Chaining the Lady (10 page)

“Of course. I am an Undulant, as I said. I cannot swim on solid, so I utilize a solidbound host. You are also a transferee?”

“Yes.” Melody considered momentarily whether she could trust this entity, and decided not to risk it. Only the Captain knew her nature and mission here, and he had not been informed of her Mintakan identity. Solarians had a certain fetish about secrecy, but considering the nature of the Andromedan threat, secrecy seemed to be in order. When body and mind could be taken over and made hostage to an alien aura without warning or consent, no information in any mind was safe. There were only two reasonable defenses: an extremely high aura, such as the Captain's or her own, or fairly thorough mental ignorance of critical matters.

Llume halted abruptly. “There is a magnet guarding the passage ahead,” the Polarian/Spican said.

Melody needed no further caution. “Will it attack us?”

“Uncertain. Better to have its master admonish it, before we attempt to pass. The visibility of human milk-mounds will not distract
this
entity.”

Melody grimaced inwardly.
Everybody
seemed to notice Yael's mammaries.

The Polarian, Spican extended her tail to a stud high in the wall and depressed it. Melody remembered that the appendage was termed tail for the female and trunk for the male Polarian, and this was a female host. But Spicans had no fixed gender. There were rather three fixed forms whose role in reproduction depended purely on circumstance. In this regard there were strong similarities to the Mintakan system, perhaps Llume had taken the female role most recently before transfer, so had come to a female host; on another occasion she might manifest as a male. Melody was sure the very notion of gender identity change would be deeply upsetting to Solarians, yet it was quite sensible. What rational entity would want to be confined all its life to
one
aspect of sexuality?

“
I
would,” Yael replied, embarrassed.

Which merely went to illustrate the limitations of form. The chained lady could not even conceive of freedom!

“I'm not chained!” Yael protested hotly. “I
like
being a girl. Can't you understand that?”

“Llume to Captain,” Llume said, spinning her ball neatly against the stud.

“Captain occupied,” a voice responded after a moment. “Alternate?”

“We are blocked by a magnet, master uncertain.”

“For that you must have the Captain. Ship is on curfew.”

“Please attempt to reach Captain, then. We are unable to honor curfew, owing to presence of magnet. I courier daughter of minister; cannot risk harm to visitor.”

“Remain in place until contacted.”

They waited, but after several minutes there was no callback.

“Must be more trouble than we know,” Melody observed.

“It is unusual,” Llume agree. “May we converse?”

“I'd love to. I'd like to know more about Spica.”

“And I about the Music sphere.”

Music sphere. That could only mean Mintaka. How had Llume learned of this? Or was she guessing? “But first,” Melody said, “I'd like to know how those magnets function. They frighten me somewhat.”

“They are intended to,” Llume said. “They evolved on a densely iron-metallic world with very strong magnetic fields and fluxes. They moved by generating polar intensities, attracting themselves to metallic objects with great force, then shifting the pole in the manner of an electric engine.”

“Electromagnetic propulsion in a living body,” Melody said. “This is new to me.”

“New to most entities who haven't been aboard military vessels,” Llume agreed. “They were brought into space only in the past century or so, and Solarians have not been eager to spread information about them. Until recently they seemed to be merely a planetary anomaly; they could not survive on other worlds because there was insufficient metal and fuel.”

“Fuel?”

“Their mode of operation requires much power. They consume concentrated organic energy substances, such as petroleum and coal. They vaporize it or powder it, then combust it, converting virtually all the heat into magnetic energy. The field of a well-fed magnet becomes intense.”

“I noticed,” Melody agreed. “They would be associated with the Suit of Aura, no doubt. Which is an intriguing notion in its own right.”

“Finally an intelligent Solarian realized that these magnets were ideally suited to habitation within iron-metal spaceships,” Llume continued. “The long clear passages, and the temptation of unlimited fuel.”

“Instant guard dogs,” Melody finished. “Yes, I see it now. Not too intelligent, and unable ever to leave the environment of the ship. This is guaranteed loyalty! All you have to do is feed your magnet.”

“Their nature is distressingly Solarian, despite their shape and mode,” Llume said. “They are the ultimate thrust-creatures, objects of terror. They are largely invulnerable to conventional weapons even when directly struck, and they have such speed and power–”

“My sentiments exactly,” Melody said. She had learned much of what she needed to know about the magnets, but it was hardly comforting. If a magnet should get confused and attack her, what possible defense did she have? “May we communicate privately?”

Llume placed her ball against Melody's human threat. It vibrated gently. “This cannot be heard beyond your flesh,” the Polarian/Spican said, the words sounding like a voice in the brain. “If you subvocalize, it will be private, unless there is a spy-beam on us. I do not think that is the case.”

“Thank you,” Melody said, speaking almost as silently as she did to Yael. She was now aware of Llume's aura, a really strong one of about one hundred, very attractive. “How did you identify my native sphere?”

“Alien cultures are my avocation. There are typical nuances of expression and viewpoint. Yours conform to the nature of Mintaka. But you conceal it very well. No one not trained as I have been would recognize this, and in some moments your reactions are so perfectly human that I marvel.”

Those moments would be when Yael's reactions came through. This was a most observant Spican! “That's a relief. You read my mannerisms, just as I read your lack of circularity.” Melody brought out the Hermit card from her deck, the same face Tiala had seen. “What do you see here?”

Llume rolled her ball over the card's surface. Polarians lacked sharply focused vision, as did Mintakans. The designs of those cards were in trace relief, however, so they could be read by tactile means. The Polarian ball was a very sensitive communications organ. “This is a stylized Undulant swimming toward a star. I believe it is myself.”

The sperm cell: it was in fact a tiny swimming creature, in its element. That was what would naturally strike the attention of a true Spican first. “Strange,” Melody said “I see communication.”

They were in physical contact; Melody was aware of the fluctuations in the other's aura. There was no significant deviation in response to this loaded remark.

“I suppose a star can be considered so,” Llume offered. “It bears light that all may see.”

“I mean the beams.”

“The beams?” Still no ripple. Llume was genuinely perplexed. “Do they form a significant pattern?”

One more test. “It occurs to me that we may be related,” Melody said. “Do you have any alien ancestors?”

“Yes. I have two. A thousand years ago, Flint of Outworld, a Solarian transferee to our home planet, raped a / agent of Andromeda. He had manifested as an Impact, she as an Undulant, and together with Sissix the Sibilant as catalyst they generated the infant Llana the Undulant. I descend from her. We are most interested in genealogy in Spican waters.”

“We also, in Mintakan fields,” Melody said. “I descend from the same two aliens, manifesting as Mintakans. But my loyalty is to Sphere Mintaka.”

“And mine is to Sphere Spica, and Galaxy Milky Way,” Llume said.

“Our auras are of the same family,” Melody said. “Very close, the closest affinity I have ever encountered. We are as sisters.”

“Yes. Our aural linkage is much more intimate than our physical ancestry, though it is amazing that we
are
related.”

Melody chuckled. “Illusion. In the thousand Sol years since Flint of Outworld thrust his favors so widely, there has been ample opportunity for every member of each of our spheres to become related to him. A brief calculation will show that if we allow twenty five Sol years for an average generation, there would be forty generations in that period. If each female or equivalent produced two offspring, the descendants would now number approximately one trillion entities. Since the average sphere supports about a hundred billion sapients–”

Now Llume laughed, in intriguing effect, in its silent vibration. “And I supposed I was so special, possessing those illustrious historical ancestors! The remarkable ones are those who do
not
share this ancestry!”

“On the other hand, the nongenetic affinity of aura is quite sufficient,” Melody said. “I have encountered no Mintakan aura as intense as yours, so closely allied to my own.”

“Perhaps we are guided in some fashion,” Llume said. “I do not subscribe readily to coincidence.”

“Coincidence would have it that at certain stages like entities will meet, as well as unlike entities,” Melody said. “This ship represents a deliberate concentration of extremely intense auras, and some will naturally be related.”

”For one who subscribes to Tarot, you are very practical,” Llume observed delicately.

“
Tarot
is practical,” Melody assured her.

“Apologies; no disparagement of religious views intended.”

Another miscue, but not worth correcting. “Accepted. I believe I can accept you as a genuine Milky Way galaxy entity.”

“Of course. And I accept you. Why–?”

“There are hostages among us.”

“Hostages?”

“Involuntary hosts, controlled by Andromedan auras. I am here to nullify them.”

Now Llume's aura veered wildly. “Andromedans! Aboard this ship?”

“Yes. Tiala of Oceana is one; it has been verified. She is a / entity of Andromeda. There may be others. I suspect that is the source of this present commotion. Will you work with me?”

“I must ask the Captain first,” Llume said uncertainly. “I never guessed—hostages!”

“By all means ask the Captain. But not over the ship's phone system.”

Llume laughed again at Melody's throat. “Of course not! I am not quite that ignorant.” She looked down the hall at the magnet. Melody could tell she was looking by her attitude; her skin changed color and brightness slightly. Large objects were visible to Polarians, and of course this Spican intellect had Polarian-host talents. “But assuming the Captain approved,o how could I help? I don't know how to identify a hostage.”

“I would like to tell some fortunes,” Melody said.

Again the aura flexed. “I do not comprehend Mintakan humor.”

“Of course not. No Spican would. Or Solarian. Or Polarian or Canopian or Nathian. But especially, no Andromedan.”

“No Andromedan,” Llume said, catching on. “You can identify an Andromedan through the Tarot?”

“I believe so. With your cooperation. If you can tell a transferee by his home-sphere mannerisms, you should have a good notion who our suspects are. If you can bring them to me without suspicion–”

“Now I understand! This is how you verified that Tiala was a hostage?”

“She was already known to be a hostage. I used the Tarot merely to distract her, but found it to be a better tool than I had imagined. As long as I'm confined to this ship, this is a worthwhile application of my skill.” For Melody now doubted she would get off this ship as rapidly as had been promised. Not if it was infiltrated by a number of hostages.

“I agree. If there are many more hostages aboard, we must neutralize them promptly.”

“No. We must identify them, without their knowing it. Otherwise we place ourselves in peril.”

“But if we let them go–”

“Ans enemy known is an enemy neutralized, when the appropriate time comes.”

“Yes, you make sense. Probably that detonation to the hold was the work of a hostage.”

Melody wondered about that. No one on the ship besides herself and Captain Boyd had known her mission. How could a hostage have struck so rapidly and accurately?

“Captain to Llume,” the shipvoice said, startling Melody out of her reverie.

Llume's tail went up to answer. “Awaiting.”

“All magnets have been advised not to molest our guest, Yael of Dragon. Pass without hindrance.”

“Understood. Captain, may I–”

But the connection had already been broken.

Llume made an elegant boneless shrug. “I was about to inquire whether I could courier you for the duration; I could not have been more specific at this time. Yet he did not say negative.”

Melody laughed. “That's right. I heard him fail to negate.”

They moved on down the hall, Melody walking, Llume rolling, neither using her natural mode of travel. The magnet hovered in place, ignoring them. But Melody's human flesh crawled as she passed it, and not merely because of Yael's terror. A living cannonball...

* * *

“I suspect the bomb was placed aboard the shuttle before it left Outworld,” Dash said. “It was intended to destroy both the equipment—which it did—and the operative.”

“The operative,” Melody said, feeling cold. “Me?”

“You. For this reason I feel it would be better for you to remain aboard this ship for the time being. Evidently someone on the Imperial Planet is aware of your mission, and you are not safe here. Until that entity is located and neutralized, you are safest here where your identity is unknown.”

“Yes,” Melody agreed. She had already decided to remain for a while, but the notion that a direct attempt had been made on her life was appalling, and it unnerved her. But for an accident of timing, that bomb...