Sword of Dreams (The Reforged Trilogy) (28 page)

"Yes, but importing that many exotic materials would be expensive and difficult. This is no prototype or first construct. Whoever built this Waygate knew what they were doing. They had tested and refined the process elsewhere."

"Maybe at another site on Prianus. There could be more Waygates here," Kemmer pressed.

Duaal did not care about the argument. He snapped his fingers, cutting off the bickering older men. "There's still the age of the thing. Are you saying that you think someone
other
than Prians built the Waygate? Eight million years ago?"

Kemmer and Xen gave each other a long look. "I am," said the Ixthian.

"Who?" Duaal asked.

Panna rested her chin in her hand. "None of the core or rim races have histories going back that far. Not that we know of, at least. Maybe the Nnyth."

"That Waygate doesn't seem at all like something of theirs," Duaal commented.

"No, I don't think it is," Panna agreed. "We have a few images of the Nnyth Tower and this doesn't look anything like their architecture. But Maeve did say they know the most about the Waygates…"

"I've long theorized about a common ancestral homeworld," Xen said. "The Lyrans share genes with wolves and canines on most life-sustaining planets. The human races are closely related enough to interbreed."

"And Ixthians are closely related to the Nnyth," Panna added.

Xen sighed. "Yes, yes. That, too."

"Is that what the cartoon in your window was about?" Duaal asked, suddenly understanding. "The Axials and Hadrians evolved from similar primates?"

"Exactly," said Xen with a grin. "When the Axials – Vanorans, as they were called then – discovered Hadra, they were astonished to discover their similarities. Each race was convinced that the other was some sort of offshoot of their own species, but each one could prove quite convincingly that they had evolved from their own local primates."

Duaal was not quite sure he understood the difference. Panna saw his confusion.

"It's one thing for a branch of humans to adapt to a planet," she explained. "The Alliance has settled dozens of worlds and the colonists on each of them begin manifesting distinctive traits within six generations. It's another matter entirely for two separate species of ape on two separate planets to evolve into such similar species of human. They evolved from one species to the next, totally independent of one another, and yet resulted in humans so similar that they regularly interbreed."

"The odds are incalculably low for it to have happened once, but it's occurred all over the galaxy," Xen said, nodding. "There are the Arcadians, too. They share a lot of similarities with humans, and the gene breakdown of their wings and bones is almost identical to the common pigeon."

"The only way it could have happened was that we
all
came from a small set of common species, long before we evolved into our modern shapes," Panna said. "That we all had the same genes to work from."

"To name the roc in the room, are we saying that this Waygate may have been built by this common ancestor?" Kemmer asked. He leaned his chair forward on two legs and balanced on the balls of his feet. There was a bright spark of excitement in his sharp blue eyes. "That Prianus may be the source of the species that spread out into the rest of the galaxy?"

"At least that it was visited by the root species long enough to leach-mine the iron from your mountains and build that Waygate," Xen answered, curling his long antennae. "Prianus lacks the genetic diversity to have been the source of
all
life in the galaxy. I suspect we all began much deeper in the core."

"On a world like Ixth?"

"It's possible." Xen smirked.

Kemmer scowled, but could not maintain his foul mood for long. "It will require considerably more study, of course, but we
can
prove the Waygate's age. That means that there was not only life in the galaxy eight millions years ago, but intelligent life."

"If we're all descended from the creators of the Waygates – which use magic – it may also mean that humans might be even more closely related to the fairies than anyone ever thought," Panna said softly. "Maybe the Alliance will finally grant them citizenship. They can't keep ignoring their own kin, can they?"

________

Down in the ravine, Gruth held up his grimy paws in surrender. "All right," he said. "I admit it. I'm glad we brought that big ape along. He's not nearly as dumb as I thought. We can't get the NI lifts down here, but he doesn't seem to have much trouble climbing up to the top of the Waygate."

Xia raised an eyebrow, but gave the Lyran a smile. "I told you so."

Gripper flushed. "Thanks, I guess. Is this what you needed?"

He held out the long, slender probe. Enu-Io took it and examined the tip with a large, shiny black eye. "I can't see anything on it."

"I didn't see much in the joist," Gripper said.

Enu-Io slid the probe into a sterile vorlex bag. "I'll go put this under the microscope and see what there is to see. Maybe we can find out what keeps the gate from falling apart. Thank you, Gripper."

"Not a problem, Big Blue." Gripper turned back to Xia. He scratched his short ear self-consciously. "I guess Smoke is still busy? Is that why you asked me to help? She could just fly up to the top of the Waygate."

"She's still on the surface." Xia's eyes went a concerned green. "I don't think she likes being down here. It's a painful reminder of the accident in Tamlin."

"Poor Smoke," Gripper sighed. "It was a long time ago and it still hurts her so much. I wish she could just forget about all that."

"So do I."

"That's your fairy girl you're talking about, isn't it?" The question came from Ava. She stood nearby, with her brother and Gruth.

"Yeah, that's her," Gripper said.

Ava touched her fingertips to her breastbone. "She's carries a lot of regret. She should stay on Prianus a while. Here, you learn to let go of that stuff. If you don't, the weight will crush you."

"What do you mean?" asked Gripper curiously.

"Prianus is different than deep core planets," Darius said. "You have to make tough choices here."

"If you let them pile up too heavy, you can't fly," Ava finished.

"That's enough sniffing each other's asses," Gruth barked. "Back to work! A dig this pristine only comes along once in a lifetime and I'm not going to miss a minute of it."

"Why is it so rare?" Gripper asked Gruth as the others hurried back to work. "There are a lot of planets in the CWA. I always assumed that new stuff was discovered every day."

"The CWA doesn't fund many archeological expeditions," said the Lyran. "The Alliance finds things during their expansion surveys, sometimes, but they move quickly. They have to. The demands for food and resources are just too high. We never get more than a week on site."

"Wow."

"Yeah. We can take away some scans and a few artifacts, but we don't get to study the location very often." Gruth's short whiskers bristled. "In this case, though, I'll be happy to be all done. This planet makes Lyra look like a resort."

Gripper giggled, but he was already distracted, watching Xia working with the two Prian diggers to take detailed measurements of the Waygate segments. The three of them were working on a thick piece that shone like iridescent gold. The film of lights swam over the Waygate, lazy and slow as the eddies of a pond.

Gruth followed the Arboran's gaze. Now it was his turn to laugh. "Are you eyeing that Ixthian lady? Better forget about that. I've never met an Ixthian who dated outside their race. They're picky, even about other bug-eyes. Good genetics and all that. Take Panna – she's got it bad for the professor, but I doubt Xen will ever notice."

"Why doesn't she say anything?" Gripper asked.

"Panna's not a shy girl, but she
is
a bit secretive," Gruth replied with a shrug. He cocked a furry ear at Gripper. "Why don't you?"

"Me? Oh, well… I mean… Why don't I what? I have no idea what you're talking about," Gripper said, trying and failing to sound nonchalant.

Gruth gave him a toothy grin. "You don't? Well, then I don't know about that bucket of flowers you brought back to camp the other day. Even in this cold, they're going to wilt if you don't do something with them soon."

Gripper stared longingly after Xia. She was standing up on the tips of her toes, arms stretched over her head as she tried to squeeze calipers between two of the huge pieces of the Waygate. She was so beautiful.

The thing with the polytomograph had gone so wrong. But Gruth was right. About the flowers.

Not the other stuff.

"We learn as much from our mistakes as we do from our successes."

- Scallan Hu, Cyrus consul (10 MA)

That afternoon, Duaal sat on his cot with his head in his hands. The latest headache was beginning to fade now, but he still felt fragile as glass. Normal glass, not the Arcadian stuff. One stray poke, one stray thought and he would shatter into a million pieces. He rubbed his fingers across his forehead. Did he have a fever?

"Duaal?"

He sat up slowly. Xia stood in the flap of the tent. There was dust in her pristinely white hair. She stepped inside and came over to where Duaal lay.

"Aren't you supposed to be guarding the dig today?" she asked. "After all that fighting the other day about wanting Tiberius to give you work…"

"Yes, I do," Duaal groaned. "I do. I swear I do."

"What are you doing in here, then?"

"Tiberius ordered me to. He's covering for me now."

"He sent you here? What's wrong? Headaches again?"

Duaal started to nod and then thought better of it. "Yeah," he answered instead.

Xia changed out of her muddy coveralls and checked Duaal again, but could find nothing more than she had the first time. She shook her head. "It's just about time for dinner. Maybe some food will help," she suggested.

Duaal was about to agree – the meds certainly were not helping – when the tent flap flew open again. Gripper ducked inside, carrying a huge bouquet of flowers the same bright blue as the sky. They were wrapped in a sheet of paper from the archeologists' tent. Gripper was smiling hugely, brightly.

"Silver, I…" He trailed off when he saw that Xia was not alone. His smile faltered.

Duaal held up his hands. "Go ahead. Don't let me stop you."

Gripper swallowed and nodded. He held the flowers out to Xia. "I… I got these for you, Silver."

Xia blinked and took the oversized bouquet. She could barely look over the collections of blossoms. Duaal could just see her antennae over them.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"Oh… you know…" Gripper stammered.

Xia's antennae twitched, but Duaal could see nothing of her expression. "Well, thank you, Gripper. What are they? What breed?"

"Breed? I… I have no idea. They grow on the west slope."

"Hm," said Xia speculatively. "This high up, they probably have corrupted strains. At altitude, solar radiation becomes an issue. Oh, my… Look at the petal distribution. Is this a cyst? The redprint would be a mess."

Gripper stared at her in horror, then turned on his heels and fled the tent. A frigid wind swirled into the tent as he left, making Duaal shiver until the flap fell closed again and the magnets along the bottom sealed it shut once more.

The mage sat up a little and looked over the flowers to Xia. "The redprint? Really?"

Xia laid the bouquet on a stool and went looking for something. A vase or a scalpel, Duaal could not guess.

"Aren't you curious about it?" she asked.

"Not even a bit," Duaal said. "You're missing the point with Gripper, don't you think?"

Xia paused in the act of rummaging through one of her suitcases and gave Duaal a curious look. "What?"

"He likes you and God knows we could all use a little break from this. It's bitter cold and barren up here. I know I sure could use a nice piece of Prian to keep me warm at night…"

"The Prians are stern and demanding people, Duaal," she said. "I think you've had enough stern and demanding for one lifetime."

"You mean Gavriel."

"Yes, I mean Gavriel," Xia agreed. She found a jar and poured some water into it. She had to unwrap the paper from around the stems before she could wedge the flowers into the makeshift vase.

"I'm not talking about anything involved," Duaal told her. "Just a little fun. You should think about it, too."

"I'd look somewhere else," Xia said. She smiled at him with smooth silver lips. "Somewhere warmer than Prian glaciers."

________

Maeve sat on the crag of crumbling granite that she had come to think of as her perch, singing quietly to herself. She could smell dinner cooking. Just petrimeat and rehydrated vegetables, but after a long afternoon alone in the cold, it smelled delicious. She would fly down there soon and eat, but only after a visit to the single vacuum latrine enclosure set off to one side of the base camp.