Webdancers (40 page)

Noah fired two bright green blasts of energy across the bows of the ships, hitting the Queen’s pincers and momentarily deterring their destructive work.
Webdancer
and Eshaz veered away, but soon came back around to continue the fight.

I’ve got to change this equation
, Noah said to Thinker, across their linkage.

Abruptly, he took the cocoon in a sharp turn and headed through a small spiral nebula, passing through it and heading toward a region that was commonly known as the Heart of the Galaxy, the theoretically exact mathematical center of all galactic mass and gravitation. He wished he’d been able to go farther, into uncharted regions. But at least there were no known resident populations in this region.

The Queen of the Undergalaxy was right behind him, picking up speed. Her pincers were extended in anticipation, and she opened her mouth as well, a black, deadly maw in the expanse of space. Wherever she went, color and light vanished—other than her brilliant yellow eyes. She seemed to inhale entire suns and planetary systems, which vanished after she passed near them, though she did not grow perceptibly larger. Oddly—and he began to wonder if it was because of some power the Aopoddae had—she had not been able to do that to them, or to him.

Just then, Noah saw hundreds of Liberator ships on either side of him, keeping up on parallel podways. All except one—
Webdancer
—had Tulyan faces on their prows.
Webdancer
took a lead position on one side of the cocoon, and Agryt—piloted by Eshaz—was at the lead on the other side, like flanking guards. Soon, more and more podships—the much larger group of faceless ones—caught up.

The Queen still managed to get past the fleet, and attacked the underside of the cocoon. She lashed out at the space station with one of her immense chelicerae claws, and barely scratched the hide of the amalgamated podships, but deep enough to cause them to cry out to Noah in pain. Quickly, they began to heal the wound, while Noah slowed and veered off, taking a position to protect
Webdancer
, and Tesh.

Behind him, he saw five of the smaller Web Spinners do something unexpected. In concert, they flew directly at the Queen’s other pincer, and smashed into it. Enraged, she stabbed them with her pincers and tossed the smaller creatures aside. Noah saw a familiar face in one of the dying spinners—a glimmering, distorted countenance that still had the features of Princess Meghina. Then he saw other Human faces inside the facets of the other dying creatures—and recognized them as the Humans who had consumed the Elixir of Life to become immortals. Were they really dying now? Earlier, he had seen Pimyt’s face on one of the Web Spinners. What did it all mean? How—and why—had they been recruited into the ranks of the Web Spinners? At least Meghina and four of her companions had not been converted entirely. They had not lost their loyalty to the cause of humanity. Even Meghina, unhappy at being born a Mutati, had proved that she deserved to be considered Human, in the best definition of the race.

The smaller creature with the face of Pimyt swiped at
Webdancer
, and struck the ship a glancing blow. Noah darted in that direction and slammed hard into the spiderlike demon, knocking it away into space.

On a Thinker-to-comlink relay, Noah had the robot say to Tesh, “Go away! Save yourself and our baby!”

She did not respond, and returned to her course, flying alongside the cocoon with the other podships.
Webdancer
had scratches on its hull where it had been clawed and scraped, but the injuries didn’t seem to be severe.

In a sudden movement, the Queen struck out at Eshaz’s ship, and grabbed it in a powerful pincer grip. Then, to his horror, Noah saw the monster bite into the face of Eshaz on the prow of the ship. For a moment, the entire podship changed shape into a larger-than-life version of Eshaz’s natural reptilian body, struggling to get away from the spinner. It was to no avail. She ripped through Eshaz and cast him away. He tumbled, alternately changing shape to Aopoddae and Tulyan, then became amorphous and black, with eight legs sprouting out from his lower body. In a matter of moments, the newborn horror raced toward Noah, and Eshaz’s face began to glimmer on its faceted face. It had become one of the small Web Spinners.

Noah didn’t have time to grieve, or to think about the other podships and pilots who were being converted when the Queen got to them, vessel by vessel. He continued to take evasive maneuvers from the pack of spinners, all the while trying to keep them away from
Webdancer
.

Filled with anger and frustration, Noah felt a trembling in the cocoon flesh. Casting green light from his eyes around the hull of the space station, he gazed out on the thousands of podships in the fleet, many of which kept flying directly at the Queen’s pincers in obvious, though suicidal, efforts to deter her. It was working to some extent, as she continued to deal with them while still pursuing Noah. It had the effect of slowing her down, and her companions with her. She seemed to be the only one who could stab the attackers and convert them into spinners. If it kept going like that, however, Noah realized that she would eventually convert the entire podship fleet and command them as well. But she could only convert as many as she could reach—and so far she’d barely made a dent in the Liberator fleet.

Through Timeweb, Noah expanded his mind into each of the interiors of the podships. He wasn’t really touching them, at least not physically, but the contact was significant, nonetheless. His mind raced, exploring new possibilities as they occurred to him.

In a form of gestalt, Noah realized that he could do much more than he had previously thought possible with the weapon. The cocoon and all of the other podships could accomplish more than the sum of their individual possibilities. He saw a new way to use the tremendous firepower, a way that even the podships themselves might not realize. After all, they had not used it until he appeared.

In the midst of his racing thoughts, Noah caught himself, and felt a chill of realization as information seeped out of the armored Aopoddae memory core in his brain and entered his consciousness. The sentient spacecraft had known the full potential of the weapon all along, but needed him to prove he was worthy of using it. He had to figure it out himself, while they remained in close proximity to him—taking control of most of the fleet away from the pilots.

Even facing their own destruction, the podships were behaving unpredictably, in ways that did not always seem to help their own survival. Their behavior almost seemed … religious to him, as if they believed in fate and destiny. But whatever their motives, they concealed them from him. Noah had the feeling that he would never figure out the ancient aliens to any great extent, even if he managed to get through this great challenge with them.

With that realization, Noah felt a shift in space and time around him, and abruptly his face and eyes appeared on the prow of each ship in the Liberator fleet, in addition to his multiple countenances all around the cocoon. Protectively, he was on the prow of
Webdancer
, with Tesh inside.

In the past, when Noah’s powers were embryonic and unpredictable, he had, for a time, been able to guide a single podship by remote control, extending his thoughts into its sectoid chamber. Now he found that he could do this for all of the Aopoddae at once—more than one hundred thousand of them—psychically connecting the sectoid chamber of the cocoon with all of the smaller sectoid chambers in the fleet.

Every ship in the fleet glowed faintly green, and Noah felt the pulsing of the flesh of every vessel, the coordinated heartbeat of one collective organism. Noah was that organism, and it was him. The ships all glowed brighter, matching the intensity and hue of the cocoon.

Then Noah fired the incredible primal weapon at the Queen and her minions, not holding anything back. The blasts were white this time—with the ships in the fleet firing at the smaller Web Spinners and the cocoon firing directly at the Queen of the Undergalaxy. He hit her with far more power than all of her slaves received combined. In all, it was exponentially more force than he had used before.

This was enough to disintegrate every one of the smaller Web Spinners in hot bursts of primal whiteness that turned them into dust particles so infinitesimal that they could no longer be seen. They just seemed to vanish. But that didn’t happen with the Queen. The tremendous force of the biggest blast knocked her into another star system, but she recovered and roared back, her yellow-ember eyes more intense than ever and her body flashing all of the colors in the universe.

Noah hit her again, this time directing blasts at her from the cocoon and from every podship. The tremendous combined force hit her on all sides and broke her into parts, but the parts kept moving, kept trying to regroup. It reminded Noah of himself, the way he repeatedly regenerated his body after his sister hacked it apart. Tesh had worried about what kind of a monster he might be. He hoped he was not one, and had dedicated himself to proving it. But this Queen was something else entirely. Could she ever be stopped?

He continued to fire in rapid succession, focal blasts from all directions that broke the Queen up into smaller and smaller fragments, until only a black cloud of dust remained. The cloud coalesced more tightly and tried to float away, but Noah used the podship fleet to herd it into a timehole—a cosmic opening that made its presence known like a message from the creator of the universe. In went the Queen of the Undergalaxy—every last particle of her stygian dust.

And when she was gone, Noah used the primal power of the cocoon to seal the timehole over, repairing it for all time. Then, gathering energy into the cocoon from the podship fleet, he transmitted simultaneous bursts of raw power into all astronomical sectors, sealing every timehole in the galaxy and repairing every torn fragment of galactic webbing.

Deeply fatigued, he still had the strength to access Timeweb, and through it he watched as Doge Anton sent wave after wave of podships out into the galaxy, on missions to destroy the HibAdus and recapture every Human and Mutati world. In a matter of hours, eleven main planets were taken back.

More planets would follow, but Noah didn’t have the strength to monitor the details. He was not needed for those efforts. Already the enemy soldiers were surrendering en masse. Soon the Adurian homeworld and the Hibbil Cluster Worlds would fall as well.

Just before leaving the paranormal realm, he saw the commencement of a big victory celebration on Dij, the new Mutati homeworld. Riding in an open car, Hari’Adab was leading a procession down the main boulevard of the capital city. Beside him sat Parais d’Olor in a custom seat that accommodated her avian form. Finally, she was recovering from her injuries.…

Noah sighed in contentment. After all the chaos, things were settling down and new balances were being put into place. Safeguards to prevent future galactic wars and rampant decay of the infrastructure.

On a personal level, it pleased him immensely that Tesh and their unborn baby were safe, along with EcoStation. But a great and true friend had been lost, and for him Noah mourned deeply.
Eshaz
.

Vowing to honor his fallen companion one day, Noah gazed out on the fleet of podships, and saw them revert to their normal mottled appearances, with gray, black-streaked hulls. They floated motionless in space, and he understood why.

Lethargically, he swam back through the podflesh and emerged into one of the classroom modules, where he found Thinker awaiting him.

The orange lights around the robot’s faceplate blinked cheerily as he strutted forward, making whirring sounds that were louder than normal. “Congratulations, Master Noah!” he exclaimed.

Moving slowly, feeling fatigued and sore, Noah extricated himself from the cocoon’s podflesh and then watched it solidify into the decking and walls, along with all of the interior appointments that had previously been extruded by the amalgamated entity. His own skin remained gray, streaked in black.

Around him, he felt the power he had harnessed weakening, fading, dissipating. In a matter of moments the glowing green cocoon-sun went out like a used-up light bulb, and became a gray, faceless shape floating in space. Inside, Noah slumped onto the deck, but waved Thinker away when the robot hurried to help.

“You don’t look good, Master Noah.”

“Nothing a thousand years of sleep can’t fix. Just let me rest.”

“Shall I send for a doctor?”

Noah almost didn’t have the energy to respond. He heard his own voice winding down. “The doctor doesn’t exist who can tend to me. Tell everyone I do not wish to be disturbed.”

“As you wish, sir.”

So drained of energy that he could barely move a muscle, the podman curled up in a fetal ball and plunged into a deep sleep that transported him far, far away.

Chapter Seventy-Five

The best measure of your life is what you give to others,

not what you take for yourself.

—Noah Watanabe

As Noah slept on the deck, he dreamed of far-away places and alien races. Across the wide viewing canvas of his mind he saw the entire galaxy in all of its spectacular, colorful beauty, as the Creator had originally designed it. This gave him great pleasure, but the feeling was ephemeral, as he moved from dream to dream, with each of them compressed into only a few ticks of time.

In one of the dreams, he was the first person in an entirely new galactic race of Human-Aopoddae hybrids who had paranormal powers and the ability to inspire others to take care of the galactic environment. His followers wore green-and-brown Guardian uniforms. They looked upon him with awe and reverence, saying he had a certain glow about him and an unparalleled dynamism, that he was a force of nature unto himself. Truly, they insisted, he must be the Savior spoken of in Tulyan legends, the one sent to save Timeweb and hold dominion over it for all eternity thereafter. He tried to deny this, to tell them otherwise, but they wouldn’t listen.

In yet another, even more troubling dream, he detected a resumption of trouble in the galaxy, as Web Spinners regenerated themselves and began poking at weak spots from the undergalaxy to make small holes, but not large enough yet for their sinister sovereign to break through. Past events seemed to merge with a possible future that Noah was seeing in the dream, as if all aspects of time had folded together, and the future, the present, and the past were all one. In the past, even when the Queen had been unable to escape she had still found extrasensory ways to recruit from our galaxy, taking Tulyans, Humans, and other races who metamorphosed into Web Spinners. She also incorporated into her Cimmerian legions the ancient race that originally inhabited Canopa in eons past, and was thought to have gone extinct.

It might explain why Eshaz was taken and became a Web Spinner, and why Princess Meghina and her companions were drawn in as well. Perhaps these recruits had powers or abilities that the aggressive Queen found useful. Pimyt was a complete question mark. As far as Noah knew, he did not have Eshaz’s paranormal timeseeing abilities, or the immortal blood of Meghina and her companions.

Noah paused, sensing that the Hibbil, too, must have some link to the others that made him attractive to the Queen. But the members of other galactic races had been drawn into her minions as well. More question marks.

And what about me?

Noah’s dreaming mind spread out, trying to absorb all possibilities. He saw the reptilian face of First Elder Kre’n superimposed over the heavens, with the faint green filigree of Timeweb visible beyond. “The goal of the Web Spinners,” she said, “is to escape the nether realm where they have been imprisoned, so that they can take control of our galaxy and every other galaxy as well. Working at cross-purposes to her, Noah, you sought to maintain and restore Timeweb, in coordination with us. The Web Spinners—with paranormal abilities to perceive events beyond the undergalaxy—could not stand that. After recognizing the threat from you, and your identity as the Savior, the Queen intended to capture you and convert you to her own purposes … as her hapless consort. You are immortal, after all, like some of the others that she coveted, but you possess far greater powers—and she thought she could gain control over them through you. She still believes that.”

“But I pulverized her into dust,” the dream-Noah said.

“All things arise from dust,” Kre’n said, in an ancient voice. “You know that. It’s why you swept the particles into that timehole.”

“Yes.”

An additional worry occurred to Noah, and he was about to ask Kre’n about it when he saw a vast timehole open up behind her, encompassing half the galaxy. Out of that hole came the Web Spinners—more than he had ever seen before. So many that they reminded him of a Parvii swarm, but in nightmarish proportions. They swept through the image of Kre’n, scattering her into particles that drifted away. The dark creatures coalesced and grew more compact, and where Kre’n’s face had been, another appeared.

Is this real or imagined?
he wondered, struggling unsuccessfully to awaken, to free himself of the visions.

The Queen of the Undergalaxy smiled at Noah, but her faceted face was not like before. This time it bore the countenance of Tesh Kori, and in her swollen abdomen grew the child they had conceived.

“You are the God of the Undergalaxy,” she said, “and I have guided you to your true purpose.”

Noah cried out, but felt his scream absorbed into the noiseless void of the universe. No one heard him, and no one could help him. Not against something like this.

Awakening in a sweat, Noah found that someone had placed a thick blanket over him. He pushed it off, and lay there on the deck dripping with perspiration, trying to shake off memories of the nightmare. It had seemed so real. At least he was still lying in the classroom module where he had gone to sleep. That gave him a sense of continuity, that the visions had not been real, or even Timeweb excursions.

At the sound of voices, he looked and saw Thinker standing in the doorway of the chamber, speaking in low tones to another robot out in the corridor.

Presently, Thinker whirred into the room and said, “You look much better, Master Noah.”

Noah rose to his feet, half expecting to still have sore muscles. But he didn’t, and he understood why. The cocoon had transmitted Timeweb nutrients into him, and he felt totally energized again.

“How long did I sleep?” he asked.

“Three days. I’ll bet you’re hungry.”

“Not really.”

“You’ve been through a terrible ordeal,” Thinker said. “All of us have, but you’ve had it the worst. By far.”

All of the losses deeply saddened Noah, and particularly that of Eshaz, who had given his life so valiantly in the climactic battle. But the outcome of the horrific series of escalating dangers had been favorable. Eshaz would have said it was worth it.

Moments later, Tesh ran into the room. “Darling!” she said. “I’m so proud of you. How are you feeling?”

“Quite rested.”

“Good. Despite what you said to Thinker, we took the liberty of having a doctor check your vital signs and administer fluids to you intravenously.”

He nodded, but didn’t know if that had been necessary. He had other connections.

She gave him a long, lingering kiss. Then, with a broad smile, she reached up to touch the grayish, alien skin on his mouth.

“Is my face a little rough?” he asked.

“A girl can get used to it.”

“Just for you, I could revert to my Human appearance … at least for kissing.”

“No. This is the way you are meant to look, and this is the way I love you now.” She placed a hand on her own stomach, which was beginning to show her pregnancy. “I wonder what our little one will look like.”

The reality cast aside the bad dreams. Noah remembered what Tesh had told him earlier, that the baby passing through her birth canal would be tiny, the size of a Parvii. “When you say ‘little one,’ Tesh, you really mean it, don’t you?”

“Big things come in small packages,” she said.

“You’re evidence of that.”

“And you, too, Noah. How you accomplished so much, I don’t think any of us will ever understand. We all saw portions of it firsthand, and we’ve seen the reports from Tulyan survey teams and robotic data banks. It’s truly astounding.”

A voice came from the direction of the corridor. “But the galaxy is not perfect.” First Elder Kre’n strode heavily into the chamber, followed by Dabiggio and two other Elders.

“We have reports of weak infrastructure in a number of sectors,” Kre’n said. “Nothing major and no new timeholes—at least not yet—but they are matters that need expert attention. We’ve dispatched caretaking teams.”

“I was only able to work with the existing infrastructure material,” Noah said. “It seems that the Creator designed it with inherent flaws, thus necessitating regular maintenance.” He smiled. “Sounds like job security for you folks.”

“You could override us and continue to perform the repairs yourself,” Dabiggio said.

“Perhaps, but the energy requirements would be immense and wasteful, potentially throwing off the natural balances. I hope I haven’t already done that, but there were no options. Now I think it is far better to return to the old ways, to the ancient systems that were set up by someone far greater than any of us.”

“Humility looks good on you,” Dabiggio said. Uncharacteristically, the towering Tulyan smiled.

“Thanks, but it’s a suit of clothes everyone should wear,” Noah said.

He grinned as several of his other friends entered the chamber—Doge Anton, General Nirella, Subi Danvar, Dux Hannah, and Acey Zelk. It pleased him to see that all of them had survived, and that they had not sustained serious injuries.

“What do we call you now?” Subi asked. The rotund adjutant had a discolored bump on his forehead, but otherwise looked well.

“Just Noah.” He put his arm around Tesh. “I’m adjusting my priorities. From now on, I’m the Master Emeritus of the Guardians. You’ve done such a great job on my behalf, Subi, that I want you to run things from now on.”

“As Master Subi?”

“That has a nice sound to it,” Noah said.

“Yes, it does,” Tesh agreed.

“But I will not live as long as you,” Subi said. “One day you will need to resume your previous duties.”

“Not if you set up a proper chain of succession.” Glancing at Dux and Acey, he said, “We have a couple of good candidates right here.”

The young men glowed proudly.

“Good choices.” Subi’s eyes brightened. “Oh, I see. You want the Guardians to be self sufficient.”

Noah nodded. “I’d like the whole galaxy to be that way, functioning without the need for my intervention. It’s idealistic, I know, but there are other things I have to do.”

“What other things?” Subi asked.

“I’m not sure, only that I must free myself from day to day duties and prepare for something else. The various galactic races need to set up workable systems to do things on their own … always thinking of ecology, always trying to work together instead of at cross-purposes. Life, in all of its forms, must have a common vision.”

They spoke for a while longer. Finally, after the others left, Tesh stood alone with Noah and said to him, “I’ve been thinking about what you said, that there are other things you have to do. Is the Big Guy giving you a promotion? Are you becoming a god yourself?”

With a scowl, Noah said, “I don’t think references such as God, the Supreme Being, or the Sublime Creator are necessarily how it really is. They are just convenient reference points for something the galactic races don’t understand.”

“How about what they call you, the Savior?”

“Mmmm. I told the Tulyans I don’t think I’m the messiah foretold in their legends, but I’ll admit to you privately I’m not so certain anymore. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but maybe it was my destiny to appear when I did and do what I did. For some time now, I have felt myself pulled along on a tidal wave of events. Sometimes I could steer this way or that, as if I had limited free will, but for the most part I’ve been forced along a certain path. And I don’t know where that path leads.”

“Somewhere good, for certain,” she said, with a gentle smile. “But you frighten me with this kind of talk. You sound like you’re planning to leave me.”

He smiled sadly, tenderly. “In my line of work, I can’t always make plans. But I do follow my instincts.” He took her in his arms and held her tight. “One of my instincts tells me how much I love you … and our baby.”

“But is that your primary instinct, your main purpose in life? I know I’m asking a typical female question, but I can’t help wondering.”

“Maybe it is my main purpose. Maybe I can’t do anything without you.”

She sighed. “The strong woman behind the great man.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I know you didn’t.” She looked up and kissed him.

“I mean, we’re a strong team, Tesh. You give me strength and vice versa, I hope.”

“And our baby? Could he be our real destiny? Might he hold a special purpose, beyond anything you or I could ever accomplish?”

“After what we’ve been through, anything is possible. But if he … or
she
… is healthy and contributes to the welfare of the known galaxy, that will be sufficient.”

“For me, just being with you is enough, Noah. Our baby is a bonus.” She grasped his rough-textured hand and led him toward the doorway. “Now come with me, Darling. We have some catching up to do. Our own set of priorities.”