The Lodestone Trilogy (Limited Edition) (The Lodestone Series) (115 page)

When it became apparent that the weapon was being constructed here on the island of Helice, another possibility had occurred to Keris: premature detonation. Yes, it would cost the lives of all of them, as well as the lives of all the hu-mans on the island, but they were so far away from any other part of civilisation, it seemed virtually certain that the devastation would be confined to that relatively small area. And from a tactical point of view, that plan had a much higher chance of success.

Keris had met Annata—had seen how she lived. The woman from the past came from a world of marvels, but up to the time of the plague, she had lived a life of privilege and comfort. She would not consider the possibility of self-sacrifice, since it was not in her nature. Keris, on the other hand, had been forced to fight and claw her way up. She knew that there were times when spilling blood was the only way to get the job done.

There were good reasons, she told herself, for not revealing her full plan to Lyall. He would probably insist on giving the others time to return to the Reach and sail to a safe distance before setting off the weapon. Yet if Annata’s device did not work for whatever reason, there would be no time for that. If they made it as far as the weapon and failed to destroy it, they would not get a second chance. She would have to act on her own, before anyone could stop her.

She looked across at Boxx. It lay with its head resting on the rock platform, its eyes like twin black beads, staring straight ahead. If the little creature understood their plight at all, then it did not seem concerned. Perhaps it was for the best. There was no reason why others should have to bear the burden of knowing what was about to happen. Let them continue to hope, right up to the end.

Keris settled back and waited for the cold shroud of night to envelop her.

<><><><><>

Chapter 7

For the third time in two days, Shann clawed her way back to consciousness. This time, the anxious figure bending over her was not Alondo or Boxx. It was Rael.

The boy looked a mess. His features were lined with grime, and his hair was partly flattened and partly sticking up from his head. His once-proud green coat—official uniform of the Scientific Directorate’s Physics and Astronomy division—was now filthy and marked with dark streaks.
I probably don’t look a whole lot better myself,
she mused.

The crash and the events leading up to it were a blur. Had they really downed two of the hu-man craft? It seemed unlikely. Were they both still alive? That seemed even less likely. And yet, persistent aches in her head and arm insisted otherwise.

Rael gazed intently at her, his hand raised in front of her face. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Seventeen,” she said, dismissively. “Where... are we?”

“The island of Helice. Don’t you remember?”

“No, I mean, where on the island?”

“I don’t know; some way from the Reach, I think. Can you get up?”

Shann raised herself slowly and painfully, waving away his steadying hand. “We have to find the others.”

“Well, we won’t be travelling in that.”

Shann looked over to where he was pointing and saw what was left of their flying machine. The fuselage was badly battered, the cockpit was smashed, and smoke was still rising from one of the fan housings. A surge of guilt ran through her. “Will you get into trouble?”

To her surprise, he laughed. “I don’t think so. Although since I’ve been involved in the destruction of two avionics, not to mention the phaeton in Kieroth, they’ll probably make me walk everywhere from now on as penance.”

“What about the electro-thing?”

“It was destroyed in the crash, so it’s still a secret.” His eye twinkled. “Unless you tell on me, that is.” Shann did not see how he could joke at a time like this, but she let it ride. “I think the avionic is safe now,” he continued, “at least, I don’t think it will burst into flames or anything. We should salvage what we can and then try to work our way back to the ship.”

“Do you know which direction it is?”

“I have a reasonably good idea,” he replied. “While you were doing your best to throw us around up there, I took a fix on our position. If the directional finder in the cockpit is still intact, then I should be able to track back. Just give me a moment to do some calculations.”

She smiled wryly. “Your trouble is you think numbers are the answer to everything.”

This time it was he who failed to see the funny side.

“They are,” he said.

~

Shann awoke the next morning at first light. Nights were cold on the island, so she was especially glad of the blanket that Rael had retrieved from among the provisions stored in the avionic’s hold. Unfortunately, there was only one, and Rael had graciously insisted that she have it, choosing to huddle in his dirt-smeared green coat instead. The boy lay on the ground with his back to her, still sleeping.

She arose silently and headed for the tarn nearby where they had camped the previous evening. Small meltwater lakes seemed to abound in these hills, so fresh water was not an issue. However, she had spotted nothing that could be described as game, unless you counted some bulbous, multi-legged creatures with waving eye stalks that disappeared into spiral shells whenever they approached, or the ball of black fur that hissed and spat at them from a rock as they passed. It didn’t really matter. Shann did not share Keris’s talent for being able to live off the land.

She knelt on the hard granite and sluiced water over her face, feeling the icy cold bring her to full wakefulness. Her headache was gone, but her arm still hurt. However, deprived as she was of Boxx’s ministrations, she had no alternative other than to put up with it. She squeezed her eyes dry and watched as the ripples on the surface gradually died away to reveal a reflection. Something was hovering above the water directly in front of her.

Shann recoiled and scrambled to her feet. She recognised it at once—a copper-coloured sphere, indented, with a glassy ball at its centre, like an immense eye. It looked exactly the same as the machine-eye that she and Keris had encountered on top of the Tower of Akalon. That device had been controlled by the one who called himself McCann. There could be little doubt that another hu-man was operating this one, although she could not see anybody.

Shann turned and sprinted back in the direction of their makeshift camp. Rael still lay sleeping, hunched in his grimy green coat. She skidded to a halt and fell to her knees, shaking him violently by the shoulders.

The boy’s long legs kicked out instinctively and he came to with a start. “Wh... what the... Shann, what are you... ?”

She dragged him up by the scruff of the neck and pointed. The mechanical eye had floated over and now hung in mid-air about five yards away.

The boy rubbed sleep out of his eyes and tried to focus. “What’s that?”

“It’s called a watcher,” she replied. “McCann, the hu-man we met at the Tower of Akalon, used one.”

“Is that the same as a lookout?”

She regarded him oddly. “What’s a ‘lookout’?”

Rael shook his head. He looked as if he was still confused from sleep. “Nothing. Forget it... ” He peered at the floating eye. “Whatever it is, it’s an incredible piece of technology.”

Shann rapidly donned her new red flying cloak and grabbed her staff before turning to face him once more. Her short dark hair was matted to her scalp, and water was still dripping from her delicate chin.

“Stand back while I destroy it.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

Shann assumed an attack posture and scanned for lodestone deposits but made no move on the eye. “What are you talking about?”

Rael pressed his eyes shut and opened them again. “We don’t know who is watching us. Or why. Or even if there is a person behind it—it could be some form of remote device.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she countered.

“Not at all,” he said. “It could be just trying to communicate. If we attack it, then it might interpret us as hostile. It’s very advanced— maybe a form of artificial intelligence. It could even be fitted with weapons of its own.”

The eye continued to hover before them, humming quietly to itself, as if it were waiting patiently for them to finish their argument.

Shann stood with her staff at the ready, paralysed by uncertainty. She did not like the thought of someone spying on them—watching their every move. Her instinct was to destroy the device, thereby removing the other person’s advantage. Nevertheless, she was forced to admit that Rael knew far more about machines than she did. “All right. Fight or flight—it’s your call.”

The tall boy did not answer. Instead he walked in front of her and approached the eye slowly, arms outstretched.
What’s he doing?
“Can... you... hear... me?” he intoned.

The eye dipped slightly as if to keep him in view, but made no other response. Shann’s heart beat faster. “Don’t get any closer.”

Rael ignored her and took another step forward. Suddenly, a voice crackled into life. “You... are Kelanni.” It was coming from the mechanical eye.

“Yes,” Rael responded. “To whom am I speaking?”

“You are the ones who crossed the Great Barrier of Storms by ship. Is that correct?”

The voice had an odd accent over and above the distortion that she couldn’t place. Shann’s feeling of unease was growing by the second. She stepped up to Rael’s shoulder and hissed in his ear. “These are humans. Don’t tell them anything.”

“Yes, that’s correct... ” Rael addressed the eye and then turned his head towards her. “... At least, some of us did.”

“Excellent,” the strange voice replied. “Would you be so good as to follow the watcher?”

“Follow it where?” Rael asked.

“You will see.”

Alarm bells jangled at the back of Shann’s mind. The whole thing reeked of a trap. She stepped protectively between Rael and the floating metal eye. “He’s not going anywhere with that thing and neither am I.”

“Quiet, Shann.”
The girl’s jaw dropped open and she whirled around. He had only spoken to her once like that before, at the observatory in Kieroth, on the day they met for the first time. She felt both annoyed and pleased in a way that was strangely disturbing. His gaze remained firmly fixed on the aerial contraption. “Lead on.”

The eye began to drift off at a leisurely pace. Rael followed unhesitatingly. Shann realised she was still standing slack-jawed on the rock platform. She shut her mouth and hurried after him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Following this thing to see where it leads,” he replied, matter-offactly.

“
Are you crazy?
It’s controlled by hu-mans. You’re walking right into their hands.”

“Possibly.” The mesa gave way to a narrow, rock-strewn path that wound through the bare grey hills. Ahead of them, the eye bobbed slightly, its glass iris turned back towards them, observing their progress.
Making sure we’re following obediently.

Shann felt like boxing the tousle-haired boy on the arm to try and knock some sense into him. “This is a mistake.”

Rael pressed his lips together. “Look, they found us, all right? So we can either run away and be chased all over the countryside by this surveillance device—whatever it is. Or we can follow it back and talk to the person who’s operating it.”

The path suddenly terminated in a low rock wall about eight feet high. The metallic eye drifted up and over the edge. Rael flexed his long legs and jumped. His fingers gained purchase on the lip of the wall, and he gritted his teeth as he hauled himself up before turning and reaching down towards Shann. She disdained the proffered hand, blipped her neck control of her red cloak, and pushed off the nearest lodestone deposit, sailing up the rock face and landing lightly beside him. They were on another small plateau—slate-grey rock interspersed with patches of pure white snow. The hum from the eye rose in pitch, and it started off again, framed by a sky of mounting cumulous cloud. The lanky boy and the slight girl trailed after it.

“I don’t know why you didn’t just let me smash the thing,” she grumbled.

“That’s your answer to everything, isn’t it? Knock it down, or smash it to pieces.”

“And you think you can just talk everyone into submission. What are you going to do? Ask this hu-man politely if they would mind not blowing the world to bits and us along with it?”