Slave Empire - The Crystal Ship (12 page)

Rayne tried to
tell it that she had to move, to find the dominant male parasite
that was the Envoy, but the Ship found the idea of her crawling
within it abhorrent. She was not partial to it herself, but in
order to help it, she had to make contact with the Envoy. The Ship
communicated deep misgivings at this, and she sensed its concern,
for it considered the Envoy to be dangerous to one as small as her.
Rayne silently agreed, but again asked to be allowed to move,
making her request as forceful as she could.

Chapter Six

The Shrike
turned his head towards Vidan, who fidgeted beside the bed. He had
just switched off the sleep inducer, allowing Tarke to awake, and
now awaited the reprimand he knew he had coming.

“
Neat trick, that.” Tarke spoke without rancour, although
Vidan sensed the leashed anger in him. “How long have I been
asleep?”

“
Five hours. You needed the sleep. Your wounds are almost
healed now.”

Tarke raised
his head to examine his chest. “One of these days, Vidan, I’m going
to strangle you. What’s happened?”

“
Absolutely nothing. No sign of Shadowen, no reply to our
calls to this Endrix person. Nothing. No one has the slightest idea
where Shadowen could have gone, either. The Atlanteans are still on
alert, but, from their communications, they seem to think the girl
has solved the problem, and they’ve seen the last of the alien
ship.”

“
Bloody fools,” Tarke said. “Nothing this complex is solved so
easily. We’ve got to find Endrix. He must know where she
is.”

“
But we don’t know where he is. For all we know, he could be
with her, wherever she is, and we can’t find any of
them.”

Tarke sat up.
“Bring my clothes. I’m getting out of this damned bed before you
put me to sleep again.”

Vidan helped
the Shrike to dress, ignoring the irritated grunts Tarke made when
he encountered Vidan’s hands doing something he was about to do. As
he pulled on his gloves, he turned to his second-in-command.

“
Do we have any information on the Crystal Ship’s
disappearance? Did anyone see what happened when Shadowen
approached it?”

Vidan nodded.
“The entire Atlantean fleet witnessed it. Several ships recorded it
and transmitted the information to Atlan.”

“
And we tapped it.”

“
Of course. Our people have been studying it, and have a few
rather far-fetched theories, but nothing concrete.”

“
Nothing is ever concrete when you’re dealing with an alien
species,” Tarke said. “Sometimes a good guess is the closest you’ll
ever come to the truth. Intuition is a great guide, and shouldn’t
be ignored.”

“
Why this girl is so important?”

“
I told you, she’s supposed to be the Golden Child, and from
recent events, I think it’s safe to say that she is.”

“
But if the Ship’s gone, why pursue it? Maybe the Atlanteans
are right.”

Tarke snorted.
“In my experience, the Atlanteans are never right. I have a feeling
the Ship will be back, if she fails.”

“
But how can we help her?”

“
That remains to be seen. First we have to find
her.”

“
Are you sure there isn’t another reason for this?” Vidan
asked. “According to the prophecy, she must face the challenge
alone, and she should succeed. It doesn’t mention anyone helping
her.”

“
What are you inferring?”

Vidan smiled.
“That you might be a little too concerned about her, maybe? And
perhaps your concern comes from something else?”

Tarke
chuckled. “Sorry to disappoint you. The thought never crossed my
mind.”

The Shrike
preceded Vidan into the corridor and set off towards the control
centre, his grey coat flaring. All who encountered him stepped
aside with smiles, some bowed, and most paused to watch him walk
away, clearly glad to see him on his feet again, albeit with a
pronounced limp.

In the control
centre, Tarke viewed the pirated information several times. The
commonest theory amongst his scientists was that the Crystal Ship
had taken Shadowen into the energy dimension, where he would have
been destroyed. This clearly did not please Tarke, and nor did he
agree with it. He had the visual data replayed at a slower speed,
pointing out the various anomalies, and froze the image at the
critical point when events became confusing.

The image of
the Crystal Ship filled the screen, awe inspiring in its beauty,
slashing space with beams of light. Tarke pointed to the upper
right-hand corner of the screen, where a golden energy shell had
just come into view.

“
There. That’s Shadowen approaching the Ship, still in his
shell. Now watch this.” He advanced the image and froze it again.
“There, he’s shedding his shell, preparing to emerge from the
link.” He advanced the image again and stabbed his finger at the
screen. “Look at that. Shadowen has shed his shell, and suddenly
he’s almost on top of the Crystal Ship.”

The scientists
nodded, their blank expressions telling Vidan that they could not
see Tarke’s point. Vidan was having difficulty with it too. Tarke
advanced the image yet again. A spear of light linked the two
ships, which had become transparent. Stars were clearly visible
through them. Tarke advanced the image once more, and there was
only a faint, ghostly outline left, then, on the next image,
nothing.

The Shrike
turned to the scientists. “That, ladies and gentlemen, is not a
ship going into the energy dimension. It faded. There was no energy
shell, no link. It’s as if they dissolved.”

“
But where else could they have gone?” a senior scientist
asked. “There’s nowhere else to go. They definitely left this
dimension.”

“
Right, but they didn’t go into the energy dimension, so they
went somewhere else. If they didn’t go up or sideways, they must
have gone down.”

“
Down?”

Tarke waved a
hand. “A figure of speech. There must be another dimension, and I
want you to find it.”

The scientists
stared at him, patently stunned. A grizzled man in his fifties
ventured, “Sir, it’s all very well to conjecture something so
bizarre, but to actually find such a thing...”

“
It’s there. The proof is on the screen. All you have to do is
find it. Find a way to detect it, look into it. You’re looking at
the surface of an ocean without seeing into its depths. Plumb it,
and do it fast.”

The Shrike
strode out, leaving a stunned silence behind him. Vidan shot the
scientists a sympathetic look before hurrying after him. He caught
up in the corridor.

“
Tarke! You’re asking the impossible.”

“
No, I’m not. If the Crystal Ship can go there, it can be
found.”

“
But even if they do, we can’t go there any more than we can
go into the energy dimension, except in a transfer.”

Tarke halted.
“She’s in there, trapped with that damned Envoy. I have a feeling
she needs my help.”

“
You don’t know that. Perhaps the Crystal Ship used this other
dimension to transfer itself somewhere else.”

“
Why would it, when it can use the energy
dimension?”

Vidan’s
shoulders sagged. “I don’t know. No one does.”

“
Let them try, at least. In the meantime, I’m going to look
for this Endrix entity.”

“
But you don’t know where to look!”

Tarke limped
away down the corridor again. “I know where they disappeared.”

“
That’s too close to Atlan. You can’t go there!”

“
Since you don’t have a sleep inducer over my head this time,
I’d like to see you try to stop me.”

Vidan groaned,
then hurried back towards the control centre.

Rayne woke in
waves, her consciousness contracting from the Ship’s vastness back
to her limited perception. The universe expanded around her,
becoming once more a limitless expanse of vacuum with widely
scattered stars and planets, instead of the much smaller reality
the Ship understood. She tried to open her eyes, but they were
glued shut. Plucking a hand from the sticky surface on which she
lay, she wiped the goo from her eyes and opened them.

At first she
thought she had been struck blind, the darkness was so complete.
She seemed to be in a vast cavern, for she sensed invisible
dimensions. A warm wind blew over her, roaring in distant tunnels
and chambers. She lay on a slope, the goo that coated her holding
her to it. Lifting an arm, she climbed, hoping to find more light.
The Ship’s alien thoughts hissed in her mind, but it was unable to
understand her request for light. She struggled on, her progress
slow.

It seemed like
hours later that the slope levelled off, and she unglued herself
from the surface to stand up. Instantly she regretted it as she
lost her balance and teetered, arms wind milling. The Crystal Ship
had no gravity, and she almost floated into the air. The sticky
surface saved her, and she bent to place her hands on it, resolving
to crawl. Without gravity, she had no idea if she was crawling on
the floor or the ceiling. Did it matter? Why had she thought she
was climbing a slope earlier? Puzzled, she crawled forward, hoping
to find light.

It appeared
several hours later, a faint rosy glow that made her think of the
seething chamber. She headed towards it, more cautious now.
Strange, spicy scents floated on the wind that blew in her face
like a warm exhalation. A vast tunnel became visible in the growing
light, forested with crystal stalactites and stalagmites. She
appeared to be in the Ship’s respiratory system. Gaining
confidence, she rose to her feet and walked, with difficulty.

Each step
entailed plucking her foot from the sticky surface and pressing it
to a new spot, then repeating the process. Although slow, it was a
little faster than crawling. The light ahead brightened, turning
the walls a strange pinkish grey. She followed a slight bend in the
tunnel, which opened into a vast area that made her stop in
surprise. Giant pink puffballs tipped crystal columns of surpassing
beauty, and soft green moss heaved and breathed under her feet.

The chamber’s
vastness, combined with its damp air, contrived to shroud the
distance in mist. Long fronds of brilliant green, tree-like growths
waved in the breeze, forming a filigree web stretched out to the
light. The panorama extended up the curving walls, an endless land
of bizarre alien growths sprouting from a green carpet. The light
that filled the air with rainbows came from all around, channelled
into this amazing chamber through crystals that glowed like stars
in the walls.

Taking a step,
Rayne yelped and retreated. The green moss was not sticky, offering
no purchase, and she had almost drifted off. She pondered the
fantastic landscape in frustration, unable to traverse it. Her
emotions brought a hiss of alien concern, and she tried to express
her need for gravity, unsure if the Ship would understand, and,
even if it did, if it could do anything about it.

A subtle
change passed through the flesh beneath her feet, like a
tightening. The Ship’s vague thoughts conferred assurance, and she
stepped forward again. This time, there was enough gravity to stop
her floating away. With gliding steps, she walked into the fabulous
landscape. For a while she just gaped at the scenery, too
enthralled to remember her purpose.

The Ship’s
thoughts prickled her mind. Her fascination with its innards seemed
to surprise it, and it seemed confused that she found it so
strange. When she tried to walk up a wall, which was only up in
relation to her down, but in the scheme of things appeared to be an
extension of the ground on which she stood, the walls had no
gravity, so it had to come from the huge creature’s distant core.
That gave the chamber a definite sense of top, sides and bottom,
although all were uniformly grassed with the emerald moss and
forested with weird growths.

It also
explained her earlier sensation of climbing a slope. She must have
been nearer to the core then. She chose a path along the bottom of
the chamber, wandering deeper into it without really knowing where
she was going. A vague sense of purpose urged her to find the
Envoy, but the Ship constantly rinsed that thought from her mind.
The distant roof could be glimpsed through the cloud-like shrouds
of mist, and the dampness condensed on her skin and clothes,
becoming a little unpleasant. Further on, she encountered what
appeared to be a stream of clear water running along the floor. It
gushed from a hole in the wall and ran for a distance before
soaking away into a plain of verdant growths.

Occasionally,
she passed more tunnels entering the chamber, some exhaling warm
wind, others inhaling it. This part of the Ship seemed dedicated to
producing oxygen, and at times clouds of rich air made her dizzy.
Only when her legs ached did she realise that she had been walking
for several hours, and hunger clenched her stomach. She sat down
beside a tall, yellow tree-like growth, rubbing her legs. At this
rate, she might never find what she was searching for, and she had
a feeling that the Envoy was far from her present location. Closing
her eyes, she concentrated on the Ship’s mind, calling it into
hers.

It rushed in,
joyful at her summons and eager to share itself with her. She
wondered why it was so keen to communicate with her, and the answer
came in a gush of sorrow, an alien concept of minds sharing a
single awareness, a vast communal being of which the Ship had been
a small part. In its home nebula, each ship shared its experiences
with the others in a wonderful medley of sensations, and any
individual could tune into another at will, side-lining the rest.
Thus, lifelong friendships formed, and some blossomed into
relationships so strong that the ships moved together physically as
well.