by Jo Clayton
“Yes. We’ll be making landfall in three hours if the wind stays steady. The island Oreallin. The woman will be waiting for you there.” He set his hand lightly on her head. She could feel the warmth of it through her hair. “Omel oma, I don’t know what to think about this. You aren’t-happy with us and you make the Bond itch with your fighting against it. Yet you are enough of the Bond that I’m afraid…”
“She knows about that. She said she might have a way.”
“If you can go, we’ll miss you, Luna. You’ve taught us as much as you’ve learned and we’re grateful for that. Don’t forget us. Or your drumming. Though I’ll ask you to leave the drum behind. It is of the Bond.” He tapped her head lightly and went away.
Lylunda bent over the scrub board, rubbing the mezu up and down, up and down it, working absently, her eyes fixed on the water beyond the rail. Around her she could hear babies crying, women and girls gosSiping as they repaired sails and prepared food for the one large meal spread out at mid-afternoon, men gossiping as they mended nets and worked at the constant maintenance it took to keep the beronta in good order, boys chasing each other across the deck and through the rigging-the thousand sounds large and small that she’d got used to in the months she’d spent on the Remeydang.-
Already she felt separated from them. And impatient to be gone. The things she’d found pleasant a day before were suddenly so restrictive that she was choking on them. As she wrung out the mezu and got to her feet to hang it on the line stretched from the cabin overhang to the rail, she murmured to herself, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I go forth from this second womb. And the only thing I’ll miss is my drum.”
5
The beeper in her hand, Lylunda walked along the beach.
Shadith was waiting beside the lander, but she wasn’t alone. A red-haired woman a handspan taller stood beside her. Lylunda wondered about this woman, but tried not to let hope get too strong a hold. If this fell through, the loss of that hope would kill her.
As she got closer, she could feel the tung stirring in her. The Bond didn’t like that redhead and the closer she got, the more it started fighting her. She took two more steps, then stopped, about two body lengths from the lander, unable to walk closer, the tung cramping her muscles and threatening nausea.
Shadith spoke. “Are you willing to come with us, Lylunda El ang T’
Lylunda understood the formality in the words, an offered contract. When she tried to speak, though, her throat knotted and she couldn’t make a sound. She managed a nod before her whole body froze on her.
“I take that as agreement. My companion is Aleytys, the Hunter from Wolff. If you’re heard of her, you know that she’s a healer. If anyone can keep you alive, she will.”
Aleytys the Half-Vryhh, Lylunda thought. Maybe I will make it… She started shaking, her eyes watered until she couldn’t see much but blurs, her stomach jerked, and hot vomit filled her mouth.
A moment later she felt hands on her. Someone stripped the mezu away, someone grabbed her arms and pulled her toward the lander. As she stumbled and nearly fell, someone swore, then hands were lifting her, carrying her.
Words came through the roar in her ears. “Abra, go!”
Broad straps are drawn tight over her body. Metallic clunks as they are locked down. Something hard and heavy on her mouth, collecting her spew and suctioning it away.
Words. “Hang on a moment, Shadow, soon as I’ve finished here…
Hands on her.
Pain. Worse than the last time she’d drunk the cherar infusion. Knives scraping along her bones. Muscles cramping, trying to throw her into convulsions. Straps holding her, bruising her.
Coughing. Vomit hot in her mouth, sucked away. Again. Emptying herself into the sucking machine.
Wind. Hurricane. Driving across her, snatching her breath from her nostrils. No wind. Again the wind. No wind. Again…
The tung desperate in her, clawing at her as it is driven forth. She hangs on, feeling the tung torn out of her.
Between one breath and the next, there was no more pain.
Aleytys’ hands were warm on her, feeding her strength, pouring life into her body.
She was strong again, as full of energy as a berry with juice.
She opened her eyes, looked up into that blue-green gaze. “Thanks.”
Aleytys smiled wearily. “It’s not done yet, not quite. Rest a while. I’ll be back to you in a minute.”
Lylunda turned her head to watch and was appalled at what she saw.
Shadith lay on a cot like hers, strapped down. An ugly gray and ocher fungus grew in patches on her face and body, some of it even on her eyes, blood trickled from her nose and mouth with each labored breath. She was shuddering and moaning… and the moment Aleytys set her hands on her, she screamed. With her mouth and her whole body, she screamed, spewing blood and bits of rotten flesh over the healer’s face.
The hurricane roared again. Air exchange, expelling the organism as Aleytys killed it and drove it from the body.
It was like watching a replay of what had happened to her, only seeing it from the outside, this time.
Lylunda coughed. And was afraid. The infection was in her again, growing in her. Exploding through her. It wasn’t fair. She was clean a moment ago. It wasn’t faiiir.
An eternity later, well-being returned to her, Lylunda watched Aleytys lean into the harness that she wore to keep her in place during the rush of the air exchange; her face had a faint webbing of fatigue lines that made her look for a moment as if she were a thousand years old, her body was slumped in utter exhaustion. Without opening her eyes, she said, “Sterilize, Abra. It’s time.”
A mellow baritone voice answered, “Heard and done, Archira.”
The pumps hummed again and in seconds the room was filled with a gas that stank and stung like pepper essence. Lylunda’s eyes teared and her body felt as if she were being whipped with nettles.
The baritone voice sounded again. “Take several deep breaths, Lylunda Elang. It will be painful, but it is necessary.”
She grimaced, but followed instructions.
“Thank you, Lylunda Elang.”
The pumps hummed again and the gas was drawn out. She sucked in cool clean air and, thought that no pleasure would ever be as great.
Aleytys unsnapped the harness and moved alongside Shadith, undoing the latches that held the straps in place. When she’d finished and was turning to do the same with Lylunda’s straps, Shadith sat up, stretched, and groaned. “Merd, Lee, that’s nasty stuff, that organism whatsit. Whew! I definitely don’t want to go through that again.”
“Agreed. The Jilitera can have that world without any complaint-from me.” Aleytys straightened after she’d dealt with the last catch. “Abra, if you’ve finished sterilizing the rest of the lander, send Doll with the clothing I set aside for us.”
“We’re ready to berth, Archira. The outside clean was finished a moment ago.”
“Good. The clothes, please.”
The robe Aleytys handed Lylunda was a silky material that seemed to caress her skin as she drew it on, a dark blue that changed tones with liquid grace as it moved with her. She stroked the sleeve, sighed. Avrishum. Expensive enough to pay rent on a tie-down slot for several months. The robe Shadith was tying on was a dark crimson and Aleytys’ was a dark green. And I’m about to visit a Vryhh ship. Walking into one legend with another strolling before me, wearing the finest avrishum. Daddy dear would die to be here. She grinned as she followed the two women from the cleanroom.
This time there was no lock to tumble through, only a melting wall that put them onto a skimmer flat that might have been stationary while the ship dissolved and reformed about them or might have carried them through a liquefying chaos until they were in another place.
What solidified around them was a room that looked like images she’d seen in triddas about forgotten times, paneled with rich carved wood and shelves with books on them, large leather chairs sca
ttered about, elbow tables by each one; there were other, larger tables, a soft dark green rug on the floor, a fireplace with a screen in front of it, wood burning on firedogs, the sound perfect, snapping and crackling as sparks flew, the steady hiss of the fire. On shipboard it was so out of place it shouted luxury even more than the avrishum.
Aleytys and Shadith turned to her then. Shadith was the one who spoke. “You’re free now, Lylunda Elang. We’ve paid your price. Where did you take the Taalav array?”
18. Solutions
1
In the screen Aleytys had called into existence, blanking out one wall of the library, the world at destination code 87950 KLD MLYD 3 was a cold, stony planet roughly equivalent to Pillory in size and surface gravity, but colder and harsher. The sun had a greenish cast and was smaller and paler than Pillory’s crimson star.
Shadith raised her brows as she examined the star chart displayed at one side of the screen. The xenobi’s choice was only two systems over from Hutsarte.
Lylunda sighed. “I thought that was deliciously ironic the first few days after I got back home. If they only knew, I thought. Not so funny now.”
With a flick of her hand Aleytys banished the screen. “Shadow, why don’t you get Lylunda settled in. Tigatri’s Belle is waiting in your quarters, Lylunda; she’s been assigned to you as serviteur and will show you how to move about the ship. The public areas have been programmed to accept you.” The room rippled around Aleytys; an instant later she was gone.
Lylunda brushed her hand across her eyes. “That is
. weird!”
“Come on, our slide flat is disguised as that throwrug over there. It’s Lee’s ship, so she doesn’t need one, but Tigatri doesn’t sublimn to us like she does to her, so we ride the slides. Actually, it’s rather fun. Like a magic carpet in its sly way.”
Shadith watched Lylunda’s eyes widen as she looked around the cabin and widen again as the mobile Belle rippled into existence beside the communications complex set into a desk of dark rich wood.
Belle was another of the elfin serviteurs. Her face was triangular, her smile three-cornered, freckles were dotted across her nose and the tops of rosy cheeks. Like the rest of Tigates mobiles, her substance was more energy than matter; despite that she was a warm, friendly presence. Her voice was a deep contralto, absurdly big for one so tiny. “Anything you want, Lylunda Elang, if I can get it for you, I will.”
Lylunda glanced at Shadith, caught her nod, said, “Well, first thing, call me Luna.”
“Of course, Luna. Whatever you wish.”
“Do you have anything like a shipsuit available?” She smoothed her hand along her sleeve. “This is lovely, but I don’t feel comfortable lounging around in something worth a couple months of ship fuel.”
“We can do that, Luna.” Belle’s green eyes glazed for an instant, then brightened again. “It will be here in a few moments.”
Shadith leaned against the wall, thumbs hooked over the belt to her robe. “You needn’t worry about cost, Luna. Lee has connections and gets the stuff straight from the loom.”
“Even so, Shadow, I’d rather play in cutoffs or something like that. Um, Belle. Do you have a drum around? Or could you make one to my specifications?”
“One could be-made simply enough. Metal or wood?”
“Wood, if possible.”
“Would you indicate dimensions and shape? If you could give us a plan…” Belle waved a hand at the communications complex. “There’s a light stylo you could use.”
Shadith watched as Lylunda sketched the drum, the program turning the crude drawing into a professional plot; Lylunda made a few final adjustments, then turned to the mobile. “Belle, how long?”
“We can have it for you by tomorrow, mid diurne. Enough to let you try it and see if it needs adjustment.”
Belle flickered out. When she returned an instant later with three shipsuits draped over her arm, Shadith stepped onto the slideboard. “Luna, you’ll want food, a bath, and some time to recover. When you’re ready, have Belle bring you to the garden. You’ll like that, 1 promise you.”
“Do all Vryyh ships have places like this?” Lylunda settled herself on Aleytys’ boulder and gazed at the stream flowing past her feet, disbelief written in every line of her face.
“Lee tells me each ship is different. I’ve only seen this one so I wouldn’t know. It’s not quite as odd as you think because the garden looks bigger than it is. If you wandered around off the paths, you’d hit walls rather quickly, but what’s the point of that? Might as well enjoy the illusion. You willing to talk about the Taalav?”
Lylunda shrugged. “Why not, seeing I’ve sold them out already.”
“What’s his name, your friend the xenobi, and how did he get them on your ship?”
“Prangarris. No friend of mine. I did the job for three Taalav crystals, not for any fondness I had for him. I’d done transport for him before. Pharmaceuticals. He pays prompt and doesn’t argue. Not a nice man. For all that he was a political and not on Pillory for mass murder or the like, he was a first-order zorrit and probably ought to be squashed. As to how he got the two arrays on board, I was too busy watching screen and holding camou fields in place to pay attention to anything but the time it took.”
“Who chose that planet?”
“He did. And got out a list of things he wanted me to provide. Food supplements for the Taalav, a year’s food supply for him, a split corn, a flikit adapted to heavy world flying, a spare exo and a survival pod with an argrav field powered by rechargeable light cells. The pod was the hardest to get hold of. I picked it up through Marrat’s. Took a hefty prepayment before the broker would even look at my offer. What gripes me most about this is seeing the Kliu win.”
“Way it goes, Luna. If you want them off your back, this is what’ll do it. Hm. Something to cheer you. When I decided to skip from Hutsarte without Grinder noticing, I hot-wired your ship and took off in it. Lee’s got it in tow now, topped up-with fuel and completely resupplied. So you can go your way anytime you feel like it.”
“You mean I just say Ta, folks, it’s been fun-and that’s it?” ’
“Mm hm. Though you might want to hang about till Digby’s made his report and the Kliu are satisfied. Lee’s offered her house as sanctuary if you feel like accepting her invitation.”
“Huh! Think I’d refuse?” Lylunda grinned. “It’ll. feature in my Pit conversation for a decade at least.”
“Did you know you had one of my recordings on your ship?”
“Yours?”
“Harp music and some songs I wrote.”
“Shadowsongs?”
“Mm hm.”
“Why you doing this sort of work, then?”
“Everybody asks me that, Luna. Just restless, that’s all.”
“I know the feeling. I was about to go crazy back there. Lovely place, nice people. Peaceful. Plenty of food. Work enough to keep you from rotting away, but no heavy labor. I mean, it’s the kind of place folks dream of. And I’d go through that mess getting clear a dozen times a day, if that’s what it took to get away.”
Shadith blinked. “Paradise is none… hm… gives me an idea…”
2
Harskari sipped at the tea, the firelight painting her face red and black; it was the only light source in the library at the moment. “Shadow, transferring the Taalav to Storsten sounds like one of your better ideas… I’ve checked the specs on Pillory and it’s fair match-except for light quality. Might have to do something about that, a filter, shadow panels… hm… well, that can wait till later. We’ll definitely have to fetch plant samples from Pillory, along with water, soil, the rest, so we can set up a duplicate ecosystem. The Taalav will need that for health and happiness in a new place.”
Shadith rubbed at her nose. “That might be a problem. You know what Pillory is.”
“Hah! Shadow, you mean to say you think a pedestrian little smuggler like Lylunda Elang could play the fox better than me?”
<
br /> “Well, I didn’t want to presume.” Shadith opened her eyes wide and looked as demure as she could.
“Idiot.” Harskari shook her head, smiling. “Loguisse and I talked this over. Since we don’t want people connecting the Vrya with this, we thought we’d lay an ambush for the xenobi, keep him in stasis while we dealt with the Taalav, turn him loose elsewhere with a few crystals in his pocket to encourage silence. You’ve taken care of your smuggler friend; she doesn’t know about my Tiauchi and needn’t find out. Hm. Once Abra has worked a thorough clean of the site, making sure we’ve left no traces of our presence, you can report that you found where Prangarris was camped but that there was no sign of him or any living Taalav hanging about. The Min can look for themselves, collect the crystals we’ll leave lying about, and go home satisfied.”
“As long as I can avoid a verifier. Which shouldn’t arise if they see the site with their own blinky eyes and get their grippers on those crystals.” She looked down at her hands. “Since you’ll be going there anyway, any chance you could get the rest of the Taalav off Pillory? The adult I talked to was sad and hopeful at the same time when he sang about the arrays being free with a whole world to themselves.”
“If the arrays have managed to thrive away from Pillory, I don’t see why not, but it does rather depend on what we find when we get to Lylunda’s world and how well they adjust to Storsten. Not much point in a freedom that’s a quick road to extinction.”
3
The parlor in Lylunda’s quarters had been reconfigured to make the whole wall above the comstation into a screen that picked up visuals from the Bridge and displayed them in a smaller, rather more congested form. Lylunda was stretched out on the long chair, her ankles crossed, her hands laced together behind her head. Shadith sat cross-legged on the floor beside her.
