Kwaide (The Ammonite Galaxy Series, Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter 27

WHEN SIX TOUCHED down on the spaceport it was to see the remaining three other pods there. Their pilots were waiting for him.

“Bamonte is dead,” one of them told him “I saw his pod blow up right in front of me. There is no way on Sacras that he could have escaped.”

Six nodded. “And the other shuttle?” he asked.

They shrugged. “We know nothing about pod five. Diva was piloting it. She was assigned the northernmost ship, and after the explosions began it was very hard to track anybody. No-one knows what has happened to her pod. We assume it either exploded or was brought down. Her chances of survival are very slim.”

“And what about New Kwaide? How many missiles got through?”

They looked uncomfortable. “None of Diva’s reached Kwaide. One of Grace’s …” The man who was talking looked rather ashamed. “I was unable to stop mine, and the same goes for Samoso here. And one of Bamonte’s got through. His shuttle pod stopped the other.”

“You were only able to stop four in total?” Six felt dispirited. “That means that – what? – six got through?”

The refugee again looked uncomfortable. “We believe so. We were about to go to see what we could do to help.”

“Do so. I will take this shuttle pod and see if I can find the missing pilot. You all present yourselves to Magestra Cimma, and place yourselves under her orders. Tell her that her daughter is safe on the orbital platform, and that I have set out in search of Diva.”

They nodded their understanding. Six just hoped that they would find Cimma still there, and the base camp in one piece. He doubted it – it seemed likely that at least four of those six missiles would have been aimed at the base camp. With a sigh he turned back to the shuttle pod.

Where on Sacras are you, Diva? Trust you to be the one to disappear into thin air. Did you have to be the only one to bring down both missiles? Silly question. Of course you did. You wouldn’t be Diva otherwise. 

After refueling, he set off into the north with his pod. If the base camp was in an inhospitable area, the terrain further north of the black peak was practically unsurvivable. Even if she had come down alive in that area the chances of her being able to get herself out were nil. He gave a heavy sigh, and tried to concentrate on his instruments. Thinking about it was no good. It would be better to keep his mind on the task at hand. At least the proximity alert should tell him when he got within a hundred miles of her pod. If there was anything left of it, of course. Damn you, Diva! 

He had refueled twice before his instruments got a faint sign from the vanished pod. At last the proximity alert warned that it had detected remains. Six glanced down through the rexilene visor, and closed his eyes briefly. There were only scudding dark clouds visible below the jagged peaks. They were so far above the tree line that even warthogs would be unable to survive. 

 He strained his eyes as he brought the pod in closer to the position marked on the console. Could it still be in one piece? The peaks pushed their serrated edges up through the racing clouds that were a sign of raging storms. Distance made them look almost benevolent, but Six knew better. Few who had ever come up here on foot had lived to return. Kwaide was not kind to its inhabitants – those that strayed far from the flatlands around Benefice paid for their temerity sooner or later. The peaks themselves were only visible because the fierce winds kept the snow off them. Slightly further down there was a blizzard of windswept snow mixed with icy rain clouds which made it almost impossible to see anything at all. 

The pod was getting closer and closer to the position given on the console, and still he could see nothing. They were so high up that the wind would make walking virtually impossible. Six stood up and began to put a full bodywrap on. There was an atmosphere on Kwaide, even at this high altitude, but despite this it was still just as unfriendly as Valhai. The same suits were needed on both. He grinned to himself. If only he had owned one of these suits when he had been that small untouchable in the uninhabitable zone trying to take care of his twin sisters! How luxurious it would have made their lives. Yet now he had learned to take it for granted.