by Eric Flint
They were, very shortly thereafter, searched-in a manner that Goth thought intrusive, but there was nothing personal about it. She might as well have been patted down by a tree. Which was probably not a bad analogy, she realized.
It would take more than a pat-down search to find the toys that Sedmon had given them. Of course, Ta'zara could betray those. But so far the impassive-faced tattooed man showed no signs of it. He fitted right in here in some ways, Goth had to admit. He didn't show much sign of emotion, didn't say much.
"What do you need?" asked the woman. "The wires remain in the drawer at the command desk."
So she knew that much. Goth was wondering when Pausert would be affected. They'd worked out that it had taken about twenty minutes, from when they'd given Mebeckey the pills to when the blackish-green plant stared oozing out of his nose. Well… she'd be happier out from under the Thunderbird 's guns. The Daal had been far from pleased about letting them go, and he might decide on expediency. That would be something he could well claim had nothing to do with him, with no surviving witnesses. Goth had no illusions about the brutal pragmatism of Uldune. She dared not lie too much-obviously Marshi had the basic information.
And to make matters more complex, she was relling vatch. "Little-bit?" she said in her mind.
Watching. This dream is very strange and complicated. The big dream thing Pausert tastes odd now. Like the other dream thing with the thing that came out its nose.
The Leewit could probably get it to help. She took a deep breath. "I just need some space," she said to Marshi. "And the Leewit needs to get suited up and webbed into position. You could send Ta'zara to help. He would make it quicker. It would help if the captain could help me."
"No. Captain Pausert cannot."
If Goth understood the flat voice properly, it was not that Marshi would be unwilling to let Pausert help. Just that he would not be able to, because right now he was not the captain. He was a part of the plant.
The Leewit was casually walking off down the narrow passage, followed by Ta'zara. The Na'kalaufer was sneezing his head off for some reason. Well, if they lived through all of this he could be sick properly later.
"Let the captain stay with me, then. I'll make me feel better," said Goth. "You can keep anyone else you like here, but they need to be strapped in."
She knew that there were only two chairs in the control room. There were several more crash couches yards away in the observation lounge with acceleration straps and webbing. If a plant was going to come out of the captain's nose she didn't want it seen. But perhaps the plant would know about it anyway?
***
"Mistress," said Ta'zara quietly.
"Yes?" said the Leewit equally quietly.
"I have just sneezed out a small version of that thing that came out of Mebeckey's nose. I think that was one of the spores she put onto me."
He doesn't taste funny, said the vatchlet.
The Leewit took a deep breath. "Ta'zara. I don't know if this is going to work. But I want you to pretend that you are just like all these others. Be our secret agent. Watch them without them guessing."
Like the other one. The one that's hiding in the space up there.
"What?"
I think you call him Vezzarn. I've been helping him, but he can't hear or see me.
They'd arrived at the suit-bay and Ta'zara helped her into her pressure suit, and then into the strapping they'd set up at the grav-tractor inside the cargo airlock.
"You there?" said Goth in her headphones. "I'm ready when you are."
The Leewit opened the outer airlock and looked out into space. "Ready. Let's go."
The Sheewash drive blurred space. They closed on the bright suns of the Megair cluster. The Leewit kept a lookout for Phantom ships. She saw them, soon enough. But they were all well out of range, and appeared to her not to be following the Venture at all. Instead they seemed to be holding position.
Goth confirmed that. "They're not chasing us."
She left off the Sheewash drive, and the universe stopped hurtling past. One of the reasons the scientists of the Empire were so mystified by the Sheewash drive was that it did not alter a ship's momentum. The Leewit had heard the phenomenon explained on Karres as being due to the fact that the universe moved around the ship rather than the ship moving through the universe. She didn't understand the explanation-but she suspected that the adults didn't understand it, either. Adults were given to pretending a lot.
She closed the airlock and waited. A few minutes later one of Marshi's impassive-faced goons came and fetched her.
***
"You may need us again," said Goth calmly.
The pilot who had come in with Marshi looked at her with wide, terrified eyes. Goth decided he was probably not part of the plant. "What was that?" he demanded.
"Not something you can do," said Goth, dismissively.
One of Marshi's goons-she must have them packed three deep in the Venture- undid the strapping. Goth got up slowly. It had been at least twenty minutes now since she'd 'ported those tablets into the captain's stomach. Yet he was just sitting there, staring into space. No plant was leaving him by nose.
"I'd better stay close," she said. The goon stopped what he was doing, and Pausert got up and let Marshi's pilot take the controls. Pausert stood there, as if awaiting orders. Goth wondered just exactly where they were going to: the Megair cluster… but where?
"I need food," she said. "Both of us do, if we are going to be able do that again."
Wordlessly one of the men left and returned a little later, with a plate of food from the robo-butler. Goth ate slowly. Deliberately, chewing each mouthful. It was hard after klatha use when she just wanted to wolf it down. She certainly wasn't saying anything to Marshi but the behavior or the Phantom ships had been… well, very different. She wished she knew why.
***
The Leewit had been taken to one of the smaller rooms at the back of the vessel. Plainly, Marshi's goons had been sleeping here too, but it had been emptied to make a prison for her. They also brought her food-which was good, because she was starving.
The Leewit took advantage of the privacy to send a note to Vezzarn, via the vatch. And Ta'zara came and quietly knocked and asked if she was all right. So the Leewit sent a second note to Vezzarn, telling him that Ta'zara was still part of their side. Vezzarn might wonder where the notes came from, but during all this time of mixing with Karres witches, he'd probably learned not to wonder too much, just to fit in with their plans.
A little later, Goth was pushed into the room too. The Leewit knew her sister well enough to know that she was worried and upset.
When the door was locked, Goth activated the spyshield in the chronometer on her wrist. "It didn't work. The pills didn't work."
The Leewit sighed. She wondered if she could cure the captain, if he was still infected by the plant. She wasn't sure. She wasn't even sure that she could cure the captain of the addiction, once the plant was gone. She had had no effect on Mebeckey's mind. Yet she'd healed Ta'zara-and he'd been damaged more. The difference might be that Ta'zara had been damaged and had known it, and had desperately wanted to be healed.
"Well, the good news, for what it's worth, is that Vezzarn is alive and free, and hiding in the crawl-spaces. And it seems that for some reason Ta'zara wasn't affected by the plant spore. He sneezed it right out again, and I think it was dying. It was going black on his handkerchief. And he still seems to be on the loose."
There was a faint rattle at the door, and it swung open, to reveal Ta'zara and a rather disheveled Vezzarn with a lockpick. "Your Wisdoms," he said, locking the door, "I can't tell you how glad I am to see you! I didn't think you'd come and get me this time. We're heading straight back to Megair 4. I saw the co-ordinates."
"You mean the Megair Cannibals are Marshi's whatsit… what did Mebeckey call them? Illtraming? They clumping deserve each other!"
Goth nodded. "I'd feel sorry for any species that had been slaves. But I
guess just having been a slave doesn't always make you too nice. Still, I wish I knew how we could get the captain free of this thing. Those pills had no effect."
"And yet," said Ta'zara. "I must have poisoned the plant."
Vezzarn coughed. "Your Wisdoms. Do you remember when that Mebeckey told us about these Melchin, how their slaves got some disease that killed the plant? And they ended up as the Illtraming?"
"Yep. That is why the plant that is Marshi wants to find their world. So it can have a host again. A proper one. Not us."
"Well, if Megair 4 is the Illtraming homeworld and the Megair are these hosts," said the old spacer, "maybe the disease is still there. It didn't affect the animals, the way I understood it. So maybe it's something that Mebeckey caught while he was there. Ta'zara was also there. They didn't do anything else together."
Goth bit her knuckle. Then shook her head. "But we were also there. the captain would have caught it too, surely?"
"Well," said Ta'zara. "Not if it was in the food. That Mebeckey ate quite a lot of it. And so did I, to stay alive. But I didn't see you eat anything."
"And the plant tried the Dell brother and let itself be pulled away… Okay, it might have been sick. But I think you're right! It must be the food. Must be."
"It's a gamble, sis," said the Leewit.
"So is everything," said Goth. " Hist! Here comes someone. I'll hide you two in no-shape."
It was Pausert, his eyes empty. "You are needed again. There are more Illtraming ships."
"I think we can just work together for speed," said Goth.
There was an infinitesimal pause and Pausert nodded.
The Leewit calmly pulled the door shut behind her. They walked to the control room, and once again she did the Sheewash drive-just briefly-past ships that seemed to ignore them.
"It seems speed is the key," said Marshi. "Do you need more food? The navigation is difficult."
"Yes. More than last time. And some rest. It drains a lot of our energy." Goth understood, suddenly, why Marshi appeared so obtuse sometimes. Yes, Marshi had obviously gotten part of the information in the captain's head-but she got what she looked for. Not everything, obviously. And the plant was obviously not as good at joining the dots as a human would be. Marshi hadn't yet figured that the Venture was going straight back to where she'd come from-and the problems it had had there. Mebeckey was no astrogator, and had not provided the mother-plant with that crucial linking piece of information: where. The pilot had been given co-ordinates to fly to. He was from some inner-Empire world. He didn't know this was the Megair cluster, and that the ship's records had navigational data.
So the witches were fed again. Marshi made no objection to them taking the food back to the room designated as their cell. And Vezzarn was glad to share of their meal with them.
"Now, if we can figure some way of getting some of those leaves they fed you back on Megair 4. I could really fancy some," said the Leewit, who, if she had to tell the truth, was not too good about eating leafy vegetables.
"Too far to 'port," said Goth. "And I've been thinking, don't say the name of the place. The plant hasn't worked it out yet. We'll need to get down in one piece on the planet, and I'll bet they've done some fixing since we left, more's the pity. Get some of the local food into the captain… and get all of us out of there alive. I'm sorry, Ta'zara. I didn't mean to bring you back to your nightmare again.
The big tattooed man just smiled. "I am starting to be like this old man," he said, prodding Vezzarn. "You got me in. You'll get me out. Besides, the Leewit," he bowed respectfully, "gave me something more valuable than anything else to a man of Na'kalauf. More valuable than merely my life."
"What?"
"She gave me back myself. My self respect. I will never let them take that away from me again."
***
There was the sound of keys at the door. Goth hid the other two and the witches went out, for another short Sheewash hop. Goth kept it to a few seconds, since she wanted to conserve her strength.
"We need to rest. To sleep for at least four hours," she said. "We can't do long uses of the drive and you might need us later. Stop and orbit a moon or something."
Marshi paused. "We need to get there soon. We need to find a male host for the spores."
Goth nodded coolly. "You still need to get there. And then you need to get down. The Illtraming are not going to welcome you, you know."
Plainly this had not occurred to the plant-woman. Goth decided her earlier conclusion had been right. The thing had huge advantages with being telepathically linked-but it simply wasn't very bright. Thick as two short planks of wood, actually. Not used to anything standing in its way. "We can help."
"Why?" asked Marshi.
"Because if we don't, we'll die along with you," said Goth.
Marshi nodded. "When we get down we can spore-tag the llltraming. They respond well and fast to being part of the mother-plant."
"Glad to help," said Goth.
The mother-plant didn't twig on to sarcasm very well, either.
"It is known that you are very helpful. And very powerful. You will be rewarded by becoming part of the mother-plant."
"I can't wait," said Goth. "But we will need our klatha powers to get you down. They're not very friendly down there."
"How is it that you are aware of this?"
"We've been here before."
Then the plant-woman obviously accessed the relevant parts of Captain Pausert's memory. "Previously I had insufficient data. Light shifts. And no-shape."
"Yes," said Goth, keeping herself as calm as possible. "Your Illtraming are very inclined to shoot first and eat anyone that's still alive to ask questions of later."
"The Megair Cannibals are not the Illtraming. They must be some form of slave. Janissaries. The Illtraming are browsers, not bred for combat."
Goth didn't think that she'd ever come across anything less slave-like than the Megair Cannibals, but she didn't say so. She wasn't sure what "janissaries" were, but she was quite ready to accept that the plant might just be wrong. The mother-plant's mind was closed on some ideas, and it certainly didn't fit Goth's game-plan to try to open it up.
The Mother-plant had obviously reached some conclusions. "You will light-shift us. The other Karres human will be brought into the plant to keep you from misbehaving."
"Won't work. I need her to talk to them, and she does that with klatha," said Goth, her heart beating fast, readying herself for action. There must be all of forty or fifty of Marshi's goons on the Venture, she knew. And they could all act as one. Goth wished she knew what would happen when-if-Marshi died. She had a bad feeling that it might just be like cutting a branch out of a tree-hard on the branch but not fatal to the tree.
There was another pause. "Very well. There appear to be a number of Illtraming ships in orbit around the Illtraming homeworld. We will need you to take us inside that cordon."
It seemed as if the Mother-plant hadn't figured out that the Phantoms were ignoring them. Goth smiled sweetly. "Sure. I'll just need some rest, and my sister."
Chapter 32
Hanging in the emptiness of space, Sedmon of Uldune kept his guns trained on the one remaining damaged ship from Marshi's little flotilla. Should he have tried to stop Goth, her sister and the bodyguard leaving? Should he have fired on the Venture? And where were the rest of the witches of Karres? His own fleet was thirty hours away. The Imperials were still further. What should he do now? He was alone-besides the rest of the hexaperson, and vocalizing sometimes helped to focus their thoughts. He did not expect a vocal reply.
"Probably nothing," said Toll.
"Or at least that is what the best of our predictors say. The situation is highly fluid and dangerous," said Threbus.
Sedmon gaped at them. "How?… what?" was the best he could manage.
"How did we get here and what are we doing?" prompted Toll helpfully.
Sedmon swallowed. Nodded.
Threbus raised his eyebrows a
t the Daal. "You don't seriously expect an answer to the first question, do you? Like you, we invest heavily in research. Yes, we do know why the House of Thunders looks a little dilapidated despite the money that continues to pour into Uldune's coffers. We also have things that we do not want the galaxy to know… yet."
"And as to the second question, I would think that it is obvious," said Toll.
"Sometimes the obvious is hard to see, dear," said the big blond-bearded Threbus. "It can be right in your face and not noticed. Like the vatch manipulation of the situation on the Venture. Our daughters and Pausert are really quite bright, and yet they did not see it."
Sedmon was not at all sure what they were talking about, or even if he really wanted to know. Especially with Toll smiling sweetly at him, like that. So he shifted tack. "What do you plan to do with that ship over there?"
Threbus shrugged. "About what you're doing, I am afraid. As it is a telepathic organism we can't afford to make part of the mother-plant aware of our presence, because we have no desire to alarm the part that has our daughters in its toils."
"And future son-in-law," said Toll. "The miniature subradio device was a good thought, though," she said. "Well done."
"So… they're not in any real danger?" asked Sedmon, privately relieved. He was fond of Goth and the Leewit, he had to admit, and Hulik was more so. That wouldn't have stopped him, but still, it was good to know he'd made the right decision. "The situation is under control? This… vatch…?"
Threbus shook his head at him. "They are in the greatest danger. And the situation could possibly erupt, according to our best precogs, into a galaxy-wide war against a telepathic foe, or something worse, that we are not sure that we could win. And while we think the vatch likes the Leewit, Goth and the captain-it might be better to say, enjoys them-it is still a vatch. An observer, mostly, as their kind are. And not a very powerful one, even if it does decide to participate."
