Pictoria (The Ammonite Galaxy Series, Book 4)

Chapter 20

DIVA DOCKED THE shuttle on the New Independence, and hurried to the cargo bay without going through the detox showers. She was very worried about what she would find in the hold. The whole ship seemed to be empty and unresponsive. Her footsteps echoed along the metallic corridors.

At last she reached the hold where the canths should be. Even Diva paused for a moment here. Then she took a deep breath, and pushed the hold doors open.

The man who spoke to canths was squatting beside Cimma's sorrel canth, which was lying on the deck on strewn straw, and panting. The rest of the equines, Diva saw, were standing and looking reasonably healthy.

The Xianthan turned to her, pleased to see her. "Diva! Is Cimma all right?"

"She was unconscious, last time I saw her. Ledin was looking after her. He said he was hopeful that she would pull through."

"I thought she had died. Her canth has come very close to it." He got heavily to his feet and walked up to Diva, holding up his hands to touch hers. "May the heavenly triangle protect you. I am very glad to see you."

Diva touched his fingertips with hers. "May Almagest go with you," she replied politely. "Are the other canths all right?"

He gave a brilliant smile. "Indeed, yes. They know that they have achieved something most important, and are now resting mentally."

Diva looked around her. They were all standing rather lethargically, heads down towards the straw, but not touching it. They did indeed appear to have switched themselves off from the outside world.

"We owe them a huge debt," she told him.

"No. Such things as passed here today belong to the ancients. They were forged aeons ago in the past, long before our respective races were born. What happened today belongs to the lost animas of Xiantha, to the old ones. We were merely lucky spectators, able to throw our ineffectual and puny weight on the side of the colour. We are irrelevant to such things. We cannot aspire to owing a debt to the lost animas of Xiantha, they are so far above us as to make that statement presumptuous."

Diva blinked. She was not used to people calling her presumptuous. Then she looked at it from his point of view. For the Xianthans, the lost animas of Xiantha were virtually gods. Of course he would be rather offended by her comment! She felt cross with herself. She really ought to think things over more before she spoke.

"You are right," she inclined her head slightly. "I'm sorry. Perhaps I could atone for my mistake by taking you down to Pictoria in the morning? I have to go down to pick up the others. Hopefully Cimma will be feeling better by then."

The man who spoke to canths went still. "I would be able to step onto the home planet of the lost animas?" A shiver ran all the way down his spine, and little bumps of pleasure appeared along his skin. His eyes grew wide. "Do you mean that? I would be allowed to visit their birth place?"

Diva nodded. "If you like. If Cimma is all right we could even go for a short walk. Although I don't think there would be time to go down into the caverns."

"No, indeed. That is of no consequence. But to be able to see the birth planet of the animas would be the ultimate colour," he said reverently. "That would be the culmination of all our lifetimes. I would be honoured beyond measure."

Personally Diva felt that he was going a bit too far with all the hyperbole, but she had learnt her lesson, and kept her face open and interested. They certainly had reason to thank the man who spoke to canths, she realized. If he hadn't insisted on bringing the canths, the Dessites would probably be controlling the whole of the Ammonite Galaxy. So she nodded, and then went to fetch some nutripacks. On investigation, she found that the Xianthan had not eaten or drunk anything since she had left, and her own strength was sagging from lack of sustenance too. They sat quietly in the straw, giving their own bodies time to recuperate, watching the canths in silence.