by Chris Reher
“My head,” Tychon said. His vision began to fade but there was something oddly familiar about this pain and its location in his head. It had never been this bad before.
“Maybe there’s something here that Delphians can’t tolerate,” Acie said. “Shouldn’t be the sulfur, though. Wish I had my kit with me. Who knows what else is in the air.”
Tychon sat heavily on the rocky ground and lowered his head into his hands. “Nova,” he gasped.
“What about her?” Seth asked. He looked up when another beam of light strafed over their heads.
“She... she’s here. So far away... How?” Tychon closed his eyes and concentrated on the distant signal that felt so very familiar. “Is that you, Nova?”
“What is he talking about?” Acie said.
“That’s a khamal,” Seth said. “But how? Don’t Delphians have to start one of those mind links up by touching?”
“This is not a good time for this!” Vincent said.
Tychon no longer heard them. He felt Nova in his mind as clearly as if he had touched her just moments ago. He smiled despite the pain when she tried to send her words.
Ty? I found you!
He groaned. Easy. I hear you. It hurts a whole lot. His lips moved silently as he formed the words in his mind to give them substance. What happened? Are you well? How did you reach me?
I don’t even know! I opened the keyhole. We’ve been trying for a long time now. There is a Delphian here with me. Can you feel him?
Yes. Tychon paused a moment to focus on the youth. That’s a Shantir.
Well, yes. A novice, though. He’s helping me reach you. He’s in a lot of pain, I think. This can’t last.
Are you all right?
We’re on a rebel ship. Shri-Lan, mostly. We don’t know where we are, any of us. We went through a keyhole near Dannakor and I don’t know where we came out. I don’t think the new interface works. It killed the spanner who got us here. Now they want me to jump us back. I don’t know if I can, Ty!
Don’t do it. Please, Nova. Just don’t.
I have no choice. The ANI team is here, too. They’ve killed everybody else. They said they’ll kill more if I don’t get us back. This isn’t about hostages.
Tychon swore silently.
And they have a copy of the interface.
Forget the damn interface, Nova! We have to get you back!
No, listen. I mean that the Shri-Lan that attacked Dannakor, the ones that are still in Trans-Targon, have a copy of the interface. They took Lieutenant Betl, one of the other test subjects. They will force him to use the ANI to jump. They could have a fleet appearing anywhere.
But if it doesn’t work...
Betl is Level Two. And he won’t be as panicked as we were.
Understood. We will warn Air Command.
I have to go. Jovan is going to pass out or something.
Yes, I can feel that. You didn’t answer me. Are you all right?
I... I’m fine now. They won’t hurt me while they think I can get us back.
Tychon ground his teeth, knowing that she was hiding something. He cursed himself for not having insisted on also joining the project, choosing instead to laze around on Delphi. He could have taken the time to at least accompany her to Dannakor. His position within Air Command would have allowed him that privilege as an observer. But he had to make a point of his disdain for the entire project. I’m so sorry—
Don’t do that, she sent. I can feel that. If you had been here you’d be dead by now. I’ll be all right. Jovan convinced them that I’m very delicate and that they have to be nice to me.
I will come for you, he promised. Please don’t try that jump. Wait till I get to Dannakor. We’ll find a way to get you back. Please! You have to hold them off.
I’ll try. He felt their mental communication fade. Kiss Cyann for me. I miss you so!
Tychon hesitated only a moment before leading her into a deeper khamal, one they shared far more often than the one used to exchange words. He felt the pain in his head recede as both of them sunk into a blissful mental state that few people outside Delphi were aware of. With a silent apology to the Shantir linked to her, he sent a gentle touch from his mind to hers that grew in intensity as if they were not separated by a vast piece of galaxy. For an instant he felt every cell in her body and it seemed as if they were a single entity occupying the same space. She responded with a touch of her own that forced a groan of pleasure from his lips.
I’m going to need you to do that when you’re back here, he managed when his body felt like his own again.
I wish I was there with you now.
Tychon had doubts about that. I will find you. Don’t do anything foolish, Greenie.
She sent a smile. It’s been a while since you called me that, Major.
He felt her fade away until nothing remained but the pain in his head. He opened his eyes to see three puzzled faces loom over him.
“What was that about?” Acie asked.
“Shri-Lan’s got her,” Tychon said. “They jumped to nowhere.”
“Cazun,” Seth whispered. A pilot like Tychon and Nova, he grasped the implication of having left sub-space without a mapped target. Even the most highly skilled spanner flying the best of the fleet never lost sight of the terrible possibility of emerging at some point of no return. Or not emerging at all.
Tychon accepted Seth’s arm to pull himself up. He looked uphill and then bent to pick up his metal rod again. “Time to get the hell out of this cesspit,” he said. He gestured to Acie and Vincent. “You two stay down here. Follow us only if you hear anyone coming from behind. How many rebels are at the temple?”
“Not sure,” Acie said. “If more of them haven’t arrived from Kiertown I’d say maybe a dozen.”
“Does that include the priests?”
“No, they’re not fighters. Pacifists, in a rebel sort of way. They won’t care if we’re caught or not. They just want us gone.” She grasped Seth’s sleeve. “You’re not gonna go up against them all, are you?”
Tychon nodded for both of them. “I’m tired of slinking through this sewage. Someone’s ass is going to get kicked.”
Vincent chuckled. “Now I know you’ve been talking to Nova.” He put his arm around Acie’s thin shoulders. “Let’s get behind these rocks.”
Tychon and Seth moved quickly along the path, following the crumbling wall that encircled the temple proper. The fog allowed only a short distance’s visibility and they kept their pace within that, alert to the rebels that were surely waiting where the path joined the plateau.
Tychon raised his arm to stop Seth when they reached a sharp outcropping that nearly blocked their passage along the ledge. “We must be almost there. They’ll have the advantage in the open.” He kicked a few rocks over the edge. They tumbled noisily before the sound was swallowed by the mist. “You two try to keep up,” he said in a louder voice as if calling to Acie and Vincent.
Seth looked up and stepped behind the outcropping when, only moments later, a Caspian rebel dropped from the top of the wall. Another followed and then they saw the shapes of two Centauri rush along the path toward of them. He wasted no time in grabbing the Caspian before he had even found his feet to toss him into the gorge. “Thanks for stopping by.”
Tychon used his metal bar across the other rebel’s throat to pin her against the wall while Seth took her gun. He flung her into the ravine and then stepped aside while Seth shot the two approaching rebels.
Stopping only to pick up the fallen men’s weapons, they moved onward but now the rebels, more cautious after their compatriots had not returned, fired blindly into the fog without showing themselves.
“Back,” Tychon led the way back to the outcropping they had just passed and motioned to Seth to boost him up. He found a ledge just over his head and heaved himself up against the planet’s high gravity and then turned to pull Seth up as well. Within moments they had reached the top of the wall and peered cautiously over it.
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nbsp; Below them four rebels huddled behind a tomb of some sort, all of them Caspians. Near the end of the wall that separated the courtyard from the ravine, three Centauri, fleeter of foot than the Caspians, waited expectantly for the escapees to round the corner. Tychon nodded to Seth and they edged over the top of the wall to drop noiselessly onto the stone tomb. From there it was only a short jump onto the rebels.
What the Caspians lacked in surefootedness they made up with strength and both Tychon and Seth were bruised and bleeding by the time they had subdued the rebels. Gasping for air, they paused a moment, hidden behind the crypt.
Seth dabbed at his bleeding nose. “You’re fierce for a Delphian.”
Tychon turned when the unconscious rebel behind him groaned and started to move. He used his gun to silence him. “Someone put his hands on my wife,” he growled. “That is making me just a little bit irate.”
Seth winced. “Umm, like I said, that was a long time ago...”
Tychon scowled at him but then, reluctantly, his angry expression softened into a grin. He shook his head. “You’re in a class of your own, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. Look, they won’t hurt her if she’s a hostage. She wouldn’t be alive if they didn’t need her for something.”
Tychon edged to the corner of the tomb and looked across the square. “I saw... hmm, I saw a Centauri when she talked about them. He was like a monster in her mind. She was afraid.”
“There are some nasty-looking bastards among us,” Seth allowed.
Tychon shook his head. “It was more than that. That one scared her. She doesn’t scare so easily. She doesn’t fear getting into a fight.”
“Nope, not our Nova,” Seth agreed.
Tychon turned and held a forefinger close to Seth’s nose to get his attention. “Don’t push your luck, Kada,” he said before grabbing Seth’s collar to pull him to the side. “Get down!” He shot over Seth at a rebel that had come up behind them. The beam of his weapon lit the mist like a beacon in the perpetual twilight. Seth rolled out of the way and leaped for the edge of the tomb to fire at the rebels racing across the yard.
“Shit!” Seth jerked back when a projectile whined off the stone by his face. “Sons of Rhuwacs! More by the stairs.”
Tychon took out the approaching Centauri so that they were able to take shelter on the other side of the tomb. “How many is this now?”
“Nine or ten.”
Tychon sprinted along the wall while Seth fired rapidly at the rebels hiding behind the open temple door. One fell to his aim and tumbled down the ramp to the cobbled yard. Tychon drew some fire before he dove around the corner of the building, giving Seth another clear shot at the rebel who stepped out too far in his eagerness to target the Delphian.
Tychon and Seth waited cautiously after the continuous firing of both laser and projectile weapons had stopped. Only the wind soughing through the peaks above the temple broke the silence of the courtyard now. One of the priests risked much by stepping outside to glare at them angrily. It was Nar Tosh, still gripping his staff. He said nothing but the contempt for them and all that their Union Commonwealth represented showed clearly on his streamlined face.
Seth jogged to the end of the compound wall to retrieve Vincent and Acie while Tychon returned to their skimmer. Soon they sped silently away from the dreary enclave and back to the airfield of Kiertown. No one met them along the winding road but they soon saw several planes glide overhead, toward the temple, surely carrying more of the rebels.
Seth did not bother to clear their takeoff with anyone at the airfield and they were soon aboard the Dutchman’s cluttered, tight confines and heading toward the nearest jumpsite.
Tychon, in the cockpit with Seth, waited until they had left Aikhor’s atmosphere before he went into the main cabin. Acie and Vincent had settled in a sleeper set like a padded shelf into the wall. He took a seat in a low-slung chair facing them. “Talk to me, Bellac,” he said.
She sat upright and then glanced uncertainly over his shoulder at Seth who had also left the cockpit.
“He looks meaner than he is,” Seth said. “We need to know what happened on Dannakor. Why were you there?”
“Well, I’m sure he’s not mean. Nova wouldn’t put up with that.”
“Nova is in a lot of trouble, in part because of you,” Tychon said. “So help me help her.”
“I went up there to warn her,” Acie said. “With the Shri-Lan. But it’s the Arawaj that are after Nova.”
“Can you back that up a little for us, Acie,” Seth said.
“Sure,” she said brightly. “Couple of days ago some Shri-Lan came by the...” she glanced at Tychon. “By the Place to talk with Perris. They were going to steal something and wanted someone to come along to make sure they were stealing the right thing. So Perris said I could go. So I went.”
“Without letting me know. I was worried for days!” Vincent said. “Especially after what happened on Phi.”
“You would have just fussed and fretted endlessly,” she said. “Besides, there wasn’t time. They said they beat up someone on Delphi for the info and they had to go right now.” She halted briefly when Tychon made an unclear sound deep in his throat and then hurriedly continued. “The Shri-Lan don’t care so much about that new com system. They want the new interface because it’ll let them open any old keyhole instead of having to use the charted sites. Obviously they don’t have a lot of Delphians on their side to span for them.”
“None, I would hope,” Tychon said.
“Well, they want to level that playing field by getting a hold of the ANI before anyone else does. Perris went, too, and on the way to Dannakor he told me that the Arawaj were already there. He’s easy to get information from when he’s drunk.”
“The Arawaj and the Shri-Lan don’t work together,” Seth said. “Those two factions have been at each other’s throats since Tharron disappeared.”
“Exactly,” Acie said. “The Shri-Lan had no idea that there were other rebels on Dannakor already. Except that the Arawaj weren’t attacking. They planned to kidnap Nova quietly.”
“Why would the Arawaj want Nova?” Tychon wondered. “There were four test subjects. All officers, all pilots. Are you sure they singled her out?”
“Yes, they wanted just Nova.”
“Maybe they, the Arawaj, aren’t after the interface,” Vincent said. “They could want her for any number of reasons. Information. Revenge. Just ransom, even. She’s a prominent officer.”
“They wouldn’t wait until she’s at a secure location,” Tychon said. “Under guard. Monitored. She wasn’t even supposed to be there.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nova wasn’t on the short list. But they picked her, anyway.” Tychon stared up at the ceiling and then closed his eyes. “Gods! Somebody on the ANI team is a rebel! Or working for them. Someone with access to the list of approved pilots.”
“That’s what Perris said. They got one of their own people in there, working as a technician or something. Anyway, when we got to Dannakor I went down to the surface to warn her.”
“You are not trained for raids like that,” Vincent said. “That could have been very dangerous.”
“Well, it was. Lots of people died in the attack. It was terrible! Nova told me to get back on my ship. She didn’t listen and there was no time to explain before she ran off again. I lost her in all that but I managed to get back aboard. Some of the Shri-Lan saw me talking to her and figured me for a spy. I spent the trip back in a box.”
“Perris contacted me and we got her to the temple before they decided to lynch her,” Vincent said.
“This Perris is also a spy?” Tychon said.
Acie looked up at Seth. “How much do I have to tell this man?”
“You’re doing fine, Acie,” Seth said.
“Well, not so fine. I guess my job is done. I can’t go back to Magra. They’ll shoot me, after all this.”
“Then maybe it’s time to get out, dear,” Vincen
t said. He placed his hand over Acie’s. “You’ve dodged around the edges of this thing for long enough. You’ve been lucky, but luck runs out.” He smiled ruefully. “And I have to admit that I’m getting tired. It’s not been easy keeping you out of trouble these past years.”
“You’ve got plenty left, Vincent,” Acie exclaimed and hugged him quickly. “Don’t talk like that!”
“I’m just not as spry as I used to be.” He looked up at Seth. “Can you land on the Union base on Magra Alaric? It’s the closest to here.”
“Sure. No one’s been looking to arrest me lately,” Seth replied.
Vincent turned to Tychon. “Can you get us amnesty, Major? If we can stay out of sight on a base somewhere I’m sure she’ll be soon enough forgotten.”
“She could also tell them about what happened on Dannakor,” Seth said.
Tychon shook his head. “Tell them what? They’re not going to take the word of this Bellac, a rebel of questionable loyalties, that Nova hasn’t absconded with the interface voluntarily. We don’t know where she is, or with whom. Or where the rest of the ANI team is. We know nothing at all.” He gestured at the cockpit. “I imagine you have ways of getting a message to Colonel Carras on a tight band?”
Seth reached over Acie’s head to fetch a thin tablet from a shelf there. He handed it to Tychon before moving to the cockpit and its com panel. “I’ll get a packet ready.”
Tychon thought a moment and then began his message. Acie watched curiously as his long fingers flew over the input screen, entering words, moving symbols, combining ciphers that normally weren’t part of the display. “What code is that?” she inquired.
“Known only to Vanguard,” he answered and corrected the placement of one of his symbols. “Asking Carras if there is news about Nova. For all we know they’ve found out for themselves what went on there. And to let him know to expect our Shri-Lan friends to pop out of any one of a thousand uncharted keyholes at any moment. He’ll like that part.”
She poked a finger at the screen. “Shouldn’t that be a repeat of that one?”
Tychon paused and exhaled sharply.