“It’s another possible back-up,” he said.
“Okay, Dian, let’s unlace the sacs, both at the same time,” said Sarah. “And, please pull Jaime into rapport with us, right away.”
Sarah found herself inside a sudden whirlwind, the moment she had her amarto bare in her hand. She fought the wind, aware that Dian, too, was struggling, even as she was drawing Jaime’s consciousness into the maelstrom.
None of the three had taken the time to settle into seated positions; now the male members of The Mission took it upon themselves to catch each of them as they fell into a trance, and settle them into halfway comfortable positions on the floor, and against a hallway wall.
“What now?” Roge asked.
“Now we wait,” replied Jillian. “And watch our backs.”
*****
“Remember,” came Jaime’s thought. “It’s all smoke and mirrors.”
“Yes,” Sarah responded.
Although the smoke and the mirrors were pretty darn effective at the moment.
She drew a deep, non-existent breath, and settled down to study the storm. The eye of the storm; she needed to find that. Dian and Jaime agreed with her; they had settled to steady her as much as was possible. She plunged towards what seemed to be the heart of a hurricane, telling herself the whole time that the storm was not real, but merely an illusion. It had been created using the echoing power of amarto shards; nothing compared to the energy which she had at her fingertips.
“She’s incredibly strong, this granddaughter of mine,” she heard someone say—say?—in the centre of the whirlwind. “Where did she get such strength?”
“But can she break through?” This one was a weak voice—voice?—much weaker than that of the first communicator.
‘Anya and the half-Terran girl,” came Dian’s thought. And from Jaime: “Of course.”
“The question is: Do they want us to break through?” Sarah asked.
“Considering the SOS built into the amarto-detectors, I’d say yes,” came Jaime’s response.
Sarah pushed on. There was nothing else she could have done, in any case.
Then she, with Dian and Jaime trailing, was in the eye of the storm; the sudden calm had her astral form falling down, down, as if into a well. She fell into a room of sorts, in her astral body, not a real room, she thought, but a construct of the mind. Dian and Jaime dropped beside her; the three of them were shimmering, connected entities, apparently visible to the two women in the room.
“Peter, your daughter is here in astral form,” one of the women, she must have been Anya, said out loud to someone whom Sarah could not see.
“Sarah?” a male voice asked. “Don’t let her get caught, Anya! I don’t want her trapped in this!”
“She has brought some talented friends with her. We must try to do what they came to do. Perhaps they can undo what we were forced to create!”
“So you will help us?” Sarah asked Anya and the other woman whose astral forms were shimmering too, the older woman’s much more brightly than that of the younger one.
“Janelle and I will add our powers to yours, insofar as we can. However we’ve been mostly defanged, our talents bled to feed the amarto-reflector-refractor.”
She pointed to the strange, glittering centre of the “room”; Sarah realized that it must correspond to the contraption in the laboratory. She had seen it on the map that Jeb and Jaime had created with the help of the Hera’s Hope’s computer. Jaime had noted it with a question mark on the map. It had not come out well in the images from Jeb’s camera implant. It had seemed to have had, somehow, the ability to hide itself from observation; the picture had been very blurry.
Sarah moved closer to the glitter. She saw with her astral sight what had to be the shimmering counterparts to the Stone slivers that did the reflecting and the refracting.
“Who dreamed up this thing?” she asked, staring at it.
“Your brother, your father, and the scientist who works with them. There was intense pressure on them, and on Janelle and me, to come up with something that could rival the power of the Witches of Kordea. This is what we came up with.
”Peter, Cam, and Jerold were able to, clandestinely, add the feedback loop to the amarto-detectors which they were also forced to perfect. We hoped that the feedback would serve as a warning, and inspire the Witches to do what it would take to undo what both machines do. Both of them work by creating a deception, you see. My fear was that the hidebound Circle Witches would refuse to call in Terran scientists, and cooperate with them to figure out how the deception works. Had they insisted on using only their own power, they all would have ended up caught in the web the reflector-refractor creates.
“But it seems that, for once, I underestimated my former colleagues; they actually did what needed to be done.”
“Can you turn it off?”
Anya shook her head.
“It’s a permanent installation, now. A devouring monster which draws power from my Stone, Janelle’s Stone, and no doubt from the Stones of you two Witches, now that you are here.”
Jaime’s astral form had come to stand behind Sarah’s.
“Let me take a good look at it, Sarah,” he said. “Dian and I are a potent force together.”
“Can’t one of you physically in the laboratory just smash that thing?” Sarah asked Anya.
Anya laughed.
“Listen to this,” she said out loud. “Peter, your daughter wants to know if one of us physically in the lab can’t just smash the cute machine that the Neotsarians had you three dream up?
“Sarah, it cannot be done,” she added astrally. “The thing defends itself; the only reason why you three can approach it is because it is sucking up the amarto-energies from the Stones of the two women. It will not allow you near enough, physically, to smash it; it knows what you intend, since it is attuned to you through your Stones.”
“But we were able to unravel the Lina-trap,” objected Dian.
“That was rather impressive,” agreed Anya. “However, you were at quite the distance from this object. It was never in any danger from you, only the trap was.”
“You make it sound, Witch Anya, like this thing is alive,” Jaime protested, studying its astral form.
“In a sense it is,” Anya responded. “The amarto energy animates it somehow. It has to do, I understand from what Jerold has said, with what you Terrans know as the quantum field, or the field of zero-point energy.”
Something very disturbing crossed Sarah’s mind.
“Anya, if Marlyss, the Eldest of the Twelve contacts Dian and me using the Stone energies, will she and her Circle be drawn into feeding the machine, too?”
Anya made a face.
“Very likely. Possibly, but there are no guarantees, you could connect with the Eldest for a split-second; then push her away, before the contraption can suck her into its vortex. Were you planning on getting help from the Circles?”
Jaime had been circling the shimmering pseudo-object, inspecting it from all directions, while avoiding contact with it.
“This thing is a miracle of refracted, reflected energy,” he said. “Its creation was an amazing achievement.”
“Peter, Cameron, and Jerold did it,” said Anya. “Of course, this is not their first creation. The first one was the original Stone-detector, a primitive thing compared to this.”
“But when I was joined to that primitive thing through the Stone I was given, to power it,” whispered Janelle, “the experience was horrible. I was in pain, the machine sucked at my being. I screamed and screamed.”
“Janelle had had no training whatsoever when they brought her here, and tossed her to the mechanical demon,” sighed Anya. “I had been refusing to use my Stone for the tormentors’ ends, but the screaming…. I finally had to step in, and that’s when these Neotsarians got a solid hold on me. I ended up as entrapped as Janelle was.”
“But, at least you made my pain go away,” the girl whispered.
&nb
sp; “For a price,” commented Anya. “A high price.”
“With enough energy, the Stone shards doing the reflecting could be pulled apart,” mused Jaime. “The mechanism is very delicately balanced. If it wasn’t held together by amarto-power, smashing it would be easy.”
“The fellows built it that way deliberately. I expected to be able to break it apart myself. But, it turned out that the connection to amarto-energy gave it a life boost which allows it to defend itself against all attempts to destroy it.”
“More energy for it to reflect, and to re-reflect,” added Jaime. “Yes, definitely a problem. And you’re implying that it captures the energies of any amarto-sensitive woman who comes into its sphere of influence?”
“That’s it, exactly.” Anya’s smile was devoid of humour. “The guys were certainly not aiming for that effect; in fact none of us realized that it would happen. The Neotsarians, of course, were delighted. They took it for proof that all the Gods of the universe agree with their aim to take control of the galaxy, and to remake it to conform to their ideals. To a Kordean Witch that is absurd; we believe in a Creator who challenges us, but also allows us to lead our lives as we wish.”
“Could we remove all the women with Stones from the vicinity?” suggested Jaime.
“The trouble is that once a Stone-working woman is captured, the machine diverts to itself most of the energies of her Stone. So she ends up working against herself. And that happens to every sensitive woman who reaches for it, mentally, or physically. Which means that Sarah’s considerable energies, and those of her colleague, are now mostly buttressing the power of the reflector-refractor, and not available for her use. She cannot leave this lab astrally, even if her body was taken elsewhere.”
“Therefore Dian and I dare not ask for help from the Circle of the Twelve,” Sarah said. “We can’t risk the possibility that a whole Circle might become enmeshed in the machine.”
“Although, I cannot imagine Marlyss willingly aiding these Neotsarians,” Dian mused wryly. “Maybe she’d cause the machine to stage a coup.”
“Maybe, if such a rebellion is within the realm of the possible,” Sarah giggled, “you and I can get it going.”
“Janelle and I have been trying,” sighed Anya. “Unless you, young women, have something new to throw into the pot....”
“We’ll have to think about it,” Sarah said, turning serious. “I have no intention of remaining here as the captive of that machine, and the Neotsarians. There has to be a way to break out!”
*****
“So, Sarah, are you going to admit to your identity?” the Neotsarian man who, Nance judged, was the highest-ranking one of the four, asked her, as she walked towards their sleek ship between two of the men.
She did not answer immediately. She was trying to figure out what course of action would be the most beneficial to The Mission. Should she insist on her real identity as Nance, wife of Texi, and a non-sensitive Kordean? Or would it be better for the group at the Facility if she pretended to be Sarah, the amarto-sensitive, even as the high-ranking fools were insisting that she was?
“Well?” the man prodded her impatiently, and Nance made up her mind.
“All right, then,” she snapped, her voice reluctant. “Call me Sarah, if you insist on it. What about it?”
They had reached the ship’s hatch. One of the lesser Neotsarians operated the door controls while the top man rubbed his hands together while gleefully ogling Nance.
“What about it, girl?” he repeated. “Just that you will be a useful addition to our laboratory. My understanding is that you are a very powerful talent. You will increase the reach of our amarto-reflector by an unbelievable extent! Ah, the things that we’ll be able to do with that gadget! The Kordean hags won’t know what’s happening to them and their ridiculous world!”
Nance did not have to feign the shudder that passed through her body. Did Sarah and Dian know about this? They did know about the machine—they had studied its blurry contours on Jeb and Jaime’s map on Hera’s Hope’s computer screens. They must have realized that it was what had been used to create the Lina-trap! But they had gone to try to deal with it innocently enough, possibly without any real understanding of what they would be facing! Had they already been drawn into its orbit, to add to the power of the mechanism the strength of the two most talented Witches on Kordea?
“So you don’t like the idea of helping us to turn the chaos of the galaxy into an orderly, uniform universe, one in which the deserving stand tall at the apex of the pyramid of humanity, and make the decisions for all?” The man’s voice was slightly sneering. “Well, that just goes to show how far down on the pyramid your rightful place is. Your talent is not yours to command, and should not be; it belongs to the whole, and the whole is to be ruled by its top people, people like myself, who were born to function as the Elite.
“You will do as you are told, woman; never forget that.”
Nance stared at him, the pit of her stomach queasy. How was it possible that this man was of Terran extraction, just as much as Jillian, Joe, and Jaime were, and more so, than either Sarah or Coryn?
The top man turned to enter the vessel, followed by one of the two who had been flanking Nance. The man behind her shoved her to make her move along, and she did, entering the innards of the ship. Her mind was in a turmoil, and she tried to create some order out of it as she walked towards whatever destination her captors were taking her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jillian prowled the length of the hallway which The Mission had under its (very tentative) control. After a moment’s thought she requested that Stu keep watch where the passage that they had come along took a sharp turn.
“Let the rest of us know the moment you see anyone coming towards us,” she instructed him.
Then she returned to study the invisible barrier at the other end of the group’s territory.
She ran her hands along it, moving towards the wall on the other side of the one which held the door into the laboratory. About the width of her body away from the wall she noticed that the barrier curved sharply, leaving a narrow passage between it and the wall.
“Hey, look at this!” she called to the others. “This invisible fence appears to keep us out of only the laboratory! There’s enough room here, between it and the wall, that even bruisers like Joe and Texi could push themselves through sideways, and I have no trouble making my way beside it.
“Can we make use of that fact?”
“I could at least go and pop all their hidden cameras in that part of the hallway,” Jeb said immediately. “And maybe peek into the rooms out there, though there’s not many of them before the hall ends.”
He stared speculatively through the barrier, past the lab door.
“Living quarters for the inmates, perhaps?” he speculated out loud. “And the door at the end of the hall leads to... where?
“If you’ll let me go by, Jillian?”
Jillian moved aside from the narrow pathway, allowing Jeb to feel his way into it, and beyond.
*****
“Hey Boss, I don’t think that it’s healthy for you to handle a Witch’s Stone without permission!” one of the lesser Neotsarians said to the leader of the four who was groping for Nance’s talisman, managing to do a little bit of breast-fondling while he was at it.
Nance glared at her abuser, wishing dearly that the stone in its bag really was something that could burn a man’s fingers to a crisp if he had the audacity of trying to separate it from its owner. But, unfortunately, her stone was merely a piece of green glass, bought in one of the kiosks of the Trahea Trade City, one which sold pretend Witch kitsch.
The Boss man laughed, and undid the laces of the sac which encased the talisman.
“I’m of the Elite, Rickon,” he said arrogantly. “What might burn your hands won’t burn mine.”
He had the stone out in the open now, though it was still attached to the chain around Nance’s neck.
“Behold a W
itch’s Stone,” he said, palming it for all to see. Clearly, his hand was not burning up.
Rickon stared at his Boss, at the stone in his hand, and then at Nance.
“Maybe she was telling the truth in the first place,” he muttered. “Maybe she is just some woman named Nance, and maybe that stone is just some cheap piece of jewellery which she likes to wear.”
Nance gave him a searching glance. Apparently he had a few more brain cells in his cranium than his superior did. Which meant that he was a person to watch, even while his Boss was strutting around like an idiot.
“Anya told us to not ever even think of touching her Stone,” said the man standing next to Rickon. “Les, who’s usually in charge of the lab, told me that he reached for hers once when he was seriously pissed off at her. He couldn’t complete the gesture—the thing seemed to be aiming heat rays at his hand. So he slapped Anya’s face, instead, to make her behave; her Stone didn’t seem to react to that.”
Shit. Violence towards women seemed to be all in a day’s work for these brutes. Not a very reassuring thought, Nance mused, even as the member of the Elite let go of her bauble and she hurried to replace it in its little leather bag. No sense in letting the Neotsarians gaze upon it too long; after a while even the Elite idiot might figure out that it was a sham.
That important individual activated the wrist com which he was wearing.
“Les, hello, you’re in the lab, right? Are you there, Les?”
He waited, a look of impatience on his face, then did something to the com, and repeated the questions.
Finally an answer came on the com’s speaker, a reluctant voice:
“No Elite Karil, I’m not in the lab right now. We’ve had some problems here, and there weren’t that many of us here, what with everyone of the higher classification gone off for their rec-time.”
“What kind of problems are you talking about, Les? You’re going to have to be more specific.”
“Well, some of the Settlement people invaded us, with the pretence of wanting to trade for vehicle parts. You know, that’s why I called you, how that woman calling herself Nance came in to snoop around in the lab, accompanied by some Settlement dork. Thought she looked like the image of Sarah Mackenzie that the operatives on Kordea had passed on to us; couldn’t figure out what she was doing on this planet, unless it was to try to destroy our installation. But she wasn’t among the crew that wormed their way in here, though the nondescript joker who accompanied her was—and he’s been destroying the cameras of our security system, so we don’t really know what’s going on, except that they rushed towards the laboratory, and were rebuffed by the force field that the machine inside set up around it.”
Love and Intrigue Under the Seven Moons of Kordea Page 21
