The Namura Stone (The Ammonite Galaxy, book 6)

Chapter 10

DIVA AND GRACE turned in unison as the first Dessites reached them. The size of the creatures was impressive, but neither of the girls flinched as they approached.

"What part of the body should we go for?" whispered Grace.

Diva shook her head. "Don't know. We have no idea where their vital organs are – or even if they have any. I should aim for the upper part of the torso, more or less where you would expect the heart to be."

Arcan's shape was expanding to meet the Dessites. He was clearly not feeling well, but even so, was an imposing sight. The first Dessite had shrunk slightly inside its membranes, but held its ground. It seemed, to Grace's eyes, to have turned to two other Dessites who were approaching, and, as if answering an order, these two moved back, and disappeared.

For some moments, the tall Dessite and Arcan faced each other. The Dessite – one of the largest Grace had seen, was examining Arcan, seemingly surprised at his ability to expand and contract at will.

Then the two acolyte Dessites came back, and Arcan twitched. They were holding six large rods of some dark material. They handed two to the largest Dessite and kept two each, which they held extended to either side of their bodies. Then they began to circle the orthogel entity.

The girls saw that Arcan was forced to retreat from the rods; this must be more of the carbon nanographite, then. Grace gave a groan; she hated to see somebody as strong as Arcan dominated like this, trapped by these creatures that were greedy for more and more water worlds.

Both Grace and Diva took steps forwards. They looked at each other, and Diva gave a quick nod. They both launched themselves at the Dessites, aiming for the membranes holding the rods, trying to help Arcan escape from his tormentors.

Diva gave a cry as she attacked. Her eyes were shining, and it looked as if she had been waiting for years for just this opportunity. Her first strike severed a large frond of the membrane holding one of the sticks, and her opponent quivered as the dark pole dropped to the ground. It bounced up and down several times with a clanging resonance before finally becoming still.

The Dessite turned towards her, and she jerked her head at it provocatively.

"What? Didn't like that? Well, well! Come closer, I will give you more of the same."

Grace had swung her catana at the second Dessite. It, too, cut the membranes holding one of the sticks, and caused the creature to turn towards the Sellite girl, leaving Arcan temporarily with only one Dessite trying to contain him.

Arcan gave a bellow of ire and launched himself at the creature, but it held both nanographite sticks up in front of it immediately, and he was forced to stop. He cringed back again and turned black with anger.

Arcan looked at the two girls defending him. He knew that they were both prepared to give their lives to save his, but he could no longer see a way out. Whatever they did, there could be no possibility of escape for him, not for that part of him which was here, on this floating island. The orthogel entity clouded over. There was nothing else for it; he would have to detonate the explosives. Only by destroying himself could he ensure that the Dessites wouldn't manage to use his quantum decoherence capacity to travel wherever they wanted around space.

"Get out!" he boomed, speaking as directly as he could to Diva and Grace, both struggling to avoid being snapped apart by the lethal membranes of the fighting Dessites. "Get out, both of you. You know why!"

Diva glanced back over her shoulder. "NO!" But she knew that Arcan had no other choice. He would have to put an end to this.

"I will give you time to get to the exit tubes, but you are going to have to make haste," he hissed, his voice reverberating around inside their skulls. "Stop trying to help me."