by Greg Keyes
asked.
"Locked in his cabin-praying, presumably," the priest replied.
"Okay," Corran said. "Let's get everyone together. I-And then the ship
screamed.
FOURTEEN
Qelah Kwaad abased herself before the polyp throne as the rumble of
Shimrra's voice washed over her. She cringed and was ashamed.
"Rise, Adept Kwaad," Shimrra said.
Knees shaking, she did so. "Dread Lord," she said. "How can I please you?
"
"You already have. The mabugat kan were of your shaping, were they not?"
"They were, Lord Shimrra," she said.
"Master Yim brought them to my attention. She said you were the brightest
of her pupils."
"She did?" Qelah was surprised. She had always thought Master Yim was
jealous of her.
"We have used them with great success. The infidels are now largely
without long-range communications. It has been an invaluable aid to our war
effort."
"Thank you, Lord. I am pleased to have been of service."
"Of course you are," Shimrra growled reproachfully, and his Shamed jester
capered gleefully.
She felt like cowering back into a crouch, but the Dread Lord had bid her
stand, so she stood her ground.
"The loss of Master Yim was a great blow," Shimrra went on. "But her work
must continue. You will be elevated to master."
Qelah hoped her fierce exultation did not show.
"I am not worthy of the honor, Great Lord, but I will do my best to
excel." She knew she was babbling, but she couldn't stop. "I have developed a
new sort of ship, one that should counter many of the new strategies of the
infi-dels. And as for the Jeedai..."
"What of the Jeedai?"
The words came out with such force that her tendrils felt as if they were
being swept back, but this time she was not dismayed.
"I believe I have an answer to them," she said.
"Besides the mabugat kan, I have for some time been de-veloping a
powerful new suite of bioforms designed specifi-cally to counter the threat of
the Jeedai. I am not far from completion."
"That has been promised before," Shimrra said. "But the promise has never
been fulfilled. Those who fail me do not find favor."
She understood that lack of favor also meant lack of breath, but she
plunged on. "I am certain you will be pleased, Dread Lord," she told him.
"Very well. You will ascend to master tomorrow. You will work directly
beneath Ahsi Yim."
Qelah took a deep breath. She had a chance at more. Could she flinch from
taking it?
No.
"Yes, Lord," she said. "A member of Nen Yim's domain."
Shimrra's mqaaq'it eyes flared a brighter red. "What could you mean by
that, Qelah Kwaad? Do you imply something?"
"Nothing, Lord," she said. "I spoke out of turn."
"I hear something in your words, Qelah Kwaad," Shimrra said, dangerously.
"Shall I rip open your mind and see what I find there?"
"It is only that things have been strange," she said, in a rush. "Master
Yim stayed apart from us, working alone.
She was totally absorbed in some new project none of the rest of us knew
about. And then the Jeedai came, and took her away, and whatever it was, I
know not what, but Ahsi Yim..." She broke off.
"Go on," Shimrra breathed.
"Ahsi Yim-did not seem surprised. And I heard her tell someone, They took
the ship."
In fact, Ahsi Yim had seemed as surprised as anyone, and she had said no
such thing. It was actually a warrior who had told her he'd seen a strange
ship fly out from the damutek. By now, everyone knew it.
"You think Ahsi Yim had some part in Nen Yim's kidnapping." She lifted
her head and spoke more boldly. "If it was a kidnapping, Lord Shimrra. The
damutek's defenses failed. I do not see how infidels could accomplish this."
"The Shamed heretics were also involved," the Supreme Overlord pointed
out.
"With respect, Lord-would they know how to disable a damutek's defenses
and leave no trace of how it was done? I could not do so. Was some shaper
greater than Nen Yim Shamed, that this knowledge would reside with the rabble?
"
Shimrra somehow seemed to tower even higher, filling the room, the world,
the universe.
"What do you know?" he thundered, and she suddenly realized she had
somehow misstepped. "What do you know of the stop?"
A great invisible claw seemed to clamp about her head, its grip growing
swiftly tighter. She felt the joints of her body twitching strangely. Her
nerves turned to fire, and she sought something, anything to say, and anything
that would turn his gaze away from her. If he had asked her at that moment if
she was lying, she would have admitted it, admitted that her words were
nothing more than thud bugs cast toward Ahsi Yim, so that Qelah Kwaad might be
master shaper.
But he hadn't asked that. He'd asked about the ship.
"Nothing more than that it exists!" she moaned.
"Nen Yim told you nothing of its origins or nature?"
"Nothing, Dread Lord," she gasped, swaying. "She stayed to herself! She
did not speak of it!"
The pressure suddenly dropped away. The pain recoiled itself back into
her brain.
"Your ambition is clear," Shimrra murmured. "But you raise interesting
points. They bear investigation." He glanced at Onimi. Then he looked off at
some unseen thing above her.
"Go," he commanded. "Return tomorrow and learn your fate."
She left. When she returned the next day, she was again directed to take
up her master's hand, and she never saw Ahsi Yim again.
FIFTEEN
The ship's scream was a distant thing somewhere in the back of Corran's
mind. The thudding jolt of sudden hyper-drive decantation was more immediately
tactile.
"What the..." He leapt up and stumbled toward the helm.
"Are we under attack?" Harrar asked.
By that time, Corran could see stars through the trans-parent canopy. "I
don't know," he said. "But given my luck so far on this trip, I wouldn't doubt
it."
"This region isn't charted," Tahiri said. "Maybe we hit a gravitic
anomaly."
Corran bit back a reprimand for telling that much, but decided to take
his own advice and not dress the young woman down in front of the Yuuzhan
Vong. "We're in charted space," he said, instead. Which was true, barely.
"Then what could it be? "
"Dovin basal interdictor mine, maybe. The Yuuzhan Vong have them set up
all along the major routes to pull ships out of hyperspace."
"Right. Millennium Falcon got pulled out by one on the Corellian Trade
Spine."
"Yep. Let's hope we have an easier time of-oh, Sith spawn." He'd been
rolling the ship to try to discover the cause of their sudden reversion. Now
he saw it.
It wasn't what he was expecting.
He was staring down the pointy end of a white wedge larger than many
planetbound cities, and he suddenly felt much younger, not in a good way.
"That's an interdictor, all right," he said. "An Imperial interdictor."
"I suppose there's something to be said for not ju
mping to hasty
conclusions," Harrar put in, a bit sarcastically.
"No apologies," Corran said. "It was still a good bet. This, on the other
hand..."
"But aren't they our friends now?" Tahiri asked.
Corran snorted. "Friends? No. Allies, yes." He pushed the engines and
went into a series of extemporaneous maneuvers as salvos of coherent green
light flashed around them.
"Either way, should they be firing at us?"
"No, and maybe they wouldn't be if we weren't in something much more like
a Yuuzhan Vong ship than anything else they've seen. Or if we could hail them
and tell them who we are, but I don't see a comm in this thing, unless our
shaper friend has hidden it like she did the rest of the con-trols. As it is,
we'd better put a little distance between us and that thing."
"What's it doing way out here?"
"I'm not even sure where 'here' is," Corran grumbled, "but I've got a
good idea why they're here."
"Why?"
"Can't say. Top secret."
Kenth might have told me a bit more about the war plans. I should have
figured the push would be in this sector. Bil-bringi, maybe? That Interdictor
must be part of the Imperial force. But why is it alone? Watching the back
door? Didn't matter. They couldn't talk to it and they sure couldn't fight it,
so their only choice was to run like crazy.
"What is wrong?" Nen Yim appeared from aft.
"We've just been yanked out of hyperspace by the Impe-rials." Such a
familiar thing to say, he reflected. Almost comfortable. What a ridiculous
thought. Was he actually nostalgic for the war against the Empire?
"The Imperials?" Nen Yim said. "I'm no tactician, but aren't they.... ah.
They think this is a Yuuzhan Vong ship."
"The lady takes the hand," Corran said. A laser seared along the vessel's
side, and he fought for control.
"Jump to hyperspace," Nen Yim said. "I see no nearby planets."
"I can't. It's an interdictor-it'll pull us right out again and probably
fry the engines as well."
"Not necessarily," Nen Yim said.
"No, interdictors work just fine on Yuuzhan Vong hyper-drives. It's
simple physics."
"Yes, but-" She suddenly stopped.
"What?" Corran shouted back over his shoulder. "I seem to remember you
were going to jump from the bottom of a gravity well. But if you've got
something, let me know."
"You must give me your promise of secrecy," the shaper said, her spooky
hair doing particularly spooky things.
"I can't do that." Corran sighed. "Not if you've got something that can
be used against us."
"I certainly cannot divulge war secrets to you without your vow of
secrecy," Nen Yim said.
"Why not? Aren't we trying to end this war? Isn't that what this mission
is about?"
The ship shuddered and bucked as laser fire hammered its hull.
"The war isn't over yet," the shaper reminded him.
"Master Yim," Harrar interjected. "If we die, and our mission fails..."
"What mission?" Nen Yim snapped. "He won't take us to Zonama Sekot. He's
taking us to Mon Calamari, probably to be imprisoned. I would rather die here,
especially if it prevents placing yet another weapon against us in their
hands."
"We are going to Zonama Sekot," Corran shouted. "We're on our way there
right now. But it's going to be a mighty short trip if something doesn't
change soon."
Nen Yim's brows lowered dangerously. "Is this true?"
Harrar gripped the shaper's arm. "I do not fear death any more than you
do, Nen Yim. But if you would see this planet..."
"It is untested," she said. "A variant of a shaping one of my apprentices
developed. I created it to use against any Yuuzhan Vong ships that might
follow us, but now I see it might be used against one of your interdictors."
"Well, let's find out!" Corran said. "Because in about ten seconds..."
Nen Yim nodded and slipped on her cognition hood.
A moment later Corran felt something pass through the ship and then-
release.
"What did we just do?"
Nen Yim actually smiled. "If this works, the artificial gravitic anomaly
should vanish in a moment. I suggest when the moment arrives, you take us into
hyperspace."
"Tahiri, lay in a microjump," Corran said.
The young woman nodded and bent to the task.
A laser tore through the cabin behind them, a direct hit that pierced
both hulls. Air screamed away into vacuum, and Corran felt as if he had a hot
wire through his gut. He could only imagine what a pilot truly attuned to the
ship would feel.
Then the wound healed, and the air stopped getting thinner. Neat trick,
that. But he wondered what the ship's healing limits were.
And got an answer, of sorts, from the ship itself. Another hit like that
would be too much.
"We're no longer being held," Tahiri said.
"Life is good," Corran replied, and punched them to where the stars
didn't shine.
"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what that thing was?" Corran
asked, as his pulse began to slow to some-thing approaching normal.
"I don't suppose so, no," Nen Yim replied. "But its field test seems to
have gone quite well."
"Yes, congratulations," Corran said. How long before you use it against
us? Well, at least he knew it existed, whatever it was, and unless she was
lying it was a prototype, not likely being used at this very moment against
the Galactic Alliance.
"This is making my head spin," he muttered.
"What?" Nen Yim inquired.
"Nothing."
"Not to interrupt," Harrar said, "but I'm wondering if what you said
about our destination is true?"
Corran turned and noticed that the Prophet had joined them.
"Yes," he said. "It's been our destination from the very first."
"You deceived us," Nen Yim accused. "Why?"
The Prophet drew himself to his full height and crossed his arms. "To see
how we would react," he said. "If we had tried to force the location of the
planet from him, then he would have known we were not to be trusted, and we
would never have finished the trip." He looked pointedly at Corran. "Isn't
that correct, Jeedai Horn?"
"That about sums it up," Corran replied. "That's a pretty savvy analysis
for a holy man."
"Understanding is the essence of enlightenment."
And also the basis of espionage, Corran added to himself. wonder what
your job used to be before you were a Prophet.
Maybe Tahiri could tell from-something. He made a mental note to ask her
later.
"How far, then, are we from our destinatio n?" Harrar asked.
"I'm not certain, because we have to proceed in small jumps for a time.
Probably a few days."
The next jump brought them to the fringes of an un-named star system. The
primary appeared as a tiny blue I sphere, but around it sparkled a vast ring
that shone as if it were made of a few hundred trillion corusca gems. Tahiri
watched in fascination. Sometimes it seemed cloudlike, some-times almost
liquid.
"You must have seen many such wonde
rs," Nen Yim said. Tahiri had heard
the shaper's approach, but hadn't turned. "Doesn't matter," she said. "Every
star system is unique. Every star system has its own beauty."
"This one certainly has. Is that ice?"
"I would imagine," Tahiri said. "I wasn't trying to figure it out-I was
just enjoying the sight of it."
"Perhaps the system is poor in heavy elements. The original torus of
matter condensed into ice balls, which were then torn apart by tidal forces."
"Maybe a wandering giant made it as a wedding gift fora nebula," Tahiri
said.
"Why should you assert such a ridiculous explanation?" The shaper seemed
truly puzzled.
"Why must you pick everything apart?" Tahiri asked.
"Besides, if you believe Yun-Yuuzhan made the universe from his severed
body parts, you ought to be able to believe anything."
Nen Yim was silent for a moment and Tahiri thought the conversation was
probably over.
"Belief is a strange thing," the shaper said at last. "It has immense
inertia. My master did not believe in the gods at all."
"And you?"
The shaper's headdress tendrils knotted thoughtfully.
"Religion, I think, is metaphor, a way of relating to the uni-verse that
does not require reason. It's not very different from your appreciation of
this star system for its mere ap-pearance. My joy comes in understanding.
You're right-if I could take the universe apart and put it back together, I
would."
"And thus rob yourself of half the wonder," Tahiri said. Nen Yim snorted
disdainfully. "Wonder is you making up stories about giants and wedding gifts,
" she said. "Wonder is my people attributing the creation of the universe to
an act of dismemberment. It is avoiding true mystery through fantasy. And if
the universe refuses to conform to your fan-tasy, does it cease to be
wonderful? That is a conceit of the highest order."
"Your own explanation was no better than a guess."
"True. But it is a guess that can be investigated and tested. It is a
guess I will gladly relinquish if proven wrong. It is a guess that will serve
as a tool to help me find the truth. For me, that is a far greater wonder than
anything taken on faith."
"So you don't believe in the gods?" Tahiri asked.
"I think there must be something behind them that is real. I do not think
they are real in the orthodox sense."
