Transformation Space (32 page)

When one of Sal’s cephalic fins ripped free and wavered in the air though, Ilke began to run. She leapt into the TerV, and
Jancz sent it skimming up over a dune.

But the ’zoon was quicker than them. It flicked its freed and powerful fin in an arc, and slammed the vehicle.

The TerV split apart, tossing Jancz and Ilke into the sand.

The fin lifted and pounded the bodies again and again, until there was nothing left of them but fin marks in the sand.

‘Josef, look!’ cried Mira, pointing.
Sal
’s egress scale had opened. ‘
Sal
‘s letting us in.’

Jo-Jo got to his feet and took Mira’s arm. They
hurried to a spot directly below the scale, and he laced his fingers together. ‘I’ll hoist you,’ he said.

‘But how will you get on board?’

‘Just put your foot in my hands,’ he shouted hoarsely.

Sal,
we can’t reach the egress scale.

Step away, Mira Fedor. Step away.
‘Josef,’ she said. ‘Step up!’ he screamed at her.

She made a fist and punched Jo-Jo in the side of the face.

He dropped his hands in shock.

‘
Sal
wants us to move away. Quickly.’

She grabbed his hand and pulled him. Together, they climbed the closest dune. Halfway up, Mira began to tire. Jo-Jo’s grip
grew tighter, and their positions reversed. He was pulling her, urging her onward.

As they reached the peak, the sand began to vibrate. Behind them
Sal
was moving, rocking back and forth with gathering momentum. In front of them something else was happening.
Medium
glowed brighter than ever. The last of its outer skin sloughed away to allow a ghastly, glistening birthing.

Fluid sprayed forth in great bursts, sizzling as it touched the hot sand. A bulbous shape, the size of a dozen biozoons, had
emerged. Then the shape split wide in another spray of fluid and a cavernous yawning hollow opened before them. Huge triangular-shaped
objects glistened around the edges of the hollow. Teeth.

Jo-Jo fell to his knees, hands covering his face. ‘No!’

Mira couldn’t speak, couldn’t do anything but watch the Extro craft transforming. Behind the maw another wad of skin unfolded,
a body that seemed to expand
until the scaly quivering length of it went further back into the dark than she could see.

An overpoweringly sweet scent assailed them; gusts of it had them both choking. Then the sand began to quake again.

Mira gripped Jo-Jo’s shoulder and pointed back to the two biozoons.
Sal
had rocked itself until it had dug deep down into the sand. They could now reach the egress scale.

This time they helped each other, holding hands, pulling each other along. Josef had no more strength than she did, and tears
poured down his face. Their only words to each other were encouragement or instructions, until they’d climbed in through the
egress scale.

When the scale closed, they both collapsed onto the floor.

‘Josef?’ whispered Mira. ‘Are you … ?’

He sat up suddenly, words tumbling from his mouth. ‘We have to get out of here quickly. The survivors are on the islands to
the west, like you said they’d be. We should go there.’

Mira pushed up onto an elbow. All her strength had gone, drained by the heat and the effort and the fear. ‘Then I need to
get to the buccal.’

Jo-Jo nodded. She saw he was still crying, a steady stream of tears of release that made him neither gasp nor sob, but which
did not stop.

He tried to stand, but his legs buckled underneath him. His whole body trembled, but he got his knees underneath him and crawled
to her. ‘I – I, Mira, I c-can’t carry you—’ This time he sobbed. ‘I’m sorry.’

Mira reached out and clasped his hand, letting him know that she understood. She’d thought him so rough and self-reliant,
closed off, when they’d been together in
Insignia
before. Like Rast Randall, though more predictable and with a peculiar type of integrity. But this man who’d come to help
her was altogether different, raw and open and unsure. When he’d pulled her from the liquefying floor of the Extro ship, she’d
felt nothing but relief to see him. Now something else stirred. An emotion she’d not felt before.

He brought her fingers to his face and held them against his cheek. He was trembling, as if needing her close. She felt the
hot wetness of his face against hers. Felt his exhaustion to match hers. He turned and pressed his lips into her palm.

Instead of pulling away, she welcomed his contact, letting her hand cup his jaw. They were alive.

‘Baronessa?’ A quiet and totally unexpected voice intruded into their space. ‘Let me help you.’

Josef pulled away, and both of them turned in the direction of the voice.

A slim tight-skinned ’esque in a worn robe stepped around the bend of the stratum. ‘My name is Tekton of Lostol.’

Tekton!
A wave of shock passed through Jo-Jo’s weakened body. ‘What in Crux’s name are you …’ He trailed off, barely able to believe
that Tekton was standing before him.

The tyro gave a strained smile. ‘It would seem that fate has plans for us. Or should I say that Sole does.’

‘You are the tyro from Belle-Monde. You knew Marchella Pellegrini,’ said Mira. Like Jo-Jo, she forced herself to an upright
position, her torso wavering as if she might collapse again.

Tekton went to her and lent his support. Slowly, carefully, he helped her to her feet. He was not much taller than her, or
stronger, but he had energy where hers was spent.

‘Marchella Pellegrini,’ said Tekton. ‘A name I had not thought to hear again. Perhaps, at another time, we can speak of her.
But now there is some urgency, I believe, to leave this location.’

‘Si,’ she said. ‘Help me to the buccal then come back for Josef.’

Tekton nodded his agreement, but Jo-Jo didn’t trust the tricky Godhead.

As the tyro helped Mira Fedor around the stratum and out of his sight, Jo-Jo crawled after them. On hands
and knees he made his way, painfully, towards the buccal. He knew this ship, remembered the contours and bends, the quicker
ways. And the ship moud code. ‘
Sal
,’ he gasped as he put one hand in front of the next.

Josef? Josef Rasterovich? Salacious
’s reply rumbled through his mind as the longdormant moud reactivated.

Yes. I’m here.

You left me.

No. I was tricked and then put in prison on Dowl station. Jancz and Ilke stole you from me.

Oh.
The hybrid seemed confused.
But I have a new captain now. Tekton.

No. I am your captain. Still.

How can I know who it should be?

Serve me now, and I will release you to the Pod. End your tenure.

My contract?

It’s in my name. I can legally rescind it.

I will be free.

Yes. If you help us to leave this world.

The hybrid’s hesitation was as brief as Jo-Jo’s next breath.
Welcome back aboard, my captain.

Closer, Closer

Come To Me,

All Done Soon,

All Done.

‘I’ve heard of you, Godhead,’ whispered Mira as they negotiated the obstacles along the rubbish-cluttered strata.

‘And I, of you,’ the Lostolian replied. ‘Please … tell me what is happening outside.’

‘The Post-Species are birthing something in the desert, a new craft from the old. It is spreading … growing as if the air
feeds it. We must leave this area before we are damaged by its expansion.’

‘A new craft from the old,’ repeated Tekton. ‘Fascinating. It must be the quixite.’

‘Not fascinating,’ she said, ‘terrifying.’

As they reached the buccal, tears sprang to Mira’s eyes; the walls of the hybrid’s cheek were bleeding, and its flesh hung
in unhealthy clumps.

She pointed to one of the nubs in the centre of the buccal. ‘There, please, Tekton.’

Tekton helped her across to the unused Primo vein. The grey protective skin was thick and resistant to her touch. She hesitated
to pierce it. She was already bonded to
Insignia;
if she used
Sal
’s vein-sink, what would happen? Would Sal’s personality meld with hers?
Sal
was unhealthy, not sane in the way of other biozoons. Already she could feel its agitation.

Sal,
what’s wrong
? she asked the hybrid.

Where are the other ’esques, Mira Fedor? Where are the corporeals? The Balol and Captain Jancz.

You killed them,
Sal, Mira said gently.

It made a noise she thought to be mirth.
Yes, I did. It felt good, Mira Fedor.

Were the corporeals cruel to you?

Cruel to be kind
.
Cruel to be kind.
The hybrid sounded strained and odd, not incomprehensibly raving as Mira had heard it before, but distanced, remote.

Another sliver of fear stabbed her consciousness. Would she lose her mind to
Sal
if she used the Primo vein? Would she maintain her link with
Insignia
? And Nova?

Mama?

She ignored her daughter, lifting her finger to stab through the nano-membrane and begin the immersion process.

‘Mira. No!’ Jo-Jo Rasterovich stood swaying in the pucker of the buccal. ‘This was –
is
my ship. I’ll fly it. I know the island coordinates.’

He let go of the pucker and staggered across to the Autonomy nub.

Tekton made no move to help him or stop him. Mira wavered with relief. Sal
? We wish to go somewhere where you can recover. Your fins will never be tied again, I promise.

The buccal started to shake, and a noise vibrated along the hybrid’s strata – part screech, part wail. Mira felt the creature’s
relief and anger, but underneath it all still mistrust.

‘Josef,’ Mira whispered. ‘Be careful. Sal’s damaged.’

He nodded. ‘Then we’re a good pair.’

Mira moved to another nub and watched Jo-Jo climb into Autonomy. The v-comm unfolded over his head, and his fingers moved
slowly through the air in front of him, creating patterns.

‘Tekton, sit.’ She gestured to unused nubs. ‘They will help protect you from the acceleration, but be careful not to pierce
the outer layer of skin. The ’zoon is not … healthy enough to immerse in.’

The Godhead had not moved since Jo-Jo had entered the buccal, his brow drawn in concentration as though he was remembering
or realising something important.

He shook his head slightly and stepped across to a nub. It responded to the pressure of his weight, folding around him. Mira
sank carefully onto the surface of hers and let it do the same.

Another vibration spread through the buccal, a more familiar one.
Salacious
was moving. She glanced at Josef. He was concentrating, hands working, lips the same.

Finally she opened her mind to her biozoon. Insignia
?

Dearest?
The biozoon sounded anxious.

We’re aboard the hybrid. Follow us to the islands. I will come back to you then. Nova—

I’m here, Mama. I am happy that you are with the hybrid. I was scared.

Nova, the Post-Species have created something terrible. We must get far away from it.
Insignia
, it was so large … do you know what it was?

I’m afraid so, Mira.

Insignia
projected her own images to Mira’s mind. They were moving. She saw the hybrid lifting high above
Insignia
and diving west towards the islands.
Then the dunes began to shrink as
Insignia
gathered height. A towering shadow fell across them, a shadow that
Insignia
must scale – so, so high and far, encroaching on the biozoon, threatening to engulf it.

How big is it
? Mira wanted to know.

I can’t say. It’s still growing. Given time, it could cover much of the main continent. Perhaps more.

No!

It’s possible while it has resources.

The quixite?

It would seem so.

As
Insignia
rose, the shadow seemed to chase them, while below the grisly object continued to expand.

Insignia
, you must get higher!

But the shadow kept pace with them, blocking their view to the west. If
Insignia
faltered, the object would overtake them, suck them into its expanding mass like an exploding star gobbling a planet.

Hurry. Please. Save Nova.

Mira felt the surge of
Insignia
’s determination, the push of her energies as the biozoon dredged speed and energy from its dwindling supply of amino acids.

A tiny but pure beam of energy joined it, bolstering
Insignia
’s effort, and suddenly the biozoon was free, soaring above the object.

Nova.

Little one.

Look, Mama. Look, Tasy-al.

With altitude came more perspective, and something Mira could see but barely comprehend.
Crux! It’s not a ship. It’s a single Saqr.

Insignia
corrected her.
No, Mira. It is both.

Thales looked around the group of Swestr gathered in Magdalen’s home: thirty or more women who’d arrived during the evening
in twos and threes, now occupying every available space in Magdalen’s living room. He recognised a few faces, Eclectics from
the candlelight vigil at the statue of Exterus, where he’d last seen Magdalen. One woman he knew separately, an academic from
the Motokiyo Aesthetics stream.
Ling-Ma
. She was a descendant of the famous Ma dynasty who owned the Heka system. What would her family think of her membership of
the Swestr? Ling-Ma nodded at him but made no further attempt to reacquaint.

The atmosphere in the room was furtive, as though at any moment their gathering might be discovered. Thales glanced nervously
at the large bay window, now shuttered, that he knew gave a splendid view of the leafy Place de Liebniz. He remembered having
been in this room once before with Rene, a bohemian dinner party where they’d eaten with their fingers, and he’d drunk too
much piska wine. Rene had been annoyed with him, and displeased by having to use her fingers.