Helix (48 page)

She
smiled at Kaluchek and said, “Help me up. Then activate the image again.”

“You
sure? I mean—”

“Do
it. I’ll be fine.”

Kaluchek
nodded. She assisted Carrelli to her feet, then moved to the console and hit
the protuberance. Carrelli approached the helix, reached out and seemed to
grasp a planet on the fourth tier. “This is their world,” she said in a hushed
voice, and pointed to a world on the tier below, almost directly underneath the
first. “And this is Calique.”

She
moved into the middle of the helix, reached out and ran her hands across the
tiers. She shook her head. “It’s strange, but the effect isn’t as powerful this
time. I’m getting the same information, and the rapture is reduced.” She
laughed. “But it’s still incredible...”

Kaluchek
stepped forward cautiously and reached out, touching a world with her
fingertips. Again she felt a slight, tingling sensation, like pins and needles,
but nothing more.

She
looked at Carrelli. “You don’t know why they built the helix and brought the
extraterrestrials here?”

Carrelli
dropped her arms and stepped from the helix. She crossed to the console and
touched the control, and behind her the helix winked out of existence.

She
shook her head. “That was what I wanted most to learn,” she said. “Why? But I
couldn’t access that information, Sissy.”

She
moved from the perimeter of the flight-deck and approached the plinth. As
Kaluchek watched, the Italian climbed the steps and paused at the top.

Kaluchek
hurried up the steps of the plinth and stood beside Carrelli, staring down at
the remains of the dead engineer.

Then
Carrelli reached into the cask. Her fingers gently moved aside what might have
been a collarbone, then reached out and picked up something. As Carrelli
withdrew her hand, Kaluchek saw a pendant glittering in her grip.

“What
is it?”

Carrelli
held it up before them. “Call it a badge of office,” she said, and Kaluchek saw
that dangling on the chain was a miniature golden helix—with, incredibly, a
small glowing sun somehow suspended at its centre.

Carrelli
looked at her. “I’d like to keep it as a souvenir, but...”

“But?”

“I
know someone who would appreciate it even more.”

Kaluchek
smiled. “Watcher Pharan?”

“Who
else?”

“But
what will you tell him...?” She gestured towards the bones. “You can’t...”

Carrelli
was shaking her head. “The Caliquans are a good people. I knew that before, but
when I touched the facsimile of their world, that was confirmed. I’ll give him
this memento, tell them that they must keep up their vigil until the day the
Builders descend and reward them for their altruism. I’ll say that the Sleeper
still sleeps, is not yet ready to awaken.”

The
light from beyond the flight-deck was dying with the setting of the sun, and
Carrelli activated her flashlight and said, “It’s time we were getting back.” She
looked at Kaluchek. “We have a lot to talk about. Whether we remain on this
tier and try to find a suitable world, or move up to the next one and locate
the Builders.”

Kaluchek
said, “We can’t stay here, Gina... not when we know where the Builders are.”
She shook her head. “That would be impossible. We need to know why, how...”

Carrelli
smiled. “That’s what I think, too. Come on, let’s get back.”

They
retraced their steps through the ship, following the elliptical disc of
Carrelli’s flashlight until they came to the cargo hold, then paused at the top
of the crude timber steps and gazed down.

Kaluchek
wondered if she had ever seen a sight more beautiful. The clearing was bathed
in dying sunlight, fringed by tall trees and scented by a million colourful blooms.
In pride of place at the foot of the steps stood the tiny, expectant forms of
the Caliquans, silvery and ethereal, staring up at them with huge pink eyes,
their insectile arms raised as if in supplication.

They
descended the stairs, Carrelli leading their way, and when she reached the
forest floor she held out the pendant at arm’s length and spoke to Watcher
Pharan in his fluting tongue.

Instantly,
the acolytes behind Pharan fell to their knees and pressed their faces to the
golden moss, while Pharan himself set up an exultant ululation. He reached out
and took the pendant, staring at the magical fiery sun at its centre, then
placed it reverently over his head and settled it on his chest.

He
called to his acolytes and they rose and hurried to their mounts, so many
quicksilver blurs. Watcher Pharan spoke to Carrelli again, and she replied. He
mounted his sharl, and Kaluchek and Carrelli climbed aboard theirs. Slowly, the
sharl turned and plodded from the clearing and entered the twilight word of the
forest.

Carrelli
said, “I told Pharan that the Sleeper awoke and addressed us, said that he
wished them to treasure the pendant as a token of his gratitude.”

Kaluchek
smiled. “The story will become myth, in time; your lie a source of wonder.”

Carrelli
stared ahead. “As I said earlier, Sissy, what matters is faith.”

Kaluchek
smiled to herself and they fell silent. As they passed a tall shrub a little
later, Carrelli reached out and grasped a handful of berries, and seeing that
they were the soporific fruit, Kaluchek did the same. Tired anyway, she found
that with the sedative of the berries she was soon on the edge of sleep. She
lay back, lulled by the rocking motion of the sharl, and was soon asleep and
dreaming.

Carrelli
woke her a short time later—at least, it felt like a short time. She opened her
eyes and blinked, dazzled by bright sunlight penetrating the canopy of foliage
high overhead.

“Sissy.
Time you woke up.”

Kaluchek
struggled into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes. She seemed to have been
asleep for a matter of minutes, and yet she felt fully refreshed, even
invigorated. She wondered if it was something to do with the drug,

“It’s
morning, Sissy. You’ve been asleep for hours.”

“Morning?”
she repeated idiotically.

“Here,”
Carrelli said, passing her a fruit. “It’s almost all water. You need to drink
in this heat or you’ll dehydrate.”

Kaluchek
took the fruit and began peeling it, and instantly a cascade of cool water
splashed across her hand. She lifted the fruit to her lips and took a mouthful
of cool, scented fluid.

“How
far are we from the ship?” she asked. She had wanted to say ‘from Joe’, but
Carrelli would only have smiled her motherly smile at her.

“I
estimate six hours,” Carrelli said. “Maybe less.”

“Do
you think they’ll have fixed it?”

Carrelli
glanced at her over her shoulder. “Let’s hope so. I have faith in Friday. I
know you don’t like him, but he’s determined.”

Kaluchek
bit her lip, deciding not to tell Carrelli what else he was. “Even if the
ship’s up and running,” she said, “do you think we can make it to the next
tier?”

“I
don’t see why not. We made it so far. Of course, it’s not settled yet that
we’re definitely going. The others might veto the idea. Rather than risk the
flight, they might rather remain here and find a habitable world.”

Kaluchek
shook her head. “Not Joe. I know him. He’ll want to find the Builders. I can’t
speak for Olembe. But even if he’s against the idea, that’s three against one.
The majority wins.”

Carrelli
smiled to herself. “Let’s just see what they say, okay?”

Kaluchek
fell silent, watching the tall trees of the forest pass slowly, the lumbering
sharl ahead with the tiny figure of Watcher Pharan perched upon its back. She
grabbed a bunch of fruit that Carrelli had passed safe earlier, handed one to
the Italian and ate as she thought of Joe, waiting for her.

Carrelli’s
estimate of six hours was conservative. Less than three hours had elapsed when
Watcher Pharan turned upon his mount and chirruped to Carrelli.

“We’re
almost back at the ship,” she said. “Five minutes.”

Kaluchek
looked ahead, through the tall trees at the vista of golden sand. Minutes later
she made out, a deeper shade of gold against the sand, the crouching shape of
the alien ship, with Joe and Olembe seated beside it.

As
the procession of sharls and their riders entered the clearing, Joe stood
quickly, waved and hurried across to meet them.

Kaluchek
couldn’t help herself. She slid from the back of the sharl and dropped into his
arms. It felt so good, so natural, that she resented the time she’d spent away from
him—even if she had beheld wonders.

“It’s
so good to have you again, Joe.” She looked up, into his eyes, wanting him to
respond with similar sentiments. He looked at her, something questioning in his
eyes, his expression almost curious.

“What?”
she said, her stomach tight.

What
if he’d had second thoughts about her during her time away? What if that
bastard Olembe had turned him against her? But she was being paranoid. She
should credit Joe with more humanity than that.

He
shook his head. “Nothing. It’s great to have you back.” He pulled away and
regarding her at arm’s length. “Well, tell me all about it.”

She
stared into his smiling face. “It was amazing, Joe. I mean...” She looked
across at Carrelli. “Are you going to tell them?”

Olembe
had stirred now and joined them, unable to keep himself away from the
excitement.

Watcher
Pharan darted from his mount and approached Carrelli. They spoke for a while,
before touching hands. The Watcher then turned towards Kaluchek and the others,
lifting both arms briefly in what might have been a farewell gesture.

In
an instant it was upon its mount, and then the procession started up once
again. Kaluchek watched the sharls carrying the tiny aliens back into the
forest.

“Well?”
Joe said.

Carrelli
said, “First, what’s the status of the ship?”

“We
repaired the mechanical fault,” Olembe said. “We powered up the ship’s
smartware, as well as we could, and it seems to be running at around eighty per
cent efficiency.”

Joe
said, “As far as we could tell, that is. It’s an alien system. Much of it was
familiar, but I might have missed signals for systems failure.”

Carrelli
nodded. “That’s fine. Well, we have a decision to make...”

Olembe
said, “What the hell did you find out there?”

Carrelli
gestured to the ship, and led the way across the clearing to the ramp. She sat
down, massaging her calves.

There
was movement from the entrance to the ship, and Kaluchek saw Ehrin and Sereth
peering out. Carrelli beckoned them, and Ehrin came and sat beside Carrelli.
Sereth, cautious, remained where she was and squatted on the ship’s threshold.

Carrelli
said, “What would you say if I told you we found out where the Builders are
hiding themselves?”

Joe
smiled. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

Kaluchek
felt something melt in her chest as she looked upon his wonder. She shook her
head. “It was incredible, Joe. We entered the ship and found the Sleeper. It
was dead, but then Gina—”

“I
interfaced with some highly advanced smartware system,” Carrelli said. “It
was... I guess it was a simple directory. The ship was a maintenance vessel,
operated by a race that worked for the Builders. I found that the Builders
themselves have a planet almost directly above this one on the next tier.”

She
turned and spoke to Ehrin in his own language, and the effect was marked. He
sat up, his muzzle open, eyes wide, then spoke rapidly to Carrelli. She smiled
and replied, then turned to Joe and Olembe.

“So,
gentlemen, what do we do? We’ve found a temperate tier. We could explore the
next worlds along on either side, think about settling here and fetching the
colonists—”

Joe
cut in, “Or we could take a trip to the next tier and seek out the Builders.”

Carrelli
nodded and looked around the group. “Those are the options. What do you think?”

Olembe
said, “If we could make it to the next tier without the Church’s ship
intercepting us...” He shrugged. “Then I’m all for pushing on.”

Oddly,
Kaluchek found herself feeling annoyed that Olembe had fallen in with her own
opinion. She looked at Joe, praying that it wouldn’t be him who raised
objections. She was relieved when he said, “I agree. If the Builders are up
there, then I want to meet them. Sissy?”

She
smiled. “I’m with you. I mean, how can we look for a colonisable world when the
people who built this place are so close to us? I’d always be wondering what we
might have missed.”

Carrelli
turned and spoke to Ehrin and Sereth.

Ehrin
stood quickly, leaning forward. He fired off a question at Carrelli, and
listened to her reply wide-eyed. He turned to Sereth and spoke. She replied, barking
at him, then turned quickly at slipped into the ship.