Kirlian Quest (40 page)

"I comprehend," Hweeh said. "If we move rapidly—"

"However, we have locked you in this room," S-Anity said. "It will take you longer than half a second to break out."

Herald rolled to the window. It was a three-story drop to the ground here, and the landing looked hard. Perhaps not fatal, but certainly crippling.

"You think to turn off and leap?" Sta-nine inquired. "We have other operatives below. They will dismantle you before you can turn on again."

Turn off? Turn on? Something nagged at Herald's mind. Did the Amoebites believe there was a mechanism within the androids to enable the occupants to survive such a jump unscathed? They should know better! "You of the Amoeba are sapient," he said. "So are we of the Cluster. Why do you seek to destroy us?"

"You are weed-species interfering with the development of soul sapience," S-Anity replied. "The weeds must be cleared from the garden."

Weed-species? Sapients? Again that concept! But while the Ancients had eliminated non-Kirlian sapients, the Amoeba seemed to be eliminating Kirlians. Which didn't make sense.

The four -9's rolled toward them. Evidently the -9's were the action specialists, and the -S's were the intellectual ones. That might reduce the odds; intellectuals often did not fight well. The problem was, Herald of Slash and Hweeh of Weew were also intellectuals.

Herald rolled quickly across to touch Hweeh. He exerted his aura, focusing all his healing power. "
What is the nature of the Amoeba?
" he cried. Whatever secrets the Weew had hidden in his shock-protected unconscious had to be brought out now. "Why do they speak of 'turning off'?"

Hweeh shuddered in his android-vehicle. Herald concentrated, willing away the threatening shock. If there were
any
key to escape, Hweeh had it—and there would be no later opportunities. Hweeh had grown steadily more able to face the concept of the Amoeba and the disaster it represented. Had he healed enough?

The -9's closed in, their arms reaching out. Once they got a firm hold, the half-second response-delay would mean little. Strange that they did not merely hurl themselves forward, bashing the two androids against the wall, smashing the flesh-bodies inside. Remote-controlled androids were expendable, so they had an inherent advantage to offset their reflex liability.

@I remember!@ Hweeh cried, reverting to his own mode. Herald did not comprehend Weew speech, and had no translator here in the enclave, but his aural rapport brought the meaning through. This happened in times of special emotional intensity and was another aspect of Kirlianism that had yet to be properly understood. @
The Amoeba is non-Kirlian!
@

Non-Kirlian! Suddenly it was all clear. The Ancients had eliminated the non-Kirlian sapients from the Cluster, but elsewhere in the Universe there had to be Clusters where the non-Kirlians had eliminated the Kirlians. This was a universal struggle between the two forms of intelligent life! Now the sapients without auras were returning, and they had a terrible score to settle, three million years in the making, and no mercy could be expected. No wonder Hweeh had gone into shock. He had glimpsed the phenomenal magnitude of this struggle, and known that it was not a war between Clusters, but war between two completely incompatible cultures—and that the other side had an overwhelming advantage.

Then Herald realized the concomitant truth:
the Amoebites could not Transfer!
Only aura creatures could Transfer their living personalities. That was why the Ancients had been able to spread and conquer so rapidly, with no apparent damage to the Cluster; their non-Kirlian enemies had had to move between systems using a thousand times the energy, and could not compete on the Cluster scale.

But it also meant that the same no-quarter struggle was upon them now, as it had been three million years ago: The Kirlians might be willing to coexist, but the Amoeba had to extinguish
all
Kirlian life. Aural sapience with its inherently unmatchable mobility represented the most dire possible threat to non-Kirlians. The campaign would be absolutely ruthless! Had Herald been a Weew, he would surely have gone into shock himself; even as a Slash he felt a bit dizzy.

Shock? Sure enough, the Weew had done it again, despite Herald's aura. The android body went still as Hweeh lost consciousness. Now it was
one
against four or six—for the salvation of the Cluster, and perhaps all Kirlian life!

+One has turned off!+ S-Anity announced. +Secure the other!+

Turned off:
become unconscious. To a non-Kirlian this would mean complete stilling of body functions, like a machine without power. Not death, but temporary cessation.

And Herald had his third revelation, this one personal.

He charged the window, shoving aside the grasping android pincers. That half-second pause inhibited them just enough. Had those been Amoeba-designed androids, they might have incorporated short-circuit mechanisms to enable them to respond in preset emergency patterns. But these were borrowed units, with liabilities. He smashed his pincers at the transparent sheet, shattering it. The enclave builders had not expected this sort of deliberate stress, or they would have used unshatterable material.

He drew back as the androids charged, then he shoved forward again, toward the opening. The androids leaped to intercept him before he could scramble through. This much they had anticipated, and their move was well timed.

But Herald's two forward skates struck the wall just below the window, as intended. His jointed legs bent under his impetus, then sprang back. He launched himself violently in the opposite direction, directly into the group of androids.

They were caught by surprise. Herald bowled them over, literally. The half-second delay prevented sufficiently rapid recovery of equilibrium for figures knocked off balance to this extent. They skidded across the room, tangling each other, skates spinning in air.

Herald went for the door, but its lock resisted him. He tried to force it open, but it was stronger than his pincers. Naturally the Amoeba would have made sure it was tight! The two S- females, Anity and Elect, scooted over to grab him. Apparently they were not certain the door would hold.

He charged them, needing to maintain his personal freedom of motion. The -9 males were already extricating their limbs from the tangle and scrambling back to their skates. What was he to do?

He caught S-Anity in two appendages, pushing and twisting to upend her. He was only partly successful; one of his pincers snagged in her skirt, ripping it off. He did what he knew was foolish: he looked. And saw—nothing. He had been right all along: the androids had no sexual appurtenances.

S-Elect grabbed him from behind. He must have paused more than half a second, idiot that he was! He spun about, controlling her because he could shift his balance faster than she could shift hers to counter him. He flung her away from him, into the rising group of -9's. Again they all went down in a tangle.

So far he had had the best of it. But so long as he remained confined, theirs was the advantage. They could be disabled but not killed; he was mortal.

He banged against the door, making a loud clatter. "Turn off the power!" he screamed. "Turn off! Turn off!"

"Turning off won't save you now," Sta-9 said, approaching. "We shall dismantle your generator and take it with us."

His generator? Surely they did not think he was merely another android! His aural generator was himself! Yet if they
did
confuse the matter, they might think he had a special model, that generated a higher Kirlian aura, with a more realistic pattern. Ordinary machine auras could not key open Ancient sites, so if he seemed to have a machine that
could
— Yes, they would want to investigate that!

S-Anity skated toward him. Stripped of her skirt, she was just another Modern, but he couldn't concentrate on escape while being harassed by a mobile Amoebite. He could not keep bowling them over; soon he would get bowled over himself.

She grabbed for him. He waltzed her around, hoping to use her as a baffle against the others. Suddenly he realized that he had made another mistake: He had been yelling in the wrong language, the one the enclave couldn't translate.

^Turn off!^ he cried in Pin.

Turn off!
 
in Wheel. §Turn off!§ in Sculp. +Turn off!+ in Plus. And for good measure, several times in Clustric.

Nothing happened. They closed on him again, and this time they were braced against any surprise charge. He spun S-Anity into them, but she took out only one android. Herald knew he had to fight limb to limb—and that he had no reasonable chance.

Unless in the melee he could release his Sculp host from the android body, and sneak across the floor and out the window while the Amoebites took apart the android. They wanted the equipment that they thought enhanced his aura so well, so they could not afford to smash it. Even if his quiescence made them think he had turned off, they still would not want to rush it. That might give him time. Sculps had excellent climbing ability; he might scale the outer wall. It was a serious risk, but—

He tried it, and discovered that it was difficult to open the android from inside; it was intended to be serviced from the outside. And how could he escape this shell without being observed? Maybe he could arrange one more tangle....

Three -9's grabbed him, clamping on firmly. He could not free himself this time. The half-second advantage was nullified by the mindless grip. Now the fourth -9 was returning to open his android, and he could not possibly avoid—

All the androids suddenly froze in place.

Herald shuddered with relief. His plea had been heard! The masters of the enclave had realized that something was wrong, and had cut off the beamed power to the androids. The Amoebites might be in control of these units, but they would not be able to make them operate without that power. Maybe the Amoeba ship would be able to beam down its own power, but that would be chancy because the local power monitors would light up and the ship would soon be located and attacked. Probably by that time Herald and Hweeh would have escaped anyway, and the androids would be in custody of the enclave authorities.

He heard help coming: the clack of Pins, the hum of Wheels. He had saved himself, but it would count for nothing if he did not use his information to prepare the willfully blind Cluster for the battle against the Amoeba. The enemy was handicapped by its lack of Transfer ability—but the enemy had a million heavily armed ships, and the means to mattermit them across the Cluster. Only the science of the Ancients could stop such a thrust—and there was only one way to achieve that science in time.

This was the third revelation he had suffered: to realize that he would have to take Melody of Mintaka's advice seriously, subordinating his personal revulsion to the needs of his society. He would have to enter a functioning Ancient site—the same one Melody had entered—and hope to learn its secrets before the Amoeba blasted it. He had been resistant to the notion, because it seemed to constitute a betrayal of both his personal resolve to stay away from Flame of Furnace, and his love for Psyche. But now he had to do it. In fact, he should have done it before, instead of coming here.

 

 

 

Chapter 11:

Cluster of Sites

 

 

X
Contact by units S and 9 severed. Enemy has discovered our presence.
X

&
Then we must act. Accelerate full-scale mattermission to heartworlds of all Cluster sapients. Withhold final action until placement is complete, unless individual ships are attacked.
&

0
Mission proceeds, virtually complete. Overt action shall be coordinated by schedule. Is it still necessary to hold, pending reverification for soul sapience?
0

&
Correct. It is to be regretted that precipitous action is contemplated, but the outcome is not in question. We shall reverify if events do not make this unfeasible.
&

0
Problem of logistics. Unit 1, presently on watch by ancient site of planet £, now required for main thrust.
0

&
The main thrust is preemptive. Reassign unit 1. The enemy has shown no sign of activating that site, and even if this occurred now, there would not be time for them to draw sufficient advantage from it before our action hour.
&

 

* * *

 

Herald lifted his three great feet in turn, getting the feel of his massive new host. This was a £, rather like the triped Moderns skaters, but fully living, sapient, and much larger. The £ were the giants of Sphere Dash, Andromeda, and were among the largest sapients anywhere in the Cluster. For a long time they had been treated as virtual slaves by the more technological, but not more civilized, birds of Dash. But now they had come into their own, and though the labors they performed were much the same as before, and many utilized the supervision of Dash mahouts, there was no question to whom this world belonged. The £ still preferred lives of brute physical work coupled with esthetic mental interactions. The birds were tolerated to the extent they facilitated this by assuming the tedious direction of the physical program, but it was no longer against law or custom for individual £ to be without mahouts, or to wander wherever they chose.

Here on Planet £ was the finest functioning Ancient site known. Herald only hoped it was not yet known to the Amoeba. If it was, he was about to commit suicide. And maybe that would be fitting.

He whirled his body slowly, setting his feet down in order, progressing along the trail to the great bog of jelly. Melody of Mintaka had trod a similar trail a thousand years ago, on her way to the first opening of this site, and the resulting victory for her Galaxy. Could Herald do likewise?

Now he was descending into the bog. The atmosphere thickened into viscosity, impeding progress, but his host was adequate to the need. Herald regretted leaving the prismatic feather trees behind. He knew they broke the sunlight into its component hues so that each species could utilize its particular wavelength, but to him it was a tremendously artistic thing, a wilderness mural in light. The bog, in contrast, was deepening into gray, then black, as all light was excluded. He had to use senses other than sight to avoid the greater nether branches of the lattice that crisscrossed the bog at different levels, and he also stayed clear of the aromatic scentwood trunks, so valuable for construction. He was here for quite another purpose.