasn’t there.
She felt a moment of panic, redoubling her efforts. She needed to find that waveform, needed to allow herself to spread out over the galaxy, become one with it, in order to coalesce in Pictoria.
But she couldn’t see it, and the Ammonites were now only five metres away. The heat they were giving off was huge; she was now having to use second sound to dissipate it. She knew that she couldn’t go on much longer.
For the last time, she dropped back inside her mind to find the way back to Pictoria. For the last time she tried to become that thin layer across the very fabric of the sky.
Then she slumped back. She was lost. And alone. And about to be burnt; she could no longer sustain even second sound.
Diva looked around her and sighed. That was the shortest million years ever, she thought. Trust me to mess it all up. Arcan, I hope you and the others managed to carry out your plan. I hope it was all worthwhile.
There was a long silence. Diva prepared to die, again.
Then there was a whisper in her ear.
Just the tiniest whisper.
Hold on.
I am coming for you.
She grinned to herself. Now she was hallucinating again. She could have sworn that voice was Arcan’s.
Diva, hold on!
Yes. It was Arcan, whispering to her across infinity. She must be going mad, then! And she could hear Six. His voice was hard; harsh and angry on her behalf. This must be the end. This must be as far as she was going to be permitted to travel.
She gave a faint buzz of regret, resigning herself to the end of existence. How ironic, she thought faintly. To be reincarnated … only to die within a few months. Surely that was something even the sibyla couldn’t have foreseen?
There was a fluttering sound, as of wings. The sky darkened, and suddenly the heat around her vanished, as if a shock wave had thrust the press of Ammonites in all directions around her, flinging them far away angrily.
Then she became aware of Six, clutching at what was left of her morphic body, gently enclosing her with his warm hands. She let herself rest on his palms, only dimly able to feel his warmth.
But she knew that someone who loved her was touching her. She could feel his distress through every pore of those hands, and she wanted to tell him not to worry, that she would be fine.
And she could feel the anger of Arcan, reverberating through her from that part of her which had come from the orthogel entity. He was flinging the Ammonites away from her, pulsating with anger and worry.
She relaxed, realizing that she wasn’t dead. Not yet.
Gradually, she found that she could take in more of the scene around her. She and Six were being maintained in one bubble. There was another, larger bubble, hovering close by. This contained a large number of Dessites, all of whom were waving their membranes, astounded at having been transported some 90,000 light years across the galaxy.
The Ammonites had scattered before an irate Arcan, who had transported directly into their midst, once he had felt where Diva was. They were shimmering with outrage, both for being baulked of their prey after such a long chase, and with the realization that their erstwhile allies must have come to an agreement with their enemy.
Slowly, Diva recovered most of her awareness.
“Well, Kwaidian,” she said, feebly. “You left it awfully fine, this time.”
“Yeah. The backswampers nearly got you. I know.”
“What brought you here?”
Six was still pale. “Luck. The Dessites insisted on coming, to see Enara for themselves, and to tell the Ammonites that they would not be honouring the agreement they had made with them. Personally, I think it was just a ploy on the part of the prognosticator, to appear in control of the situation, but I owe him … we would never have found you in time, if he hadn’t insisted.”
“I … I tried to get back to Pictoria, but I was lost, I couldn’t see the way.”
“I know. The visitor says he will take you. He has already called for the trimorphs to help.”
Diva became agitated. “They can’t come here! They are not immune to the Ammonites.”
“It won’t matter. You and I are in a protective bubble. They will be fine. The visitor says all three of them will be needed to escort you back to Pictoria, or you will die.”
“I seem to be making a habit of it.”
Six gave a heavy sigh. “You are causing havoc with my emotions, you know? I can’t keep up with all this.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Do you still have emotions?”
She shook herself, crossly. “Of course I do! I don’t feel any different.”
“How on Sacras can you feel the same?”
She puffed herself out. “Well, how do I know, nomus? I just do. I feel as if I still have a head, and arms, and legs. I can’t feel any difference between me now, and me then.” She shifted in his hand. “Oh, I know I look nothing like the old Diva, but I still feel as if I am her inside. I can move my head, and smile, and laugh. I just do it inside, now, instead of outside.”
“But … but you are a morphic. You are sort of small and round, and soft.”
“I haven’t lost my senses, cretin! I know what I look like. It is just that … that I don’t feel like a morphic. I think it must be like having phantom limbs after an amputation. I can still feel my eyes, my face, my legs, my arms, my hands, but they aren’t there any longer.” She stirred feebly. “Somehow I still have the perception of a complete body hard-wired into my brain. I am in pain now because the Ammonites have lacerated my limbs. The ones that aren’t there anymore. I can see the wounds they caused. I can feel the blood dripping down to the ground.”
Six looked horrified. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She reddened. “I … it seemed such a ridiculous thing to talk about. Warriors are supposed to put up with a little pain. Aren’t they?”
“So you still feel as if you had a complete body? I thought you said that would pass?”
She nodded. Then she realized that he wouldn’t be able to see that nod. So she explained what she had done.
“I did notice something. You sort of shivered.”
She repeated the movement, and he gave a tense smile. “There it was again. How strange! Why do you think it is happening?”
The visitor appeared, and they told him what they were talking about. He shimmered. “Even though I am quantum, I had similar perceptions at the very beginning. I was used to running a spaceship, remember? At first I used to feel I was still there, that I was piling on thrust, or slipping into orbit. I soon lost that though, and became truly quantum.” He seemed to think he should be congratulated.
“Then the twins must feel it, too?”
Since the twins arrived inside the bubble just then, they were soon able to give the answer to that question.
“We have Arcan’s perceptions, and he works in a similar way to the ortholiquid, and the
lost animas. The canths were used to a skeletal body which had to move classically, so we only had vague residual feelings in that area. They were very transitory. We think the canths’ minds are so simple that they don’t have their limbs and body hard-wired into their brains.”
Six was astonished. “I thought becoming a morphic was to leave all your previous body behind.”
Diva managed a lethargic spin. “I wish. Unfortunately, it is a lot more complicated than that. My brain seems to assume my body is still there, even when it is not. That is part of the reason it is taking me so long to learn how to be a morphic.”
“I see. But, do the others have pain, too?”
The trimorphs said that they didn’t. The visitor questioned Diva closely about the pain, and then sympathized with her.
“Yes. I felt pain where I was connected to the ship too. Diva may never be able to change the brain function; her reality is still based on what she had before. Because she came from a category 3b species, she may never adapt fully.”
Diva grimaced. “Great!”
“But don’t worry, Diva. It doesn’t really matter. Once we get you back to the ortholiquid lake, I’m sure the pain will disappear. This ridiculous bleeding you feel will stop. Although we can’t see what you describe. The trimorphs and I just detect a seepage of energy. It seems fairly constant. That is what is wearing you down. But it won’t matter if you think you still have arms and legs and a head, or six heads. The ortholiquid will only see you as morphic. It will cure you.”
“But nobody sees me as I see myself,” complained Diva, gritting her teeth. She was in such pain that she was finding the conversation difficult.
The visitor buzzed. “Did they ever? I mean, when you were still a biped? Did people see you as you really are?”
Diva coloured. “I suppose not. Except Six.”
The visitor scintillated. “Well, then. If it is only Six …” He felt that it wasn’t necessary to finish that sentence.
Six bristled up. “What do you mean … only Six?”
“Nothing. Just that it isn’t so important.”
“Of course it is important. It matters!”
The visitor flashed. “So; how do you see her?”
“I … err …” Six came to a stop. “I don’t know.”
“Now why did I have the feeling you were going to say that?”
“Oh, go away, Visitor. I shall have to think about this. It is hard for me to see Diva now as she was before. My brain just doesn’t work like that.”
Diva closed her eyes again. The waves of pain were taking her over, and she needed to do something about it. This conversation was washing past her, as if it were taking place somewhere a long way away.
The trimorphs noticed.
“Stop wasting time, you two. We have to get Diva back to Pictoria, or she may not recover at all!” one of them said sternly. “Six, you have to let her go. Just place her down in front of you. We will try to pass our vision of the transport across to her, and see if we can escort her back.”
Six obeyed, feeling angry at his own inability to help Diva.
“Do whatever you have to. Just make sure she gets better.”
“We will look after her, don’t worry.”
Six looked down at the small shape before him. Diva now seemed to be shivering.
“You had better,” he said savagely. “I will hold you responsible.”
Diva managed a weak grin. “They are only trying to help, Six.”
“I know.” He looked around. “I just wish there was something I could do.”
“I will be fine. I will come and see you when I am better.”
He sighed, a frown wrinkling his brow. “I will come to Pictoria, as soon as Arcan has finished here, and I have checked on Raven.”
The visitor and the twins began to visualize Pictoria, then the spreading out of all their waveforms into the huge extension of space. Diva closed her eyes and tried to let them pull her towards the vast expanse.
At first her exhaustion overshadowed anything else. But, then she began to perceive the spread-out waveform in front of her. Tentatively, she moved into it. Her mind immediately felt the tug of quantum decoherence. She let herself fall into the transfer. Although the trimorph and the bimorph were on either side of her, she was pleased to find that she didn’t need them to get back to Pictoria; she was still capable of transporting on her own.
Gradually, she began to have more confidence in herself. She concentrated on finding Pictoria from the infinite probabilities spread out in the waveform. At first she couldn’t locate it, and she knew a moment’s complete panic. Then a small flash caught her attention. There, a funnel of bright light to one side. With great relief, she let go completely, allowing herself to spiral down further and further towards the welcoming light.
Six saw the morphics disappear and breathed another sigh, this time of relief.
ARCAN HAD BEEN watching all this, but now he turned back to the waiting Dessites. The folds around their eyes were stiff with amazement, and their membranes were fluttering in the air which Arcan was keeping comfortably saturated for them.
A few of the Ammonites had now returned warily to the bubble which contained the Dessites.
“You should not have come here, to Enara. It is forbidden.”
The prognosticator straightened up. “You broke your pact with us. You were not available when we needed you.”
“We are not servants, to be at your beck and call.” The Enaran Ammonites were not going to admit how vulnerable they had proved to be to Diva’s attack.
“Since you did not fulfill your part of the agreement, our pact with you is hereby declared null and void. We have formed an alliance with the orthogel entity.”
The other Dessites seemed to approve this rather contorted version of what had just happened. Their eyefolds rippled with the Dessite equivalent of clapping. It made them look very strange.
The Ammonites all went dark at the same time, which made them seem surprisingly dangerous.
“That is not acceptable. If you side with the orthogel entity you will be classed as enemies of Enara. You will contravene legil sumand. You want to prevent the emergence of the sumand. That is an offence which is punishable by death under our laws.”
Arcan stared at them. “We want nothing of the sort. And you also have a law called nox precatal,” he said mildly. “I believe that states that you may not kill.”
“Nox precatal is overridden by legil sumand. It is sanctioned when necessary in order to preserve the astrand, which is the only way to transcend physical life.”
“There are few intelligent lifeforms in this galaxy,” pointed out Arcan. “No kind of thinking lifeforms should be eliminated, however inferior you may think them to be to you, or however much you may feel them to be wrong.” He seemed to be looking at Six as he said this, and Six was about to reply when Ledin stood heavily on his foot. There was a brief, discreet tussle before they settled down again, both grinning. Arcan went on. “Your laws are based on a misconception: that you are the most important beings in the galaxy. You are wrong; you do not have the right to decide over other lives. It is not acceptable for you to continue like this.”
The Ammonites were now furious. “And just what do you plan to do?” they demanded, spinning so fast that vortices were forming in a latticework in their bodies.
“If you attempt to kill any of my friends again then you will force us to deal with you ourselves.”
“That’s a fine thing from an entity that says it doesn’t believe in killing!” retorted one of the Ammonites.
“I did not say I would kill you; I said I would deal with you.”
“We shall see!”
“We shall indeed. But I would recommend that you remain here on Enara, and not interfere w
ith other species. No good will come of it if you do.”
“Are you saying you will protect these … these … overlarge sea cucumbers?”
On hearing that description from their recent allies, the membranes of all the members of the council of guardians stood out from their bodies in absolute outrage.
Six nudged at Ledin. “They really do look like sea cucumbers when they puff out like that, you know. There’s no escaping it.”
Ledin nodded. “The prickly kind you find up in the north on Kwaide. Ugh! Did you ever try eating them?”
Six gagged at the memory. “Foul, aren’t they? I remember we had to eat them for almost a month, once.” He choked. “Yuck! Just the memory makes my stomach churn.”
Ledin swallowed. “We had to survive on them too, one very bad winter. I shall never forget it. I can remember how Hanna used to pretend they were sweetfruits, and we were surrounded by platters of rich food, even though every single mouthful made her retch.”
“She was a brave girl.”
“She was. She was like a sunbeam which shines through thunder clouds; she lit up my life.”
“You were lucky.”
“I was.” Ledin thought for a bit. “I still am. Now I have Grace.”
Six smiled, his face softening. “Grace is another person that illuminates everything she touches, isn’t she? How is the new pregnancy going?”
“She has been a little sick, but that phase seems to have passed now. Temar is very excited. He can’t wait to become an elder brother!”
“I know. Raven is pleased to have a new friend, too. She says—” Six suddenly became aware that everyone else was staring at them, and had clearly stopped speaking. He frowned. “—What?”
“The Ammonites have just declared war on us. They have issued an Obellium dictio against us, or a hadwah, as the ancient Cesans would have called it.”
The Namura Stone Page 36