Transformation Space - Marianne de Pierres [67]
He listened for sounds of the others. The building was quiet except for Randall’s shallow snores. Jo-Jo followed the sound to a room down the corridor, where Randall and Catchut lay with their backs to each other, clubs fashioned from broken furniture within easy reach.
Jo-Jo backed out and headed down the stairs, to the basement room where they’d left the com-sole. He examined the selection options and reset a couple. On his first scan, he picked up real noise on several channels. Some of it was coded, or at least in a language he couldn’t understand.
He ran the scan again. And again.
Nothing. Whatever had prompted him awake to try the device had been wrong. No one was there. No rescue.
Yet he tried several more times, for lack of anything else to do.
Still nothing comprehensible. On impulse, he switched to the visual band. If there were OLOSS ships out there, he might recognise their ident signatures.
The com-sole’s small display showed clusters of unidentifiable craft.
Extros, he figured. Hundreds. More than hundreds.
He stared at the screen. What are they doing here? It couldn’t just be for the quixite. Maybe Randall was right. There was something else here. Someth—
A new signature appeared in the centre of the display, and resolved into a recognisable OLOSS ident. A biozoon. He knew the peculiar wave signature, similar to his hybrid ship, Salacious.
He left the com-sole, ran up the stairs and woke Randall and Catchut.
Randall was up and heading from the room before he could speak.
‘What? What is it?’ she demanded.
‘There’s a ’zoon up there!’ Jo-Jo thumbed skyward.
Randall grabbed his arm with strong fingers. ‘Who? Fedor?’
He shook her off and turned to hurry back with her. ‘Yeah. For what it’s worth, I think it’s her.’
Randall accelerated past him, beating him to the com-sole by holding the railing and jumping down the stairs. She was peering at the display by the time he joined her.
‘That it?’ She pointed to the blip, her voice trembling the same way his body had been when he’d woken.
He wanted to tell her about the dream. How close he’d been to Mira. How he could have touched her … but it sounded wishful and stupid. And he had no reason to share it with his competitor, other than that it made Mira seem real and alive.
‘Crux, I think you’re right,’ she said. ‘It’s a ’zoon, all right. Any chance it’s yours? The one that was stolen?’
Jo-Jo shrugged. ‘Doubt it. The hybrids leave a slightly different sig. This one looks to be pure ’zoon.’
As they watched, the biozoon wave suddenly extinguished.
‘She’s gone.’ Randall’s voice went hoarse.
‘No.’ Jo-Jo jerked his head up, testing the air as if he could scent something, or feel a vibration. ‘The signature’s gone, but she’s still here.’
‘How do you know that? You guessin’?’ Randall rounded on him, her face so close that her spit wet his cheek.
‘I don’t know,’ he said with a self-deprecating laugh. ‘But I do. The biozoon’s there, and Fedor is on board.’
‘Loco,’ said Randall, fingers to her temple, pulling the trigger on an imaginary pistol. ‘Inventin’ things.’
Jo-Jo shrugged. ‘Yeah. Probably. But we need to find those survivors. When she comes, it’s going to be one trip only. She’ll be looking for them, not us. We don’t want to miss the ride.’
Randall paced a few steps. ‘Did you check the maps in the studium?’
‘Yeah. Two likely places with enough cover and fresh water. Got the coordinates here.’ He tapped his head.
She snorted. ‘Couldn’t you think of a safer place?’
‘Seemed the safest to me. Insurance in these uncertain times.’
‘What about the Saqr? Find out anything useful?’
‘They can survive in anything, even a vacuum. Can handle extremes in temperature. A decade without water.’
‘That tough?’
Jo-Jo nodded. ‘Whoever picked them to take over this planet knew what they were doin’. Seems they