Chapter Twenty-four

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Chapter 24

GRACE WAS MANNING the controls of the Variance as they moved gently towards the small Dessite ship, which had suddenly appeared in front of them, having turned off its blending device. It was about the size of a Coriolan bathtub, and the Sellite space trader hung over it like Cian over Xiantha. 

Even so, it was going to be a tight squeeze to bring it aboard. The aft hatches of the space trader were much bigger, in order to be able to load cargo, but it would still be a tight fit. Grace was going to have to be delicate with the controls if she wanted to bring the entire alien spacecraft on board without leaving a single scratch.

“Here, Let me do it!” said Six, showing little confidence in her ability.

“No!” said Diva. “With your record in space you would be bound to break it in two. Don’t listen to him, Grace. You are doing fine.”

“I could try to transport it aboard myself,” said Arcan doubtfully, “but it would be safer if I had managed to communicate in a quantum way with the visitor first.” 

Grace shook her head. “I will do it,” she said. “Just be a little patient, please.” She looked around as Six opened his mouth. “That means you too, Six,” she said.

There were a tense fifteen minutes as Grace shifted the controls minutely this way or that, then she finally pushed the button which would close the cargo bay doors.

“There!” she said. “Done.”

They looked at each other, uncertain of just what was going to happen next. Then the bubble that was part of Arcan began to grow, slowly but steadily, until it passed through each of them, engulfed the visitor’s small ship and then reached out to the outer hull of the Variance.

Grace felt a slight sensation of vertigo. She saw that the others were hurriedly sitting down. They obviously felt rather strange too. She closed her eyes, and put her head back, trying to relax, trying to be a passive and willing part of the experience.

Grace felt a gradual connexion with Arcan, and through her closed eyes was suddenly inside the small alien craft in front of her. She saw the central tank, full of a lightly translucent liquid which held threads of organic material in it. That part of her which was Arcan paused for a moment, hovered over the tank, and then lowered itself down, letting the luminescent water close over him.

The instant that the orthogel hit the water she felt a frisson of electric sensation travel right through her. She was aware of a larger and at the same time smaller world. She could feel other, unmistakable presences alongside her. She sensed Diva – a kind of cobalt blue, bright and true. Six was gold, shining like molten ore. Arcan was a kaleidoscope of depth that seemed to extend beyond this dimension and into another. Behind and beyond them a myriad of colours swirled in a spiral around her, portraying a sensation of huge depth and mystery. She wondered idly what she would be like to the others.

“You are pearl, Grace, a beautifully bright translucent pearl,” the part of the liquid which was Diva somehow ‘told’ her.

The two shapes that seemed to represent Diva and Six were not of a fixed size; they pulsed as she wondered at them, sometimes smaller and sometimes larger. When they were larger they overlapped, and she saw that at those times the two colours mingled and shone like a ribbon of dazzling mosaic, shining gold speckling the cobalt blue.

She was aware that at times she touched them too, and could feel the change of colours when she did. As she touched them she became aware of their colour, of how they felt and thought. Yet to think of them as colours was not right either; they were much more than that. She could feel them with all her senses and it was an overwhelming sensory perception, much deeper than anything she had ever experienced in her life. Diva was crisp and sharp. Six was smoke and resilient. Arcan had so many different colours and smells that she was dazzled by his presence. 

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