The Touchstone Trilogy (43 page)

A massive.  That's what Ruuel said, as he brought all the Setari and the greensuits and Tsel Onara into a channel and gave them one of his terse briefings.

"We'll retreat," Tsel Onara said immediately.

"No time," Maze said.  "If we can feel it, it's right on the verge of emerging.  The
Diodel
isn't manoeuvrable enough to avoid an attack during take-off, even if we could manage that immediately."

I'd run, not to get something to eat, but to go to the toilet and to wash my face.  Maze ordered both squads outside even as Mara said: "It's emerging.  Mark seven, almost on top of us."

Eight squads.  That's what I was remembering as I ran back to the aft lock.  The last time they'd fought a massive they'd needed eight squads, and Maze's wife had died.  We didn't even have any of the big hitter squads, and for all I knew how much more powerful I made the Setari, I still felt bug-small when I reached the ramp and felt what was above us.

Not with psychic senses.  Felt in the way you do when there's something really big moving, like when the
Litara
is flying overhead.  The thing was standing beside the park, not directly over us, and was bigger than the
Litara
.  It had to be one of the weirdest things I've ever seen – a black and bulky central section low to the ground, but with two twisty 'sub-bodies' raised far higher up on either side by scads of long spindly legs which reminded me of the collapsed spokes of an umbrella.  I watched one of these reach with a lazily deceptive speed and pluck something from the ground below.  It was too far to see just what it was, but the massive moved it over to the central body and dropped it on top.

"We'll draw it away from the
Diodel
first," Maze said.  "Spel, Gainer, Eyse, Halla, remain with the ship on alert for accompaniment."

"First assessment is that it will be resistant to elementals," Ruuel said calmly, and gave me one of the molasses food bars which were standard mission fare.  He had a handful of them, was passing them out.

Maze grimaced, but didn't seem particularly surprised, setting the enhancement rotation as he touched my arm.  "We'll go over the top," he said.  "Don't underestimate the reach of those arms."

Eight people.  Instead of eight squads, they were going to try and fight the thing with eight people.  But still, even though they were looking super-serious, they weren't acting like they thought it was impossible, so when Auron hitched me into his side all I did was hook my arm obediently across his shoulders.

We went very high very quick, the cold air making my eyes stream.  There was a crunching noise below, and I realised it was one of the buildings the massive's main body was resting on.  Even whitestone couldn't stand up to the weight of it.  After one brief glance where I saw that the top of it looked like a massive Venus flytrap, I didn't look down again.

"Higher – we're in reach," Ruuel said, and we shot up abruptly even as some of the umbrella spokes came toward us.  Maze set the tip of one, a horrid fingery arrangement, shrivelling and burning and Ruuel said: "Sonn," which prompted her to drop a ball of lightning down into the mouth, and then we were on the far side.

"The large building at mark nine," Maze ordered, and we dropped down to the roof of a long, single-story building, moving way too fast for my comfort.  The fact that I have to be carried instead of levitated makes whizzing about scary.

"Swoops at twelve mark," Ruuel said.  "Fast approach."

"Your targets Kettara, Senez."  Maze re-enhanced, starting the cycle over.  "How much reaction to that lightning?"

Ruuel's eyes were fully open as he gazed back at the massive.  "No more than pain."

It was moving toward us, surprising me by being a lot quicker and less awkward than something that big and weird should surely be.  Off in the direction Mara and Lohn had gone was the white flash of Lohn's Light wall, and a gargling wail before some heavy things crashed and skidded in the street below.

"Focus debris damage on the join points between the centre body and the outliers," Ruuel continued.  "Then debris and elementals on the outliers.  They are its weapons."

"Right side first," Maze said, wasting no time in pulling a boulder out of the ground below and hurling it at the massive.  It fell short: we were too far away.  Even Ferus, who has the strongest Telekinesis of the two squads, couldn't quite reach.

"Haul above," Maze ordered, and he, Zee and Ferus gathered everything loose and heavy from the immediate area – trees and rocks and chunks of broken  whitestone – and zipped upwards.

"Retreat back four streets," Ruuel ordered, because the massive was uncomfortably no longer too far away.  Auron lifted me, Mara, Lohn and Sonn backward to the roof of a two-story building up the hill, landing just as the others began hurling things downward with maximum strength.

The massive didn't like that.  It made a low, deep noise and stopped moving as its right segment was almost completely severed.  As the three telekinetics dipped back to the ground to gather more missiles, the massive's two outer segments lowered all their spindly umbrella arm-legs until they were about the same height as the main body.  The right segment didn't seem like it was going to drop dead or stop moving just because it was no longer fully joined, although both of the segments had pulled down completely into defensive bunches.

The tiny constellation of the Setari rose again, moving to attack the other segment, which seemed to be tilting so that it faced in my group's direction.

"Scatter!"

I gasped, wrenched by abrupt and rapid movement.  Ruuel had stepped behind me, slid both arms under mine, and gone straight up.  He'd brought Mara, Lohn and Sonn with us, and Auron followed after a moment's shock.  Ruuel was moving as quickly as he could fly and I slid helplessly down, clamping my arms over his and trying not to panic until he bound our suits and I stopped sliding, just as a wave of purplish light washed out the dawn, filling the air with the scent of burning metal.

Both of the outer segments had blasted us, one up at Maze's group, the other direct at mine.  We'd managed to move in time, Auron just barely clearing the upper edge of the purple, but the interface showed me Zee's location plummeting in a way which was absolutely wrong.

Maze and Ferus dove after her.  Ruuel, breathing hard from the effort of moving everyone so quickly, said: "Swoops from mark four.  Auron, take over carriage and bring us rapidly over it and down.  Sonn, full power into the detached part."

Ferus had caught Zee.  He and Maze paused together, then Maze said, voice tight: "Rendezvous with the others."

Lohn took care of the swoops behind us as Sonn dropped another ball of lightning down onto the damaged segment.  We descended rapidly, meeting together on another roof.  Zee was limp and still, but I knew from the mission display that she was alive.  Ruuel let me go and turned to watch the massive, saying: "It's reorienting."

"Restart enhancement rotation," Maze said, brushing a finger against my arm.  "Looks like the second ball of lightning has had some impact.  We'll work on detaching the other segment.  Keep moving.  Spel, join us with Gainer and Halla."

Ferus passed Zee to Auron, enhanced, and then he and Maze took off again.

"We'll work on finishing off the injured segment," Ruuel said.  "Kettara, use Light element.  The rest, whatever minor seems most likely to damage it."  Lohn and Mara re-enhanced, and I went back to being Auron's carting-about problem.  I was too caught up in the fight and worrying about Zee to spare much attention to the whole grabbed-by-Ruuel thing.  I've been thinking about it plenty since.  He was going all-out, at his limit of Levitation and Telekinesis talents, and I could feel his chest move as he gasped for air.  If I hadn't been panicking, I probably would have enjoyed that a lot.

The damaged segment didn't seem able to produce the purple beam any more, or didn't have a chance before we rained Light and Fire and Ice down on it.  The other segment shot at Maze and Ferus, but forewarned they were able to dodge and pelt it with big chunks of the buildings it had been tromping over.  The rest of the Setari swung around and toasted that side as well.

The centre section was still alive, though, and still moving, crushing more of the city in the process.  We all dropped down to another roof, very close to it, meeting up with Ketzaren, Alay and Halla.

"Take Annan back to the ship," Maze told Ketzaren.  "Spel, enhanced Sonics on the main body."

Alay nodded, taking my hand and squeezing it: I've no doubt I was looking wide-eyed and pale.  We all moved back behind her then, with the ship behind us, and I found out that Alay's Sonic talent is a really scary thing.  Like Ketzaren's Wind, it's something that takes her a long time to build to a seriously destructive level, but even with our ears covered and not being the focus of her attack, my bones started aching.  The massive began to wail and rock, and every bird and animal in its direction which hadn't fled already burst from cover and ran.

It died unspectacularly.  I expect if it had anything recognisable as a head, blood would have run from its eyes and nose and ears.  As it was, it just stopped moving and wailing and settled down on the crushed remains of the buildings below.  Alay stopped shredding our ears and let out her breath.  She turned her head and just for a moment I saw her face.  Naked.  I know that Maze lost his wife in the last massive attack, and now I know that Alay must have lost someone too.

"Escort Ionoth are still emerging," Ruuel said, and added either to me or to our audience on the
Diodel
: "Massives are usually trailed by other Ionoth, particularly swoop roamers."

"We'll pause here for recovery and then clear," Maze said.

"Pandora control is sending reinforcements," Tsel Onara added, voice crisp but with just a hint of relief, or respect.  Massives are well-named.

Most of the Setari began eating the energy bars Ruuel had handed out earlier.  I had mine in a pocket, but ignored it, for all I was really hungry.  I figured it wouldn't be that long before we went back to the
Diodel
and had some food which didn't leave a tarry-sweet aftertaste in my mouth.

Lohn came over and gave my shoulders a squeeze.  "Remember when you asked if enhancement was worth all the complication of rotations?" he asked.  "This is what it comes to – the difference between dozens of us bouncing attacks off one of these things, or a handful with enough impact to penetrate its defences."

I smiled a bit weakly, feeling shakier than I usually do after working with the Setari, and asked: "How bad is Zee injured?"

"Her vitals are steady," Maze said, coming across to give me a quick captain-survey.  "The attack seemed to be electricity-based, intended to stun prey and not strong enough to kill a healthy person.  Though it would be another matter if we'd not caught her."  He gave Ferus an approving glance.

"Surion."

There was something in Ruuel's tone which made us all look at him, and then follow his gaze to a building far up the hill.  Two dark figures were watching us.  Distance and the thin light of dawn made detail unclear, but I knew them anyway.  Cruzatch.

I glanced at Maze, but he was being pure captain, surveying the watching pair before saying: "Any others?"

"Not that I've sensed."

"Out of range of an immediate kill."  Maze frowned.  "The nearest gate to that location is one street beyond.  We'll feint a retreat back toward the ship, then split and attempt to circle and catch them between us."

Ruuel nodded, and the Setari broke into two groups, Auron tucking me under his arm again.  They were very intent, grim.  I guess, since Maze thinks the Cruzatch are organised and actively working against the Setari, he didn't want to give them a chance to report back.

When we split, Fourth Squad headed straight for the gate while First took a swift, circling loop toward the Cruzatch.  One of them launched itself at First, while the other did as Maze had predicted and went for the nearest gate.

I'd not seen a Cruzatch fighting before.  There's an eerie similarity to the Setari in their speed and the way they grow weapons – though the Cruzatch Ruuel fought created long claws from its fingertips rather than a sword from its arm.  It was very fast, too, if no match for Ruuel, especially Ruuel enhanced.  The thing I hated, though, was the way it almost seemed to be getting off on fighting him, like it knew it would just come back if he won.

"Clear the emergents and rendezvous back at the
Diodel
," Maze ordered, and we spent another half hour chasing down swoops and one of those stilt things.  Then it was hot showers and hot food and First and Fourth Squad were just about recovered from their wake-up call when two shuttles from Pandora arrived.  It had a bunch of greysuits who wanted to investigate the massive, and more greensuits, and Ninth Squad, which I'd had nothing to do with before.

I took the opportunity of everyone being distracted by their arrival to go see Zee.  She was still unconscious, looking very crumpled and bruised for such a tall, fit woman.  The doctor's letting me sit with her, and they think she should wake up soon, but I've managed to write this entire diary entry without her so much as twitching. 

Setari Musical Chairs

Zee woke up.  I'd fallen asleep – one of those post-too-much-enhancement power naps I'm getting used to taking – and when I opened my eyes she was lying on her side watching me.

"Just a few moments too slow," she said, voice dragging a little.  "Nasty shock to the system.  I'll be joining Alay in rehabilitation for a while."

"Alay's nearly better," I said, and squeezed her hand.  "Dodge faster next time.  Scared me half to death."

Zee smiled and mumbled something I didn't understand.  She was pretty out of it.  I watched her failing to stay awake, and for a while wished I was still living with the Lents, that I'd never seen any of the Setari after being rescued.  They live such dangerous lives, and the chances of all of them surviving is so slim.  That may be another reason the Setari as a group are so competitive and distant with each other outside of their squads: having too many friends would mean having too many people you care about constantly in danger.