Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [97]
Tentatively she pushed her toe into Insignia’s flesh. It depressed enough for her to find purchase. Reaching as high as she could, she grasped a dentricle in each hand and began to climb towards the middle vent. But her pregnant belly hampered her agility and she overbalanced backward, falling hard against the cartilage and banging her ribs.
The child inside her moved, jabbing her lower belly, and making her nauseous as it spun rapidly in her womb. She tried to calm it by pressing her abdomen, but the child seemed frantic. The next strong jab hit up under her breastbone, bringing tears to her eyes.
‘Be still if you want me to succeed!’ she cried aloud. She struggled to her feet and tried again.
The child settled as she climbed. In the back of her mind she sensed Insignia’s behaviour changing as well. The biozoon seemed almost submissive. Though she could feel no movement, an image formed in her mind, of Insignia arching its long back and curling its tail carefully out of the way.
Fear and urgency gripped her. Clasping was imminent, and she had no idea how far the Omniarch’s stems would penetrate the other vents, or how much distortion would occur in the tissue. She had to be inside the central one to be safe.
She scrabbled over the lip and slid forward into the wetness as the biozoon’s entire pelvic girdle began to shudder. She felt building waves of vibration and the vent began to contract against her as if being squeezed shut. For a moment she feared she’d be crushed, but with each contraction she was sucked deeper into the vent.
At some point she was no longer on board Insignia. She knew that from her mind-bond, not from any change in the vent’s shape or consistency.
The vibrations had stilled and she lay in the dark, pressed uncomfortably on her stomach, without room even to roll onto her back.
Insignia?
Your mind-bond with your mate will be much weaker while you are with me.
Omniarch?
You may address me as Ley-al.
I am Mira Fedor.
Yes, Innate. I am aware of who you are. Why do you insist upon meeting with me under these circumstances?
Ley-al, if you please, I am most uncomfortable lying upon my unborn child. Is it possible for me to move?
Very well.
Mira felt a constriction around her shoulders and hips again, as the peristaltic action of the vent moved her forward. Pain shot through her abdomen and dimly Mira felt Insignia’s protest.
Then she was squeezed out of the vent into a small ribbed space.
Follow the passage to the central stratum. It is a direct link to my buccal.
Mira got to her feet shakily. Though her limbs trembled under the energy demand and her belly ached, stubborn determination lent her strength. She’d failed to bring help to Araldis; she would not fail to warn OLOSS of the danger, even if she must face Stationmaster Landhurst and Sophos Mianos again. I will be heard. And after that...She shrugged to herself. After that, it didn’t matter.
Ley-al’s buccal was large and divided by membranous struts like supporting trunks shot down from an oversized tree. A familiar iodine smell assailed Mira as she entered, but that was where Ley-al’s similarity to Insignia ended. There was no Autonomy nub and the Primo vein was buried under a layer of pulsating skin. There was no concession to humanesque passengers. The biozoon’s cheek cavity was purely animal.
I had an Innate once, Mira Fedor, but it was not to my liking.
Now that she was closer to its brain she felt the full force of the Omniarch’s imposing presence.
How is it that you can mind-speak with me even though we are not bonded?
All the negotiators of our species can do so. Now, explain why you have requested this visit in the midst of such difficult circumstances.
Mira felt for Insignia but