The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [211]
‘Fair enough, but this smartgun is a nice bit of kit,’ Greg said. ‘I’m not really anticipating any difficulties.’
‘I would still advise caution.’
‘Aye, and from here on I’ll be in silent mode so don’t expect a running commentary, okay?’
‘And I shall refrain from superfluous queries.’
‘Right, here goes … ’
The first jutting steps creaked slightly underfoot but felt thoroughly solid as he climbed. With the Roug gun held near his shoulder, muzzle up, he stayed close to the mossy trunk, eyes glancing ahead and above. He had completed one full turn about the Watchtree when he heard that voice.
‘So good of you to pay me this visit, Dr Cameron, although something tells me that this is not a social call.’
‘Met Vashutkin on my way here,’ Greg said, scanning the overhead weave of foliage. ‘He’s no longer a problem. Are you going to be a problem, Ambassador?’
‘I certainly hope so, Doctor.’
Suddenly sure that he’d seen a form shift behind the branch-and-vine veil above and to the right, he raised the smartgun two-handed and blazed away. Close on a dozen tag rounds zipped and cracked through the foliage but the acquisition display failed to come up on the grip.
‘Not quite the inward-looking academic any more, I see,’ came the infuriatingly languid voice, its source hard to pin down.
‘Had to adapt, Ambassador,’ Greg said. ‘Times are hard and dangerous, thanks to you … ’
With the last word of the sentence he fired the smartgun at a branch jutting almost directly overhead, stitching a zigzag of tag rounds across it. But still no display. He cursed under his breath, flattened his back against the trunk and peered sideways, up the curve of steps. And saw a face staring at him out of a branching mass of foliage, the face of Catriona Macreadie …
‘You’ll have to do better than that, Doctor,’ said the Sendrukan from somewhere above, but Greg’s full attention, his entire being, was focused on that beloved face. He half-opened his mouth to call out to her but she shook her head and pressed a silencing finger against her lips. Then she pointed at the spiral steps and made a gesture like two rising turns … or one and a half, he couldn’t be sure. After that she smiled at him, blew him a kiss, and was gone.
Greg felt shaken by the encounter, delighting in the initial burst of exhilaration, revelling in the notion that she’d somehow escaped destruction and regained her physical form. Then hard, unforgiving memory forced upon him the fact that the last time he saw her she had been an incorporeal shade flitting among the trees, an insubstantial projection sent by a vast, inhuman entity.
But he had not imagined her appearance, and there would be time enough for investigation later.
With unhurried care he ascended the curving steps, pausing a couple of times to study the dense curtains of greenery.
‘Why so silent, Doctor Cameron? Daunted by the enormity of your task, perhaps?’
By now Greg had ascended by more than a turn of the spiral and a gap appeared in the canopy above, revealing a tall, grey-robed figure. But even as he brought up the smartgun and loosed a string of tag rounds the robed Sendrukan noticed him and ducked away. The branches shook for a moment or two as Kuros no doubt scuttled away to a safer distance, and when Greg regarded the gun there was still no targeting display.
‘My congratulations on a skilful piece of stalking, Doctor.’ Kuros’s voice was muffled, drifting down from a greater height now. ‘And I see that you are using tagging ammunition, from which I surmise that you have a seeker weapon of some sort.’
Climbing the steps, Greg tried again to gauge the direction of the Sendrukan’s voice.
‘Aye, that’s right, you’ve got it, clever of you to figure it out.’
‘In that case, I’ll have to adopt alternative tactics.’ Then Kuros spoke two words in Sendrukan.
A tremor began in the thigh muscles of Greg’s right leg.