Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [82]
‘Time.’ ^Araldis is prepared||ready for us||fools||^
Ready for us. That thought loosened Jo-Jo’s concentration and he recoiled out of the Social Minority cache and back into the clamour. He let himself float there for a time while he assessed and organised the information he’d gleaned. To his thinking, the cache was a large - really large — chat group, like one you’d find on the main ‘cast channels in the OLOSS worlds. Jo-Jo had always avoided those communities - other than some of the sex groups - but he knew they existed and how popular they were.
If the voices were being honest, then the Social Minority group was so huge that somehow the Medium translated or organised answers to his questions into grouped responses. Either that, or Jo-Jo was incapable of hearing and receiving all the information at once.
The latter made more sense - maybe the Post-Species brain or consciousness, or whatever the hell they were, could process many more things at once. The gist was pretty clear though. The Medium was headed for Araldis.
For the first time since coming to awareness in this weird, cerebral, auditory world Jo-Jo felt complete and utter anguish. He was heading into trouble, and he was saddled up and riding with the wrong side.
He floundered around, for a time, in an emotional fug. All his earlier bravado seemed to have deserted him; his calm, almost superior attitude in the face of Randall’s disarray, gone.
He grabbed at mind-things, things from his memory that might buoy him up. But even his desire for revenge on Tekton seemed pointless now.
He wanted something to warm him, give him hope, but there was little enough. Only, perhaps, a kernel of stubbornness and a single desire.
Mira Fedor. Want to see her again.
He wasn’t sure who he sent that plea out to - maybe to himself. But it was enough to rally some spirit.
He went back to Rast with the news. This time he found her cache without having to locate her voice - as though his brain was building some kind of aural map.
‘You there, Randall?’
‘Josef?’ She sounded calmer but nonetheless relieved to hear his voice.
He told her what he’d learned and his theories on Medium and how it was organised.
‘Talk about wrong place, wrong time,’ she muttered. ‘OLOSS will be all over Araldis by now.’
‘Maybe,’ said Jo-Jo. ‘Remember that Dowl station was in the hands of your ex-Capo and the Saqr. Can’t see them letting OLOSS in first. If this ship is shifting to Araldis then they’ll be doing it under a tight window. Open the shift sphere then shut it again as soon as we’re through.’
‘Unless they’re shifting on different coordinates,’ said Rast.
‘Imperfect Shift?’
‘Yeah, but not the one the Savvies use. Maybe they’re tuned to their own frequency. Maybe they can shift through any sphere like the ‘zoons do, without using the OLOSS system.’
The very thought of it made Jo-Jo want to change the subject. ‘You said you thought the Extros were after something else on Araldis.’
‘They’ll be after the quixite all right, but maybe more as well. You’ve got geo training. What do you think?’
‘I think it’s got to be something that needs them to be there. Physically there. Otherwise, why send this wheel rim full of billions of sentient sound waves shooting into a potential war zone?’
‘Yep,’ Randall agreed, but had no more answers than he did.
‘You think Farr’s got something to do with it?’ Jo-Jo asked.
‘For sure. But whether it’s stoppin’ them, or provokin’ them, would be hard to say.’
‘You think he’s a hero?’
‘Not much. But he’s smarter than most, and more convinced.’
“Bout what?’
‘Whatever it is he believes in. Attackin’ those Geni-carriers with his own ship near the Mio moons was one ballsy act. But we were at war. He got lucky with the u-missiles, found some weakness in their shielding. He had a great pilot too - Captain Jeremy Hob. Don’t get much better than old Jelly Hob. Lasper’s got a knack for finding the good ones. Thing that got me, though, was what happened next. When he nulled the Geni-carriers, the Extras were vulnerable.