Ammonite Planets (Omnibus): Ammonite Galaxy #1-3 (34 page)

Diva decided that was beneath her notice. “Why should the Sellites go to Coriolis? Even if it is only Vion? Haven’t they got enough with the whole of Valhai to themselves?”

Grace gave Six back his blade. “That’s just it. I gather Vion’s father has decided that if they have to leave Sell then he would take his medical house to Coriolis. He thinks it is the best option if Valhai is given to Arcan.”

“Of course it is the best option.” Diva nodded. “But I can’t see my father letting him settle there.”

“It is just the sort of thing your father would do,” Six told her. “He practically idolizes the Sellites. He would probably lie down and invite them to walk right over him.”

Diva made a face, and gave a grudging nod. “You may be right.”

Six’s jaw dropped. “Right? Did my ears hear that correctly?” he asked. “Did the great Diva just say I was right? That’s another first.” Then he paused to think, and looked sideways at Grace. “So Vion is just meekly going to do what his father wants him to, is he?”

Grace shrugged. “I don’t know. He said it was just a possibility. They won’t do anything until the future of Valhai has been decided.” She appeared to be making a careful examination of her hands. “He has a duty to his family.”

“Yes, I know, but I thought he—” he broke off to rub his shin, “—that hurt, Diva!”

“Shh!”

“Don’t shush me! I was only going to say that I thought Vion was—”

“—Don’t.” Diva tried to convey a meaningful look at Six, but the Kwaidian was determined.

“I thought—”

“—You shouldn’t. It might give you a headache.”

Six gasped and quite forgot what he had been going to say. Diva gave him a provoking smile, waved her wooden dagger in a salute, and sauntered out of the receiving chamber before he could recover his breath. He glared after her, determining to get his own back later.

IT WAS THE day of the meeting, and Six was looking around at the various delegations gathered in the Valhai Voting Dome. The Coriolis delegation was led by Diva’s father who was swathed in a gold weave Coriolan Ceremonious Robe. He was surrounded by a swarm of similarly-clad minions all of whom had imitated his form of dressing but none of whom were quite so splendidly attired. Then Six found himself stiffening as his gaze fell on the Kwaidians, standing next to the Coriolans. The same bunch of thin pins that had sent him against his will to be an apprentice to the donor program on Valhai! He muttered something under his breath about dust and Grace glanced sideways at him curiously.

“Nothing,” he said.

“It didn’t sound like nothing.”

“Just old acquaintances from my own planet.”

“I see,” Grace gave an understanding nod, and he felt her hand fleetingly touch his shoulder.

He smiled, and straightened up. She was right. There would be no incapacitating drugged dart thrown at him today. He would ignore the heady heat of revenge which was slowly burning a path through his body, from the pit of his stomach up to the top of his head. He took a deep breath and looked past the Kwaidian delegation – all ancients dressed in sackcloth – to the Xianthans. Each member of their delegation wore rainbow garments, richly coloured and textured, and flowing out behind them. It made them seem twice as exotic as the other races present. Lastly, his gaze reached the Cesans. As befitted the original Sell home world, they were dressed identically to the Sells themselves, gowned in discrete but expensive clothes.

Mandalon came to a stop, glowered at Six and Cimma, and then at Grace. “I will not speak to excommunicated Sellites,” he said.

“Then speak to me.” Diva’s voice came from behind the Sellite and he turned as she appeared in an orthobubble, which shimmered slightly and then stayed in place around her.

Mandalon looked at Diva for a moment expressionlessly. “Very well,” he said, “That will be acceptable.”

“It will not!” There was a distinct rustle as everybody turned their heads to see who had spoken.

Diva’s father had risen to his feet, and was quivering with outrage. “This person is unfit to speak to a system meeting. She has been repudiated by her family. She may not represent anybody!”

There was a hum of agreement amongst his cohorts.

Six made a sound in the base of his throat, and Grace put one arm in front of him, in case he decided to fight for Diva’s honour forcibly. “Quiet, Six,” she murmured.

“That man wanted to throw his own daughter to the Tattula cats!” he said.

“Six, leave it!”

“You were in the cat-meat deal, too, you know.” He didn’t want to let it go.

“You will be worse than cat-meat if you don’t shut up,” Grace whispered fiercely.

“Oh, very well, but … ouch!” A heavy dig in the ribs finally silenced him. He subsided but telegraphed Grace a look that promised future revenge.

Mandalon was smiling. “Then it appears there is nobody suitable to speak for the alien?”

The bubble surrounding Diva divided into two. One remained surrounding her; the other formed smaller bubbles until it traced the vague outlines of a head on a body. “I can speak for myself,” it said in Arcan’s normally deep voice. All those present heard him clearly in their heads, just as if the words had been spoken out loud.

There was a running whisper of amazement as those present assimilated the new situation. Mandalon glanced towards his assistants. They appeared uncertain, and eventually parted to make way for another figure, one whose white hair was far too familiar.

“Atheron!” Grace exclaimed “Oh no! He
is
in cahoots with Mandalon, then!”

The two men consulted, and then Mandalon took a step forward.

“Almagest, Cian and Valhai, the perfect heavenly triangle. May their orbits remain stable!” The Sellite leader intoned, his words endowing him with authority.

“And may the flares on Almagest remain quiescent!” replied Arcan, who had learned the protocol of the system.

“You are going to represent yourself at this meeting?” Mandalon asked.

The shadowy figure inclined its ‘head’.

“Very well. The Sells call Atheron to explain our position.”

Grace and Six exchanged horrified looks. Both had a strong conviction that nothing good was going to come of this.

The white-haired figure that they knew so well oozled its way forwards. “Thank you. Elders of Coriolis, Kwaide, Cesis, Xiantha and Valhai: the aim of this meeting is to discuss the possibility that the alien life form has a right to Valhai. We, the Sellite people, can prove that such a right does not exist. We demand that you remove this alien from lands duly granted to the Sellites.” The collective gasp which arose from his words appeared to gratify Atheron. He smiled thinly, and then went on, “The alien, known as Arcan, is not endemic to Valhai, and therefore has no right to inhabit it.”

There was a deep look of satisfaction on Atheron’s face. He had planned this, Grace realized, and the idea had resulted in the educational tutor scaling several positions in the Valhai hierarchy. No wonder he was looking so pleased with himself!

Diva’s father hauled himself to his feet again until he was facing the gathered international community. “Alien!” He peered over in Arcan’s direction. “What have you to say to that? Are you endemic to this planet or not?”

“I am,” Arcan’s deep voice replied. “In any case, I have lived here on this planet for the last thirty thousand years, which is longer than the Sellites.”

“The question is not, however, how long you have lived here,” said Diva’s father, “rather, whether you have the right to claim this planet as your own.” There were muttered agreements all around the chamber.

Grace noticed that Diva was staring at her father as if he was an unknown. The Coriolan girl had adopted a threatening stance, with one hand on her belt, just above the hilt of her ornate dagger.

“Of course I can claim it as my own,” Arcan insisted. “There can be no doubt”

“I am afraid that is untrue,” Atheron interrupted, licking his lips. “Your biological markers bear no relation whatsoever to any other life in the system. We therefore assert that you are of extra-Sacran origin, and have no rights at all here.” He sat down, turning to make a side comment to Mandalon, which appeared to amuse the leader.

“Can this data be proved?” asked one of the Kwaidian Elders.

Atheron stood up again, and smiled deferentially. “If you would allow me to show you the detailed DNA analysis carried out on samples taken from the entity which calls itself Arcan…?”

Six clutched at Grace. “They have got their hands on the samples we took up to the Exolabs to save Arcan when he was ill!”

“We should have thought of that!” Grace’s eyes were worried.

Atheron was pointing out the differences between Arcan’s DNA and that of all the other life-forms found in the system. He went on, “… which proves conclusively that this entity is of extra-planetary origin. Indeed, it can only be of extra-system origin.”

“We agree.” Diva’s father led the Coriolan delegation in an outburst of applause, quickly taken up by the Cesis delegation. The Kwaidians nodded, but refrained from applauding. Only the Xianthan delegation appeared doubtful.

“He is as slippery as ever,” Six said, in deep disgust. “Wouldn’t you know!”

“Of course he is!” Grace was aggrieved. “Look how pleased he is with himself! He thinks he can convince all the rest easily.”

“They
are
convinced, Grace,” Six pointed out. “Just look at them all; they can hardly wait to ratify their lucrative contract with the Sellites. They were scared stiff they were going to lose all the ore the Sells provide them with.”

“Surely they care about a new life-form? Oh, this can’t be happening.” Grace was upset. “Where could Arcan possibly go if they say he can’t live on Valhai? They can’t do that, can they?”

“Don’t ask me. All I am saying is that they sure don’t look too keen to give Valhai away,” Six shrugged.

Grace gave a slight giggle, and nodded her head in Diva’s direction. “Have you seen Diva? She looks as if she would like to surgically oblige her father to take his words back!”

Six shook his head sadly. “She needs some family counseling,” he said. “She doesn’t seem to have taken his repudiation very kindly.”

“I wonder how he is getting on without her mother. Do you think he is leading a celibate life of abstinence?”

Six nearly choked. “I would bet a puffer eel to a Xianthan crocodile that he has been living it up ever since his wife went off to that mountain retreat of hers. Stands to reason. Why else would he be that big, and that red, and that huffy?”

“Perhaps he is glad she has left, and so we really did him a favour?”

“Yes. Why don’t you put it to him, and ask for a reward?”

“No, no. I wouldn’t like to steal your honours,” Grace said politely.

Six grinned. “I can’t say I have any desire to come face to face with him again. I, for one, have no intention of ending up embalmed in a rexelene block on display for viewing by the general public!”

“I thought only common thieves got that treatment?”

“I am very common!”

“Something we never doubted for a moment!” interrupted Diva, who had come up behind them both, making them jump.

“Don’t DO that!” said Six. “You could have given us both heart stop.”

“Some warrior you are! Don’t they give you ears on Kwaide?”

“Of course they do! What do you think these things on either side of my head are?”

“Those?” said Diva, smiling to give him the full benefit of her polished teeth, “I thought they were vestigial wings – you know, like Cesan bats.”

Six growled and took a step forward. “I’ll give you vestigial—”

Grace put herself physically between them. “Stop!”

“Get out of my way, Grace! I’m only going to knock a few of those dazzling white teeth down her aristocratic throat!”

Grace gave him a push. “Six, shame on you! Can’t you see she is just trying to wind you up?”

Diva attempted to look innocent, but failed spectacularly. “Me?” she said. “I was just making a comment. How am I supposed to know anything about Kwaidian anatomy?” She opened her eyes very wide. “For all I know they might hear through their—”

“Diva!” warned Grace.

Diva glared at Grace for daring to interrupt her. “—legs, like Coriolan crickets, I was about to say.”

Grace was diverted. “Do crickets hear through their legs? How do they do that?”

“Through membrane vibration. Don’t interrupt, Grace.”

“At least we don’t think we’re the best in the system,” Six told Diva.

“Well hardly! How could you? You only have to look at your backward little planet …”

“Compared to what, your royal hautiness?”

“Compared to anything!”

Six glared at her, and opened his mouth to retort, but Grace shushed them both. Atheron had faltered in his speech, distracted by their speaking, and was treating them to one of his pained looks, which made them all burst out laughing.

“Diva, you are abominable!” Grace told her friend. “Can’t you leave Six in peace for a few minutes? We are missing all the speeches.”

They turned their attention back to the proceedings. Six shuffled his feet, but nobody really thought he was repentant. His aversion to orations was no secret. Since Diva’s eyes were still dancing it was fairly obvious that she couldn’t care less either. Grace gave a heavy sigh, which only made Diva giggle more.

Now Arcan was beginning to speak again, the shimmering figure changing colour. “Perhaps you could tell me the origins of Valhai?” he inquired of Atheron.

“The … the …? Why? What does
that
matter?” The educator was clearly taken aback.

“Well, if you think I was born outside the system, and therefore have no claim to Valhai, it is implicit that you consider Valhai to form part of the system”

“Of course Valhai is part of the system!”

“Not necessarily.”

“What do you mean?”

“I believe that this planet was of extra-system origin, and was captured by the joint gravity of the two suns and the failed star hundreds of millions of years ago. I was born on Valhai, and am still of extra-system origin, as is this planet.”