Xiantha (The Ammonite Galaxy Series, Book 3)

Chapter 21

SIX AND DIVA lost no time in taking a shuttle down to the planet. The orange-gold sun of Pictoria was just coming up over the horizon, so they had at least ten hours before the hurricane-force winds would start up. They would have to move fast if they wanted to find out more about the amorphs. Grace made one last try to make them take her too, but Six soon put a stop to that.

"Suppose we have to climb our way back out again? How could you do that with your hands in the state they are now?" He shook his head. "Even if you were fully recuperated we couldn't take you now, Grace, surely you can see that?"

She was forced to admit that he was right.

"But you will take the ropes with you this time, Six, won't you? Just in case?"

The Kwaidian nodded. "I promise."

Almost as soon as they had gone, Arcan and the visitor began to plan the link with the Dessites. Grace offered to join them, but Arcan was quite adamant.

"It knocked you out cold last time, Grace, and that was when you were fighting fit! Look at you – you can only stand up for a few seconds at a time! No, you stay here and coordinate with Diva and Six. If I am in this link for a long time there may be decisions to take."

"It might be very dangerous, Arcan. These Dessites sound like quite aggressive individuals. Be very, very careful, please!"

"I will be. The visitor has promised that he won't let me come to any harm. If necessary he will protect me."

Grace had to be satisfied with that, but took the video camera aside for a moment as soon as she had the chance.

"Please contact me if there is anything I can do," she told it. "I am worried for both of you."

The visitor agreed. "The case on Dessia has already started," it told her. "The accusations are that I have been applying censorship to my transmissions, that I risked the whole mission to save a 3b entity, and that my loyalties have changed from Dessia to the orthogel entity." The machine whirred distractedly. "There is no defense, because recently I have hardly been transmitting anything at all, and I can't deny their accusations. The only thing that might save me is that they need me to transmit anything at all."

"How long would it take them to get another ship to the binary system?" asked Grace.

"Only a few decades. They have already asked ten ships like mine to deviate from their original courses."

"You didn't tell us that before! You mean that we will be inundated with Dessian ships in another twenty years?"

"Inundated, no. Remember, Dessia is over 12,000 light years away, and we can't travel at the speed of light. It would take 140 centuries of your time for them to reach here from Dessia itself in anything like large numbers, although time would pass much more quickly on the ships, of course. No, the worst they can do is ask any ships in this quadrant to change their course, and head for the binary system."

"And how many might that be?"

The little machine appeared to consider. "There might be fifty or sixty ships in the local area," it said slowly, "though it would take some of those a few thousand years to reach here."

Grace was by now very worried. "I wish you had told Arcan before this."

"I was forbidden to mention it," the machine told her. Then it buzzed again nervously. "Now the Dessites could add a charge of treason to the accusation. I just thought that you ought to know. In case . . . in case Arcan and the others don't succeed."