Webdancers (18 page)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Everything we experience is through a series of individual and social filters, from our day to day activities to our perception of the universe. No matter the circumstance, what we see is never the same as what any other person sees. There can be similarities and overlaps, but it is never identical.

—Master Noah Watanabe, classroom instruction

Doge Anton and a number of his key military officers were holding a late night strategy session at his headquarters on Canopa. They met on the top floor of the tallest building in the Valley of the Princes. They had not yet heard the bad news about Dij.

“I don’t like this waiting game,” General Nirella said. She paced the floor in front of a bank of windows. Beyond her, Anton saw the glittering lights of the corporate buildings in the valley, and the cliff-hanging structures of Rainbow City in the distance.

“We need to hit them hard,” Kajor Swen said. He was one of the youngest, most aggressive officers.

“But where?” one of the other officers said. “Our intelligence reports show that they have large forces stationed at each of the conquered planets, and there seems no limit to the forces they can bring to battle.”

“That’s because they’re growing podships in labs,” Nirella said. “The Tulyans hunting wild podships can’t keep up; we can’t increase our fleet at the pace the HibAdus can.”

“Maybe we should figure out how they’re doing it and set up our own program,” Swen said.

“Look into it,” Anton said.

As the meeting continued, the Doge sat uneasily at the head of the table, watching everyone and listening to the exchange of ideas and comments. There were fourteen men and women in the conference room, and many could not seem to remain in their seats. They kept getting up and walking around, as if itching for some real military action.

“Good God!” Nirella exclaimed. She had her face pressed against the glax, looking out at something.

Everyone hurried over to look, including Anton.

The sky over Rainbow City looked like it was spouting green flames. Anton first thought the strange illumination might be an aurora borealis, but it was not positioned over the northern pole of the planet. Using a handheld magnaviewer, he detected a hole in space, emitting what appeared to be green exhaust.

“Get me a satellite report!” Anton shouted.

Two minutes later, a female Tulyan passed through security and strode heavily into the conference room. Doge Anton recognized her as Zigzia, one of the webtalkers who specialized in communicating via the web strands in space. “The satellite report is coming, as you ordered, but there is more you need to know.”

“Something to do with Timeweb?” Nirella asked.

“Yes, General,” Zigzia said. She looked worriedly in the direction of the fiery green sky. “We need to evacuate the building immediately,” she said.

“What?” Anton said.

“There’s a timehole up there, Sire. It’s getting closer, on a direct course for the valley. It could recede, or could suck this whole building into it, and a lot more.”

Astonished, Anton stared at the unnatural sky, and he knew she was right. “Do it!” he barked.

As they hurried out into the corridor, alarm klaxons sounded. The building rumbled, and an eerie green light permeated everything.

“To the roof!” Nirella said.

Running as fast as they could, Anton, Nirella, Zigzia, and all of the others boarded two grid planes, which took off within seconds after all of them were aboard. The pilots hit the jets, and the aircraft shot into the sky at low angles, away from the approaching timehole. Anton held Nirella’s hand. They sat side by side, with electronic safety restraints holding them in. Turbulence shook the plane, but it kept flying.

Behind them, the entire Valley of the Princes glowed green. Then, like particles drawn by a magnet, buildings and whole chunks of land exploded into the green sky and disappeared into the insatiable maw of the timehole.

Suddenly, inexplicably, the sky was no longer green, and the night sky over the valley looked almost completely normal, with glittering stars against a dark cosmic ceiling.

Seated beside Anton, his wife read a telebeam message that appeared over the ring on her hand. “More bad news,” the female officer said. “The last Mutati world has fallen to the HibAdus. We’ve lost Dij.”

“What about the fleet we sent with the Mutati Emir?”

“Safe,” Nirella said. “Hari’Adab wanted to break it up and take a portion of it to other Mutati worlds, but Jimu prevented it.”

“Under our orders,” Anton said. “Good, good. Where are they now?”

“Deep space in the Mutati Sector, or should I say the
former
Mutati Sector.”

“That’s some positive news at least. I want them to come back here right away. All six thousand podships.”

“Right.” She sent the telebeam command, then read another incoming message. “A little more good news, Doge. Elements of the original Mutati fleet have been found in space. They escaped the HibAdus, and have been hiding out. Eclectic solar sailers and other conventional spacecraft, but they’re loaded with armaments. Jimu says they’re loading stuff on the podships and bringing it back.”

“We can use it all.”

“Interesting,” she said. “Our podships are enlarging themselves as necessary to accommodate the additional cargoes. Handy, aren’t they?”

“That they are. And Siriki?”

“All quiet there, Sire. And they know about Dij. Do you want to reconsider the podships we assigned to Siriki, and bring them back as well?”

He shook his head. “No. It’s not apples and apples, is it? I mean, the HibAdus didn’t hit Dij hard until
after
our forces left. Maybe our presence on Siriki inhibits them.”

“It’s a guessing game, isn’t it? We make a move and they make theirs.”

Leaning forward, Anton said to the pilot, “Take us to my flagship.”

* * * * *

At the heavily fortified palace keep on Siriki, Noah absorbed the stream of emergency courier reports from command headquarters on Canopa. The galactic-ecology situation there was bad, but the loss of Dij was dire news, and suggested that Siriki could be the next target of a massive HibAdu assault, taking out the easier targets first. Noah had his own forces on the highest state of alert, but this was nothing new. At his direction, Subi Danvar had instituted that from the very first day they arrived on Siriki. In orbital space, in the sky, and on the ground, all was in readiness—to the extent possible.

Intending to keep an appointment with Princess Meghina, Noah hurried outside. It was a sunny afternoon, and he walked briskly along a crushed brick path that led to her private zoo.

He found her supervising as handlers unloaded exotic animals from a hoverplane and put them in cages. Dressed in black jeans and a short-sleeve gray sweatshirt, the attractive woman did not look like a princess or a courtesan. Her blonde hair was secured in a simple ponytail.

Seeing him, she said, “These animals just came in from one of our remote islands, where there has been destructive activity. They were panicked. I wish we could take them to another planet where it’s safer. For that matter, I wish all of us could go somewhere safe.” She looked long at Noah. “But there’s no such place, is there?”

“I’m afraid not, but so far Siriki has been spared the horrors suffered by other worlds. “ He looked apprehensively at the sky, half expecting HibAdu warships to appear at any time. “I’ve assigned a new guard force to protect you,” he said. “At any given moment, they can get you immediately into an emergency escape craft.”

“I’ve seen them following me everywhere,” she said, nodding her head in the direction of uniformed Human and robotic soldiers on the path. “You needn’t worry about me so much. I’m pretty tough.”

“I know you are, but I feel responsible for you now.” He shuffled his feet. “Look, I want to tell you how much I appreciate the kindness you showed me when my sister was behaving so badly.”

“Was she ever any other way?”

“I know you didn’t like her, and she gave you good reason to feel that way. You tried to keep her from shooting me, and I know you made other attempts to help me behind the scenes. You also took food to my nephew Anton when he was imprisoned by Doge Lorenzo.”

“I’m afraid I wasn’t that great an advocate for either of you,” she said, with a rueful smile. “Fortunately for you, though, you have your own built-in cellular survival kit.”

“And so do you.”

“Mmmm, but from what I hear, your special talents are not limited to the ability to physically regenerate yourself. In that area, we might be comparable, but I don’t have the far-ranging psychic powers you enjoy.”

“I wouldn’t call it enjoyable. The powers seem to come and go. Sometimes I can get into a paranormal realm of my own volition, and sometimes I can’t. There appear to be numerous ways in, but I haven’t figured them out.”

“Timeweb,” she said. “I’ve heard about it. Is it as beautiful as they say? A faint green filigree extending all across the cosmos?”

“I can’t put it into words,” he said.

Meghina excused herself for a moment, to speak with one of the handlers, a woman who was trying to feed raw meat to a caged Sirikan tiger. Noah knew something of the rare, endangered species. It tugged at his heart to see that the orange-and-black animal was emaciated and bruised. It appeared listless, more interested in going to sleep than eating.

When she returned to Noah, she said, “I think I danced on the edge of the sword for awhile. Did you hear about the incredible ride I took in the Pleasure Palace? And about Lorenzo? He’s still missing.” Her eyes glistened with sadness.

“I’m sorry that’s happened to you. As for the orbiter, I still think of it as EcoStation.”

She wiped a tear from her eye. “Yes, it is rightfully yours, but I’m afraid it’s severely damaged. I rode it God only knows how far—through one of those timeholes and back out.”

“Yes, I saw some of that with my … special vision.”

“What’s left of your EcoStation is orbiting the planet of Yaree. The orbiter is severely damaged. Some of the modules may still be sealed or partially sealed, but I’m not sure. It’s taken quite a beating in its travels.”

Noah narrowed his gaze. “The pilot of the lab-pod that we confiscated told us a little about Yaree. It’s an unaligned world in a remote galactic sector, a melting pot of various races. Humans, Mutatis, and other races working side by side.”

“Sort of a utopia that way, though it’s not the most scenic spot I’ve ever visited. The planet is mineral rich, and its rulers are clever traders, dealing in all sorts of goods. With the cessation of regular podship travel, their business activities have been severely curtailed, but they are an industrious people, and militarily quite strong. So far, the HibAdus have not attacked them. The Yareens say they wouldn’t dare.”

“Will they join us militarily?”

“I didn’t ask, but they might.”

“I’m going to look into it—we need all the help we can get,” Noah said. He paused, envisioning EcoStation as it used to be, when he conducted Guardian classed onboard, teaching eager young students about his concept of galactic ecology. Maybe it could be that again, and more.

“If we can repair EcoStation,” he added, “it could be used for military purposes, as an observation platform for relaying information to Doge Anton.”

“It would be easier to build a new space station,” she said.

“But it wouldn’t be the same,” Noah said.

Chapter Forty

We are each alone in this universe.

The multitudes around us only conceal this fact.

—Anonymous, from Lost Earth

In a different context, another universe, it seemed to Lorenzo del Velli, the Hibbil had been respectful, and—though feisty and combative at times—always deferential when confronted by his superior. In those heady days, Pimyt had been his Royal Attaché, both during and after Lorenzo’s reign as Doge of the Merchant Prince Alliance.

Now, it was all quite different.

The space station was gone, inexplicably! Standing on the ground by the landed shuttle, Lorenzo still had trouble believing it, or comprehending where his Pleasure Palace gambling casino was. Weeks had passed, and he’d been forced to sleep on the deck of the shuttle with the others. As a result, he had sore muscles and bones (including a painful hip from lying on his side), and his stomach kept rumbling. He despised the emergency rations and strange local plants they’d been eating. They were totally unsuited to a nobleman of his station and lineage.

Each day Lorenzo and his companions—Pimyt and the eleven surviving Red Beret soldiers—had been searching orbital space around the unnamed, unknown planet. The ion engines kept running roughly, and were giving all of them considerable concern. There’d been no sign of the Pleasure Palace at all, not even a real clue as to its whereabouts.

Around an hour ago, as the shuttle landed yet again, Pimyt had offered a theory. Lorenzo had been inspecting himself in the bathroom mirror, he knew his own aged face was worry-worn. The door had been ajar, and Pimyt had pushed it open. The temerity of the creature!

Lorenzo, unhappy at this affront and still displeased with him for running up the slope ahead of him and hardly looking back, had glowered at the furry little alien. But, for the sake of harmony, the merchant prince had held back a stream of invectives that he had in mind.

As Lorenzo pushed his way out of the small room, with the Hibbil behind him, Pimyt said, “We have experienced but one of many unusual occurrences all across space. You and I have seen the reports, Lorenzo, and we’ve heard the rumors. Something is seriously amiss in all galactic sectors.”

“I get the feeling we’re not even in the known galaxy anymore,” the former doge then said. He rubbed a spot on his forehead nervously, a place he had already made red and rough.

“Let’s see you get out of this one, Lorenzo. What political strings can you pull now?”

Lorenzo swore and made a menacing step toward the smaller being, but had second thoughts when he saw the Hibbil’s glowing red eyes, so the Human just glared at him instead.…

* * * * *

Later that afternoon they moved the shuttle to the other side of the planet, to a clearing at the center of the most peculiar jungle any of them had ever seen. The trees and other plant forms, while living and supple, were entirely gray-brown. One of the Red Berets thought it might be an unusual form of photosynthesis, peculiar to this solar system. Though warm at times and providing reasonable illumination, the yellowish sun had a constant grayish tone around the edges—as if from a lens, or a peculiar solar cloud.

Yes, everything was quite different now.

Disheveled and dirty, Lorenzo had not washed properly since arriving on this unnamed planet. He stood at the main hatch of the shuttle, watching several of the Red Berets venture into the jungle. A few minutes earlier, Pimyt had gone in that direction as well.

Behind Lorenzo, the slender Red Beret who had piloted the mini-sub stood attentively, awaiting instructions from his superior. The man removed his red cap for a moment, smoothed it and put it back on.

“What is your name?” Lorenzo asked, noting no insignia of rank on his uniform. Just a common guard, apparently, although he had been through intensive security screening, like the others.

“Kenjie Ashop, Sire,” he said.

“Well, Ashop, I appreciate your loyalty and attention to my needs. I’m going to take a walk, and while I’m gone I want you to watch over this shuttle. Don’t follow instructions from anyone else until you hear from me.”

“Yes, Sire. Would you like me to go with you? There could be unknown dangers out there.”

Lorenzo’s eyes flashed at him. “As if our situation could get any worse, you mean? No thanks, I’ll go on my own.” The nobleman grabbed a copy of the
Scienscroll
off a shelf, and slipped it into a clearplax carrying bag. The ground was wet and spongy from a recent rain.

The guard unclipped a small black device from a bulkhead, and handed it to Lorenzo. “This is a locator beacon for your safety, Sire. If you get lost in the strange terrain, it will enable us to find you, and it will also enable you to find your way back to the shuttle. It has a range of more than a hundred kilometers.”

“A bit more than I planned to walk today,” Lorenzo said with a smile. He examined the device and its touchpad controls.

The guard nodded, and showed him how to work the directional features. Then he said, “See that orange circle? If you flip open the cap over it, you have an energy-burst weapon, capable of bringing down any animal that might try to come after you. Just touch the red button and fire.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll take care of everything here, Sire.”

“I know you will. I’m counting on you.”

Lorenzo took a different route into the jungle from those he’d seen the others take. He had in mind sitting somewhere alone with the quasi-religious book and searching it for appropriate passages, as he occasionally liked to do. Perhaps he could find a dry rock, in a warm patch of sunlight.

There were no trails in this area that he could make out, suggesting a paucity of animals, or a complete lack of them. But he did find a relatively clear area that sloped slightly downward, as from water runoff. Leafy trees leaned in on each side, making a canopy overhead, through which filtered sunlight passed.

As he proceeded, Lorenzo kept one hand on the
Scienscroll
bag and the other in his jacket pocket, over the weapon. Only rarely did he have to move thick leaves or branches out of the way. Just ahead, he saw the sunny rock he’d hoped for.

As he neared the rock, he found a dry, warm place to sit that also had a back rest. He also noticed a small, quiet pool of water nearby, beneath a rock overhang that must have kept them from noticing it when they were in the air. Sitting on the hard, dry surface, it pleased Lorenzo that the contours were relatively comfortable, almost as if a simple chair had been constructed just for him.

Removing the book from the bag, he read for awhile, but only superficially. Nothing really caught his interest.

But he did have something else with him. Unzipping a pocket of his coat, he removed a small padded medical kit that he had obtained from the CorpOne medical laboratory, back on Canopa. He opened it and examined the contents: a plax vial of red-wine-colored fluid and a dermex injector.

It was a vial of the Elixir of Life, which the crazed Francella Watanabe had developed, using the blood of her brother, Noah. She had sought eternal life, but had only obtained the opposite, an eternity of darkness. Earlier, using the public as guinea pigs to see how effective the product was, she had sold more than two hundred thousand doses. In the vast majority of cases, the elixir had shown no effect at all. But there had been a handful of successes—Princess Meghina, the Salducian diplomat Kobi Akar, four others, and perhaps Noah, too—but by a slightly different route.

After Francella’s death, Lorenzo had come into possession of this vial, but he’d never used it. She had died horribly after consuming the substance, albeit in massive quantities. In addition, there had been recent reports of other elixir consumers coming down with painful, rare diseases and dying. Lorenzo had heard of several hundred cases, and Dr. Bichette had told him that there could be more, as what he called “delayed medical reactions” set in.

Touching the cool surface of the vial, Lorenzo considered his options. Unquestionably, consuming it could make his life more interesting in this boring place. But conceivably, a large percentage—or even all—of the people who had taken the elixir would eventually suffer unpleasant deaths.

Not quite ready to take the chance, he closed the kit and replaced it in his pocket.

Feeling quite sleepy, Lorenzo leaned back and closed his eyes, intending to do so for just a few moments. Since falling from power he had been through a terrible ordeal, and been feeling increasingly tired. It was comparatively warm here, and almost comfortable. Perhaps he could forget his troubles for a few minutes.…

Pimyt had been trailing him at a distance, keeping out of sight, making hardly any sounds. The furry, disheveled Hibbil crept closer and watched the former MPA leader as his head lolled to one side and he drifted off to sleep. Long minutes passed, and as he drew even closer, Pimyt heard the foolish Human snoring.

The Hibbil was far from his people, but he could still sense their collective pulse, and their awakened appetites. He sniffed the air, moved closer.