Kwaide (The Ammonite Galaxy Series, Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter 22

GRACE LET HERSELF into the 256th skyrise, and breathed a sigh of relief. At least she would be able to find some more mask packs – she had left it a bit close this time. The little sphere buzzed around her head worriedly.

“What are you going to do?” it asked her.

“What are we going to do, you mean. Arcan definitely needs your help now. You have been telling us how superior you are – now might be a good time to prove it!”

It whirred. “I don’t know what we can do.”

Grace gave it an exasperated look. “Don’t know what all those brain cells are doing up there, then. They don’t seem to be much good for anything.”

“There is nothing to be done in this situation. Logic tells us that Arcan will either recover or not, and that must determine the outcome.”

Grace gazed at the orb in disgust. “Terrific,” she said, “and while we are sitting around waiting to see if Arcan recovers, Diva will be taken to some secret place and we may never see her again. Dream on!”

“I am fully awake!”

“Well it doesn’t seem like it!”

The little globe maintained a dignified silence, and Grace considered her options. Then she stood up.

“I am going to get Diva out,” she told the video camera. “I think it is best to make an attempt now. The orthotubes and ortholifts are out, which means that they can’t move her anywhere else right now. She must still be in the Valhai Voting Dome.” She picked up ten mask packs and began packing them in a back pack. She added a spare bodywrap for Diva, in case hers had been damaged, and then turned to the video camera. “Coming?”

It gave an uncomfortable whine. “Your chances of success are minimal.”

“They are zero if I don’t even attempt it.”

“I am obliged to go with you. You will be assured of failure if I do not accompany you.”

Grace smiled. “I am going – with or without you.”

“But I am only authorized to help Arcan, not you.”

“I will not ask you for help,” Grace promised. “You could accompany me merely to document the trip.”

“In that case, I will come with you.”

Grace let herself out onto the terrace and made her way silently down the rexelene blocks onto bare planet. It would take her at least an hour to reach the Valhai Voting Dome, so she set up a brisk pace. This time she hardly noticed her surroundings: she was too worried about the others.

Then she thought of something. “You travel much faster than me, don’t you?” she said.

“Naturally. A snail could travel faster than you,” it informed her.

“Then perhaps you wouldn’t mind going to the lake and checking out whether Arcan’s colour is all right. That might give us an idea if he is going to recover or not. It almost seems as if he has been knocked out by chemical agent, or a pulse of some sort. It must have been that orange glow you told me about. We need to know what it is that the Sellites have invented.”

“I will go and check the lake,” agreed the machine, disappearing so fast that she couldn’t track it with her eyes. She trudged on across the thick sand, glad to have a few moments to herself.

It was back shortly before she reached the Dome.

“The lake looks fine,” it told her. “I can’t detect any change in colour. I think he has only been temporarily knocked out. But he didn’t talk to me.”