Part 18 (1/2)

Try just a little at a time, and we'll smooth out the wrinkles while we fly,Ar suggested, taking up a position in front.

Rrrick-k-k! Yes!

Jael quickly discovered, however, that there was no simple way to introduce the rainforest gradually. Ed himself was a special case; he had been part.i.tioned by the storage device as the ”primary matrix.” But bringing in something like a single tree was not so simple. The ambient environment was stored ingeniously and compactly, but not conveniently for limited retrieval. As she probed the storage medium, she felt like a child groping blindly in a magician's bag, wondering what her fingers were touching. After a minute, she decided she might as well create the image and put it to use. A black satin bag materialized in front of her.

Yawk! Good, good, Ed chortled, hopping down to a low, surrealistic-looking bush so that he could peer at whatever was coming out.

Stay back, now,Jael warned. She glanced around. Ar was seated on a large rock, steering their course by s.h.i.+rting his body weight from side to side. He was humming, as usual, a raspy, vaguely dissonant tune.

A flurry of sparkling things flew by, carried on the gentle breeze made by their headway. The objects were probably Flux a.n.a.logs of accreting heavenly bodies in formation - planets or asteroids, perhaps.

Seneca was bypa.s.sing a region of s.p.a.ce that was heavy with star and planetary formation. Flux abscess - a dangerous distortion of the continuum - could occasionally be a concern in such regions, but all the indications looked safe.Okay? she called.

Yes, we're in the clear,Ar said, barely interrupting his humming.See that cl.u.s.ter up ahead? He pointed to a distant patch of light at the end of a long, twisty pathway.That's Vela Oasis. We're already homing in.

Jael nodded. She reached into the magician's bag. Ed clucked and craned his neck, bobbing his head like a pigeon, trying to see.Here goes , she murmured, feeling something on her fingertips. She drew it forth; with a glint of light, something unfolded into three-dimensionality - then seemed to vanish. An instant later, there was a great fluttering around her head, and she ducked down, startled. The air overhead was filled with leaves, all suspended in midair, and cl.u.s.tered in the shape of a tree.Good grief, she muttered, as Ed squawked in delight and puzzlement. Where was the rest of the tree - the branches and trunk? She probed in the big again. Something large and cold unfolded into the net.

Hrrawwk!Ed cried.Jael scowled. It was a damp stone face, with four sticky lizard's feet, without the lizard, walking up its side. This was not helping. She felt a breeze on her face and glanced up just in time to see the suspended leaves blow away on the wind.

Tree gone, Ed announced.

So I noticed, she sighed. Now what? She reached into the bag once more and drew out a long tree branch. There was a small cl.u.s.ter of leaves at its tip, and a pair of bright red lionflies stretching their wings.

Ed leaped from his perch and dived toward the insects.Hae back! she pleaded.

Ar stopped humming and turned his head.Is anything wrong? We're coming up on a divide, and we'll need to keep it steady.

Uh-oh, Jael breathed. Ed was now almost to the edge of the bubble that surrounded them in their idyllic garden. If he went much higher ...

She felt a shudder as the parrot rebounded, squawking, from the bubble's edge. That answered one question; he was as ”real” in this net as the riggers, and despite his small size, he could rock the net with surprising leverage.Ed, get back down here! she shouted. But the parrot was too preoccupied to pay attention.

Jael, I need help,Ar murmured, his voice hardening with greater urgency.We've got to get past this divide, and we're veering.

Jael felt a moment of faintness. Veering off course, because of Ed?Is it that bad? He didn't hit us that hard, did he? She reached out to a.s.sist Ar, but not before another jolt rocked the net. They were losing their fine control. Terrific, she thought - and we told Mariella we were doing so well. Foolishly, for an instant, she allowed her thoughts to dwell, not on how to deal with the problem but on having to report it to her captain. The memory of Mogurn rose in her thoughts, looking angry and spiteful. d.a.m.n you - get out! she thought. You are no longer my captain! Mariella Flaire is my captain now!

She reached out, fusing her strength with Ar's.

Ar was busy trying to untangle the forces in the splitting stream of milky light. They were on the wrong side, in the left-hand stream; the one to the right was already curving away, and diverging fast.If we can just slip across - Ar's words were interrupted by a metamorphosis in the starscape in front of them, an enormous face materializing in the sky, looking sideways but turning to face them as it became three-dimensional and solid. It was the face of Mogurn, raging. His eyes were mad with hatred.My G.o.d - Jael whispered.

She tried to choke off her own breath, but it was out already - her terror was out in the net. Could Mogurn have survived somehow and returned to seek his revenge?

No, surely it's impossible ...Mogurn loomed closer. The s.h.i.+p, the garden, the bubble began to turn and list. Jael knew that her fear was the worst thing to allow in the net right now, but she couldn't stop her terror as Mogurn leered and drew close enough to reach ...

Jael, get rid of that - !

Ar's call was drowned out by Ed's:Y-y-aaaarrr-w-w-k-k!

The parrot came plummeting down, landing on Jael's shoulder with a mad flutter of wings. His claws gripped her like iron, but his wings flapped in panic.Arr-arr-arr-arr-arrkkk!

Ed, stop it!she hissed. But she knew the reason for his terror. It was her own, radiating, distorting the energy balance of the net.Ed, it's just ... it can't be ... But she really wasn't sure anymore. Could he have survived, somehow, with his hatred and his l.u.s.t for domination? Who knew what was possible in the Flux?

Jael, it's not real!Ar shouted, as he struggled to keep the s.h.i.+p under control. Angry tremors were shaking the net; the heavens were swarming threateningly around them. They were beginning to spin.

Not real, Jael forced herself to think. Not real. She drew in a great breath and rose up suddenly to confront the face of Mogurn. Her breath escaped in an angry exhalation, and the face slowly became ...

transparent ... then vanished. The tremors began to die away at once.He's gone , she reported, ashamed of having endangered the s.h.i.+p by allowing a careless memory-image into the net. Mogurn was not here threatening vengeance, and never had been.

She closed her eyes and whispered,Ed - shhhhh. It's all right, calm down. She was talking to herself as much as to the parrot, but she felt his nails easing their grip on her shoulder.

Rarrk,Ed murmured, kneading her shoulder gently.What ... Jayl ... what happened?

She gasped as her heartbeat finally slowed.It was something ... that once terrified me. I don't know if I can explain it. But there's no need to be afraid now. Ar ... I'm really sorry. Unhappily, she squinted to focus on the stars.How do we stand?

Regaining control, Ar replied. The rotation of the sky was stopping as he stabilized the net.I'm afraid that we are now off course. And I'm not, immediately, quite sure how to get us back on.

The wind blowing through the garden seemed cooler and damper now. Jael s.h.i.+vered, looking off and down to starboard. The current that they had lost was still visible as a streamer curving off into the distance.It's a bad break, Ar said.If it hadn't all come just as we were hitting that divergence, we could have taken it in stride. He was clearly unhappy, but wasn't laying blame. He didn't have to.

Ed twisted his neck, looking anxiously from one to the other.We do wrong? he croaked in a thin, frightened rasp.Ed do wrong?

Jael closed her eyes.No, Ed. I mean ... that is, we both did something wrong. It's not your fault.

But ... in the future ... we can't have you flying around wildly like you were a minute ago. That makes it harder for us to keep control.

Ruk-k-k. Didn't mean to,the parrot said mournfully.

I know. You didn't.She glanced at Ar, who was righting them on the stream and examining various alternatives for getting them back over to the correct current.It was more my doing. My carelessness.

When I got scared by that face, you did, too.K-k-k-scared. Not now.

Jael nodded, dismissing the subject. She needed to help Ar with the navigation. Without speaking, she gazed out into the spangled light against the dark, trying to spy out a route that might take them toward the hazy patch that was their destination. It was visibly receding from them now, or seemed to be.There must be some way to get back over there.

Ar crooned a stuttering tune to himself.We might have to take a long way around.

While Jael was thinking about that, a shudder pa.s.sed through the net and something flashed over their heads like a meteor. She ducked instinctively. It was a good reminder: they were pa.s.sing close to some disturbances in the nearby layers of normal-s.p.a.ce. There was no cause for panic, but one thing was certain: they should try to move clear, to avoid the risk of more serious trouble.Ar, maybe we'd better change this for a fresh perspective.

Ar's luminous eyes looked to her, awaiting suggestions.

Her mind went blank for a moment, then she drew a deep breath and took control of the net from him.