Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [94]
Tekton fancied the whole thing to be like an exotic underwater scene where sea creatures in search of food herded around the nearest reef, sucking at plankton and ducking in and out of crevices.
‘Seems like word’s got around, eh, tyro?’ Samuelle was awake as instantaneously as she had fallen asleep. ‘Lasper’s got a ‘cast coming through on relay.’
‘How long until we shift?’
She sat up straighter and, sensing her alert state, her suit relaxed its support. She fingered through a few screens. ‘Latest says an hour.’
‘I’m assuming a war craft like this has group buffers. How do you propose to conduct me to one of them unnoticed?’
‘Actually, tyro, I don’t.’
Tekton’s insides turned watery. Surely the woman had not forced him aboard merely to murder him?
Samuelle leaned back and slapped him across the back of the legs in a friendly gesture. ‘You’re gonna stay right here in that.’ She pointed to her spare suit.
‘B-b-ut I’ll...it’ll...I’ll..d-d—’
‘Rubbish,’ she snapped. ‘It’s designed to withstand shift and more. I modified it that way. I’d stay in here with you but I don’t want Lasper asking questions. Look, if you need reassurance, here are the specs.’
MIRA
‘Insignia.’?
We are at Intel station, dearest.
Mira wrenched upward, out of her reclining position in Primo. How long had she been asleep? Too long, she thought. It felt that way at least. Her mind was thick and stale. The vein let her go, its sensors like sticky fingers sliding reluctantly from her flesh.
How long have I been asleep?
I assisted your rest through shift. The baby has had quite enough trauma.
I told you not to do that again.
I am not beholden to you, Mira, Insignia chided. Our bond is my choice.
And mine.
Perhaps.
Mira controlled her desire to argue. Why did you bring us back here?
I shifted to Rho Junction. When I was able to contact my pod they told me that Emergency Council had been called on Intel. Our community had already sent envoys to meet with OLOSS and Consilience. They gave me permission to join our delegation. We are safe here among the envoys. Humanesques would not know one of us from another.
As her mind began to awaken Mira sensed Insignia’s improved mood, despite the biozoon’s sarcasm and provocation.
Mira relaxed a little. Can you show me?
Of course.
Insignia’s view of near-space poured into Mira’s mind. Ahead of them, Intel’s irregular lattice of grey landing channels invited docking, while alongside them the dark was cluttered with familiar shapes lit by the station’s external lights: biozoons of varying sizes, some several times larger than Insignia.
Insignia changed her perspective several times.
Are we in the centre of the pod? Mira asked
Insignia made a sound that Mira had not heard in a long time; a sound of amusement. This is not the pod, Innate, this is an Omniline.
Mira waited, knowing Insignia would only explain when she was ready. Meanwhile she let the images absorb her, curious to see biozoons en masse for the first time. They floated serenely, elegantly, near each other; shifting to fit around each others’ movements like a school of fish.
Omniline is a hereditary line somewhat like your familia, though much better behaved, Insignia told Mira.
You mean that a single family has been sent here to negotiate?
That is the manner in which we are organised. It is most expedient. I share lineage with the Envoy Omniline, so they will allow us to be present.
Mira thought about it for a moment. It really was not greatly different from humanesque social ordering. That is kind of them.
We are a very reasonable species. The rebuke in Insignia’s tone was unmistakable.
And we are not always. Mira sighed. Often, she corrected. How are we to find a way to communicate with