Kwaide (The Ammonite Galaxy Series, Book 2)

Chapter Nine

“Yes.” Grace was pleased he had picked it up so quickly. “Exactly.”

“And you have no idea where you are going?” He found he was having difficulty grasping the intricacies of the idea.

“He must be somewhere in the binary system,” Diva pointed out helpfully.

“Oh, no problem then – are you both MAD?” 

“What do you expect us to do – leave Six floating around out there all on his own?”

“How do you know he is all on his own? He may have a full ship’s complement working for him by now. After all, I wouldn’t put it past him! That Kwaidian will end up being the leader of the whole system, mark my words.”

“He must have been trying to ask for help – otherwise why would he being trying to patch through to an interscreen. Be reasonable, Vion!”

The doctor gave a gasp. “Reasonable! Me?”

Grace put her fingertips together and touched her lips. “Look,” she told them both. “We have to go after Six. He wouldn’t leave us if we were in danger, and we can’t leave him now he is. There isn’t really anything else to be said.”

Vion thought of the threat his father had made, and of the reactions of his family if he went so openly up against Atheron. He would be risking his whole family if he agreed to go on this … this insane expedition. If Mandalon and his cronies found out, the medical family would be expelled, and their artifacts impounded.

“I can’t go,” he said flatly.

The disappointment in Grace’s eyes bore into him, and he looked away evasively.

“Then we shall just have to find another way.” Diva turned on her heel, and made her way out. Grace was left, staring at Vion. There was a pause and then she, too, turned and left.

Vion glared around him at the medical skyrise. A muscle shifted in his jaw. He stood where he was for several minutes, looking down at the polished skyrise floor, waiting for Arcan to transport him back to Coriolis. It was all very well for Diva and Grace, he thought to himself savagely. They had burnt all their bridges long ago. Both girls were outlaws on their own planets. There was no reason at all why he should be feeling so guilty, he told himself firmly. How could they demand that he make the same sacrifice? His family had done nothing wrong to deserve being deported from Sell with no artifacts. It was too much of them to ask. Nobody would do it. There was no reason to feel bad about it. Definitely not.

“IF YOU HAVEN’T got a pilot you aren’t going anywhere!” Cimma, who had been briefly transported over to help solve the problem, was simply reiterating what everybody knew.

“Don’t we know anybody else who has a pilot’s license?” demanded Diva.

Grace shook her head glumly. “We could just work it out on our own?” she suggested, but her voice was unconvincing.

“Sure!” scoffed Diva. “And we can work out five solutions to the general theory of relativity before breakfast too! It is supposed to be a rescue mission, you know. Fat lot of help if we end up floating around lost, too.”

“I can come with you.” Arcan’s voice interrupted them.

Diva tipped her head to one side. “Now that,” she said slowly, “might change things altogether. If Arcan is with us, he can always transport us back here if anything goes wrong.”

“… And we have the use of his giant brain to help us fathom out how to fly the thing!” Grace gave a little dance on the spot. “Let’s do it!”