Then she caught a tiny movement out of the corner of her eye. Her mother was here! Raven turned quickly, and caught sight of the small ball of light that her mother had now become. A firemorph, her father had said. It was a good name; it suited her mother.
Her face lit up. “Mummy!”
Diva chided her quickly for shouting. “This is a serious moment, Raven. You must not shout, or fidget.”
“Daddy is fidgeting.”
“Yes. Well, your father is allowed to fidget. He has earned it.” Privately Diva blasted Six with a short and pithy message. He straightened up instantly and looked around hastily, trying to pinpoint where she was.
Raven laughed at the expression on her father’s face. He looked like a little boy caught with his hand in the honey jar. He saw her and put a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. She nodded.
Diva hovered for a moment in front of Tallen, taking care to remain as transparent as she could. There were people attending this ceremony who were not aware of her existence. She was only noticeable as a slight flickering of the air, a mirage which was almost undetectable.
“Namuri,” she said.
“Meritocrat,” he replied, in exactly the same tone.
“I wish to pay my respects to your sister.”
“She is honoured by your visit.”
“No; it is my honour to be here.”
“How is life as a firemorph?”
“Complicated. How is life on Xiantha?”
“Simple.”
“May the blue stone stay with you.”
He bowed. “And with you, Valhai.”
Raven stamped one little foot, causing those around her to look at her. She stared them back, but spoke inwardly to her mother. “Why are you so formal with Tallen. Don’t you like him anymore?”
The firemorph gave a shimmer. “Of course I like him. It is just that this service is to remember his sister, and I wanted to tell him that I remember her too.”
“Was she pretty?” As soon as she had said the words, Raven could tell that Tallen himself had heard them too, because he turned slightly and looked at her mother, as if challenging her to answer.
“She was fierce, and brave, and wild, and beautiful,” Diva said.
Tallen gave a slow nod, as if to show his agreement.
“More than you, Mummy?”
“Much, much more than me. Now be quiet, Raven. I can see you have inherited quite a lot from your father, at least as far as ceremonies are concerned, but you will upset a lot of people. I can’t stay more than a few minutes, because I am still recovering, and it takes too much energy for me to travel this far. In fact I couldn’t have come even for these few minutes if the trimorph twins hadn’t helped me. If you are good I will try to join you for a few days when you go on your birthday trip to the lowlands.”
Raven’s face, which had assumed a rather mutinous expression, cleared instantly, and she gave a wide beam. “Will you?”
“I hope so. I will come if I can. Be good, mind!”
Raven nodded. “Of course,” she promised, mendaciously. “Of course I will!”
Raven watched, rather sadly, as her mother disappeared again. Then she squeezed Tallen’s hand.
“I wish I had met Petra,” she said.
He gave a small smile. “You would have liked her. And she would have liked you. You are brave, like she was.”
“Am I?” Raven’s small chest swelled with pride.
Tallen nodded. “Like your mother.”
Raven’s eyes tracked to her father, who was standing uncharacteristically still, his expression lost in the distant stars. “Daddy misses Mummy. Mummy is different now.”
Tallen looked over at his emptor. “I know.”
“Do you think he will ever be happy again?”
Tallen gave a faint sigh. “There are things much more important than being happy.”
Raven was shocked. “What things?”
The Namuri seemed to be looking at something far, far away. “Things you find out about when you are older.”
Raven frowned. “Don’t want to be older!”
Tallen’s gaze cleared. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice about that, Raven. One day you will open your eyes and you will be 16, and the new leader of Coriolis.”
Raven’s eyes opened wider than Cesan poppies. “That is years and years away!”
Tallen looked over at the sibyla to the Namuri clan, who was still singing in the eerie, haunting voice that seemed to capture the essence of sacrifice and send it shivering up and down his spine. “—Years go past faster than you think.”
Then the song finished, the sensation of unreality vanished, and the orthogel bubbles disappeared to return their various passengers to their points of origin. Temar tugged at Bennel’s hand, asking to be carried up the difficult slope, and Raven dropped Tallen’s hand and turned to her father.
“Come on, Daddy. It’s this way.” She began to retrace her footsteps up the shore of the ortholake, stumping upwards through the thick sand with determination. “You mustn’t be sad.”
Six found his eyes moving automatically towards the Giant Crab Constellation, where Pictoria would be hanging in the sky, under the careful watch of the purple gas giant. Then he tore his gaze away and looked at the small girl, whose short little legs were almost disappearing in the loose dunes surrounding the lake. He knew first-hand what Tallen had meant.
He watched the stubborn little figure struggling up the loose sand and blinked, trying to dispel the slight sense of loss that accompanied him always now. Then he put on a fierce face and made as if to grab at her. “You will have to go faster! I’m a hungry monster, and I am going to gobble you up!”
Raven giggled. “Don’t be silly, Daddy.”
Six ran clumsily up the sandy bank, and she gave a shriek.
He put his hands out in front of him and marched towards her like a sleepwalker. “Ogre coming! Watch out!”
Raven reached the top of the dune and Bennel placed Temar on the ground beside her. They peered back towards the ortholake and then screamed with delight as they saw Six approaching robotically, looking most fearsome. Their small footsteps left skitter marks on the surface of the planet which would still be there months later as they raced towards the skyrises of Valhai, running excitedly from an ogre in hot pursuit who – strangely – never got quite close enough to catch either of them.
Chapter 26
THE VISITOR CONTACTED Dessia with some trepidation. He wasn’t sure whether he would be able to reach his alter ego there without the rest of the Dessites picking up the mental broadcast, and he was still very wary about the effect the Dessite wall could have on him. But his fears were unfounded; he found it remarkably easy and he was soon chatting to the elected negotiator who was, it turned out, now housed permanently on the Island of the Enjoined.
“Err … How are things going?” he asked.
Exemphendiss waved a membrane. “Much better. The council have started to implement the changes in the birth control policy, and the chemicals I had developed before I was cryolized have proved extremely useful in preventing budding. The general population is already undergoing extensive treatments, and so far, only the council itself has been declared exempt from overbudding.”
“They should have used the same birth control as the rest of the population,” said the visitor, looking at them with distaste.
“I thought Arcan wouldn’t mind. It was a small gesture and means a great deal to them.”
“I suppose it is irrelevant; there are only twelve of them at any given time, aren’t there?”
“That is why I agreed. Oh … and the prognosticator has been revalidated as the prime. They have voted him, and the next four generations of his stock, into cryolization.”
The visitor, present by proxy in the council of guardians meeting that his worthy ancestor was currently attending, regarded the large Dessite referred to with a jaundiced eye. “I rather thought he might be. He seems to have quite a knack for self-promotion, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, but he has adapted quickly and has been a major force in persuading the other Dessites to agree this alliance. Now they have agreed, their attitude has changed quite dramatically.”
“They have no plans to hurt us?”
“At the moment, they seem to have embraced this treaty. They feel that their future will be much more secure if the orthogel entity can transport them to a new system. All the travelers have been working full out to detect a suitable planet. Now that distance is not a factor, they have been given permission to travel far out into the arms of the galaxy.”
“The change of attitude is surprising.”
“Not when you think about it. The reason for their desperate race to explore the galaxy was the overcrowding in the homeworld. Now that they know they can transfer 50 billion of their population to another planet, they are quite happy to accept limited budding. I think, over time, they will realize that my suggestions should have been accepted long ago.”
“I wouldn’t expect too much from them.” The visitor still wasn’t convinced. “And they treat you well?”
“They are wary of me. They do not wish to befriend me, but they are beginning to respect me. They have seen that the chemicals work; already there has been a notable decrease in budding; the overall population is just beginning to fall. There is still a long way to go, however. They need to respect other lifeforms. They remain too convinced of their own superiority, but I am hopeful that gradually we shall see changes.”
The visitor flashed his approval. “Then Arcan’s plan is working well?”
“Yes. You may tell him so.” Exemphendiss hesitated. He wondered whether he should tell the visitor about the feeling he had had recently that some part of the collective mind was successfully being hidden from him. But then, it was only a sensation and he could well be mistaken. Perhaps he should say nothing. He would not wish to cause any misunderstandings over what were, after all, merely unproven suspicions.
“And the Ammonites? Have they tried to attack?” This was the first time that the visitor had contacted his ancestor since the Dessites’ agreement with Arcan, and he had no idea what had happened between the two species in that time.
Exemphendiss dismissed his vague doubts and concentrated on the visitor’s question. “They made an initial attempt, but there are not enough of them, despite their power, to overcome so many billions of Dessite minds. They were forced back fairly easily, and have not tried again. Although they are able to greatly enhance the Dessite abilities, they are not strong enough to destroy them. They make good allies for the Dessites, because of their ability to weaken the canths so much, but they would be crazy to launch a full-blown attack on the Dessite wall. It is formed of so many minds that even though the astrand is so dangerous, and could kill and main many of the Dessites, the Enarans would be overcome long before they were able to neutralize all of the mindwall.”
“Perhaps they have learned their lesson.”
“I doubt that, though it would be good if they had.”
“What about you, Exemphendiss? Are you content?”
“I have been given another chance to live. My ideas are now being implemented. And part of my genetic pool has been transformed into a category 1 being, an incorporeal. Why should I not be happy? I may even be allowed to bud in the future myself, which would mean that I could establish another genetic pool. I am extremely satisfied.”
The visitor scintillated, pleased, but felt obliged to put the record straight. “I am not a category 1 being. Not quite.”
“You are near enough for me.”
“I am happy that the Dessites are listening to you.”
“I don’t know what the council of guardians saw on Enara, but they came back with a different mindset.”
“Perhaps it was the actual fact of traveling across the galaxy so easily that convinced them.”
“Possibly. But they also saw how quickly Arcan dealt with the Enaran Ammonites. I think that made a forcible impression on them too.”
The visitor shimmered. “Arcan is quite extraordinary. It is indeed better to have him as an ally than as an enemy. I just didn’t expect the Dessites to see that so soon. Their acceptance of his conditions surprised me.”
“You have a powerful friend.”
“I have been very lucky. He saved my life.”
“Then you must always fight to preserve his.”
“I shall.”
“There is some other news. They think they have found a planet suitable for colonization.”
“That is the buzz of anticipation that I am picking up, then?”
“Yes. Every Dessite is aware that a suitable place may have been found. I have been asked to contact Arcan, through you, to see if he is in agreement with the colonization of this new planet.”
The visitor spun slightly. “I will tell him. Can you show me where it is?”
Exemphendiss opened his mind, privy as all of the Dessites were, to the details of the new planet. The visitor immediately transported to Valhai to share the news with Arcan, who examined the incoming mental images with interest.
Then the visitor flickered. “Arcan asks me to tell you that – even with just the information we can see from the Dessite minds – we can detect lifeforms already on this world.”
“The planet has just cooled sufficiently for the seas to form, and has only recently started to oxygenize. The council believes that there can be no objections to colonization by the Dessites.”
The visitor consulted again with Arcan. “If there are indigenous lifeforms Arcan will not permit colonization. He says that the terms of the treaty were to find a planet with no autochthonous fauna. He is irritated that the Dessites should propose a planet which so clearly does not meet these specifications. He thought the terms of the agreement were extremely clear.”
Exemphendiss couldn’t avoid allowing his mind to seep some of that historical news, and since he was in a meeting of the guardians, the members of the council were able to pick up on it. Despite being top security information, in principle limited only to the twelve guardians, it was somehow retransmitted all over the planet. A huge backwash of resentment ran through the whole of the homeworld, surprising the visitor in its intensity. He hoped that Arcan had not made a mistake in assuming that the Dessites would hold by the treaty. After all, they had not respected the pact they made with the Enarans for very long. He had the unfortunate sensation that Arcan might have underestimated the Dessite capacity for duplicity. He hoped that the orthogel entity wouldn’t live to regret his generosity, and that he himself would not have reason to be even more ashamed of the planet he had been born on. He was not optimistic about that.
SIX AND GRACE were side by side, in the tree house in the tallest tree by the Emerald Lake. Six had thought he would be on his own there, but had not counted on Grace’s persistence. She had pulled herself up the iron stakes on either side of the trunk with difficulty and reached the platform a few minutes earlier. After staring out at the starry sky for some minutes, Grace stirred.
“She will come, Six.”
He tried to smile. “I know. It is hard for her to spend very long away from Pictoria, but she will be here. I was just looking to see if …”
“… I know. I miss her too. I was thinking about the last trip we took, when we went to the bottomless pool.”
Six looked gratefully at her. “Yes. I can almost see her, making her canth dance on its toes. Can’t you?”
Tears filled Grace’s eyes. She nodded. This was still so hard. She rested one hand on his. Six stared do
wn at it. There was hardly any scarring now. The skin across the amputations was the same colour as the rest of her hand. He patted it with his own, knowing that he still had a good friend.
“Does it hurt, Gracie? You never say anything.”
A faint look of discomfort crossed her face. “It didn’t use to,” she said quietly. “But lately … since Ledin and I were caught in space … well, yes, it has been bothering me a bit.”
“What does Vion say? Have you told him about it?”
She nodded. “He says it’s neuropathic pain, and he gave me some medicine. That works well, though of course I don’t like to take it.”
Six nodded. Grace had never been one to take many pills.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Why?”
“For not asking. I got a bit caught up in my own life. I should have asked you sooner.”
Grace punched him in the shoulder. “Shut up!”
Six grinned. “We are getting old.”
“Old? Speak for yourself; I’m still only 21! That isn’t old, by anybody’s standards.”
But Six had stopped listening. His eyes were searching the sky, watching for that small flash of light which would tell him Diva had come. Something inside him sagged as he realized that she wasn’t there. But it didn’t really matter. He knew that she would come, one day. Their time together burned in his memory, regardless of all the danger they had passed, as a time of fierce happiness. Despite everything that had happened, she had been there, with him. He had been able to touch her, feel her beside him. Now he was just waiting, like a shuttle in geostationary orbit – unable to go up or down, anchored in the same spot by gravity and momentum.
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