Timeweb Trilogy Omnibus (27 page)

Placing a hand on his arm, Tesh said, “Perhaps I shouldn’t say this, but I feel something between us.” Slowly, hesitantly, he looked at her, and she moved around in front him, so that he could not avoid her easily.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, lying. The wind whipped his curly, reddish hair.

Abruptly, she stretched up and kissed him on the mouth, so passionately that he had difficulty pulling away, but finally did so.

Folding her arms across her chest, she said, “I suppose you have this problem with many of your female students, and I’m sorry if I make you uncomfortable, but I’ve always been direct.”

“I’m your professor, that’s all.” Noah was not entirely surprised by her forwardness, having noticed the way she looked at him seductively with her emerald eyes , and the gentle, alluring tones of her voice whenever she spoke to him. He had been trying to maintain his distance from her, but she must have noticed something in his demeanor, a weakness that she could exploit. He didn’t entirely trust her, or any women who used their looks and wiles to lure men. Too many were like Sirens, he thought, enticing men onto dangerous shoals.

His eyes flashed as he looked at her. Despite his misgivings, Noah longed for a closer relationship with her, but fought his emotions, trying to retain his professional demeanor. Other female students had made overtures toward him, and he had always taken the high road, never succumbing to the desires he had felt for them. By avoiding embarrassing and compromising entanglements, he had remained proud of himself. But now, more than ever before, he felt vulnerable.

“You’re Anton’s girlfriend,” Noah said, flatly. He looked away, at the sun dappled trees on the slope below them. “He’s like a … younger brother … to me, and I could never consider betraying him.”

“I’ve made no promises to him,” she said.

“But I’ve made promises to myself.”

“And I respect that. She moved away a little. Look, I’ve always been a flirt. I’ve dated men of many galactic races, have always been a traveler. Maybe you’re better off avoiding me.”

As Noah led the way on a trail back downhill, he had no inkling of the extent of her travels, that she could actually guide podships on fantastic journeys across the galaxy, that she had already lived for more than seven centuries, and that she was not at all what she appeared to be.

“Are you going to kick me out of school for this?” she asked.

“Of course not. You’re an exceptional student. You just need to understand that I have boundaries.”

“At least you know I wasn’t doing anything to influence my grades,” she said with a laugh. “I already have the highest test scores.”

He laughed with her, but didn’t like what he was feeling. Aside from the professional distance he wanted from his students, he felt what could only be described as a prurient desire for her, and it wasn’t right. He was not that sort of a person … at least, he didn’t think he was.

As they reached the glax-walled main entrance of the administration building, his adjutant Subi Danvar rushed up, wearing the green-and-brown uniform of the Guardians. “We have a problem,” the rotund man said, wiping perspiration from his brow. “Diggers.”

“They’re on our property?” he asked.

“Southwest corner of the compound,” Danvar said. “They came up underneath a maintenance building and tore up the floor pretty bad before diving back into the ground. We lost a lot of equipment. Some of it damaged, and some just disappeared into the hole with them.”

“More than one Digger?”

“Three of the mechanical pests. Two big ones and a little one. Like a small family of them.”

Nodding, Noah said, “Form an extermination squad to go after them in their burrows.”

“It will be done, sir. We have a man who served on one of the Doge’s extermination squads before joining us. I’ll get his advice.”

“Good.”

“Can I join the squad?” Tesh asked.

“What?” Noah said. “But you have no experience.”

“I’m a fast learner, and it sounds like important work to me.”

“What about your studies?” Noah asked.

“To tell you the truth, it’s become too easy for me. I need a change of pace, if it’s all right with you, sir. Call it penance.”

Not understanding what she meant, the adjutant crinkled his brow.

“Just a private joke,” Noah said to him. Glancing at the young woman, he told her, “All right. We’ll give you extracurricular credit for the work. The machines are tearing up the environment, after all, so it is related to your studies.”

* * * * *

The following morning, Anton Glavine was waiting at Noah’s office when he arrived for work. With an infusercup of strong coffee in his hand, Noah greeted him, and let him in.

“I want to join the extermination squad, too,” Anton announced, as Noah went around and sat at his desk.

“Out of the question. You need to complete your studies.”

“So does Tesh. She says you’re giving her extracurricular credit for Digger duty.”

“That’s true, but she’s way ahead of you in her lessons, and can afford to take time away from the classroom. You don’t have that luxury.”

The young man chewed at the blond mustache on his upper lip. “I need to watch out for her, make sure she’s safe.”

“Tesh can take care of herself.”

“I don’t agree. This is a new operation.” His hazel eyes narrowed. “It’s really important to me, Noah. I won’t be any good in class at all if you don’t let me go.”

Noah still had not told Anton who his parents were—Doge Lorenzo and Noah’s own sister Francella—but he knew he could not keep the secret forever. Anton was no longer a child, and had a right to know. He was behaving like a man right now, taking responsibility for the woman he cared about, the woman Noah couldn’t help caring about himself.

A long period of silence ensued between the men. Finally, Noah said to his nephew, “All right.”

Shortly after Anton left his office, Noah received encouraging news from Subi Danvar. The extermination squads used by Doge Lorenzo had developed relatively safe, efficient means of combating the mechanical pests, and had designed their own remote-controlled probes and tunneling machines … equipment that Subi Danvar was purchasing. The adjutant had also been able to hire more experienced men and women to join the squad, and was referring to them as commandos.

“It’ll be safer than riding up to EcoStation,” Subi assured him.

“I hope you’re right,” Noah said.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

It is said that God made the Tulyan Starcloud in the image of heaven.

—From The Book of Tulyan Lore

On an orbital pod station, Eshaz stood at the end of a line of passengers, waiting to board a mottled gray-and-black spacecraft. He was returning to the starcloud for a regularly scheduled session of the Council of Elders, to report to them on his travels and activities … a requirement for all of his people who spent time away from home. The passengers included scores of other Tulyans—web caretakers like himself—along with a colorful assortment of galactic races.

Eshaz touched the side of the large, bulging vessel, felt the slight warmth and barely discernible pulse of living tissue. “Hello, old friend,” he whispered, thinking back to a halcyon time long ago when Tulyans held dominion over this podship and its brethren.

Now, in direct contact with the creature, Eshaz felt his own thoughts trying to penetrate and read the ancient mind of the podship, in a way that Tulyans could do with members of their own race, and with other galactic races. But this podship was not amenable to having its thoughts read. It was under the control of another entity, another galactic race.

The throb on the thick skin quickened just a little, and then slowed as the podship’s tiny but powerful Parvii pilot detected the alien intrusion and warded it off.

Feeling a deep sadness for millions of years past and what could never be recaptured, Eshaz withdrew his hand and moved closer to the stout Huluvian man ahead of him in line. Others joined the queue behind Eshaz. His joints and muscles were aching again, the condition that seemed to run parallel with the decline of Timeweb.

The old Tulyan set his personal discomfort aside. His thoughts drifted off.

Contrary to popular belief, the Mutatis were not the most important shapeshifters in the galaxy. Certainly, they were the most numerous and caused the most trouble, especially for the Humans who were their mortal enemies. But they had a rival in the magical art of appearance modification, a race that was the glue of the galaxy, the podships that provided faster-than-light space travel to everyone at no charge.

Widely considered the greatest mystery in the cosmos, the pods were of uncertain origin and purpose. Even Tulyans, who knew the migration patterns of the whale-like creatures and had the ability to pilot them in ancient times, never discovered the spacefarers’ deepest, most profound secrets. Eshaz’s people were well aware of their shape-shifting abilities, however, the way the living, sentient Aopoddae were all of a similar blimp shape, but morphed the cellular structures of their interior spaces to provide compartments for passengers, complete with portholes, and even destination boards on the outsides of the hulls. The Tulyans knew, as well, how to reach the sectoid chamber at the core of each podship, where Eshaz’s kinsmen used to navigate the spacecraft, but which was now blocked to them by the superior powers of the Parviis.

A hatch opened in the hull of the podship, like a mouth on the side. The line began to move forward, and moments later Eshaz stepped aboard and took a seat on one of the utilitarian dark-gray benches. Looking around, he noted the features of the passenger compartment, the similarities and subtle differences in comparison with other pods … the patterns of gray-and-black streaks and pale yellow veins.

Passengers did not need any form of breathing apparatus, since the interior of the podship had an oxygen and nutrient-rich life support system generated by the mysterious biological workings of the creature—enabling different types of life forms to survive in their confines.

Most of the benches accommodated three passengers, but Eshaz was so large that there was only enough space for one tall, slender Vandurian to sit beside him. The two of them exchanged stiff glances, without words. Strangers usually didn’t talk at all during these voyages, and not just because of the shortness of the trips—only a few minutes to traverse vast distances of space. Instead, they were silent to a great extent because of the sense of awe and infinite, cosmic serenity that the podships inspired in their passengers. Some races revered the podships as godlike creatures, or as messengers of the Supreme Being, or even as incarnations of the Supreme Being.

From his seat Eshaz noticed a slight pulsing of the interior wall beside him, and he touched it gently with a bronze, scaly hand, feeling the warm skin of the sentient creature. Again, the vibration quickened when he touched it, but only for a moment. Eshaz liked to think that the podship was trying to reach out to him, longing for the ancient times as much as he was himself.

“So long, old friend,” the Tulyan said, withdrawing his hand.

Beside him, the Vandurian scowled and blinked his oversized eyes, but said nothing.

According to Tulyan legend, one day the podships would transport their passengers to an ethereal realm, a place so enchanted that it was beyond words. Eshaz had always tried to visualize what that magical province might look like, and how it would engage his seven senses, but always he returned to the same conundrum. How could that ultimate realm be any more impressive that his own solar system, the Tulyan Starcloud? The possibility seemed unimaginable.

He felt the sentient spacecraft engage with one podway and then another in rapid succession, making course changes in seconds and fractions of seconds. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Eshaz had traversed a million star systems, and he stepped off onto the pod station orbiting Tulé, the largest planet in his beloved Tulyan Starcloud.

Far below the pod station he saw the immense Council Chamber, an inverted dome that floated above the planet in a hazy, milky sky, illuminated by a pair of weak suns. From the soft golden glow of the chamber, he knew that the Elders were inside, awaiting him. But the news he brought for them was not good this time.

Timeweb—the connective tissue of the entire galaxy—was showing further, ominous signs of disintegration.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Your enemy is not really defeated as long as he still exists. He can always regroup, gain strength and strike a lethal blow.

—Mutati Saying

In a foul mood, the Zultan Abal Meshdi strolled along an arcade, a circle of arches and columns around the Citadel’s grandest, most famous fountain. Morning sunlight played off the cascading water, but even the beauty and serenity of this special place did not calm him. He had affairs of state on his mind, matters to consider away from the clatter and clutter of advisers and attendants.

Inside the deep, aquamarine water of the fountain’s pond, twenty hydromutatis swam energetically, whirling and swooping in a traditional water dance while metamorphosing from exotic sea creatures to asexual humanoids with fins and tails. As they concluded the performance, the hydromutatis merged into one large gargantufish—an ancient, exotic life form—and leaped over the fountain with elegant power, landing in water on the other side with hardly a splash.

The Zultan was a terramutati himself, the most common form of his species. This gave him some advantages, but also presented him with a number of challenges. He was not telepathic like hydromutatis, and could not fly like aeromutatis. The three groups were essentially political factions, cooperating as they needed to while constantly competing for business advantages and political offices.

Feeling sudden heat from a medallion that hung around his neck, the Zultan knew that an important message had arrived for him. Since he was not in his throne room, and had prohibited anyone from calling upon him out here where he liked to relax, he knew it had to be something critical. During this time of war, the news could be really bad. It probably was, he decided gloomily, as he watched the gargantufish swim around the pond.