Seeds of Earth (49 page)

'Are they native to Darien?' Robert said. 'This climate feels as if it could be on the same latitude as the colony, yet I've seen no mention of another established culture ...'

'Our apologies, Human Horst,' said Track-Reski, setting down a thin beaker of water for him. 'We cannot answer your queries - falsifying your frame of reference may have unwanted consequences.'

Robert frowned and drank the water, resenting the comment.

'You have offered no proof that we are in some deep level of hyperspace, as if the universe were built of layers!' He gestured around him. 'This seems like outdoors in a temperate climate, yet you call it a, what, a lithosphere?'

'This lithosphere is one of several in this particular stratum,' said Tripod-Reski. 'Some of the others are almost on planetary-body scales, and thus prone to entropo-pressure collapse. This one is only about I thousand miles in diameter . . .'

'All right,' Robert said, angry yet willing to humour his companions. 'Let's say that hyperspace is another kind of universe . . .'

'Universes,' said Hover-Reski, emerging from behind a large split boulder.

'The desiccated remains of dead universes sink down into hyperspace and accrete in a sedimentary fashion,' said Track-Reski. 'Do we have time to explain the structure of the Strativerse?'

'No,' said Hover- and Tripod-Reski in unison.

'Then why have I been abducted?' Robert said, suddenly angry at this ridiculous situation and wishing Harry was here.

'Only the Construct can tell you that,' said Tripod Reski. 'And the sooner we reach the upgate, the sooner you will know.'

After that they said little of substance as Robert allowed himself to be steered across an austere, hilly landscape veiled in an unending, misty dusk. Now and then, mournful, ululating cries reverberated through the sky overhead and once they heard something answer from far off behind them, a harsh implacable sound.

Not long after they heard the same harsh call but now from ahead and away to the left.

'Hunters are out,' said Hover-Reski.

'Are they hunting us?' Robert said, suddenly anxious.

'They hunt anything that strays into their sphere,' said Track-Reski. 'Luckily, the stone lane to the Great Terrace awaits us on the other side of the next hill . . .'

Robert could feel his heart hammering and his throat ached from the quickness of his breath, but he felt relief when a tunnel entrance came into view. The three mechs paused on the crest of the hill to scan and map the immediate area before beginning their descent. They had all gone a few yards when the mechs suddenly leaped ahead, dashing downslope.

'Quickly, Human Horst!' said one. 'Hostile is closing!'

'But . . . where?' Robert said, breaking into a run, looking to either side and seeing nothing.

'Above!'

All he could do was snatch the briefest of upwards glances and almost stumbled when he saw the winged horror that was plummeting towards them, a writhing monstrosity of eyeless, snapping heads, hooked tentacles and clutching claws. The mechs were now only slightly ahead of him and they reached the mouth of the tunnel and dived inside just as the monster landed heavily and, with a deafening, multi-throated roar, threw itself after them.

Gasping and wheezing from the effort, Robert staggered to a halt to lean against the tunnel wall and get his breath back.

'Keep running, Human Horst!' said Tripod-Reski.

'... sorry . .. need to ...'

The little mech grabbed the flapping hem of his gown and pulled at it with surprising strength. In the next moment the tunnel shook as the winged monster rammed itself up against the entrance, claws tearing at its edges while tentacles tipped with gleaming pincers and fanged mouths snaked forward. The tunnel floor trembled, stones and clumps of earth fell from its roof, and now all three mechs were urging Robert to retreat.

'Back to solid rock, human Horst,' said Track-Reski. 'Before entrance collapses.'

The grotesque beast was grinding and gouging the tunnel wider, howling with a dozen mouths as it tried to wedge itself further along. Running and stumbling alongside the mechs, Robert heard the deep rumble of a cave-in from behind, followed by a muffled roar of hate and fury. Clouds of dust puffed up from the collapse, and several yards on Robert's knees gave way and he sat down in the dirt, legs akimbo, gasping for breath, massaging a pain in his side.

'What was ... that.. .
thing} .. .'
'Abfagul,' said Hover-Reski as it hummed off downslope. 'Small one ...'

48

CATRIONA

The hunt was nearing its conclusion. She and her troupe, two Listeners and eighteen Scholars, had paused up in the subcanopy to await the arrival of another Listener and five Scholars from Seacloud on the northern coast. They were some 900 feet above the forest floor with the light of day waning, golden yellow shading into amber and filtering down through Segrana's leafy veils. Gloom was already seeping into the cooling depths, but Cat knew where their quarries were because her eyes had other eyes to help her—

From its perch on a low, leafy branch, the
kizpi
watches the clearing. A crouching, camouflaged figure creeps slowly through the undergrowth at one side, its featureless armoured head moving from side to side to 360 its sensor sweep, its short-bodied and undoubtedly lethal weapon held two-handed and aimed forward.

Eyes that she could search for and with, but only for short spans of time - using these small creatures like this panicked them, causing them to dart away into the shadows. But now, some 30 yards west of the
kizpi,
she had found an
umisk,
a flighted lizard with excellent eyesight and hearing. It had just caught and eaten a large, juicy insect and had paused on a branch to preen a few dislodged feathers when movement below snared its attention—

Ghosting through undergrowth with precise steps, the intruder stops to scan its surroundings, around and above. The diminishing light gleams dully on the helmet visor as it turns and tilts up, arms raising the weapon along the same line of sight. Its short barrel gives the tiniest of jerks along with a quiet, flicking sound, and an arboreal animal, grazer or hunter, falls to the forest floor with a rustling thud. The intruder moves on.

Cat let the
umisk
slip away, aware of the many other small beasts going about their business in that earthy darkness. It was actually possible to use her bonds with Segrana to call on the senses of all creatures in the forest surrounding the Ezgara, thereby studying it in the round, but there would be little advantage to it. Besides, such an act would leave her weak and mentally exhausted when right now she needed all of her faculties, both old and new.

'They know we're here,' she told the Listener who sat on the branch next to her.

'Will they be aware of what we have done to their devices?' said Listener Malir, a Warrior Uvovo from Overstream.

It had only been hours since scouts discovered charges set against the central pillar-trees of three main buttress clusters, the outer north, outer northeast, and outer east. With the use of potent acid (from several
poroon
beetles) and quick-setting
syldu
sap, the trigger mechanisms were rendered inert. But Cat was sure that these Ezgara were getting scanning and update information from somewhere, possibly a small satellite left in orbit which could also provide links to their bombs. When they were disarmed, some alarm might have been set off, warning the commandos that their presence had been detected. Hence their high state of alertness as they headed southwest, straight towards Pilipoint Station.

A lanky Uvovo swung down from an adjacent tree to join Cat and Listener Malir.

'Honourable Listener and Pathmistress,' he said, eyes wide. 'The Seacloud Listener approaches.'

That was what they were calling her - Pathmistress. She didn't like it but the Listeners of Highsonglade had decided on it soon after waking from the Segrana-sent dream they had all undergone. And when she went out into Segrana's dense heartlands she found that the dream had not been a localised event. It helped when she needed information and scouts but made her feel a kind of responsibility she had never experienced before. But she was able to put that to one side and focus on her task, the bargain she had made, the protection of Segrana and the People of the Leaves.

The Listener from Seacloud was called Okass and his five Scholars were all armed with fishcatcher whips with which, they asserted, they could snatch a weapon from unaware hands in the blink of an eye. She decided to send them with Malir and his seven Scholars while she accompanied the other Listener, Juso from Skygarden, whose eleven were skilled with nets.

Malir and Okass moved away and downwards, following Cat's directions towards the more westerly of the two intruders while she and Juso went after the other. While the Uvovo could travel with swift agility, Cat was forced to make do with a
trictra,
strapping into the leathery harness then following on through the interwoven branches and lichenous curtains of vines. Her strange connection to Segrana allowed her to catch glimpses of the two quarries as well as the Uvovo converging on them, and it was soon apparent that the Ezgara knew what was happening. Abandoning stealth, both were charging full-tilt through the forest, with
1
he Uvovo leaping from tree to tree and gaining on them.

And it was Malir and Okass's Scholars who pounced first, seeking to snare the intruder's feet and disarm him in one fell swoop. But the Ezgara proved wily, jumped the hook-tipped whip meant for his ankles, ducked and rolled under the one coming for his compact rifle. Then sprayed the forest to either side with arcs of needles or spines from the smaller weapons held in his lower hands. Someone shrieked in agony and fell but the hunt continued.

Catriona lost track of the chase then - most small animals had fled the immediate area, frightened by the violence. Moments later she heard a harsh, muffled buzz coming in short bursts. More cries, then an uneasy silence. She scoured the nearby forest from the depths to the heights and found a long-backed
vithni
a female out hunting for her cubs. It was easy to persuade her that tasty grubs lay in a certain direction and soon -

The
vithni
clambers along a series of low branches, keeping pace with the party of exultant Uvovo who are carrying a bound figure on their shoulders. Its helmet and armoured jacket are missing and Cat is astonished to see that the Ezgara has a very Humanlike face, wellproportioned male features with calm grey eyes gazing fixedly upwards. The man does not struggle yet a certain intensity emerges in his face, the eyes beginning to widen and stare, the lips drawing back from the teeth, a flushed hue spreading red and mottled over the skin. Then his head starts to tremble, his eyes show the whites, he smiles and fire blooms in his mouth before an explosion blots out everything

The bond with the
vithni
vanished and a thunderous detonation reverberated through the forest. Cat gasped at the severed connection, gasping for breath, almost stunned with disbelief. The spidery
trictra
beneath her shifted nervously while she tried to calm herself in the face of this new horror. A suicide self-destruct - was this another example of Sendrukan cruelty?

'Quickly,' she said to the Scholar escorting her. 'Rush ahead and tell Juso that I want him to hold back, leave the intruder alone but keep tracking him.'

The young Scholar nodded eagerly and was off, disappearing into the shadowy trees while Cat urged the
trictra
on. Cries of pain filtered through the forest from the epicentre of that deadly retaliation but she had to armour her mind against grief and focus on how to snare the other Ezgara and keep him alive ... then something came back to her, an image caught by her Enhanced-created perfect recall - the bright heat that flared in the bound Ezgara's mouth, and the way the skin of his neck and upper chest split along white-hot lines. She recalled that instant before the
vithni
link broke, the intense concentration in the man's face, the relentless effort - if these Ezgara could trigger that self-destruction at will, then their remaining quarry would have to be subdued quickly then rendered unconscious before a second obliteration could take place.

Listener Josu was waiting for her on the meeting branch of a small harvest town called Sweetseed - it was really four large branches interwoven over a pool, platformed with mats and decorated with fragrant blooms and flowering creepers. The townsfolk stayed out of sight, except for an elder Scholar who brought cups of
emel
juice on a tray for them both then went back inside.

'We have stayed our hand as you instructed, Pathmistress,' Josu said. 'Are the intruders more dangerous than you thought? We heard a loud explosion.'

Cat explained what she had seen and what she knew, about which Josu was initially sceptical until one of Okass's scholars arrived to report the tragedy. Seven Uvovo were dead, including Listener Okass, and when questioned he confirmed Cat's account, his words emphasised by his wounds.

'We must take this other one alive,' Cat said, even as doubt gnawed at her.
Seven dead, from my negligence.
'It is vital that we find out the Hegemony's intentions, even if it's only the wee bit that a soldier might know, and I want to know more about these Ezgara - if they're Human, we've got to find out where they're from.'

'They have fearsome strength, Pathmistress,' said the young scholar. 'How can we overcome the other one?'

Nodding, Cat turned to Listener Josu. 'We cannot afford to have him conscious when we capture him. He must be put to sleep quickly.'

'A powder for breathing or a liquid for under the skin?' said Josu.

'A powder might affect those restraining him,' Cat said. 'So, a liquid - do you have something in mind?'