Part 30 (2/2)
'They know about the Beetles. I saw them destroy a Hive. Then there was all this debris spinning in s.p.a.ce, away from Deneb.' She turned first to Isthia and then to Afra for a rea.s.suring interpretation of what she'd seen.
'Are they warning us then?' asked Isthia.
'No, they know we've been attacked and survived, as they have survived,' Damia said, choosing her words slowly.
'Then what do they want of us now?' Isthia wanted to know.
'Just don't put me back to sleep again,' Damia said flatly, rubbing at her temples.
'It seems an admirable way of communicating between species,' Afra said, teasingly, but he patted her arm sympathetically.
'The universe doesn't have to be full of species who are inimical,' Isthia said. 'Perhaps what these folk need are allies against the Hives. We've survived an attack so we'd make good allies.' 'They've certainly gone to great lengths to explain,' Damia admitted.
She was beginning to believe that Isthia could be right. Her mind had not been overwhelmed or raped during this closer encounter. They had managed to convey vital information.
'Isthia, can you put me into a hypnotic sleep?' Afra asked. 'I was part of both mind-merges: the first Rowan focus, and then the B-Raven section that sent the Hive Sphere into the sun. I can at least give them our battle account.' Then he settled himself in the conformable and linked his hands across his thin waist.
Damia had an impulse to protest but Isthia unfastened her safety harness and drifted to Afra, holding herself down with one hand while she placed the other firmly on his left temple. Afra seemed to collapse into sleep.
She turned to look out at the visitors' s.h.i.+p, now noticing how pitted its surface was, how worn and scratched the symbols on what she took to be its bow. There were other ideograms elsewhere, some more legible than others. A complicated language rendered in bars and dots and occasionally cross strokes. Not as complex as some of Earth's oriental scripts, if that was the right word for them.
'How long did I sleep that last time, Isthia?' 'About half an hour. I didn't think to time it,' she said, floating back to her own chair. 'Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.' Then she let out a big sigh. 'I suspect my son is going to be vastly annoyed with his old mother,' and the eyes she turned on Damia hadn't the slightest gleam of repentance. 'I really should have taken training much earlier. I could have been Deneb's Prime.' Damia regarded her grandmother with wonder, 'We tend not to make the most of our chances,' she went on.
Extending a hand, she lightly touched Damia's arm.
'Make the most of yours, dear child. But then, you are, aren't you?' 'Do you think they are emissaries of an altruistic species?' 'I'm quite attached to that notion,' Isthia said comfortably. 'I wish we'd thought to bring some provisions.' Damia laughed. 'This was sort of a scramble. Oh ho!' Her throat went too dry for more words and she could only point at the vessel which was clearly moving under power.
'Let's get out of its way,' Isthia said and frantically reached a hand out to Damia.
Damia, following Isthia's thought, pushed the pod back so forcefully that the vessel became only a darkness.
'Not that far 'It's following us,' Damia decided after a moment's observation. 'What is Afra telling them to do?' 'Come on in, the water's fine,' Isthia replied facetiously.
'This must be the right way to handle this.
'I thought it was, too.
'This time it is right, Damia.' 'Yes, it is,' Afra said, though his words were slightly slurred. 'At least I have extended the invitation. I've no gauge to guide me but they appeared to be amazed at how we conduct our battles. I think that's a good impression to give them 'Now, what do we do?' Damia asked, watching as the alien vessel continued to close with them.
'Now, we inform Earth Prime that we have concluded opening talks with an alien species,' said Afra so calmly that Damia knew he was very nervous.
Deneb Prime Jeran gave them a prolonged demonstration, at the top of both lungs and mind, of what they might expect from Earth Prime.
The local Fleet Commander appeared at the Tower, apoplectic to have found an alien s.h.i.+p orbiting the planet when the warning system hadn't so much as burped.
I TOLD YOU WHY IT IS NECESSARY TO PURSUE THIS COURSE OF ACTION, Afra roared with such vehemence that Isthia and Damia regarded him with astonishment. Cut off in mid-spate by Afra's uncharacteristic bellow, Jeran glared at the Capellan.
'You had no authority to do so,' Jeran said in a terse tone, clipping his words; expression and stance ill.u.s.trating his indignation.
'He obeyed me,' Isthia said calmly and took the conformable seat.
Ian and Rakella were still backed in the corner where they had retreated from Jeran's angry harangue.
Somewhat to her surprise, Damia could regard the scene with objective detachment - or perhaps, she amended, she was merely too stunned by the whole episode to be able to react.
Jeran turned on Isthia. 'Grandmother,' he began.
'Did you bother to inform Jeff or have you just been enjoying this exhibition of vituperation too much?' Isthia had a distinct gift for putting people in their places.
'I have first,' Jeran said in a loud voice, enunciating very, very clearly, 'to ascertain just what has transpired before I can send a rational report. They,' and he jerked his head at his uncle and great-aunt, gave me some boodle-hoop about dreams and being called.
Dreams, and his scorn would have scarified a lesser personality than Isthia Raven, 'hardly const.i.tute an intelligent reason for admitting strangers past our perimeter defences.' 'The dreams const.i.tuted a contact which cleverly surmounted a language barrier,' Afra replied, 'and provided us with sufficient information to wish to investigate more thoroughly, up to and including personal confrontation.' Jeran stared at him, his nostrils flaring, fists on his belt, one foot tapping as he struggled to leash his temper.
'Between Isthia, Afra and myself,' Damia said coolly, rather delighted to see her phlegmatic brother moved to temper, 'you must admit, Jeran, that we would have experience in recognizing threat.
This species does not pose one. In fact, hostility is furthest from their thoughts. Their worlds have suffered from Hive attacks.
They urgently desire to know how we repelled the Leviathan.' 'As I was part of that a.s.sault, I explained how we contrived,' Afra went on conversationally. 'The Mrdinis were very impressed that we had needed no recourse to armaments to destroy it.' Jeran rolled his eyes, noting the distraught expression on the commander's face. 'That was even stupider, Afra.
Giving away information about our defence? That's the most horrendous breach of security that --- that - Words failed him.
WE'RE COMING IN, and Jeff's words rang in everyone's ears. Damia had to blink, because her father's bellow did not reverberate in her head. She glanced anxiously at Afra who closed one eye in rea.s.surance.
You see, you can even take my son's bellow without wincing, Isthia said in a finely-tuned thought. I did make one slight error though, and Damia and Afra turned to her in surprise for her expression was fleetingly rueful. I set a sending constraint in your minds so you wouldn't inadvertently 'path, but I didn't restrict receiving. Never thought you would be in receipt of anything. Everyone knew not to 'path you until I gave permission.
So that's how we were able to receive the Mrdinis' dreams, Damia said and hid her smile behind her hand. How rea.s.suring to know that you can be fallible, Grandmother.
The opposite would make you unbearable, Afra added with no rancour.
'I simply don't understand your reasoning in this,' Jeran was saying, 'any of you. Especially you, Damia, since you nearly-' WE WON'T GO INTO THAT,JERAN! Jeff's forceful words echoed and Jeran bowed his head, scowling blackly at the floor, around him, at anything but his sister.
Jeran didn't have to say it out loud, Damia thought bleakly, though she was grateful to her father for stopping him.
The Mrdinis are an entirely separate affair, Isthia said gently.
Entirely, Afra added and twined his fingers in hers.
Damia s.h.i.+fted restlessly, knowing that Jeran would not be the last to remind her of that Sodan stupidity. When Afra also edged slightly in front of her, Damia realized his intention. It wouldn't be the first time he had protected her from her father's censure but this time she would take her fair share so she eased forward to close the gap.
Abruptly the largest cradle in the Tower yard held one of the fast Fleet courier vessels and the orbital alarms indicated the emergence of four large s.h.i.+ps in s.p.a.ce above them.
'They are upset,' Isthia murmured, grinning.
Damia envied her grandmother that superb self-confidence but, oddly enough, she began to feel more positive about her part in this encounter.
Wearing a ferocious scowl, Jeff 'ported into the Tower, the Rowan beside him. The next few seconds were full of such heated exchanges of accusation, refutation and explanation that Rakella, never a strong Talent, folded against Ian, moaning.
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