Tirqwin paced the control deck with a ferocity that probably surprised Aurora, though the Miahn sat calmly and without comment. For some reason, that only irritated Tirqwin; her serenity made him feel he might be overreacting.
Khediva said, "I think Scotty has been a bad influence on you, Tirqwin. You never used to fidget."
"Say something helpful, or refrain from comment!" Tirqwin retorted. "You are not exactly a model of tranquility yourself!"
"That is the dissonance at work," Khediva said. "We should try to limit its effect on us as much as possible."
Aurora jumped. Tirqwin was so startled that he nearly lost his balance turning to look at her. "What?" he demanded.
"I don't...I think there may be something wrong," Aurora said slowly. "Could we move out of the dissonance zone and contact Praxatillus, please?"
Tirqwin blinked at her. "You want to abandon them on the planet so you can call home?"
"I think it is rather that home is trying to call me," Aurora responded. "I can think of only a few things dire enough to warrant such an effort. Please."
Looking intently at her, he sighed. "Khediva?"
"It is not far to go," Khediva assured him, and it was only a few minutes later that she said, "I have established contact with Praxatillus Control. The transmission may be unstable, however."
"Thank you, Wayship Khediva," Aurora said, standing to face the wallscreen.
The screen flickered, then coalesced into an image of Rassir, Baldaran, and Imari, all looking weary and stressed. Rassir said, "At last! Where is Her Majesty?"
"On the planet," Aurora replied. "But safe, as far as I know. What is happening?"
Rassir hesitated, then turned to Imari, who frowned at Aurora as if she'd asked a stupidly obvious question. "The Great Crystal is in the preliminary stages of a transition."
"A transition?" Tirqwin asked.
"The only event we have for comparison is Transference," Imari said.
Baldaran's presence suddenly made horrible sense to his father. "You mean—you mean that—but Mara is not dead!"
"Apparently," Imari said, her voice unusually gentle, "the Great Crystal believes that she soon will be. We felt we must inform you before preparing Seuréa."
Tirqwin gaped at the screen, ashen. "But—you have never accelerated an infant's growth! Mara was the youngest, and she was ready to enter puberty! You could kill her!"
"We have no choice. Her siblings do not meet the requirements. We have tried again," Imari admitted ruefully.
"It's true, Father," Baldaran put in. "All of us who are here have gone down to Giandrah and tried to get the Crystal to accept us instead. It wouldn't. Seuréa is the only option." He paused, clearing his throat. "I'm sorry."
"This is—" Tirqwin broke off, scouring his face with his hands. "This is insane! I will not permit it!"
"What choice do you imagine you have?" Imari demanded. "The Crystal cannot be left uncontrolled. If Maratobia does not survive, there must be a Guardian. If we do not accelerate Seuréa, then the Crystal will be in the control of a newborn whose eyes do not even focus yet! How do you imagine we could possibly raise such a powerful infant, assuming she did not accidentally kill us all?"
There was a moment of silence, as everyone turned over possibilities and found nothing. Then Imari said, "The Chief Attendant should be here if Transference does occur. For that matter, we would prefer that Seuréa's surviving parent be present as well."
Tirqwin said hoarsely, "We cannot leave them stranded down there. Even if Mara—if—" He paused, swallowing hard. "There is still Niavar, and Scotty, and Sabrina, and the others. They may survive."
Rassir said, "We sent a ship after you as soon as we could put together a non-sensitive crew. We believe they may be more effective even than Wayship Khediva, because they will not be affected by the dissonance in any significant way."
After another silence, Aurora said, very quietly, "I do not wish to abandon my post here. But if this...if things happen as we surmise, Seuréa will need us more than Her Majesty." She looked off to the side, her eyes losing focus. "I wish I had made her a better good-bye. But the last promise I made was to be there for Seuréa if the worst happened." Her voice hardened. "I will keep that promise."
"I do not know how to even begin to choose between my wife and my daughter," Tirqwin whispered.
Khediva said, "It is not your choice, Tirqwin." Her voice was full of sympathy. "Maratobia is committed to her path. She was able to choose. Seuréa cannot. She deserves your presence, at least."
Tirqwin stood on the control deck with his head hung and fists clenching for a long moment. Then he said, "All right. Praxatillus."
"We will make the trip as short as possible," Khediva said. "Khediva out."
——————————
Cynthia shook the scanner in her hand, then banged it against the ground in an attempt to make it work. Then she tossed it aside with a disgusted growl and took Wilmik's wrist in her fingers, timing his pulse by her analog watch. "I guess low-tech does have its advantages," she sighed.
His pulse was steady but weak, as opposed to Sabrina's, which was strong but too rapid. At least they were both breathing easily. She thought about going out to check on Ford, but she desperately wanted to be there when Sabrina woke up. She had no idea what Mara had done.
She jumped when Wilmik moaned. "Danask?" he whispered.
"No, it's just me," Cynthia said softly. "You're going to be okay, Wilmik. Hang in there."
"Hurts."
"I know. You've had the last of the painkillers. I'm sorry."
"Where is everybody?"
Cynthia hesitated. "I'm not sure. But don't worry. We're all going home pretty soon."
He grunted in response, his eyelids fluttering and finally closing. Cynthia listened to his breathing until she was sure he was asleep—or unconscious. Then she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm herself down as she wondered whether she had lied to him.
"Ah!" Sabrina cried, flailing into a sitting position and looking around wildly.
"It's okay!" Cynthia said, pressing a fist against her chest to still her leaping heart. "It's okay, you're safe."
"Cynthia?" Sabrina stared at her in astonishment. "How did you—what did—where the hell are we?"
Cynthia returned her stare, then began to laugh weakly.
Sabrina winced and rubbed at her forehead. "Well, that's never a good sign. My head hurts—did someone hit me?" She gasped and sat up a little straighter. "Where's Ford?"
"Outside, I think. He was okay, just passed out like you were. The Queen said she couldn't do anything for him, but she certainly did something to you."
"Oh—what—Mara's here? But—" Sabrina broke off, frowning, as she tried to shake her fragmented memories into something resembling a picture.
"I don't remember the name of the planet," Cynthia said. "It's in the Reissian Empire, wherever that is."
"Oh. Shit. I remember that part," Sabrina groaned.
"You were getting your real memories back, but Ford didn't seem to be making much progress."
"He wouldn't. The resonance will hang on to him for a long time."
"The Queen said something about...Giaconda?"
"Giandrah. Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Who's this?" Sabrina finally noticed Wilmik.
"One of the retrieval team. We came to get you."
"You came with the retrieval team? Then where's Scotty?"
Cynthia rolled her eyes. "They told him he couldn't come."
"So he sent you?"
"Yes, and I'm never, ever going to let him forget it. I haven't decided how to torture him yet but I think it might involve cattle prods."
"Ha, ha. I'm going to check on Ford. Is your patient moveable?"
"No. But he's got four teammates out there. Ford apparently blasted them. You seemed to think they would recover."
"And Mara's here?"
"Yes. She came, laid hands on you, and left. It was like a bad Tent Revival or something. Screaming and all."
Sabrina frowned. "That doesn't sound right."
"She told me to look after you. I got the impression she had something big to worry about."
"Only the Guardian in Reissian space on a world with Pharon crystal somewhere on it," Sabrina groaned. "I've got to go after her. She'll need help. I'll check on Ford, but I'll need you to keep him here, preferably unconscious."
"Wilmik's used all the sedatives, and I can't keep pistol-whipping him," Cynthia protested.
"You did what?" Sabrina demanded.
"Not me! You!"
"I—" Sabrina shook her head. "If I had to be possessed by a dead person, why couldn't it have been by an intelligent one? How will I ever talk him around if he thinks I've been whacking him in the head?"
"I've been pondering that."
"And?"
Cynthia shrugged. "Maybe if you bat your eyes at him."
"Right," Sabrina snorted.
"Now, wait. I'm serious. Sort of. This guy spent most of the time I saw you together trying to convince you you were his lover."
Sabrina closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. "Oh, God. This is going to be so embarrassing. Look. You just stay here and keep your head down." She scooped up the blaster and ducked out of the cave. The moment she stepped outside, she faltered, but then she caught sight of Ford and ran to his side. When she reached out to touch him, she fell back with a cry of pain.
"What? What?" Cynthia shouted, running to the mouth of the cave. "Are you okay?"
Sabrina shook her hand out ruefully. "Mara must have given me a good dose of Great Crystal resonance. Ford's full of Pharon resonance. Boy, that hurt." She bit her lip. "That means I may not be myself for very long, Cynthia. The Pharon crystal's strong here, and Mara's a long way from home."
"I don't understand all this about resonance," Cynthia admitted.
"I don't think Earth's ready for it," Sabrina replied, "but as far as I can tell, the superstring theory isn't that far off."
"Medicine, not physics, remember?"
"It's a theory that atoms aren't particles, they're really strings vibrating. Scientists on Earth are beginning to think that way. Also there are supposedly ten or eleven dimensions, not four. Ford told me about it; he was making fun of it, but from what I could tell it was just details he was picking at. Cynthia, I haven't got time to explain it, even if I understood it myself. But the Miahns all resonate with the Great Crystal, and Malvarak's brought in a chunk of something that vibrates differently. It screws up Miahn perceptions. Mine too, because I've been around the Great Crystal so long. See if anybody on the retrieval team is a non-sensitive."
"I think they are," Cynthia said. "Someone brought that up before."
"Great. See if you can revive them and tell them they've got to find and destroy the Pharon crystal. Blasting it into dust won't do it, either—it's got to go completely away so that the resonance stops."
"Right."
"And see if you can keep Ford from following me when he wakes up."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"I don't know. Send him in the wrong direction or something. I just need a head start while I'm still myself." Sabrina looked around. "Um, which way am I going?"
"I don't know where the Queen was going, but the house is that way," Cynthia said, pointing.
"Right. Get the retrieval team after the Pharon crystal, and keep your head down," Sabrina ordered.
"Be careful!" Cynthia replied.
Sabrina turned to go, then stopped, throwing her arms around Cynthia. "Thank you for coming," she whispered.
Cynthia choked on a laugh. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world."