The Touchstone Trilogy (106 page)

A girl down in the front row stood up then (this seems to be the Nuran equivalent of raising your hand) and when Serray looked at her, asked could they learn to be a Setari if they wanted to be.  Serray (who doesn't have quite the same gravitas as Inisar, but is still a commanding type of person) told her that it was not the current intention, and that Setari must begin their training at a very young age to truly attain that status.

The whole question of what a Setari really is and how inadequate the Taren and Kolaren version might be is something everyone's danced around.  Best I can tell, the Nurans approach the role of Setari from a spiritual viewpoint, and also start out with the focusing the connection to the Ena step which the Tarens and Kolarens skipped, and are now (so far without success) trying to relearn.  The Nuran Setari don't seem to think adults have much chance at all of learning how to do it.

The first part of talent school orientation was to divide the Nurans into age groups for their physical classes, and take them on a little tour of the facilities, and then they all had appointments for individual assessment.

Dividing into age groups was where we hit our sticking-point.  Everyone was supposed to rearrange seats so that the youngest were in the first row, next oldest in the second, the third would be Ys and Rye's age group, and the next the oldest of the kids and the adults.  Sen latched on to Ys and Rye's arms and wouldn't go down and looked very much on the verge of a temper tantrum until Nils leaned over and whispered something in her ear.  To my  shock, after an uncertain look, she let go and obediently trotted down the stair.

As Ys and Rye followed, I asked Nils what he'd said, and he told me: "That she can't protect them forever."

Sen plumped herself down in the front row and immediately turned around to watch, a miniature mother hen all fluffed up as Ys and Rye reluctantly moved forward.

Almost immediately a girl in their age group saw them and said loudly: "Lianzrenar, aren't those servants from your house?"

I could only see the back of the head of the boy who turned to look at Ys and Rye, but I recognised him when he hunched his shoulders.  It was the boy who'd been following Sen on the
Litara
.

"There are no servants here," he said, barely audible.  I searched about for the woman he'd been with, but didn't find her.

"Are they supposed to be exceptional talents?" the first girl asked.  "Or are they in the wrong place?"

"Ys, Rye, mine," Sen said, in a loud, annoyed voice.

The boy called Lianzrenar mumbled an explanation I couldn't properly hear and the (very annoying) girl who had started the fuss turned to Serray and the Taren pinksuit who was trying to clear up the confusion and said in an obnoxiously helpful voice: "They're in the wrong place.  Just servants set to watch Fiionarestel's daughter, not family at all."

Of course, by this time I was down the stair, and dropped a hand on Ys and Rye's shoulders.  They were so tense, and had adopted "the pose": hands deceptively loose at their sides, eyes fixed on nothing.  Posture designed for absolute neutrality, neither cowering nor aggressive.  It made me so angry.

I could see the pinksuit didn't need any explanations – I'm sure Ys and Rye's files have big flags on them because of their connection to me.  I looked at the annoying girl, reminding myself that the kid had just lost her entire planet, probably most if not all of her family, and had no doubt been raised to believe that people really could be 'just servants'.

"Ys and Rye are here because they're my wards," I said.  "There's no mistake."

The girl was disconcerted by this, but not ready to give up the fight, saying: "But–"

"You're the person whose statue is in the parade ground," interrupted another girl, the one who had asked about becoming a Setari.  The Nurans' ID trace injections will show name and location, and told me the second girl's name was Karasayen, while annoying girl was Zelekodar.  Karasayen seems remorselessly incisive, which wasn't exactly convenient for me.  I've no idea exactly where she stands in the Nuran hierarchy of importance, but she was pretty totally certain of herself.

"One of them," I agreed, resignedly.  I'm liking that statue less and less.

"They say that it was you who saved us all, but I don't see how."

"I saved Inisar.  Inisar saved everyone else." Which is the most credit I'm going to accept for that whole situation.

"I'd heard Sentarestel was with the Setari, that her talents required special care," Karasayen continued.  "And you're taking on her servants as well, to keep her feeling secure?  That's very kind of you."

I shook my head, to stop myself from roaring at her for putting it that way.  "No.  I was simply very impressed by these three."  I glanced down at the tops of Ys and Rye's heads, well aware that they hadn't relaxed at all at my arrival.  "Practically alone of all who've come here, they had the intelligence to recognise the interface for the tool it is, and the courage to have it installed.  I admire that a great deal." I looked back at the pinksuit, a woman named Truss Estey.  "Sorry for the interruption."

"Not a problem."  Estey took charge, telling everyone to sit down, and I gave Ys and Rye's shoulders a squeeze and went back to my seat.  I probably would have stayed the entire afternoon, watching anxiously, but Nils steered me out of the room soon after, since I had another of my apparently inescapable medical appointments.

Nils didn't tease me, as I'd half-expected, but suggested I give the school a week to see how it goes, then left me to my blood tests.

There were no reports of upsets, and Ys and Rye seemed as usual when they returned.  I've found Sen is a useful barometer of how the people around me are feeling, and her recovered chirpiness was a good sign, for all that Ys and Rye apparently wanted to not even be in the same room as me when they got back.  They weren't able to resist the next chapter of
Caves of Nonora
though.

And I told myself that by the time I finished writing up what has happened today Kaoren would be back, and I was wrong, and I can't stand this.  I'm going to ask if I can try visualising him.

Sunday, August 31

Overclocking

Maze and Tsur Selkie agreed to me attempting a visualisation, and the combined First and Second Squad and Tsur Selkie went out into near-space with me.

Nils tells me I'm going to have to start paying him babysitting, between the cats and the kids, but he was just teasing.  Ys and Rye had at least gone to sleep – they're sidestepping the bedtime Kaoren set them by getting up really early and ploughing through a thousand lessons before breakfast.

Visualising Kaoren was easy, though it took more energy than I was expecting.  I'm not sure if that represented the number of spaces of distance, the size of the space he was in, or another factor.  It was some kind of river valley, with high rocky walls, and so large both Fourth and Seventh were travelling together – it looked like they were in for a long tramp.  Still whole, though, and I sagged with relief even as fake-Kaoren turned to Maze, more urgently intense than I'd ever seen him on mission.

"Surion, we were drawn away and a gate sealed behind us.  It's a trap, but not for us."

"Do you have a solid path?" Tsur Selkie asked, while First-Second Squad went all tensely alert and started scanning in every direction.

"None yet," fake-Kaoren said, and looked at me.  "Drop the visualisation."

I was being a bit slow to understand, but have learned by now that he only uses that tone on me when he really means it, so reluctantly dropped the visualisation.

"Back to base, no delay," Tsur Selkie ordered, but at the same moment Maze said: "Threat," and so did Zee, and Regan added: "Multiple directions."

They'd been waiting in the surrounding spaces, at strategically chosen gates with a view of my testing area, and didn't emerge until they saw the visualisation.  My people-detect does kind of work through gates, but not very well.  Combat Sight doesn't at all, so there was no warning before there were dozens, maybe fifty, thickest around the gate back into real-space, but quickly zooming forward from every direction.  Cruzatch.

"Caszandra, try to increase your connection to the Ena.  Quickly."  Maze was using his most even-toned captain voice, pushing me down to kneel beside my test chair even as the Setari contracted in a defensive formation around me, quickly enhancing in turn.  "Kettara, Norivan, Light walls at first and eighth mark.  Regan, Dolan, Fire at fourth and tenth."

The Setari snapped into action, setting up a hasty barrier of elements to slow the incoming charge.  Cruzatch are very fast though, and most avoided damage, though at least couldn't go straight through.  But there were still others coming through the gaps which couldn't be covered.

"Missiles," Maze said, as the nearest drew back their arms.  "All Tel-Lev repel.  Regan, bracket us with Ice, thick as you can manage."

I'm not terribly great at speedy reactions, especially trying to quickly do something which I usually need a calm state of mind to manage.  The most I could do was close my eyes as the Cruzatch began throwing things at us, and send my senses out further and further, not trying to be calm, but just trying to sense anything alive out beyond the Cruzatch, as quickly as I could push it.  It wasn't a good way to do it – I felt forced, as if I'd pulled a muscle – and the things going on immediately around me kept trying to pull my attention back – Maze's voice steady, flashes of heat and chill right near me.  The Ddura hadn't been called in the last few days, but the near-space was still very clear of Ionoth, and I was really glad when I found a lone swoop.  It felt like ages away, and then it just felt like one of a world of points of life, and I stopped properly being aware of what was going on around me, and only vaguely noticed that most of the points of life around me abruptly vanished, and then I got incredibly dizzy and had to draw back to myself and found myself still kneeling next to my test chair, but in a pool of water, and I felt like I was going to pass out and was coughing because of some acrid smelling stuff which Ketzaren was trying to blow away even while she was coughing herself.

Almost all the Cruzatch were gone, vanished, and only Ketzaren, Tsur Selkie and one of First's Kalrani spares, Az Norivan, were still on their feet.  Regan and Lohn were unconscious and the rest had fallen, and were choking on the gas worse than me.  Maze was right next to me, shaking and gasping and looking like he'd run a marathon.  There were three Cruzatch still moving, hanging back at long distance, but unfortunately in the direction of the gate.

Ketzaren managed to get up enough of a breeze to move the gas away, but that didn't help with the dizziness, and Zee passed out instead of recovering.

"Spel, Norivan, we three will advance as quickly as possible and attack," Tsur Selkie said, after a quick survey of the Cruzatch.  "If they split and attempt to make for this point, Norivan and I will return.  Spel, you are to head as quickly as possible to the gate and call for reinforcement.  Go."

His fingers brushed me as they went, and he blurred ahead of the other two, running all-out.  Ketzaren followed, levitating Norivan along with her.  As Tsur Selkie had predicted, the little cluster of Cruzatch split, one remaining to attack him while two came circling toward my location.  Ketzaren dropped Norivan down to run back and obediently continued on toward the gate.

Enma Dolan from Second levered herself shakily to her feet as the two Cruzatch came at us, flying far more quickly than Norivan could run.  She used Lightning, which was a mixed blessing since the enhanced ball she produced arced and spit so randomly that while one of the Cruzatch was zapped like a bug, it also meant that Norivan had to make a major detour.

Maze kept trying to get to his feet next to me, spiked out a nanosuit weapon, and then collapsed.  I was feeling dizzier and dizzier – we'd obviously all had enough of a dose of the gas to be knocked out: it was just a matter of how long it would take for each of us.  Setari trying to fight or use their talents while being all dizzy and on the verge of passing out are not safe people to be around, as I discovered when Norivan desperately threw a Light wall into the path of the remaining Cruzatch, and the thing appeared horizontally directly above us.  She was damn lucky Dolan had collapsed by then.  She did get the Cruzatch, though.

I guess the way my breathing slows down when I'm expanded is the reason I held on longer than everyone else.  As Norivan dropped, I poked my head cautiously above my test chair and saw that the Cruzatch Tsur Selkie had been fighting (he has no elemental talents or nanoweapons, so had basically been kickboxing the thing) had decided to ignore him and come back and get me.  Tsur Selkie fell down, and there I was, the only person still conscious, with one Cruzatch remaining.

I knew I had no chance of outrunning anything that flies, so straightened and formed one of the suit weapons.  And the damn thing grinned at me, one of those Cheshire Cat smirks stretching over excessive amounts of its face.  Annoyance briefly overtook terror, and I set my feet and tried to remember everything Mara has taught me.

Then I passed out.

But I got to see the cavalry arrive, right before I dropped.  I'm glad I missed the next bit.  The Cruzatch apparently grabbed me and made for the nearest gate – giving me yet another set of minor burns, this time from being slung over its arm.  Fortunately only Cruzatch claws are super-hot, and so my nanosuit was able to mostways cope with the heat.  Arad Nalaz from Squad One saved me by simply using Telekinesis at the extent of his range to grab me back.

The gas kept us all unconscious for a couple of hours, but Maze, Tsur Selkie and I were the only ones actually injured.  Tsur Selkie and me with minor burns, and Maze from the side-effects of using his Fire talent all-out while being extra-enhanced by me, which put a huge strain on his heart and caused some bleeding and swelling in the brain.  So he gets lots of scans and monitoring for blood clots, and won't be on duty for a while, but I suspect he found some level of satisfaction in crispifying all but three of the Cruzatch in a fiery maelstrom of ultimate doom.  The Ice he had Regan make was to protect us from him using his talent like that, the first and probably only time anyone's going to dare use an elemental while my enhancement is at max.