by Speer, Flora
“At the moment, both Suria and Gaidar are on duty aboard the Kalina,” Narisa said to her mother-in-law.
“What a pity. I would like to see them again. I think of Gaidar as my third son,” Kalina said. “Were it not for Gaidar taking us far away from Capital at a crucial time, Almaric and I might not have survived the Cetan War and the revolution that finally brought us to power. And now look at this handsome boy he has fathered. Gaidar must be very proud, and Suria must be as happy as she has always deserved to be.”
However much she might enjoy playing with her grandson and her friend Suria’s child, or reminiscing about dramatic events of the past, Kalina could not afford to forget her primary mission for long. An hour after landing at Home, she and Tarik, Jyrit and Dysia, along with a few of the colonists, held a conference on the course they should take.
“Our battle with the Regulan ships did not last long before they agreed to a cease-fire and negotiations,” Jyrit said to the group. “I have tried to convince the Regulan captains that we believe the Space Dragon, which was badly disabled by Regulan fire, burned up during entry into the atmosphere. I am not certain they believe me, but they made no strong protest when I announced my intention to accompany Lady Kalina to the surface to meet with her remaining son and tell him of the death of his brother. In hope that we could complete our search for the missing ship before the Regulans begin their own, I emphasized that mother and son would want to comfort each other and thus we would be here for some time.”
“But you do not believe Halvo is dead.” Osiyar’s eyes bored into Jyrit’s, making the Jugarian openly uncomfortable until the telepath moved his gaze to Kalina.
“We do not,” Kalina said very firmly. “Halvo is an experienced space pilot. If he is physically capable of handling a ship, then there is a good chance that he survived. We will find him, Tank. We must. I cannot leave him to the mercy of that despicable pirate.”
“It is only fair to tell you before you agree to join our search, Commander Tank,” Dysia said, “that while we were on Regula we learned that this woman, Perri, does not know how to pilot a ship. It was being done entirely by her robot.”
“Which means,” Tank said in a carefully controlled tone that did not completely hide his distress at the possibilities he was forced to consider, “that if Halvo was not well enough, or if he was not allowed near the controls, then the Space Dragon may have burned in the upper atmosphere or, if it did not burn, it may have crashed with loss of life.”
“Exactly.” Jyrit spoke over Kalina’s renewed protest that her son must be alive. “Furthermore, we do not know where on Dulan’s Planet we might find the Space Dragon, or if we will discover any evidence of the ship at all.”
“Nevertheless,” Kalina said, using her most authoritative voice to break into the discussion of practical realities, “we will search the entire planet if need be.”
“Why in the name of all the stars did this Perri woman head for the Empty Sector?” Tarik asked.
“We do not know,” Jyrit said. “The Regulan captains appear to be as honestly baffled by the course taken by the Space Dragon as we are. Nor do I think they have been given much information by their Hierarchy.”
“That would not be surprising.” Tarik looked even more worried than before. “The Regulan Hierarchs are always up to something secretive. We may never learn the entire truth about their motives.”
“At this moment, I do not care what their reasons are,” Kalina said. “I just want to find Halvo.”
After some further discussion it was agreed that in addition to a direct search of the planet by shuttlecraft, planet-wide surveillance would also be conducted by Gaidar and Suria from the ship Kalina. Tarik would pilot one of the colony shuttlecraft, taking with him Kalina, Osiyar, and Herne, the colony physician.
“Captain Jyrit,” Tarik said, “you and Lieutenant Dysia ought to return to the Krontar to keep an eye on those Regulan ships.”
“My first officer knows what to do,” Jyrit said. “I will add my shuttlecraft to the search. If you wish to send more of your people along, they may come with me.”
“It really isn’t necessary,” Tank said.
“This is a matter of personal honor,” Jyrit said, his pale gray face hard, his antennae beginning to turn red with emotion.
“He will not change his mind,” Dysia said. “Nor will I. I will follow my captain until he orders me to return to the Krontar. You cannot get rid of us, Commander Tarik, so do not try.” She knew her own face was almost as set and hard as Jyrit’s.
“I will not try. I appreciate loyalty. And I admit I will be glad of the extra ship. With it, the search should only take half as long.” Tarik paused before speaking again. “Do you know from which direction the Space Dragon entered the atmosphere? The information might give us some clue as to where to begin looking.”
“As soon as we were near enough to establish instrument contact, our communications officer put a continuous trace on the Space Dragon, but she lost contact when the Space Dragon entered the lower atmosphere. Here.” From her belt pouch Dysia pulled a small disk. “I made a duplicate of the trace record and brought it with me in case there was something on it that would be useful to you.”
While Tarik ran the data disk through the colony computer, with Kalina hovering over his shoulder and offering a steady monologue of advice, Osiyar broke away from the group in the main room. Dysia had been watching the telepath, and when he walked across the room to the entrance, she hastened to follow him. Osiyar had such a strange look on his face that as she went through the door after him, Dysia pulled her hand weapon from her belt. At once Osiyar halted, but he did not turn around. Dysia stopped, too, just a pace or two behind him.
“Do you imagine I will attack you?” Osiyar asked with some humor. “Or perhaps call up an enchantment upon you and your captain? Or worse, enter your mind and learn all of your thoughts?”
“Would you?” Dysia’s hand trembled a little, but she kept the weapon trained on Osiyar.
“By a law the telepaths themselves made centuries ago, I am forbidden to enter anyone’s mind without express permission,” Osiyar said. “The only allowable exception occurs when use of my power is necessary to save a life.”
“I did not know that.”
“You of the Jurisdiction know little of my kind. It is not your fault. Long before you were born most telepaths left the Jurisdiction, or were killed because they would not leave.” Osiyar did turn then to smile at Dysia and shake his head at her weapon. “Did you sense that I was receiving a message? Is that why you followed me?”
“You had a peculiar look on your face. What message? Are the Regulans up to something we should know about?”
“Not the Regulans. If you will put away your weapon, you may come with me. The Chon do not like weapons of any kind. Centuries ago, too many Chon were killed by Cetans using similar weapons.”
“The Chon?” Mystified by the unfamiliar name, Dysia lowered her weapon.
“They are large birds.” Quickly Osiyar explained about the intelligent, telepathic creatures. When he headed for the opposite side of the island, a fascinated Dysia went with him.
They came out of the trees onto a rough beach, with the lake spread before them. In this northern hemisphere it was autumn, and so the few leaves still clinging to the trees that in places grew right down to the water’s edge were brown or gold, with an occasional flash of scarlet. In the far distance a single, snowcapped mountain rose. Not far from the island and to the left of where they stood reared a sheer stone cliff.
“That is where the Chon live, in those caves,” Osiyar said, pointing to the cliff.
Some of the birds were fishing in the lake. A few were in the air, circling the island. As Dysia watched, one of them detached itself from the others to land on the beach just a few feet away from Osiyar. With a faint rustling sound the bird folded its wings and stood quietly regarding the two humans.
Dysia caught her breath. Never had sh
e seen a bird so large or so beautiful. Its feathers were green as the finest jewel, its bright, dark eyes were undeniably intelligent, and its manner was perfectly calm when Osiyar approached it. The telepath put out a hand to lay it upon the bird’s smooth breast, and the bird allowed it. Osiyar’s eyes closed. There was silence on the beach, yet Dysia was aware of a humming vibration in the air, and she understood that she was witnessing telepathy in action.
With her Jurisdiction training, Dysia should have been disgusted or frightened. Instead, she was thrilled by the simple, apparently quite natural demonstration of an awesome power. She stood perfectly still, listening to the hum, feeling the vibration, until Osiyar broke his physical contact with the bird. Man and bird separated, each standing quietly, Osiyar with his head bowed as if in deep thought. After a few moments the bird spread its wings and, with a graceful flutter, soared away across the lake. With its departure, Osiyar appeared to go limp. Dysia hurried to him.
“May I touch you?” she asked, reaching toward him in case he needed to lean on her. “Are you ill? Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“Thank you for your concern. I would not have expected it from a member of the Jurisdiction Service.”
“We are not all oafs and bigots,” she said rather sharply.
“No, you are not.” His sea-colored eyes seemed to pierce to her very soul. She was not even offended when he did not use her official title. “I am not ill, Dysia. It is only that when I break my communion with one of the birds, it takes me a moment or two to adjust my thoughts, to recall that I am only a man, who cannot fly as they do, who cannot remember each detail of a complicated scene after but an instant’s glance at it.”
“I suppose there are benefits to being a bird.”
“Indeed.” Osiyar chuckled. “There are times when I wish I were one of the Chon.”
“You can’t mean that!”
“Of course not.” But Osiyar’s smile was mysterious. “We ought to return to the others. I have learned a few facts that will be of use to Tarik and your Captain Jyrit.”
As they turned back toward the headquarters building and began walking along the path they were met by a dark-haired, intense-looking woman.
“Here is Alla, my mate,” Osiyar said, introducing the woman, who immediately slipped her hand into the crook of his arm in a possessive way.
“I have just witnessed an amazing demonstration,” Dysia said to Alla, forcing herself to squelch the irrational sense of disappointment she felt at the unexpected introduction. She did not know Osiyar. There could be no connection between them. A friendship with a telepath could only be detrimental to the career that meant everything to her.
“How lovely for you.” Alla began pulling Osiyar along the narrow path, leaving Dysia to walk behind them. “Osiyar, my dearest, do hurry. Tarik is eager to leave as soon as possible.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Dysia muttered, believing they were far enough ahead so they could not hear her. “I can find my own way.” Feeling decidedly left out, she was only partially cheered when Osiyar looked back to smile at her as if in apology for Alla’s rudeness.
“That is all of the information conveyed to me by the birds,” Osiyar said a few minutes later when he, the still clinging Alla, and Dysia had all rejoined the group in the headquarters building, where preparations for the search were nearly complete. “The Chon have confirmed that the Space Dragon did land safely. The man and woman outside the ship appeared to be in good health.”
“I thank all the ancient gods of Demaria for that.” Kalina closed her eyes for a moment, “Osiyar, did the bird tell you anything more about Halvo? About his physical condition, perhaps?”
“No.” Osiyar paused. “There was something strange, though. The bird was aware of the woman’s attempt to make contact with it.”
“A Regulan telepath? Impossible!” Kalina scoffed. “More likely, that scurrilous pirate was planning to harm the bird in some way and the bird sensed it. At least we now know in which direction to search.”
“The birds will fly with us,” Osiyar said. “This will not be the first time they have guided us to a rescue.”
“Then let’s move,” Tarik said, heading for the door. “We want to reach Halvo before the Regulans take it into their heads to begin a search of their own, if they haven’t done so already. Jyrit, I assume you are still coming with us? If so, I will send my men, Reid and Pelidan, along in your shuttlecraft in case we need reinforcements.”
There followed a purposeful bustle as the last of the medical supplies, weapons, and food and water were loaded onto the waiting shuttlecraft. Kalina insisted on being as well armed as the other members of the expedition.
“I remember that you do know how to use one of these,” Tarik said, handing her a weapon. “Just choose your target with care. Until we find them, we can’t be absolutely certain of the identities of those two people the bird discovered. We only have the word of the Regulans that they are Halvo and his captor. You don’t want to make a hasty mistake.”
“I won’t.” Kalina tucked the weapon into her belt. “But I give you fair warning, Tarik. If the second person on the Space Dragon proves to be the same dreadful young woman who kidnapped my poor Halvo, I may personally end her miserable life before the Regulans can get their hands on her!”
Chapter Seventeen
Perri knew she was dreaming, but she could not make herself wake up, no matter how hard she tried. In her dream she was back in space, in the badly damaged Space Dragon, and she was all alone. Not even Rolli was with her. It was taking all of her energy and her newly-learned piloting skills to keep the ship steady while she rocketed through the star-strewn blackness. Most of the instruments were malfunctioning and she knew she could not continue much longer. Already the Space Dragon was losing speed. Soon it would stop altogether. Then, while she lay helpless and unable to defend herself, her pursuer would overtake her. She could see his face on the viewscreen, and she could hear his laughter mocking her efforts to escape him.
“What do you want with me, Elyr?” she shouted at his image. “I am gone from your life. I will never return to Regula. Why don’t you leave me alone?”
“You know why not,” he said in the maddeningly superior way he habitually used with her. “The answers you want are in your own mind. If you would pause to think, Perri, instead of constantly asking futile questions, you would understand everything.”
“I understand that you never loved me,” she cried. When he shrugged as though his love or lack of it were of no consequence, she added, “I tried so hard to love you because my parents wanted us to marry. I thought I had succeeded, but I know better now. I tried to love you, Elyr, and I was always completely loyal to you. But in spite of your solemn and unbreakable oath to take me as your wife and cherish me, you were loyal only to yourself.”
“Oaths are made to be broken,” Elyr said.
“If that is so, what good are they? Who can believe in any promise? Elyr, you disgraced both of us when you put me into a position in which I was forced to become a pirate in order to save your life,” Perri said. “You were willing to see me killed without any chance to defend myself. Worse, you would have seen Halvo killed, too, because he would never have kept silent about what he knew of your plot. Why, Elyr? Why did you do it?”
“Halvo should have remained ignorant of the truth,” Elyr said. “You were instructed to tell him nothing. You never could obey orders properly, Perri. It is a great fault in you and most unwomanly.”
“Your complaints about me cannot hurt me anymore. Answer me, Elyr! Why did you and the Chief Hierarch concoct this plot against me? Why did you include Halvo?” When Elyr’s only response was another maddeningly indifferent shrug, Perri screamed at him, “Before you kill me, I have a right to know why I am dying. Why? Why?”
“You think it was all about you, but as usual, you are wrong,” Elyr said with a smile that degenerated into a smirk. “It was Halvo. Pirates and Halvo, you stupid girl.�
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“Pirates?” Perri said. “I don’t understand. What are you saying, Elyr? What pirates? Where? Elyr! Elyr, answer me!”
“Perri, wake up!”
A hand was shaking her gently; a supportive arm was around her shoulders. Perri went trembling into Halvo’s secure embrace.
“You were having a nightmare,” he said. “You were screaming about Elyr and pirates.”
“He was going to kill me. He still wants me dead. I know it.” Clinging to him, shaking from a terror she could not dismiss, Perri recounted her dream. “He will kill you, too, if he can.”
“Hush,” Halvo said. “It was only a dream.”
“On Regula, we believe dreams have meaning,” Perri said. “That book I read about space flight spoke of the dreams inflicted on travelers in the Empty Sector, dreams more real than reality, dreams that can drive the most stable personalities into madness. Is that what is happening to me? Was my nightmare the effect of being here in the Empty Sector?”
Perri sat up straight, pushing herself out of Halvo’s arms, leaving him to lie upon the narrow bunk while she looked wildly around his cabin, trying to reassure herself that the walls were solid, that there were no other strange effects occurring.
“Or was it the bird?” she whispered. “When that huge bird flew so close to me I saw something, Halvo, a scene clear in my mind. Am I going mad?”
“You are more likely suffering the aftermath of severe, prolonged stress,” Halvo said. When he tried to pull her back into his arms Perri stiffened her spine and refused to accept the comfort he was offering.
“Elyr said pirates,” she repeated. “‘Pirates and Halvo, you stupid girl.’ Those were his exact words.”
