Part 19 (1/2)

Rast began to tap hard on the com-sole, impatient to get something from it.

Jo-Jo pushed her hand away, slowly but deliberately. 'You break it, we wont hear nothin.

Randalls fists clenched and her shoulders bunched, as though she might launch herself at him. He tensed for the a.s.sault, but her expression changed again.

'Im going to catch some shut-eye. Wake me if you hear anythin.

She got up and left the room.

Catchut stared down at his hands.

'Sleeps a good thing, said Jo-Jo eventually, and went out.

Jo-Jo woke some time later, stiff from lying on the floor. He was in the room next to the galley-anywhere else had seemed too far to go. Easing up into a crouch, he stretched his back before attempting to stand. Hed been dreaming of Mira Fedor, he realised. A vivid, intense dream in which they were talking; she was so close that he could smell the biozoon secretions on her skin and see the hunted look in her eyes.

He scrubbed at his face, waking himself up more, but the sense of her stuck with him. When would this stupid obsession fade? Weeks had pa.s.sed since hed seen her. Hed barely known her before that. And yet here he was, trembling from the dreamed contact, filled with a compulsion to try the com-sole again.

He listened for sounds of the others. The building was quiet except for Randalls shallow snores. Jo-Jo followed the sound to a room down the corridor, where Randall and Catchut lay with their backs to each other, clubs fas.h.i.+oned from broken furniture within easy reach.

Jo-Jo backed out and headed down the stairs, to the bas.e.m.e.nt room where theyd left the com-sole. He examined the selection options and reset a couple. On his first scan, he picked up real noise on several channels. Some of it was coded, or at least in a language he couldnt understand.

He ran the scan again. And again.

Nothing. Whatever had prompted him awake to try the device had been wrong. No one was there. No rescue.

Yet he tried several more times, for lack of anything else to do.

Still nothing comprehensible. On impulse, he switched to the visual band. If there were OLOSS s.h.i.+ps out there, he might recognise their ident signatures.

The com-soles small display showed cl.u.s.ters of unidentifiable craft.

Extros, he figured. Hundreds. More than hundreds.

He stared at the screen. What are they doing here? It couldnt just be for the quixite. Maybe Randall was right. There was something else here. Someth- A new signature appeared in the centre of the display, and resolved into a recognisable OLOSS ident. A biozoon. He knew the peculiar wave signature, similar to his hybrid s.h.i.+p, Salacious.

He left the com-sole, ran up the stairs and woke Randall and Catchut.

Randall was up and heading from the room before he could speak.

'What? What is it? she demanded.

'Theres a 'zoon up there! Jo-Jo thumbed skyward.

Randall grabbed his arm with strong fingers. 'Who? Fedor?

He shook her off and turned to hurry back with her. 'Yeah. For what its worth, I think its her.

Randall accelerated past him, beating him to the com-sole by holding the railing and jumping down the stairs. She was peering at the display by the time he joined her.

'That it? She pointed to the blip, her voice trembling the same way his body had been when hed woken.

He wanted to tell her about the dream. How close hed been to Mira. How he could have touched her... but it sounded wishful and stupid. And he had no reason to share it with his compet.i.tor, other than that it made Mira seem real and alive.

'Crux, I think youre right, she said. 'Its a 'zoon, all right. Any chance its yours? The one that was stolen?

Jo-Jo shrugged. 'Doubt it. The hybrids leave a slightly different sig. This one looks to be pure 'zoon.

As they watched, the biozoon wave suddenly extinguished.

'Shes gone. Randalls voice went hoa.r.s.e.

'No. Jo-Jo jerked his head up, testing the air as if he could scent something, or feel a vibration. 'The signatures gone, but shes still here.

'How do you know that? You guessin? Randall rounded on him, her face so close that her spit wet his cheek.

'I dont know, he said with a self-deprecating laugh. 'But I do. The biozoons there, and Fedor is on board.

'Loco, said Randall, fingers to her temple, pulling the trigger on an imaginary pistol. 'Inventin things.

Jo-Jo shrugged. 'Yeah. Probably. But we need to find those survivors. When she comes, its going to be one trip only. Sh.e.l.l be looking for them, not us. We dont want to miss the ride.

Randall paced a few steps. 'Did you check the maps in the studium?

'Yeah. Two likely places with enough cover and fresh water. Got the coordinates here. He tapped his head.

She snorted. 'Couldnt you think of a safer place?

'Seemed the safest to me. Insurance in these uncertain times.

'What about the Saqr? Find out anything useful?

'They can survive in anything, even a vacuum. Can handle extremes in temperature. A decade without water.

'That tough?

Jo-Jo nodded. 'Whoever picked them to take over this planet knew what they were doin. Seems they can go without food too.

'The ones we saw acted hungry enough.

'I guess while theyre active they need to eat. But in stasis they can go for years without it.

'Physical weaknesses?

Jo-Jo screwed his face up in recall. 'Theyre plated in five sections by an exoskeleton. Then therere the claws. Everything inside them is real basic: pharynx, colon, ventral nervous system. Not much to mess with.

'Ventral? Wha.s.sat mean?

'Their nervous system runs along their belly instead of their back. b.a.s.t.a.r.ds dont even need each other to sp.a.w.n.