Damia. Part 24

With some resentment, Damia dampened down her emotional outpouring.

'I suppose you arrived with an appet.i.te like a mule,' she said with some resignation.

Larak's expression was a study of innocent hurt.

'I'm a growing boy, and while you're out courting, Afra's getting overworked, leaner and hungrier.

Damia looked guiltily at Afra.

'You do look tired,' she said with concern. 'Let's all push over to the house and have dinner. Larak, why are you here?' 'Oh, Dad wants Afra to pinch-hit on Procyon. Those two Ts who're buffering Guzman are down with one of the local viruses and traffic is backing up. You know we have to jolly Guzzle along but he hasn't much stamina these days.

He's complained that I'm too young for such responsibility,' and Larak's grin was pure malice. 'Say, what's this alien ship of yours like? Crew or full automation for a void trek?' Hand poised over the cooking dials, Damia hesitated.

She regarded her brother with a blank expression.

'Oh, you men are all alike. Details, details!' 'Details like that may bore you, sister heart, but they fascinate me. But if you want to continue on the abstract level, let me catch such mundane details for myself.' 'You can't reach that far.' To Afra her tone was protective as well as defensive.

'Let me hop a ride with you tomorrow, then.' Larak snagged a raw vegetable stick from the crisper and seemed more interested in its taste than her agreement.

Damia hesitated, looking for support from Afra, who shrugged 'why not' as he followed Larak's example and savoured a crunchy white root with a slightly aniseed flavour. She caught no more than that from Afra's mind when she sent a swift probe. And, he was certain, no more than that from Larak's if she tried her brother. Even as close as they were, her probe was a poor imitation of her customary mental dig.

'C'mon, sis, what's to be coy for?' 'I'm not being coy!' Her temper flared in irritation, then subsided. 'It's just that just that... these are very delicate stages in establishing a rapport 'Delicate? Rapport?' Larak blurted out, staring at her as if he couldn't believe his ears. 'You're making a first contact, not a first date! That is, if it's even marginally humanoid.

'His is a true mind, brilliant, powerful,' she said haughtily.

'The form is immaterial.' 'Oh?' Larak's mobile face expressed extreme doubt.

'Never thought you'd fall for the cerebral type, Damia, not the way you've developed.' He eyed her, not as a brother, but as an interested male.

Damia reddened, half with fury and indignation, and half with a sudden virtuous embarra.s.sment for her brother's accurate jibe.

'Ever since you and Jenna propagated a child, you've turned insufferable! Why, if I hadn't been out here, we wouldn't have been warned at all.' 'Warned?' Afra leapt on the choice of word. Perhaps she was not as completely bedazzled as they'd thought.

'Of this momentous occasion,' she went on, oblivious to the implication. 'You've touched Sodan, Afra. Don't you agree that his feat of crossing to another galaxy is momentous?' 'Yes, it is,' Afra said tactfully. 'Only a brilliant mind could accomplish such a feat.' Damia caught an undertone he wasn't quick enough to suppress. 'Oh, you! You're jealous! Jealous?' Damia eyed Afra closely, plainly struggling with this new dimension to her oldest ally.

'And you're also letting dinner burn,' Larak said, pointing to a sizzling pan.

'Don't either of you know better than to distract a cook with stupid questions?' she demanded, quickly shifting the pan. 'It's a mercy nothing is burned!' She served them, irritated that her dinner was not as perfect as usual, and the two men could think of no way to break the strained silence, especially as both had to concentrate on maintaining a convincing level of trivial surface thoughts. They hardly needed to use such a subterfuge because Damia went off into a private reverie, ignoring them completely.

Finally, Larak pushed back his plate, having finished every sc.r.a.p on his plate and what was left over in the pans.

'Even with half your mind on what you're doing, sis, you're a great cook,' Larak said, wiping his mouth and sighing with repletion.

'So! This Sodan ent.i.ty is clearly not a new reconnaissance device of the Deneb Beetles?' Larak looked from Damia to Afra who shook his head quickly in denial.

'No question of that,' Afra replied. 'Totally different mentality ---' he ignored Damia's snort, 'and vehicle.

There is an impression of immense distances traversed, far longer than the twenty years since the Deneb Entanglement.' Larak whistled appreciatively, as if this was news to him.

'You didn't happen to catch any details about propulsion and power which my sweet sister would not deign to notice?' 'No, actually, for there were no obvious visual images to be sensed and I was only concerned with identification.

Clearly this ent.i.ty isn't a Beetle.

'Stop calling Sodan an "ent.i.ty",' Damia said. 'That's rude. And he has eyes,' she added defensively. 'We've discussed the concept of sight. You must take into consideration that he is also in control of the ship, and the drain on his energies to reach me as well as manage ship function and crew is enormous. It certainly is on me.' 'Yeah.

You could do with some beauty sleep, sis,' said -Larak.

'Thanks muchly,' she said, bridling.

'Children! Cut it out!' Afra intervened out of habit.

Larak and Damia glared at each other, but the long habit --of obeying Afra held.

I'Get to bed, the pair of you,' he added. 'Snarling at each other in the worst example of sibling rivalry I've seen since you graduated from Isthia's fosterage,' and now he gave --Damia his full disapproval.

'Makes me wonder how your father dared install you as Aurigae Prime.

'If there's anything that annoys me more than Larak acting fraternal, it's you, Afra, being avuncular.' She spoke coolly, but her flare of temper had been controlled.

Afra shrugged, relieved that his diversion had worked before Larak inadvertently disclosed to Damia why he was fielding these particular queries.

'At least this avuncular ent.i.ty has sense enough to go to bed when he's out on his feet,' he murmured. As he pa.s.sed Larak, the boy winked.

The next morning at breakfast, no-one looked particularly rested by a night's sleep. Afra kept a surface rumble going on his mind to mask both tension and anxiety. Larak delivered a running monologue about his son's developing intelligence and Jenna's maternal charms.

Damia was also closely shielding. When the three reached the Tower, Damia took the most cursory glance at station business, noting that cargo was light and the few messages were standard communications.

'I'll take you out now, Larak, and then you'll be free to handle the afternoon despatches.' 'Fine. Dad wants Afra on Procyon as soon as I've taken over from him.

Damia hesitated, then jutted her chin out. 'I suppose you want to come along again, too,' she said, flinging the challenge at Afra who merely shrugged.

'I wouldn't mind another gawk. Fascinating mind,' Afra said casually. He was intensely grateful to whatever quirk had prompted her to make such an offer. He'd thought he'd have to surrept.i.tiously follow Damia and Larak. With such distances to travel, he'd been nervous of losing even their combined touch.

'You two get settled. I can follow if Damia's leading,' Afra said, boosting the generators to their peak. Xexo had got the ailing one back on line, for which Afra was extremely grateful.

As Damia and Larak left the Tower for their capsules, he contacted Jeff and the Rowan to stand by, then settled into his own sh.e.l.l, rea.s.sured by their sustaining presence in his mind.

Is there any possible chance we're wrong about Sodan's intentions, or the depth of Damia's emotional commitment? the Rowan asked hopefully.

Less and less, Afra told her grimly. We'll know soon for certain.

Larak needled her last night. She'll have to check to make sure he's wrong about Sodan.

Then Afra touched Damia and Larak, and all three went the mere half light-year further to the ship, and Sodan.

You have rested well and are strong today, was the cool greeting after an instant's welcoming flash.

Damia instinctively covered against the discovery of her co-riders, but the greeting stuck in her mind. She could not escape the inference that Sodan was displeased with her strength, yet a tinge of relief coloured that fleck of thought.

You come nearer to physical contact with us every day, she began.

Us? Sodan queried.

My planet, my people me.

I'm only interested in you, he replied.

Damia was unable to censor from Afra and Larak the pleasure she felt in that qualification. That is between us but my people will be interested in you, she said adroitly.

There are many people on your planets? he asked.

Planet.

Doesn't your sun have several lift-supporting satellites?

That is why I must know more about your physical requirements, Sodan, Damia replied smoothly. After all, my home world may not have the proper atmosphere.

My physical needs are admirably sustained by my ship, Sodan said brusquely, with the slightest of emphasis on the second word.

It was the Rowan who caught the infinitesimal break in his shielding, and simultaneously all four minds stabbed at the gap to widen it. Sodan, torn by this powerful invasion, lashed back in self-defence with a vicious blow at Damia who, he thought, had perpetrated the onslaught.

No! No! Not I, Sodan, she shrieked. Larak, what are you doing?

Struggling frantically, Afra tried to become the focus of the other minds, only to find himself caught in Larak's mind with the Rowan and Jeff, as the curious bond between brother and sister snapped into effect.

He must be destroyed before you, Damia, the Larak-focus said, tingeing its inexorable decision with the regret it felt.

No! I love him. His mind is so brilliant, cried Damia, pitting her strength against her peers to defend her lover.

The Larak-focus staggered, unable to prosecute their attack against such a combination.

Damia, he is only a mind!

Stunned, Damia hesitated, and the Larak-focus plunged forward again, battering against Sodan's shielding.

Only mind? she gasped, begging Sodan to deny it.

Why no vision? Why no sound? He is only a brain, devoid of all except remembered emotion. He is slowly depleting your strength so that he is free to attack this system. You are its only defence. Did you never realize that? Feel the dangerous substances this ship carries? Is that customary for a peaceful exploratory expedition?

You're against me, against me. No-one wants me to be happy, cried Damia, suddenly aware, terribly aware of her loving blindness. He loves me. I love him.

If he has nothing to hide, he will reveal his reason for crossing the void, the Larak-focus said, implacably intent.

Is it truly peaceful? Or is it acquisitive? Why do we search out new worlds? Or is it because his galaxy is so depleted that he must search elsewhere for the rare metals that are required for more vessels like his?

Rea.s.sure me, Sodan, Damia pleaded, desperately, hopefully. Tell them you come in peace? To find other sentient beings, to establish friendly relations?

For what seemed an eternity, Sodan hesitated.

If I could, I would, he said softly and with honest regret.

Like a vengeful blade, her mind, freed from the infatuation which Sodan had artfully fostered and, strengthened by her righteous indignation, launched itself with the others to destroy the aggressor.

For Damia could now comprehend Sodan's purpose and knew his disembodiment.

The battle was waged in the tremendous s.p.a.ce between two heartbeats. Sodan, his mind fortified by the exotic power of his ship, was stronger than their conservative estimates. Almost negligently, he held the Larak-focus at bay, his mind laughing at what he considered their puny efforts.

Then, the veil of her romantic illusions stripped from her perceptions, Damia increased her pressure and aligned herself with the Larak-focus. Sodan called for more power within himself. The scorching blaze that fed through Damia's resurgent and catalytic mind flashed through and stripped him bare, lashing beyond to trigger the metallic structure of the ship into instability. Involuntarily, and for a microsecond, the Larak-focus caught a glimpse of what Sodan had been.

Once, generations ago, embodied, he had breathed an alien air, propelled his curious body along alien roads; until his brain had been chosen to undertake the incredible enterprise of crossing the galactic rift.

In my fashion have I loved you, he cried to Damia as he felter reach the fuel ma.s.s. But you never really loved me, he added with intense surprise as her mind, vulnerable in the instant of that ma.s.sive thrust, was open to him. And he shall not have you!

With his last strength, Sodan sent out one final mental flare just as the ship exploded.

Even as Damia felt herself blacking out from the tremendous battering, she frantically tried to deflect that shaft.

As a kingpin flattens a row of its fellows, so Sodan's blast, striking through the Larak-focus, caused a wave of mental agony to roll backwards to Aurigae where station personnel grabbed at their skulls in anguish and all four generators seized up in overload; to Earth and Callisto where T-ratings cringed in pain and on to Procyon where old Guzman's valiant heart stopped. Horrified crews found Jeff Raven and the Rowan unconscious in their Tower couches and sent for Elizara and her teams. Jeran on Deneb had certainly been aware of an incredible psionic backlash. He was hastily summoned to Earth since FT&T command devolved to him in the emergency. Jeran took time to a.s.sure himself that with sufficient rest his parents would recover, then he officially informed the Nine Star League of the event. He was requested to join, and 'port units of a Fleet squadron to Aurigae. In his turn, he sent for his grandmother, asking Isthia to bring the specialists she had trained to revive over stressed Talents. With Elizarars help, he and Isthia were able to extract gently from Jeff's taxed mind the position of the three personnel sh.e.l.ls.

As the Fleet squadron neared the relevant spatial coordinates, Jeran and Isthia on board the flagship could 'hear' nothing. Then the ship's sensitive equipment located the three capsules.

It is possible, Isthia said, trying to be positive in the absence of any mental aura from the sh.e.l.ls, that all three are in very deep shock. The power in Dam ia's final thrust!

Damia cannot be dead. Jeran allowed himself the luxury of believing in his grandmother's optimism. We cannot lose her! He had forced himself to accept other losses. Sodan may have been powerful but is there a T-rating in the galaxy who didn't feel her hit him?

'Ah!' Isthia gave a sharp gasp. I have them. And she signalled for Jeran and her team to a.s.sist, leaning into the ship's engines to 'port the capsules aboard.

'Damia's alive,' Jeran cried in relief, having made that his first priority. I thought I felt them all die.

'Afra lives, too, but he's very faint. Larak... and Isthia's voice faded. Why did the focus have to snap through him?

They opened Afra's capsule first, and sighed with pity at the lean form drawn up in the foetal position of complete withdrawal. Jeran thought his heart would break, remembering the vibrant man who had been as much a part of his life and learning as his parents.

'He's so badly hurt, Isthia. Can we save him?' Should we -..

:f he'll be psionically numb for the rest of his life? he asked on the tightest possible band.

Isthia raised her eyebrows in a scathing rejection of that suggestion. 'I've pulled minds back from worse than this, Jeran Gwyn-Raven. Move aside.' With a touch skilled and delicate, she put her hands on Afra's temples. Jeran saw her eyes cloud with anxiety.

She sighed, for a brief moment depressed by her examination. His dominant desire is death. Which is so totally unlike Afra that I shall ignore it. I don't intend that he should succ.u.mb to death right now.

However, his life force is critically low and must be carefully revived.' She gave rapid mental orders to the medics standing by so that, within seconds, Afra was receiving emergency injections and two highly skilled metamorphic pract.i.tioners began the routines that had once restored her son, Jeff, from a nadir that bordered extinction.

Afra'll need some subtle encouragements, Jeran, to overcome that death wish. Divorce your emotions, Isthia told him sharply. Put your fingers over mine. Help me reach him.

We have to reverse that wish before it succeeds.