Khediva was silent as they emerged from the capsule on her control deck. The lighting was flickering fitfully, and the main control console was dead. "Khediva?" Sabrina called. "Rudolf?"
The little android appeared from the corridor to the living quarters. "I am here."
"Can you give me a status report?" Sabrina asked.
"Wayship Khediva's main functions are offline. I was unable to restore functionality to the main console. I believe some vital junctions have been damaged."
"All right," Sabrina sighed, "I guess we'll have to go down to the brain core to see what Khediva says. Rudolf, you stay here for now. C'mon, Scotty."
The siblings made their way to the brain core, where Khediva's organic brain, suspended in a transparent globe, stood on a pedestal in the center of a circle of computer banks and consoles. Sabrina went first to the nearest console, touched a few control pads, and said, "Sensors are definitely offline. Autorepair has activated, but it'll take forever. Look at this list of damages."
Scotty glanced over her shoulder and whistled. "Poor old Khediva."
The globe sparked with streaks of electricity as Khediva tried to communicate. Sabrina frowned. "One of the leads must be loose. Hang on."
She jiggled several of the connections leading to the pedestal. One of them sparked, making her jump back with a yelp, but she kept going until they heard Khediva's voice. "Thank you! I was evidently not built to withstand phase shifts. It has been most disturbing."
"Are you going to be all right, Khediva? We need to go find Tirqwin and Mara," Sabrina said.
"Yes. Autorepairs are proceeding, and if you can spare the android, it can perform such manual tasks as I require," Khediva replied. "Do not let me hinder your search for Tirqwin and Maratobia!"
"Can you sense Tirqwin?"
"No. If he is here, I am still cut off from him. You will have to go down yourselves to discover whether he is there."
"Right," Scotty said. "C'mon, Rina, we aren't doing any good here, and Mara probably needs us."
"Go," Khediva urged. "I will be fine. But be careful."
"We will be," Sabrina promised.
———————
Aboard the Adventure again, they found Aurora and Lndor awake and recovering, though they looked as though they had powerful headaches. Major Ilyanan was peering at a collection of planetary scans from the sensor data while Ford did a focused energy search.
"Well, I can't make out any life form readings at all from the area around the palace," he announced finally. Glancing up, he noticed Sabrina and Scotty for the first time since their return. "How is Khediva?"
"Shaken up. We left Rudolf to help with the repairs," Sabrina replied. "I take it you haven't found Tirqwin or Mara?"
"No. There's some sort of interference around the palace."
"Surprise, surprise," Scotty said. "I think we should divide into teams, one to go down there and one to stay here for backup."
"Ordinarily I'd agree," Sabrina said. "But we won't be able to communicate with each other, so how would the backup team know when to come in? Maybe both teams should go down, just at different locations. We'll have to search probably the whole palace as it is."
"True," Scotty mused.
Ilyanan said, "I think we have to cover as much ground as possible as quickly as we can. I suggest three pairs, each to consist of an officer and a civilian."
"We should avoid pairing Miahns too," Sabrina said. "They're more easily incapacitated by the psychic interference. Major, you go with the prince; Scotty, you go with Lady Aurora; and I'll take Lieutenant Lndor. Scotty, first let's have a look at the scans and see if the layout's changed much."
"Here," Ford said, punching up a scan of the palace. "I can't stabilize any lifesigns, but the palace itself is easy enough to map."
"Looks the same," Scotty said.
"Yes," Sabrina agreed, "though I can't say I had any coherent idea of the layout the first time. We were mostly lost."
"The lab's still there," Scotty said, "and the throne room, and those are the important spots. One of the teams should hit the lab right away. I think another one should go here, at the other end of the complex, and the third can start there. I think that's Emalicia's old room. Remember she held us in a room just off that? She might be keeping Mara or Tirqwin there."
"Right," Sabrina said. "I'll flip you for the lab."
"Nuh uh," Scotty grinned. "It's mine, sis."
Sabrina started to protest, then realized that if someone on Stanos had secretly revived or recreated the psychic creature, they would not have been able to do it in the laboratory, which Homeworld's observers certainly knew about. "Okay, fine. Ford, you and the Major take Emalicia's room." Another room Homeworld knew about, and therefore probably disused as well. "Lieutenant Lndor and I will start with the storage areas underground."
Scotty nodded, satisfied, but Ford was looking suspicious. She needed to hurry them all on their way before they got bogged down arguing, she thought. "We'll just have to hope our comlinks will work within the palace. Ford, how are we all going to get down there?"
"It can't be simultaneously," he said. "I'll program the transport capsule to return after ten seconds. If whatever room you're transporting into is too dangerous, that will give you enough time to get back in and come back here. I'll have to go last. And since communications will be uncertain, I'll have to leave the capsule on the surface until one or all of us are ready to come back to the ship. So if you need to get away, the capsule will be in our transport location. Just send it back down once you're up here so the rest of us aren't trapped."
"What if one of the Stanosians sees it?" Lndor asked.
"It'll be cloaked," Ford said. "All you need to do is say the code word while standing within two meters, and it will uncloak. The code word is Rudolf."
"Right. We're first," Scotty said, checking the charge on his blaster and picking up his helmet. He glanced at Aurora, who, though pale, looked calmly determined. "Ready, Lady Aurora?"
"Yes, quite ready," she answered, checking her own blaster.
"Miah guide you," Ford said as they got into the capsule. He worked at the console, and the capsule vanished. It returned ten seconds later, empty.
"Now you, cousin," Ford said.
Sabrina donned her helmet with a sigh. She would rather have gone last, but it only made sense for Ford to do the programming. "Good luck," she said as she and Lndor got into the capsule. "Be careful down there."
"We will be," he promised. "Miah guide you."
The capsule door swung shut. When it opened a moment later, Sabrina was looking at a dark, dusty room. "Looks safe enough," she whispered, stepping out. Lndor followed, and they switched on the lights built into their combat suit sleeves, at the lowest setting.
"It looks like a pantry, but it hasn't been used recently," Lndor replied softly, nodding at the thick dust on the floor that showed only their footprints.
Sabrina called up the map on the tactical display on the inside of her helmet faceplate. They were in the storage area furthest from the kitchens, on the lowest level. She had been betting the Stanosians would use this inaccessible space as their secret laboratory, but evidently she'd been wrong. She realized suddenly just how many assumptions they'd been making.
"I'm getting clearer lifesign readings down here," Lndor said, his voice hushed but excited. "I think—yes! I've got a non-Stanosian one. I can't identify whether it's Miahn or not though."
"I'll take it," Sabrina said. "Where?"
"About a hundred meters to our left, and up one level."
"Right. Let's go."
——————
Scotty looked around the abandoned laboratory in disgust and dawning anger. "Aw, man! How'd she know?"
"Who? And what?" Aurora asked, looking around curiously at the devastated room. The roof had been inexpertly repaired, but the ruins of the vat were still there, along with various pieces of shattered equipment. Anything usable had been long since removed, though, Scotty noticed.
"My sister! I should've thought of it. Of course they couldn't use this room again, not when Homeworld was watching them. I thought she gave in too easy! Well, come on, let's hit the throne room. It's not far, and there's bound to be some answers there."
Aurora didn't respond; she was turning in a slow circle, gazing at the ruined room. "There was a great evil here," she said softly.
"You have no idea," Scotty agreed. The vat drew his gaze irresistibly, reminding him of the final terrible struggle. First they had failed to prevent Emalicia using King Qazhan's life energy to bond the creature to Varla; then Tirqwin had tried to destroy the creature by exploding the vat and nearly himself. Sribarak had saved them in the end, only to be killed by the creature. They had failed at almost everything here, he thought.
But Mara and Tirqwin had had ninety-two years to grow and learn. Mara ought to be at the top of her form by now. Not a kid anymore. He couldn't suppress a grin. She must be incredible. I can't wait to see her. "Come on," he said to Aurora. "Old evils aren't what we're here for. It's the new ones I'm worried about. Let's go find them before they find us."
Aurora looked at him, cocking her head. He couldn't see her expression behind her faceplate, but her voice sounded faintly amused. "Indeed. Ever forward, Captain!"