Yaksha led them along a hallway, down a flight of stairs and into a brightly-lit room with an arched roof, leaving Ravana’s cat to follow at its own pace. Of the two men who stood by the large table in the centre of the room, Ravana instantly recognised the goatee-bearded, dour figure of Fenris, while the younger Indian man in military dress next to him she assumed was Commander Kartikeya. At first she thought the boy standing beyond was the Raja’s cyberclone, then with a start realised it was none other than Surya himself. Fenris saw them first and his face dropped into a scowl that did little to conceal his anger.
“Damnation!” he spat irritably. “What are you three doing here?”
“That’s him!” Zotz exclaimed excitedly, pointing at Surya. “The kidnapped Raja!”
Kartikeya looked up and frowned as his gaze fell upon Ravana and Zotz.
“More children,” he said disapprovingly. “This is a war room, not a crèche.”
“I am not a child!” retorted Ravana.
Surya caught her glare and smiled. The lack of music took away the lustre of life at the palace but the Que Qiao attack and unexpected visitors promised a bit of excitement.
“Good to see you made it in one piece,” Kartikeya said to Hanuman and Ganesa. “We thought Jaggarneth was on to our plot and is trying to stop us leaving for Daode, but my spies tell me this attack is in response to a raid on a Que Qiao research laboratory.” He gave them a knowing look. “Is there anything you would like to tell me?”
Hanuman gave him a sheepish look. “That was Ravana’s idea,” he said, putting a hand on her arm. “She helped us with a spot of espionage and while we were there she suggested we cause some trouble. I didn’t expect Que Qiao to retaliate like this.”
“A bit of improvised rebellion, eh? I can’t say I disapprove. So you’re Ravana?” remarked Kartikeya, looking at her as if seeing her for the first time. “The one who saw Namtar and Inari with the young Raja?”
“You’re from the hollow moon?” Surya asked, regarding Ravana warily.
“That’s her,” Fenris confirmed moodily. “Trouble-makers, the lot of them.”
“The Raja was kidnapped!” snapped Ostara, with a glance to Surya. “Don’t you dare use that patronising, pig-headed tone with Ravana or anyone else! I am here as chief of security on the Dandridge Cole and if anyone is in trouble it is you!”
“Big words from a small woman,” mused Kartikeya, though he said it with a smile. “There is no need for hostilities! We have enough of that going on outside. You are here at Kubera as my guests. Please don’t let me keep you here as my prisoners.”
“I’d like to see you try,” murmured Yaksha.
“Why are they here?” retorted Fenris. “What is going on?”
“Hanuman said you could help me rescue my father,” Ravana told Kartikeya. “But I did not know you were in league with Fenris! He and a Que Qiao agent commandeered the Platypus and forced my father to fly to Ayodhya.”
“Did you do that?” Kartikeya asked Fenris.
“Quirinus needed to be dealt with,” Fenris declared. “He and the Maharani were colluding against us. Besides, you remember how he was part of the movement that opposed Taranis before the war.”
“That was a long time ago,” Ganesa pointed out.
“What business is it of mine?” Kartikeya asked irritably, gently shooing Ravana’s cat away with his foot. “Fenris obviously had his reasons for doing what he did.”
“You owe her,” Yaksha said. There was a degree of menace in her voice and Ravana looked at the old woman in surprise, suddenly seeing the rebel within.
Kartikeya gave her an odd look. “Owe her what?”
“You took her mother away from her. You have no right to take her father too.”
“That’s not fair!” Fenris spluttered. “These things happen in war!”
“Look at her face,” said Yaksha, fixing Kartikeya with a steely glare. “Look at it!”
“That is quite a nasty scar,” Kartikeya admitted. “Are you saying that’s my fault?”
“Perhaps Fenris could enlighten you. He seems more than ready to dig up the past,” she said coolly. “Let me take you back to your first command, when we still had a Maharaja, Taranis held sway in court and Que Qiao had just started sending troops to Yuanshi. Do you remember Aranya Pass? The attack on a Que Qiao supply convoy?”
“Aranya?” murmured Ravana, feeling her right arm twinge. It was a name that conjured up disturbing memories from her childhood.
Kartikeya sighed. “Ganesa’s right. Some things are best left in the past.”
“A little too late for that now,” Hanuman murmured to Ganesa.
“What has it got to do with Ravana?” asked Ostara.
“She was there,” Yaksha replied. “Along with her mother, her father and all the other volunteers who defied the Que Qiao curfew to bring medical supplies into Lanka. The mighty commander here comes in with all guns blazing and destroys the lot. Ravana was left scarred for life. Her mother was not so lucky.”
“You did that?” cried Ravana, staring at Kartikeya in horror. “You killed my mother?”
“War is hell,” Fenris said coldly.
“You got your scar in a war?” Zotz gazed wide-eyed at Ravana. She just knew he was thinking that battle scars were in the top ten of cool things to have.
“I thought it was a troop convoy,” mumbled Kartikeya. He was unable to face Ravana. “My intelligence let me down.”
“In more ways than one,” muttered Ostara, putting an arm around Ravana.
Tears welled in Ravana’s dark eyes. She clutched Ostara tightly and buried her face in the crook of her friend’s shoulder. A surge of anger lashed out at random at the implant images in her mind and for a split second the basement was left in darkness as the overhead lights faltered then recovered. Fenris glanced up at the ceiling, visibly startled.
“Is that really how it happened?” asked Hanuman, regarding Kartikeya curiously.
Seeing he was not about to reply, Ganesa nodded. “I had a friend who was there also.”
“You killed all those innocent people?” Surya’s expression suggested he was suddenly seeing Kartikeya in a new and not very flattering light. “What if I insisted you help Ravana? You brought me here as heir to the throne of Yuanshi. I believe my father would have felt it was your duty to do what could be done to right the wrongs of the past.”
“I am in command here!” snapped Kartikeya. He looked at Ravana. “I am truly sorry for your loss, but I cannot help you. I have been granted diplomatic immunity to attend the peace conference, with an official shuttle waiting for me at the spaceport as I speak. In a few hours Fenris and the Raja are to follow in the Sun Wukong. I simply do not have the time nor the resources to mount what would undoubtedly be a foolhardy enterprise.”
“Foolhardiness is your speciality,” Yaksha said bitterly. “As I said, you owe her. Dwell upon that as I attend to our guests. You come too, Surya,” she said, beckoning to the Raja. “Let us adjourn to somewhere more civilised.”
After giving the commander a final glare, she led Ravana, Ostara, Zotz and Surya out of the basement, in a silence broken only by the sound of a young girl’s muted sobs.
*
Ravana clung to Ostara every step of the way and barely lifted her gaze as they followed Yaksha upstairs to the first floor. By the time they reached the old woman’s quarters, a small suite of rooms that doubled as the palace’s medical centre, Ravana had exhausted her tears but remained disconsolate and wary. Surya and Zotz stayed close to Yaksha, subdued and eyeing each other uneasily. Zotz held Ravana’s electric cat rather awkwardly under his arm.
“Amongst other things, I have the privilege of being chief medical officer here in Kubera,” Yaksha remarked. She led them into a large room that was in equal parts an office, laboratory and operating theatre. “All that means is I get to wrap bandages, dish out pills and occasionally press a few buttons when the autosurgeon is called upon to pluck bullets and shrapnel fr
om one of Kartikeya’s heroic revolutionaries.”
The far side of the room was dominated by a large operating table, next to which were all manner of surgical automata, diagnostic instruments and boxed medical supplies. Yaksha directed them to a cluster of comfy-looking chairs and invited them to sit. Ravana needed no encouragement and slumped into the nearest seat without uttering a word.
“Wow,” Zotz murmured, looking at the operating table. Ravana’s cat started to fidget and he dropped it clumsily to the floor. “Do you get to see lots of blood and guts?”
“Not really,” Yaksha admitted. “I keep my eyes closed.”
“I wouldn’t,” declared Surya. “I’d want to see everything!”
“Charming,” muttered Ostara, taking the seat next to Ravana. “Why are we here?”
The old woman ignored the question and instead knelt before the crumpled and emotionally-drained Ravana. Reaching forward, she took the girl’s unresisting grip in one hand, lifted her other towards Ravana’s head and then hesitated.
“Ravana,” Yaksha said softly. “You did something to the lights in the basement. Do you have a cranium implant?”
“That’s a sore point,” Ostara retorted. “She didn’t know she had one until yesterday.”
“We were in a VR machine and it all went wrong,” added Zotz.
“Everything since then has been like a bad dream,” Ravana murmured wearily. For a moment she wondered whether she was still trapped in a virtual nightmare and none of this was actually happening, but that was perhaps too much to hope for.
“May I take a look?” asked Yaksha.
Ravana nodded and tried not to flinch as Yaksha moved closer and put a hand to the back of her head. The old woman’s expert touch went straight to the small lump at the top of Ravana’s spine, located just below the base of her skull and so slight Ravana had previously never given it a second thought. Leaning forward, Yaksha carefully moved Ravana’s dark locks aside and peered at the brown skin beneath. Other than the lump itself, there should not have been anything to see, yet there was a definite grey tinge around the area of the implant and faint web-like traces of silver reaching out across her scalp in all directions.
“Most odd,” she murmured, pursing her lips.
“Does mine look like that?” asked Surya and put a hand to the bump on the back of his own neck. He had tried to find it earlier using the mirror in his room but with no success.
“Is everything okay?” asked Ostara. Yaksha wore a perturbed expression.
“I’d like to do a scan to get a read-out of the implant,” said Yaksha, clambering to her feet as she spoke. “Don’t worry,” she reassured Ravana. “It won’t hurt.”
She stepped to a nearby cabinet and retrieved a black rod-like device with a switch on the side. Pointing the wand at Ravana, Yaksha pressed the switch and a small red light on the tip flashed once. Ravana instinctively closed her eyes and gripped the edge of the chair, bracing herself against the expected sudden headache, but nothing happened.
“Is that it?” she asked, cautiously opening her eyes.
“That’s it,” Yaksha confirmed, now scrutinising the screen of her wristpad. “My word! Did you know you’ve got a military-grade implant in there? Unregistered, too. You could cause all sorts of trouble with a thing like that.”
“We already have,” Ravana said, smiling weakly as she recalled how they had set free the creatures from the secret laboratory. “Is my implant different to others?”
“It’s very similar to those issued to Que Qiao special forces operatives,” Yaksha told her, a note of awe in her voice. “Why on Yuanshi would you have one?”
“Why has she got a special implant when I haven’t?” Surya demanded, deeply offended. “I should have one! I am heir to the throne of Yuanshi!”
“Little boys shouldn’t be given big boy’s toys,” came a voice from across the room. Hanuman leant casually against the doorway, wearing a huge grin. “Sorry to interrupt, but Kartikeya has requested your company in Hemakuta,” he said to Yaksha, pretending not to notice the Raja’s sulky expression. “He leaves in ten minutes.”
“I’m not his personal assistant!” Yaksha grumbled, but knew she had little choice. She gave Hanuman a quizzical look. “Has he come to his senses?”
Hanuman shrugged. “I put it to him again that he has a duty towards Ravana and her father, but he was adamant in his refusal to help.”
Ravana’s face fell. Her electric cat, having found and eaten a box of vaccination syringes carelessly left within its reach, decided it was a good moment to bound back into her lap using Surya’s legs as a launch pad, causing him to shriek.
“Is there really nothing you can do?” asked Ostara.
“After I left our beloved leader, I had a private talk with Fenris,” Hanuman told her, looking sly. “I wanted to make sure he understood the error of his ways. You’ll be pleased to hear that Fenris deeply regrets what happened and is now ready to help us.”
“Really?” Ravana sounded surprised. “I don’t believe it.”
“He is the religious type,” said Ostara. “He must appreciate honour and duty.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” murmured Yaksha. Her eyes were upon a suspicious scuff mark on the butt of Hanuman’s holstered gun. “How exactly did you make him change his mind?”
“That’s not important right now,” Hanuman said hurriedly. He turned to Ravana. “This is a promise I mean to keep. We must do what we can to rescue your father.”
Ravana’s eyes shone. “You really mean to help me?”
Hanuman nodded. “Namtar and Inari have sighted the Platypus at the private landing strip at Sumitra,” he told her. “They’ve agreed to arrange a diversion so that Fenris can lead you to where Quirinus is being held. However, we need to move quickly. We must get Fenris and the Raja to Daode before Kartikeya starts wondering where we are.”
Ostara was impressed. “You seem to have thought of everything.”
“There is one more thing,” Hanuman said to Ravana. “I’m afraid we will need to call upon that piece of special-forces hardware in your head. Security at Sumitra is tight but I have a feeling you should be able to walk straight in without any problems.”
Ravana nodded. “Of course.”
“Be careful,” said Yaksha, pausing at the door to address both Ravana and Surya. “Fenris is not to be trusted. He is firmly under the spell of Taranis and I fear all this is part of something bigger. The mad priest revels in tales of divine destiny that suit his own ends.”
Surya looked at Ravana, then shrugged. “We’ll be careful.”
“A rescue mission!” exclaimed Zotz, excited. “What do you want me to do?”
“Stay out of trouble,” Ostara said firmly.
Ravana pushed her cat aside and climbed to her feet, her tears forgotten.
“I don’t know how to thank you for this,” she said gratefully, giving Hanuman a hug. “You have been more than kind.”
“You can thank me when you and your father are safely away from this moon,” said Hanuman. “The Sun Wukong leaves in an hour!”
*
Ostara sat in front of the holovid console, acutely aware that the alcove in the palace basement was cosy enough without Zotz and Surya leaning over her shoulders. It had taken all her powers of persuasion to get the go-ahead for a call to the Pampa Palace hotel, but now she was here she was not so sure it was a good idea. Before she could change her mind, the screen lit up and an image appeared of a holovid booth that looked even more crowded than their own little room. Endymion sat before the console, with Bellona and Philyra perched on the arms of his chair either side. All three looked slightly stunned and out of breath, for it had been barely ten minutes since Zotz had sent a hurried wristpad message to Endymion asking him to wait by the hotel holovid booths.
“Endymion!” greeted Ostara. “Good to see you again! Does your teacher know you are here?” she asked cautiously. The second part of Zotz’s message had urged secrecy, fo
r much as she liked Miss Clymene, Ostara did not trust her not to say something to Governor Atman or his colleagues that could make things difficult for their rebel friends.
“She thinks we’ve been in the games room all evening,” Endymion reassured her, which was exactly where they had been ten minutes ago. “Where are you? Is Ravana there?”
“We’re on Yuanshi,” Ostara told him, smiling as she saw their eyes widen in surprise. “Ravana is fine and having her implant calibrated, or something like that. We’ve made some new friends, found the kidnapped Raja and had all sorts of adventures.”
“Hello there,” greeted Surya, feeling he should say something.
“That’s the Raja?” Philyra remarked. “He looks just like his cyberclone.”
“That’s why they’re called clones,” retorted Endymion. “Stupid.”
“When will you be back?” asked Bellona. “The music competition happens for real tomorrow evening. This morning’s rehearsal sounded awful without Ravana and Zotz.”
“Music competition?” asked Surya, pricking up his ears. “Some mad priest has banned song and dance in Lanka and I’m going mad here having nothing to listen to.”
“Ravana and I are supposed to be there with the rest of the band,” Zotz explained, gesturing to the screen. “Loads of schools are playing at the peace conference.”
“The entire band in a holovid booth?” Surya quipped, not realising it was the truth.
“Don’t you start,” Bellona warned. The memory of the dreadful dress rehearsal was still fresh in her mind. “If Zotz and Ravana were here we’d win the competition, easy!”
“Do you want a violinist?” asked Surya, genuinely interested.
“We’re getting off the point!” snapped Ostara. “We’ll be with you again soon, but I need to warn you about Fenris in case he gets back to Daode before us.”
She briefly told her listeners about Fenris’ betrayal and how Quirinus and the Platypus ended up in the hands of Que Qiao. Surya was genuinely taken aback and stood in stunned silence while he digested this revelation regarding the Maharani’s chief of staff. When it came to Ostara telling them about how she, Zotz and Ravana had made it to Lanka, she kept it brief and deliberately refrained from mentioning the episode at the secret plantation, recalling how easy it had been for herself, Endymion and Zotz to eavesdrop on Fenris’ holovid with Taranis. Coincidentally, Endymion was also thinking back to their earlier espionage.
Hollow Moon Page 26
