Xiantha (The Ammonite Galaxy Series, Book 3)

Chapter 20

GRACE WAS SITTING up in a chair. It was her first day without the vacuum pumps on her hands and feet, and they were all celebrating her release from what had felt very much like purgatory. At least now she could get out of bed, and walk around the room. And the Sellite delegation had returned with the coffins to Valhai, so now that the other Xianthan collaborators had finally been rounded up she was safe from attack. A round-the-clock watch was deemed unnecessary. She felt so much better that she was euphoric, and they had all been giggling like little children for the last two hours. Then she realized with a sinking feeling that today was the last day that Cimma and Ledin could be there.

It was silly of her to wish they could stay longer, but her recent Xianthan meditations had made her realize how important they were to her. They had both insisted on staying until she was safely on the road to recovery, but New Kwaide needed them: the Elders were refusing to maintain the agreements, and there had been some half-hearted skirmishes around the boundaries marked out in the Independence Agreements. Cimma said that it was only to be expected, and that both she and Ledin were essential just at the moment. The newly elected president was good, but inexperienced, and the skirmishes should be played down, and underemphasized. She thought it was quite normal that the Elders should take some time to adapt, and that New Kwaide should try to give them that time. Since she was worried that the president might let things escalate, she was determined to get back to Kwaide that same day.

So the last few minutes were much more solemn. Grace was waiting for the moment to arrive, which meant it came all the more quickly. Her mother got to her feet.

"Please try at least not to get into any more trouble, will you?" she said, bending down to stroke Grace's hair to one side. "Ledin and I are getting tired of having to come out and rescue you!"

Grace gave a wan smile, but stood up shakily to give her a fierce hug. "I will be very careful," she promised. She turned to Ledin, who was looking rather uncertain. She gave him a smile, and then hugged him too. He held her very tight against him for a few seconds, before letting her go.

"Take care, Grace," he told her, in a low voice. "I know you can! Come and visit us on Kwaide when you are able. There are places to go out there now. With music, and dancing. You can actually have fun!"

"I will." For a moment Ledin thought that Grace was going to kiss him. He seemed to read the intention on her face, and then she stepped back, and the moment was gone, leaving him to wonder if he had imagined it. He and Cimma disappeared, Ledin with a laconic wave of goodbye to the others, and there was a long pause.

"I hear you finally found the facility," said Grace, to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Wouldn't have mattered if we hadn't, as it turned out," Six told her. "Atheron had dismantled everything before he left. It was as clean as a whistle. Terrific amount of work for no return. All we had to do was throw out a few surplus drums of chemical products used to manufacture the orange compound, and pull the structure down. The rest of the orange compound was on the shuttles Atheron had come on. Arcan transported those straight into a declining orbit around Almagest!"

"A lot of trouble over nothing," agreed Diva. "We could have been lying on the sands at the Emerald Lake for all the good we did!"

The visitor whirred. "In that case I think Six should probably stay at the Emerald lake all the time!"

There was another silence as they digested that remark with its implications, and then Diva burst out laughing. "Serves you right, Six! For cruelty to inanimate objects!"

Six grinned back, taking it in good part. "I see you have got used to our ways, Visitor! That was a joke! If you keep on like this you'll forget that you are Dessite altogether!"