by C. N Lesley
“Vaslov, early twenty-third century space poet,” Ambrose stated, looking somewhat surprised. “I can’t remember all of it, just a few lines, and bear in mind, the man went half mad with loneliness, being the sole survivor of hibernation on the illfated Sirius expedition.” He thought for a moment then continued:
’Ware the traveler under a dark star,
Like the cat who walks alone.
Hunting souls in bitter night,
Shadow walkers journey far.
“It gets much worse, and gave all want-to-be planetary colonists the jitters until it was suppressed. I came across a copy when I was researching why they gave up looking for a new home.”
“And did you find the reason?” Ector asked, dismissing the gloomy gibberish.
“They couldn’t find a class M planet within a reasonable hibernation distance at first. They weren’t reliable either, those contraptions. Sometimes they induced a coma so deep that volunteers slept to death and left the generation crew to dispose of corpses before they had even left orbit. Then that awful incident happened when an insect got inside the ship during the penultimate trial. It ate its way through a control cable, the one linked to emergency override. They did a loop of Saturn, just to make sure the ship could operate on automatic pilot with sleep-chilled human cargo. That bug must have thought it’d found paradise. Anyway, it started a big row, and the program was shelved until another setback made people forget.”
“They stopped until they sorted out hygiene, I suppose.” Ector shuddered. “I can’t imagine any more volunteers otherwise. What else could go wrong bad enough to overshadow a bug feast?”
“I’m not really sure.” Ambrose snorted in disgust. “This time I kept getting obscure hints of a political cover-up and the one file I could find looked as if someone erased part of it. I couldn’t make sense of it.”
“Shall I brief Shadow?” Ector didn’t want any more stories of people being eaten, possibly while still alive.
“Yes. Give her that tour anyway. No one ought to fight for a cause they haven’t seen,” Ambrose said, appearing to miss Shadow’s real motive for siding with Submariners. “Try to win her friendship if you can. I would prefer to have some sort of loyalty, not just her lust for blind revenge.”
“She is a child still, despite all that has happened to her, or maybe because of it,” Ector argued. “Right now, she doesn’t want to face certain events because she does not understand what she has done to deserve punishment.”
“Did you explain our theory to her?”
“I tried partial disclosure at first, but her mind is much sharper than other Terrans we have encountered. She knows the full story,” Ector said, leaning back in his chair. He decided to keep the way Shadow acquired her information to himself. His mind hadn’t been raided so efficiently since his youth in Sanctuary.
*
Shadow indicated her agreement with a single nod when Ector outlined the mission. No questions, no alternative suggestions, just a simple acceptance.
“Ambrose insists you look round Avalon before we go,” Ector told her, saving the worst news for last.
“Futile.” A single word, snapped back. Shadow padded over to her bed, lay down and stared at the ceiling, waiting with catlike patience for him to give up. From the appearance of her damp, blonde curls, he guessed she’d just showered, and now wore a gray rest-suit.
“Orders,” Ector shot back.
“Politics,” Shadow answered, waving a hand in the general direction of Avalon. With that one word, she managed to convey her opinion of the outing.
“They are all used to pictures of you on their consoles. Ambrose releases regular updates just so you can have freedom in our city without the inconvenience of stares. I’ll collect you at the second waking hour. I expect to find you ready and wearing field dress. Refusal isn’t an option.”
Shadow stood waiting for him when he called. She wore a gray bodysuit with light gray boots and a gray half-cloak with a white belt to indicate her cadet status, as opposed to his black one. Once outside, she stayed calm, having seen enough ground runners and railpods on the console information channel not to be disturbed by them. People she ignored as irrelevant, despite their curious stares at her smooth, pink skin, so different from their own silver scales.
Ector had what he considered an interesting itinerary. He ordered his ground runner from parking and set out toward the northern sector. They stopped first in the deep levels, where edible vegetation grew in hydroponics chambers. Shadow paced the rows, even bit into a peach, looking bored all the while. Ector shelved plans to show her protein processing installations at that point. Brethren seemed to be hunters, rather than growers. He set a path directly to the city center, where an artifact museum always attracted many visitors. Instinct prompted him to the third floor that housed an assorted collection of visual representations behind protective vacuum barriers.
Shadow didn’t attempt to mask her interest, only her impatience, as they inspected every display case. A prized exhibit of an ancient sea battle set against a brilliant sunset held her transfixed.
“What?” she asked, pointing at sailing ships.
“A way of traveling on water using wind behind sails as the means of propulsion,” he said, hoping to break her silence at last. When she didn’t ask, he knew she’d access the Archive later.
Ector cut short the tour soon after. He’d done as Ambrose asked without a result. Prolonging this experience seemed quite futile, as Shadow had predicted. He escorted her back to her room, pausing on the threshold.
“Active duty at day-start. I’ve set your alarm. Get as much sleep as you can now. We’re in for a long haul.”
Shadow had just packed her salvaged Terran gear when he collected her the next day. She’d left her shell box by her bed and his other gift, a piece of coral, alongside it.
Following his gaze, she smiled. “Safe.”
“Yes, I’ll keep them for you.”
Restoration of her Terran gear had presented problems for the support staff, he knew. They’d improvised by using the tops of her boots to form a missing sleeve. The result looked a trifle on the short side, but it would serve, since Shadow had once said Brethren clothing often appeared ragged.
She shipped out the same as any other soldier, brisk with no regrets. She had never once mentioned her child, and didn’t now. The incident remained closed for all time. Brethren existed from one moment to the next, and she belonged to them. Utterly.
Chapter 11
Earth Date 3874
Ector and Shadow traveled in a five-seat submersible, since Tarvi, Suki, and the new recruit had already left to prepare the base started by Fank. To Ector’s relief, as he preferred to pilot without interruptions, Shadow drifted into the sleep soldiers snatch in the calm before conflict.
The craft took two hours to travel up the east side and into the mouth of the estuary. Now he needed to rouse her, but a tentative touch against Shadow’s mind hit a barrier. The dark star still held an unholy attraction. He shook her awake.
“We have a long swim ahead. Please be available for an emergency link.” Ector directed her to the wider rear of the craft, where a flood chamber enabled exit under water. Once they were out he activated automatic controls. Curved blades extruded to burrow the vessel under the sand.
Ector carried the watertight luggage container, not from kindness – Shadow wouldn’t accept that – but practicality; his superior skills underwater pressed her hard to keep up with his slow, considerate pace.
Fank’s red-tipped marker sticks along the riverbed showed where to branch off. Five hours later, at Terran sunset, they arrived at a dark hole running into the bank. Ector reached out for Shadow’s belt, attaching a lead rein before going in. They’d already surfaced twice; this stretch pushed her to her limits. He felt his way until he broke surface to a dim light. This bolt-hole looked no better than a crawl space. Ector held back a curse after he banged his head on the ceiling. One wide-eyed boy stra
ightened from a kit bag in a larger part of the cavern. His mouth dropped open when he saw Shadow.
“Yes, it’s the Terran,” Ector said. “Go tell Tarvi we’re here.” He dug in his pocket for the fake bracelet. Shadow sprawled on the floor, breathing deeply. She didn’t stir when Ector locked the bogus wristband into place, but looked up afterward.
“Working?”
“No, it is one of ours. Get changed. I’ll make sure the others stay away.” A useless courtesy as Ector knew she didn’t notice, although it satisfied his sense of rightness. Submariner women did not exhibit undue modesty, not to the rigid extremes of their Terran counterparts, but Shadow had no awareness of her body. He’d surprised her straight from her shower once, yet she had not appeared concerned, just irritated at being caught tardy. Her departure lifted a great weight from his shoulders. Until this moment, Ector hadn’t realized how depressed she’d made him feel.
Outside, a brown horse grazed in the dying light, near where Tarvi and the boy knelt by a senseless Terran, but Suki wasn’t around.
“Having fun?”
“An accident.” Tarvi explained. “Merrick was on guard duty in the river when this one tried to ford. That wretched animal saw a movement and bolted. It missed the bank, flooring them both.”
“And why didn’t you dump them away from our base?” Ector hunkered down beside Tarvi, curious at the sight of another Terran at close quarters. The man looked a lot older than Shadow, with jowls and a faint touch of gray in his dark brown hair. He wore a silver bracelet around his right wrist, making him one of the more intelligent of the worker divisions, but not a royal gold-banded individual.
“He’s carrying message sticks. I knew you’d bring Shadow, so I decided to keep him until she could find out his purpose. He traveled to our target fort.”
“Where’s Suki? Why couldn’t she scan him?” He knew the seer would stay on the periphery of camp to avoid distractions as she thought-scanned the surrounding area for enemies.
“Gone home.” Tarvi looked into the tree-lined distance. “She got a transmission, went a funny color and slithered off. We’ll be catching a ride back with you. And before you yell, she cited seer precedence for a Sanctuary emergency before she filched our transport.”
“Damned inconsiderate—” Ector swore. “Well, it’s done now. Diagnosis?”
“The horse has a mild sprain in the foreleg. The Terran has four broken ribs and a concussion. I can dump him across the beast and lead him clear when we know his purpose.”
“Strike Leader?” the boy asked.
“Yes, Merrick?” Ector said.
“How can a Terran come up from the river passage?”
“She’s not wholly Terran.” Tarvi glanced back at the entrance, partly hidden by a large bush, checking to see that Shadow wasn’t there. “Shadow’s a hybrid working for us. Is she still sulking, Ector?”
“Don’t pay note to him, Merrick. Shadow won’t notice you if you don’t speak to her. Just think of her as a unique species and you’ll do just fine.”
“No change in her attitude?” Tarvi said.
“None. She’s Brethren.”
Tarvi looked up at Ector, frowning. “Tried linking?”
“Link and even the Archive, who showed interest but offered little help. She’s too strong to force and too closed to reason with.”
“Can we trust her?”
Ector shrugged. “As far as any mercenary. Our bid hasn’t got a ceiling, revenge never has.”
“I thought you’d had a rapport. What happened?”
“One cut too many. The loss of that child severed all links with humanity. She wanted time alone, and I, like a fool, let her have it.” He wished again he could have the time back over and sighed. “I didn’t consider pain as a goad to memory. She reverted to Brethren standards I can’t break through.”
“Ector, you’re a psi-level fifteen, not many seers get higher,” Tarvi objected.
“Apparently not enough. Shadow can block me at will. Her level exceeds mine with ease.”
Tarvi choked back a gasp. “Surely after the time you spent together?”
“Didn’t raise an eyebrow with her. She chooses her own path.”
Shadow emerged in her Terran regalia, took one look at the fallen man, and then ran across to check his color-marked sticks.
“Messenger,” she said.
“The message?” Ector asked.
“Not clear. Comes from High Fort and . . . I think is to bring back . . . don’t know.”
Shadow’s voice rasped, having grown hoarse from disuse. “Gold circles twice is news from king to king. Green chevrons crossed with red bars means trade accepted. Never seen a gold crosshatch.”
Ector wanted very much to yell at her. All these weeks of just one word and she’d gained her voice back all along, staying mute out of perversity. She talked now because of her mission.
“We can lose the man now. Shadow will take advantage of his horse.” Ector said.
“No. Animal has High Fort brand that isn’t bar crossed. Any new brand will not pass without priest question. I will take both to get in easy.”
“He’ll draw predators at the speed you will have to travel,” Ector argued.
“Then see who has sharper fangs.” Shadow wore a half-smile, now more a chilling grimace.
“This Terran isn’t going anywhere just yet, not if you want him alive when you reach the target fort,” Tarvi said, looking up at her from the injured man.
“When?” Ector asked.
“He needs rest. If I interfere too much, I’ll risk wrecking Shadow’s cover. I can fix him enough for a daybreak start.”
Shadow nodded and went over to inspect the brown horse, running her hands over each leg in turn.
Ector could only admire the confidence Shadow displayed with the big beast. Yes, she knew horses. Tired, he sat down with his back to a tree trunk, aware of Tarvi’s raised eyebrows. “Shadow knows more about horses than we’ll ever learn. She’s seen the man’s injuries and is now checking the animal. Best not to interfere.” Tarvi joined him, sitting down cross-legged.
“Look I didn’t want to bring this up in front of her, but what about Suki?” Tarvi spoke very quietly. “She’s supposedly our link with Shadow, and without a seer—”
“I’ll be contact,” Ector said.
“With all due respect, you opted out of Sanctuary before final initiation.”
“I don’t need intense concentration to link with another of equal strength. All we need is an approximate time to scan for a probe.”
“Does Sanctuary know about her?”
“Only that she’s a telepath. The Archive does, and it likes her. It seems to have a special interest that I think will stop it blabbing,” Ector said, yawning. “Take Merrick below for some rest. I’ll need to be on watch tomorrow night, so I can sleep during the day.”
“Ector, I know how long and how exhausting that journey was. I should be the one to keep vigil.”
“Shadow isn’t good with people. I need to revise mission parameters with her. I can’t do that with a conscious Terran male listening. This is my opportunity, and I have stim tabs, or we can take turn and turnabout if necessary.”
Tarvi called over to the lad, “Merrick, we’re off duty for the night.” He glowered his disapproval at Ector as they pushed past the bush to go below.
Shadow had replaced the message sticks and now came over, squatting beside him.
“Shadow, we have to link when you’re inside that fort.” Ector wasn’t sure with her. She would obey orders but would she permit contact of so personal a nature?
“Can’t listen always,” Shadow said.
“I’ll start trying two hours after nightfall. If there’s a problem with people around and you can’t answer, I’ll try the same time next darkness. Agreed?”
She nodded, getting up to break off deadfall branches. Ector wondered why, and then realized he had an answer. She had instructions, had cooperated, so now speec
h became superfluous.
Shadow built a sort of nest with the twigs, putting sun-dried grass under one edge. She began rotating one twig end against the shaft of another quickly. A wisp of smoke came up after several minutes and a reddish-gray glow coming from the static twig. She pushed the smoldering part against dry grass, blowing gently until it caught to become a comforting blaze.
“Very nice, but what if it brings people?” Ector said. Night fast approached where a glow would be seen at a long distance, and the smoke would stand out against the dark sky.
“Think search. None around.”
Ector sat back to enjoy the warmth without getting roasted. So she’d scanned, had she? He wondered what other tricks she’d picked up from Submariners. He hadn’t taught her, so she must have simply stolen from another mind. Why hadn’t he heard someone screaming ‘raid’ from such a deep penetration? Could she possibly access without leaving a trace? Had the Archive enabled her? Ector thought this more likely. It might just amuse that vast mind to help one it considered an individual. Maybe if he got her talking, could get her talking, or even listening, he could read her body language.
“Shadow, remember those sailing ships in the picture?” At least she looked up at that. “I have a building plan for a smaller version from old records. If I survive this war, if it is ever concluded, I’d like to build that boat and sail the seven seas.”
“Seven?”
“Yes, our world is far bigger than you realize. I’d like to find a land where we can make a new beginning, Terrans and Submariners, living together as a community, without rigid laws. One people, all accepting any differences between them, working together for the sake of the group.”
“Nice dream. Won’t happen. People fight.”
“It could with goodwill on both sides. If you wanted to come, we could take your child, sneak out one night,” Ector suggested. “It would be away from Sanctuary.”
“He is safe. Sanctuary can’t control.”
Prickles of fear skittered down Ector’s spine. Tarvi hadn’t mentioned gender. Why had Shadow said ‘he’? What made ‘him’ safe from Sanctuary?
