Timeweb Trilogy Omnibus (161 page)

Clearly, this ability to imagine and shape went beyond the creation of physical changes in his own body. He had proven that when the cocoon was under attack by HibAdu forces, and he’d transported the space station across the galaxy to the Tulyan Starcloud, after envisioning that heavenly realm in his mind. There had also been times in the past when he had intermittently been able to enter and control podships in a paranormal manner. He presumed that he could do that now if he wished, on an individual podship basis, but he felt no need or desire to do so.

He could even control multiple podships, as he had proven by moving the cocoon through space. It might just be possible for him to gather every podship in the whole galaxy, making him like another version the Eye of the Swarm, but on a much more grand, and potentially powerful, basis. Noah suspected that his abilities went farther than he dared imagine, and the very thought of the possibilities made him want to slow down. He did not want to leap forward too rapidly, before he was ready.

But the galaxy was in chaos. He could not ignore this fact, could not hide from it. There was no formal training facility where he could learn and polish his unusual craft. He’d had to discover and perfect the highly specialized skills on the job, during times of crisis. Noah had escaped to the starcloud without a moment to spare. But he had been unable to stand and fight, a situation he had found frustrating.

Now the injured portions of the cocoon were healed, though as he looked around the space station itself, he saw that a tremendous amount of restoration work remained to be done. The robots had patched some of the breaks in the hulls, and had completed some basic repairs to the gravity generators, plumbing system, electrical connections, and air circulators. The bodies had been taken away and buried, but on the floor of the Grand Ballroom he still saw splotches of dried blood in both red and purple, evidence of the traumatic deaths that had occurred here.

Peripherally, he noticed Thinker enter the chamber, moving more smoothly and quietly than before. He seemed to have repaired his own loose parts. “I was looking all over for you, Master,” he said.

“And Tesh?”

“I escorted her back to
Webdancer
. She’s very determined to continue her piloting duties, even with the news of her pregnancy.”

Noah bristled. “There are no secrets from you, are there?”

“As your authorized biographer, I require such information. I think Tesh rather likes me, and I feel the same about her. I asked her if everything was all right, and she told me about the baby.”

“Maybe you’d like to marry her and take my place.”

“Oh! I could never do that, Master.” He paused. “I just came to let you know she is safe.”

“Thank you.”

“Would you like me to leave you alone?”

“No, you might as well observe what I’m about to do firsthand. I thought I would do a little cleaning up around here.”

“You mean for exercise? Wouldn’t you like me to send for robots to do it?”

“We’ll see,” Noah said.

The windows of this ballroom had once looked out on the planet Canopa, and on the twinkling vastness of space. Now they were covered by the podship skin of the cocoon. Noah found a place where the windowplax had been broken away, and which was now sealed by the amalgamated Aopoddae. Walking over there, he looked more closely, and touched the mottled gray-and-black skin. This time, he did not seek or permit the inflow of raw Aopoddae data. Instead, he had something else in mind, something he hoped would help him on the journey to understand the podship race.

The cocoon flesh softened to his touch. He let go, and the flesh oozed back into the ballroom in a thin film, flowing down the outer wall and onto the floor, where it pooled around Noah’s feet. With his free hand, he pointed to the overturned and broken furnishings, to the dried blood, to the dents and breaks in the walls and windows. More alien cellular material flowed out of the break in the plax where he had touched it, and covered the floor. Thinker scrambled out into the corridor, but kept looking in through the doorway.

All around Noah, objects began to change as they were touched by the podship flesh. Everything became gray and veiny black, and just as he had anticipated, new forms began to take shape—a central platform, and rows of chairs extending outward from it. He had always wondered how podships altered the internal configurations of their vessels, and now he was experiencing it directly as the amalgamated creature created an auditorium for him. It looked like another version of a room that might be onboard a podship.

“Marvelous!” Thinker exclaimed from the corridor.

“You’re witnessing the rebirth of EcoStation,” Noah said. “In the future it will again be a school for galactic ecologists, but on a much larger scale than it ever was before, as an inspiration for all races to restore and maintain the ecological health of the galaxy. Like me, the space station is evolving.”

“Don’t forget me,” Thinker said, as Noah freed himself from the liquefied flesh and joined him in the corridor. “I’ve evolved too,” the robot insisted.

“We’re all doing it together,” Noah said. He strode to the next large area of the space station, Lorenzo’s former Audience Chamber. Utilizing podship flesh from another break in the hull, Noah soon created an Astronomical Projection Chamber, in which he would demonstrate the motions and connectivity of star systems, planets, and other cosmic bodies. Compliantly, the Aopoddae formed the basic enclosure according to his specifications, and much of the furnishings—all attached to the expanding cocoon. When circumstances permitted it, Noah would later bring in the technological devices. But this was the framework he wanted, the canvas on which he would paint his eco-picture.

For the rest of the day, he and Thinker moved from module to module and chamber to chamber, where Noah put himself in direct contact with the podship flesh and made the alterations he wanted. In the process, he was restoring EcoStation, bringing it back from its own near-death. He realized as he did this that he might have just envisioned the whole project at once, but he didn’t want to speed it up. There were subtleties in the control he exerted over the alien flesh. He and the cocooned Aopoddae were getting to know one another, learning how to work together, making the procedures more efficient.

When the work was nearly complete, Noah and the robot stood inside one of the new classroom modules, where Noah had set up the raw framework of learning stations for his students. Looking around with a degree of satisfaction, he realized,
I am learning at my own school.
And he knew this was as it should be. Even the wisest and most accomplished people still had many things to learn. That held true for robots, too, as they continually updated their data banks, always advancing their operating systems and memory cores.

During the restoration of EcoStation, Thinker had been adding what he observed to his data banks. Noah had kept the cerebral robot with him for this, and for other reasons. This intelligent machine was the smartest of all of them, an excellent and faithful adviser. And, though Noah was not intentionally allowing new Aopoddae data to flow into him, he remained concerned about making a serious mistake, perhaps through some communication problem. At least Thinker was always nearby if necessary, to relieve any overload on Noah’s brain. But would that be enough? He wasn’t sure, but it gave him concern. Maybe something like that, the overwhelming power of the psychic flow, could actually kill him. And if Noah died, he could not advance, could not achieve what he needed to do.

Sensing something, he touched the podship flesh at a learning station desk, then used the multiple eyes of the creatures to gaze far out into space. Something was approaching fast, bearing down on the Tulyan Starcloud. He looked closer. It was a Parvii swarm, the biggest one he had ever seen. Somehow, they had regenerated and were coming back in force.

He sensed a disturbance in the starcloud as the mindlinked Tulyans detected the approaching danger from their mortal enemy. The immense swarm neared at high speed, and split into divisions that veered out to the sides, to attack from different directions.

They struck with stunning speed. Blue bursts of energy came from the center of each swarm. Telepathic artillery. Some of their shots hit the thick skin of the cocoon, and Noah heard the pain of the amalgamated podships.

He turned the unarmed cocoon around and retreated into the starcloud. Mindlink opened and let him in, like a cosmic gate. It shut behind him, then guided him to a safer position. Moments later, he saw comets and meteors streak by him in eerie silence, heading out against the swarms. Hundreds of armed Liberator podships also surged out to join the battle, ships that had been assigned to protect the starcloud and the caretaking crews that came and went. Noah wanted to contribute to the effort, but could only watch.

Frustrated, he turned to Thinker and asked, “How are you coming in deciphering the Aopoddae data? It’s important.”

“I know, and I have been able to decipher a few additional fragments,” the robot said. “In the midst of all the other data, I found an even more heavily encrypted section, like an armored core of data. I don’t know if I can ever get into that part. The podships still harbor doubts about you concerning the release of this particular information, uncertainties about whether or not you are a person they can fully trust.”

“Keep trying to find out what it is,” Noah said.

He touched a nearby bulkhead, and through a Timeweb link he saw the raging battle. At least he could access the paranormal dimension at will now. He watched the swarms dive forward into the onslaught of defensive weapons that the Tulyans threw at them. To his dismay, he saw mindlink seem to weaken. Holes in it opened up, and tiny invaders surged through.

But Noah soon saw that it was a Tulyan trap. Any swarms that got through mindlink soon detonated in puffs of white, while other swarms beyond the starcloud fled from the pursuing comets and meteors. Noah estimated that the Parviis lost half their force before they turned and retreated into space.

He knew they would be back, and probably in even greater numbers the next time. Somehow they had regenerated their population at an incredible rate.

Chapter Sixty-Four

Most legends are designed to fit the needs of those in power. But there have been notable historical exceptions, and they can be the most significant of all.

—Finding of the Galactic Study Group, subcommittee on religion

A bleak, gray sky hung over the Golden Palace.

In the medical room on the top floor, Hari’Adab’s mood matched the weather. When not attending to his duties as the Mutati ruler, he spent every available moment at Parais’ side. It occurred to him now, as he looked at the quivering mass of flesh and dark feathers on the bed, that this remarkable aeromutati was really his top
professional
priority. It wasn’t just personal, because he was nothing as an Emir without her guidance and love. Now and then he’d been attending the military strategy meetings with Mutatis, Humans, and Tulyans, but he had not really been
there
. He had not been all that he should be in the high position he held, all that his people deserved.

As Parais faded, so did he, along with all of his abilities to lead and inspire others. He knew he should step aside, and in effect he had done exactly that, because he had been turning over more and more command duties and decisions to Kajor Yerto Bhaleen. It seemed ironic to Hari that he—always a pacifist at heart—would come to rely so heavily on a military officer. At one time, he never would have considered such an action. But that had been before he faced the stark realities of command that were arrayed before him now, with the extreme pressures of political and military responsibility weighed against his personal and emotional needs.

I am only a Mutati
, he thought.
A bunch of feelings and desires in a cellular package.
As a shapeshifter, Hari knew he could alter his appearance, making himself look carefree and happy, but it would only be the thinnest veneer. He wouldn’t waste his time doing that, so he’d only been modifying his cellular structure occasionally in small ways, to keep his same basic appearance while not permitting the cells to lock into any one position. His mind and heart, though, the engine of his soul, were shutting down, preparing to lock everything into death.

On the surface, he was dressed differently today. For the strategy meeting he’d just left, he had worn a gold-and-black dress uniform, which he still had on. Having received intelligence information on the location of the main HibAdu fleet, Doge Anton and the officers were planning a major military assault. The meeting was still going on, down the corridor. He heard the clamor of their voices, through open doors. That morning there had been some disagreements—different war philosophies between Humans and Mutatis. But Hari expected the participants to iron them out. The spirit of cooperation among all of the allies—Human, Mutati, and Tulyan—was very strong.

For some time now the Liberators had been sending podships to neutral worlds around the galaxy, rounding up Humans and Mutatis who happened to be living there … calling for volunteers and specialists. Many of the Mutatis were proving to be particularly valuable, since they could disguise themselves as any race, even as Hibbils and Adurians. That was how the Liberators had now learned the location of the enemy fleet—in the distant Kandor Sector.

Hari knew his ceremonial uniform gave him a more official and commanding appearance, and in part he had chosen it today for that very reason. But he had another. The costume included a ceremonial sword—the same one he’d almost used after the disastrous destruction of Paradij, when he had intended to kill himself for his culpability in that matter. He’d placed the point of the weapon against his belly, and had been ready to fall on it. But Parais had knocked the sword away, saving his life and telling him he needed to live for the sake of the Mutati people, preventing another fanatic like his father from ruling.