Chapter 28
IT WAS FIVE days later, and they were huddled around Diva’s bed in the aid centre. Diva was on her way to recovery, after a three-hour operation in which the gash in her leg had been repaired, including nerves. Luckily there had been no severing of tendons. She would walk and run again.
Others had not been so lucky. The final death toll had been nearly two thousand, and there were nearly the same number of injured, although many were now well on the way to recovery.
“The Sellites will soon be back,” said Six gloomily.
Grace shook her head. “I don’t think so, Six. Remember that there are only five hundred Sell houses, and that they really don’t have the personnel to keep up this rate of attack. Atheron must have pulled in all the favours he could to man so many spaceships – they must have taken the ships away from mining operations all over the system. And they don’t have an arsenal of bombs either. What with the attack on Arcan last year, and this one on Kwaide, I don’t think they can have more than a couple of missiles left. Plus, they lost all their nuclear weapons. I really don’t think they will be anxious to come back to Kwaide.”
“So they won’t send soldiers?” asked Ledin, who had called in to enquire after Valhai Diva.
“There is no army on Valhai. The only trained combat team is the one that protects the head of Sell, in the Valhai Voting Chamber. That is it. They don’t have an army to send.”
“That is a great relief,” said the pilot. “Although I don’t think the Elders will let it go so easily.”
Six shook his head. “They will attack again. We will have to be ready. The result of the next attack could finish the conflict.”
Diva struggled against the sheets. “I have to get up!”
Six put a flat hand on top of the sheet. “You will stay there,” he said, in a quiet tone.
Diva opened her mouth, and then closed it again.
Grace giggled. “You looked just like a fish then, Diva!”
Vion cleared his throat. “You need to stay in hospital for at least another week, Diva, and then it will take you six weeks of rehabilitation to get full use of your leg back. From there to being in combat fitness will take months.”
Diva gave him a look. “I have no intention of sitting around here interminably,” she informed the company. “I might manage a week or two, and then you had better cross me off the Kwaide visiting list.”
Six gave a nod. “I think we would do better to send you to Valhai to help Arcan,” he said. “That big meeting is coming up, and I think you and Grace ought to be there. I would go myself, but with the menace of a new battle, it might be better if I stayed here. In any case, we don’t want Diva here totaling any more shuttles. We have had to ask Coriolis for a loan of two of theirs as it is.”
Diva opened her mouth to protest, but Grace looked pointedly at her with one eyebrow raised. She got a resigned nod back.
“Very well,” Grace said. “We will go back to Valhai when Diva can travel, and if Arcan is willing to transport us back.”
Vion made a stifled sound. All of them turned to look at him. He reddened. “I … err … that is—” He broke off and looked like a stuffed Xianthan turkey bird. Grace felt a cold shadow of apprehension.
The doctor cleared his throat. “I … err … I suppose I should tell you all that I am … about to enter into a life commitment with the daughter of the 466th house.”
Grace looked down at the floor for a short second, collecting herself. “Congratulations, Vion, I hope you will both be very happy. May the heavenly triangle bless the union with progeny.”
Diva had looked quickly at Grace, but now smiled up at the doctor too. “Indeed. Congratulations.”
Six gave a grunt, but said nothing. His eyes slipped over to look at Grace too, but he kept his own counsel. There was a long and rather uncomfortable silence in the ward.
“Well, I must be going – I have to start my rounds,” said Vion, getting to his feet.
“Sure. Thanks for all your help. When are you due to go back to Coriolis?” asked Six.
“Next week. I should be able to leave everything to the new trainees by then – they have been making huge progress.”
“And how is the new house in Mesteta coming on?”
“Fine. It will be ready soon – in time for the …”
“Ceremony?” finished Six.
“Exactly. We have decided to live on Coriolis, at least for a short time.”
“New Kwaide is very grateful for your help, Vion. We wish you well.”
“Thank you.” The doctor got to his feet and left the room. The others glanced around.
“We are going to have to be very careful about what we say in front of him in the future,” Six told them.
“Vion would never betray us!” Grace said.
“Grace, you ought to know better than that. He has made his decision, and it involves maintaining the status quo on Valhai. He can no longer be trusted.”
“Of course he can!”
Six shook his head, and turned to Ledin, who had been listening to the conversation attentively. “Make sure everybody knows not to discuss any tactics in front of the doctor from now on, please,” he told him.
“Of course.” Ledin nodded and walked away.
Diva put a hand over Grace’s wrist. “All right, Grace?”
“Sure.”
“Only I thought—”
“Well, you were wrong.”
“I don’t think so. But I understand. He has a family to consider.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Grace shook the hand away. “There was never anything between Vion and me. He is far too old.”
“He is not good enough for you,” said Six.
“You think?” Grace looked up.
“Of course he’s not. If he were he wouldn’t have put his family before you. Nobody who cared would.”
The two girls looked at Six in surprise. He wasn’t much given to analyzing emotions.
“What?” he asked. “Well, stands to reason. Anybody would say the same.”
“I don’t think they would,” said Grace slowly, “not in Sell, anyway.”
“Oh well – Sell!” he retorted, with such a tone of disdain that the girls both laughed. “No, seriously,” he went on, “I am disappointed in Vion – I thought he was a straight-up sort of guy.” He thought a bit. “If you want my opinion, I think he’s making a big mistake!”
“You’ll find somebody much worthier, Grace,” Diva told her.
“Of course I will!” But Grace was sure that she never would. She just wished they would shut up about it, leave her alone. She felt strange – as if the air had suddenly become thicker. It was like swimming through jelly, and she didn’t like the feeling one little bit. Grace made an effort to get her concentration back on track. “Then we will head back to Valhai for the meeting in the Valhai Voting Dome. Will you be all right here, Six?”
Six stuck his chin out with a stubborn look. “Naturally,” he said. “I want to see New Kwaide established once and for all.”
“We could meet back on Valhai when it is all over?” suggested Grace.
Six sketched a bow. “Ladies,” he said, “May both Almagest and Sacras watch over you. And Diva – don’t go getting into any more trouble – I am getting tired of having to rescue you!”
“Of all the—”
But he had gone, swinging out of the door jauntily, and leaving Diva with the words on her lips. “Ogghh!” she finished, with a face that promised revenge.
ARCAN CONTACTED GRACE before Diva’s convalescence in hospital was over. He appeared out of the blue in front of the Sellite girl, as she was cleaning her teeth in the shack she shared with the now absent Coriolan girl.
“Arcan!” Grace clutched at her heart. “Don’t do that! You nearly gave me heart stop!”
“My apologies; I forget how fragile you transient life-forms are,” he said. “But I do not know how to make noise prior to my arrival.”
“No. Put like that, it does make me sound a little … demanding, doesn’t it?”
“You scare easily. It is natural for a being of your size.”
“Nothing scares me!” she told him.
The bubble shook a little, and glistened.
“I am serious!”
“I know. But you can’t help it if your body pumps adrenaline around your system. It is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“We can’t all be superior beings.”
“Yes. You must find that hard to bear.”
“I am perfectly happy as I am!” There wasn’t much truth in that just at the moment, but it sounded good, she thought.
Arcan shimmered. “Never mind, Grace. I have always found you to be a good friend.”
“Diva and I are coming back to Valhai, if you agree. We thought we could help you with the big meeting.”
“That is why I came over. Where is Diva?”
Grace told him everything that had happened, and how Diva was recovering in hospital.
“Do you think I should have been here?” he asked.
Grace shook her head. “No. You have to draw the line somewhere, and we all understand that. You have always been there for us when we needed you, and we have to learn to live our short lives without relying too heavily on you. None of us have a problem with that. We can hardly expect to have a tame fixer around all the time. What’s new with you?”
“I have been trying to track my past history, and remove the new threat the Sellites have invented.”
“And?”
“I do not think I have been doing anything else.”
“No. I meant – with what result?”
“Oh. Why do you express yourself so loosely? I have not yet been able to find the compound the Sellites used against me. I hope you will help me with that.”
Grace nodded. “Of course. What about your past history? Have you got anywhere with that?”
“Something interesting turned up. When I went back to check the atmosphere above Nomus after I had destroyed those missiles, I came across some bacteria in the upper atmosphere of the planet. They turned out to be almost identical to the bacteria I have a symbiosis with on Valhai. So it is possible that Valhai was originally associated with Nomus, and that neither of them have their origins in this system. Almagest and Sacras might truly have been a binary system, with Nomus the intruder, presumably from Pictoris.”
“But you don’t have enough evidence to convince the Sellites?”
Arcan darkened ominously. “I am not sure I even care what the Sellites think or do any more. They cannot stop me now – and I will certainly not let them regain their weapons in the future. I am tired of their interference. They must learn to leave me alone. I will not accept intrusion.”
“What are you going to do with them?”
“I will see what they have to say, and then I will make a decision. This matter is taking up too much of my time. But I will be happy if you and Diva come with me to the meeting. You deserve to be there. And I want to ask you all something.”
“What?”
“I would like you – you, Diva and Six – to come with me to visit the Pictoris system.”
Grace gasped. “Arcan! Can you get us that far? Is it not very dangerous?”
“I would like to see if I have … family, I suppose you would say. And yes, I can take you that far, I think. I have not tried yet, but I got a hazy vision of two or three of the planets in the Pictoris system when we were linked with the Dessites.”
“It would be an honour,” she breathed. “We would be the first people to travel out of the system!”
“Then we will go.”
“YES! When? Now? Diva is still in hospital.”
The shadow moved slightly. “Not now, no. We will wait until after the meeting with the Sellites, until Diva is recovered, until Six has finished with his battles. There is no hurry. I am happy that you wish to come with me.”
“You are happy?” Grace did a little dance around the room. “I am actually going to be the first Sellite to visit an alien world. Yay! How do you like that, Atheron?”
“Why do you care if Atheron likes it?”
“I don’t – that’s the whole point.” She shook her head. Sometimes Arcan could be a bit obtuse.
“It is a very big thing for a species like yours.”
“You can say that again!”
“It is a very—”
“Not literally!”
A black cloud crossed the bubble. “Are you laughing at me, Grace?”
“Never. It’s just that you take everything we say at its face value. It makes conversation very difficult.”
“It is a continuing mystery to me why you should want to say things that do not mean what you say. However, since I only converse with the three of you it doesn’t matter very much, do you not think?”
“No.” She smiled. “I like it.”
“Good. Because I have no intention of changing to suit transients.”
Grace giggled. “I know, Arcan. We are nothing more than flimsies, hardly worth your attention.”
“Exactly. Except for you three, of course. You played a vital part in my awakening – together with Cimma and Vion – and I shall not forget that. But I will not have my life dictated to by transients. They must learn to respect me, and if they cannot do that, then I shall have them removed from my vicinity.”
“Arcan! That sounds very fierce!”
“They have tried to destroy me once too often. I will not allow this to continue. And I will be used by them no longer. They show no respect. It is as if they do not recognize me as a superior being.”
“I think the Sellites still think that they can win,” said Grace.
The bubble doubled in size, making Grace cringe back automatically.
“Then they will discover that they are wrong!” he said.
“You … you are quite scary when you do that, you know!”
“I am getting tired of these Sellites of yours!”
“I am not surprised. I can’t say that I blame you; they haven’t been exactly welcoming!”
“They are like flies buzzing around a Cesan mule – very irritating. If I weren’t against all violence I would have transported all of Sell straight into the upper atmosphere of Nomus.”
“I don’t think they realize that everything has changed. They are like the Elders on Kwaide, desperately trying to cling on to something which can never come back because circumstances have changed. The universe has moved on.”
“And I certainly won’t allow them to store nuclear weapons on Valhai ever again.”
Grace nodded. “Tell them that. Make them see how the system has changed. It is just that their society got so used to being the leaders that they think it will go on like that forever. They are unable to change”
Arcan glittered. “They are very silly beings. Not to know that even if their dominance lasted for a thousand of your years it would be nothing to somebody like me! They are short-sighted, short-lived inferior beings. I find them extremely boring, with their feeble attempts to maintain a status quo only beneficial to themselves. They are unworthy of their status as evolved animals. Their greed has stumped their progress, turning them into self-seeking fools.”
Grace went red. “I am one of them,” she reminded him.
“You are the exception, Grace. I am happy to talk to you – and you are not greedy.”
“Thank you.”
“Not at all. Now, when will you and Diva be ready to join me back on Valhai? I would appreciate your help with the negotiations, as I really would prefer not to have to transport my fellow participants into the effluent conduits of Benefice!”
DIVA WAS PRONOUNCED fit to travel three days later, and Arcan moved the two girls smoothly over to the 21st floor of the 256th skyrise. Diva looked around her with pleasure.
“A bath!” she exclaimed. “First of all – a bath.”
Grace giggled. “Is that all you ever think of, Diva?”
Diva drew herself up to her full height. “Certainly not!” Then a corner of her mouth twitched. “Though I must say, living on Kwaide does tend to limit one’s ideas of fun!”
“Will your leg be all right in a bath?”
Diva shook her head. “No. I shall have to keep that whole leg out of the water, but I don’t care. I really need a bath.”
“Even if it is only with water?”
“I am past caring. Whatever.”
Grace walked through to the bathing chamber and opened the taps on one of the tubs there, and then jumped as a familiar metallic voice interrupted her.
“Are you intending to drink all that liquid?”
“No. We wash in it.” Grace looked around for the video camera. She could see nothing. “Are you blended?”
“Sorry, I forgot.” The round sphere suddenly became visible in front of her. “Why do you wash? What is the purpose?”
“It removes dirt. And, in Diva’s case, it seems to be a necessity to her mental health.”
Diva gave her a light shove. “Very funny. It is a question of hygiene. Don’t Dessites wash?”
The visitor had to think about that one for quite some moments. “Not exactly,” he said eventually. “They don’t have to.”
“That’s what the Kwaidians think,” retorted Diva, “but they are mistaken.”
“Are you calling me mistaken?” The machine gave a whirr. Grace interpreted it as irritation.
Diva shrugged. “Whatever. Would you mind going away while I bathe?”
“Why?”
“Sacras! Something else you have in common with Kwaidians!”
“Why should I go away?”
“Because I don’t particularly want my ablutions transmitted in glorious technicolour to billions of Dessites?”
“I am not currently transmitting to Dessia.”
“And how am I supposed to know that?” Diva made shooing movements with her hands. “Go away!”
“I am a type 2a sentient. You are not addressing a Coriolan servant!”
“I don’t care who you are! You are getting between me and my bath!”
“I am here in representation of 552 billion type 2a sentients.”
“The mind boggles. Now will you get out of my way?” Diva hobbled over to the edge of the tub.
The sphere buzzed. “I don’t think you appreciate who I am,” it spluttered.
“I know perfectly well who you are. Scram!”
Grace thought it was time to step in. “Why don’t you let me take you to the music room?” she suggested. “I don’t suppose anyone has shown you how the musical squares are used?”
“That would be acceptable,” the machine whirred again and followed Grace out docilely. Diva raised her eyes skywards.
“Aliens at bath time! Whatever next?”
GRACE THANKED THE visitor for its help with the Kwaide missiles.
“Six told me what you did. That is the second time you have broken your Dessite laws to help us. We are very grateful.”
“Some laws make perfect sense when they are studied in theory, but not so much in practice. It is true that type 2 beings should not interfere in the fleeting lives of transients, but I found I could not abandon you, since I had met you personally through the orthogel entity.”
“But you will be punished?”
“Certainly. However, since my first punishment was death, and not even advanced entities can be killed twice, I can’t help feeling that the Dessites failed to take into account the lack of deterrent arguments.”
Grace smiled. “Like adding an atom to Almagest,” she agreed. “Six said he would have been killed if you hadn’t put your ship between him and the missiles.”
“Yes. That is why I felt I should act. Since I have been sentenced to death I have found myself valuing life more than before. And I hypothesized that you inferior beings might feel the same way.”
“We do.”
“Ahh! I wondered if you would possess such advanced sentiments. I am beginning to feel a certain empathy with you now.”
“That’s because we are friends.” Grace turned the music squares on, and got ready to give a demonstration. “You may need empathy when you hear this music! I haven’t had much time to practice recently!”