Transformation Space - Marianne de Pierres [108]
He didn’t think that the survivors could tolerate a sentencing at this moment. The group had come so close to splitting. Only the arrival of the strangers had halted that, yet still he felt it could happen at any time, with Innis hiding and Liesl agitating the others.
‘Principe, food is prepared,’ Djes called out to him.
Trin turned back from where he stood at the edge of their camp, staring at the bright objects in the night sky, and walked back to the dinner circle.
Spirits were low; he saw it in the dispirited postures and lack of conversation. Randall and Catchut sat apart from the rest, with Kristo.
Despite Djes’s catch of bass and squid, and the sweet paste that Tina Galiotto had made from berries and water, Trin felt as despondent as the rest.
The arrival of the AiV had resurrected thoughts of rescue in all of them, and now its loss and the accidental death of Mulravey’s boy deepened their collective misery. For the first time since they’d begun their flight through the Pablo tunnels, Trin had nothing to give them. No hope. No direction.
He sat next to Djes and ate in silence. What would become of them? Would they gradually kill each other off with surprise attacks, such as the one Innis had attempted? Or would they simply die of disease when their HealthWatch ran out? And what about Djes? Did she prefer Joe Scali’s company to his?
The howling noise in the distance took some time to register in his consciousness, so deep was he in despair.
Djes nudged him. ‘Trinder? What’s that?’
He stood up. From the east came the sound of rushing wind.
Other heads lifted; bodies stiffened.
Trin craned his neck skyward, searching for the source. Fear spiked through him. ‘Take cover!’
The survivors picked up their food shells and hastened to their caves, staying close to the mouths so they could still see out.
‘There!’ Joe Scali pointed east, just above the treeline.
Trin saw the shadows in the sky, like giant moths given dim outline by Tiesha’s glow and the backdrop carpet of satellites.
‘AiVs,’ said someone.
‘No!’ Randall laughed and walked out into the open. Trin couldn’t see her face, but her voice was filled with sudden energy. ‘Biozoons. Crux-damned biozoons.’
The shadows passed over the mountain crest and swept on out to sea.
‘They’ve missed us!’ Josefia Genarro exclaimed.
Others joined in her cry of disappointment.
‘No.’ Randall again. This time she turned and walked straight back up to Trin. ‘They’ll have to land down on the beach, in the water. You got someone who can show me the quickest way down?’
Trin hesitated. ‘Who would be in the biozoons? Why would they come here?’
‘Not sure who the second is, but one of them’s got to be Fedor. We picked up a ’cast back on Pell, her ’zoon’s signature from orbit. Not sure how the hell she made it down here without getting banged up, but I warrant it’s her, and that she’s come for us.’
Trin stared back into the sky with disbelief. Mira Fedor.
MIRA
Mira started awake as a hand touched her shoulder. Tekton had disengaged from his nub and was standing next to her.
‘Baronessa, I would speak with you privately,’ he whispered.
She blinked and looked around the buccal. Josef was still in Autonomy, eyes closed and flickering with dreamsleep. Tapping the nub to release her, she got to her feet. Sleep had refreshed her enough that she was now hungry. ‘Would there be food?’
‘I have hoarded some in my cabin. If you would accompany me there, I have something of the utmost importance to show you.’
Mira regarded the man. She’d heard little of Tekton of Lostol that would recommend him as trustworthy, and yet right at this moment he seemed as sincere as any ’esque could be.
‘What is the nature of the thing you would show me?’ she asked.
‘It is … without meaning to sound grandiose … a matter of our survival.’
She nodded.
As they made their way along the strata to Tekton’s cabin, Mira was again pained by what she saw – the piles of rubbish and the unhealthy