Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [175]
And now the Mage-Imperator was leaving. ‘I take it Prime Designate Daro'h will stay here, in his stead?' Anton said. ‘Is there such a thing as an “acting Mage-Imperator”?'
Vao'sh shrugged, imitating a gesture he had often seen Anton use. ‘Yes, Daro'h will stay, and Yazra'h will remain here to defend Ildira and protect the Prime Designate, should he need it. Meanwhile, Adar Zan'nh will deliver the Cjeldre refugees to Dobro, as the Mage-Imperator promised.' Vao'sh looked at his friend, his face filled with joy. And I have not told you the best part, Rememberer Anton. We will write the story, you and l!
Mage-Imperator Jora'h has asked us to accompany him and document exactly what we see and do.‘
Anton took a step backward, his foot crunching on a small shard of diamondfilm from a broken panel. Vao'sh continued in a rush, ‘In order to expedite the journey, the Mage-Imperator will take only a processional warliner with a hundred Ildiran guards and advisers - and the two of us. Nira has already sent a message to let Theroc know we are coming.'
Anton decided to gather his notes and bring them along in hopes that he could deliver a copy of his work thus far to a trader on Theroc. Someone should be able to take the draft translations back to Earth, where innumerable undergrads and research assistants would paw through the new and exciting information. So long as he received appropriate scholarly credit for his work, Anton didn't mind. His work with Ildirans was by no means finished, and he intended to stay with them.
He looked at the other rememberers in the Hall, some of whom frowned sceptically at the new diamondfilm chronicles. ‘Then we'd better start packing.'
One hundred and eight
Tasia Tamblyn
Throughout the rest of the night, the blackness was I broken by mysterious noises. The sounds might have been I perfectly normal and innocuous on Llaro… or they could well indicate preparations for a Klikiss ambush. It seemed likely that the three of them were the only ones left alive on Llaro who needed a rescue, and nobody from the outside would come looking for them for quite a while yet.
Tasia felt their best chance was to patch up the Osquivel and fly the hell out of there. The transport ship was sprawled prow-first in the wide arroyo where it had ploughed into the ground. ‘We're stuck for now, but if we put our heads together we can figure something out. Roamers can work wonders with fast adhesives and medical tape.'
Robb stared at the battered hull. Klikiss gunfire and flying rocks at impact had done equal amounts of damage. ‘This job goes way beyond my repair-kit knowledge.' Trained in the standard methods found in EDF manuals, he usually followed approved procedures to the letter. He had tested on Remoras and
larger ships, knew how the engines functioned, and knew how to fit the components together. That was all.
Robb and Tasia tinkered with the damaged hull in the thin light of sunrise, pulling and hammering bent metal plates back into place. Nikko climbed out of the engine compartment, using his forearm to rub grease from his face. ‘So, do you want the good news or bad news?'
‘You mean it's not all bad news?' Tasia asked. ‘That's good to hear.'
‘Plenty of good news, considering. Our ekti supply is intact, the stardrive engines function - maybe not at one hundred per cent, but good enough to get us out of the Llaro system.'
Robb showed his teeth in an unexpected smile. ‘Then we'll be out of here as soon as we patch up the hull.' He kicked the side of the ship. ‘Making these breaches spaceworthy isn't going to be simple, but we can do it with the materials on hand. It'll take maybe four hours.'
Tasia was almost afraid to ask. ‘So what's the bad news?'
‘Our in-system engines are damaged. One is completely shot.'
‘Can we fix it?' Robb asked.
‘Fixing it isn't the problem. The fuel tank's ruptured and empty. Empty. Forget the ekti - we don't have any standard fuel. Once we get out into space we can fire up the Ildiran stardrive and get out of here. But we can't lift this hulk off the