The Power and the Glory

Book 4 Chapter XVIII: The Spaceship

Below her, empty street followed empty street. Abi began to think she'd been wrong about the monsters. Maybe they weren't active after dark. Maybe they were only active for a few hours during the day. Or maybe she was searching for them in the wrong place.

Suddenly she realised that the building in front of her looked oddly familiar. She eyed it suspiciously. Didn't I see those funny hexagonal windows before?

Ilaran shrugged -- or rather she got the impression he would have shrugged if he was physically present. I can't see anything. I just feel you're very high up and there's nothing to stop you falling.

Abi landed on the roof of the building with the funny windows. She looked around. Down on the street she spotted a shop she recognised. It was a jeweller's, and all the necklaces in the windows caught the light and threw it around the street.

Damn it. We're going in circles.

She took off again and flew higher over the buildings. A faint humming noise filled the air. She dismissed it as just the wind whistling past her ears. Finally she found a large, wide street that looked like the city's main thoroughfare. She flew lower, below the roofs of the buildings, so she could get a better look around. The humming noise grew louder. Her feathers seemed to stand on end. It almost felt as if the air was vibrating with electricity.

Wait. That's--

A faint pinprick of light appeared high in the sky overhead. Abi panicked and dived for the nearest window large enough for her to get through. The glass shattered. Tiny fragments lodged between the barbs of her feathers, uncomfortable but not close enough to her skin to hurt.

Her feathers illuminated the room. She'd apparently crashed into someone's office. A large and sturdy desk stood slightly to her left. The room was empty. Abi turned back into an immortal and crawled on her hands and knees behind the desk.

The sudden absence of light made the darkness seem much deeper than it actually was. Within minutes her eyes adjusted and she was able to see what was happening. Then she realised it wasn't necessarily because her eyes had adjusted. There was light outside, steadily growing brighter. And there was the humming noise again, louder and closer. It was unmistakeably a spaceship.

Abi watched until the ship came into view. It was one of the small ships meant to travel very quickly. But it didn't bear a standard, so it wasn't a reconnaissance ship sent by an army. It hovered above the buildings' roofs. A searchlight shone down on the street, moving from shop-front to shop-front.

What's happening? Ilaran asked.

I don't know. There's a spaceship here and I think it's looking for something.

You, probably.

Abi blinked. Why would it look for me?

A few minutes ago you were the brightest thing in this city. Of course someone's come to investigate.

Suddenly the silence was shattered with a piercing wail. It went on and on. Abi covered her ears and cowered behind the desk in the vain hope of blocking out the sound. It was no use. That was the sort of sound that no one could ignore.

After her initial shock wore off Abi realised it was a siren. It droned like one of the lighthouses along the Seroyawan coast, warning when an earthquake had been sensed far out to sea and a tsunami was expected. That association made her instinctively want to run as far away as possible to the highest ground she could find.

She forced herself to stay still. Whoever was on the spaceship had some reason for sounding that siren. Maybe they were trying to attract the attention of survivors. Maybe they were trying to frighten the monsters away. In either case it would be better to stay here and see what was happening. They might be allies who could help her destroy the monsters.